Finding the right career is a challenge for most neurodivergent people. Today we’re talking to Shell Mendelson, ADHD Career Coach, about how ADHDers can find the right career, when to take the big step to transition to something new, and how to avoid burnout.
Contents
- 0.1 Show Notes:
- 0.2 Guest Bio: Shell Mendelson
- 0.3 About Neurodiverging
- 0.4 How to Find the Right Career with Shell Mendelson – Transcript:
- 1 Opening: Soul-Crushing Jobs and ADHD
- 2 Welcome & Guest Introduction
- 3 Thanks to Patrons & Where to Find Resources
- 4 How Shell Got Into Career Coaching
- 5 Burnout & Misalignment
- 6 Realizing ADHD & Getting Diagnosed
- 7 Evolving the Process & Writing the Book
- 8 Staying Safe With Diagnosis Disclosure
- 9 Danielle’s Career Transition Story
- 10 What Career Coaching Can Offer ADHD Adults
- 11 Why Leaving Earlier Can Be Protective
- 12 The “Career Bubble” (Protecting Your Process)
- 13 Training Feels Lighter When It Fits
- 14 Autonomy & Self-Employment for ND Brains
- 15 Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset
- 16 Must-Have Skills & Strengths (Often Underused)
- 17 Money Reality & Not Living on the Edge
- 18 Life Purpose as a Guidepost
- 19 Where to Find Shell & How to Start
- 20 Outro & Thanks
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Thank you to our Patrons for funding this podcast. Find out more and pledge today at patreon.com/neurodiverging.
Show Notes:
- Get ad-free podcast downloads and lots more: http://patreon.com/neurodiverging
- Work with Shell:
- Unlock Your Career Path: A Course for Neurodivergent Adults and Teens: Shell’s book and system for helping you learn what you want out of work, and how to get started
- Unlock Your Career Galaxy: A weekly, member-only journey for neurodivergent teens and adults — tailored for ADHD — designed to help you gain clarity, confidence, and momentum on your career path.
Guest Bio: Shell Mendelson

Shell Mendelson is a seasoned career coach with over 30 years of experience, specializing in supporting adults with ADHD. She helps individuals navigate career transitions, uncover their true strengths, and build fulfilling careers without forcing themselves into neurotypical molds. Shell’s approach is deeply personal, rooted in her own journey with ADHD, and is designed to empower clients to work with their brains—not against them.
In addition to her individual coaching, Shell leverages her expertise to guide businesses in effectively supporting ADHD employees, aiming to prevent the need for PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) programs. By offering practical insights on creating supportive work environments, Shell helps organizations save time and money while boosting the resilience and productivity of their workforce. She encourages businesses to take a proactive, inclusive approach that better aligns with the strengths of neurodivergent individuals, ultimately fostering a more motivated and engaged team.
Through her Your Next Career Move MasterClass and one-on-one coaching, Shell provides ADHD-friendly strategies that go beyond surface-level advice, equipping individuals with tools to build confidence, clarity, and direction in their careers. Shell is on a mission to transform the way career coaching and workplace policies are approached for the ADHD community, advocating for more supportive practices that prioritize empowerment over punitive measures.
About Neurodiverging
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How to Find the Right Career with Shell Mendelson – Transcript:
Opening: Soul-Crushing Jobs and ADHD
Shell [00:00:00]: Anybody who’s been in a soul-crushing job will understand what I’m saying. To actually get up in the morning and go to work doing something that you don’t love anymore is painful. Yeah. With our diagnosis, it’s literally painful.
Welcome & Guest Introduction
Danielle: Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the Neurodiverging Podcast. My name’s Danielle Sullivan. I’m your host. I’m very happy to be here today. Today we have an interview I’m really excited about: Michelle Mendelson, who is an ADHD career coach—both ADHD themselves and somebody who works with ADHDers, I should just clarify.
They’ve been in this field for over 30 years and specialize in helping ADHD individuals get the most out of their jobs, especially folks— I asked her on specifically for people who are going through job transitions. I know a lot of us are in this space right now, and it’s one of the most common questions I get in our inbox, is: “I’m ADHDer, and I’m looking to change my job, and I’m not sure how to do it or how to find something that works for my kind of brain.” So I’m really excited to have this conversation today.
Thanks to Patrons & Where to Find Resources
Before we get into it, I do, of course, as always, want to thank my patrons over at patreon.com/neurodiverging. Those folks are here in community with me, helping to support this podcast and help us raise funds for lower-income neurodivergent people to receive coaching services. So, I’m really grateful to them. They help the sliding scale function, and they help keep us going.
If you are interested in joining our community and supporting this work, you can check us out at patreon.com/neurodiverging. And, as always, show transcripts, blog articles, and other podcast episodes are all up at neurodiverging.com, along with our coaching services—which are not career coaching like Shell’s, but we do life coaching and other kinds of support for late-identified neurodivergent folks.
So now let’s talk to Shell. Welcome, Shell, to the Neurodiverging Podcast. I’m so excited you’re here. Just in the brief chatter we had before hitting record—thanks for being here today.
Shell: Thank you, Danielle. It’s an honor to be here.
Danielle: Thank you. I’m the one who’s honored, I promise.
How Shell Got Into Career Coaching
Danielle: So, I told folks briefly already that you’re a career coach. You’ve been doing this forever, and you work specifically with ADHD clients. I’d love to know a little bit more about how you got into this field—and also thank you for being in this field because it’s so hard to find high-quality career coaches nowadays, and it’s so needed.
Shell: It started almost 35 years ago when I got my master’s degree. I wanted to go into counseling because my number one thing was helping people. Luckily, I knew counseling was what I wanted early on, which is not true for everybody I work with. A lot of people don’t know that, but I was fortunate, and I was lucky enough to begin working as a vocational rehabilitation counselor.
What we did was work with individuals who were disabled to help them find work that matched who they were within their disabilities. At the time I was doing it, it was mostly physical disabilities, but back then ADHD was really not a thing. I was always able to determine when I was kind of burning out a little bit, and I needed to pivot to something different. What I knew at the time was that I loved the career element of it, and I wanted to work with individuals in career transition. I always loved What Color Is Your Parachute?
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: Which was a book written by Richard Bowles probably 45–50 years ago.
Danielle: It’s a classic. Yeah.
Shell: It’s a classic. At the time he offered a training—which, again, tells you it was a long time ago—and I was trained by him directly, and he then became my mentor.
I proceeded to work as a career counselor using the Parachute system for many years up until the point where I started my own company, which was called Kids Art, and it became an international franchise system. That’s a long story—that’s going to take too long to go into.
Danielle: That’s a part two, yeah.
Shell: Yeah, that’s part two.
But the result of that was I learned so much about myself and about what was okay and what wasn’t okay. And what I learned from that was that I loved doing the work as a career coach. That was where my heart was. As the CEO/founder of this company, I wasn’t enjoying my work on a day-to-day basis anymore. I was actually miserable.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Burnout & Misalignment
Shell: Anybody who’s been in a soul-crushing job will understand what I’m saying.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: To actually get up in the morning and go to work doing something that you don’t love anymore is painful. With our diagnosis, it’s literally painful.
I was so miserable that my co–business owners were starting to notice. The franchisees were starting to notice, and I was getting literally called out on the carpet a lot by my own company. They were trying to tell me, “This isn’t working.” I was undiagnosed. So another thing is: if you’ve ever worked with an undiagnosed neurodiverse person, you know that that’s not fun either.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: Right. That can be difficult. And I was one of those people. So I’d like to say I have a little bit of karma to clean up there.
It didn’t end well, but it did end. I felt like this albatross around my neck had to come off some way.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: And it didn’t come off in a fun way. I was very traumatized by the whole experience.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: But also relieved. Yeah. So it was trauma plus relief.
