About ME

Hi, I’m James Dougherty, but you can call me Jimmy D.After spending over 40 years undiagnosed with ADHD, I’ve come to realize just how much it’s shaped my life and career. I’ve faced the challenges of focus, productivity, and mental exhaustion—always feeling like I was juggling a million things at once. But once I was finally diagnosed, everything clicked. I realized that the struggles I’d experienced weren’t just quirky traits or character flaws—they were the result of High Functioning ADHD. (Okay, well maybe a few of them were character flaws, but mostly ADHD.)I consider myself part of the “High Functioning” crew, where on the outside, I might seem like I’ve got it all together—productive, organized, and capable of keeping up with the demands of life. But inside, my brain is constantly buzzing, bouncing from idea to idea, and sometimes it feels like I’m juggling flaming swords while trying to stay balanced. Now, I’m on a mission—not just to manage it better, but to share what I’ve learned with others—especially young professionals and those just starting their careers.I’m a certified life coach and a certified ADHD life coach, and my goal is to help others by sharing my experience, insights, and lessons learned along the way. Every day, I dive deeper into ways we can flip the script on ADHD—understanding that each of us has our own rhythm and set of rules. It’s all about working with your brain, not against it—and that’s a message I think is worth sharing.What’s High Functioning ADHD?
Over the years, I’ve come across two types of ADHD folks. The two camps I see most often are:The “This Is Really Hard” Crew
These are the warriors. ADHD hits hard—every task feels like a mountain. Getting out of bed, showing up on time, remembering to eat? It’s survival mode. I respect the hell out of that. I want them to have all the tools, support, meds, and love they need.The “If I Could Just XYZ…” Crew
These are the ones who feel like they’re this close. They’ve got energy, drive, and a brain full of ideas—but they keep tripping on invisible wires. “If I could just stay consistent… if I could just finish what I start…” I call them the High Functioning Noodlers.I’m in the second camp. But for decades, I didn’t know that was ADHD.
I just thought I was too much, not enough, or both at the same time. I spent 40 years masking—hyper-productive in public, chaotic in private. Once, I spent an entire weekend building a system to plan my week… and then never used it. At the time, I thought I was just “being dramatic.” Now I know it was my brain trying to help itself the only way it knew how.For me, and many others, High Functioning ADHD is like juggling flaming swords while giving a presentation—on a tightrope. On the outside, I might seem hyper-productive, organized, and able to keep up with life’s demands, but internally, it’s a whirlwind of distractions, self-doubt, and that constant feeling of being on the edge of overwhelm. It’s the classic ADHD cocktail: creativity, energy, and a racing mind—combined with the challenge of managing all that energy in ways that actually get things done.Research shows that people with ADHD experience differences in brain structure, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for executive functions like attention, organization, and impulse control (Valera et al., 2007). This helps explain why we might look fine on the outside—organized and productive—but internally struggle to focus or follow through. High Functioning ADHD is about managing that chaos while presenting an image of normalcy—often masking the struggles beneath. I’m here to help you recognize that it’s okay to show up as your authentic self, imperfections and all, and make that work to your advantage.Are You One of Us?
If you’ve ever said, “I know I could rock this—if I could just figure out how to start… or finish… or focus…”
Welcome. You’re my people.

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SenseiOverthink

Meet Sensei Overthink—the comically oversized, self-doubt-slinging sparring partner who’s been living rent-free in your head. This short story dives headfirst into the chaos of ADHD, overthinking, and emotional outbursts, transforming what feels like a never-ending mental battle into a dojo of self-discovery.Packed with humor and relatability, this story offers playful strategies for tackling the challenges of ADHD—like handling criticism without spiraling, calming your brain when it’s on overdrive, and outsmarting that pesky inner voice that loves to sow seeds of self-doubt. Whether your noodle noodles like a ninja or a tornado, this book helps you find focus, laugh at yourself, and embrace your inner chaos like a pro.It’s not about defeating Sensei Overthink—it’s about learning to spar, grow, and find your chill along the way.Sensei Overthink is a proof of concept for a larger series aimed at middle-grade and young adult readers with ADHD. The goal is to create fun, relatable stories that don’t just entertain but also offer practical tools for tackling the everyday challenges of ADHD—like handling overthinking, managing emotions, and embracing their unique way of seeing the world. Through humor, creativity, and a touch of absurdity, this series is designed to help readers feel seen, understood, and empowered to turn their chaos into a superpower.

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From Wavy Thoughts to Straight-Up Wisdom: A Lifetime of Undiagnosed ADHD

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So Apparently the Brain Has a Weed Whacker
(Mine may have skipped a few spots.)

So here’s what happened:I saw a post from Kelly Baums—a sharp, soulful educator who basically Jedi-minds you into thinking deeply about your own wiring. You can watch the post here and check out her work at kellybaums.com.The topic? Synaptic pruning.Sounds like something you’d do to a bonsai tree, right? Turns out, your brain does it too—and if you’ve got ADHD (or you’ve ever Googled “Why am I like this?” at 2:47 AM), it might matter more than you think.Anyway, the moment I heard about this, I did what any slightly-unhinged, over-caffeinated enablement nerd would do:
I went full Sherlock on it.
This page is the result.It's where I dumped everything I learned—scientific papers, visuals, audio explanations, and even a timeline graph that screams, "Your brain means well, it’s just running a little late."

Questions You Might Accidentally Ask Yourself Now:- Why does my brain sometimes feel like a cluttered inbox from 2011?- Was I supposed to “prune” something? Like… emotionally?- Am I actually behind, or just running my own highly customized, slightly glitchy version of Brain iOS?

Why I Built This Page*Not because I wanted to sound smart.
(I gave up on that quest eons ago—somewhere between my third half-finished productivity system and that time I thought I could learn data science during lunch breaks.)Honestly? I think I might be under-pruned.
Like, mentally I’m walking around with a tangled hedge maze of old thoughts, song lyrics from 2002, and ideas I never acted on.
My brain didn’t Marie Kondo the unnecessary connections—it lovingly kept them all. Because what if we need them someday??That’s why I dug in. Because this synaptic pruning thing made sense of something I’ve felt for a long time:
I’m not broken—just... still buffering.

3 Ways You Can Use This Info- Awareness: You’re not lazy or chaotic. Your brain might just be on a different cleaning schedule.- Reframe It: Maybe your mental “noise” is creative overflow. Channel it—into building, writing, solving, doodling.- Support It: Routines, AI tools, body doubling, post-it notes on your forehead—whatever works. Support the brain you’ve got, not the one productivity YouTube promised.

If any of this makes you feel seen, relieved, or slightly more curious about your own neural jungle, I’m glad you’re here.
Welcome to the club. We overthink everything—but we also see connections most people miss.Now go explore. Just don’t forget where you parked your thoughts.