Welcome to another episode of ADHD-ish! I'm your host, Diann Wingert, and today's episode is all about recognizing the unique gifts and strengths that come with ADHD, so we can make the most of them in our business. 

In this solo episode, I'll be sharing seven strengths frequently associated with ADHD and how you can identify if you possess them. But that's not all—I'll also provide you with practical techniques for validating these gifts, so you can turn them into powerful business assets.

📖 Episode Highlights:

1. Emotional Intelligence & Empathy: Are you able to pick up on others' moods effortlessly? You might have this gift!
2. Intuitive Problem Solving: Are you often the one finding unconventional yet effective solutions that others miss?
3. Creative Self-Expression: Do you communicate complex ideas through stories, analogies, or visuals that make everything click for others?
4. Pattern Recognition: Do you spot trends and predict outcomes before anyone else notices them?
5. Rapid Adaptability: Are you someone who thrives in rapidly changing situations 
6. Crisis Management: Do you think clearly in emergencies when everyone else is in a state of panic? 
7. Innovation Through Divergent Thinking: Do you generate multiple ideas effortlessly and combine them in unique, valuable ways?

This episode is packed with real-life examples of how these gifts have transformed the businesses of other neurodivergent solopreneurs and actionable techniques to help you validate your own strengths.

👉 Next Up:

Don’t miss our upcoming episode featuring neurodivergent author and therapist, Risa Williams, where she'll share insights from her bestseller, The Procrastination Playbook. Also, stay tuned for the companion episode to this one, focusing on turning your ADHD strengths into tangible business assets!

If you haven’t already, make sure to follow and subscribe to our podcast. Exciting episodes are on the horizon, and you won't want to miss out!

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© 2024 ADHD-ish Podcast. Intro music by Ishan Dincer / Melody Loops  / Outro music by Vladimir /  Bobi Music / All rights reserved. 

You know, one of the most confusing things about having ADHD is that all the limitations we struggle with are packaged up together with some pretty incredible gifts, abilities, and strengths. So truly thriving as an entrepreneur with ADHD traits really comes down to uncovering our gifts and turning them into business assets. So in this solo episode, I'll be sharing 7 strengths that are frequently associated with ADHD, how to recognize if you have them, and a specific technique for validating if you're not sure. You can think of it as a treasure map where X marks your sweet spot.

Okay, are you ready? Alright, we're gonna start the 7 with, let's do the ones that most people would associate with being soft skills. I find they are especially prominent in those who are born female or who are queer or gender nonconforming. First on the list is emotional intelligence and empathy. Here are some signs that you may have this gift. People will frequently say, how did you know that? I used to get this a lot when I was a therapist because I happen to have this gift of emotional intelligence and empathy. I would just know things about my clients that they hadn't even told me, kind of freaks people out.

So I think if you have this gift, it's a good idea to let people close to you in on it. When you are able to pick up on other people's moods easily, that points to having this gift. In fact, it may mean that you are sometimes overwhelmed in crowded spaces because you can feel other people's feelings. When you have this gift, and you are in business for yourself, you are probably instinctively and intuitively adjusting your communication style, kind of like a chameleon to fit each prospect or client. You may not even realize you're doing this. Now if you think this might be you, but you wanna validate because you're not quite sure, for a week or so. And record a voice note or send yourself a text when you find yourself doing these things, because you will lose track, especially since you're not used to paying attention to these things.

I want you to pay attention to how often you know what someone needs before they've asked. How often you understand an unspoken group dynamic. And how often you can predict someone else's reaction before it's happened. These are very suggestive of the fact that you have the gift of empathy and emotional intelligence, and you can validate it for yourself by tracking it for a week. I'm gonna tell you about my client, Carrie, who's an attorney. When I first met her, she told me I'm way too sensitive. So, of course, I was curious and we had to unpack it. She was convinced that she was too sensitive because she could read her client's moods from a text message or an email. And she demonstrated that ability to me, and I realized she's not joking, she really can't.

