LATE BLOOMERS - 7: ADHD & CREATIVITY: 10 Ways To Harness Your Neurodivergence For Good

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

The ADHD brain can generate approximately 900 brilliant ideas before breakfast. Finishing one of them is where things get complicated. This week, Rich and Rox share ten ways to harness ADHD creativity without losing the plot, abandoning the project or accidentally bankrupting yourself.They talk hyperfocus, impossible goals, “dopamine dollars,” building the team your brain is missing and why confidence comes after you start—not before. Rox also discovers she may have leaked the title of another album, which rather proves one of the points.20% off Loop Earplugs: ⁠https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdloveCHAPTERS00:00 ADHD and creativity02:18 When lightning strikes, run towards it06:07 Make the goal feel impossible08:43 Don’t spend your dopamine dollars10:35 Rox accidentally leaks another album11:27 Keep your creative project shiny13:17 Nobody starts confident15:16 Loop Earplugs16:22 Build the team your brain is missing20:54 Don’t become your own bottleneck23:29 Don’t make permanent decisions in temporary emotions25:59 Market like you don’t have ADHD29:45 Don’t bankrupt yourself33:07 Final thoughts

Do you have ADHD? Are you highly creative? Today we are talking about 10 ways to supercharge that amazing creative brain of yours, use your neurodivergence for good and actually start and finish amazing creative projects. Welcome to late bloomers where we are getting our lives together. Eventually brought to you by our amazing sponsor, Loop Earplugs. The creative episode. I feel like this is your wheelhouse, isn't it? Well, you say that, but we have split the talking points. We have. I'm going to bring five ADHD-infused tips. People always ask me, how do you finish your creative projects?

How do you do music? So I'm going to tell you the five things that I do in order to start and finish my creative projects, but then you are going to give us the five, the other side of it, I guess it's a more autistic lens, the details, the money, the organisation, that ADHD is in creative lanes 100% need. Yeah, it's more like advice I'm giving, that's something you may not think about. That's it. So together we are the complete ADHD creativity hackers. Do you mind if I just plug something really quickly. I don't mind. Imagine if you said no. Yeah, can you imagine? No, actually. I just want to get on with it.

I have got a brand new album out. It is called Bloodletting. And if you like heavy, lyrically dense, sad, emotionally cathartic, sometimes humorous. Go and check it out. Go and check it out. I think that was a fine plug. Yeah. I think you going to be drawing quite a lot from your music career in this episode, I would imagine. I will. I mean, if an ADHD can get an album done, and this is my second album, like I've learnt something walking that, rather horrendous, but awesome road to finishing. So, shall we get into it, my darling? Let's do it.

Okay, so I'm up first. Number one, when lightning strikes, run with it. when you have ADHD Wait, you can't run with lightning Do you mean towards it Run towards the lightning Can't run with it Not running, sorry I'm being, that's done that on purpose

I apologise It's okay, you are autistic So I will let it slide Not actually slide I'm using it as a metaphor When lightning strikes Run towards it When you have a

ADHD, your brain is literally on fire 24-7 other than when you're in burnout with creative ideas for projects you're working on, for projects that you might want to work on all of the time. And sometimes we can shame ourselves into thinking that all of our ideas aren't worthy of time. But one thing I've learned is if you get that obsession, that fix, that is like a magic form of energy that by the way, let's us focus and work at a pace that like no one else can access. And you don't get to turn it on or off. We're not in control of it.

My God, if we would, we'd do well. So I completely agree. And I can see you do your best work when you're like locked in. And it's not a choice you make. It just happens. Can I also play devil's advocate or just ask a question? Because obviously we've been together now for six years? Six and a half, yeah.

Is that right? Wow. And what you can do as well is like not do things that maybe you need or should be doing. Instead, you'll go into a creep. Like, I'm just asking, I'm not, it's not. So when we get to your second half, we'll do the boring bits. This is like the fire up your bum bit. Okay.

