ADHD, or Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, is a common mental disorder that can lead to challenges such as impulsivity and risk-taking. However, there is no concrete evidence that ADHD leads to creativity. However, some studies suggest that ADHD challenges can have an upside. Two core symptoms, inattention and impulsiveness, suggest a connection between creativity and ADHD. ADHD brains are more likely to be creative, largely fueled by their capacity and drive for divergent thinking. This can be a great strength and has been found to be beneficial.
ADHD often fosters a unique form of creativity, allowing individuals to think outside the box. This cognitive style is characterized by divergent thinking, enabling fresh perspectives and innovative solutions.
In addition to the challenges faced by individuals with ADHD, there are also some studies suggesting that goal-directed motivation may drive the enhanced real-world creative achievements of people with ADHD. Creative skills can help people with ADHD navigate difficult decisions and tasks, pursue innovative ideas, and create artistic experiences. Children with ADHD may be better at music, art, and computers, and they may be more inquisitive about how things work.
In conclusion, ADHD can lead to increased creativity and innovation in individuals with ADHD, as they possess unique strengths that can lead to success in creative and innovative endeavors.
📹 ADHD and Creativity: A Superpower with Kryptonite | James Fell | TEDxTirguMures
NOTE FROM TED: This talk only represents the speaker’s personal views and understanding of ADHD, creativity and the brain.
Why people with ADHD are talented?
People with ADHD have unique strengths due to their brain functioning differences. They are more spontaneous, creative, energetic, intuitive, imaginative, and inventive, with the ability to hyperfocus on subjects they are interested in. They are out-of-the-box thinkers and often produce original ideas. Their superior energy allows them to achieve more and work harder. Impulsiveness and spontaneity are closely related, and many people with ADHD successfully redirect impulsivity into spontaneity, which can be used positively in various areas of life.
People with ADHD need to work in professions that allow them to utilize their physical activity, creativity, imagination, and sense of innovation. Some suitable professions for people with ADHD include entrepreneurship, inventor, artist, interior designer, graphic designer, paramedic, firefighter, police officer, teacher, computer programmer, or sportsperson.
What is the rarest ADHD symptom?
ADHD, a mental health condition affecting people of all ages, genders, and races, is characterized by both visible and invisible symptoms. Invisible symptoms include emotional dysregulation, time blindness, racing thoughts, intrusive thoughts, sensory processing disorder, overwhelm due to sensory sensitivities, rejection sensitive dysphoria, and social anxiety. Around 2. 8 of the global population lives with ADHD.
What are the dark side of ADHD?
ADHD symptoms can lead to physical and mental health issues such as compulsive eating, substance abuse, anxiety, chronic stress, and low self-esteem. They may also struggle with work and financial difficulties, such as unpaid bills, lost paperwork, late fees, and debt due to impulsive spending. Additionally, ADHD can strain relationships, as individuals may feel obligated to tidy up, listen more closely, and get organized. This can result in feelings of resentment and hurt from those close to them. It is crucial for adults with ADHD to address these issues and maintain a healthy balance in their lives.
What is the ADHD sixth sense?
ADHD is a brain disorder that is characterized by a strong desire for novelty and dynamic activity. Individuals with ADHD often perceive connections or flows that others may not appreciate, and enjoy taking a “bird’s-eye view” of things. They often find things that a more rule-tolerant individual might not consider, and this “deficit” is the mother of ingenuity and invention. The risk of failure at trying something new is often more significant to them than the “penalty” of having to sit and comply for long days. They would rather try a thousand new things with the risk of failure than follow the one-size-fits-all approach. Encouraging exploration and reporting on discoveries is beneficial for humanity.
What are the positives of ADHD?
Individuals with ADHD possess unique skills and abilities, such as hyperfocus, resilience, creativity, conversational skills, spontaneity, and abundant energy. These abilities are often viewed as “superpowers” as they can be honed to their advantage. To optimize these abilities, individuals should create an environment where they can thrive and use tactics like checklists, time limits, and relaxation techniques to minimize challenges and still reap the benefits.
Is ADHD linked to genius?
