ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka

EP. 375: You Get to Decide Who You Are

Mar 11, 2026

They talk about choosing your own values instead of inheriting someone else’s. They reframe procrastination as an emotion problem and tackle perfectionism as self-protection. Practical tactics include shrinking starts into tiny steps, using micro-rewards and visible progress to hack dopamine, and building identity through repeated small actions.

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INSIGHT

Choose Values By Desired Feelings

You get to choose your values by focusing on the feelings you want, not the things you think you should want.
Tracy Otsuka illustrates this by asking if prestige actually equals feeling respected and if a perfect house equals feeling safe.

ADVICE

Use A North Star To Simplify Decisions

Give your life a North Star or theme to simplify decisions and guide choices when life gets messy.
Tracy suggests using a value, intuition rule, or specific mission like 'challenge the status quo' or 'be the best parent I can be.'

INSIGHT

Procrastination Is An Emotion Problem

Procrastination is an emotion problem, not a discipline problem; the brain avoids the uncomfortable feelings the task triggers.
Tracy lists boredom, confusion, overwhelm and underlying fear as the real drivers of delay.

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Most of us never actually choose our values. We absorb them from parents, culture, and community, and then wonder why our lives feel like a scratchy sweater we can't take off. That works for a while until something starts to feel off. Nothing is technically wrong, but you have the sense that the life you're living may not actually fit you.

Procrastination lives in the same neighborhood. It's not about the task. It's about the feeling the task creates, boredom, confusion, fear, or perfectionism, which is fear in a tailored blazer.
The shift comes when you realize you get to choose.

You can drop values that feel like an uncomfortable sweater and replace them with ones that actually feel right.

In this episode, let’s talk about how to identify what you actually value, why motivation follows action and never the other way around, how to shrink the start so small your brain can't resist, and how to hack dopamine so it works for you instead of against you.
If you've been waiting to feel ready, motivated, or confident before you start, this episode will flip that. You don't become the person first. Every small action teaches your brain who you are becoming.

Resources:

Website: tracyotsuka.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/tracyotsuka
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tracyotsuka4796
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com

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Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

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