Manage ADHD Without Medication

About this video

Martell explains how he says he manages his ADHD with zero medication, saying he quit medication about 10 years ago because it made him feel like a zombie and unlike himself, and that he now runs multi-million dollar companies as CEO while living in his zone of genius. He focuses on four areas. One is mind: design the day in energy flows, doing creative and deep work in the morning when he has energy and focus, and reserving afternoons for conversations, rather than scheduling work that fights his energy. Two is body: he says ’exhaust the body to tame our mind,’ sweating and working out every day, following a pretty low-carb, high-protein diet because sugar changes his thinking from optimistic to critical, and taking sleep seriously — usually seven to eight hours a night, going to bed and waking early, using an eye mask, a white noise machine, a wind-down process, and a journal to park spinning thoughts. Three is time: allocate every minute of the calendar, including personal time, and batch similar activities together as in his book’s ‘perfect week’ concept; he illustrates multitasking cost with counting 1 to 26 and reciting the alphabet separately taking about five and four-and-a-half seconds, while alternating them takes a minute to a minute and a half, about 20 times longer. Four is team: take the work you love and give energy-sucking work to people who play at what you work at, and use other people as a forcing function — for example scheduling a 30-minute meeting with his assistant to update his personal net worth sheet for investments.

Key takeaways

• Design the day around energy flows: creative and deep work in the morning, conversations in the afternoons.
• Exhaust the body to tame the mind with daily exercise and sweat, plus a low-carb, high-protein diet because Martell says sugar shifts his thinking toward pessimism.
• Protect seven to eight hours of sleep with an early bedtime, eye mask, white noise machine, wind-down process, and a journal to park thoughts.
• Allocate every minute and batch similar activities together; Martell argues alternating tasks can take about 20 times longer than doing them sequentially.
• Delegate energy-draining work to your team and use scheduled meetings with them, such as a 30-minute block with an assistant, as a forcing function to get dreaded tasks done.

Episode details: published September 11, 2023 · 6:41 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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