The Creative Path to Finding Your Authentic Self with Jacob Nordby

Hacking Your ADHD

William Curb

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 702 Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hey team!

Today I’m talking with Jacob Nordby—author, creative mentor, and founder of the Institute for Creative Living. Jacob’s work blends personal development, creativity, and storytelling to help people live more aligned and authentic lives.

In our conversation, we talk about his late ADHD diagnosis and how that shaped his journey to finding his authentic self. We explore the challenges of masking, the struggle of figuring out who you really are after years of trying to fit in, and how journaling, self-discovery tools, and embracing curiosity can help peel back those layers. We also dive into what it means to live authentically with ADHD and the ways masking can drain us.

Start Freedom today! Use code ADHD40 to get them 40% off a Freedom Yearly premium subscription!

Listen to the Climbing the Walls podcast here!

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/223

YouTube

Patreon

This Episode's Top Tips

1. Use daily journaling with intentional prompts—Jacob recommends asking “How do I feel right now?”, “What do I need right now?”, and “What would I love to create?” to reconnect with your emotions, needs, and creative energy.
2. Frame “rest” as active recovery—Instead of shaming yourself for downtime, recognize that pulling back sensory input (like a “pajama day” with blackout curtains) can be a crucial nervous system reset.
3. Practice nonjudgmental self-discovery—Approach your exploration of who you are with curiosity instead of criticism, creating a safer internal space for growth.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD.
0:06.0	I'm your host, William Kerb, and I have ADHD.
0:10.0	On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain.
0:16.0	Hey team, today I'm talking with Jacob Nordby, author, creative mentor, and founder of the
0:21.5	Institute for Creative Living. Jacob's work blends personal development, creativity, and storytelling
0:26.5	to help people live more aligned and authentic lives. In our conversation today, we talk
0:31.6	about his late ADHD diagnosis and how that shaped his journey to finding his authentic self.
0:36.9	We explore the challenges of masking, the struggle of figuring out who you really are after years of trying to fit in,
0:42.8	and how journaling, self-discovery tools, and embracing curiosity can help peel back those layers.
0:48.4	We also dive into what it means to live authentically with ADHD and the ways masking can drain us.
0:54.2	If you'd like to follow along on the show notes page, you can find that at hacking your ADHD.com
0:58.9	slash 223.
1:01.0	This episode is brought to you by Freedom, but I'm not talking about the concept of
1:05.0	freedom here.
1:05.8	I'm talking about the Freedom app used by over 3 million people around the world to
1:10.0	stay focused and productive.
1:11.7	Freedom.to, an app I've relied on for over a decade to tackle internet distractions head-on.
1:17.3	As an app featured in Apple's App Store as an editor's choice for top apps to support those with ADHD,
1:23.1	this one really hits the mark.
1:24.9	We've all found ourselves scrolling the web when we know we should be doing something else,
1:28.5	be it social media, YouTube, or shopping.
1:30.8	The distractions on the internet are endless, and with my impulsive ADHD habits, sometimes
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from William Curb, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of William Curb and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.