So save that energy later on. So when lightning strikes, run towards it and just know that that is your core source energy, your superpower. Like if I look over the last year, because it has been a year of working on and writing this latest album, it wasn't like I did a little bit every day. No. It was probably done within a few weeks of various moments of crazy, intense, like, hyper-focused work. It's the same with all the books as well, isn't it? They're done in, like, in big things when it's, like, strikes you. Like, it will take a year for me to write a book.

In four days. Well, it's a little bit more than four days, but, yeah, it'll be blocks of days of just, like. Yeah. We're basically capable of like the absolute lock-in. And when you get that, that's when to use it. I think the one warning I would give is like, you have to trust the lightning because that lightning feeling will disappear. You will fall out of love with that project, that title, that painting, that song.

You have to go, no, I had that lightning at the beginning. I'm going to trust that was a moment of like intuition. and then like carry it and kick it slowly over the finish line. That's really good advice because that's happened for everything you've ever done or so ever in the last six and a half years that I know of. That's happened with everything you've ever done. Love it. Number two.

Make it impossible. It's like such a strange thing to say that this is what helps us unlock our creativity. But it does. ADHD is thrive on being told they could. can't do something, an impossible goal, finding or researching a way around it, around the gatekeepers, around the social norms that make it impossible. Why are you giggling? So I'm thinking about, this is a slightly different lane, but like the most recent example of this, I'll probably get hate for this. You've just started golf, right, like a couple of months ago.

And I've played golf since I was 10, so I'm like semi-decent at it. And after the first few days of watching you attempt to hit golf balls, just the way you were swinging, the way you're holding it, everything. I was like, babes, I love you. But I don't think you're teachable. And I have never seen a lock-in like it. Like you being told you can't do something, there's like a red rag to a bull. That's the perfect example. The minute I heard those words come from your mouth, I think you're unteachable. And when I was like, when do you think I can play a game, you're like a couple of years, I locked in so hard that I have got. You've now played three rounds of 18 holes and done pretty well.

Yeah. So make it impossible. When we were writing our books, I remember saying our first book, Dirty Laundry, we're going to get it in the Sunday Times bestseller independently. And everyone was like, you're absolutely insane. I was like, insanity is what it takes. And we did it. And we had to research how to do it.

it, registrations. Like all this, I've forgotten it all now, but all this like crazy information. Yeah. Same with this album. My first album came out in 2025 and I was told there's no way it would go top 40 because it was just me independently, unsigned and unhinged. That was like, yeah, red rag to the ball. Just watch me.

And you got into top 10. I got into the top 10. This album I have been told it is cats are guys. It's categorically impossible to get into the top 10 because it's a really busy week in the charts. But categorically, and I've seen the numbers, and I won't lie, it does look a little impossible. But I like that. So, yeah, download bloodletting thing. I just love an impossible.

We love an impossible girl, don't we? You do. Oh, man. Number three, don't spend your dopamine dollars before doing the work. what the hell does that mean? So when that lightning strikes and when we think we're onto an amazing idea and it could be anything, the name of a book, an album, the idea for a painting, a new business,

spending your dopamine dollars means sharing it and like celebrating it too early. So it would be, you know, going online and being like, oh, I've got this amazing idea for a book before it's ready. to be marketed or pre-ordered because you get the high, you get that dopamine reward just from talking about it or showing it to others. And if you go too early, you will like completely lose that reward system of kind of delayed gratification of working on a painting, a book, an album, and then announcing it when it is ready. And that's what helps you. keep walking and like keep trudging towards the end goal.

That's really, really fascinating because actually I struggle with that. I'm like, let's say, let's tell people, let's announce it. But actually if like our latest book, Cherry Tree Theory, we didn't tell anyone about it until it was ready to buy. Like our first post, it was available. It came out a week later. Yeah. But holding that back, not saying that you're working on a book,

not announcing, it means that when it comes time to finish it, to talk about it, you've got all that energy. I really like that one. Yeah. And I did not a great job on this in my music last year. So I was releasing my first album restoration. And I easter-egged basically the name of my next album, the one that's out now, Bloodletting. And I wrote on one of the vinals, the next album is called Bloodletting.

