Entrepreneurship and ADHD go hand in hand. For many ADHDers, entrepreneurship is the best career choice. In the right business, one that excites you and that takes advantage of your strengths, entrepreneurial success is within your reach.
Entrepreneurship can solve many problems for ADHDers, after all, as an entrepreneur, you can’t fire yourself and you can definitely delegate those tasks that don’t interest you. There are many role models of successful entrepreneurs with ADHD, and I’m not describing a select few “rock star” business owners. Every day, I work with entrepreneurs successfully facing and conquering their ADHD demons, and even using their creative genius to their advantage.
Of course, these same entrepreneurs are quick to confirm that maximizing your productivity is an absolute necessity for any entrepreneur to succeed. Time is money; really, time is more valuable than money… you can’t get more time if you run out! You may not have a boss to impress (besides yourself), but the forces that will judge whether you were productive enough are even less forgiving than even the toughest boss. You need to be amazingly productive.
Most entrepreneurs start their business as a solopreneur. You’re responsible for every aspect of your business, from creating the vision right down to every gory little detail, like sales, invoicing, chasing payments and managing paperwork. And you have personal and home responsibilities, unless you want to come home late one night to find your suitcase waiting for you on the front porch!
You must maintain your health with exercise, a good diet and sufficient sleep because if you miss a day, there’s no one to take your place. And staying financially healthy, though often more challenging when you’re in the early stages of starting a business, is essential. There’s nothing more distracting than creditors’ phone calls!
It’s easy to see how so many entrepreneurs get overwhelmed or neglect essential aspects of their lives. So how do you do it all?
You adopt strong entrepreneur productivity practices. Productivity is not only about work performance, it includes all the commitments you make to others, to yourself, and to all that supports you, including your health, work-life balance and financial security. It’s about self-management.
Neglect your self-management and you’ll soon find yourself overwhelmed, possibly in divorce court and procrastinating on your invoicing or sales calls. And that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
What have you been neglecting lately?
