How mastering my ADHD made me a better founder!

Hey everyone,

As an entrepreneur with ADHD, I understand the struggle of juggling multiple responsibilities while managing my symptoms. However, I realized that it was important to prioritize overcoming my ADHD before I could truly thrive as a founder. When I mention that I mastered my ADHD, I still struggle with ADHD regularly, but now I feel confident enough to succeed. Beforehand, I didn't trust myself to achieve my dreams, but I saw the light at the end of the tunnel by improving my key weaknesses. In this post, I'll share the importance of focusing on ADHD and how it transformed me into a better leader and founder.

Why is this important?

Before addressing my ADHD, I operated at less than 50% efficiency and squandered most of my time. I only utilized half of my potential, hindering my entrepreneurship progress. This became evident in various aspects of my entrepreneurial journey, such as when:

• I started my first business, and it ultimately failed due to inefficiencies like poor execution, organization, and time management
• I’d try to build new habits & skills like coding, and then eventually fizzle out due to my lack of consistency
• I couldn’t consistently maintain my established habits like working out or getting 8 hours of sleep. This ultimately led to burnout.

By addressing my ADHD, I realized how much my ADHD was holding me back from entrepreneurial success. Without tackling my ADHD, I’d never become a successful founder and truly propel myself forward. As the founder, it’s my job to lead the ship, but how can I lead the team to success if I don’t know where it is?

My Challenges!

My ADHD was a formidable barrier that prevented me from achieving my desired success and dreams. After my first business, I needed to identify where I was struggling and conquer those challenges. Those key challenges were:

• Inconsistent with habits and projects → I’d start new projects without completing the last
• Procrastination → Nothing was completed on time.
• Deviation from execution plans → the plan was never executed, so I’d end up off course.
• Misalignment of time and priorities → When I tracked myself, my time went into buckets that were not priorities.
• Lack of Self-Control & discipline → I didn’t have the self-control to execute what I wanted, leading me to doubt myself.
  I was doing double the work to achieve mediocre results. I questioned if I’d ever achieve my goal of being a successful founder. However, I refused to be deterred. I overcome these obstacles with determination and perseverance, using each as a stepping stone toward personal growth and success.

How I mastered my ADHD

By no means was this easy, but I will say that I got there with determination, iteration/action, and persistence. Here's the process I used to tackle my ADHD and develop systems:

• Develop a growth mindset. Push myself to try new things and do it even if it's uncomfortable
• Track my problems by writing them down, so I wouldn’t forget them.
• Set aside time daily to problem-solve
• Ask me, “How can I prevent this from ever happening again”
• Immediately implement these solutions. Start extremely simple and small to make it easy to start
• Iterate on my solution until the problem is solved
• Use “5 whys” if I can’t find the root cause
• Use a progress tracker to ensure I'm improving
• Focus on the action rather than the results. For example, measure how often I go to the gym, not the lost weight.

Here are the skills that helped me master my ADHD :

• Execution → I developed this by completing multiple side projects and reaching my goals. I started small and got used to driving things to completion. Here's a couple of the projects I worked on:
  • Created a magazine,
  • progress tracker,
  • simple coding projects
  • Plan events (yacht party, winery visit, etc.) for my friends
• Consistency → I mastered this by sticking to a couple of habits then I moved on to more challenging habits. Here are a few
  • making my bed every day, no matter what.
  • Flossing every day
  • Taking my vitamins at lunch every day
  • Planning my day at night
  • Working out 5+/week.
• Problem-solving and habit/system building → I learned to address my weaknesses and implement creative systems. For example,
  • using a notebook since I have a bad memory,
  • putting everything in my calendar so I don't double-book myself
  • Putting my phone in the bathroom so I don't doom scroll in bed
  • Put my phone, wallet, and keys in the same spot, so I don't misplace them
• Time management → I no longer spent hours trying to complete a small task, and I could complete larger projects more quickly. My biggest hacks here are
  • using a calendar for everything (shower, lunch, workouts, family time, etc.)
  • timeboxing
  • Set deadlines
  • Breakdown projects into smaller pieces so it's easier to estimate

Therapy and Medication

I highly recommend both of these. When I was early in my journey, these helped tremendously with building my self-confidence and giving me hope that I could grow. That being said, these were not the solutions that made ME the founder I needed to be. I quit meds after college because I didn't like how they made me feel and didn't want to depend on them in case of a shortage. I highly encourage them to help anyone struggling, but focusing on self-discipline, consistency, and time management helped me the most in becoming a founder.

Conclusion

Focusing on overcoming my ADHD has been one of the most important decisions I've made, and I encourage others who struggle with this condition to do the same. When I mastered my ADHD, I overcame many challenges that stopped me from running a business. When I developed these skills, I started seeing success in my projects. It's not easy to overcome, but it's worth it, and it's a journey that I'm grateful to be on. Ultimately, it allowed me to tap into my potential and achieve goals I never thought possible. Trust me, give it a try!

Enter Scattermind

I’ve productized my systems into ScatterMind to help you master your ADHD, overcome procrastination, and achieve your goals. I launched this product in January and reached $1400 MRR by mid-June. If you’re struggling to master your ADHD, overcome procrastination, & achieve your goals, reach out!