6 “Spicy Brain” Tools for Neurodivergent Women Entrepreneurs

Neurodivergent women entrepreneurs with ADHD, AUDHD, autism, or any other type of "spicy brain" know how important self-acceptance is. In a world still learning to celebrate our uniqueness, we're two steps ahead - ready to discover a path to success that works for us now. This means embracing our neurodiversity by refusing to pretend and unapologetically accommodating our schedules, routines, and systems. It also means practicing self-care habits and supporting ourselves with the right tools.

In that spirit, I'd love to share some of my favorite tools for those with neurospicy brains. The product links here are affiliate links. Feel free to use them or look the products up on your own :)

6 Neurodivergent-Friendly Tools: Online Business Owners Edition 

BOOK: "Self-Love for ADHD"

Why You Need It

Self-care plays a crucial role in helping women entrepreneurs operate at their best. Strong self-care practices significantly improve overall well-being and work performance. 

For neurodivergent individuals, it has added significance because it goes a long way in managing the challenges of neurodiversity. Most of us are highly vulnerable to things like anxiety, dysregulation, and sensory sensitivities. Activities like mindfulness, positive movement, or taking time to rest and recharge can become a refuge and foundation for resilience, creativity, and sustained success.

What It Is 

Self-love for ADHD is an excellent guide to 100+ self-care practices that embrace neurodiverse needs. This allows you to be authentic without masking or conforming to neurotypical expectations. 

The book provides practical advice on topics like self-acceptance, stigma, connecting with community, and prioritizing physical and mental health. 

It offers solutions for addressing the challenges associated with ADHD while providing insight into leveraging its strengths.

TIME MANAGEMENT: The Analog Visual Timer

Why You Need It

Visual timers offer significant advantages for neurospicy individuals. The timers provide clarity with visual representation. This concrete and tangible approach grounds us in the 3-D world and aids in dealing with time as an abstraction.

Visual timers can also help neurodivergent women entrepreneurs:

• Reduce anxiousness
• Contribute to routine and predictability
• Enhance focus
• Allow for flexibility and customization

By offering a visual anchor and a sense of control over time, visual timers empower us to manage our time effectively.

What It Is

This cute 60-minute visual timer helps you manage time, organize tasks, maintain concentration, and take breaks (yes!). The visual representation of time facilitates smooth transitions and reduces stress during and between tasks. You can also turn the sound off when you don't want interruptions. 

This is my FAVORITE tool for my ADHD. It helps me avoid the rabbit holes of hyperfocus and allows me to overcome executive functioning at the beginning of a task. #neurospicybrainissues :)

I have several in different colors, and this variability helps me always notice it around the house. The novelty ensures that the timer doesn't fade into the background.

PLANNER: An ADHD-Friendly Planner Pad

Why You Need It

The right paper planner offers several benefits to a woman entrepreneur who needs planning to be tangible, flexible, focused, and fast.

The physical act of writing down tasks and appointments can help the brain process information. There's a concrete, visual representation of your schedule and to-do list to refer to or place in a strategic location. And it helps reduce the risk of digital distraction, offering a focused and uninterrupted environment. 

An analog planner is a great external memory aid, and the sensory experience of writing in a paper planner can be soothing and grounding. 

Easy color-coding and highlighting are fun and support executive functioning. 

What It Is

This planner pad is a weekly and daily planner on one sheet. There's no room for tons of information or brainstorming, which makes it super-easy to hone in and prioritize your most important tasks. It also has a handy habit tracker to help you make sure you're getting your self-care in.  

Of course, digital planners like Notion, Asana, or Airtable are also great ways to plan, so if digital planning is a better option for you, all the better.

FIDGET SUPPORT: Hand Roller for Focus and Stress Relief

Why You Need It

Fidgeting. Let's talk about it. 

Fidgeting is a common behavior among the neurodiverse and serves various purposes. It helps manage sensory sensitivities and maintain focus. It also helps alleviate stress and anxiety, as well as regulate emotions. 

While fidgeting is a coping mechanism, it leads to challenges in some contexts, such as causing distraction or shame cycles or hindering efficiency and productivity. 

What It Is

This fidget roller is a game-changer. It gives you a way to deal with jitters and worries while encouraging regulation and feelings of calm. I love it because it boosts focus, providing an extra push to stay on task without getting sidetracked. 

If you prefer to avoid behaviors like pacing around, restlessness, or tapping, this roller is a great substitute. It's got a great design, and you can use one hand or both.

MINDFULNESS SUPPORT: The Mindfulness "Breathing Owl"

Why You Need It

Mindfulness addresses a range of neurodiverse needs. It eases stress and improves relaxation, helping those vulnerable to heightened stress or anxiety. 

It supports self-awareness on many levels - sensory, social, mental, emotional, and physical. This evolving awareness helps you manage various states, such as sensory overload or emotional dysregulation.

Perhaps most importantly, mindfulness promotes feelings of peace, self-acceptance, and self-compassion.

What It Is

The Mindfulness Breathing Owl is a visual meditation tool that guides your breath in a 4-7-8 pattern. Keeping your eyes open to watch the owl's cues keeps you focused and anchored to the physical environment. It's also a night light and noise machine. And can we talk about how cute it is?   

TASK MANAGEMENT: Colorful Sticky Note Set

Why You Need It

A playful set of colorful sticky notes is it.

For neurodiverse online business owners, they're a great memory aid that helps with prioritization, organization, and reminders. This helps ensure you don't forget important tasks or appointments. 

The vibrant colors are uplifting, and you can rearrange the notes as needs or preferences change. Sticky notes can also help communication when words feel like a struggle. 

You can use them to create visual schedules, time block, grid ideas and break projects into manageable chunks. 

Last but not least, they're perfect for doodles, brainstorming, or just expressing yourself. For added sensory goodness, handling can be soothing. 

What It Is

This sticky note set checks all the boxes. 

Bright without being fluorescent, they easily attract my attention. There are several types and sizes of notes in the pack, allowing for tons of flexibility in how and where to use them. And did I mention there are 410 of them? 

Use them for annotating, doodles, planning, journaling, project or calendar management. Or anything else!  

One of my favorite ways to use stickies is to take all my notes on them and attach them to the projects or files they correspond to.

There are many tools out there to support neurodivergent women entrepreneurs as they run their businesses. I hope these help you as much as they've helped me!

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