In this month’s Deep Dive series, we were joined by Chris Wang, Founder and CEO of Shimmer, the #1 ADHD Coaching App. We spoke about what it means to live with an ADHD diagnosis and how services like Shimmer and Caveday can support folks with ADHD.

Here are three quick things that stood out from our conversation.

1) ADHD is being thrown around so casually, but that’s not all bad!

If you were to ask a room full of people to raise their hand if they think they have ADHD, chances are, you’d see a significant number of hands. The acronym is part of our zeitgeist and we’re seeing more and more legitimate diagnoses as well as self-diagnoses. Chris shared that while yes, ADHD has almost become a catchphrase, a positive awareness is being brought to the disorder in a way that feels very different from its stigmatized days. Money is being poured into research and people who have struggled for so long are finally getting the support they need to thrive.

2) The biggest reason why people need ADHD coaching

Chris shared an assumption she’d made when starting Shimmer. She hypothesized that the biggest reason people need ADHD coaching would be in order to support their work. But what she learned surprised her. She’s now seeing that the biggest reason people need ADHD coaching is because they’re not reaching their full potential. Imagine going through life with an underlying feeling you could be doing more… but you struggle to do it alone. That’s exactly where Shimmer comes in. Humans thrive with accountability. That person that helps you clarify your goals and keeps you on track to reach them. Sure, maybe your goals are strictly about work, but reaching your full potential is so much bigger, more impactful. So many of us could use that kind of support!

3) Why celebrating small wins is important

Something Shimmer and Caveday have in common is that we like to celebrate wins, no matter the size. When the week is up, the Shimmer user and their ADHD coach review the work that’s been done and together, they celebrate the week’s accomplishments. Similarly, at the end of every Cave, we take five minutes to publicly reflect on our progress. External and internal recognition not only feels great and gives you that dopamine hit we all crave, it builds in the habit of reviewing your work so we’re not just stuck in this grind of the endless to do list.

An audience member (Amanda in Portland) shared: “The rewards / wins and recognition is a good way of building habits, combatting time-blindness and other symptoms, changing the narrative of what one is capable of, etc.”. That sums it up well! Here’s your reminder to celebrate those big and tiny wins on the regular. You got this!

Learn more about Shimmer and Chris’ work here: