In this post, I lay out the 5 ADHD unique & uplifting traits I wish the world would know! I share a few ways for you to help harness these ADHD traits for yourself. Alternatively, use these ways to support your friends, family, and colleagues who have these unique and uplifting ADHD traits. Do this by implementing these strategies that have worked for myself and hundreds of clients.
1. ADHD Trait: Hyperfocus
ADHD’s trademark hyperfocus is a gigantic advantage — when one can effectively channel all that attention and energy into work that makes a difference, progress happens.
I recall making 100 calls a day and closing 100k deals over the phone when I was working in sales because I focused on getting the result, my hyperfocus resulted in being the top salesperson.
Hyperfocus is the experience of deep and intense concentration in some people with ADHD and helps the world be a world full of variety.
How to harness ADHD Hyperfocus:
Prioritise hyperfocus by making the first 90 minutes of your day a time to block out the world and create short bursts of action.
Due to executive function challenges you get to Because if everything is important nothing is important.
Don’t prioritise on the day, do it the night before that way you get to hit the ground running and save thinking time.
Understand the environment when your ADHD hyperfocus can thrive and reduce the environment where hyperfocus dies!
Side note: Efficiency is defined as the ability to accomplish something with the least amount of wasted time, money, and effort or competency in performance, focus on being efficient.
2. ADHD Trait: Impulsivity
Acting intuitively and impulsively despite uncertainty, that sense of urgency is a trait that helps the world to go around, the world tends to stop when doubt gets in the way.
Often when impulsive decisions are made from an intuitive place, when you trust your gut and learn how to develop your intuition you no longer have trouble make amazing decisions.
You don’t delay takinng action to start a project or procrastinate because you trust yourself.
Instead you drop the mask because authenticity is no longer hard.
You drop the mask because you know just how much energy you have.
Impulsive behaviour that is deemed negative often derives from years upon years of invalidation from self as well as others.
How to help harness ADHD impulsivity:
Build your trust jar.
Make a commitment to yourself by getting super clear on your values and committing to value-based living.
The reason why value-based living is key is that our values are the compasses that guide everything we do. They ground our decision-making and root our actions for a purpose greater than ourselves.
Values help you to react when difficult situations arise.
Knowing your values help you stay purposeful & passionate.
Living your values help you to build a positive self-concept. This influences how we think, feel, and act in everyday life.
The values that we hold put us back on the path when we have gone down the rabbit hole of chasing something shiny. As a result, we stay focused and attain our goals with more ease.
Respond to life’s challenges with a positive mindset rather than a negative mindset by improving your mental fitness levels!
The 8-week program dedicated to helping you to learn how to regulate your emotions, control impulsivity, and become the driver of your behaviour is here!
3. ADHD Trait: Resilience
Fall down 7 times and get up 8 doesn’t even begin to describe the resilience of a person who has ADHD.
Rejection sensitivity plays a big part in a person with ADHD not sharing their brilliance. Over time, there has been a compound effect of criticism that impacts a person’s self-concept.
ADHD traits in adults often looks like that high performer.
There is a deep determination in a person with ADHD to find a way to get it done and that resilience has helped many ADHD people to move from the impossible to possible.
A person with ADHD has gone through a journey to gain that resilience. They would have learned ways to pinpoint their stressors and developed coping strategies, which consequently has helped them reduce these stressors’ levels of intensity.
4. ADHD Trait: Innovation
In an ideal world people wouldn’t speak at 10 miles per hour, put us through death by powerpoint and certainly wouldn’t have meetings for the sake of a meeting.
But they do.
And a person with ADHD has untapped ideas to help solve problems & probably had it 10 meetings back.
How to harness ADHD innovation:
Create space for everyone’s ideas to be shared and where active listening practice becomes mandatory.
5. ADHD Trait: Humor
One of the nine traits of a self-actualised person is the ability to laugh at yourself.
Often the world frowns upon self-deprecating and sarcastic humor as a cry for help. However, this type of humor comes from humility and self-respect when you have ADHD.
Research suggests that a tangible way to spot a self-aware leader is by watching for a self-deprecating sense of humour.
People that can admit to their failures or shortcomings with a smile are more approachable.
One study on sarcasm showed the processes involved in initiating and delivering a sarcastic comment improved the creativity and cognitive functioning of both the commenter and the recipient.
Due to being self-aware I have learnt to use sarcasm with only my close friendships.
My way to bring humor to situations has helped me to stay youthful and flexible when working with others too.
So there we have it, 5 ADHD traits that the world now knows and how to actually help those ADHD harness them.
Remember labels are for jars, not people so the first step in identifying these unique and uplifting traits is to create a space of belonging, so unmasking your ADHD becomes the norm
May you be celebrated not just tolerated!
Ruth-Ellen
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