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One rule I've found works in a lot of situations: when you lose an item, don't look for it. Instead, take a break and *start putting things back where they're supposed to be.* I often end up with tools and materials covering all the horizontal space in my garage by the time I'm finished a job, but this one strategy has helped me mitigate that to an extent, and each subsequent search gets quicker to complete. After all, it's easied to find that lost drill bit after I pick up the cardboard box that I inadvertently set down on it.
I once read an article on human behavior it said something along the lines of when us people see an empty space we have a urge/need to fill it with items or trinkets.
I'm 44 with ADHD and permanently disabled, so I need to be very intentional about structuring chores, hobbies, and rest, or I'll get stuck on one thing for too long, resulting in pain. I set routines for my internet-capable light bulbs so they change colors like traffic signals on 15 minute intervals. Green for chores, red for rest, and blue for hobbies. It helps a lot to have a reminder that's not noisy like an alarm on my phone.
This is a great tip. Might try it for myself! The older I get and the more I examine myself and my life the more I come to understand and appreciate that ADHD really is a disability.
That's a fantastic idea. I'd thought about doing something similar to distinguish "work" and "play" modes at my desk, but I hadn't considered using them on a timer
Your description of smoking was perfect to mine when I realized I needed to quit 2 years ago. There was nothing like that morning cigarette or phone cigarette with a cup of coffee in my early 20s or teens but I wasn't experiencing it for some number of years. So I literally made myself pay attention to the smoking and not my random thoughts and the focus it gave me and I quit a year later
I realized that watching Adam's video as the first thing when I go onto the internet everyday helped me set my mood of the day -- a little more energetic, creative and hopeful.
French Vanilla is my Achilles heel in the scent world. I think it probably comes from my mother, as she baked a LOT when i was a kid. There was always something baking. Fresh bread, cookies, cakes, brownies, rolls, etc. She really liked baking a lot, and there was always a mild vanilla smell in the air when she was baking. Scent and memory are strongly linked, so vanilla always reminds me of a simpler time, and delicious baked goods.
Wood Smell: I think most people think of resiny SPF (mixed spruce/pine/fir) construction lumber and plywood when they think of this, but there are SO many things wood can smell like: - dill and ranch dressing (fresh red oak) - barnyard (older red oak) - cat pee (elm) - mint/Olive (ash) - floral syrup (maple, birch) - flowers (apple, cherry) - that apple you forgot behind the bowl that you might eat but is probably going to taste "old" (apple, crabapple) - spiced ginger (rowan) - barbeque (mesquite, hickory?) - etc
I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and again at 18... Doing something you don't want to do, even when you know it's easy, is one of the hardest things to conquer. For me, it's testing the code I've written, so freaking hard to start
I think the key is to approach testing as a competitive game with your past self, where you're trying to come up with things that past you didn't consider. It's boring to try to prove that your code works. It's challenging to try to prove that it can be broken. As a bonus, you don't have to be tactful about finding your past self's mistakes, unlike when you're reviewing someone else's code. Also, it's easier to enjoy writing tests if they're turning up bugs you're not going to have to find later. That said, I always take a little break between writing the code and reviewing it to give myself a little distance and let present me become past me.
Hi Jamie ! Blown away you have been to my home town of Brisbane , QLD . Why didn't you call..LOL. . Grew up with Mythbusters with great memories of the show . As a rail fan and worker, I agree on the smell of steam locos, it is a unique and wonderful smell. Lovely to see and hear you on the screen again. Cheers from Brisbane. Gregg.
Another random thing that may or may not be helpful (I find it's mixed, for me), is a bit of self-talk that I guess comes from restaurant world (dunno how common it is or isn't...) of: "full hands out, full hands in" -- in that context, that means when you leave the kitchen, you're carrying stuff out to tables; when you come back, you've got some bussed dishes or whatever. Always carrying something, whichever way you're going. For a context more like a shop, maybe this isn't quite as literal (if nothing else, what's "out" and "in"?), but I think it can still be useful: when I get up to go from one place to another, I'll often scan to see if there's something I could be carrying from wherever I am to wherever I'm going, or at least drop of somewhere along the way, or take to where I'm going so it's a little bit closer to where it belongs, or whatever. Doing this can definitely save some trips, and thus some energy expenditure, and thus get more things where they belong, in the end. I don't come anywhere close to perfection at doing this, but... I do still find it a useful mental framework, so, sharing it here.
Hey Adam, why don't you try returns bins in a rack, sort of like Home Depot has behind their customer service counter. So, when you're cleaning up, you can throw stuff in the bins as you come across it, depending on where it goes, then when you're done or the bin is full, you only have to make one trip up those stairs... And as someone over 40 myself, I'm discovering how much stairs can suck, especially after 20 trips up and down. LOL
@@osculant Agreed. We technically use this method in our kitchen but the catch-all bin basically just becomes an odds-n-ends storage spot till I get so frustrated with not being able to fit the tissues box in that I have a cleaning fit and put it all away, 3 or 4 times a year.
I keep one small, shallow return bin in one spot. When it overflows, that's usually enough motivation to get it emptied. For things that don't fill quickly (like the "to be filed" folder for home expense receipts), I make an appointment with myself to empty them every new year. YMMV, though, because ADHD comes in many flavors.
Part of the reason I make is to fulfill something I don’t get in my career and that’s to see something complete. There is a start middle and an end I can visualize. So cleaning and organizing is part of that but, it is a project in its self. Normally I have 5-10 projects going at once. Before starting any more I have to do a deep clean and organizing.
Holding in your head the idea of the clean space as a goal, I think that makes the difference between cleaning being a slog and it being at least doable.
The smell of streaks and tips has always been one of my favorites, we used to use it all the time in film production but hardly ever any more. that and Burning gels. Times gone by.
8:15 in the human brain, the amygdala (processes olfactory for sense of smell) and the hippocampus (responsible in part for memory) are adjacent, which is why certain scents conjur memories of events where that odor was present. If you broke up with your partner at a movie theater, you might suddenly dislike popcorn because it reminds you of that person every time you smell it.
There is a smell that I miss from my childhood. I grew up on the Oregon coast and when I was young, you could still walk on the docks. The smell was a mix of many different things. Salt water, the moisture in the air, diesel fumes, fish, and 2-stroke motor oil from the outboards. It was a glorious childhood smell! As an adult I loved to go back and take photos. With film! A jumble of abstract lines and colors. The miracle of being a child!
CA activator is also one of my favorite smells. Takes me back to my father building model airplanes. The smell has not changed. I now use it for my RC aircraft (as well as other things). I think I like it purely for that reason.
My brother was the cause of me stopping smoking. He asked me to have my two nieces for the weekend. I asked him to bring me some cigarettes. He didnt. I spent the weekend with 2 kids under 5. After the weekend, i thought " No more smoking " . That was 21 years ago. Never had one since. Right now ? Im working on my Phds to get them down in number . ( Phd stands for project half done 😂😂). My favourite smell .... The smell of my late fathers work overals . When I could smell that mix of oil, grease and flux i knew he was home. Strange I know but its just personal to me.
As for small triggering memories, phantom pain. I once heard a story of someone that worked in a bakery and was in an accident at work that resulted in the loss of his hand. After that every sunday morning be would feel the pain in his hand that wasn't there, it turned out his neighbour baked bread every sunday and the smell triggered the memory of the trauma causing the pain.
My approach (as an ADHD brain) is to categorise and compress. Adam said something about making multiple trips being tedious. Boxes are the answer. I sweep around my shop with boxes. All tools, into one box. All (non project) electrical components, one box. All paint/polish products, one box. That clears about 70% of the space (making it much easier to tackle the remainder without all the visual white noise) and it means I can walk to my toolbox, my parts drawers, or my solvents cabinet, with everything that needs to go in, once and once only. Categorise everything into similar piles, compress the pile into a thing, carry the thing to the spot where all the objects live, and put them away. Hope it helps someone :)
Adam, you sound just like myself when it comes to projects, even sitting and looking at it. I must consider I have ADHD. It explains a lot I think. The only smell we share is newly cut wood. Instead I enjoy newly baked goods, fresh air after a rain, and favorite flowers.
this is so exactly how I feel right now: I pile of 50-60 youtube-videos I wanna make, a pile of 10 I *should* make, some actual work that will make me money that I *have* to do, and it all whirrrrs around in my brain even after writing it all down and prioritizing it based on necessity … and I *know* that if I spend that 1 day doing the thing I *have* to do, I will have a week or two where I can do some of the *want* to do … yet still I faff around and do «tiny, unimportant things» … it’s driving me mad indeed - and then of course it’s the studio upgrades …
When I've got a lot of buildup, what usually works is to organize the stuff and then put it away. Makes the putting it away part less daunting, because I only have to use my brain for one thing at a time
I really feel this. I have been alternating between editing two videos all day. The one that I am really into but isn't due yet gives me energy which I then spend to progress on the one I need done today!
For cleaning up things that go in various places I pre-stage them. So if I have a pile of things that go to different areas I sort them into what goes to a given room, then I only need to take a few trips with many things instead of many trips with one thing. Though I'm also not great about daily tidying in the workshop, I make sure to clean up sawdust and woodchips from where I'm working (mostly the lathe and bandsaw) fairly well after every use.
I do that as well. Sometimes I have room totes that I carry from room to room and grab stuff to take it back. I also implemented a box for stuff I'm not immediately sure about. It will eventually tell me where it goes
Hello Adam, I've been watching you for a very long time now and as a model creator and maker, I'm always enthralled with whatever you're creating. So often, I totally relate. The issues with shop cleanup and smells are again where I totally relate. I used to be terrible at cleaning up my space with tools, parts, paints snd various other elements of completed projects taking up and piling up sround the periferry. I do hate the time it takes to do it, but love the feeling of organization sfter its done. Thus I'm motivated and inspired to keep it cleaner snd organize it more frequently. As for smells, I'm pretty much in line with you on the smells. I don't necessarily feel the same way about CA kicker. If there is a good smell memory with it, it is that finally, I won't need to hold the friggin peice in place very long at all. Take care and Thank you. 👍
I’m 39 and medicated for adhd and I still have the same problem…. I find myself debating on quitting the medication. I feel I achieved a lot more with my spar-attic behavior, but I was alot younger aswell. I still feel that drive inside but it’s tamed down from medication that helps me focus on the task in hand. But it also makes me feel a bit lazy at times. Not sure what direction to take. I’m sure there’s many fellow adhd and ocd friends on this channel.
The smell of a Ribeye being grilled over charcoal, Leather and cutting oil. The building of energy to finally do something that has been put off, so very real to my world also. More often than not at the end of it I find myself thinking it wasn't that bad and why did I wait so long. A good Psychologist could probably pick it apart but I'm not really sure it would change a thing...
