ADHD at work

Are you an ADHD entrepreneur?

ADHD, the entrepreneur gene?

Adults with ADHD are six times more likely to start their own business, according to the Economist magazine. ADHD entrepreneurs lead many start-ups. Just estimating ADHD in adults with a prevalence of 4% of the population, with the 6x more likely estimate, that suggests one in five (20%) of all businesses have an ADHD entrepreneur at the helm!

In my coaching somewhere around half my clients run their own business, sometimes very large businesses indeed, for some good reasons:

creative and out of the box thinker
creative and out of the box thinker
great at making connections both with ideas and people
prepared to take risks, in fact risks are exciting
driven by passion and novelty
work well as a hybrid easily taking many work roles
able to take on many different work roles
always focused on efficiency and problem solving
don’t want a boss

There are many clear reasons why ADHD adults choose to set up a business and are suited to high-risk, rapidly changing, less rigid and specialised environments. Silicon valley is testament to the power of neurodiversity being given the right context to flourish.

What goes up must come down

But the yin and yang of ADHD means that what is given with one hand is taken away with the other. There are problems to offset the advantages. If you feel that you fit with the positives, do you also fit with these ADHD negatives:

Too busy with urgent stuff to tackle the important?
Find handling repetitive and mundane tasks difficult?
Haven’t sorted out a PA yet as you’re a perfectionist and don’t know how to delegate?
Procrastinate excessively, overwhelmed by certain tasks?
Late on meeting critical deadlines?
Want to sort out, use and respect a calendar?
Feel unfulfilled and wish to change, perhaps “stuck” in a rut?
Spin many plates yet don’t make the progress you desire?
Struggle with indecision, too many options?
Wish to better plan you time, to be more consistent and considered?
Finances are neglected

ADHD entrepreneurs work well with other people

If you fit this description, whether formally diagnosed or not, an ADHD coach can really help. You can work with a coach who understands your nature, and can work in you “executive” team. As a business coach they can work with you to find lasting solutions: whether hiring a PA, creating a better routine, resolving a key decision or defining a strategy. In theory you might do this alone but the reality is you won’t.

ADHD entrepreneurs prefer action to reflection and planning, so a coach helps you focus on these essential elements of your business.

Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis is an ADHD Coach, writer and founder of SimplyWellbeing. He has over 15,000 hours and 18 years of experience in coaching over 500 ADHD executives, ADHD business professionals and ADHD creatives. Andrew ran a major ADHD support group and an ADHD diagnostic clinic for a while. He is an ADHD specialist backed with business expertise from a twenty years career in software, from roles in programming, through marketing, sales and to running a few software start-ups. His ADHD insight is personal, with decades understanding his own ADHD experience and in bringing up his ADHD daughter. He has published his writing primarily via this website, with interactive ADHD courses in development.