She then intuitively adjusted her communication style to meet where her client is at, and she frequently anticipated their needs before they even express them. Now over time, this really set her apart, and she came to be known among her clients as and referral sources as someone who really gave them the peace of mind they were looking for because she always seemed to know exactly what they needed and provided it. So be very intentionally and deliberately leveraged this gift of emotional intelligence to go through all of her client documentation. I'm talking about systems for screening, onboarding, and ongoing legal services, and then tailored support systems that not only met, but exceeded their expectations at every level, further setting her apart, allowing her to get more exclusive referrals and raise her rates.

Next one, intuitive problem solving. If you have this gift, you will be the person who sees solutions that others miss, and they'll be so obvious to you that you won't understand why others miss them. That's because it's your gift, not theirs. You will frequently have seemingly random ideas that typically work out. You will also make unexpected connections that make complete sense to you. But even once they're explained to others, they won't get them in quite the same way. And when you go about solving problems, you're probably gonna do it in some very unconventional ways. In order to know if this is you for sure, I want you to use this validation technique that I call, that's weird. Notice how often people say, how did you come up with that?

Or that's an unusual approach, or I never thought of that, or that's weird. And notice when you think, I don't know how I did that, but I did. It's because it's a gift. It is an intuitive problem solving style. Many people with ADHD have, but not all of us. My client, Daniel, has an online course business. And his idea was that he was overcomplicating things because he got obsessed with the awareness that not all students completed his courses. I said, I got news for you, friend, most students don't complete online courses. In fact, many don't even open them. And it's regardless of whether they paid $20 or $20,000. Actually, I don't know if there's any 20,000, but there certainly are a lot of $2,000 courses out there but he wanted to solve this problem.

So while I am keen to steer clients away from overcomplicating things and turning research into a rabbit hole, in this case, I thought he's really onto something. And I was personally very curious to see what he would come up with. Doing this deep dive into his intuitive understanding of individual learning barriers, he was able to figure out how different learners got stuck at different places in his courses. And then using his intuitive problem solving, he designed unique learning pathways for different types of learners. This ultimately opened up whole new markets of students because many people who had been completely unsuccessful with online learning, but weren't able to do in person learning. And many of them who are neurodivergent fit this category, were able to take his courses and succeed with them. So this was a huge upgrade to his business.

Next up, creative expression. This is one of my favorites. So if you have the gift of creative expression, you are gonna be someone who finds unique ways to present information. You are the person who can take an abstract concept and make it tangible. And you will be the person who will take complex ideas and explain them through stories, often using analogies and metaphors. I think of this as like you're kind of like a translator, right, or an interpreter. So if you think this might be you, pay attention to how often when you are explaining something, when you are the one who is explaining something, it just clicks for others. They may say so, or you might just see that look on their face when they get it. Notice how often that you create helpful analogies when someone's trying to explain something, and you can see other people are not understanding. So you just come up with something.

Notice how often you incorporate visuals to explain ideas, and how naturally you can take a complex idea and break it down and make it simple. People who have a tendency to think in terms of acronyms and frameworks, people who use, like, letters repeatedly. Like, I would say I used to have a tagline that said, get focused, fired up, and flame retardant. Or I have the unholy trinity of procrastination, perfectionism, and people pleasing, the PPP. That is an indication, that that is one of my gifts, the gift of creative expression. So notice if you have that and then notice if people around you have that. I have a client named Rachel who is a financial literacy coach, and she made me aware of the fact that most women business owners really don't feel confident about money management and financial decisions.

So she had a knack for explaining these very complex financial strategies, telling visual stories. And at first, she thought that's weird, but she started getting referrals from other female business owners who said, I can finally understand these complex topics because now I see them in pictures just the way Rachel explained them. That was all the push she needed to fully lean into this approach. And now she's the only financial literacy coach I know who uses storytelling and visual metaphor to get these ideas across, which is especially important when she's working with creative entrepreneurs. So now let's venture over to the other side of the brain. We're going from the emotional to the more analytical. And one of my favorite gifts on that side of things is pattern recognition.

If you are a person who can spot trends early, like the early adopter, and you can do so effortlessly, seemingly without even trying. You are able to connect unrelated ideas. You're good at predicting outcomes and you notice the details that others miss. This pattern recognition skill is a gift among many neurodivergent entrepreneurs in the tech field, for obvious reasons. Now, if you think, well, I'm not in the tech field and I'm not sure that this is me. Notice, if you are the person who can spot market trends, spot trends in client behavior, buying trends. If you can spot shifts in social dynamics or cultural dynamics before they're being widely noted and talked about.

