The RDtoCEO Podcast
Dive into The RDtoCEO Podcast, hosted by Registered Dietitian and CEO, Eva Haldis, where she shares her journey in entrepreneurship, with discussions on the basics on building a private practice and becoming a confident CEO. The RDtoCEO Podcast is your go-to resource for mastering the art of transitioning from a dietitian to a successful CEO.
The RDtoCEO Podcast
Navigating Entrepreneurship with ADHD: A Business Coaching Sesssion ft. Whitney Sharp, MPH, RD, LD
In this candid coaching call episode with fellow ADHDer and Registered Dietitian, Whitney Sharp, we dive deep into the unique challenges that entrepreneurs with ADHD face, especially when it comes to task prioritization, time management, and finding organizational systems that actually work. Whether you're struggling to stay on top of your to-do list, feeling overwhelmed by your business's demands, or unsure of how to focus your energy where it matters most, this episode is for you.
We talk through actionable strategies to help manage distractions, prioritize effectively, and implement systems that align with the way your brain works—rather than fighting against it. From tackling the dreaded "shiny object syndrome" to creating workflows that reduce overwhelm, we explore tools and techniques to build a sustainable, ADHD-friendly business routine.
If you’ve ever found yourself drowning in tasks, unsure where to start, or feeling frustrated by traditional productivity advice that just doesn’t click—this episode will give you the guidance and reassurance you need to start managing your business (and your brain) in a way that works for you.
Tune in for practical tips and inspiring advice on how to turn your ADHD into an asset and build an entrepreneurial journey that plays to your strengths.
More About Whitney and Where You Can Find Her:
Whitney has been a Registered Dietitian for 6 years. After experiencing burnout working in weight management research, 2 years ago she joined a brand new telehealth nutrition counseling startup, Nourish, where she is able to fully embrace a weight-inclusive approach in her 1:1 counseling. This fall she launched her private practice, Sharp Nutrition & Wellness where she specializes in supporting neurodivergent individuals, those navigating emotional and disordered eating, and people looking to prevent chronic health conditions. Through her personalized, evidence-based nutrition counseling, Whitney empowers clients to build healthier relationships with food and develop sustainable self-care habits. She also facilitates the Neurospicy Nutrition Support & Accountability group, helping young adults find balance, consistency, and community in their wellness journeys.
www.whitneysharp.com
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*Please note that while we strive to provide valuable insights, our podcast is not a replacement for personalized legal or financial counsel. We strongly advise consulting with qualified professionals for specific advice tailored to your individual circumstances.*
Welcome to the RD to CEO podcast. I'm your host, eva Haldis, registered dietitian, who one day found herself a whole CEO of a business. Join me as we navigate the world of entrepreneurship so you can go from being an RD who sees clients in private practice to a confident CEO growing the practice of your dreams. Welcome back to the RD to CEO podcast.
Speaker 1:Hello everyone, welcome to another episode. As of the time of recording for this intro, it is the evening 10 pm on November 5th, which is election day in the United States, and hopefully, by the time you're listening to this, if it is Wednesday morning when this podcast comes out, or maybe after that, at this point we hopefully will maybe know who the next president is, and hopefully it's a positive outcome. I know I speak for so many of us who are probably freaking out at this point, but if it is Wednesday morning and maybe we still don't know, I hope this podcast episode can serve as some form of distraction for you and let's all just take a big deep inhale and exhale, because I certainly need one. But either way, I'm excited to introduce our episode today, which is going to be another coaching call episode. Today we have Whitney Sharp.
Speaker 1:Whitney has been a registered dietitian for six years. After experiencing burnout, working in weight management research, two years ago she joined a brand new telehealth nutrition counseling startup, nourish, where she is able to fully embrace a weight-inclusive approach in her one-on-one counseling. This fall she launched her private practice of Sharp Nutrition and Wellness, where she specializes in supporting neurodivergent individuals, those navigating emotional, disordered eating and people looking to prevent chronic health conditions. Through a personalized, evidence-based nutrition counseling, winnie empowers clients to build healthy relationships with food and develop sustainable self-care habits. She also facilitates the NeuroSpicy Nutrition Support and Accountability Group, helping young adults find balance, consistency and community in their wellness journeys.
Speaker 1:We talked a lot about well for one ADHD, and also about just how to figure out where to go in your business when you're sort of unsure of the next step and how to prioritize things, especially when you have executive function challenges, such as those that folks like us with ADHD may have and other neurodivergent folks. And we also talked about just ways to create systems to help us stay on top of tasks, especially when we are feeling that overwhelm or just challenges in our executive function. So it was a really great chat. It's always been hard for me to like sort of. I've mentioned having ADHD often, but I haven't really been able to do a full episode on it because I know it's just like hard to fully encapsulate. But I love talking to other dietitians who have ADHD because it's really just a helpful way to like validate one another a lot of times and I think it'll be really helpful for a lot of folks listening If you're interested in being a guest on the podcast and doing a coaching call like this, or if you have a topic you'd love to talk about, head on over to wwwrdtoceocom, hit the tab podcast and there you'll see be a podcast guest and there's a question that you can fill out.
Speaker 1:I'd love to have more RDs on. I really enjoy doing these coaching calls and, of course, I would love to chat with more business minded RDs and entrepreneurs. I'm also really, really excited to finally share that I'll be putting out my inquiry tracking spreadsheet template, which I've mentioned many times on this podcast, within the next month. I am finally in the process. I am working on hiring someone to help me create a sales page, because that is in my way of just getting this inquiry sheet out, but I'm really excited about it and hopefully it will be available within the next month. So stay tuned for that. And, yeah, I think that's all the updates I have. Be sure to like subscribe wherever you're podcasts and I hope you enjoy our episode today with Whitney. Let's get to it.
