The ADHD Business Toolkit

Running a business with ADHD can feel like riding a rollercoaster, unstrapped… with a blindfold; one day you feel totally on it and clear on the vision, and the next you can’t even see the step right in front of you.

There are so many benefits to running a business with an ADHD brain, but there are also some things that trip us up on the daily, and having words for them can really help.

As an ADHD business owner myself, and someone who works with ADHD business owners every day, here is a breakdown of the worst culprits when it comes to distracting us, and some ideas to get around them:

Time Blindness:

People with ADHD process time in a different way to neurotypicals. Where they will see time in a linear, more logical way, going from a starting point into the future, we can struggle to visualise time, and tend to categorise it into ‘now’ or ‘not now’ which leads to us often being late, failing to plan ahead or struggling to anticipate how long a task will take.

Tip: find a visual aid that works for you. I use Google Calendar because I like to see my day laid out and where the gaps are, other people like to use apps with alarms and check lists.

Time Collapse:

Time collapse happens when we look at a task list and feel like all the tasks need to be done ‘now’, this can lead to overwhelm and task paralysis, where we struggle to achieve anything at all. This can be a real problem when we run a business as it can throw us off for a whole day or more.

Tip: Make sure your task list is broken down into tasks, rather than goals so that they feel achievable. Find a system that works like my ADHD Task Wizard which takes your brain dump and turns it into ‘now’ and ‘not now’ tasks.

RSD (rejection sensitivity dysphoria):

RSD is a physical response to real, or perceived rejection, many report this as feeling like a pain in your chest, a sensation in your stomach, or all over muscle ache. It’s almost impossible to avoid this when we run a business as we are exposed to rejection (real or perceived) from clients, customers, team members or our peers.

Tip: Try to create some distance between yourself and your known trigger points. If you don’t have an assistant, making one up, and giving them an email can really help to deflect some of that rejection - try it!

Demand Avoidance:

Demand avoidance can be a huge issue for business owners with ADHD and can feel so confusing before we understand what is really going on. Demand avoidance is that feeling when you really want to do something, but the moment it feels like a demand, you just can’t. This can happen with people too, which is why interpersonal relationships feel hard for people with ADHD.

Tip: Turn ‘demands’ into ‘options’ that you can choose from based on your brains motivators. Talk to your friends about how demand avoidance impacts you, ie; difficulty in replying to texts, and be honest with yourself about your triggers so you can find ways to work around them.

Procrastination:

Procrastination is a huge one, but I have a take on this. The issue with procrastination, isn’t the procrastination itself, it’s your go-to distraction technique that is the problem. Our brains are motivated by interest, novelty, competition or urgency; if you are trying to force your brain to do something that doesn’t fall into those categories, it will procrastinate - and there isn’t a whole load you can do about that!

The problem then becomes that you are doom scrolling, impulse spending/ eating/ drinking, ruminating, texting your ex… I don’t know, whatever it is that you go to when you are avoiding a task. THAT is the problem.

Tip: Remember your brains motivators (INCU) and next time you are experiencing procrastination, think about what you were trying to force yourself to do, and then what you did to distract yourself. You will find a lot in those answers and will be more mindful next time it happens.

God Mode:

Ahhh, god mode - that feeling when you can take on the world. Whenever I talk about this on Instagram, I get people telling me that I’m describing Bipolar (hence why so many people with ADHD are misdiagnosed with Bipolar/ BPD) but it’s different. It can feel so good, you feel so capable, and on it - but what most people don’t understand is that God Mode is the first sign of burnout. When I experience God Mode, I know I have to curb my enthusiasm and practice restrain so I can do future me a favour and soften the blow for burnout.

Tip: beware the god mode, for burnout shall surely follow! Be mindful when you feel like you just want to take on more, more, more, and consciously slow down so you can lessen the impact of burnout.

Burnout:

And then comes burnout. UGH> This can last anything from an hour to a week/ month/ year even and the scary thing is that for so many ADHD business owners, burnout is just their baseline.

This happens, in part because we don’t really recognise burnout for what it is. I think of burnout as Big B Burnout - the kind most would think of; bedridden, unable to function, can’t imagine ever being able to work again. Most people don’t recognise it’s younger, sneakier sibling, little b burnout who pops round unannounced whenever they want. Y’know what we used to call the 3pm ‘slump’? The one we thought we could fix with a can of Diet Coke and a Kit Kat? Yep, that’s burnout. So is the Friday one where you have no energy left from a busy week, and the weekend one where you struggle to see anyone because your battery is on the floor.

They are all burnout.

Tip: Start calling it what it is, and watch how differently you treat each episode of burnout. No more sugar fixes to get you out of a ‘slump’, it’s active relaxation or absolute rest.

Rumination:

Rumination isn’t exclusive to ADHD, but is experienced by so many, and can become a real problem in business - especially for people who work alone. It’s distracting when you’re trying to focus, but your mind is going over and over that argument you had with someone 5 years ago, or coming up with a response to that Whatsapp you keep looking at and marking unread because you don’t know what to say.

Tip: The thing that has most helped me is taking the thought from my head, into my body. Sit with the thought, and consciously move it from your head, down into your chest, see how it feels. Another great tip is to hum or sing - you can’t think at the same time, so this can work for a temporary fix!

There are so many upsides to running a business with ADHD, but hopefully having the words for some of these obstacles, and some tips on how to avoid them will help you navigate your day a bit easier.

Let me know in the comments if this helps you!