The Art of Getting Unstuck with Saman Kesh

This week, we’ve got the return of my friend Saman Kesh, an award-winning music video director and all-around creative force of nature, to talk about the wild and untamed internal landscape of ADHD productivity.

Saman is known for his work with bands such as Kygo, Basement Jaxx, and Placebo. And most recently, his work directing Ed Sheeran’s Azizam music video - if you haven’t seen it, check it out, it’s real cool.

We get into the weeds of what makes a tool “sticky,” how to lower both the hurdle and the stakes when you’re stuck, and the role of friction in derailing our systems. Saman also shares how he uses routines, gamification, and a lot of self-reparenting to manage the inevitable paralysis that comes with big projects, tiny tasks, and everything in between.

This one’s much more of a chill conversation with friends about what works and what doesn’t in their ADHD worlds.

Azizam (Official Music Video) - Written and Directed by Saman Kesh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI9ZpIKgyf0

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/237

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD

This Episode's Top Tips

1. Try reducing friction on your most important tools. Move your organizational tools (like whiteboards or to-do lists) somewhere visible and easy to access. Out of sight, really is out of mind with ADHD.

2. Lower the Stakes when a task feels overwhelming. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect or done all at once; if we can reduce the emotional weight of a task, it often also reduces the paralysis.

3. When feeling stuck, try spicing things up by using things like dice, tactile tools, or creative mini-games (like drawing a doodle or rolling a task die) to inject novelty and dopamine into your routine.