Sooner or later it's bound to happen. Your ADHD will go into overdrive and your business will suffer because of it. And if you're like me and choose not to use prescribed medications to help settle those ADHD symptoms, then your struggle may be a little too much on any given day.
Mine happened a few weeks ago and I couldn't get back into writing even if my life depended on it! Yep, the struggle is real!
While not everyone will have every symptom of ADHD, the most common are:
Disorganized: This is definitely me. Have you seen my office area?! My crafts are all over the place and of course I'm working on more than one craft that never seems to get done!
And my work bag is definitely a mess. I'm pretty sure there are receipts in there that I should have scanned for receipt hog months ago.
And then there's my to-do list! I have tried to at the very least my to-do list because it is supposed to help me get organized, right? Wrong! My to-do list just keeps growing and growing with no real direction of where I'm going with my blog and writing business. Believe me, I've tried!
I have even gone as far as listening to Chalene Johnson who keeps it real with her build your tribe podcasts! I love her stuff! She has some great organization tips and even a journal planner that can help you organize your business and your life!
Distraction: My partner can definitely tell you how easily distracted I get, but it's also effected my business more times than I really care to count. There are many times I find myself actually writing and then boom, I'm wandering off to my email or Pinterest account. Or I'll start out on my Pinterest account ready to tackle some of my business pins and I'll find myself pinning other stuff instead.
Procrastination: This is one of my biggest problems with my ADHD. I am always waiting until the very last second to get my work done. Sometimes it is not such a bad thing, especially when I know there is a deadline to meet, but when I'm on my own and I know I don't have to meet any deadlines, I tend to ignore my blog and business all together. It's pretty obvious from the lack of posts at times.
Scatterbrain: My thoughts tend to be all over the place and it's hard for me to focus a lot of times, which in return leads to procrastination. But there are also some advantages to my thoughts being everywhere. Sometimes I'm able to think of new ideas for my crafts or blog posts, but it doesn't happen as often as I would like it to or when it does I tend to give up easily and move on to something else. Hence the reason I have so many crafts started, but not finished and the same with my stories.
Depression: This can be just as big of a problem as my procrastination if I let it and then no work gets done! Ugh!
Fatigue: This is another symptom that can effect my business, that I often tend to chalk it up as procrastinating. Bad move!
For most people who suffer with ADHD, a prescribed medication may be the answer, but unfortunately for me, that was not the case. I always found myself allergic to the medication or the side effects were huge for me, so I decided to go natural for my ADHD.
Now my son who is autistic is a much different story that I'll talk about in another post.
Because I decided to go natural and leave the chemicals alone, my choice continued to post challenges that I had to find solutions for, some of which I'm still trying to resolve along the way.
One of the greatest lessons I have learned is, never give up. It may take me several days to accomplish a task, but it's a huge improvement compared to years ago when I was working at a slow pace. It took me 10 years to finish my first novel!
Another way I have learned to manage my symptoms of ADHD is, giving myself a specific goal and setting a deadline for it. This one is really hard, but if I post that deadline and goal for my readers, oftentimes I'll get it done because I want my followers to see that it can be done if you truly set your mind to it.
Oftentimes I tend to find myself looking to others that have created a successful business for inspiration. Online Entrepreneurs like Chalene Johnson, Pat Flynn, Problogger and John Chow have found their way in my inbox or on my podcast!
While a prescribed medication isn't the answer for my ADHD, there is one over the counter natural medication called focusfactor that I have used with some success. It was recommended by a co-worker, which I'm grateful for. Focusfactor only helps with my focus and not being so distracted, but it's a big help in my opinion.
While I must admit, I haven't had luck with apps that offer specific help with ADHD, I can recommend the Pandora music app which has been a great blessing for me because music allows me to be in a positive uplifting mood when I work. I can customize different music genres for my moods or specific tasks I'm working on like scenes for my novel The Existence, which helps my focus as well.
Eating right is something I have been working on for a while now. Believe it or not, years of research has shown me that all of the cheap junk we put in our bodies can cause fatigue, depression and more. Unfortunately, I'm a foodie at times and I'm on a budget, so this area needs a lot if work, but in the end will be well worth the investment.
Do you have some great solutions that have helped you power through your online business? If so, I would love to hear about them! Feel free to leave me a comment!
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