Speaker 2:Hi, whitney, welcome to the podcast we're so excited to have you Thanks so much for having me Excited to be here for my first ever podcast interview.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so exciting. I'm really excited to chat today. I know we talked a little bit off recording and so spoiler alert, this episode will probably be very ADHD heavy, but it's definitely a topic I talk a lot about and have a lot of thoughts about, so I'm really excited to dive in. Before we get started, how about you tell the listeners a little bit about yourself, who you are, your business and what made you want to do one of these coaching call podcast episodes?
Speaker 2:So I'm Whitney Sharp. I've been a registered dietitian since 2019. I currently work full-time for Nourish If you've heard of that a telehealth insurance-based nutrition counseling company, and recently just started my own private practice, shark Nutrition and Wellness, where I do offer some self-pay individual counseling and run a nutrition support and accountability group that's catered to neurodivergent young adults and kind of how it's structured. Currently we alternate between education discussion-based topics, so everything from meal planning to the brain connection, foods and recipes for mental health, and then alternating weeks are more of body doubling action-oriented meetings. So, really passionate about neurodivergent nutrition, this is something that is near and dear to my heart personally and professionally, and when I'm not talking about food and or mental health in my free time, I really enjoy just spending time with my husband, who is a college football coach, so our time together is pretty limited this time of year, but otherwise they'll be outside with their dog, hiking, biking, golfing friends and being cozy at home watching good TV and good sports.
Speaker 2:I really wanted to come on this podcast today because I just would love to hear from other dietitians and business owners with ADHD. I feel like our field we have very stereotype, you know type A perfectionist personalities and a lot of friends in the field who embody that and they're really inspiring and have worked with a lot of you know other dietitians who really just seem to have it all together, but I've not really found other people in this industry who have some of the same struggles that I do, and so it was great to find your podcast and have you kind of mentioned a little bit about it here and there, and so I would love to hear just kind of your experiences as an RD with ADHD, you know, for validation but also inspiration, especially because you're a few years ahead of where I hope to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, thanks for sharing. And it sounds like the group you're hosting at your practice sounds really awesome and like really well catered to the neurodivergent population. And yeah, I agree, I feel like I've always heard the like type a thing. I remember first hearing that when I was like in grad school. I mean like I don't know if I fit that mold. There's only times when I'm very much like perfectionist, but as I've come to learn, it's like a way to help manage and probably mask some of the things that I knew my ADHD would get in the way of. But in other ways I'm so not at all that way, and so, I agree, it's been sort of interesting navigating.
Speaker 1:I find that the most people that I've met who are are typically entrepreneurs, and I think that's like not a surprise, because we obviously need change and things that are exciting, and so it makes a lot of sense that entrepreneurs tend to have ADHD. I think there's a stat out there on there, but I'm not going to butcher it because I don't know what it is. Well, it's awesome to hear that. You know you've already started your practice and been working with Nourish as well. I'm curious. Well, I'd love to hear more about your kind of journey with finding out your neurodivergent, getting a diagnosis of ADHD, and how that sort of shaped maybe where you are today. And then I'd also love to then hear about, like, where are you feeling stuck in your business as a result of the ADHD?
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. So yeah, I definitely have always referred to myself as kind of type B plus, a minus. I can definitely have all the things on my to-do list and I can get them done if there's that external pressure. But I really kind of noticed the challenges of balancing school work never had just one job, always jobs, you know, during undergrad and grad school, and then navigating personal life too, um. So all of these things I just didn't know. Um, what I didn't know back then, um, and growing up I really thrived in active, like team-oriented environments. I played sports as athlete all my life, but never like focused on just one thing. I was always played a bunch of different sports, um, but really realized how much that helped, you know, just the movement aspect and the time management and prioritization by working a bunch of jobs and playing a bunch of sports, teaching group exercise, working at gyms. I always had to be somewhere, so it's always like I'm running around.
Speaker 2:But academics were really starting to get challenging, especially when I got to the science courses. You could not pay me enough to ever take organic chem or biome chem ever again, and really grateful for all the tutors and peers to help me through those classes. There was a point in undergrad where I remember talking to my advisor and was considering not even pursuing the dietetics route anymore or just going with the wellness track, because then I wouldn't have to take these hard sciences. So thankfully she talked me out of it and I got my DPD in undergrad so I was able to have a little bit more flexibility with the classes while I was taking my master's in public health nutrition and was part of a pilot coordinated program. So I was able to start my dietetic internship rotation while still in school. So having like that structure again really really helped. But those classes and also having to kind of navigate the logistics of the internship and finding all my rotations and everything, those are times where I just felt so overwhelming and I really felt like I was working twice as hard as everybody else, just to say afloat. I was also silently struggling with a lot of disordered eating at the time and there's a lot of shame in that thinking, oh, I should do better, but realizing how common that is for neurodivergent folks and RDs especially RDs to be in a really, really challenging environment. So fast forward to May 2023.
Speaker 2:I was officially diagnosed and just being able to get on medication, the right dosage of medication, understand kind of my own fluctuating energy levels and needs really has been life-changing. Having access to therapy, having access to coaching, recognizing what I need a little bit more therapy versus a little bit more coaching and just my own hyperfixations and deep dives that I've done. They bring that connection, the link between nutrition, mental health, being able to use that knowledge personally and professionally. That's where I really have found the passion for this population, because I'm like kind of trying to, you know, be who I wish I had back then, and so I really like working with young adults in their 20s and 30s and being able to, you know, kind of have a little bit more awareness and structure and also the resources that maybe we didn't have when we were teens or, you know, in our early twenties too. So I think, looking back, you know, I always wonder if I would have enjoyed school more if I'd had the knowledge and the tools and resources that I have now. So, you know, trying to to help those populations, not kind of go through the, you know, just really really big struggles that I went through until getting, you know, kind of it all put together and it's still still a struggle. Just because we have, you know, the tools, we have the medication.
