Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

Agree on the rebranding. Thank you for your positivity & inclusivity!!

Apologize if the "heartbreaking" and "liberating" language felt a bit dramatic (I am a bit dramatic...), but it really did feel that way for me after living my whole life feeling like I was constantly doing everything wrong.

Ever since slowly going deeper and deeper into the ADHD community, the positive spark of the community is undeniably special and since reframing a lot of my views on ADHD & myself, I've been able to lean more heavily on some of my "superpowers" as well.

We actually love the Big 5 personality traits out of all those similar quizzes, backed by good science and I think it's actually the fan fave of our Head ADHD Coaching Psychologist, Xenia!

There's an organization understood.org that is starting/forwarding the movement (neurodiversity as a whole, not just ADHD) exactly as you say! We're excited about some upcoming partnerships with them :)

If you think exercise or some good habits significantly changes ADHD you don't know what ADHD is, sorry.

I do both, does not change my ADHD at all (it has other benefits surely)

> Person with severe adhd and disposable income here: Nope. This is too much. Especially if you're not offering psychiatric services (e.g., no meds).

Thanks for pointing this out, we know it's still not in reach for most people. We're trying our best to get it as low as possible and are working on alternate routes, especially for those with the financial need. Right now we have our financial aid application, and we're working on something a bit bigger that will disproportionately impact communities of need

> I can appreciate celebrating october being adhd awareness month in november.

Haha, yes, we're a few days late. The month we're observing is Oct12-Nov12

> I also want to call out that there's no regulation around adhd coaching. More or less anyone can do it with out qualifications. You'll notice that there's no mention of insurance being accepted. I say this because it's a ripe area for taking advantage of people. In the absence of regulation, extra scrutiny is warranted.

Agree on extra scrutiny. The area of ADHD coaching has been unregulated and quality is definitely variable (really great coaches costing $2,000+/mo. and other new coaches marketing their services without much training etc). I have a separate comment down / up there somewhere on insurance. We're standing on the shoulder of giants by putting together psychoeducation that is science-backed and pooling resources & knowledge to help guide with what has worked for ADHD brains. We're working towards some loftier goals right now as well including an Academy-like offering...

> That's a sneaky 'or' there -- What're the statistics around the coaches qualifications?

Our coaches fall in 1 of 2 categories: (1) Coaching or MH professional credentials (ICF, Therapists, Psychiatrists) or (2) Masters-level or equivalent of psychology- or ADHD- related field along with extensive hours of client-facing facilitation & coaching work. 100% of our coaches fall into 1 of the above 2 categories.

> No linkage to their qualifications

Dr. Anil Chacko: https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/anil-chacko

Xenia Angevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xenia-angevin/ Dr. Amin Azzam: https://meded.ucsf.edu/people/amin-azzam

Exercise manages ZERO ADHD symptoms. I can tell you between times of almost zero exercise and anything from once to five times a week the ADHD was not affected.

Telling me to stop coming to HN is like telling a drug addict to just not take drugs.

Even if I block HN, I will just be distracted by something else.

Thank you, and more than happy to share in detail what we're on. The key (or one of the keys... not THE one) here is not just that I'm working on those things, but that there's another human on the other side who I deeply respect who is keeping me accountable to these changes. Checking in each week and knowing that check in is coming is helpful for me. For me out of the motivators of [accountability], [novelty], and [interest], accountability is my personal biggest one.

But back to the topic...

> Setting up triggers, plans for distractions, rewards:

1. Triggers: I get a glass of this special coffee (smart energy coffee, a brazillian brand that just came to US actually) every time I enter a 3 hour deep work block. It signifies the ritual has started, essentially

2. Plans for distractions: We tried a lot of things here, some worked and some don't (it's important you test and experiment to find what works for you). For me, I pre-came up with what sort of situations would take me out of flow easiest and planned around it. It was cumbersome but helped. E.g. for me it was "if a member emails I feel inclined to respond right away to help them", my solution was to give that 3 hour "shift" to my co-founder and trust that he's got it. Another one that worked was having a distraction log stickynote. If something happened that wasn't on my deep work agenda, no MATTER how important it was, I wrote it down on the sticky note and moved forward. This was really hard in practice but now I have it a lot better down

3. Rewards: This we also tested a lot and tbh I don't have anything perfect here yet but after each deep work session I allow myself to bask in the sun on my balcony and now I find myself nearing the end of the block and feeling the sun already as a physical response (I'm very sensory)

> Auditory alarms: I used to have terrible alarms that induced anxiety, fear, and surprise. My coach had me change it to things that are pleasant (oddly I never thought alarms should be pleasant lol). Now I have certain ones that signify the start and end of sessions, my work day, etc. They're just on auto-pilot and they help me build an awareness of time. Once again, like the other stuff, daunting to set up but once it's set up and you find your flow, it runs itself.

> Detailed items: THIS ONE is definitely still a challenge for me BIG TIME. I now have a specific part of my to-do list that is for items like this and I've experimented with different times in the day I do it, how I do it, in what chunks, etc. And we landed on me setting aside 1 time a week for "these tasks" that are kind of gross and I do it with wine (I know... not great) and with my partner, and with a pomodoro clock and we race each other to finish our annoying tasks.