There is no clear link between ADHD and IQ, as individuals may have a high, average, or low IQ score. ADHD can cause interruptions in class or poor test performance, leading others to believe they have a lower IQ. Hyperfocus on enjoyable tasks can also lead others to believe they have a higher-than-average IQ. Stimulant medications can help ADHD patients focus and control impulsive behaviors.
How does ADHD make you unique?
ADHD is a condition characterized by impulsivity, creativity, and hyperfocus. Individuals with ADHD often possess an abundance of energy, which can be channeled towards success in various aspects of life. They can also be spontaneous, allowing them to break free from the status quo and explore new ideas. They may be inventive thinkers, original, artistic, and creative. Hyperfocus can also be a trait, allowing them to work diligently on tasks without losing sight of the world around them.
This can lead to a more focused and effective approach to tasks. However, some individuals with ADHD may need assistance in harnessing these traits, and teachers, counselors, therapists, and parents can play a crucial role in helping them explore their creative side or dedicate energy to completing tasks.
How does ADHD make you creative?
ADHD, a disorder characterized by inattention and impulsiveness, has been linked to a connection between creativity and the disorder. Inattention, a common symptom, leads to mind wandering, which can lead to new, useful, and creative ideas. A study in the Journal of Creative Behavior found that students with ADHD were able to create more unique fruit and less conventional product labels. They were also more impulsive, taking risks and approaching new situations without fear of contact.
In a 2011 study, 203 children with ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) participated in a computerized Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) experiment. The results showed that those with ADHD pumped more than the control group, taking greater risks. Teachers perceived more impulsive children as more curious, potentially creating more learning opportunities for these students, which could enhance their creativity. This connection between ADHD and creativity is supported by the findings of a 2011 study.
Does high IQ mask ADHD?
ADHD can mask a child’s academic abilities, but it can also affect bright children who may hide symptoms and perform better in school. These children often go without a diagnosis and miss out on beneficial treatment. ADHD affects individuals of all intellectual abilities, and children with high IQs may struggle with managing ADHD symptoms. They may be socially behind their peers and most comfortable with children several years younger. Those with both ADHD and a high IQ may be comfortable with both older and younger children but may be socially awkward with peers.
Intellectually gifted children often recognize their intelligence and perform well in early grades. However, as school becomes more difficult, ADHD symptoms become more of a problem. Parents and teachers should recognize and support these children as they navigate their academic struggles.
What are 4 surprising benefits of having ADHD?
ADHD can have both positive and negative impacts. People with ADHD often report being energetic, creative, courageous, and resilient. Learning to control symptoms while leveraging these strengths can help reach one’s full potential. Verywell Health uses high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support its articles. A qualitative investigation of successful adults with ADHD highlights the positive aspects of the condition. The editorial process ensures content accuracy, reliability, and trust.
What is the extreme opposite of ADHD?
Individuals with a CDS profile often exhibit the opposite symptoms of those with ADHD, such as drifting, absent-mindedness, listlessness, introspection, and daydreaming. They often feel “out of it” and have comorbid psychiatric problems such as anxiety, unhappiness, or depression. CDS often exhibits reticence and social withdrawal in interactions with peers, often misinterpreted as aloofness or disinterest. They may be ignored or neglected in social group interactions, while those with classic ADHD are more likely to be rejected due to their aggressive behavior.
CDS may also be associated with antisocial behaviors like substance abuse, oppositional-defiant disorder, or conduct disorder. ADHD is associated with sensitivity to reward and fun seeking, while CDS may be associated with punishment sensitivity. CDS symptoms may show a qualitatively different kind of attention deficit, more typical of a true information processing problem. In contrast, people with ADHD have more difficulties with persistence of attention and action toward goals, impaired resistance to distractions, and problems with inhibition. Unlike CDS, those with classic ADHD have no difficulty selecting and filtering sensory input.
📹 Does Having ADHD Make You More Creative?
