Imagine the challenges in everyday life if you were 7 feet tall. One might be having to duck every time you walk through a doorway. This challenge alone would occur so frequently that it would serve as a constant reminder that you are abnormally tall.
But being tall is neither good nor bad; it’s simply a trait that is challenging in certain environments.
Now imagine being 7 feet tall and playing basketball. In this context, it would be like a cheat code – you would require less skill than most other basketball players because of your height advantage. You would barely even have to jump to reach the hoop!
See where I’m going with this?
Similarly, when working in a more structured environment that hinders your creative flow, having ADHD is like being 7 feet tall in a tiny house. But in the right environment, it can be like playing basketball as a 7-foot-tall person.
In many ways, that environment is creative fields and entrepreneurship. Let’s explore 3 reasons why:
Resilience: This is a vital trait in the world of entrepreneurship, where the ability to recover from failure is crucial. On the entrepreneurial path, setbacks are a feature, not a bug.
Entrepreneurs with ADHD have a remarkable advantage by not allowing failures to deter us. Like a determined hunter who faces adversity in the wilderness but presses on with extreme determination, entrepreneurs with resilience embrace challenges and transform setbacks into valuable lessons, which drives our path to success in the business world.
Risk-Taking: Starting a business always involves risk, and this part scares away the those who live in a “farmer’s world” of performing the same tasks every day.
But for us hunters, the dopamine rewards involved with risk makes the entrepreneurial journey even more enticing. The hunter mind embraces risk, seeking out new and exciting challenges, and pushing boundaries. It’s a characteristic that aligns perfectly with the risks inherent in entrepreneurship.
Hyperfocus: While focus on routine tasks can be a challenge for those of us with ADHD, we excel when we’re passionate about something. Our ability to hyperfocus can be their superpower in the entrepreneurial world.
Like a 7-foot-tall basketball player towering over competitors, we can channel our intense focus into launching and growing a business at a surprising speed, while investing all our energy into achieving results. While this hyperfocus may not be sustainable over the long term, it’s exactly what a new business needs to get off on the right foot.
In the world of entrepreneurship, the traits that make us ADHDers unique are not obstacles but advantages. We are the 7-foot-tall basketball players, the hunters in our natural habitat out in the wilderness.
Leveraging our resilience, risk tolerance, and hyperfocus can lead to remarkable success in this natural habitat. Remember, if you can change your environment to one where you naturally excel, you can unlock your limitless potential. That is what thriving with ADHD is all about.
Thanks for reading!
Stay curious.
-Tony