Speaker 2:It doesn't mean that every day is perfect. I've noticed a lot of connection between my menstrual cycle and my ADHD, and that week before just like no energy, no motivation. You know lots of mood swings, things like that that are just so common, but something that we just have been told to work through and ignore, and when I was working in a more structured environment where every week was the same, it was really really difficult to maintain that same energy level week to week, and so I really do appreciate the flexibility that I have now. There's not the luxury of being able to schedule patients based on my cycle. I have not gotten there yet, but I have tried to become more aware of that. As I'm setting goals for myself in business or committing myself to things, it is trying to look ahead at the calendar and not schedule something in my luteal phase, because it's just not going to be my best version of myself.
Speaker 2:The thing where I'm getting stuck now is just I've done the quote-unquote hardest part. I got started. I did all of the really tedious logistical, legal, financial things that I was really intimidated about, really nervous about, because there were pretty big ramifications if I did them wrong. I've been really working on through therapy and other modalities of not buying into that perfectionist mentality. But when there are, you know, legal or financial things on the line, I want to make sure I'm doing them right. And so you know I really have outsourced a lot of business coaching or website development. You know I've spent a lot of my own money on, you know, these programs and courses and you know extra help which is unnecessary. I could not have done it alone.
Speaker 2:But I'm thinking kind of the biggest struggle right now is like, okay, what now? I did all these things I got here. I have a few people that I'm seeing in my private practice it's part of these groups as well and I'm kind of thinking, okay, I can't just do one-on-one counseling for her just because it is so emotional draining. I really enjoy it, I'm really good at it. But I think, you know, just trying to figure out what are maybe some of these other streams of income that aren't one-on-one care, but kind of even before that, like actually ADHD friendly systems for organization and task prioritization, because I have so many ideas my brain is all over the place. But right now what's easiest is one-on-one care and booking clients. But there's kind of a double-edged sword where it's like, cool, I get more people to see, but then that's more time that I'm spending one-on-one and not able to, you know, kind of necessarily have the time to explore other options outside of that one-to-one care. I'll play it.
Speaker 1:Well, wow, I have so much to thoughts and so glad you shared so much about your story and thank you for sharing that because I think it'll be really validating for a lot of people to hear. Because, as we're talking, I was like yep, yep, Can relate Absolutely. You're talking about your menstrual cycle. I was like pointing at myself because I've talked about on this podcast too. It's like so true and so real. And I think a lot of times people are like, should I get a diagnosis? Like that was how I felt too. I was like what's the point? Like is it? Do I really need it? I don't even know if I want to do a medication, but actually learning like yes, this is real, You're not making this up, here's this medication that can actually help you was life-changing, just how you said it. Because I think the thing is and I think, as you were talking, it's interesting the way that a lot of us have sort of figured out how to like mask it over our life or just manage it really of like filling your time and space. And also, you know, feeling like why is this so hard for me to do my academic stuff, Like the science stuff, like maybe I should just give up and not do this. There's also through that like so much self-talk that goes through of like I'm not doing a good enough job, or why can't I just do this, and it really starts to like build up this belief we have about ourselves. And then I find that, like people, when we get diagnosed, it allows us to just have more understanding and compassion, to like same with my mental cycle like the week before, being able to like notice that and be like, oh, there's a correlation here. I can like be more gentle with myself, even though it sucks to feel that way, Cause there's you know, it's usually during that time where I'm like what am I doing with my life? I don't know, and then, but then I can say, oh, you know what I know. In like a week and a half, I'll snap out of this and actually want to like set a lot of fun goals and you know, and then I'll be back here in a couple of weeks. So it's, it's just helpful information and so, yeah, I'm so glad you shared all that, because I think it's just such a, it's such a common journey, especially for women who are diagnosed later in life, and so I hope people who are listening, who feel like maybe that's them too can just feel seen and heard and felt, and then, yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1:Then, you know, doing all the things growing up, all the different sports, all the different things, and then now being in business, not just on your own but also working for Nourish, and so it sounds like where we were kind of heading towards was okay, I've kind of done all the hard parts of setting this up, I like one-on-one, but I can see that it's like long-term I mean, I certainly relate to that too of just like doing the same thing always was just as much as I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:I just like knew that I needed to do more, something different. So there's a part of me that wants to do more than just the one-on-one, but also now being like what is that thing? How do I do that? How do I get the time to do that? But I want to kind of back up a little bit because I'm curious is the goal ultimately to just be in your private practice and not see clients through Nourish? And I'm curious how much of the what's the like breakdown of, like the time spent for each your business and the Nourish clients now, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I was probably the first 40 dietitians hired with Nourish, so back in November 2022, took a big leap, leaving a really cushy, well-restored benefits research dietitian job where, as I was exploring more of a weight inclusive approach and health at every size, it made working in a weight loss research study, where weight loss was the primary outcome, really, really difficult. So took a chance on this brand new startup and it's been really cool to see the evolution and the growth over the last two years. We have now over a thousand dietitians, so that's something that I really love. Offering that insurance-based option. I actually just had a discovery call with somebody today who was really upfront saying, hey, I'm not able to afford self-pay, but here's my insurance. I plugged it in. Cool, we accept it. Now I can see her through Nourish, and so I really do feel like, as long as that's available, being able to have that as an insurance offering for patients just to make it more accessible. And I really, really love the populations and the diverse populations I've been able to work with through Nourish, so something I'm still really passionate about. But I could definitely see myself going part-time.
Speaker 2:Right now I'm full-time and it just is taking up a lot of my week. So I have structured my week in the last few months that I don't see patients on Mondays, so this is kind of my dedicated day time. However, as we know, having too much time unstructured can be really less conducive, and I always find that there's just house things to do, especially this time of year. My husband works 12 to 14-hour days, seven days a week, so all of the household management cooking, financial logistics, hosting, cleaning, caregiving follow me, and so I was kind of thinking that this fall would be the time where I'd have all the time and be able to, you know, have all this space and capacity for ideas. And it's okay if I work late, but the last thing that I want to do after seeing a patient's full time during the day is write a blog post or create a presentation or just be on my computer at the end of the day, just be on my computer at the end of the day, and so I think I kind of overestimated my energy levels this time of year. So, yeah, I don't know if that really answered your question, but kind of think about what's next, you know, seeing less patients and whether that means seeing more private pay patients where I can maybe make the same or more but see less people.
Speaker 2:I really do like the group options.
Speaker 2:It's just been really difficult to get people to sign up and want to do it, and so there's that rejection, sensitivity, dysphoria that comes in with ADHD and not taking it personally.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, kind of thinking about like, okay, are groups it or is there another stream of income? I think long, long term, I would love to be part of a group practice, owning a group practice that has a multidisciplinary team with therapists, with personal trainers, other dieticians, be able to provide job opportunities for BIPOC providers, better meet the needs of patients of color, because I think that's an area that is really neglected in nutrition and so being able to, you know, kind of offer a space where people are able to be seen, especially in our divergent patients of color, like there's just, yeah, such an important population. But getting there, getting to the place where I feel confident as a business owner, leader, ceo, I think that definitely is going to take some time, and so focusing maybe a little bit more on the groups or pursuing more collaboration and speaking opportunities to organizations might be like a shorter term goal. But yeah, I have so many ideas, I just don't really know where to start.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it sounds like ultimately, you would like to be a group practice owner, like that's the thing, um and the the barrier now of like wanting to do these more short-term things. Is it more just like a way to sort of financially set that up, or is it just things that you also want to do? Like what? What do you feel like the short-term stuff is for?
Speaker 2:I think the short-term stuff is because I find myself, you know, kind of speaking a lot of these topics consistently, like obviously I'm doing very personalized, individualized care and there's a lot of really common themes that come up, and so to be able to kind of share a common message, either through a group or, you know, a one-off presentation to like a mental health you know facility, like that's where I feel like, you know, I'm not maybe having to see as many people you know kind of in, say, you know a lot of the same messaging over and over, but I can reach more people kind of in the interim. That might be something I'm kind of interested in pursuing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it sounds like I mean surprise, multi-passionate about different things, shocker, big surprise there for an ADHD-er, and the big thing is really limited time. So it sounds like Tuesday through Friday you're working full-time hours, so is it like nine to five?
Speaker 2:Pretty much, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's a lot of clients to see also throughout the week. And then to have like one day because even the clinicians on my team who do that like that last day of the week, where maybe they're not seeing as many clients, it's like a day to catch up on notes, emails, all these other things. Because when you're seeing clients back to back and just doing all that, that's just it's a lot, especially based on the population that you know we tend to see, who are doing more than just like not to say that like it's. I would say that it's not hard to do like general nutrition counseling, but when we're really working with people on like their relationship to food, it tends to be more deeper emotional work. So it's a lot.
Speaker 1:So I think the it sounds like the biggest barrier really is just time and, understandably, on Mondays, being like like today, that was actually my day this morning. I didn't have any meetings till 12. And I was like I'm going to go. After I took my son to school, I went to Target and Trader Joe's and ran errands and sometimes I'm like really let me just do that, whether, even though, like I could just come home and like I have things I can do. It just was like I just that's what I really needed and wanted to do, because you know that's the time I had and maybe I didn't have enough time to do that before. So I guess the question I have for you is do you see a path for you to like transition away from Nourish and be able to offer nutrition services with insurance coverage, like at your own practice? Have you ever thought about that?
Speaker 2:I think. So, going back to before, I think before, like, my issue right now is that really, it's not that I don't have the time, I think I do have the time, it's just that the bandwidth and the capacity that I am really realizing I don't have because, you know, I'm seeing. You know, even even if I'm seeing people nine to five, it's not every single hour. On the hour you probably see 5 to 6. But even some days, because some people cancel, maybe it's closer to 3 to 6. So I think there's the time. Go do the laundry, do I watch a CU webinar, do I work on my business and do I go take the dog for a walk.
Speaker 2:I think that's the area where I have just inconsistencies in my time, where if it was just like a typical 9 to 5, see the exact same amount of patients every day, I would be able to structure my day a little bit better and more consistently. But what I've done at five or six I want to step away from my computer and the last thing I want to do is get back on there. And then these Mondays I sometimes have a plan. Sometimes it is just that admin responding to emails type day that feels like there's got to be more efficient way to do it. So I think, yeah, it's not necessarily the time, the idea of the time, it's just the emotional bandwidth and capacity that I'm maybe struggling with right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the task switching is such a good point. It is such a hard thing for, I think, anybody, but definitely especially with people with ADHD, because that's something that I've never had a good system for. But, like I'm aware that I need a system for which is like almost enough for me, because I think for me as a person, I just sometimes need to like give myself like more grace, understanding of like okay, this is what I need to like back up and do, or like find a day that I don't have anything else going on and then focus this like one thing that I can't. I can't seem to get done because I'm task switching constantly from like a client meeting with my team to having an hour, and then I'm like, yeah, what do I do? Do I just do I do laundry? Do I go eat something? Do I just lay in my bed and scroll tiktok, like, and then you just do nothing and then you're like, well, that was a waste of an hour.
Speaker 1:And or like I'm like I'm going to go through my emails and I get like stuck on one email. That just takes me for a long, a long time. So I think having all the like logistical stuff because I think that's sometimes, sometimes almost like easier thing to like grow. Starting your business is like setting up the logistics, and so now you have this business and there's a desire to do more for it, but it feels like a bandwidth of energy that's not there for it, which is then also creating this like sort of stuckness for you, of like I don't know what to do next, or like how to move forward with this business.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah, cool, I'm making connections. I've, you know got it, got business cards able to you know get you know some of these referrals from you know therapists, mental health, you know facilitators are you know my biggest referrals right now. And then it's like, okay, but do I really want more, more one-on-one clients? And to answer your question, I do. Yeah, I do see myself staying with Nourish again as long as it's in the capacity. Now the thought of getting credentialed through insurance and being in charge of all the billing and those logistics is so intimidating for the ADHD brain. But I know there's a lot of people who have done it. I think it's a really important skill. However, I don't see that in my short-term future right now. Yeah, I've got it figured out, yeah.
