Dani Donovan: How to get stuff done when you don’t feel like it
Women & ADHD
Katy Weber
4.9 • 726 Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2026
⏱️ 86 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode 210 with Dani Donovan
“I either get 30 minutes worth of work done in 8 hours or 8 hours worth of work done in 30 minutes — those are the only two options.”
Dani is an ADHD content creator, speaker, and the celebrated author of “The Anti-Planner: How to Get Sh*t Done When You Don't Feel Like It.”
Dani became an overnight sensation when a flowchart she drew mapping out her winding, ADHD storytelling style went viral on Twitter. Since then, she has built a massive community by bringing radical vulnerability, humor, and data visualization to the neurodivergent experience. She’s spoken at major companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Adobe, and she is the founder of The Anti-Boring Project.
We dive deep into misconceptions about ADHD, including being told you are “too smart to have ADHD.” Dani shares her story of growing up with teachers who dismissed her mother's ADHD inquiries because she was getting good grades.
We also explore the magic behind visual storytelling for ADHD brains, why traditional productivity systems tend to fail us, and how the “Anti-Planner” organizes strategies based on your current emotional resistance — such as feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unmotivated.
Plus, Dani shares some exclusive details about an exciting new app she is prototyping!
Key topics discussed:
- How teachers dismissed her ADHD symptoms because she was "too smart"
- The therapist who recognized Dani’s ADHD through her communication style
- Growing up questioning authority and fighting unfairness
- Why ADHD brains connect with infographics and memes
- How a workplace joke became a career-defining moment
- Finding people with matching scars and shared experiences
- The Anti-Planner origins: From business field guide to revolutionary productivity system
- The five categories of executive dysfunction (stuck, overwhelmed, unmotivated, disorganized, discouraged)
- Perfectionism vs. Experimentation: Permission to keep quitting and trying new approaches
- Exclusive preview of Dani’s upcoming ADHD productivity app
Website: anti-planner.com
Instagram: @danidonovan
Tiktok: @danidonovan
Links & Resources:
The Anti-Planner: How to Get Sh*t Done When You Don't Feel Like It
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | you can't see how heavy anybody else's backpack is. |
| 0:04.3 | And your backpack being heavier than others, |
| 0:06.8 | just because you can carry it doesn't mean that it's the same weight as other people's. |
| 0:11.1 | It just means that you had to build a lot more muscle. |
| 0:14.8 | You had to get stronger. |
| 0:15.9 | Like you had to become stronger in order to deal with what you were given. |
| 0:23.6 | Hello and welcome to the women and ADHD podcast. I'm your host, Katie Weber. I was diagnosed |
| 0:30.0 | with ADHD at the age of 45 and it completely turned my world upside down. I've been looking |
| 0:36.1 | back at so much of my life, school, jobs, |
| 0:40.4 | my relationships, all of it with this new lens, and it has been nothing short of overwhelming. |
| 0:46.0 | I quickly discovered I was not the only woman to have this experience, and now I interview |
| 0:50.4 | other women who, like me, discovered in adulthood they have ADHD and are finally |
| 0:55.9 | feeling like they understand who they are and how to best lean into their strengths, both |
| 1:01.4 | professionally and personally. |
| 1:03.6 | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Women in ADHD podcast. |
| 1:09.3 | Before we get started, I have some exciting life updates |
| 1:13.3 | that I wanted to share. First of all, after four years of classes and papers and presentations |
| 1:20.0 | and a year-long internship, I have officially earned my Master of Science in Clinical Mental |
| 1:26.7 | Health Counseling. It has been an incredible journey, |
| 1:30.4 | and I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to continue learning about the intersection |
| 1:34.9 | of mental health, neurodiversity, and the lived experience of so many women in this community. |
| 1:40.2 | So the next step is going to be to pursue my licensure in New York State, and I am very excited to see where this next chapter leads. |
... |
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