Realizing ADHD & Getting Diagnosed
Shell: The first thing I did was go back to working with clients as a career coach. And the first client I had was very severely ADHD. I realized, “Oh my gosh, I, you know, can relate too much to this person.” And then I went—literally crawling—to the bookshelf where I had a book that a friend of mine had sent me two years earlier that I stuck in the drawer, never looked at—on ADHD.
Danielle: Yep.
Shell: She was going to tell me something. She was a therapist, right?
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: And she never said the words out loud; she just sent me the book.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: So I put it in the drawer, and I literally went crawling over to that book, flipped it open, and saw everything that spoke to me.
And I’m sure many of the people that listen to this have had a very similar experience.
Danielle: Oh yes.
Shell: Once you see the characteristics — the first thing, for me, was you go through all the emotions. You go through the emotion of, “Oh man, I’m so glad I’m not crazy. Obviously I’m not crazy. This is actually a thing, and other people have this as well. And it’s really important now for me to figure out how to get diagnosed.”
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: So I immediately found somebody to give me a diagnosis, and I made that appointment, and I will never look back.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: And that’s one of the things that I always say: if you think you have ADHD—and I work with people who say they have the characteristics and they suspect—
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: I always say, “If it looks like a duck, go get the diagnosis.” Yeah, because then it just sort of puts a seal on it. It makes it easier to navigate going forward. And it makes it easier for me because I decided at that point I was only going to work with neurodivergent clients.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: That was a decision that was like so easy for me to make at that point. And I did that, and I never looked back. I have more fun with my—you know—the people in our tribe.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: I always loved my work, but now I love it more.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: That’s what I’m saying.
Evolving the Process & Writing the Book
Shell: That was kind of how I got to where I am now, and I just started building on it and building on it. Then, as I continued to learn more about what we needed—we needed to do a Parachute kind of process, but it needed to be much embellished compared to the one that’s been around for years. I started adding to it: adding graphics to it, adding different exercises, making it more cohesive. And the more I did that, the more it sort of hit me that, “Oh, you need to write the book now.”
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: Right. You need to get the book elevated. Getting the whole book published and going through that whole thing was an experience. It was another—what I call—branch on my tree.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: That’s one of the images I use when people are building their careers: different branches of your tree.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: And your tree trunk is essentially the foundation. My foundation is education. Everything I do from the ground up has to do with educating on some level. And so my definition may be different than somebody else’s. My definition is to impart information, inspire, uplift, and to elevate people with information—and just to get in front of people and have conversations like this.
Staying Safe With Diagnosis Disclosure
Danielle: Thank you so much for sharing that—and for your vulnerability in it, too—because I know, especially working with a lot of late-identified folks and being one myself, that a lot of us do go through that: “Should I get the label? Will the label hurt or harm? Will it help?” And for a lot of us, it does really help to have that, like you said, stamped—right? Yeah, it’s validating in a way.
Shell: Yeah. I never called it a label; I called it the diagnosis.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: And so I don’t talk about—I only talk about my ADHD with people that I know and trust. Yeah. So it’s a whole different conversation.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: Actually, when I’m talking to people about ADHD in the workplace, or ADHD when you’re making a career transition, and how it impacts you—that’s obviously a safe place, and that’s where I use the term most.
Danielle: No, definitely. I hear you about the need to stay safe with—what is basically—medical information.
Shell: Because not everybody understands.
Danielle: No.
Shell: And you have to be careful.
Danielle’s Career Transition Story
Danielle: So I’m somebody who totally stumbled into where I am now. I got my master’s in religious studies. I was going to teach. Right around that time, I had my kids. My kids got diagnosed. I had major postpartum depression that wasn’t identified—later got identified as autistic ADHD—and kind of started this podcast and then, from that, became a coach. So that’s, like, in a nutshell, my trajectory.
So, I really fell into this career. I’ve now been certified as a coach multiple times, but when I started I was coming from this very different field with skills that were transferable—but not quite; Y’know, I had to learn a lot. I often wish that I had had something a little bit more streamlined—a little bit more support in that career transition.