Idk why exactly, but Adam is one of the only people I can listen to for hours (and actually pay attention). I wasn't even really a huge mythbusters fan, as I was born the year it began... Anyway, thank you for this channel. You too Norm, and everyone else at Tested ❤
We often see famous people give talks lite this, but we never see the fact that they have to sleep like everyone else. I want to see famous people filming short clip just before they go to bed, showing that "I'm human, this is how I sleep, just like you".
I had to pause the video and tell you what I have said before that you definitely have been a source of motivation and I have been dealing with a lot lately so I'm just letting you know something.,. maybe it's the crazy hair that you were blessed with ? I.know I'm going to be having a cheese burger more often too 🍔🥗🍟🥤 P.S. Late 70's - early 80's walking into the BMX shop in downtown Wayzata I'll never forget the same exact smell from what I assume was the rubber tires & this place was just tiny but pretty packed with stickers and everything everywhere I looked was brand new and beautiful and last amazing scent was around the same time and it was when I opened a new package of KISS trading cards..That was a smell I have never had any wiff of since I was 8 - 9.yrs 🍓🍉🍑
EMCO is Austrian and was marketed in North America as American Edelstaal, Inc (350 Broadway, NY NY 10013) and sold the Unimat, Maximat 7, 10 11, and 13.their colors were if I recall, a hammertone "gold" on the Unimats, and a lovely Germanic machine tool green on the larger units.
Wait, Adam... Do you have ADHD?! How did I not know/realize this? Do you know how SEEN I feel knowing that, as little me grew up watching you guys on TV?! Your show, your additude, your cadence, your compassion, your explanations never made me feel stupid and always explained not just the HOW but the WHY of what is happening, and I could never put my thumb on what felt so comforting. God, I feel so validated as someone with a late diagnosis. Thanks for sharing your stories Adam, and thank you for being you. I appreciate seeing my reflection out there in the world.
Often, I have to ask myself if the unfinished project is something I actually want when I get annoyed tripping over it going on 3 years. Usually the answer is I wanted the idea of doing the thing but not the actual process, or I wanted to solve one or two problems involved with making the thing but not really anything else about it. Sometimes it's ok to let a few go, be thankful for the lessons they taught, and recycle them into something better.
a little bit unrelated, but i used to have a studio and my rule was no wires on the floor or stepping on wires, i cleaned for 6 hours, for 1 hour recording session i had so much equipment
inspired by you i have been looking for a hobby size mill and lathe, and now you just named the two brands i most commonly come across here, myford and emco. thats enough for me, i will get one of them. if they are good enough for you they are definetly good enough for me.
One of my favorite smells is the Pokemon Red instruction booklet freshly unboxed. I don't know what was in that ink but I haven't smelled it lately on any printed products.
Something that works well for me is the concept of "little messes". Big messes are usually just a lot of little messes piled up. So if I can't tackle the big mess, can I do five little ones? If those five go quickly, maybe five more. So I'd do something like five little messes every morning, and over time it really added up.
Funny hearing that Adam had a compact 5, I just bought the CNC version of the Compact 5. It's currently torn apart and spread around my office because I'm pretty sure it hasn't seen a drop of oil or dab of grease in at least a decade (but fortunately no serious rust somehow(
To find something don't look for it again, where it's supposed to be, look where it is not supposed to be. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.
I switched to vaping and never looked back but when I quit nicotine was the hardest thing I ever did and I cried everyday until two weeks later I was done and that will be my greatest accomplishment. I still thank myself almost everyday.
CEE Cutting Edge Engineering is a great TH-cam channel. I enjoy watching Curtis tackle the large jobs especially repairing hydraulic cylinders. His precision is spot on. What a great guy. And then at the end he shares his bloopers during the taping of his videos. Great guy. Has a great Australian Accent. Smart guy like you Adam. I’m sure it would make his day to know you follow his channel.
climbing the wall of shame is a daily routine in ADHDer life, u just know u should have done something already, u know it would be better right now if u did, but the wall sometimes is steeper then anybody would imagine, including yourself. Just gotta learn to not actually believe in the shame, and remeber that u always end up doing the thing, and u just need some more time, and that's ok. As u said some things in life don't give u that time, and ofcs u just need to brace for it and just push trough.
Bronchitis in your 40s is a great motivation to quit smoking. Yes, it sucks, and you feel like you're going to die, but there's no way you can smoke through that, and once you break the physical addiction (I think it only takes three days; at least that's what I told myself) if you can channel your fidgeting into another form when you recover, it's all downhill from there. I quit eight years ago. But yes, focus on how it makes you feel in the moment, not what you used to feel about it, and do it ASAP..
Hello Adam my father passed away when I was five years old and I I have smell memory of his body odour when passing certain people in the street..I’m now 68 powerful memories!
Cyanoacrylate kicker does smell like a strong floral perfume. Glycol/Glycerin smoke machines smell like high school theater for me. I like the smell of Hoppes #9 gun bore cleaner. I even went looking for a fragrance that was similar and the closest I got was a scent from "Humphrey's Handmade" called Carbine. 3-in-1 oil is great too I also like the smell of new sneakers
Great smells? JET FUEL.......... But not the jet fuel used today. I remember the kerosene smell from jet airliners from back when they were first flown. It was awesome. Fuel formulas these days are much different, so hardly any smell......