Wanna know what apps showed up at 5:58? We got you!: Top: Brili, Slack, Trello Middle: Monday, Owaves Bottom: MindMeister …
Im getting tested for ADHD currently (My doctor, whole family, university lecturers all are positive i have it) i got hooked on Music from a very young age, and then when i was in my music classes in school, i got hooked on what the teacher was doing with the students and the lessons, Im now going into my 4th year of university studying to be a music teacher myself. I’ve done a 3 year course on Music production, have 15 years of guitar and 7 other instruments under my belt. When doing composition, all of my classmates did relatively the same thing, mostly classical and taking inspiration from older songs, where as just went with the flow to create my own thing with no reference to anyone else’s music, full electronic, my own sound effects, the whole shebang 😂
I am a graphic designer of 35 yrs. I have done high risk sports all my life. I’ve always been addicted to caffeine. I love inventing and making things. I’m impulsive, intolerant, and get anxiety. But I have come to enjoy the inventive problem solving out of the box thinking my seemingly unwired brain comes up with. My wife says I have ADHD. I don’t need a doctors opinion now as a second opinion
I started off with graphic design and ADHDeed my way through a bunch of other disciplines that only a person with ability to hyper-focus could ever comprehend and achieve in extremely little time — there used to be a different name used to describe this ability — a “polymath” or a “generalist” Do to the industrial revolutions / modern era’s need for patenting, specialization and standardization — suddenly we become “unfitting” … so they labeled us “disordered” — and they continue to make money by patenting and mass producing potential solutions a.k.a. medications … Therefore the problem is not us ! If you catch my drift
I find these type of people rather annoying, I have ADHD, it is NOT a superpower, it is a pain, across the population there is no higher prevalence of creativity in ADHD people compared to the rest of the population, this guy is simply particularly gifted, it has nothing to do with ADHD whatsoever, he probably doesn’t actually have ADHD ….
I used to think I didn’t have adhd because I wasn’t creative enough, but I only applied it to artistic creativity. Turns out, I’m really good at logical problem solving and coming up with more efficient methods of doing tasks. Taking my medication also makes me more efficient at coming up with those ideas, narrowing them down, and executing them.
As a painter, and someone who was diagnosed late, I was worried about the meds affecting my creativity, but in my experience they absolutely don’t. They help me finish the projects I start, but I haven’t noticed my ideas slowing down. I’m just less likely do drop what I’m currently doing for the new idea, and more likely to write it down for later. So, to my fellow artists out there, don’t be afraid of the meds if you feel like you need them!
I do find that because of the way my brain works I do understand things differently. This can be a real blessing but also a curse. One time in college I was doing a mock essay and I got the exam back and it turned out that I had completely misinterpreted what the question was asking. On the other hand, most of my university professors praise how I look at things in a different way and provide unique arguments that nobody else gives. I always say don’t think outside the box but think as though there is no box.
Okay the fruit drawings HIT me. In middle school art class we had the option to make up and draw an alien plant and I made this hyper efficient plant that photosynthesized, ate bugs, had trap doors in the bottom for ants to be consumed, and a bunch of other wild mechanisms. I should have known right then and there lmaoooo
Just realized halfway through that I missed most of what I’d already “watched.” I bet your stats are hilarious for this website. All these ADHD brains perusal for 5 minutes, going “wait, I spaced out what just happened,” rewinding, going back, leaving it paused halfway through for a week until they find the tab while looking for something else…
I work in IT as a tier 3 support specialist and often I am praised for what I now have a name for “divergent thinking”. I am often able to find a solutions quicker than co workers or even sometimes find solutions when co workers can’t. This has made me very effective in this position as the last line of defense and the person who has to solve the problem. Also I have to say thanks for your website I was diagnosed this year at 32 and your website has allowed me to see I am not alone here. As well it has provided many ideas and ways to address the problems from ADHD.
Yeah, I’m pretty bad at most traditionally creative endeavors like drawing, but there are so many more “boring” areas where creativity can come in. Ex: the apartment we have is terribly insulated and summers are horrible lmao. So in April, I made fun curtains for the windows out of reflective insulation from the hardware store. Now the place is both at least 5-6F colder every day AND looks like a spaceship! Win-win. 😊
I would draw a mind map….the problem is you would not only need an incomprehensibly large sheet of paper, but you would need a hieroglyphic translater, because my writing looks like a chicken ran across the page to get corn. Yes, this is me laughing about myself, as well as popping in a corny joke .
