One of the major reasons that so many people are stressed out with ADD is because they spend so much time trying to fight against what they do naturally. That just brings on ADD frustration and stress.
What we both did ultimately, in a very different way, is learned to use those ADD things that we were fighting against as our greatest strength.
And we realized that when we were in the moment of creation or of working multiple projects or doing lots of problem solving, or whatever, it seems like ADD symptoms go away. We have learned to be in that state more often than not. But it wasn�t always that way.
Stephanie started out very young in business simply because as an ADD renegade, she just figured she could do things better than other people and was bored in school. How many ADD people can relate to that? Stephanie literally dropped out of college to start her own business at the age of 19.
And she did absolutely everything wrong.
Stephanie made money in spite of herself but didn�t get to enjoy it because everything was wrong in her life. And her business grew to about $5 million and she was so tired and worn out and stressed out from making sure that everybody was doing their job and keeping up that level of energy, which we all have as ADD people. Trying to keep that up for everybody else that literally, everything failed.
And she vowed that she would never ever have that experience again. Because it was so horrible trying to get back her energy and it was just so stressful. She just said, "That�s it. I�m going to kill myself doing this. There must be a better way."
And so she started learning about ADD and about what she'd like to do and what she could do, what her natural strengths were. And some of the things � what she started to learn was that many things that people all throughout her life called problems, those things that she spent so much time trying to be better at doing, she never needed to. If you have ADD, you know those things--being a better organizer, being a better prioritizer, being less impatient, and whatever. Stephanie spent so much time doing trying to hold everything together and feeling guilty about her ADD inability to do things linear-thinking people have no problem with.
When she finally stopped beating herself up and began to work with her instantaddsuccess.com/" target="_blank ADD strengths and work with other people to help her, to teach them about her ADD, her life absolutely got solid, her money flowed in. It still flows in today. Things happened much more naturally.
Tellman's story is different, and it�s really interesting because he also go started in his first business when he was 19. He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was a child, and basically got As and Ds growing up in school. He got As if he was interested; he got Ds if he wasn�t. Because he was smart enough to not be able to do any work and still sound smart in class and make logical answers on his tests, even if he never read anything. He couldn�t focus on anything.
And one of the interesting things that most people don�t know is that most folks with ADD have an above-average IQ. As a mater of fact, most people with attention deficit have about a 20% higher IQ than the average Joe walking around out there. And that�s a pretty interesting fact.
It�s very, very powerful. Now there�s another statistic that we're very glad we fell on a certain side of. It's been said, it�s been said, that 80% of the people in prison today are diagnosable with attention deficit disorder. Now I�m not a doctor. I read this article years and years ago. And 80%.
Now if that�s true, it says a lot about different personality traits that get you into trouble with the law, right. Many ADD people really don�t like to follow direction, right? Maybe you�re a little bit of a thrill seeker, right? Like to do things your own way? Don�t have much of affinity for authority perhaps, right?
It�s also been said that about 80% of entrepreneurs are diagnosable with ADD. Now what�s the difference? Perhaps the only difference is that entrepreneurs chose to go after the thrill legally.
Entrepreneurs don�t deal with authority well either. That�s why they�re working for themselves.
And, you know, if there�s anything to those numbers at all, if there�s anything, even a shred of truth to what we just stated, then there�s one thing that�s very, very important that everyone should realize. Which is, look, if you have attention deficit or attention deficit traits and characteristics, you probably get stressed out really easily. You�re probably high anxiety. You probably have some shreds of insomnia or at least times in your life where you can�t sleep.
You don�t like dealing with people telling you what to do. You like to do things your own way. You already know that your brain is working smarter and faster than everyone around you but that doesn�t mean your life is any easier. Right?
The point here is that entrepreneurs have learned how to tap into ADD characteristics. Okay. So have people that are really good at breaking the law. It's just a matter of which side of some different moral/ethical boundaries you might stand on. And we aren't judging anybody either way on it. But the main thing is, Tellman could�ve very easily ended up one of those 80% in prison today had things gone slightly different in his life, slightly differently. And he's very happy they didn�t.
Tellman finished up high school, and barely got into college. And in college he made the decision. He said, "Look, I�m never going to take a class that I�m not interested in again. No way. I�m not going to learn anything that I don�t want to learn."
So he ended up at a school where he could focus on designing his own major and taking the classes that he wanted to learn and he excelled in a big way. He ended up starting his first salsa company--like chips and salsa--at 19. And he ran that for five years and he did not make any money at it.
As a matter of fact, he had eight failed businesses before he started making money. And then once he clicked it in, he made over a million dollars his first year online. He realized, Okay, it�s time to strictly do what my brain�s good at doing and find other people to do the rest.
If you�re dealing with ADD and don�t really know how to deal with the things that make you different, remember that those things are really your strengths. Use those strengths. You may not be successful in the linear world and need your own thing. Decide what your strengths are. Play to them, and never let ADD get you down.
Tellman Knudson, certified Hypnotherapist, is CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc. Stephanie Frank is an internationally known speaker and author of "The Accidental Millionaire." instantaddsuccess.com/ Do you have adult ADD? Find out at InstantADDSuccess.com.