So I gave away the name before I'd really written songs for it or come anywhere near finishing. So normally that moment of like telling people your album name, that's where you delay. Why are you looking at me like that? Why haven't you done that again? Haven't you just done that? Well, yeah. But nobody really knows that I've done it. Well, they will now.

Yeah. Anyway, on to number four, keep it shiny. We thrive on novelty. Do you? And very often, when we think about creativity and novelty, we think about starting something new. So if you're finishing an album, we'll start painting. If your painting start a new business,

something that takes you away, you need to harness the amazing power of novelty within your current creative project. How'd you do that, though? So with music, it's actually set up incredibly well because you're moving on to new single, new artwork, new video. Even in the writing process, you'll finish a song and then call next, but you get to dump the one before and move on. So music's actually incredible for the,

ADHD brain. Same with Dubby, I would say. Same with Dubby, our app. Anytime we launch something, I'm like, what's next? Should we do nudges? Should we launch live body doubling? Should we make our own platform with teams? Like, it's a constant source. Writing a book is a bit harder. Where I find it with the book, and this is where that delayed dopamine really helps, you often do the blurb and the front cover right at the end. And those things are just incredible. So if I've like plowed through all these chapters and then we're suddenly working on the front cover, oh my Lord, it works. So always look within your creative project for ways to bring in novelty. Try something different.

Create something else. But don't leave the main thing. I like it. I like it. Okay. And number five from me, which is my last one about ADHD and Created. And this is a comment I get so much from people is how do you have the confidence to do this? People may have seen me on a download main stage or doing my own gigs or even just showing up on the internet and singing songs.

And I get so many DMs. How do you have the confidence? I need this confidence. You do not have, nobody has confidence to begin with. And I used to believe that. I'm so unconfident. I'm so low self-esteem. Yeah, no kidding. You earn your self-esteem and you earn your confidence via the act of doing it. And it's going to take years. So when you do your first painting, share your first poem, publish your first chapter,

you're going to feel horrendous and awful. Is this similar to like everyone's an imposter type of? but people that suffer with imposter syndrome. It's like, well, everyone's an imposter. Everyone's out here just pretending, just pretend that you're confident. And then the more you practice that, you're actually. You pretend that you're confident. I remember, you know, my first few gigs as Rory, you know, like TMI,

but like running to the loo before stage because. Yeah, I can imagine. Let's just say nerves and tummies. I don't think you have to just say anything. We know. And like my hands shaking, like holding the mic. and my little hand like shaking. And then a couple of years ago, I'd been doing it for a couple of years,

I sort of went on stage and was like, oh, cool. Like, you get it as a sort of reward along the way. Nobody ever starts confident. And if you wait to start confident, you're going to be waiting a really long time. So that is my five tips to supercharge your ADHD and creativity. Before we get to your five, I'm just going to talk about our incredible sponsor for a moment. Struggling with sound sensitivities can be a really big part of the neurodivergent experience.

For Rich, that looks like when I drag him to a rock concert kind of shaking in the back of the room. And for me, it might be traveling on a train or being out for dinner and not being able to hear what Rich is saying, because I can basically overhear the entire restaurant. This is what Loop Earplugs are incredible for. They have got a loop earplug for basically any situation, whether you're studying, napping, sleeping, going to a big rock concert or going to a restaurant. We have got an amazing partnership with Loop

whereby every one of our listeners gets 20% off our favourite products. You can find the link to that in our show notes or in our social media bio. Enjoy. Okay, you ready for mine? Can I just caveat something? What? I need to say that

the only reason my creativity thrives nowadays that the reason why a second album has come out or I've written a book or we're doing this pod is because of your presence in my life that balances out. Like my five, so my five are so important, but like this five is just as important or else it will be chaos. So what you're saying is maybe they're a bit miserable and boring, but they're really important. Yeah.