I’m 16 in high school and pretty much everything you said applys to me. When I’m doing math paper work I get side tracked and start doodling but when I’m in art class painting or doing a project at home I end up spending hours on it without knowing. I am medicated. I love my creative aspect to projects and I know other people do too. I always think of new ideas and problems and ways to find solutions for them. I know a lot of people think that ADHD is just not putting forth effort and being lazy when something doesn’t interest us and that’s not true. Up until last year I didnt know my adhd was such a major factor in my life and that it effects so much. I didnt know that the reason I have trouble sleeping at night is because of my adhd. So thank you for helping me discover more about myself and I’m looking forward to the next article
People with ADHD need to hear this! Going through graduate school for protein chemistry with ADHD was kind of a nightmare. But I eventually discovered the same brain that make me terrible at tests and other school work makes me great at applying technical knowledge to complex problems. It’s this exact creativity the vid talks about. Now four years into my career, I’ve published multiple technical articles and a textbook chapter, and I’m working on my third and fourth patents at the same time. I’ve already found multiple novel protein interactions that are game changers for our team too! The world needs more chemists and engineers with ADHD. Even if the education system is designed to weed out people like us.
I’m gonna add my ‘thank you’ to the loooooong list. I got diagnosed a couple of weeks ago and it wouldn’t have happened without your articles. The first one I stumbled on was the ‘wall of awful’ and even though everything applied to me I still thought I couldn’t have adhd because my depression is so bad that a lot of the tine I barely move. I enjoyed how fun, well researched and easily understandable your vids were so I kept perusal more and more and learning that jist cause I’m not hyperactive doesn’t mean it’s not adhd and I kept relating to everything and so thanks to you, at 34, I feel like I have the tools to help me actually live my life. I am so grateful for you and this website. 💜🖤💜🖤
I get so jealous of people who have one or two passions that they get really good at. I’ve got so many interests (sewing, designing clothes, making jewelry, makeup, special effects makeup, guitar, bass, songwriting, acting, etc. etc. etc.) that I can’t seem to get past being a jack of all trades, master of none 😭 At the same time I can combine all of interests to make something even cooler! So many ideas! If only I had the motivation to actually finish those projects 🙃 Getting there! One therapy session at a time 😅
Great article! I plan to watch this with my guys in class tomorrow. I am an ADHD reading specialist. I was an art major in undergrad because I loved art and because it was easier for me to be creative than it was to be organized or studious. After college, I had several creative jobs including being a personal stylist and a portrait artist. None of them were terribly fulfilling. So I volunteered for a year at school to see if maybe I’d like to be a teacher. It turned out I found working with kids extremely motivating and I found it I was creative in my approach is to working with them. Though I am not the most natural student in the world, I excelled in my masters program in special education.I applied the learning strategies I learned to use with kids to my own studies and did surprisingly well on my comp exams. I have different approaches to dealing with students with ADHD and dyslexia than a lot of other people because my perspective is divergent. I don’t think I am a better teacher than many, but I do really work hard at it I am creative and what makes it easy to be creative is the knowledge that what I’m doing helps.
OH my gosh, I feel so validated. I thrive on collaboration and problem solving together with other people. Synergy right? Sometimes, when I get to do these things in high doses, I get what I feel is an ‘ADHD High’, or an hour or so afterward I feel so incredibly focused and motivated, so positive and ‘can-do’. The creativity of the collaboration and problem-solving that happened must dump some serious dopamine!
I’m a teen author with ADHD ( I also won a poem competion.) Now I’m writing a novel about a surfer girl with ADHD who struggles with the challenges of bullying at school and dealing with RSD. I myself has also experienced bullying as a victim. But I didn’t know how to handle it. I wish there were more books on how to handle bullying so other people could learn how to navigate (and how not to navigate it). Are there any other reliable sources that covers this topic?
Another awesome article…I can honestly see these articles being used to create a course about ADHD in adults. A course that could be used to train Human Resource Professionals about how to manage and “utilize” identified ADHD’ers. “I write better when I am on my meds.” I am truly curious about this statement…are you saying that your creativity is the same as when you are off meds or are you actually staying on task when on meds to get writing completed…or both?
