The Silent ADHD Trap That's Burning You Out (and how to escape)

what if I told you that this constant feeling of being burned out feeling behind and chronically overwhelmed is caused by one single ADHD trap you're most likely not even aware of I'm talking about this feeling that there's so much to do every single day while suffering from executive paralysis and not completing any of it which usually leads to trying to make up for it the next day making you feel even more behind overwhelmed and burned out it can feel like having a big Stone attached to your leg that's pulling you down sound familiar I was

trapped in this negative spiral for quite some time until I realized that it's all caused by one single ADHD trap that I kept falling into this very trap is why 93% of people with ADHD experience burnout even when they don't work a lot so if you feel like this you are not alone almost all of us do but the good news is that in this video I'll share with you exactly what this adg trap is and how you can easily stop falling for it each and every day by implementing the things I'll share with you

in a second you'll be able to go from being chronically stressed and overwhelmed to living in complete balance making consistent progress on everything that's actually important to you by the way this is all coming from someone who's worked in a high press sales environment for over 3 years got promoted four times in those 3 years to become the youngest sales director in the company and who now pushes out three pieces of content per week for the last 3 years all without feeling the effects of burnout trust me if I can do it you can too

I want you to picture yourself working you're sitting down at your laptop at the beginning of the day and getting started you start typing and hour by hour the invisible trap with its five different layers slowly starts to reveal itself you remember that you have an assignment at work that's due tomorrow and all of a sudden you're getting into the Zone typing harder and faster time seems to fly by you're beginning to ignore all your surroundings you kind of like this but why well because it's extremely difficult for you to do things in moderation think

about it when was the last time you did something in moderation where you kind of half asked it chances are it's been a while you probably either didn't do it at all or triy doing it all at once especially if there was a deadline looming large this is mainly because you have a dopamine disregulation in your brain which leads you to often seek activities that provide a strong dopamine boost leading you to go all in on tasks that are highly stimulating however when the task isn't stimulating enough you usually struggle to engage at all in

this case tomorrow's deadline seems to be helping and once you're in you're looking to ride that wave of focus with without letting go you can go on for hours without drinking or eating in complete tunnel vision your mouth is dry and your eyes become red this is the first nail in the Trap you think that hyperfocus makes you invincible you keep working you need to complete this project by tomorrow after all otherwise what will your boss say after some time you get this weird feeling in your chest you notice a tightness almost heaviness there it's

a familiar feeling something that's driven you to execute every single day for as long as you can remember you realize it's fear fear of failure fear of being judged as lazy fear of being rejected you realize that it's your number one motivator to keep you going because the absolute worst feeling would be letting other people down exposing yourself as the true lazy person that you are in truth you're just an impostor pretending to have it all together right your selft talk is extremely negative you overwork yourself to please others and don't look out for yourself

and even though this has always helped you to get stuff done and you received praise because of it this is in fact the second nail in the Trap being driven by insecurity at this point your brain literally can't do it anymore and you realize you need a break you heard online that you should really try to distress yourself after working get away from your screen and try to relax you close your screen and look around but you inevitably feel pain just sitting there and doing nothing it's just too boring and so you pick up your

phone and start scrolling for a few minutes and then get back to work for some reason you don't feel any more relaxed your brain needs fast dopamine from your phone because of the amount of effort you've put it through which feels like something that will help you get back on track but is in fact the third nail in the Trap taking the wrong kind of breaks you keep working after all you need to finish this project in the next 9 hours you start asking yourself why you haven't started sooner why are you only able to

work when you're stressed and there's a deadline looming large you thought you had enough time to get this done today you try to motivate yourself to keep keep going you often underestimate how long something will take because your ADHD brain is blind to the passing of time sometimes time passes super fast other times it passes super slow this also plays into your All or Nothing mindset because on one day you'll want to get it all done all at once this leads to life becoming a rushed Chase for something just Out Of Reach which leads to

