ADHD Aha! Something felt off: ADHD, depression, and slow processing speed (Matt Klein’s story)
6 snips
Mar 17, 2026 Matt Klein, a software engineer who was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD and slow processing speed as an adult. He describes feeling listless after big life changes and how a fixation on a crooked door revealed deeper patterns. The conversation covers perfectionism, masking, slow processing speed, and how the diagnosis reframed his past and work life.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Crooked Door Became A Metaphor For Being 'Off'
- Matt obsessively researched and installed a back door, then fixated on a tiny misalignment that kept bothering him.
- The crooked door became a metaphor he and his therapist used to reveal long‑standing perfectionism and that something was 'off'.
Freezing In Sports Revealed Overthinking Pattern
- Matt traced low self‑confidence and perfectionism back to late grade school when executive demands increased and he couldn't keep up.
- He remembers freezing during a wrestling move for a split second and losing advantage because he overthought the next step.
Job Mismatch Exposed Hidden Executive Function Strain
- A job mismatch (project manager role) exposed processing and decision paralysis that had been misinterpreted as failure.
- Matt later realized the slow decision‑making and panic at IBM fit ADHD-related executive function challenges, not lack of competence.