This is why I’m a article game developer. I’ve always loved writing but felt constrained by exploring only one storyline. In games, I can do as much as I want. Plus writing stories that way means I don’t have to worry about the minute details. There’s more I can do with the characters and little asides aren’t bad pacing, they’re just optional side quests! I wish I were a better programmer, but my brain does NOT like coding, even if it’s not half bad at problem solving. I guess I kinda have to bully it into practicing more if I want to make more complex games.
You mentioned the research study and 0.2 seconds after you said “alien fruit” I already had my version of alien fruit pictured in my head lol. YES we need more information about ADHD strengths. I heard that there wasn’t enough research and I started screaming “YES YES YES” while driving. I got some really weird looks… I was diagnosed 3years ago (at 31 yrs old) and given medication. That was it. I so wish someone took time to tell me “here’s why you lose things, can’t change your focus direction, are sensitive to sounds, and can’t force yourself to do some of that boring adult stuff everyone else seems to have no problem with. You are not lazy, a failure, or unworthy. Let’s figure out some strategies to help with the things you aren’t good at, and explore your strengths!” I have a hard time myself yes, but my kids are 8 and 10, with autism and ADHD. It’s beyond hard seeing them struggle in a school system that tries to force them into a box.
i saw the notification and said to myself “oh cool! i’ll watch that right now” then i saw another notification and ended up perusal that one first, then it made me think about my gaming set up, then i did an amazon search for a bunch of new gaming stuff, then i ended up looking for random stuff, then i remembered i don’t have any money, then i looked up jobs around me that are hiring, then i got on my phone to look up age requirements, then i went on spotify and made a playlist, then i took a shower to listen to it, then i got our and started working on schoolwork, then i went on my phone to clear my tabs, then i saw youtube, then i saw the article, so now i have to rewatch the article because i wasn’t paying attention. i was writing this comment.
This made me feel so at home ❣️ I’ve finally found where I can be most creative, in creating my own YouTube website 😍 and I find it an amazing balance of reward, challenge and hyper focus. It even helps me feel more focused on my desk job. The trouble is learning how to pace myself and God forbid, switch off 🤣 and try so desperately hard to stay on task if I have to do the administrative bits, like writing emails and arranging meetings.
Huh…maybe this is why I’ve always been interested in teaching type activities. I love the art of coming up with new ways of explaining a topic or concept to someone that’s unfamiliar with it. I also have a knack for quickly identifying what people are good at and pulling those traits to the surface where they can see them.
Hello there, I was kinda scared to take medicine to treat my ADHD and thanks to your articles help me out a lot. I have to say this is my first time taking medicine and I feel the difference right away. I haven’t felt this happy since I was kid, I can pay attention to people when they are talking to me 🤯😱 thanks for your awesome articles.
Best compliment I ever got was (paraphrased) ‘Many people are decent at thinking outside the box. Michael is able to start his creative thinking as if there IS no box to think outside and narrow his ideas down from there’. That will stick with me for life. Thanks, Klara.❤ Also, would LOVE a article specifically dealing with the difficulty dealing with frustration. You’ve given us a lot of articles about how to deal with specific issues, but general frustration would be great.😅❤ Also, awesome work, Animator!❤❤❤👍👍👍
Mind maps help me the most because I need to structure my thoughts in a non-linear way (filmmaker). My perfectionism definitely gets in the way a lot so I like to just brainstorm and allow (or force) myself to make mistakes to free up space. You mentioned a few apps that help with ADHD, I’d love to see a full article on that if you haven’t already made one? Not so much just time management apps but would be interested in what else actually helps, (especially cause time management isn’t our only struggle but most therapies, other help or I suppose apps focus on)
In the 1990s I was fortunate to been hired with a company that wasn’t bent on procedures, but results. The company was growing where many of their old routines wouldn’t work as the company expanded; unbeknownst at the time, I didn’t realize I had ADHD; and management left me alone to handle the responsibilities at hand. The creative side of ADHD kicked in; where thinking outside the box on several projects saved the company considerable dollars; where thankfully, they did acknowledge my creativity with recognition and financial bonuses.
