The ⚡️ADHD Girlie⚡️ Glossary
terms that describe the typical ADHD Girlie experience and/or common parlance in the ADHD Girlieverse.
this is EVER-EXPANDING btw! If you’d like to get a term added to our glossary, leave a comment below!
A
ADHD Baddie the peak of ADHD girlhood. A woman who doms her ADHD instead of the other way around.
Analysis Paralysis the frozen state an ADHD Girlie will find herself in when faced with too many options.
B
Brain Gridlock the conundrum ADHD Girlies encounter when faced with choices that seem to ‘cancel each other out’ — i.e., I need to take a shower, but I shouldn’t shower until I go to the gym, but I can’t go out in public smelling like this, so I should take a shower, but I shouldn’t shower until I got to the gym… and so on. Rather than quickly making a choice and moving on, the ADHD Girlie is prone to letting her brain run that hamster wheel until she is exhausted and/or out of time, inadvertently making the worst choice of all - none of the above!
C
Chair Theory Danielle Colada’s theory that posits ADHD Girlies should find whatever the F*CK works for them to help them be more productive, regardless of what neurotypical productivity gurus preach. The name of the theory was inspired by Danielle’s search for the perfect desk chair. After buying and trying 4 different chairs, she realized she was actually most comfortable and productive working from bed — something she had never tried because mainstream productivity advice deemed this is not optimal.
D
Domino Theory not to be confused with the Domino Theory of geopolitics, Danielle Colada’s Domino Theory posits that sometimes a single, small action can have a cascading effect on a much larger area of life, i.e. — cleaning one’s kitchen before bed is a small action that potentially sets one up for a successful day.
E
Executive Function refers to a set of higher-level cognitive skills that allow us to plan, organize, and regulate our thoughts and actions to achieve goals, including working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition control. Many if not most/all of these skills tend to impaired in ADHD brains.
F
Flow State the optimal state for creativity and productivity. Not unique to neurodivergents, but a state to strive for nonetheless! Often mistakenly referred to as Hyperfocus (there can be some overlap between the two but they are not perfectly interchangeable terms), flow is a more balanced, intrinsically rewarding state of deep engagement.
G
Goblin Girl the mode of self-care/self-presentation an ADHD Girlie often defaults to due to overwhelm, burnout, and/or sensory issues. Goblin Girl is the antithesis to the social media phenomenon known as That Girl.
H
Hyperfocus a state of intense, prolonged focus on a specific task or activity, often to the point of complete absorption and obliviousness to surroundings and/or time. While this definition overlaps some with flow state, hyperfocus has a more negative connotation — often occurring due to the ADHDers’ lack of attention-regulation skills and potentially leading to the neglect of basic needs and responsibilities.
M
Magic Bush Theory Danielle Colada’s theory that posits that ADHDers have such a difficult time managing their lives because of the hyper-generative nature of their brains (where thoughts, ideas, and action items spring to mind almost fully formed as if from some magical bush) before they can prune said bush into anything beautiful and/or manageable. The neurotypical garden, however, is filled with beautiful but non-magical plants. Each plant is hard-won, but manageable because it grows at a slower, more predictable pace.
P
Popcorn Thoughts similar to Magic Bush Theory, used to describe the speed and frequency at which thoughts pop into an ADHD Girlie’s brain, often to her detriment.
Q
Quick-tick-itis the suspicious tendency of seemingly small, insignificant tasks to swell, leaving little to no room for actually important tasks in an ADHD Girlie’s day.
R
Razor Theory Danielle Colada’s theory that ADHD Girlies should take every opportunity to “cut” options & so-called opportunities as quickly as reasonably possible in the belief that outcomes from “wrong” decisions made early tend to bring more benefit than “right” decisions made too late and save precious decision-making power in the long run.
The Red,Yellow,Green,1,2,3 Method A quick and easy task prioritization method Danielle Colada created and uses for daily planning in order to get the most important things done and prevent Quick-tick-itis.
S
Small Pricks of Displeasure the reasons ADHD Girlies ‘don’t feel like doing’ things that are seemingly too small and insignificant for our conscious brains to catch, but big enough to prevent us from taking actions our higher selves want us to take — ones that, if brought to conscious awareness, would be easy to fix.
For example, one’s conscious brain might say I don’t feel like washing my face right now (not fixable), but the more accurate truth is that you don’t feel like standing on your cold, hard bathroom floor right now (fixable) or you don’t feel like have water dripping down your arms (fixable), etc.
Staircase Wall Theory Danielle Colada’s theory that ADHD Girlies are especially prone to overwhelm due to the natural perspective they have of their to-do lists in relation to time.
Using a staircase wall to signify one’s to-do list — she believes that neurotypicals have the ability to see this wall from the angle of the built-in staircase and therefore they naturally see a clear point of entry as well as a series of “steps” to be taken over time.
Neurodivergents on the other hand, are only able to view this wall from the angle perpendicular to the NTs, and thus they are immediately overwhelmed because there are no apparent hooks, no steps, just a large mass to be scaled RIGHT NOW and they have no idea how to do so.
T
The Timeflex Tier Technique my ADHD-centric variation on time-blocking. Rather than creating digital calendars based on life areas, they are made based on static “tiers of flexibility,” providing ADHDers with a visual representation of how flexible items are on their calendar and offering a alternative to the rigidity of traditional time-blocking.
If you’d like to get a term added to our ADHD Girlie Glossary, leave a comment below!
