Being Diagnosed With ADHD: And What It Means as a Business Owner

What do you think of when you hear the words Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder?

🤔...Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

ADHD is massively stereotyped, right?

While the stigma is this hyperactive, disruptive kid in school that gets diagnosed at an early age, that simply DID NOT happen for me.

Think of a 29-year-old Social Media Strategist instead.

In this blog, I want to talk to you guys about my recent diagnosis of ADHD, what that means for me, and what that means as a business owner too.

Keep reading. 👇🏻

How do my ADHD symptoms show up?

As a woman, it's hard to get diagnosed because our symptoms are completely different. I've always suffered from anxiety but there was always something coupled with that.

The reason why I think I wasn't diagnosed early on in life, is I didn't have the traditional symptoms of ADHD.

❌I wasn't hyperactive 
❌I wasn't aggressive 
❌I wasn’t loud or disruptive

In fact, I actually internalized a lot of those feelings. 

I’d find other ways to cope.

Instead, I was always that kid on the honor roll. I was in every single club for every single little thing. I just couldn't shut my brain off from the moment I would wake up to the moment I went to bed.

I'm STILL this way.

I would fill my time with stuff. Whether it was homework, excelling at school, or achieving a sense of perfectionism.

I would fill every single second of every single day with something to do until my body broke down. 🤕

Even now, I don't know how to RELAX. Along with that, there's a sense of perfectionism that is really just procrastination hiding sneakily behind. 

That's why I've had a lot of hobbies. I'll pick up drawing one second, and then forget about it and do scrapbooking. You name it, I’ve done it! 

I will take these big projects and get sidetracked. Then I’ll put off tasks until the last minute. 

For me, it is SO hard to sit down and write an email. I will sit on it for three days until I'm like…

“Okay, this person is going to get REALLY angry with me if I don't respond to them soon.” 

Meanwhile, I can go out and basically reorganize my entire house. 

No problemo! 🤷‍♀️

How Do You Treat It?

There are many different ways to treat ADHD, but there's no one size fits all approach.

I like to listen to my body, so for me, I'm going to go the natural way through supplements.

👉Music
👉Organic food 
👉Adapting my schedule

Let’s face it, I've gone 29 YEARS of my life undiagnosed! 

Finding ways of coping with this and finding defense mechanisms. Basically just surviving.

I didn't want to add a stimulant into the mix.

I know my body and while I'm not saying that they're bad (I think some people absolutely need them and they’re a wonderful thing) they’re just not for me.

Along with this treatment plan, I want to adapt my lifestyle to fit AROUND my ADHD diagnosis.

⚠️ NOT the other way around.⚠️

That entrepreneur mindset of waking up at 5 am and getting all your shit done in the morning… 

No. I've realized my brain just doesn't work that way. 

DISCLAIMER: I do not like waking up at 5 am. PERIOD. 

I wake up naturally anywhere between 6:30 am and 8 am. Going with the natural flow of my body has started to help a lot more.

Another thing I do is to make sure that I scheduled myself. I’ll do all of my heavy intensive calls on one day, then give myself the flexibility of taking a half or full day off on Friday. Because at that point, my mental capacity is tapped out for the week. 

I’m structuring my days and my business around my ADHD. 

What Does It Mean as a Business Owner?

There are many different ways ADHD can show up in your business. Personally, I’ve realized that my ADHD has made systems and structure difficult in my business. 

If you watched my latest YouTube Video, you’ll know I was talking about how I went missing on social media.

I realized that there are certain processes and systems in place that I've mastered and I've nailed. Most of those are the client-facing systems that I use to run my social media agency and teach in The Creative Content Lab.

But while I know those systems work - they help my team and I deliver content to clients in a timely manner and organized way - sometimes I still have troubles systematizing my OWN business, A Creative Co. 

So my goal right now is to figure out systems that I can put into place for my business that allow me to be less involved, or that make it easier for me to be involved WITHOUT getting overwhelmed. 

For example, I use Asana for project management. 

And while as much as I love checking off a to-do list, I CANNOT have a million subtasks under a main task.

My brain gets overwhelmed and I procrastinate.🤦‍♀️

If I'm fired up and passionate about a project, I will take it and run with it but then get easily distracted by something else, a nice new shiny object. ✨

So basically, I’m going to do some major strategizing about ADHD business systems and strategies, and I’ll report back to ya!

And on a quick (important note!):  just to let you know, none of this is medical advice.

If you feel like you have ADHD please seek out specialists in your area.

I wanted to tell my story because it's something that I've struggled with for a long time. I never knew what it was and it feels good to finally have a name for it.

My treatment plan might look different than most people's, but I feel comfortable knowing,“This is what's going on in my brain, here are some ways of coping with it and dealing with it.”

Thank you for reading and hearing a little more about my journey of being diagnosed with ADHD at 29. 

I'm going to start talking more about my ADHD journey as a business owner and you the behind-the-scenes of what’s working and what’s not!

If you’re interested in following to learn more, subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE.📹

It’s packed FULL of social media strategies I implement in my own business as well as a sneak peek into daily life as a business owner. 

I hope I see you there!

xo,

Amber

WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO