11 Tips for Success When You Have ADHD

How Do I Manage My Business and Life with ADHD?

Get ready to delve into the wild world of entrepreneurship, where chaos reigns supreme, and focus is overrated.

Ah, yes, we're here to shed some light on a topic near and dear to the hearts of aspiring business owners: ADHD. For those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or anyone, embarking on entrepreneurial endeavors can be a rollercoaster ride of blessings and challenges. ADHD brings unique obstacles, but fear not, friends, for amidst the chaos lies a treasure trove of untapped strengths waiting to be unleashed. In this blog, Machaela offers some invaluable tips, practical strategies, and enlightening insights to help you navigate the entrepreneurial jungle.

Embrace your inner tornado, explore how to channel your ADHD quirks into remarkable achievements, and thrive in the business landscape. Harness the power of your wandering mind, dive in! You can discover how to leverage your ADHD to conquer the world of entrepreneurship.

PS: Don’t try to conquer all of these at once. See tip #4.

- Machaela

Strategies and Tips to Leverage Your ADHD to Conquer Your Business

Calendar + Accountability - I know, it sounds like torture. PURE TORTUE. Using a calendar is hard work. Mundane tasks are hard work. The second you know you have to be at something, stop and put it in your calendar, email yourself or schedule a message. More than likely, you will not remember to do it later. Better yet, give someone access to your calendar. Years ago, this brought on extreme anxiety, almost crippling. It might feel like you’re letting go of your entire life, but it will be ok and help you get things done. Find someone to keep you accountable to that calendar and your tasks. Just putting something in your calendar doesn’t mean anything. Check the calendar, and set alarms but name them so you don’t forget why you set them. If you have a virtual assistant - as I do- she will say, “Machaela, have you left for your 10:00 am meeting yet? According to Google, you’ll be right on time if you leave now.” It’s a lifesaver.
Slow down and explain - give permission. Give those around you, those close to you, permission to stop you and ask you to slow down. Not everyone moves like you and can jump from subject to subject. You’re firing off ideas, and many people can’t keep up - but remember, they are good at other things.
Focus on the good - not what you’re not. I do well under pressure, with deadlines and time limits. We set 90-day goals each quarter, and a typical quarter setup is hard for me. 90 days is too long. I’m more of a 30-day kind of goal-setter. I dive in and work in spurts. So break up the goal. If you haven’t read the blog How Do I Balance Home and Work Life? Work-Life Balance is a Lie. Now focus on what you’re good at. A plan is hard. I will never be the type of mom who plans meals for two weeks, let alone one week in advance. There will not be a cute little menu sign in my kitchen with what’s to eat this week. I’m convinced that most people don’t change these until someone is coming over. It’s kind of like a bowl of lemons. They make you look classy, but who really needs a whole bowl of lemons?! What I am good at…spontaneity, flexibility, big ideas, problem-solving, and getting messy while staying extremely curious about everyone and everything and relying heavily on my intuition. I might be right on time or late for most things, but I got you when you have a giant problem and can’t see the solution.
Find systems and burn them into your soul. Conquer one system at a time - I can’t tell you how many times I had to turn around after dropping my daughter off at daycare to return home because I forgot something. Out of sight, out of mind. I set reminders, and I put the bag right by the door. Nearly in front of the door, so I would trip over it. She’s 4 now, and I rarely forget what she needs, but this took a long time to master.
Task Manager + Paper List - We use Asana at Tandem Works. It’s hard for me to use, but it does keep me on top of some stuff. Tasks are always in Asana, with a quick link. What’s a quick link - you can’t go digging around for documents in Google Drive because you’ll find something shiny or something fun, and an hour passes, and you’re not doing the task you needed to. Great, so tasks are in Asana but I also use a paper list. This is NOT an envelope, I repeat, this is NOT an envelope. If you walk into a meeting with me and you have an envelope, my brain immediately spirals out of control at the amount of time you’re losing when you go to search for that little piece of paper - because that piece of paper has an important note or thing you have to have. Keep your notes and to-dos in one place. If you don’t finish them, you flip to the next day and write them again. This also helps clear your brain before you leave work.
Buy a label gun - It’s not only to level everything, but it’s a visual reminder that THIS DOES NOT GO HERE!
Get out of your inbox - Set times to check your email, and then don’t go back. It’s a rabbit hole. Let others know, “Hey, I set time to check my email, if it’s an emergency, don’t send it there.” Also, try not to work out of your inbox. It’s a never-ending list, not a great way to organize your thoughts. Something like Asana can help if you’re on a team.
Rabbit holes: Have a business partner or a friend who likes to send you super great, really interesting articles on anything and everything? Acknowledge it. Vivian and I do this. She sends something like this⚠️🐰🕳️ or this “MACHAELA. This is a rabbit hole, but a must-read would be great if you can dive into this before our next meeting on Tuesday.”
Time perception - I can have a false sense of time. I often think I can do way more in a given time span than what it physically possible. I break tasks or projects into chunks and I schedule buffer time between scheduled chunks of time.
Eisenhower Matrix - This is a game changer and it’s so simple. When I start to feel overwhelmed, I take a stack of sticky notes and brain-dump everything or every idea onto one sticky note. Then I place the sticky notes into one of four quadrants to help me compartmentalize between what’s important, not important, urgent, and not urgent and how I will tackle it. Read more on how to use the Eisenhower Matrix here.
Grace. Give yourself some grace and don’t compare yourself to others because that’s a rabbit hole in itself. Instead, find people who support you for who you are and can embrace the challenges because of the good you bring to the table.