Yes, I can focus and, complete large projects…How about you?
I just got back from a national conference. And not just any conference but an ADHD conference. Now, go ahead and cue all the jokes about lost car keys and wallets at the front desk of the hotel. I’ll wait…
Okay, we good??
This was my first ADHD conference since writing my book, Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with Adult ADHD. Having never been to such an event and plunging into the industry so to speak by publishing a book on ADHD, it was time to get out and meet many of the wonderful professionals helping others with ADHD; both adults and children.
I met ADHD coaches, therapists, doctors, educators and others. And there were even just people who had ADHD who wanted to learn more about how to thrive in life, business, school and other areas. In short, I had a great time talking with others about ways to help people with ADHD thrive.
But as I quickly found out, (and maybe I knew this anyway…) there are still many myths and inaccuracies about adults with ADHD. And I was confronted head on at my first day with one of those misconceptions.
As I sat at a crowded table, those of us in the room began to introduce ourselves. I introduced myself as the author of my book on adult ADHD. Of course most at the table wanted to know more about the book and even take a look at it. And of course I had a copy with me…
As the book made it around the table, one older woman flipped through my book. She then asked me a couple questions that quite frankly threw me back a little bit.
She first asked if I had ADHD, which I responded yes. I was a train wreck as a child. But I have learned how to be successful in life. She said, “You didn’t write this all by yourself, did you?” To which I responded, yes, I wrote this book by myself. “Well you must have gotten help, right? I mean, how could you write a book without any help?”
So let’s get right to the problem here. Well, a couple problems.
First, why is it so hard to believe that someone who might be a little different, has any less abilities than others? Everyone, regardless of who they are, has their strengths and weaknesses. And one of the biggest misconceptions of those with ADHD is that they have absolutely no focus. Give us the right project and environment and we are unstoppable. Give us something we love and are good at and, get out of our way! Can I write? Yes. Can I do my own accounting? No! I might have thought the question was more in line if she asked me about my accounting.
Second, is the constant focus on the negatives. It is bad enough that those without ADHD have a certain image and perception of those with ADHD but when those with ADHD go right for the negative traits that we might have, it’s that much more difficult to help ourselves and prove that those with ADHD can be an asset in business and in life. Many successful people in business have ADHD. In fact, it’s probably more than we know. There’s a lesson in here. Don’t always reactive negatively in a given situation. It’s a bad habit and one not easily corrected.
Third is the fact that productivity just might be the superpower of adults with ADHD. Yes, we have to train ourselves but once we put the right systems in place and get ourselves in the zone, we can actually crush productivity. And in many cases, more so then our non-ADHD colleagues. After writing my book, which by the way I did in seven weeks, I was asked to present talks on, of all things, time management to business groups. They wanted to know how those who might have had a hard time focusing, crushed their productivity. Think about it. You can learn quite a bit from someone who needed to train themselves to focus when their brain told them not to. A valuable lesson from very successful people. As most of the people in my book are successful entrepreneurs, there were many lessons to take away.
As a society, we focus far too much on the negatives. It seems to be a gut reaction to almost everything including success, politics, self-improvement and other aspects of life. We all know that person who, in every discussion, goes negative immediately. They waste no time finding what could be wrong about the current situation. Don’t be that person. It’s not healthy and it’s a bad mindset to have day in and day out. You will never achieve anything if your first reaction is always a rejection of the positive aspects of a situation.
If you want to find out how entrepreneurs that just happen to have ADHD channel their positive energy and traits to be successful, grab a copy of my book on Amazon.
And check out my Podcast by the same name-Overcoming Distractions on ITunes.