Undesirable projects...or quitting smoking...yeah I did that exact thing bac in February 2017...still on the wagon but damn it's not easy even nearly eight years later but the benefits of NOT smoking far outweigh the drawbacks of smoking.
As a fellow maker I can relate to you except its not a partner but its my family when they come over they say my workshop is a disaster, but they understand iam a maker and am constantly working on things when I have free time, Iam not sure if I have ADHD but when iam in the middle of a project my space can become hectic then once I complete that project I take the time to clean up and organize although ill admit sometimes I start up another project right away or I tackle two projects at once, that said Iam glad my family puts me in my place on the occasion that my space gets cluttered, because otherwise it would probably get out of hand.
My big thing is not working until either the last possible minute, or to exhaustion. Cleanup needs time and energy at the end of the day, and if you destroy yourself the tools sleep on the bench.
My father had to go to the hospital last sunday, partly due to smoking. He has been admitted until friday at least and he swore he would stop smoking now. Today he phoned me that he might be out by tomorrow, because the doctor does not see the need for a longer stay. Now I am afraid that he will start again as soon as he gets home....my father has ADHD just like me or Adam. Any ideas how to get a stubborn, proud, old man to quit smoking? He is the last family member I have and I almost broke down when he told that he was in hospital. I know this is a weird place to ask but I am running out of ideas.
As for favorite smell......my fathers basement. He is a carpenter and the basement ist quite old with this smell that is hard to describe.....like in a cave almost. That plus the woodsmell form his workspace.
@tested, Adam, with the close of the Star Wars Skeleton Crew series, could you discuss what blew you away about their practical effects and creature designs in the show? The BTS of the crab creature Tet'niss created by Tippett Studios was a special treat for anyone interested in stop motion photography. Have you, by any chance, had an opportunity to collaborate with them previously? Have a magnificent day.
My ptsd graciously given to me by the military is opposite. I clean, organize reorganize and start a project don't like something start over make a mess clean organize, i hate my 20x13 mancave it never comfortable and its 120 ft from the house and its 20 degrees outside, and 67 inside.
I call it defraging my space, I will walk around listening to music or something like a yt I dont have to watch and transport each item to where it needs to go.
yes i line steam locomotives to. But i had an addiction to model aircraft fuel. the exhaust why that brought me joy?. Yes my dad n i helped build when he needed an extra gopher hands. The other is outboard exhaust countless early mornings dad n i fishing trips. The old two stroke outboard oil. Now get a lump charcoal bbq grill by green egg. You wanna smell old locomotives 🚂 fire one up to cook.
Im 40 and i have adhd. It makes me feel trapped. I hate my current job. Everyday i sit at my desk and tell myself a dozen times a day, I'm going to start looking for a new job after work. Do I? No because once I'm off work, I dont want to do anything productive or think about work. Its a vicous cycle and i can't break it
Wow, you mentioned that you like the smell of hot steel. I don't mean to burst your bubble. But I was a machinist for 50 years and I am certain that hot steel has no smell. Anything you smell in that situation has to be the result of the cutting oil or some other containment that was on the steel before or during the heating.
How you doing out there in cali? Hoping the fires didnt touch your property.
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Long ago I found some loads in NH. Look like a grain of rice. My girl friend was a smoker. I think I stashed 3 in her pack. After getting home she was not happy. Three had gone off & she through the rest away. & I didn't get to see any go off.
How do you throw yourself into a project you're not into?
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Adam i really wish you could get back together with Jamie and test the states vehicle strike theory in the Karen Read case.
One rule I've found works in a lot of situations: when you lose an item, don't look for it. Instead, take a break and *start putting things back where they're supposed to be.* I often end up with tools and materials covering all the horizontal space in my garage by the time I'm finished a job, but this one strategy has helped me mitigate that to an extent, and each subsequent search gets quicker to complete. After all, it's easied to find that lost drill bit after I pick up the cardboard box that I inadvertently set down on it.
My strategy as well
Great! Tnx for the advice!
I thought I was the one that lost shite by putting stuff on top of it.😵💫
I once read an article on human behavior it said something along the lines of when us people see an empty space we have a urge/need to fill it with items or trinkets.
I don't look for it because I can't remember what it was most of the time.
I'm 44 with ADHD and permanently disabled, so I need to be very intentional about structuring chores, hobbies, and rest, or I'll get stuck on one thing for too long, resulting in pain. I set routines for my internet-capable light bulbs so they change colors like traffic signals on 15 minute intervals. Green for chores, red for rest, and blue for hobbies. It helps a lot to have a reminder that's not noisy like an alarm on my phone.
This is a great tip. Might try it for myself! The older I get and the more I examine myself and my life the more I come to understand and appreciate that ADHD really is a disability.
That's a fantastic idea. I'd thought about doing something similar to distinguish "work" and "play" modes at my desk, but I hadn't considered using them on a timer
Brilliant idea!
The smell of when my dad did maintenance on his trumpet. It's been almost a decade since he passed and I can still remember that smell.
What a lovely sentiment and story. Thanks for sharing.
Your description of smoking was perfect to mine when I realized I needed to quit 2 years ago. There was nothing like that morning cigarette or phone cigarette with a cup of coffee in my early 20s or teens but I wasn't experiencing it for some number of years. So I literally made myself pay attention to the smoking and not my random thoughts and the focus it gave me and I quit a year later
Congrats on quitting smoking!
I realized that watching Adam's video as the first thing when I go onto the internet everyday helped me set my mood of the day -- a little more energetic, creative and hopeful.