Regarding meds and creativity: personally I find it easier to come up with something at bed time (aka once my meds have worn off), jot it down, then use my increased focus the next day to maybe implement it. I don’t know if this is just to do with meds, but it’s interesting. Other than that, I don’t find my creativity meaningfully impacted by my medication, and honestly it would be worth it even if I did!
I know for my fiction writing I use regular 3-ring binders since with loose leaf paper I can move things around as I think of them instead of trying to keep track of various notes in a spiral. And when I’m actually working on a story I use a combination of a dry erase board and a a cork board as a way to visualize the scene and shuffle things around and have them all in front of me rather than trying to flip through pages. And I keep a dedicated binder for story ideas and concepts I think of that I can update as those random thoughts pass my brain instead of letting them pile up in my mind.
I think a ton of ADHDers and also autistic people write fanfiction, which is the way I usually use creativity. It works so well for my brain to get to engage with my special interest and have a format to share it with other people, and I often come back to the comments I get that say how I’ve impacted someone’s life.
This has been the most positive and helpful article yet! I also got a low grade in art at school. I then went to University and came out with a first in Fine Art. I’m now self-teaching and practicing as an animator. A lot of days are scary and overwhelming but the drive I have and the ideas I have make me who I am. I used to constantly question what I need to change to improve, but very recently I realise my innate strengths need to be praised and pursued in a way that works for my own brain. This article has further affirmed that. Embrace being different!
I didnt write for years before i a) got medicated and actually established a daily rhythm of sorts and b) joined a writing group. Still dont manage to sit down by myself and write, but twice a week, when i have external pressure, my brain bursts with ideas AND I ACTUALLY PUT THEM TO PAPER and im so glad to have gotten to that stage again
This article came at such a spot on time for me. I’ve been recently diagnosed with ADHD and I’m a freelance illustrator, so my whole job relies on creativity. The connection between adhd and my creativity, as well as how meds might be impacting it has been on my mind a lot. Thanks for talking about it! ❤
I love how creative my mind can be. It’s what drove some amazing things I’m proud of in the past (my resurrection article here on YouTube or a descriptive paragraph I wrote in high school that might become a book some day… if I can focus on it lol). That’s the thing though…I can’t seem to focus on one thing long enough to get it done. Example: Starting my next YouTube article OR instructional articles for my kitchen staff..
A friend told me once she marvels at the way I see the world, at the connections I make and the creativity springing from those connections or leaping thoughts. I couldn’t believe her then, thought she was exaggerating, that surely I couldn’t be that much of an outsider… but I do now, and I cherish that compliment. It’s taken quite a while to accept and love my adhd. My creativity is one of the very few things I’ve always liked about myself, and the only thing depression didn’t rob from me – although said depression was brought on by my adhd, it’s very heartening to know that this also bolsters my creativity, especially now, long down the road of recovery ^^
I started taking meds recently. One thing I started doing while worldbuilding is to brainstorm off of my meds but then revisit them later when I’m on meds to clarify and polish the ideas. It’s been very productive. It’s a little more difficult to apply this for work (network engineering) but I think it could work for more creative roles such as marketing or design.
I’ve had to come up with extensive written methods to guide my brainstorm process because I’m unable to take the meds. It has worked very well. It is SO maddening to do some kind of group work with neurotypicals and everyone just goes with the first idea that someone said with a hint of confidence!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! 😱😱😱 drives me CRAZY!!!
This was a beautiful article! There are many factors working against an individual with ADHD (which constitute the majority of the literature), but what about those days when the stars align? I agree with your comment on the need for more positive research on ADHD strengths (such a refreshing thought). Tired of hearing about my limitations. Haha I always look forward to your insights. Best wishes on your future articles!