Speaker 1:Which is the benefit of the companies like Norrish and Fay, and the reason I asked that was because I think sometimes what I hear is a lot of people are hesitant to do it on their own Because Norrish and from what I hear from the other, like two big ones, faye and Barry Street, it's like they do a lot of the like. They do the insurance billing, they do the like checking of benefits and like the processing of it all and like you don't have to stress about any of that, which is nice, and I'm not sure what the structure of pay is. I don't know if you feel comfortable sharing that and we can always like take it out of the podcast if you don't. But there's also the opportunity of like getting in network, because you're already in network with all these insurance companies, so that should be a much easier process for you, and I feel like I'm always like pushing people to like do it on their own and just hire a biller, because it's like cheaper that way than because a lot of the companies from and you can like maybe confirm a job.
Speaker 1:It's like of a flat rate, so it's not like based on like the insurance company, it's based on just the client right.
Speaker 1:So you could be seeing a client that has a really high reimbursement rate and getting paid the same, versus if you had a biller doing it for you and collecting 6% of that, you could be getting paid a significant portion of that. So, and the reason I'm sharing that with you is because I think the biggest challenge here is and this isn't to say like you'd have to do this, but my curiosity of it is like it could then allow you to have more control and, say, over your schedule, whereas now maybe you're sort of like stuck at this, like I have to work these four days a week to like make X amount of money to support my life, versus being able to transition to doing it on your own and then having more control over like how your schedule is structured, and it can kind of give you that like stepping stone to the next step which doesn't mean that's what you have to do, but I'm just kind of curious your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I definitely think that's a pretty natural transition. You know, for a lot of people Right now, just because of the instability of my life and my husband's job, we are picking up and moving every six months to three years, and so I really like the flexibility of being able to be credentialed for these insurance companies in a lot of different states, whereas if I was going you know going to be in Ohio forever, it would probably make more sense to get credentialed and be able to, you know, kind of see patients from, you know, a lot of different insurance companies.
Speaker 1:I don't know if that stability is in our future with his chosen field, so I think that's something that you know is definitely on the radar and is just a really big barrier right now, thinking about getting started and then moving and having to do it all over in a new place over and over again, that makes more sense as to why maybe it feels like a harder thing to like plant roots of like this this is the state I'm going to get credentialed in, because you can build other states from your state, but the home-based state has to be one place, and so that makes sense why nourishment can kind of be a good option for now in where you're at in your life. So then I'm curious too, I guess so it sounds like really the days that you have to work on your business. It sounds like you want to work on your business when you have those like times available, but maybe it's just harder to get yourself to do it throughout the week. But really Mondays a day. Do you see clients on Mondays ever like for your practice?
Speaker 2:I don't. I have for a while of. Seeing one person kind of early in the day is a little bit of my okay, like this might have to be somewhere at a certain time to kind of get the ball rolling, get started. And then I do host my groups on Monday evening, so I do have kind of tried to bookend the day, and recently she just moved to a different day of the week so I don't really have that same structure.
Speaker 2:But, I have offered more of the discovery calls on Mondays and trying to for a while I was like going to coffee shops and trying to like leave my space. I wasn't as inspired, distracted, however you want to put it, by the other household things that have to get done. Really effective for when I had like a full on like checklist of like logistics and had to, you know, do this and this and this or this summer, when I was working on my website, I went through Whitney Bateson's program and it was definitely an investment, but I'm really proud of the website that I was able to create with her guidance and templates and, again, there's a lot of structure there. So I think what I'm struggling with now is just like I really don't have a good way to kind of structure the days that I have off from client care and even on the days where I'm only seeing three to four patients during the week.
Speaker 2:Again, yeah, that bandwidth, that motivation to switch gears and work on something different, whether it's, you know, sitting down and writing a blog post or a, you know, marketing things like that Like there's no real external pressure and there's no internal pressure.
Speaker 2:So it's just like, hey, why would I do this when I could go for a walk, or, you know, I think, also the realization of like, okay, I also need to take, or, you know, I think, also the, the realization of like, okay, I also need to take care of myself, and sitting at the computer for another two hours is not going to give me the same type of um, you know, hope, uh, same type of benefits as maybe going for a walk, eating, you know, coming back in some of that time, but then I only have an hour and so it's just yeah, kind of those little chunks of time. I really I don't really have like sustained chunks of time. I have little like snippets of time that feel hard to figure out what to do in those those hours or less that I have in between patient care yeah, that makes a lot of sense and it sounds, I mean, that I think that's that's like the thing with adhd.
Speaker 1:I always say too is like we uh resist structure but also like really need it, and so it actually really helps to have structure. And also too much structure is like not good, but having something in place that can give us like like that's why doing a program that had structure it's like tasks and things you have to do is really helpful for you. And now, having had all the logistical stuff be done, it's like what do I do? So what I'm hearing really is there's a lack of like how do I maybe like organize what to do on those days and sort of like also like where am I going? What's the goal here of what I want to do?
Speaker 1:So I think that's like there's two kind of places that are stuck, and so I have definitely thoughts on the systems, on like where, like how do we sort of like find ways to use the energy we have or plan for that? So it gives us that structure that we really crave. And then also there's a lot of thoughts that we can kind of go into on like well, what am I working towards? And so where do you want to? What do you think would be most helpful to shift into first?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that the systems of organization and that task prioritization would be really helpful, just because I do think those goals, like they're, they're going to change week to week, month to month. I love what you said earlier of like you know, during your little phase, like you know, what am I doing with my life? Type attitude, I'm the same way and then a week later I'm like, oh wait, no, I love this. So I think, yeah, the goals are consistently there, but it's just the day-to-day. The organization used so many different ones and have so many different notebooks and notes, apps and things of ideas, but just actually kind of being able to sit down and prioritize has been really struggled lately.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I can totally so relate to all that done, all the task managers and things like that. And yeah, the goals will come. And it's like during that one week after your period, we're just like, oh, I want to do this. And so I think what we have to do is we have to find ways to work with our ADHD and knowing yourself and knowing where you're at in the cycle and like for me, it's like I know I'm the most productive in the morning and then by the afternoon it's like forget about it, Like once it's two o'clock, the day's basically over.