Wow. Thanks for the kind comment - we will pass on to Adam.
@ thank you Tested, and thank you Adam!
French Vanilla is my Achilles heel in the scent world. I think it probably comes from my mother, as she baked a LOT when i was a kid. There was always something baking. Fresh bread, cookies, cakes, brownies, rolls, etc. She really liked baking a lot, and there was always a mild vanilla smell in the air when she was baking.
Scent and memory are strongly linked, so vanilla always reminds me of a simpler time, and delicious baked goods.
Wood Smell: I think most people think of resiny SPF (mixed spruce/pine/fir) construction lumber and plywood when they think of this, but there are SO many things wood can smell like:
- dill and ranch dressing (fresh red oak)
- barnyard (older red oak)
- cat pee (elm)
- mint/Olive (ash)
- floral syrup (maple, birch)
- flowers (apple, cherry)
- that apple you forgot behind the bowl that you might eat but is probably going to taste "old" (apple, crabapple)
- spiced ginger (rowan)
- barbeque (mesquite, hickory?)
- etc
A very specifik wood smell is rotting Alder, it's like root beer . Sweet and spicy
I would love to experience a workplace like that. I am a IT Professional, but love nature's smells of woods etc.
I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and again at 18...
Doing something you don't want to do, even when you know it's easy, is one of the hardest things to conquer.
For me, it's testing the code I've written, so freaking hard to start
I think the key is to approach testing as a competitive game with your past self, where you're trying to come up with things that past you didn't consider. It's boring to try to prove that your code works. It's challenging to try to prove that it can be broken. As a bonus, you don't have to be tactful about finding your past self's mistakes, unlike when you're reviewing someone else's code. Also, it's easier to enjoy writing tests if they're turning up bugs you're not going to have to find later. That said, I always take a little break between writing the code and reviewing it to give myself a little distance and let present me become past me.
Hi Jamie ! Blown away you have been to my home town of Brisbane , QLD . Why didn't you call..LOL. . Grew up with Mythbusters with great memories of the show . As a rail fan and worker, I agree on the smell of steam locos, it is a unique and wonderful smell.
Lovely to see and hear you on the screen again.
Cheers from Brisbane.
Gregg.
Another random thing that may or may not be helpful (I find it's mixed, for me), is a bit of self-talk that I guess comes from restaurant world (dunno how common it is or isn't...) of: "full hands out, full hands in" -- in that context, that means when you leave the kitchen, you're carrying stuff out to tables; when you come back, you've got some bussed dishes or whatever. Always carrying something, whichever way you're going.
For a context more like a shop, maybe this isn't quite as literal (if nothing else, what's "out" and "in"?), but I think it can still be useful: when I get up to go from one place to another, I'll often scan to see if there's something I could be carrying from wherever I am to wherever I'm going, or at least drop of somewhere along the way, or take to where I'm going so it's a little bit closer to where it belongs, or whatever. Doing this can definitely save some trips, and thus some energy expenditure, and thus get more things where they belong, in the end.
I don't come anywhere close to perfection at doing this, but... I do still find it a useful mental framework, so, sharing it here.
Hey Adam, why don't you try returns bins in a rack, sort of like Home Depot has behind their customer service counter. So, when you're cleaning up, you can throw stuff in the bins as you come across it, depending on where it goes, then when you're done or the bin is full, you only have to make one trip up those stairs... And as someone over 40 myself, I'm discovering how much stairs can suck, especially after 20 trips up and down. LOL
They just turn into doomboxes. Once the stuff is in a container it is thereby stored negating any further placement.
@@osculant Agreed. We technically use this method in our kitchen but the catch-all bin basically just becomes an odds-n-ends storage spot till I get so frustrated with not being able to fit the tissues box in that I have a cleaning fit and put it all away, 3 or 4 times a year.
I keep one small, shallow return bin in one spot. When it overflows, that's usually enough motivation to get it emptied. For things that don't fill quickly (like the "to be filed" folder for home expense receipts), I make an appointment with myself to empty them every new year. YMMV, though, because ADHD comes in many flavors.
Part of the reason I make is to fulfill something I don’t get in my career and that’s to see something complete. There is a start middle and an end I can visualize. So cleaning and organizing is part of that but, it is a project in its self. Normally I have 5-10 projects going at once. Before starting any more I have to do a deep clean and organizing.
Holding in your head the idea of the clean space as a goal, I think that makes the difference between cleaning being a slog and it being at least doable.
The smell of lit fireworks are my jam!
The smell of streaks and tips has always been one of my favorites, we used to use it all the time in film production but hardly ever any more. that and Burning gels. Times gone by.
Petrichor.... Love it. Rains so often here but you don't often get that scent. I need a way to get moving on multiple craft projects!
Just started doing this exact thing over the last 6 months and it’s been hugely beneficial. Whether it’s the best way or not. Still works
8:15 in the human brain, the amygdala (processes olfactory for sense of smell) and the hippocampus (responsible in part for memory) are adjacent, which is why certain scents conjur memories of events where that odor was present. If you broke up with your partner at a movie theater, you might suddenly dislike popcorn because it reminds you of that person every time you smell it.
Brain scientist chiming in here, LatterDay is right!
There is a smell that I miss from my childhood. I grew up on the Oregon coast and when I was young, you could still walk on the docks. The smell was a mix of many different things. Salt water, the moisture in the air, diesel fumes, fish, and 2-stroke motor oil from the outboards. It was a glorious childhood smell! As an adult I loved to go back and take photos. With film! A jumble of abstract lines and colors. The miracle of being a child!
