Stop trying to focus on just ONE thing!

Discover how your "scattered" interests can build an empire. From IT consulting to leather crafting, learn how one ADHD entrepreneur turned her inability to stick to one passion into multiple successful businesses.

The ultimate guide for multi-passionate women ready to monetize their "chaos."

Welcome again.

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It's Sonja here and coming at

you live from my, well let's call

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it my command center of chaos.

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This is where I usually have my IT

consulting laptop open when next door

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my leather crafting machines are humming

in the background and usually I can

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hear my kids arguing in the kitchen

over who gets the last cookie or.

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Well, whatever they always fight about.

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It's just another day

in my life with ADHD.

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So today we're diving into

something that I would like to

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call the portfolio lifestyle.

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Or as I sometimes think of it, how

I turn my inability to focus on

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something That is my superpower.

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So let's rewind a bit.

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Remember when we were kids and everyone

kept telling us focus on one thing?

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Yeah, that really worked

out great, didn't it?

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I tried, I really did.

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But every time I focused on just one

thing, I felt like I was suffocating.

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My brain was screaming for

more and was unfocused,

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all over the place.

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So, choosing my future career in

my early teens was hell as well.

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I mean, how can you choose only one thing?

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One thing that you're going to

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do for the rest of your life.

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So, I really struggled with the

focus on one thing problem into,

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well, into adulthood really.

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I mean, school bored me.

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Work bored me and I was always

looking for my next kick.

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And then one day it hit me.

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What if instead of fighting my need

for variety, I would embrace it?

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And that's when it started to click.

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I started with my IT work,

you know, the responsible job

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that actually earns you money.

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It was quite a learning curve at first.

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But very soon it became more of the same.

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So I got bored and I switched

jobs, learned new things, did

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again and again and again.

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But then at some point I was

really good at what I was doing.

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I was moving up and I really needed more.

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So I started to get extensive hobbies.

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Although I'm incapable, really, of

keeping hobbies as just hobbies,

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I mean, I'm making big investments

in schooling, licensing, equipment,

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and it brought me my first business.

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It was a company making soaps,

creams, and bath products.

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I was enjoying the chemistry, the

research, and becoming better than great.

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And of course, you know, even though

it's a hobby, I couldn't keep it as that.

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So I set up a Etsy shop.

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I started selling at markets,

all the things, and, you

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know, I was really good at it.

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At some point I needed something new.

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So I bought a sewing machine.

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And when I say I bought a sewing

machine, I mean, I went full ADHD

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and got the fanciest one I could find

because, you know, what if something.

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It's there that it can't

do otherwise or whatever.

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So I need a really good one.

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I mean, here's the thing

about us ADHD folks.

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We don't do hobbies like normal people.

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You know how some people casually

mention, Oh, I like to knit sometimes.

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Well, that's just not us.

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We don't knit.

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We become yarn experts,

learn to spin our own wool.

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Maybe have a few sheep and probably

start an Etsy shop to selling hand dyed

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artisanal yarn and do that within a month.

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Case in point, my sewing adventure.

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It started innocently enough.

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I thought I'm going to make

some cute outfits for the

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kids, for Halloween, whatever.

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And it really was nice, but I got bored

and then I started to do more and more.

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And fast forward three months and I'm

knee deep in leather scraps and I've got

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an industrial grade sewing machine that

could probably survive an apocalypse

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because it's huge and it's sturdy.

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And I'm staying up until 3am

watching YouTube videos on

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advanced leatherworking techniques.

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Oh, and of course, I started a business.

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selling custom leather bags.

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Because, why not, right?

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But here's the cool part.

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All of these different interests

and skills, they feed into each

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other in the most amazing ways.

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That creative thinking from my soaping and

leather work, it helps me come up with out

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of the box solutions for my IT clients.

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And the project management skills from

my day job, Well, they've made me a pro

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at juggling business life and family

life and anything that gets thrown at me.

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Now, for most people, my

life sounds like a chaos.

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And they're not wrong.

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You know what the kicker is?

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This beautiful mess is actually

what keeps my ADHD brain thriving.

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Here's some cool science behind

this, because, you know, I, I love

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to geek out on things like that.

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So, our ADHD brains are actually

wired for this kind of variety.

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We thrive on novelty, and it's like

our brains are these dopamine seeking

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missiles, always on the lookout for

the next hit of excitement or interest.

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And when we switch between

different activities, it's like

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we're giving our brains a workout.

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And so what happens if we're

stuck on a boring work task?

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Well, that's no problem.

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Let's go craft something for a bit.

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And feeling creatively blocked?

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Well, no worries.

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Time to dive into some problem

solving for that IT project.

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So our brains are continuously

switching between one and the other.

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And that keeps it flexible.

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And this portfolio lifestyle that I

have isn't just about having multiple

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income streams, although that is of

course a nice bonus, it's also about

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creating a life that keeps our ADHD

brains engaged, challenged and fulfilled.

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And it's about embracing our need for

variety instead of fighting it and

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trying to, like focus on one thing.

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And look, I know it can be

really overwhelming at times.

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And trust me, there are days when

I look at the chaos around me and

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I think, what the heck am I doing?

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But then I take a deep breath and I

remember that this is my superpower.

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I am able to manage all of this.

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So to all of my ADHD sisters out

there feeling like you're too much

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or not focused enough, I see you

and I'm here to tell you that you're

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not scattered, you're not anything,

but you are multi passionate.

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You're not unfocused, you're adaptable.

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And in this crazy ever changing

world, that's your secret weapon.

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In the next couple of weeks, we're

going to dive into how to actually

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manage all these passions that we have

and doing that without burning out.

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So until then, embrace your beautiful,

complex, multi passionate self.

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And you're not too much.

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You're just enough of everything.

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And the next time someone asks you

about your hobbies and you start

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sweating because you know your hobby

involves a 10 year business plan and

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possibly some heavy machinery, just

remember that's what makes you amazing.

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This is Sonja.

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Keep the fire burning, ladies.

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We'll see you next time.