Speaker 1:So finding the knowing yourself and being realistic with yourself, so that way can help to like sort of set the expectation of what's actually going to be helpful for you versus the typical ADHD thing, Like why can't I just do this? Well, it's like not going to work for me if it's three o'clock, Like that's just not going to work with my brain, and so that means that I have to prioritize these, like things that maybe take more time on a Monday morning, whatever that might be for you, and so so, finding ways to work with your ADHD. So, but how to do that then is like through the task management which is going to be my next question of like what are you currently using? What have you found helpful? What have you found not helpful? Like most of us, you've probably tried all the different things, but I'm curious, like what has what has maybe been the most successful way for you to keep track of things?
Speaker 2:um, I think being able to see the whole week ahead is super helpful. Like I get too wrapped up in kind of the or overwhelmed, I think, with, like you know, just one really long to-do list, like I'll do kind of that brain dumping, but then, um, being able to, I have like a um whiteboard downstairs where I'm able to, you know, kind of write out needs to happen day to day, and actually I don't put my patient care stuff on there, but I just have more so kind of the life, things, work things and just being able to see, okay, you know, monday, this Tuesday, this Wednesday, that I have a bunch of looking over at, like my different stacks of little notebooks, big notebooks, you know, calendars, so that you know, from a just like brain dump standpoint, is really helpful. Um, I use my google calendar for anything that is, you know, not just me uh centered. So if I'm like doing patient care, if I'm meeting with somebody, like I have everything on one calendar, which is really helpful just to kind of have things day to day.
Speaker 2:On my like less structured days, I've experimented with timers and kind of giving myself like, okay, you know, this is where you do this, trying to kind of play around with the I don't know if there's a word for it, I can't think of it but like that like transition time in between tasks where, okay, I'm going to give myself 10 minutes, do something different, and then come back and work on this one thing.
Speaker 2:I'd say that works probably 65% of the time, but other days it's like, okay, well, I can't actually, you know, do this on the dot, and so that ends up just kind of throwing off things a little bit. I've played around with things like Asana and you know some of these other online task management tools, and I just I'm on so many screens so much during the day that I really would rather kind of have a little bit more analog paper and pencil and then I can get that dopamine of checking it off when it's done. Pencil, and then I can get that dopamine of checking it off when it's done. But yeah, like having too many apps and too many things has not been super helpful for me. That's coming back to like one paper pencil and then one like kind of visual whiteboard has probably been the most effective recently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can certainly relate to that. I've done like all different. Like Asana was actually for a while really working, but then it just got overwhelming and then we tried something else and that was overwhelming and for me, the one thing that has like lasted the longest and that has worked the most for me has been Google Drive and specifically spreadsheets, which I talk about all the time on this podcast and even using Google Keep. Have you ever used Google Keep? No Keep. Have you ever used Google Keep? No, google Keep is like, it's like a checklist creator. I can show you what mine looks like and I actually made it pretty because that's exciting and you can like pin it.
Speaker 1:So I have Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday and for a while I was using this as kind of like my day-to-day and I don't use it as much but what I do use it for now because once again, the novelty of it wore it off. But sometimes when I'm in the mindset of thinking of things I'll be like I'll put like for now. For me that's one of the main things I use for our team meetings is like I'll just jot stuff down. If something comes up, I just know to go in there and just type it in or long-term goals, short-term goals, I'll kind of go in there. The day-to-day stuff, the checklist on the paper just always tends to work the best and I find that for me it was less of like maybe that kind of thing and more of like after it got on the paper. Like then, how do I kind of keep track of it, which is where my spreadsheets have been really helpful. So for me, I have a marketing spreadsheet where it has like lists of people's names, their emails, their phone number, where they're at in the process, and I can share that with you as well, like a template of that. Because what has helped me to do is when we're in those moments of like, because you can probably think about like your plans, right. So there's like maybe like group planning, like planning you know your next set group, there's steps you have to take. But then from like that, let's like planning next group and there's like things you have to do. But then from that it's like planning next group and there's things you have to do. And then marketing maybe you want to work on marketing. There's things off the to-do list, on your checklist that have to go into that.
Speaker 1:So when I have low energy days where I'm like I have an hour and I really want to be productive but I just can't do it. That's when I'll just go and Google therapist near me and then just fill in the spreadsheet and just make a list. Or maybe when I'm feeling that that may be a more high energy task of filling that out. I've had assistants and things do that more recently for me. Or sometimes I'm like scrolling on Facebook and like somebody shares something I'm like, oh, I want to connect this person. I'll just like add them to my marketing list. And then on the days that I have more energy and I'm like, okay, marketing, oh, let me go through my list and pick one person and write an email to them and then I can sort of keep track of like where they're at, in the process of like initial contact made you know this and that For me the spreadsheets have just been helpful and like color coding them and like doing drop downs, which also, like I said, I'll share with you my marketing one that I have, cause it's sort of like once I started doing that for a lot of mine, it really helps me keep track of like where I was at and you can even just have like one main one.
Speaker 1:I wonder if something like that might be helpful to like take it from the paper to the actual like what steps do I need to take? Because maybe that could be just what you do is just brain dump like this idea you have. Okay, now what I need to do, I like go into it and if it's Google spreadsheet, it could be like. The first step is like create a sales page, get this, do that right, and then you can start doing checkboxes for that, so you have more of like a structure of like the thing. So there's that part of it.