Baseball glove is my #1 favorite smell.
CA activator is also one of my favorite smells. Takes me back to my father building model airplanes. The smell has not changed. I now use it for my RC aircraft (as well as other things). I think I like it purely for that reason.
I'm sure it probably dissolves brain cells but that CA accelerator smell is fantastic
My favorite smell is fresh cut grass, but I never loved it enough to enjoy mowing my lawn.
Ha!
My brother was the cause of me stopping smoking. He asked me to have my two nieces for the weekend. I asked him to bring me some cigarettes. He didnt. I spent the weekend with 2 kids under 5. After the weekend, i thought " No more smoking " . That was 21 years ago. Never had one since. Right now ? Im working on my Phds to get them down in number . ( Phd stands for project half done 😂😂). My favourite smell .... The smell of my late fathers work overals . When I could smell that mix of oil, grease and flux i knew he was home. Strange I know but its just personal to me.
As for small triggering memories, phantom pain. I once heard a story of someone that worked in a bakery and was in an accident at work that resulted in the loss of his hand. After that every sunday morning be would feel the pain in his hand that wasn't there, it turned out his neighbour baked bread every sunday and the smell triggered the memory of the trauma causing the pain.
My approach (as an ADHD brain) is to categorise and compress. Adam said something about making multiple trips being tedious. Boxes are the answer. I sweep around my shop with boxes. All tools, into one box. All (non project) electrical components, one box. All paint/polish products, one box. That clears about 70% of the space (making it much easier to tackle the remainder without all the visual white noise) and it means I can walk to my toolbox, my parts drawers, or my solvents cabinet, with everything that needs to go in, once and once only. Categorise everything into similar piles, compress the pile into a thing, carry the thing to the spot where all the objects live, and put them away.
Hope it helps someone :)
Adam, you sound just like myself when it comes to projects, even sitting and looking at it. I must consider I have ADHD. It explains a lot I think. The only smell we share is newly cut wood. Instead I enjoy newly baked goods, fresh air after a rain, and favorite flowers.
this is so exactly how I feel right now: I pile of 50-60 youtube-videos I wanna make, a pile of 10 I *should* make, some actual work that will make me money that I *have* to do, and it all whirrrrs around in my brain even after writing it all down and prioritizing it based on necessity … and I *know* that if I spend that 1 day doing the thing I *have* to do, I will have a week or two where I can do some of the *want* to do … yet still I faff around and do «tiny, unimportant things» … it’s driving me mad indeed - and then of course it’s the studio upgrades …
When I've got a lot of buildup, what usually works is to organize the stuff and then put it away. Makes the putting it away part less daunting, because I only have to use my brain for one thing at a time
I really feel this. I have been alternating between editing two videos all day. The one that I am really into but isn't due yet gives me energy which I then spend to progress on the one I need done today!
We feel you.
For cleaning up things that go in various places I pre-stage them. So if I have a pile of things that go to different areas I sort them into what goes to a given room, then I only need to take a few trips with many things instead of many trips with one thing. Though I'm also not great about daily tidying in the workshop, I make sure to clean up sawdust and woodchips from where I'm working (mostly the lathe and bandsaw) fairly well after every use.
I do that as well. Sometimes I have room totes that I carry from room to room and grab stuff to take it back. I also implemented a box for stuff I'm not immediately sure about. It will eventually tell me where it goes
Hello Adam, I've been watching you for a very long time now and as a model creator and maker, I'm always enthralled with whatever you're creating. So often, I totally relate. The issues with shop cleanup and smells are again where I totally relate. I used to be terrible at cleaning up my space with tools, parts, paints snd various other elements of completed projects taking up and piling up sround the periferry. I do hate the time it takes to do it, but love the feeling of organization sfter its done. Thus I'm motivated and inspired to keep it cleaner snd organize it more frequently.
As for smells, I'm pretty much in line with you on the smells. I don't necessarily feel the same way about CA kicker. If there is a good smell memory with it, it is that finally, I won't need to hold the friggin peice in place very long at all. Take care and Thank you. 👍
I’m 39 and medicated for adhd and I still have the same problem…. I find myself debating on quitting the medication. I feel I achieved a lot more with my spar-attic behavior, but I was alot younger aswell. I still feel that drive inside but it’s tamed down from medication that helps me focus on the task in hand. But it also makes me feel a bit lazy at times. Not sure what direction to take. I’m sure there’s many fellow adhd and ocd friends on this channel.
💜 Thank you for this!
Both the "Hell Yeah! Now This Thing Motivation" and "Shame Motivation" are *very* real 😂
My favorite tool and die maker has a Deckel mill. The thing is a tank & the work Otto can do with it is amazing.
The smell of a Ribeye being grilled over charcoal, Leather and cutting oil. The building of energy to finally do something that has been put off, so very real to my world also. More often than not at the end of it I find myself thinking it wasn't that bad and why did I wait so long. A good Psychologist could probably pick it apart but I'm not really sure it would change a thing...
A very poetic way of describing procrastination
Love it ❤
Idk why exactly, but Adam is one of the only people I can listen to for hours (and actually pay attention). I wasn't even really a huge mythbusters fan, as I was born the year it began... Anyway, thank you for this channel. You too Norm, and everyone else at Tested ❤
Agree about the burning coal smell, but mine is not trains. It's the forge. And the hot iron.