Okay. Number six. And this actually really links to what you. just said, build the team that your brain is missing. So if you're a big vision thinker, find somebody that's detailed. Or if you go on gut instinct, find somebody that maybe is grounded in logic. And that's really important. But that's like that, that's good advice for anyone, let alone somebody on the creative ADHD path because actually just being self-aware of your weak spots is super important because then you can then you can work to fill in those gaps

and i think ADHD is have a kind of toxic trait when they're like high on the lightning of an idea and believing in impossible goals that they can do anything and yeah maybe you can in a creative realm, but what you can't do is get rid of your ADHD. You will struggle with memory, organisation, planning, over well, like, that is always going to be there. And I know that, you know, you have helped me run the finances since when I started making music again. That's been so important. But even within my actual team, someone that I work so well with that I need like oxygen is Beth. Beth is like female you.

Details oriented, organized, like constantly on it, incredible planning and memory. And I don't. But she does well at managing you, so she'll do your little to-do lists and chase you,

but not in a shaming way. Like she understands your brain. I think that's important as well. Yeah, a team that understands your brain. And I think sometimes, we're maybe if we have creative goals that can come with shame and we're ashamed to ask for help because it might feel silly.

Maybe we've been shamed for music or writing or dancing or these creative passions. But actually you need help and building those teams. You might end up being the visionary on your team. But you need those other pieces like the yin and the yang. Well, shout out to Max probably at this stage. The person that's recording this and editing it. it and making sure that you're actually watching it and listening to it on Spotify or YouTube

or whatever because you always wanted to do a podcast for as long as I've known you because you consume podcasts and it wouldn't have been beyond the realms of possibility that you'd have been like, no, we can do it. I can just set up my laptop and it just wouldn't one episode maybe. We would have done. No, I reckon we would have got three. I reckon. I could have gone three weeks. And now we're like coming up to the end of the second year. Yeah, shout out to Max. It's always the people off camera or off stage that really keep creative projects going. I do think he's a bit of a hybrid though because he's coming out as creative as well at the moment.

He's really helping us with ideas as well as doing all the logistical stuff. Audio HD. I think, I think maybe. He's brothers audio HD. Yeah. I don't know why I'm whispering. Max is literally in the room. He can hear you.

But yeah, really quick on that though, people at the beginning of their creative journeys, may not be able to hire people or have teams. When I began, it was me and you. So you find a best mate or a partner or find someone that can just help you. Yeah. Ready for number seven. Oh, yeah. Don't be a bottleneck in your own work.

So there's a couple of things I've got to say on this related to you. God, so real. So in the moment, there's a bit of people pleaser or something. You'll just say yes to loads of stuff. And like I can hear that, I think maybe because I'm removed a step and be like, that's never going to happen. She's going to say, yes, I'll do that today or tomorrow. And we'll still be asking for that stuff in a couple of weeks.

So just I suppose that is about delegation as well and giving it to the right person. But the second thing, just quickly, is even if it is your strength, sometimes you're like wanting to control everything, certainly around even the creative piece, and then mix that with your executive dysfunction, sometimes can delay things. I mean, my album, this album was meant to come out in May, weren't it? May. Yeah.

It's meant to come out on my mum's birthday. Yeah, didn't make that deadline. And that quite often was creative stuff. Oh, yeah. I think that's really good. So obviously we know that ADHD is will be a bottleneck. And by bottleneck, we mean everything stops with you. The river can't flow.

You know, if there's a heavy admin task to do, example, I needed to write out all the lyrics of bloodletting. So lyric sites can have the right words. And I said I was going to do it. And anyone can do that. It didn't happen. And then Beth, blesser, sat down and wrote them all out. And it was done.