And I know a lot of the folks that I work with—who are in my Patreon; I was telling you in our Discord—are going through career transitions right now. A lot of folks go through burnout in a current job and then are like, “I need to do something different. This is not working for me.” So I would love to talk more about how we can help people in career transition. What should they know? What are some of the things that a career coach can offer? Because I think people just don’t know that folks like you exist and that you can support them through this.
What Career Coaching Can Offer ADHD Adults
Shell: Yeah, well, I’ve been doing this so long that I’ve been basically using the process that I learned from Richard Bowles for many years, and it’s worked. That was the one I stuck with because I loved it. I loved it for me. It worked for me. And whatever you do, obviously, it has to work for you before it works for somebody else.
Now, that’s a key right there: if you’re doing work that you are doing because you think you should, or it’s going to make you money, or you think it’s going to get you what you need—but you don’t really love it or enjoy it or feel a connection with it, feel excited, energized, elevated by it—it feels like drudgery. And when you talk about burnout, that’s what leads to burnout right there.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: It’s important to really recognize when you’re feeling those things. What I always tell people is that when you’re feeling that negativity about the job you do, that you’re in the wrong job. It’s the wrong fit. There’s nothing wrong with you—nothing.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: And a lot of people really need to hear that—there’s nothing wrong with you; it’s just the wrong fit.
Danielle: Not everybody’s perfect at everything, right? But we all have a place where our strengths come together and we’re able to do amazing things. Finding that fit is so difficult—especially, I feel like, because a lot of us aren’t aware of our own strengths. We can hear that we’re being told that we’re not doing it right—but since we don’t know what they want, there’s a communication gap a lot of the time. We don’t know how to do the thing they’re asking, so then, like you said, we feel like it’s our fault as opposed to “we’re just in the wrong spot.” So I guess I’m just repeating what you said, but I just really agree with you. I strongly agree with you.
Shell: And the thing of it is, it’s so damaging emotionally.
Danielle: Yeah. It is.
Shell: People are soul-crushed, and when they come to me, their confidence is very low after having gone through one of these processes or programs, and they feel like there’s something wrong with them—when, in fact, that’s not the case at all. Not at all.
Again, it’s just the wrong fit for them. And that means going through this kind of a process to determine what is the right fit. Going through the process that I do with people will allow them to go back to their employer and say, “I see there’s maybe a job over here that I would do far better in.”
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: “I’ve gone through this process, and I know what it is. I know where my interests are. I know where I’m leaning—what I can get excited about. And when I’m in that right fit, I can focus more, I’m more energized to stay on task, I’m much more productive, and I can meet deadlines. Anything that needs to happen I can do in that position as long as it’s the right fit.”
It’s better to leave than continue in a situation that is so soul-crushing that can really damage you even further and cause you even further burnout.
Danielle: That just isn’t worth it.
Why Leaving Earlier Can Be Protective
Danielle: As somebody who works with burnt-out clients regularly and folks who are trying to regain capacity, I’ll say. A lot of folks stay at a job that isn’t working for them, completely burn out, end up feeling like they failed, like they failed their coworkers, their colleagues and their managers—are worried about their résumé and any gaps, have huge health issues, and sometimes they’re two or three years before they can rejoin the workforce in any meaningful way, even if it’s part-time.
Shell: Yeah
Danielle: And so I think a lot of people, reasonably, are worried about money short-term—and I absolutely hear that. And also it’s like: well, you can take the break now and find something new—hopefully with support—or you can keep going, potentially burn out, and be out of work for three years, on to the rest of your life. And that’s not something that needs to happen. Intervening for yourself ahead of time will reduce your overwhelm and your trauma and will improve your life meaningfully to leave earlier. Yeah.
Shell: Exactly.
