The drawer of half-started projects. The course you paid for and never finished. The business idea that burned bright for three weeks and then vanished. Sound familiar?

In this episode, DrB takes apart the start/finish problem at the neurological level — explaining why task initiation is hard (it's not laziness), why follow-through breaks down (it's not lack of character), and exactly what skills change both. If you've been carrying shame about your unfinished things — this episode will transform how you understand them.

Key Points Covered

• Task initiation: why the ADHD brain struggles to fire the starting signal

• The novelty-seeking brain and why projects lose their pull

• Why "I should do this" is never enough motivation for an ADHD brain

• 5 skill-based strategies: activation design, smallest next action, completion rituals, accountability, emotional work

• Reframing the "unfinished project" story from character flaw to skill gap

Links Mentioned

• drbarbaracohen.com — All episodes + show resources

• Get Sh*t Done (GSD) 9-Month Program — drbarbaracohen.com

• Masterclass coming on August 25, 2026, 10 am - 2 pm pacific time - link coming soon

"You're always late." "How did you forget — it was TODAY." Adults with ADHD hear these sentences constantly — and have spent years unable to explain the experience underneath them.

This episode names it: time blindness. DrB explains the neurological reality of how ADHD brains experience time (hint: it's not the same as everyone else), why willpower doesn't help, and five concrete, skill-based strategies that actually work. This is not about trying harder. It's about working smarter with the brain you have.

Key Points Covered

• Time blindness: the neurological reality behind ADHD and time

• Now vs. Not Now: how ADHD brains actually experience time

• Why willpower and trying harder make things worse, not better

• 5 concrete strategies: visible time, time buffers, transition alarms, timing yourself, accountability

• The skill-based approach to becoming reliably on time

Links Mentioned

• drbarbaracohen.com — All episodes + show resources

• Get Sh*t Done (GSD) 9-Month Program — drbarbaracohen.com

• It Was Never You Masterclass, August 25, 2026, 10 am – 2 pm pacific time / link coming soon

Beneath the disorganization, the unfinished projects, the chronic lateness, and the avoidance — there is almost always shame. In this episode, DrB goes straight to the root.

She explains the difference between guilt and shame, traces where ADHD shame comes from, breaks down the mechanics of the shame spiral, and offers a clear, practical path out. This is not feel-good talk. This is skill-based, brain-based work that changes the foundation everything else is built on.

Key Points Covered

• Guilt vs. shame — and why the difference matters for ADHD adults

• How ADHD shame is built across a lifetime of misunderstanding

• The shame spiral: trigger → story → nervous system → paralysis

• 4 concrete steps to interrupt and exit the shame spiral

• The long-game: building a new relationship with yourself

Links Mentioned

• drbarbaracohen.com — All episodes + show resources

• Get Sh*t Done (GSD) 9-Month Program — drbarbaracohen.com

• Masterclass coming August 25, 2026 – It Was Never You Masterclass – 10 am – 2 pm Pacific Time – links and more information coming soon.

DrB's most provocative episode — and one of the most important. She is not anti-medication, and she makes that clear. But she will not pretend that medication is enough.

This episode draws a definitive line between what medication can do (create a window, reduce static, improve focus) and what it can never do (build skills, rewrite identity, heal shame). If you've been medicated for years and still feel like something is missing — this episode will tell you what that something is.

Key Points Covered

• DrB's clear position: not anti-medication, but deeply pro-skills

• What stimulant medication can genuinely do for ADHD adults

• What medication cannot do — and why this matters so much

• Why so many medicated adults are still struggling

• The complete picture: medication as a window, skills as the building

Links Mentioned

• drbarbaracohen.com — All episodes + show resources

• Get Sh*t Done (GSD) 9-Month Program — drbarbaracohen.com

• New date for upcoming Masterclass - August 25, 2026 - details coming soon.

In this foundational episode, DrB delivers the message that sits at the heart of everything she teaches: it is not your fault — and you are 100% responsible for what happens next.

These two truths are not a contradiction. Together, they are the most liberating framework an adult with ADHD can internalize. If you've been waiting for permission to stop blaming yourself and start building — this is it.

Key Points Covered

• Why ADHD is not your fault — and what that really means

• The critical difference between blame and responsibility

• How the "old story" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy

• What it looks like to take 100% responsibility in practice

• The question that changes everything: "What skill am I missing?"

Links Mentioned

drbarbaracohen.com — All episodes + show resources

Get Sh*t Done (GSD) 9-Month Program — drbarbaracohen.com

Why do ADHD strategies always seem to work for a week and then collapse? DrB answers this question with a concept almost no one in the mainstream ADHD space is teaching: pre-skills.

Before executive function can be built and integrated, there are foundational skills that must come first — self-awareness, nervous system regulation, understanding your own brain, and a relationship with yourself not built on shame. This episode explains what pre-skills are, why they matter, and how they work together with executive function to create lasting change.