Speaker 1:And well, first, I guess, let me hear thoughts on like that. Now, once again, this is just another task manager, just like finding the one that works for your brain is like what's key. But for me it's been helpful as like a way of like it's not that it's not fancy, it's customizable and like I can access it if I need it almost anywhere, which is also really nice. So I'm not like dependent on oh shit, I'm at the coffee shop and I forgot my notepad, or which notebooks did I write that in? It's like in my Google. So I'm curious thoughts on thinking of it in that way and like sort of prioritizing low energy versus high energy days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that part is definitely something that I should do, because I kind of just keep everything I was like the same, you know, same priorities, same energy level when it truly isn't, and it's hard to differentiate that when it's all kind of in one list. I do like the idea of using, you know, the Google Drive for that, because you know I'm paying for it, like you know, less than three bucks a month, but it's still something like there's so many features that I'm just not utilizing in it and I think having everything in one place for my brain would be super helpful. And I know they keep like pushing Gemini and the AI technologies that you know with that. I think it'd be really helpful to know how to do that. But, at the same time, just having like a template of, okay, a spreadsheet that can be customized to what I need it to be would be really beneficial, just to kind of get started and then be able to then, you know, see if I can utilize the AI technologies and like organizing.
Speaker 2:I know I've used Goblin tools have you ever heard of that before? Where it like totally breaks down the task of you know certain bigger, you know bigger to-dos. It helps break down to, you know, down to like a super granular level if you need it to do that. But I think something like that could then just be like transported onto a spreadsheet and then be able to, yeah, kind of have some of those capacity levels been color coded?
Speaker 1:It's like right if I only have 30 minutes, if I have 45 minutes, if I have two hours, rather than trying to do all the things with very limited amounts of chunks of time totally yeah, because there's like you could plan as much as you want, but like it could be a random wednesday, too, where you're like I'm gonna like create this whole like handout that I'm gonna sell on my website. And then there could be this next week where you're like I'm going to like create this whole like handout that I'm going to sell on my website, and then there could be this next week where you're like I can't even like write one email. It's like so the contrast of like energy is just so hard to plan for sometimes, but having different levels of things that we can always do and just like having it out, cause when it comes to mind, it's like if it's here, you'll forget about it also, right, so like having it somewhere will help. You say like okay, these are things that just need to get done. Like for me, sometimes, just like go through my mail. I'm like I just need to like literally sit here and just go through it. Right, it's low energy, but sometimes just feels like I forget about it, and then I just like, oh, just feels like I forget about it, and then I just like, oh, shit, I didn't do this in forever, whereas like if it was on my to-do list of like all right, I have an hour here with the other thing and I think I'm curious too if it would be helpful for you.
Speaker 1:So two things of like calendars and task switching If you tend to like really rely on your structured calendar, actually scheduling and stuff might be helpful too. Of like knowing that, like on Wednesday, you have a break between two to three between your clients. Maybe putting in there like create to-do list template, I don't know right. They're like actually put something in there and you can like sort of seeing it there might help. You be like, oh yeah, that's what I want to do, because you might have once again, you might forget. If you're like looking ahead to tomorrow, you're gonna be like, oh, I should do that at two, and then two o'clock comes around. You're like what do I want to do now? It's much easier to like sort of plan it out that way and then you can decide neutrally do I have the bandwidth for it or not?
Speaker 1:And using something like that, and then I do think also I know I'm kind of jumping, but but striving to create a ideal schedule in whatever way that you can might help with you, like figuring out how to structure the days that you do have. So when you think about like monday, it's like you know, if you know that your energy is best in the morning, for example, like scheduling in your like ideal calendar that's going to be just created, anywhere from like nine to 12 is business development 12 to one, you know. Or if you do networking things, like planning those for mondays, like that's the day that I do networking and marketing for my private practice, whatever might be, but like really having focused days, which right now for you might be limited, because when the one day a week is really when you have, and the other days, of course, are more all over the place. But I'm curious how that sounds, feels all that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so, so funny.
Speaker 2:I feel like I tell this to my patients all the time, especially minor and divergent patients, where a lot of times they're like working through lunch or working through their breaks, when I'm like, well, you're so good at honoring all of the meetings on your calendar, just make that meeting with yourself, and the amount of times I'm not out here practicing what I preach, um, that could be very helpful to, yeah, kind of give myself a little bit more of that structure and I, yeah, I do think that I have a pretty good sense of like, kind of my energy level day to day, but even just, or like, or like week to week, but even day to day, like you know, it can be really varied and it's hard to know because I, you know, I'm trying to accommodate patient schedules and, you know, see people at those prime times when really I probably, you know, could use that energy for myself too.
Speaker 2:It's something that, into the new year, I'm gonna look at, you know, kind of structuring my um, you know schedule a little bit more so that it's conducive to my day and my life, and have already figured out, you know, kind of not trying to see people before 9 am, you know, preferably before 10, like I really have structured it pretty well. However, then I have these like random gaps during the day, or if you, if people cancel, and then these like unexpected breaks. Those are kind of what are throwing me off, more so than anything right now.
Speaker 1:I think having less expectation on yourself to be so productive during those like unexpected breaks is number one too, because it's yeah, I feel like when I was in solo practice, it was just me and like somebody would cancel, I'd be like cool, it's just my laptop down, I was at a baby so I'd like go and see him. Or, you know, maybe I would just go and play on my phone in silence because I didn't. You know, I had childcare or whatever, but like it was almost never. Like, oh, I'm going to use that time productive because it's like, you know, all of a sudden I cancel a, you're like cool, I can do nothing now.
Speaker 1:So, having less expectations on yourself, like and like from a neutral place to give yourself compassion, like, of course you're not gonna maybe want to do that, but sometimes you might. And that's where like having the list is. And so I think for you, what might be the most helpful is to sort of brain dump a couple things of like maybe long-term and short-term goals, of like if you want to do more, speak engagements, like what are the steps that are going to get you there? That's probably like doing some outreach or whatever. Maybe we okay, so that's, that's a thing. So now we have to create an outreach list on.