pervasive anxiety while this has always worked in the past despite of the stress it is in fact the fourth nail in the Trap underestimated time you keep working you realize at this point it's been 16 hours and you need to sleep you move from your laptop directly into bed and try to get some shut eye but for some reason you just can't stop thinking about the project there's still so much to do and how are you going to get it done within the next few hours tomorrow your heart starts racing and before you know it

the alarm clock rings and it feels like you didn't get any sleep whatsoever your brain is attracted to negativity because it's stimulating which keeps you awake and is the final nail in the Trap not getting rest overall your work days seem Hollow and rushed these days then multiply into weeks and months and soon it's difficult to get out of bed and continue you snap more easily binge eat more food and live to work instead of work to live things that you used to enjoy like having genuine conversations with loved ones become difficult because you're mentally

and emotionally completely exhausted and trained and this point the Trap is in full effect and it is very difficult to escape the complicated reality is that a lot of us are anxious over Achievers whose brains are very difficult to shut off and overthinking as well as perfectionism only make things worse so how do you open or avoid this trap if you're currently stuck in it how can you get back out of it to start walking pick running again get back to being energized by life instead of drained by it is this even possible spoiler alert

this video wouldn't exist if that was not possible and once you escape the Trap or learn how to avoid it altogether you'll not only live a life free of constant stress but one of more balance and peace what we need to understand is that work life balance Works differently for ADHD let's dive into how we can get there by following my five-step check-in system for ADHD balance step one the breath first of all you got to catch yourself while you're working before it's too late it's incredibly important to take mindful moments throughout your workday to

assess how you feel even if you're in hyperfocus take a breath and ask yourself what you need maybe it's water or a walk I know taking mindful moments sounds really boring but it can actually be incredibly stimulating how once we get interested in our inner experience taking a deep breath and really asking ourselves what do I need right now what do I feel like right now am I pushing things a bit too hard what am I being motivated by right now what do I need right now and then trusting whatever comes up building in reminders

on your phone to do this every few hours this is just the first step though step two the cutoff Point second you got to give your brain time to recharge the ADHD way the same way you go into work all or nothing you can't half ass a break you got to take a 100% break meaning you got to have clear cuto points both in the mornings and in the evenings these have to become non-negotiable for you if you end up having some thought about work that you really don't want to forget you got to get

it out of your head write it down on a notepad or on your phone so you stop obsessing about it the morning is just as crucial as the evening for me I don't check my phone 1 hour after waking up so I don't star my day obsessing about work the first thing you show your brain in the morning is what it's going to keep coming back to especially if it's dopamine inducing and you have ADHD instead I write down three things I'm grateful for or go for a walk or run to get my brain primed

and obsessed about positivity instead if I get to work at 9:00 a.m. I then also have a sharp cut off point at 6:00 p.m. I don't check my emails I don't check my slack messages because I know if my brain sees something small about work the risk of triggering it to obsess about it is huge remember our brain doesn't do moderation even if something could easily be done tomorrow I know my brain often wants it all done right now especially if it's close to bed time I end up not sleeping which sets off the Trap

we touched on earlier I know right now you're probably thinking this sounds great but how can I get my adg brain to take this break how can I shut it off it never goes off ah step three the daily breaks indeed I have good news for you my friend because we are not trying to shut off your ADHD brain here we know that this is an impossible feat remember work life balance Works differently if you have ADHD and so instead of flying to the beach every every day to read a book about 15th century art

you need to give your brain new and exciting escapes besides work daily that are not over stimulating or super expensive imagine a graph of stimulation let's say 0% is reading an uninteresting book at home and 100% is being at a loud party while drinking a beer and smoking cigarettes we know that when you're bored your brain will try to artificially stimulate you through thought it will send you these worried pings of things you need to do negativity is incredibly stimulating this is why for your break you'll want to stay in the 50 to 60% range