Key Points Covered

• Why strategies fail: building without a foundation

• The 4 core pre-skills every adult with ADHD needs

• Self-awareness as the bedrock of all change

• Why nervous system regulation is not optional

• The soil-and-seeds model: how pre-skills and executive function work together

Links Mentioned

• drbarbaracohen.com — All episodes + show resources

• Get Sh*t Done (GSD) 9-Month Program — drbarbaracohen.com

"Executive function" gets thrown around constantly in ADHD conversations — but rarely explained. In this episode, DrB breaks down exactly what executive function is, walks through every core skill (working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, planning, task initiation, emotional regulation, and time management), and delivers the most important reframe in ADHD education: these are skills, not fixed traits. They can be learned, built, and integrated for life.

Key Points Covered

• Executive function explained plainly: your brain's management system

• The 7 core executive function skills and what they look like in ADHD adults

• Why "executive function disorder" is a misleading framing

• The difference between a deficit and a skill gap

• A preview of pre-skills — the foundation that makes everything else possible

Links Mentioned

• Register for the June 23 Masterclass for free with optional VIP upgrade:   https://itwasneveryoumasterclass.com/ 
• Learn about GSD: https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/gsdprogram 
• Learn about the Gifted Underachiever: https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/blog?tag=gifted+underachiever 

It took DrB fifteen years to finish a four-year degree — not because she wasn't capable, but because she was searching for an education and kept finding a factory. In this episode, she shares her full story and connects it to a message she received from a high school student halfway around the world who asked the question she hears from almost every student: why can't I concentrate, and why doesn't studying work for me?

The answer isn't willpower or discipline. It's about a system that teaches what to learn but never how — and a population of gifted, high-capacity brains that pay the heaviest price for that gap. DrB breaks down what concentration actually is, why re-reading your notes is largely a waste of time, and six strategies for finally working with your brain instead of against it.

Key Topics:

• DrB's personal story: 15 years, multiple schools, and a brain that refused to settle

• Why gifted brains are most harmed by standard education

• The truth about concentration — it's not low, it's discerning

• Retrieval practice vs. re-reading — the most important switch you can make

• Six evidence-based strategies for brain-aligned learning

• The connection between this and the work of GSD

Links:

• Register for the June 23 Masterclass for free with optional VIP upgrade:   https://itwasneveryoumasterclass.com/ 
• Learn about GSD: https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/gsdprogram 
• Learn about the Gifted Underachiever: https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/blog?tag=gifted+underachiever 

After a three-year hiatus due to health challenges, DrB returns to Living Beyond ADHD with a message that hasn't changed — and a conviction that's stronger than ever.

In this comeback episode, DrB lays out the truth about adults with ADHD: you are bright, gifted, and capable of extraordinary things. What's holding you back isn't a disorder — it's missing pre-skills and executive function skills that were never taught to you.

And the most radical idea of all? Those skills can be learned. Welcome back.

• Podcast Episodes & Transcripts https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/blog?tag=podcast 
• GSD Program Information: https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/gsdprogram 
  Most ADHD programs give you strategies. GSD gives you a transformation. In nine months of deep, structured, high-touch work, you go from the inside out — dismantling the limiting beliefs and outdated identities that have been running your life, building the pre-skills that make everything else possible, and then systematically developing all 13 core executive function skills that may have been derailed by ADHD, depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, or chronic illness. With weekly live coaching, individualized assessment, personal debriefs from DrB, and a community of adults doing the same profound work — you don't come out of GSD with better habits. You come out a different person. Not because you became someone new. Because you finally built what was always supposed to be yours. That is not a promise — it is what the data shows.
• TTC Program Information:  https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/ttcprogram 
  Most adults with ADHD have spent their whole lives being told what's wrong with them — but nobody ever gave them the actual skills to change it. The Transformation Club is 12 lessons covering the executive function and life skills that were never taught to you: from mindset and beliefs to priorities, decisions, emotional maturity, and living with intention. With monthly live coaching calls and a supportive community, this is where real, lasting transformation happens — at your own pace, on your own terms.
• Exciting New Masterclass Debut:  June 23, 2026, 10 am – 2 pm Pacific Time with VIP Option.  https://itwasneveryoumasterclass.com/ 

How often do you do the prep work for your tasks?  Do you know what I mean by prep work?  Most people I know really dislike the prep work and just want to get down to doing the task.  They even feel that the prep work is a waste of their time because it isn't getting the job done.  And, they are short on time as it is, so this is just a non-essential thing to do.  But is it really?  Everything in life needs prep work and maintenance.  If you are the cook in your family or home, you need to prep the meal before you can make it and then eat it.  If you are going to work on an art project, you need to prep and make sure you have all the supplies you need for your project before you embark or you'll be running out to the store or aborting the project when you find out that you don't have what you need.  What about leading a meeting at work?  Do you just show up and talk, or do you need to prep for the meeting so you stay on topic for the purpose of the meeting and are clear on what you will present?  Like I said, prep work and maintenance is just part of life.