And here's another clue, if you are the person who is always pointing out how things are inefficient, if you just can't help it, you go to a restaurant and you get frustrated with inefficiencies because you can immediately see how it could be better. My son, Brett, is like this. It's hard to take him places because he can always see how things could be better and, you know, people don't always wanna hear about that on the spot. So if you see things before other people see them, you recognize the patterns, you recognize the trends. And here's the other part. It's really important that you are the person who doesn't just recognize the patterns. You can also make predictions based on those patterns. This is a skill that my client, Maya, who has a social media strategy agency. She has had several different careers prior to running this agency. So her knowledge crosses multiple industries.

She was able to notice what I thought were minute details in changes to social media algorithms, changes in audience behavior patterns, client buying patterns. So she didn't know that this was valuable, but clearly it is. And she went from working with mom and pop businesses to now serving 7 8 figure clients who are making major investments in social media advertising. And they need to stay ahead of the curve. Otherwise, they have opportunity costs of things they missed out on, or they're just paying too much and not getting the results they want. Her predictive strategies are now getting her tapped to give talks at digital marketing conferences all across Europe.

Okay, ready for the next one? Rapid adaptability. Now I must admit this one was very helpful to me because I spent a decade as a single parent of 3 kids and we all have ADHD. So there was a lot of chaos around us, and I needed to be able to respond to changing conditions. If you have this gift, you thrive in situations that are rapidly changing. In fact, you may seek them out. People who like to work on the floor of the stock exchange, people who like to work in triage in the emergency department. People who like to deal with rapidly changing circumstances and situations have this rapid adaptability gift. They also find workarounds very quickly and easily when things don't go their way. They are comfortable with uncertainty and they tend to bounce back really quickly from setbacks, making them among the most resilient of all entrepreneurs.

If you think this might be you, you can validate it with the plot twist diary. Pay attention and record, if you choose to, so you don't forget, how often plans change suddenly and you adapt it. How often you help others who are navigating change, because if you're good at this, people seek you out. How many times you turn failure into opportunity. And how quickly and easily you adapt and find alternative solutions, when the one you were using just didn't work. My client, Steven, was told by a previous ADHD coach that he was multitasking and that is a no go and he felt really bad about it. But even though I know multitasking is not a good productivity strategy, I had a gut feeling that we needed to go in a deeper level of understanding. It turns out that he is exceptionally good at being able to handle project demands and urgent client updates without losing his place in either.

It wasn't a matter of multitasking. It was a matter of context switching that he was really, really good at. Over time, he has built a very successful concierge web maintenance business, where he's able to specialize in both ongoing project management and rapid updates, so that his top tier clients who pay him premium pricing never miss a beat. You may have this gift if you perform better under pressure, like you legitimately perform better on pressure. That's not just what you tell other people because you procrastinate till the last minute on everything. You actually think clearly in emergencies. When other people are panicking, you're calm. And you are able to make decisions quickly and confidently in circumstances that other people couldn't even think straight. This is a gift.

Now, if you're not sure whether this is you or not, you can validate it by looking at your pressure points. So for example, think about how often you are able to serve, solve urgent problems. How frequently are you the person others turn to when there's a crisis? Think about decisions that you make in critical situations, and decisions you make under pressure. They're good decisions, aren't they? They're not good enough, yhey're actually good. And your performance actually improves with urgent deadlines. Now many people with ADHD tell themselves their performance improves with deadlines, but we're not being entirely honest with ourselves. We're justifying procrastinating until the last minute and getting it done just under the wire.

But when we're being really honest with ourselves, we could have done better, our outcome would have been better, our performance and our results would have been better, if we had given it more time. Not with this person, with the person who actually has the gift of being the crisis manager, they actually do perform better under critical conditions. Sandy is a woman I know, not a client, who runs a home hospice agency with multiple locations across the state. She likes to joke about getting bored when there's only one fire to be put out and realizes that her critical thinking and decision making abilities are actually activated when she has multiple mission critical situations happening simultaneously. Sounds very stressful for me, but I'm not the one with the gift, she is.