We often see famous people give talks lite this, but we never see the fact that they have to sleep like everyone else. I want to see famous people filming short clip just before they go to bed, showing that "I'm human, this is how I sleep, just like you".
I had to pause the video and tell you what I have said before that you definitely have been a source of motivation and I have been dealing with a lot lately so I'm just letting you know something.,. maybe it's the crazy hair that you were blessed with ? I.know I'm going to be having a cheese burger more often too 🍔🥗🍟🥤 P.S. Late 70's - early 80's walking into the BMX shop in downtown Wayzata I'll never forget the same exact smell from what I assume was the rubber tires & this place was just tiny but pretty packed with stickers and everything everywhere I looked was brand new and beautiful and last amazing scent was around the same time and it was when I opened a new package of KISS trading cards..That was a smell I have never had any wiff of since I was 8 - 9.yrs 🍓🍉🍑
Stopped smoking in 2018, after about 30 years of enjoying cigarettes - Purely by willpower, happy to say I have had no slips.
EMCO is Austrian and was marketed in North America as American Edelstaal, Inc (350 Broadway, NY NY 10013) and sold the Unimat, Maximat 7, 10 11, and 13.their colors were if I recall, a hammertone "gold" on the Unimats, and a lovely Germanic machine tool green on the larger units.
Wait, Adam... Do you have ADHD?! How did I not know/realize this? Do you know how SEEN I feel knowing that, as little me grew up watching you guys on TV?! Your show, your additude, your cadence, your compassion, your explanations never made me feel stupid and always explained not just the HOW but the WHY of what is happening, and I could never put my thumb on what felt so comforting. God, I feel so validated as someone with a late diagnosis.
Thanks for sharing your stories Adam, and thank you for being you. I appreciate seeing my reflection out there in the world.
Often, I have to ask myself if the unfinished project is something I actually want when I get annoyed tripping over it going on 3 years. Usually the answer is I wanted the idea of doing the thing but not the actual process, or I wanted to solve one or two problems involved with making the thing but not really anything else about it. Sometimes it's ok to let a few go, be thankful for the lessons they taught, and recycle them into something better.
that's what I do too! it totally works!
a little bit unrelated, but i used to have a studio and my rule was no wires on the floor or stepping on wires, i cleaned for 6 hours, for 1 hour recording session i had so much equipment
Freshly printed ditto machine copies-the old prints of school handouts in purple that teachers gave to students in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
inspired by you i have been looking for a hobby size mill and lathe, and now you just named the two brands i most commonly come across here, myford and emco. thats enough for me, i will get one of them. if they are good enough for you they are definetly good enough for me.
I always thought CA activator smelled like wasp spray. I love the smell of creosote.
I’m going to be doing a lot of cleaning over the next two weeks.
Pine needles, eucalyptus, and new leather are my favorite smells.
One of my favorite smells is the Pokemon Red instruction booklet freshly unboxed. I don't know what was in that ink but I haven't smelled it lately on any printed products.
2 stroke exhaust and silage are in my opinion the best smells.
correct on the memory smell thing
The smell of hot steal is sculpture welding 101 at the Portland Oregon Community College. So good.
Great work
Something that works well for me is the concept of "little messes". Big messes are usually just a lot of little messes piled up. So if I can't tackle the big mess, can I do five little ones? If those five go quickly, maybe five more. So I'd do something like five little messes every morning, and over time it really added up.
I love the smell of burning leaves. Whenever I smell Old Spice I think of my mom’s dad, he always smelled like Old Spice.
From the first time I smelled WD40, forty odd years ago, I loved it. Brings back memories of cleaning the road tar off my first street motorcycle.
you did a great job directing GOTG dude, nice of you to get your bro some work on it too. family first
Funny hearing that Adam had a compact 5, I just bought the CNC version of the Compact 5. It's currently torn apart and spread around my office because I'm pretty sure it hasn't seen a drop of oil or dab of grease in at least a decade (but fortunately no serious rust somehow(
grilled onions and charcoal briquettes
To find something don't look for it again, where it's supposed to be, look where it is not supposed to be.
Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.
I switched to vaping and never looked back but when I quit nicotine was the hardest thing I ever did and I cried everyday until two weeks later I was done and that will be my greatest accomplishment. I still thank myself almost everyday.
The smell of a struck match and the smell of a fresh book.
CEE Cutting Edge Engineering is a great TH-cam channel. I enjoy watching Curtis tackle the large jobs especially repairing hydraulic cylinders. His precision is spot on. What a great guy. And then at the end he shares his bloopers during the taping of his videos. Great guy. Has a great Australian Accent. Smart guy like you Adam. I’m sure it would make his day to know you follow his channel.
Adam visited Curtis in his shop recently!
I'm a jeweler and we use wintergreen oil on cutting burrs. Very old tradition, you should try it🙂
climbing the wall of shame is a daily routine in ADHDer life, u just know u should have done something already, u know it would be better right now if u did, but the wall sometimes is steeper then anybody would imagine, including yourself. Just gotta learn to not actually believe in the shame, and remeber that u always end up doing the thing, and u just need some more time, and that's ok. As u said some things in life don't give u that time, and ofcs u just need to brace for it and just push trough.
