How ADHD Helped Me Become a Better Business Owner

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I wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until I was 20.

Growing up, teachers always told my parents I was quite the chatterbox. I remember sitting in Mrs. Anderson’s class during a multiplication lesson something about having four apples and multiplying them and I thought, What in the world does that even mean? I couldn’t focus. My brain would drift somewhere else entirely.

Zoning out was second nature. No matter how hard I tried, I was disorganized.
Time management? I didn’t know her.

I struggled to keep up, not because I didn’t care but because my brain just wouldn’t cooperate. I also had a hard time with friendships early on. I didn’t fully understand social cues, and that made me feel even more out of sync with the people around me.

Of course, no one caught the signs. It was the early 2000s, and my parents like most only knew what ADHD looked like in boys. That version was loud, impulsive, always moving. I could sit still just fine... but my mind never stopped.

So I grew up thinking I was just bad at school. That I lacked discipline. That something was wrong with me. I never even considered college because I didn’t feel like someone who could succeed there. It wasn’t until I saw a neurologist at age 20 that I finally got answers: I had full-blown ADHD.

At first, I was disappointed. I felt like I had spent so many years thinking I was broken or lazy, when in reality, my brain was just wired differently.

Then I took ADHD medication for the first time and it was a complete mind warp. I was suddenly productive. I could complete small tasks with ease and without stopping halfway through. It was amazing.

That diagnosis went from feeling like a setback to being the beginning of me showing myself grace. And eventually, I started seeing the gifts ADHD had given me too especially when it came to entrepreneurship.

So here are just a few ways ADHD has actually helped me in running my own business: