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An Interactive Book for Entrepreneurs with ADHD

A woman working on a laptop from home happily with a mug, phone and notebook beside her laptop.

Entrepreneurs with ADHD often face challenges, such as maintaining focus and managing time effectively. However, with the right tools and insights, these challenges can become growth opportunities.  In this article, we’ll explore an interactive workbook that provides actionable advice for entrepreneurs with ADHD: May We Have Your Attention Please?

Whether you’re looking to improve productivity, enhance leadership skills, or simply understand ADHD better, this book leads you to do life changing self-awareness work. Beyond offering tips, readers interactively design personalized tools focused on ADHD friendly and values-based goals. 

Through a guided process of observing when and how your brain functions optimally, getting to know the circumstances when you tend to get stuck or pull away, and unpacking emotional patterns related to your focus, you gain information that can be used to your advantage.  

This collection of self-data becomes the foundation for curating environments that support your brain-style, so you can take advantage of your ADHD brain in a way that aligns with your unique strengths.  

ADHD and Entrepreneurship

People with ADHD are 500% more likely to choose entrepreneurship, and that isn’t surprising when you think of the characteristics of creativity, high energy, ability to hyper-focus combined with the need for high-interest passion driven work. We all know the many faces of successful ADHD leaders who have built companies that have changed the world, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson, to name a few. 

But ADHD can get in the way of success in entrepreneurship, especially if it is undiagnosed, or unsupported. While individuals can make a remarkable impact when they step into their strengths, they can also be held back by the challenges associated with ADHD.  

A Personalized Approach to ADHD

ADHD is a term we all hear regularly, but it is often misunderstood. Too quickly, we generalize about what it means and think of stereotypical examples of what ADHD is, instead of learning about this brain difference at its core. To complicate this, stigma impacts individuals’ willingness to share their experiences, especially when it comes to career.  This compounds miscommunications about ADHD including how to move forward and thrive.  

You may have read other books about ADHD where they describe common examples of the ADHD experience. You may have related to these, or, instead, you may have found yourself questioning assumptions and generalizations about it means to live with this diagnosis.   

ADHD is actually filled with paradoxes, and it shows up uniquely for every single person. So, while some people with ADHD find themselves running late on the regular, others might be the opposite, constantly depleting energy in order to get there on time.    

Springboard Clinic | An Interactive Book for Entrepreneurs with ADHD

Getting to the core of ADHD as a brain difference, is a deeper process where individuals gain awareness about how it impacts their daily life and wellbeing. To explore ADHD comprehensively, everyone must do their own discovery work to better understand the way their brain works.

This workbook offers a process to design and develop strategies based on your unique experiences.

Here are three examples of self-discovery work from ADHD Workbook: May We Have Your Attention Please?:

1. Separating Symptoms from your Self-Identity and Self-Worth

One of the first steps in this process is to separate your self-identity from the symptoms you experience. This allows individuals to become more self-compassionate, in turn, allowing for more creativity in problem solving focusing challenges. By re-defining internal dialogue, you get to the root of difficulties, while letting go of shame-layered patterns. 

Separating Myself from My Symptoms activity sheet. Activity asks you to jot down a few situations that routinely challenge you, along with your usual interpretation of them, then to reinterpret based on your understanding of ADHD and executive functions. For example, if the situation is "running late", my usual interpretation may be "people might thing I'm rude or that I don't think this is important" or "why does this keep happening to me?" or "next time I will leave earlier". My Reinterpretation of this situation could be "I have trouble planning, estimating and keeping track of time" or "I get easily distracted or caught up in things" or "I can be forgetful even with things that are important to me."

2. Identifying Internal Patterns and Dialogue

Getting radically curious about your internal dialogue when it comes to focus and follow through will allow you to make shifts in your mindset. Figuring out common patterns that either allow you to stay engaged, or tend to pull you away from key priorities, becomes a foundation to build structures and supports around you.  

Fill in the black Activity sheet inviting you to explore your inner dialogue when it comes to setting and following-through with commitments. Prompts include: 1. I tell myself that (blank) is a priority but (blank). 2. I often commit to (blank) but (blank). 3. I am most likely to follow through on something when (blank). 4. Sometimes I agree to (blank) but deep down I know I won't follow through. 5. I often wish that I would be better at (blank). 6. I regularly say things like (blank) but I don't really know why. 7. I feel most frustrated with myself when (blank). 8. I know that I am going to succeed with something when (blank). 9. I am lying to myself when (blank). 10. If I followed through with (blank) on a daily basis, it would help my mindset.

3. Learning to Embrace your Unique ADHD Strengths

Figuring out the conditions that help you “shine” and use your ADHD “spark” are critical, especially in careers that rely on creativity, cognitive flexibility and an internal drive to make an impact. By identifying the criteria that brings forward your greatest assets, you can fuel a momentum to drive forward and keep going. 

A complete the prompts activity to understand which situations make your ADHD strengths shine. Prompts include: 1. My ADHD characteristics come in handy when ... 2. I feel grateful about the way my brain works when ... 3. I get on a roll and feel like I'm really making progress when ... 4. I think my strengths related to ADHD are ... 5. My brain seems to come alive when I am ... 6. I can lose track of time when I am ... 7. I am fascinated and curious about ... 8. I love learning about ... 9. My sweet spot is ... 10. Other people always admire that I can ... 11. I feel flooded with motivation when ...
Springboard Clinic | An Interactive Book for Entrepreneurs with ADHD
Wanting to learn more and dig in?

Join Springboard’s fall course for adults with ADHD. 


About Laura MacNiven

Laura MacNiven, MEd, is an ADHD Coach with over 15 years’ experience providing support to neurodiverse children, teens and adults. She is a Co-Founder of Springboard Clinic, an Ontario-based ADHD clinic providing assessment, treatment and coaching/therapy services in person and virtually. She has also co-authored Springboard’s Workbook for Adults with ADHD “May We Have Your Attention Please?” and facilitates online group courses for adults and parents in the fall.  


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