358 The Day I Hired a Frontal Lobe: How Paying for Help Pulled Me Out of ADHD Chaos

I Have ADHD Podcast

Kristen Carder

Education, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

4.8 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, Kristen chats with Bill, Creative & Executive Director of ArtPhilly, who is currently helping mastermind a city-wide arts festival for America’s 250th birthday. He’s smart, creative, high-capacity… and, like many ADHDers, he hit the limit of what his frontal lobe could juggle.

And then? He hired help — aka he hired himself a frontal lobe.

And everything changed.

This interview is full of laughs, honesty, and so many “OMG SAME” moments.

In this episode, Bill talks about:

His ADHD story and how long he tried to push through on grit alone
The stuckness and overwhelm that finally made him say, “Okay… I need an extra brain”
What the hiring process was actually like — awkward, liberating, and so worth it
Why paying for help isn’t indulgent — it’s ADHD brain maintenance
How getting support expanded his peace, confidence, and capacity

The big idea:

If you’ve ever told yourself, “I should be able to do this myself,” Bill’s story gives you the permission slip you’ve been waiting for. If you have money to spend, hiring help isn’t a luxury — it’s a way of outsourcing executive function so you can actually live the life you’re trying to build.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by cure hydration. You know that moment. For me, it's around like 2 or 3 p.m.
0:06.0	When my ADHD brain just decides, uh, we're done for the day. We're done here. The afternoon slump
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