I really really enjoy the smell when welding with 6011 welding rods 😂
Bronchitis in your 40s is a great motivation to quit smoking. Yes, it sucks, and you feel like you're going to die, but there's no way you can smoke through that, and once you break the physical addiction (I think it only takes three days; at least that's what I told myself) if you can channel your fidgeting into another form when you recover, it's all downhill from there. I quit eight years ago. But yes, focus on how it makes you feel in the moment, not what you used to feel about it, and do it ASAP..
Hello Adam my father passed away when I was five years old and I I have smell memory of his body odour when passing certain people in the street..I’m now 68 powerful memories!
I love the Smell of VP T4 race fuel
Grüße aus NRW Deutschland👍
Cyanoacrylate kicker does smell like a strong floral perfume.
Glycol/Glycerin smoke machines smell like high school theater for me.
I like the smell of Hoppes #9 gun bore cleaner. I even went looking for a fragrance that was similar and the closest I got was a scent from "Humphrey's Handmade" called Carbine.
3-in-1 oil is great too
I also like the smell of new sneakers
Any fathers out there, the smell of your kids after playing outside all day. That is like freezing time!
Great smells?
JET FUEL.......... But not the jet fuel used today. I remember the kerosene smell from jet airliners from back when they were first flown. It was awesome. Fuel formulas these days are much different, so hardly any smell......
A lathe can build itself. !
Undesirable projects...or quitting smoking...yeah I did that exact thing bac in February 2017...still on the wagon but damn it's not easy even nearly eight years later but the benefits of NOT smoking far outweigh the drawbacks of smoking.
As a fellow maker I can relate to you except its not a partner but its my family when they come over they say my workshop is a disaster, but they understand iam a maker and am constantly working on things when I have free time, Iam not sure if I have ADHD but when iam in the middle of a project my space can become hectic then once I complete that project I take the time to clean up and organize although ill admit sometimes I start up another project right away or I tackle two projects at once, that said Iam glad my family puts me in my place on the occasion that my space gets cluttered, because otherwise it would probably get out of hand.
My big thing is not working until either the last possible minute, or to exhaustion. Cleanup needs time and energy at the end of the day, and if you destroy yourself the tools sleep on the bench.
My first thought on favorite smell is burning nitromethane, and I've not smelled it in years.
Organization is a janitorial task. "I can't stop and wash, I'm busy." No, you kinda gotta or stuff stops working.
My father had to go to the hospital last sunday, partly due to smoking.
He has been admitted until friday at least and he swore he would stop smoking now.
Today he phoned me that he might be out by tomorrow, because the doctor does not see the need for a longer stay.
Now I am afraid that he will start again as soon as he gets home....my father has ADHD just like me or Adam.
Any ideas how to get a stubborn, proud, old man to quit smoking?
He is the last family member I have and I almost broke down when he told that he was in hospital.
I know this is a weird place to ask but I am running out of ideas.
As for favorite smell......my fathers basement.
He is a carpenter and the basement ist quite old with this smell that is hard to describe.....like in a cave almost.
That plus the woodsmell form his workspace.
I have spent the last thee weeks shoveling out my shop, a week just sorting hardware, and I’m not half done
@tested, Adam, with the close of the Star Wars Skeleton Crew series, could you discuss what blew you away about their practical effects and creature designs in the show?
The BTS of the crab creature Tet'niss created by Tippett Studios was a special treat for anyone interested in stop motion photography.
Have you, by any chance, had an opportunity to collaborate with them previously? Have a magnificent day.
My ptsd graciously given to me by the military is opposite. I clean, organize reorganize and start a project don't like something start over make a mess clean organize, i hate my 20x13 mancave it never comfortable and its 120 ft from the house and its 20 degrees outside, and 67 inside.
I call it defraging my space, I will walk around listening to music or something like a yt I dont have to watch and transport each item to where it needs to go.
Have you ever gotten to where you step back and see all the projects standing incomplete and withdraw and go into depression?
I was also able to quit due to bronchitis.
One day I'll be thinking - three weeks is plenty of time to get it done.- and then the next moment - shit it's got to be finished in three days.
yes i line steam locomotives to. But i had an addiction to model aircraft fuel. the exhaust why that brought me joy?. Yes my dad n i helped build when he needed an extra gopher hands. The other is outboard exhaust countless early mornings dad n i fishing trips. The old two stroke outboard oil. Now get a lump charcoal bbq grill by green egg. You wanna smell old locomotives 🚂 fire one up to cook.
i will allways be able to smell carpet glue all i have to do is think about it. my dad was a carpet layer growing up. that smell is youth too my mind
Im 40 and i have adhd. It makes me feel trapped. I hate my current job. Everyday i sit at my desk and tell myself a dozen times a day, I'm going to start looking for a new job after work. Do I? No because once I'm off work, I dont want to do anything productive or think about work. Its a vicous cycle and i can't break it
Wow, you mentioned that you like the smell of hot steel. I don't mean to burst your bubble. But I was a machinist for 50 years and I am certain that hot steel has no smell. Anything you smell in that situation has to be the result of the cutting oil or some other containment that was on the steel before or during the heating.
Im not sure if it's an ADD or ADHD thing but I totally get this 😅
CA Activator 😂😂 starbond is my preferred lol
Edavill RR I dont even know if there still there. Cutting hay is a good smell. Hot bales in a barn is a bad smell.
How you doing out there in cali? Hoping the fires didnt touch your property.
Long ago I found some loads in NH. Look like a grain of rice. My girl friend was a smoker. I think I stashed 3 in her pack.
After getting home she was not happy. Three had gone off & she through the rest away. & I didn't get to see any go off.