The “Career Bubble” (Protecting Your Process)
Shell: And go through this process where you’re actually acknowledging who you are. You’re actually identifying what is right for you—not for other people. So, when I work with people, they’re no longer allowed to hear the input of other people about what they should do or shouldn’t do, because I put them in what’s called the career bubble.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: I say, “This process is going to be eight weeks, and for eight weeks you cannot speak with your spouse about what’s coming up for you or your partner, or your best friend, or your family—or anyone outside of this group. Usually, there’s a big relief there. And I say, “If they have a problem with that, they can call me and I’ll happily explain. But you can tell them your coach—this is one of the deals with working with your coach.”
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: It’s a big relief. And there are pieces of it where they can bring them back in to participate, so it’s not totally shut off for that period of time. But what it does is it takes away all the outside influences—of coming up with ideas you’re curious about, things you’ve maybe always been curious about, and you want to maybe now explore things that maybe from your childhood you had thought about but got lost along the way.
When you say you fell into this work, I mean, it’s just incredible that you actually love—coaching—that you found coaching. That isn’t usually the case. A lot of the people I work with say the same thing: “I fell into it, but it was never anything I chose. It was never anything I really knew I wanted or why I wanted it.”
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: And so when you go through the whole process of clearing out all the dust and really focusing on what it is—who you are, what you want—and acknowledging it without apology that “this is it,” the way to get there starts to emerge. The options start to emerge. The first step starts to emerge. Everything comes out at that point.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: So it’s exciting. It’s an exciting process to realize that, “Oh my gosh, I loved doing this when I was a kid, and there were elements of it that I really loved, and then it just went blank because I knew I had to make a living, so I had to go into something practical. I did get a degree in something that I could make money in, and I never even liked doing those things.” And so all of those things from the past—those ideas, those interests from the past—get put to the side.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: But they come rushing back in this process, and they start to formulate in a very grown-up kind of way—in a way that really makes sense—when you are doing something that really resonates with you and your soul. And that clarity and that focus are what’s really important for building something that’s sustainable and is going to help you—and it’s going to make you money, you know?
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: And it’s going to make you a good living too.
Training Feels Lighter When It Fits
Danielle: Well, when you’re excited about doing a job, it’s easier to do the job. That’s like a silly thing to say, but it’s like — I had a lot of internalized shame and beliefs about what I could and couldn’t do before I became a coach. Coaching training helped with that in a way that previous therapists probably should have and didn’t, really. But I had a good sense of what I was good at—I didn’t know how to find jobs that would utilize those skills.
I had this master’s degree, which is a graduate-level degree, and I was like, “Okay, I’m supposed to use this degree. We paid for this degree, we did all this work, we moved to a different state, right, for me to go to the school.” I had all these hang-ups around, “I put all this energy into it, so I have to use it.”
When I allowed myself to shift that and say, “This was really important education and I value it and it’s done a lot for me, and also I can go into a field that doesn’t ‘use this degree’—big scare quotes there—but uses the skills and uses what I like about it,” that was a big shift for me.
So when you’re saying, “Yeah, you might have to go back and get more training,” for me it’s like: okay, but the training I did for coaching was so much easier because I was so excited about it, and I wanted to do it, and I enjoyed it. Even though it took probably the same length of time as a master’s degree—roughly—it was so much easier than a master’s degree. It can feel heavy to do something new, but actually, it’s so exciting. It lifts you up instead, to go get that training, even if it takes a little bit longer, because it’s just a completely different lens to look through things.
Shell: When it’s the right fit, everything feels different. Everything.
Danielle: It really does.
Shell: And this process that I do is a feelings — I call it a feelings process, because you’re feeling your truth about what you should be doing all the way through it. And when something is off, it really stands out. You really notice: “Nope. Nope.”
So it becomes a sifting and sorting process—yes to this, no to this. And that can take the form of going on an interview and realizing that the conditions under which you’re working would not be the right conditions for you—because they have a certain set of rules, a certain culture, all kinds of elements that we talk about—that you start to recognize for yourself as either being the right one or the wrong one.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: And so that sifting makes it easy to say, “Thank you very much. I don’t think this is a good fit.” And it sounds scary to do that when there’s money on the line. But, okay—you go into the wrong fit and what’s going to happen? Right?