Luckily, Sandy also has excellent boundaries and when she's not working, she's not working. She also practices radical self acceptance and understands that, yeah, she's intense, but in the business that she runs, it suits her and her clients very well. Last up, one of my other favorites, innovation through divergent thinking. Now you're gonna have a lot more ADHD folks in the tech industries who have this gift, but it's a wonderful thing to behold regardless of what industry they're in and that is innovation through divergent thinking. If you have this gift, your mind generates multiple ideas, one right after the other, sometimes simultaneously. You can also combine ideas in unique ways.

You have a tendency to question established methods and that can make you very unpopular in most conventional workplaces, which is one of the reasons why people who have this gift tend to be entrepreneurs. You're gonna see opportunities that other people miss, and your mind is going to play out multiple scenarios for each idea. Now, if you're not sure whether this is you or not, try this. Pay attention to how often your seemingly random ideas lead to genuine breakthroughs. How often you question standard procedures, and if you're allowed to act on your questioning, it generally leads to improvements. You have diverse interests that often combine in both interesting and valuable ways, and one of the things other people say to you very often is, I never would have thought of that.

I wanna tell you about Maggie, who is a marketing consultant, who used to feel self conscious about her scattered approach to pulling ideas from different industries. She reads voraciously, I think she reads like 20 books a quarter. So she has a wide and broad body of knowledge and really enjoys, like, playing with ideas that she gets from different industries. She does it quite effortlessly because she's always filling her brain with more and more ideas. Clients started noticing that her out of the box marketing campaigns were much more successful than the more conventional approaches they were used to. So she now markets her divergent thinking as a way of standing out in her industry. In fact, it's not something that she tries to hide. She tells people, I'm neurodivergent, and this is how it benefits you.

Now I have been working with neurodivergent folks for many years, and I know that so many of us, far too many of us really, are good at recognizing other people's gifts, not so good at recognizing our own. Oftentimes, we don't value things that come easily to us, because it doesn't feel like work. And we've got this mistaken notion that it has to be hard for it to be valuable, not true. As a matter of fact, some of our greatest gifts are gonna come so easily and naturally and effortlessly to us, that we will have a hard time deciding they have value, even though many other people will tell us they do. If this is you, you might try these suggestions. Instead of focusing on what you're good at, if it's hard for you to recognize that or acknowledge that, focus on what energizes you.

What energizes you? Because that will point to what you're good at, I promise. If you're comfortable, ask other people to tell you what kind of problems they would specifically come to you for help with. That will point to the things that you're really good at, and others notice even if you don't. Think about the times people have complimented you on things, and you've just kind of brushed them off, you know, dismissed them or explain them away, I used to do this a lot. It's really not very nice. When someone's trying to give you a compliment and you're trying to talk them out of it, those compliments that you've sort of discounted or dismissed will often point to your genuine gifts. Consider how many times you have faced a challenge with a unique workaround, that is a gift.

And I've noticed for many neurodivergent entrepreneurs who had a delayed diagnosis, especially women who didn't even know they had ADHD, they were in their forties, fifties or beyond. Many of them have tons of interesting, clever, creative workarounds because they needed to. They just don't think of those things as gifts. And notice what you do differently from others, even if it seems weird. As a matter of fact, you probably think a lot of the things you do well are weird, because you don't see other people doing them that way. I promise you, they are your gifts. So recognizing that we have these gifts, and adding radical self acceptance allows us to begin to appreciate the value of those gifts to others.

Remember, you may very well have several of these gifts, even if you don't recognize them right away. Try some of these different techniques and ask other people to share with you what they think of as your gifts. And don't over complicate it because we know how that spoils everything, just start with one. Start with one that resonates with you, or that you're the most curious about, or you get the most feedback for and just start paying attention. Now, wanna let you know what's coming up in the next few episodes of ADHD-ish.

Next week will be a guest interview with neurodivergent author and therapist, Risa Williams. She's gonna be joining me to share insights from her newest bestseller, The Procrastination Playbook, and you are not going to want to miss this. But if you haven't already subscribed or followed this podcast, now is the time to do so. Because the week after is the companion episode to this one, where now that you know your ADHD strengths, I will be talking about how to turn them into the business assets that make you stand out from the rest. I'll see you then.