And I felt like I could. because it was amazing. So that's easy to see. But yeah, like you said, I can bottleneck creative stuff with dubby or with music. With music, it might be I want to come up with the creative idea for a music video. And then I'll just go in like wandering through and like not coming up with it

and not telling people when I have the idea like bottlenecking there. So you have to look at where your executive function, your ADHD or just who you are, it's who I am. I'm a bit of a bottleneck sometimes and how you can protect yourself. The saying yes thing by the way, I was really reflecting on it. Who's going to write the lyrics out? I'll do it. I want to look like a good soldier. I want to look like a hard worker. I want to be told well done at the end of a job. But then I don't do it and I make help for myself. Yeah. Well, you ready for number eight? Come on. This one's really interesting. I've got some stuff to say about this one.

Don't make forever decisions based on short-term emotions. Now, I've got a theory. I'm not a doctor, disclaimer. But there's something about neurodivergent people, because I fall into this as well. If we feel a strong emotion,

again, this is this theory. Like, it's really easy for us to feel like we felt that emotion forever. So like if you're a bit low or suffering with depression or whatever, you can't see three weeks ago, me as well, when you were like happy and fine and loving life. It's like, no, I've been in this state forever. And that happened to you with music, didn't it? I mean, pretty recently. Yeah. I was really low

combination of people dying and perimenopause and just general burnout pick your poison and I kind of decided I wanted to quit music and I was pretty set on it it's quite a strong emotion

this was in the middle of this album cycle by the way how's that for a bottleneck and I remember you saying I don't think that's true I think there's a world where you do carry on And I was like, no, I can't do it.

I'm done. And then probably only the last few weeks. Yeah. I'm like, rearing to go. It's crazy. So, yeah, I think you have to protect yourself from your emotional swings. We know actually that ADHD comes with, like, unstable emotions as well. Or like emotional dysregulation, I guess, is the posh word.

That will affect your creativity. creative work too. Yeah. Hating stuff, falling out of love, wanting to leave. It can be negative or positive, actually. It's almost like lightning striking in a bad way. Yeah. Yeah.

And I wouldn't say run towards that. No. Take time, like fall into the work, take a break, better to rest than quit, all of that. Because things can change and you can fall back in love with creative projects. Are you ready for number nine? I am. Market, because everything needs marketing, right? Market like you don't have RSD.

Oh my God. Now, that's so good. I've got a statement to me. Okay. Should I be worried? Well, you might not agree, but like, let's see where this takes us. I think that you do this brilliantly with the ADHD love arm of our. business because we make cringe, wholesome content on the internet. I love it. We're

cringing and wholesome. I think that you have got better with Rory, your music project, but actually you historically have been far too worried about what people might think, maybe, or like not showing the real you. I don't know. Let's see what you think. You post all of our ADHD de-love videos so I can't bottleneck those. Your dad deletes all of the negative comments, so I don't see those. Shout out, Lawrence. By the way, that's so funny. People like, occasionally get hate comments.

People leaving hate comments. And it's like, your little dad just sucks on every morning and deletes. It's so sweet. Healthy criticism we don't delete, by the way. No, no, no. Real hate. Out and out trolls. Yeah, yeah.

I think with music RSD does play a big part. A little bit less now. I am feeling more confident. But I'll worry, is a video good enough? Is it going to go viral? Is it a flop? Does that mean I'm a flop? Maybe I shouldn't post.