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: And what always happens when you walk out the door the first time is that other opportunities start to show up—because they’re the right ones, you now know how to find the right ones.
Danielle: Yeah. You’re looking.
Shell: And it’s very empowering in a way to say, “I did this for me.” It becomes so empowering and confidence-building to take control over what is okay and what is not okay in the workplace—or in finding a position.
I always say that: you can work for somebody for a few years—and I encourage people, as I did—I worked for a couple of companies before I went off and did my own thing.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: But with ADHD—or being neurodivergent—we tend to not love being told what to do all the time.
Autonomy & Self-Employment for ND Brains
Danielle: It’s the truth. Yep.
Shell: I can see all the heads popping. Yeah. Nobody wants to admit it, but really, we don’t want people standing over us, micromanaging us, telling us what to do when we already kind of know what to do—not trusting us to get something completed or making us check in all the time. And also, if it’s the wrong kind of person managing you for you.
Danielle: Oh, yeah.
Shell: Those can be deal killers all the way down the line. So I say: look, with our brain wiring, at some point you’re going to want to look at, “how do I take my show on the road?”—and how to take complete control over it. And yes, there are ups and downs, but guess what? I haven’t been fired in over 30 years, because I get to redo, repivot, add to, and take away.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: At times, it’s been a rough ride, for sure. I can’t say it’s perfect. But at least I get to make the decisions. I’m the one who gets to think of, “How can I reach these people? What do I have to do to make a shift of some kind?” That feels so much better than being in a job where I have little control over the outcome if things aren’t going so well.
Danielle: Yeah.
Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset
Danielle: So much of it is about mindset, too—because even when you were talking about the difference between begging someone for a job and being able to walk away from a bad fit, that’s, to me, the standard abundance–scarcity mindset, right? Is it that there are no jobs and you have to get one, no matter what—even if it’s going to burn you out and cause years of damage? Or is it actually that there are good fits for you, and you can be empowered to find that exact good fit?
And the same with business ownership: do you have to work with other people you don’t really like on a product or a service that you don’t really vibe with? Or can you go out on your own—and it’s going to be freaking hard—but also you’re going to learn so much, and you’re going to get to make really big decisions about your own life literally every day? You get up in the morning and you go, “What am I working on today?” It’s something you chose; it’s something you picked with your goals in mind and your needs in mind. Yeah. And that’s such a different mindset and a different way of looking at the world.
Shell: Yeah, it’s so— and every podcast I’ve been on — those people have been through — most of them are neurodivergent-related podcasts — those people have all chosen that route to go on their own and do something that empowers them, that they feel good about. And I go: it’s not impossible. It really isn’t impossible. It’s just knowing what you want.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: Getting planted with the right foundation, really understanding how the system works that you want to go into, or what you want to do and who your audience is and what you want to say and how you want to reach them.
There are so many good elements to doing it for our brain wiring. I can’t—even. And also, I think now, of all times, if anyone has any inclination or thoughts about doing that, now is the time to really start getting those wheels spinning and writing things down—start writing about all the things that you want to provide: the service you want to provide or any kind of product you want to work on, and the kind of people you want to work with.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: And the kind of conditions you need. These are all things that we go through in this process: identifying and defining all those elements.
Must-Have Skills & Strengths (Often Underused)
Shell: The skills that you want to use—usually what people find when we go through the process of identifying the right skills, the transferable skills that are the most important—what I call “must-haves” in the work they do—they’re very often not anything close to what they’ve been using.
Danielle: Yeah.
Shell: Like: “Oh my gosh, this really shocked me—my number one was organizing — believe it or not.” Or, “My number one was initiating,” or “strategizing.”
And when I ask them, “How often in your former work have you been able to use any of the top five?”—and usually it’s like, maybe zero to five percent. So it’s shocking sometimes to think that we go through life not actually being ourselves—being who we are—being allowed to shine.
Danielle: It’s so funny how many of us are trained to do the things we’re good at but we hate, as opposed to doing the things we like and are more energized about. Oh, I definitely fall into that category.
