How I manage ADHD as a Creative
ADHD is a beast, and in business if you can’t win the mind game, you won’t win the business game.
In the early days of my business, I was building on a hope and an oily rag, I was posting to no one, dreaming big dreams, hearing promises of $10,000 months and going (yeah right I could never do that) balanced out with the other side of my brain telling me (you can do it!).
I often get asked what did you do to manage your ADHD before medication and for me it was - stress relieving supplements (ashwaganda, kava, st johns wart), meditation and reading.
After five years though, the one constant that's got me through and allowed me to overcome all the mindset, cashflow and client issues of a new business is meditation.
I use it every day - and now I look back it’s the one thing that meant I could move through to a place of profitability, happiness and low stress in my business.
Meditation is my trigger to start work - it’s my go button, the calm silence I have before I check emails and get into it mentally prepares me for the day's challenges, wins and frustrations. Before I meditated I would come into work anxious - look at my to do list on google keep and go wtf where do I even start.
Meditation creates space for ideas, right now I’m working on some branding for a new wine brand that is launching in about a month’s time, one question I get alot from clients is how do I ‘switch modes’ or as I call it ‘switch hats’ - in this case I’m switching from ‘coach mode’ or ‘sales mode’ to ‘designer mode’ so I need that space to make that shift.
When I meditate its a natural movement from that state ‘im helping a client with their business’ to ‘i’m coming up with ideas’ - for this current project my ten minute meditation gave me the space to fix a challenge I had with this brief which called for ‘italian kiwi feeling with a twist of classic nostalgia’.
Meditation gives me the space to solve client problems, sometimes it's just organising my thoughts when I client says - I’ve got three possible things I can work on which do you think is the most important for me right now?
Overall though, the space it gives you from the noise of the world, the feeling of presence and the ability to be in the moment with your work, your kids, your projects - that is it.
