Livia Farkas, Author at Weirdly Successful

In her free time, she enjoys stickers & planners, crochet & roller skates, and running around with her pet bunny Rumi.

Building Weirdly Successful’s Knowledge Systems

Livia is the architect behind Weirdly Successful’s knowledge infrastructure — creating the systems that help late-identified neurodivergent adults make sense of their experiences and find language for what they’ve always felt.

She created The Neurodivergent Glossary, an ever-growing encyclopaedia of neurodivergence-related terms designed to help people find answers using everyday words for their experiences—not medical jargon they haven’t yet learned. She also designed the content architecture that powers the entire website: a system that organises content by what someone is experiencing (focus, hearing, time), where they are in their journey (exploring, seeking diagnosis, recently diagnosed), and what they need to know (definitions, validation, practical strategies).

Currently, Livia is building the Weirdly Successful Learning Community: a custom-built peer support platform designed from the ground up for neurodivergent brains. Every element, from the onboarding process to the reaction buttons, has been designed to balance ADHD and Autistic accessibility needs.

Specialist Subjects

Neurodivergent adaptations for life and work · Dismantling harmful self-beliefs
Promoting self-compassion
Creating a life without the hustle

Background: 15 Years in Adult Education

Livia’s neurodivergent-focused work builds on 15 years as a productivity and lifestyle educator in Hungary, where she developed the frameworks, techniques, and teaching approach she now adapts for English-speaking neurodivergent audiences.

Book

That Traffic Light’s Not Getting Any Greener! (XXI. Század Kiadó, 2013; ISBN: 9786155373022) — National bestseller in Hungary, shortlisted for the Libri Golden Book Awards.

Publications

Éva Magazin (2014–2020), HVG Psychology (2019), Glamour (2019), Forbes Hungary (2017), Marie Claire Hungary (2013), Elle Hungary (2013), Cosmopolitan Hungary (2013)

TV & Radio

Livia has appeared as a productivity and lifestyle expert on Hungarian national television, including recurring segments on RTL Klub’s morning programme and appearances on TV2 and Duna World. She has been interviewed on Kossuth Rádió (Hungarian public radio), Klubrádió, and Jazzy.

Talks & Appearances

Livia has spoken at universities including the University of Debrecen, ELTE, Corvinus University, and the Balassi Institute; at professional conferences including the Mfor Marketing Conference, Digital Divas Conference, and Evolution Social Media Conference; and at a Google Ground roundtable on women in business. Her 2013 book tour included venues across Hungary and a reader meetup in London.

Awards

HVG GoldenBlog, Audience Award for urban:eve blog (2011, won)
Cosmopolitan Digital Divas, “Best Blog Design” (2012, won)
Glamour Women of The Year Hungary, “Blogger of the Year” (2014, nominated)

Latest from Livia

Explainer

“What can a neurodivergent diagnosis give me if I got this far on my own?”

You’ve developed coping strategies and made it work so far. Hooray! But what’s working today might not work tomorrow — especially when life throws big changes at you like hormonal shifts, job changes, or major life transitions. A diagnosis can give you a baseline understanding of your brain so you can adapt when things change, rather than having to reverse-engineer everything from scratch during a …

Explainer

“I’m afraid of a diagnosis, I don’t want to be fixed!”

Good news: a neurodivergent diagnosis isn't about fixing you, because you're not broken. What it actually does is give you a framework to understand how your brain works and what you need - so you can finally stop forcing neurotypical solutions on yourself.

Explainer

“I have tried traditional “self-care” activities, and they don’t do anything for me. What am I doing wrong?”

Nothing! Neurodivergent brains need more time to process, decompress, and recharge.

Explainer

How can I recognize when I’m about to make an impulsive decision?

Impulsive decisions can make us feel powerless. Even if we ignore the possible negative consequences of the decisions, simply feeling that we did something we couldn’t notice “in time” or catch while it was happening can be very vulnerable and disempowering. After the fact, it sometimes feels obvious – ‘duh, this was silly; I made …

Glossary Entry

impulsivity

Impulsivity in ADHD is characterized by a shortened pause between impulse and action: a bright flash that leads immediately to behaviour before you can fully consider it. Impulsivity shows up in different forms: verbal (blurting out, interrupting), emotional (expressing strong feelings immediately), decision-making (choosing immediate rewards over delayed ones), and motor (acting on physical …

Glossary Entry

night terrors

Night terrors are episodes of intense fear during sleep that involve screaming, physical movement, and autonomic arousal (racing heart, rapid breathing, sweating). Unlike nightmares, they occur during non-REM sleep with no memory of the event afterwards.

Night terrors affect both children and adults, with higher prevalence in neurodivergent populations, particularly those with ADHD.

They're …

Explainer

What’s actually happening when I go into verbal shutdown?

A verbal shutdown might appear to be “nothing” from the outside, but actually, a lot is going on beneath the surface. Language, speech, even just on the technical side, are very complicated, even before you start adding the social layers on top of it (word choices, cadence, implications of tone of voice, non-verbal communication aspects). …

Explainer

“Why do traditional productivity methods make me feel worse instead of better?”

Traditional productivity methods are tips and tricks designed for people who already have all the resources and opportunity to be productive - they just need fine-tuning. When it comes to executive dysfunction, we need more than an optimal route.

Explainer

What’s the difference between being ‘lazy’ and experiencing executive dysfunction?

Laziness is not simply “not doing” something. A lazy person could do the thing, would have the energy to do so, but chooses not to. And they don’t care about it at all. Lazy people are okay with the task not being done. Their inner monologue isn’t even mentioning the task. Lazy people don’t think …

Glossary Entry

proprioception

Proprioception refers to the sensory system that provides information about body position, movement, and spatial orientation without visual input (i.e. knowing where our body parts are without having to look at them).

Glossary Entry

vestibular system

The vestibular system is a sensory system located in the inner ear that detects head position and movement, working together with vision and proprioception (body position sense) to maintain balance and spatial orientation.

Glossary Entry

Sensory processing difficulties

Sensory processing difficulties are a group of traits associated with neurodivergence. They're part of the wider group of sensory processing differences, meaning all the ways neurodivergent brains handle sensory information differently from neurotypical peers. Any of the brain's 8 sensory processing systems can be affected by processing difficulties.