you don't want to stimulate too low or too high but you need something of high interest that takes over your mind and quickly helps it change lanes and delete worrying thoughts listening to your favorite music taking a walk somewhere new in nature exercising intensely getting a deep tissue massage connecting deeply with real friends taking a drive or diving into a thrilling new Booker series are always ways I found perfectly take my ad brain away from work and actually help it recharge while these activities may be different for you what's really important is that usually you

got to do things that may seem like too much for others this is because your brain often needs more to flip that switch sometimes it takes extremes and that's okay because that's how your brain works approach strangers and give them sincere compliments try new food take a cold shower go go-karting challenge your comfort zone as long as it's not dangerous do things that make seem crazy to others the moment you're completely in the moment is when your brain rests it's when you stop overthinking because you feel alive and since your brain is dopamine deficient it's

crucial that you find novelty in these breaks because novelty gives you dopamine if you take drives maybe this time you take a drive to the other side of town if you go for a walk maybe this time you explore that Park that you've always want to go to and so on don't get settled in strict break routines that are always the same because that will f feel like work and that's exactly what we want to avoid here if you're not sure if you're rested ask yourself does your brain feel less full after or more realize

the difference between the right kind of breaks and the wrong kind of breaks the right kind of breaks are things that you really want to do the right kind of breaks leave you with more energy ready to tackle whatever comes next and if that doesn't work there's always step four fire breaks shout out to Katie fredman for this one a fire break is is a necessary break that you take before the whole Forest burns down it's about not just doing something different during or after your endeavors but about taking a day a few days or

even a few weeks off to replenish your perspective and energy but these are meant to be invigorating Brain Breaks not attempts to relax taking a day off and doing something completely different doing something that stimulates your brain to think about completely different things switching up environments meeting new people doing things you don't usually do or have never done this can once again be about challenging your comfort zone but this time for a longer duration and a bonus side effect of this it may not only help you distress your brain and prevent overthinking about work but

will even help you regain a sense of novelty for your work once you come back which may just increase the motivation for your work like never before I make sure to always take my weekends off to do something completely out of the ordinary and I always try to work from different environments during the week to give my brain the novelty that it needs and I'm fortunate enough to be able to travel to a new place every few months which gives me the inspiration and motivation I need to keep producing content for all of you I

see it as an investment into my work rather than a break from it if you still feel stressed or overwhelmed after following these four check-in steps it's time to move on to the last and probably most important step step five question who you're doing it for why are you doing what you're doing no seriously I know I know it's a difficult question who are you really doing it for are you maybe trying to elevate your self worth through accomplishment and productivity are you trying to have people see you differently or are you doing something you

genuinely want to do let's talk for a second just me and you come on a lot of us ADHD anxious overachievers have internalized an inferiority complex it's a big topic but in its shortest form we deeply believe that we are not good enough and that others are better we then try to overcompensate for this lack of self-belief with work Al the while not knowing that this in itself is a trap because you will never fill that inferiority hole with externalities things that are outside of you it has to come from within you have to start

believing that you your brain your personality you are an amazing human being it's true and if you don't see it yet I'm sure that you will very soon once you learn to say no and set boundaries on your time once you're in tune with yourself and no longer seek external validation is when you escape this trap for good remember to follow these five steps write them down pin them on your wall so you don't forget and so you can consistently Thrive without burning out but I know what you might be thinking right now yes Nick

it sounds amazing to have more downtime take more breaks and so on but I'd still struggle with actually getting things done when I'm not taking a break and at the end of the day I'd still worry about all those undone tasks that I couldn't even allow myself to take these breaks and you're right the key to getting in more downtime is also being able to be productive when it counts which is incredibly hard for us adhders who are chronically paralyzed and suffer from immense procrastination but luckily I also recently released a video on my channel

where I reveal my complete system to overcome ADHD paralysis and procrastination it's actually super easy and works for almost everyone since I released this video I got thousands of messages from adhders who got crazy results with it click the link in the video description to watch the video now thank you so much for watching stay inspired and I'll see you very soon