Do any of these characteristics pertain to you?
- You can get distracted or daydream, but sometimes you concentrate on a job for hours on end,
- You manage to do several tasks at the same time, but sometimes you neglect an important task,
- You get on well with people and they like you, but you prefer to do things your own way,
- You take (calculated) risks and often succeed where some other people would not even try,
- You see solutions where others see problems, in fact your creativity thrives on new challenges.
Sounds familiar? If so, and if you are lucky, you may have escaped being labelled as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at school and medicated for it. If not, you can still embrace and even exploit it and turn it to your advantage.
It all depends on how you see things. One person’s symptom is another’s positive trait.
Table of ADHD symptoms and entrepreneur characteristics.
“ADHDers are often at their best in crisis mode, multi-tasking and free associating to intuitively reach a solution”
Many of ADHD’s ‘symptoms’ are also trademarks of successful entrepreneurs. In fact, Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson speaks openly about his ADHD and how he “wouldn’t be anywhere without the creativity, vision and ability to take risks that seem to stem from it.”
Psychiatrist Dr Dale Archer acknowledged in a recent Forbes article that ADHD has its negative symptoms “which include procrastination, inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, disorganization and [being] easily distracted” but that some of the “most common characteristics – creativity, multi-tasking, risk-taking, high energy and even resilience – are, in fact, strengths.”
He says that “ADHDers are often at their best in crisis mode, multi-tasking and free associating to intuitively reach a solution. And if they find something they truly love to do, they are able to focus for hours on end.” Isn’t that what entrepreneurs do? Isn’t that what you do?
Well, Archer notes that “people with ADHD are three times more likely to own their own business. ADHD entrepreneurs are also creative, with high-energy and an ability to hyper-focus on something they find innately interesting.”
Feeling better about yourself now? Can you see your ‘disorder’ as a special strength for you to exploit? You can harness those characteristics of ADHD to your advantage: Channel your can-do energy by doing things you love.
Managing ADHD
But we must acknowledge that adults with ADHD don’t always fit into ‘normal’ society. If you have ADHD, how can you better manage its more negative aspects?
To minimise the negative characteristics of ADHD that threaten to derail your life, the ADHD Support Group suggest following better eating habits. You may also need to speak to a professional to help you with:
- becoming more organized
- improving time management
- controlling impulsive behaviour
- personal relationships
- managing frustration and anger
So, is having ADHD an advantage or disadvantage to you as an entrepreneur?
About the author: Rick Ed at age 60 Rick sold his business to a younger and more energetic management team. He now educates entrepreneurs on strategic decision making and sales. Rick is also the founder of the InnovateMy.Biz website.