Shell: And the first step is always knowing what those things are.
Danielle: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Shell: Because very few people really have that recognition of “What is it that I want? What do I want in my work?” That simple question—“What do I really, really want on all levels? What skills do I want to use? What people do I want to work with? Under what conditions?”
And those conditions are vast. I do what’s called a self-accommodation plan with people. They do it—they go through the process and create their self-accommodation plan. And even what field—like, you could be in a completely wrong field that’s de-energizing, and there might be something out there where you could take those skills that you love using and plug them right into the field that you are really excited about. Learning more about it is one way to make a shift right off the bat. You’ve already got the skills; now it’s just about finding roles that would fit that—if you’re going to work for someone else.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Money Reality & Not Living on the Edge
Shell: We also talk about: How much money do you actually need to make—at least to start out—to not live on the edge?
Danielle: Uncomfortably.
Shell: Yeah, no, living on the edge. Even in the beginning—even making a shift—should never be living on the edge. It’s not. That will take you right out of your game. So you’ve got to know what those numbers are, right?
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Life Purpose as a Guidepost
Shell: The last thing is life purpose. And the really cool thing that comes out of this process is you are now able to identify and put together a 100% on-target statement about what your purpose in life is—not just your work, because anything you do in your work must align with that purpose—but just really understanding why we’re all here.
Danielle: It’s so important. I’m in positive psychology coaching—that’s my primary jam—and positive psychology is all about: What are your projects? What are you here for? What do you want to do with your time? So I very much agree with that. It’s huge—huge.
Shell: Yeah, and it comes out of doing this work because it’s all about what you want and need for yourself. Yeah. So I always say: be selfish. You need to be super selfish when you’re going through this. You can’t think about what other people’s needs are as you’re going through this. Not with our brain—you cannot do it.
Danielle: No.
Shell: You’ve got to let go of all the outside influences so that you can now really start allowing all the possibilities to come through—all the possibilities—and then narrowing it down, seeing where the cream rises to the top.
Danielle: Yeah.
Where to Find Shell & How to Start
Danielle: Thank you so much. Shell, I really appreciate you being here. Where can folks go hire you or find out more about you and everything you do?
Shell: Passiontocareer.com is my website. It’s also “Career Coaching with Shell”—that takes you to the same place. So whatever resonates with you: Passion to Career or Career Coaching with Shell. The baseline for working with me is a masterclass. It’s a very small group of four to six people. It takes you through this process, and now you have a network of people that you can stay connected to after. Of course, I would love people to schedule an intro call with me—which you can do from the website. There are plenty of places you can click on the Calendly and schedule that intro call. But also, the way to get started right away is the book.
Danielle: Mm-hmm.
Shell: It’s called Unlock Your Career Path: A Course for Neurodivergent Adults and Teens. (I like to point out the coffee stain here.) You can download the PDF of the book or get the book on Amazon, but the PDF download is available on my website. Anyway, it’s a fantastic way to get the wheels started.
Danielle: Yes.
Shell: And then if you feel—, the classes are an elevated version, so you’re getting coaching along the way, you’re dealing with all the resistance that comes up, you’re having the accountability, you’re working with other people to begin a networking/support system process. So there’s a lot of value in just going through the eight weeks as well.
Danielle: Yeah, I love that you have that all built in. That body-doubling accountability piece is so valuable for folks like us.
Outro & Thanks
Danielle: A big thank you to Shell for sharing her time with us today. If you think that Shell might be the coach for you, I would encourage you to check out her book. We have a link down below, and purchases through that link do support us over at Neurodiverging—so thank you for your consideration.
If you need coaching for any other life concern, Neurodiverging Coaching has you covered, and you can learn more about us at neurodiverging.com.
Thanks, as always, to our supporters over at patreon.com/neurodiverging. We appreciate you so much in helping us to support our lower-income coaching clients, and we look forward to seeing you again back here very soon. Please remember, we’re all in this together.


Danielle Sullivan