Ok so I’ve always hated art instructors telling me to “draw a line there. No you should use that color instead.” I now realize that it isn’t just me. And I shouldn’t be told to leave what I call my zone. A space of daydreaming and creativity. I love when I’m in my zone but I’m always told to leave because it dose not fit in and is weird. NEWS FLASH I am weird. And please don’t be mad that I will sometimes get angry when someone frosts me out of my zone. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.❤
I think my adhd made me become a better artist because I learned that if I doodled while my teachers were talking, I could focus, learn, and genuinely absorb the content so much better! I didn’t have access to fidgets, but drawing was a good way to focus, and to the teacher it just looked like I was taking notes 😉 So I think becoming an artist, for me, stemmed from coping with my adhd. It ended up helping me develop skills I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to explore if I was neurotypical, because doodling daily for hours on end gave me a TON of practice, so when I got really into art (and creative-type work in general) I already had a lot of abilities! 🙂 your articles are fantastic btw, I love them!
I’m really curious about how things work so have read about a lot of things that were interesting to me even if I had no use for them at the time, and explore a lot of tangents and details. Later I can connect that information together to better understand and solve problems. One of my most successful open source projects was spawned out of “hey, this is pretty neat – maybe it could work with that other thing too”, and then months later I learned the practical piece that could fit it together.
Problem solving used to be a frustrating point for me, working with others and they get stuck on something and unable to figure it out because it is unusual. I always wondered why is no one else able to come up with an idea or problem solve when I could see 20 possible solutions? Now I know that it is our super power 😁
Turned this on while working on a piece for my budding art licensing portfolio that I started a couple weeks ago. At 36, I decided that I needed a creative outlet and that creating was meant to be my thing. Your articles helped me realize i Had ADHD at 34, and have helped me to this point along my journey. Thank you so much for everything you do!
Rather than ‘more creative’, I’d say my ADHD allows my creativity to be different. Whether my creativity is also useful, or more or less useful, I don’t know. I don’t want to think of my autism and ADHD as a gift, more of a trait. Just like blue is not more of a colour than green or red, just different. On stimulant medication I actually feel more ‘creative’ in the sense of actually acting upon the ideas as opposed to just giving birth to them in my head.
Your website is my guilty pleasure. I always say I’m not going to watch it because it acknowledges that I have (severe) ADHD. I’ve actually tested 94-99 percentile in the FDA approved Qbtest on every metric they have. But every once in a while I find such a great gold nugget here and there, that I get excited and optimistic about my abilities. I hear this great news, forget to write it down, then forget what was so great about it 😂 that’s besides the point! Still love your website. And on occasion, I share your articles with my girlfriend who has the memory of an elephant (not the body! She gets upset when I bring up the elephant memory metaphor lol). So when I show her some ADHD educational articles like from you, it helps deepen our understanding especially since she has read a couple books on adhd before even dating me. Thank you for making such great content! (even if I don’t always remember them enough to implement them) BTW do you have any articles on planners or scheduling? Like the best templates or apps or methods you’ve found to keep yourself honest on time and tasks? Internalizing time is so difficult and unless I have made myself a list for the next morning of things I need to do, I will be very behind the next day and likely not do much at all due to 1) obviously forgetfulness and 2) lack of motivation. I’m scatter brained so I have like 5 random notepads/notebooks everywhere with things to do and all in different formats because I just not down what I think of as I think of it, not much in ways of having an organized format to make recalling my notes easier.
I’m so new to this, like a week in of actually considering that this could be me but this is firing off all sorts in my head. The view of creativity only as artistic creativity TOTALLY makes sense to me because that’s entirely how I viewed it but I’m so full of ideas that I am overwhelmed all of the time. So thanks for this resource.
Shower thoughts! The most productive part of the day. I’m a new teacher, and I think I have ADHD inattentive. I feel like executive functioning difficulties are making me feel overwhelmed when I’m planning and preparing. My todo list is impossibly long, even if only a few of them are truly challenging, I get stuck. I feel paralyzed, confused and without direction. How can I possibly pick what to do first??? (I have made the 4 colour organizer by yo samdy sam and the bullet journal but sometimes it isnt enough) I recently noticed that when I hop in the shower, I can finally think! I do my planning, problem solving and brainstorming there and hope I can remember enough to write it down when I get out 😂
After I watched this article the more I noticed that my whole ADHD life as been a creative work engine. My parents kept telling me to get a 9-5 and force me into jobs that wasn’t fit for an ADHD person and creativity. To add on the stress they told me that I wouldn’t making a living with my creative work. The good news is that I have proved them wrong and focused on my passion and my love as a fireworks designer. As of this day I design fireworks shows for both Hawaii and Japan! LETS GO BRAINS WE GOT THIS!! MAKE YOUR CREATIVITY SPREAD IT’S WINGS AND FLY!