I overthink. I compare. And then I am paralysed. I don't do anything. It was only a few months ago. And I'm in the middle of an album campaign a few months. months ago. It should be your most busy time. I didn't post, I think, on my Instagram for like four or five weeks. And I remember saying to you, it's all over. It's all going backwards. I can't

post on my socials. Controversial take. Yeah. And again, happy to be argued with. But it really, I think, highlights a difference maybe between me and you. And I've not met a music artist yet where they're self-esteem isn't a little bit linked to the success or failure of their of their music project, right? So obviously that's a scale. You can be a little bit upset or sad, but continue, or you can let it completely devour you. Whereas I, it doesn't really bother me. Like, if it does well, call if it doesn't call, like, I don't, I don't, I don't care, really. Like, I'm just going to keep working and I'll be driven by data. It's different personalities but of course you know on this pod we're very much looking through the lens of ADHD and autism. ADHD tends to lean towards

a sensitivity to being perceived or rejected and an autism is more you do your own rules even at the barbecue. I don't want to talk to you. I'm leaving now like in any situation you do what you want and that happens at work. It's really interesting because I'm now realizing having listened to you and listen to me that I am in fact a bottleneck on my own social media. I've got so many videos that I haven't posted. I don't doubt it.

I need someone to help me with my social media basically. There you go. Look at that. Wow. Number 10. Final one. Yeah. Nice and simple. Self-explanatory, some might say.

Don't bankrupt yourself. Oh, yeah. Came pretty close, didn't I, babes? You did come pretty close. pretty close. Before I met you. And I know that I can be a frustration. So whilst you say I'm helping with the finances, I know my brain can be a frustration to your brain when I'm like, and I'm not always right, I'm maybe too far the other way. I'm like, that's not a good thing to spend money on, like that's wasted money. And you're like, do you know I mean, like, I know I can be a frustration,

but I know that it's also really important. So let's talk about ADHD, novelty. and risk-taking and doing the impossible, if we really believe in an idea, we will want to spend all of our money on trying to bring that to life. And when I was younger, I did it so many times. I lost so much money on music. I dread to think money that was left to me,

like in my mum's will. I'd like 20 grand. That all went in the early days of music and other stories as well. And in fact, when we, met um i think it was in 2019 when i had a letter from the government saying yeah they were going to close down my company and declare it bankrupt i hadn't paid taxes and i know sorry i know that's no no it's okay you can't help but laugh that's a visceral reaction you can laugh and then i meet

you in 2020 and you know you were a bank manager and you really help me to to not overspend by way of like wanting the best or maybe trying to make up for my own low self-esteem and shortfalls. Like you try and spend your way out of, um, out of that. And also sometimes you do have to spend money. It's, I think there's a, there is something about ADHD taking risks and investing and, um, believing in their magic that's really important. I mean, I, I convinced you to spend every penny that, that, that we had in savings from our, um, um, believing in their magic. And, um, um, that, that's really important. first book dirty laundry on building a body doubling act will dubby i mean i don't know how i did it well let's be real though so so my advice on this subject would be you can take risks as long as

they're calculated so yes you did get us to spend every penny we had on dubby and i agreed to it the only reason i agreed to it is that i knew we just signed our first book deal so we had some other money coming in in the future like it couldn't have bankrupted us Whereas some of my music decisions, they can. So yeah, I think it's that fine balance of knowing when to invest and knowing you should never ever be up for bankruptcy. That should not be an option on the table. And it sounds so silly to say, but we are so passionate and so obsessed that the ADHD brain can just throw down a credit card. I remember in my 20s spending thousands of pounds on a credit card in Facebook.

Facebook advertising. Mm-hmm. I just into a black hole. I'm trying to launch my project back then and it, you know. On that bombshell, that brings us to the end. Yeah. Have you enjoyed it? Yeah.

I think it's been some really good stuff in there. It's been really good. It's been really balanced. And I just hope some of our listeners who are creative, it gives them a kick up the bum to start doing what they love and believing in their ideas. but also that safety net of make sure you've got the right people around you. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Late Blumers. It would mean the world.

If you would check out my album, if you're into what music and that kind of stuff. We'd love to know what creative projects are you working on. Are you a bottleneck? Do you have the right team around you? Has this episode helped you in any way? And if you're shopping, go and look at the comment section. There's loads of creative ideas in there, hopefully. Oh yeah

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