Prep work can include many Executive Function skills or Executive Function pre-skills.  And, if you don't have solid pre-skills, then building your Executive Function skills on a flimsy foundation isn't going to get you sustainable results.  The 3 Executive Function pre-skills that I feel are essential are your relationship with time and how you manage yourself and time itself, procrastination and how you eliminate it from your life, and decision-making since you are making decisions every day, and sometimes all day long.  Do you trust yourself with time and the decisions you make?  Have you eliminated procrastination from your life?

In this episode, I talk about: 

• Executive Function pre-skills development

• The importance of developing a dynamic plan with a strong foundation

• What it's like to work with Dr B

• And more! 

Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is the fastest and most effective way to overcome ADHD limitations, find focus, gain confidence, and a newfound freedom in your life! 
 
My mission is to put an end to the worldwide needless suffering of adults with ADHD and those with under-developed Executive Function Skills - whether from ADHD, chronic depression or anxiety, trauma, addictions, or chronic illnesses.  And, you don't need a formal diagnosis to know you need help developing these executive function skills in order to greatly reduce your suffering.   

Episode Resources: 

• Get Sh*t Done Fundamentals + Essentials (GSD-FE) Program Information:  (previously known as the ADDventures In Achievement [AIA-FS] program) 
  

Do you have the blueprints to build a new model of yourself?  One of my favorite quotes is by Buckminster Fuller, who said, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."  Thinking along the same lines as Fuller, I realized years ago that with so much that happens on our journey from birth to adulthood, unless we build a new model of ourselves and then move into that new model, we will be fighting the existing reality and model of our earlier life and selves forever, and trying to "fix" the dysfunctional, rather than create anew. 

If changing the outcomes in your life was as easy as learning some new skills or moving to a new place to start over again, then everyone who does it that way would be happy with their new outcomes.  It doesn't work that way.  Wherever you go, there you are.  You are taking the existing model of who you have become up to now and attempting to shove new tools into that existing, dysfunctional model of you, and there is no room for this to happen.  You are a closed system that has what it has and functions as it does within that closed system.  You have to be willing to build a new model of yourself, for who you need to be or want to be, take the best from your existing model and move it over into your new model, and then release the rest of that original model because it is obsolete.  My phrase for that release is borrowed from Star Trek and is "beam me up Scottie."  Since energy never dies, I don't want to leave anything from the previous model of me, that is now obsolete, for me to slide back into at some point in time.  I am clear that model is obsolete and I have built a new healthy model and I want to live from the place of that new model, not the old, dysfunctional one.  This means we have to be able to let go of the old and embrace the new, and many have difficulty letting go of anything; especially the previous, outdated and dysfunction model of who they have been.

In this episode, I talk about:

• Building a blueprint for a new model of yourself
• Why change is not just as easy as learning new skills
• Common barriers to transformation
• And more!

Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is the fastest and most effective way to overcome ADHD limitations, find focus, gain confidence, and a newfound freedom in your life!

My mission is to put an end to the worldwide needless suffering of adults with ADHD and those with under-developed Executive Function Skills - whether from ADHD, chronic depression or anxiety, trauma, addictions, or chronic illnesses.  And, you don't need a formal diagnosis to know you need help developing these executive function skills in order to greatly reduce your suffering.  

Episode Resources:

• Get Sh*t Done Fundamentals + Essentials (GSD-FE) Program Information:  (previously known as the ADDventures In Achievement [AIA-FS] program)
  https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/gsdprogram
  
• Grant assistance page for help with funding for GSD-FE program:
  https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/financial-assistance 
  
• Book your complimentary discovery call with Dr B to get your questions answered, and determine together if GSD-FE is right for you or not:
  https://calendly.com/d/ywy-j5t-4jk  
  
  
• The Transformation Club (TTC) – if time or money commitments have been holding you back - the affordable membership program for Executive Function skills development:
  https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/ttcprogram 
  
  
• Free PDF - 13 Signs Weak Executive Functioning Is Holding You Back:
  https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/Executive-Function 
  
  
• Book your complimentary discovery call to get your questions answered and determine if TTC is right for you or not:
  https://calendly.com/amygellerux/ttcdiscoverycall    
  
  
• Follow me on Dr B Facebook Page and enjoy live videos and more
• Follow me on Instagram and enjoy relevant resources

 
To Help The Show:
Subscribe at your favorite listening spot and my podcast player has social media links (icons) in the episode player so you can share episodes you love with others!

Please rate the show and leave a thoughtful review on iTunes so I know you're benefiting from the episodes.  The greater the number of reviews, the higher the ranking, and the easier it will be for others to find the show; people who also need this information. 

Let's put an end to the worldwide needless suffering together!  We can do this!