Speaker 1:On days where I don't want to think too much, I'm just going to Google people that I could reach out to.
Speaker 1:Next time I'll maybe send the emails, go to chat, create a template email, right.
Speaker 1:All those kinds of things can just be to give you a, give yourself a structure, and ultimately you might go into Google spreadsheets like me and be like, oh, this is cool, and then, like a month later, be over it. But I find for people with ADHD, it's like once we find the thing that gives us the right hit of dopamine or the thing that really works, we're going to do it and like long-term, and that's like for me, after trying out all these different things, like my spreadsheets have been like the one thing that's been consistent for me, because I think, when it comes to like these other programs, there's like one thing that's sort of off, that I can't customize or I don't like. I'm like I don't want to do this, but with spreadsheets I find that I'm like I don't want to do this, but with spreadsheets I find that I'm like able to make it how I want it to be and work for my brain, and so it's been the most helpful for me, for sure, without a doubt.
Speaker 2:I love how they look and I love, like I'm so impressed when people know how to like do the different functions and you know kind of equations to make things add up to where you know they need to to and so, or even just, yeah, the customization. So, yeah, any type of template for that would be awesome to play around with.
Speaker 1:I'll definitely share with you my marketing one that I have, and I'll even share with you my inquiry tracking sheet, which I've talked about a million times in the podcast, and I am finally finally taking the steps because I realize I'm not gonna. There's there's a really logistical part of it that's keeping me from doing it and I'm going to outsource that finally, literally last week I emailed somebody. I'm like can you just create the sales page for me, because I just can't do it and I want to because I talk about it all the time. But, yeah, I think just having an intro of like oh, I can make a dropdown and like color code that and you know, have that, so's all definitely share those with you so you can at least see what some of the options are for you and hopefully it gives some and I'll show you after we log off to what my google keep looks like. But that's been another one because it's also in google and it's just easy to use. It's like a, literally, just like you can create checklists and check them off. So, um, I'll definitely show you that as well.
Speaker 1:I'm curious now that we're sort of getting on the end of the hour, like how you're feeling. Was this helpful. Does it feel like there's still parts of it that could you know? Use some more clarification?
Speaker 2:and, like you know, taking those breaks when they happen is really important and that's truly like the key for that sustainable energy. But I think, yeah, the piece that I've been missing is just not prioritizing anything or expecting myself to have like the same consistent energy level. So being able to have a place for everything can just be already kind of documented, color-coded enough for me to just look at it and be like, okay, this is what I have the bandwidth for, this is what I'm going to do, even if it's those, you know, small wins, those dopamine hits, like that's what helps build me up to be able to do some of the bigger, more daunting tasks. So now, this is super helpful and I do, yeah, feel like we need more more dietitians talking about these executive functioning struggles and task management systems that they use, because there is no, as we know, there's no one size fits all, and so figuring out, you know, kind of and not gatekeeping out of these, you know, things that work for us. I really appreciate that and I appreciate your validation as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, it's like it's really not, you know, what works for most people is going to work for people who have ADHD or neurodivergent, and kind of having to figure out what's going to work the best for us, I think that's like the hardest part. But it's like kind of nutrition right, it's also individualized and we just sort of have to, like, you know, in working with eating disorders, like for some people, yeah, setting a timer to remind them to eat does help, and for a lot of people it doesn't. It's like we have to come up with different things. And for what I've learned about myself and clients that I've worked with and business coaching clients, it's like we have to find the thing that's going to excite us and like what that is for you is going to be different than it is for me. But the more we sort of try out these other things, we can kind of like learn the system that works the best for us.
Speaker 1:And yeah, I find like the, the structure of a task list or a spreadsheet that just has people's names and emails on them, ready to go, is like enough for me to like send an outreach email sometimes, and so that might sound simple to some people, but enough for me to like send an outreach email sometimes, and so that might sound simple to some people, but for us it's like can literally make the difference between reaching out to somebody and not at all for months. So I'm really grateful for you coming on and talking about this as well, because I find it's hard to talk about myself and my journey with it. So actually having someone to like talk through with it and like identify the like very common barriers is also really helpful, and I think it'll be really helpful for a lot of listeners, especially entrepreneurs, who I find have these these challenges themselves very often. So thank you so much for sharing and being open, and I'll definitely share this stuff with you. I'm excited to see where your business goes.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. It was great to talk. Yeah, I'd be able to talk about this and yeah, I can just be be more open about, you know, some of these struggles, cause I think it's not all picture perfect and a lot of times it's hard to realize that, um, based on you know, kind of seeing what other people are doing or how they're thriving in private practice, which is awesome, but yeah, there's a lot of these kind of day-to-day struggles too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we just feel stuck. So I'm really grateful to have had this conversation. So, yeah, so thanks so much for being on and I hope the listeners out there find it helpful. And yeah, thanks for tuning in if you've been listening. And any final thoughts, whitney, before we say goodbye.
Speaker 2:No, I appreciate it. And yeah, just a little shout out to all the NeuroSpicy dietitians out there already used to be like you know you're, you're not alone and finding kind of that community and a connection with people whose brains work similarly to you and reaching out for help and support. Like I said, I couldn't have gotten through those science classes without tutors, without my peers, and asking for those accommodations is another kind of benefit to getting an official diagnosis. But you do not have to have an official diagnosis to utilize a lot of these tools and resources that are designed for neurodivergent brains. So that's something I just yeah, I wish I'd known more and had more knowledge of these resources early.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally Thanks for sharing that and yeah, thanks for being on and we will talk to you next time on the podcast. Everyone Bye. Thanks for listening to the RD to CEO podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for any resources mentioned or find more at wwwrdtoceocom. Never miss an episode by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. See you next time.