I think this might be my favorite article of yours! I’m a writer (journalism, primarily) and have ADHD, so this was all very helpful. Also, could you possibly link to those ADHD-friendly apps you mentioned halfway through the article? I recognized some of them from the logo, but would love to give the others a try. 🙂
This may explain why some personality types with ADHD get typed wrong or feel so misunderstood. You may be an Intj, but present like an Enfp until diagnosed with Adhd and treated. So we can possibly have both Ni (convergent or intraverted thinking) and Ne (divergent or extraverted thinking)….this is so wild to imagine! 🙂
The flow of creativity goes like this: Think of idea Research ideas for project Get idea Get sidetracked by random things while researching how to complete project Efficiency lost Focus decreases Sit around distracted for hours Look around you and realize that your entire project will take longer than usual Drop project and leave it for another day That day never comes Repeat I don’t have ADHD I just procrastinate a lot and get pretty lazy unless I’m at work. I’m being paid to work so I work, once home the lazy bug kicks in and that’s it.
Hi! I work in a fabrication shop. I have access to a TIG welder, dozens of different types of heavy machinery, and hundreds of tools, along with scrap aluminum, stainless steel, and wood and hundreds of different types of hardware. The shop is my ocean and I love it! I still have sooo much to learn and I’m gonna have a hecking blast while im at it Edit: yes I have ADHD, and extreme social and phone anxiety, I do not belong in an office lol One more edit: if I can be of any use to your research PLEASE let me know!!
I love doing music and art but it takes soooooooo many hours to do a detailed charcoal portrait or to learn piano. Once I got meds I’m finally doing music. Every day. Even wrote some songs which I’ve always wanted to do. Well a bunch of partial songs hahaha! 😉 any way… I notice when I don’t get meds I just play article games even though I don’t like them nearly as much as art or music. So amazing!!! Happy to be pursuing things I love again. 🙂
The sad thing for me was when my doctor DIDN’T take the time to understand me and give me ADHD medication, but gave me anti-depressants instead. He thought my misery with life was what needed to be relieved, instead of realising my positivity needed to be enhanced and focused (directed) away from my negative wanderings (with stimulant meds). Anti-depressants made me robot-like and ONLY suppressed my positive emotions and creativity – leaving me totally miserable all the time. I hated it. Stopping those meds made me so much happier that I learned an important lesson – life with ADHD can be enjoyable if you live in the NOW. It’s not conducive to completing tasks (which I was always terrible at) but it is great for unleashing your impulsiveness to positive ends. Eventually (…) you will get it done. Especially if you have someone or something to keep you on track. So to all my fellow ADHD sufferers: live in the NOW, and keep track of the long-term things at a safe distance (like on a notepad) instead of letting them take up all the space in your brain. 👍
Wow I related to this so much! Last year I started working for a logistics company and found a skill I’ve never really notice before of problem solving. I love problem solving and creating new ideas, I found for me I worked well under a little pressure for immediate problem solving. Being good at it actually really motivated me and it really helped with focus and drive. Thank you so much for your articles, they’re amazing and as a late diagnosed adult you’ve really helped me. ✨
I think of creativity like those connect the dots pictures. Each dot is a point of experience we have. ADHD people have more dots than neurotypical people to create their picture. More points of reference because our minds are subconsciously taking in more because of our multi-focus tendencies. Disparate ideas to others make complete sense to us because we’ve seen more that fills in our understanding. We won’t necessarily be able to explain those connections but chalk it up to intuition. But intuition is based on learned experience, as per Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”. Our creativity is definitely in solutions and problem solving, games of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, poker probabilities, and telling Neo in the Matrix that there is no spoon.
I’m actually very lucky, because even though I have ADHD (pretty obvious) I was actually good at school. Probably because I always had one or two teachers that ended up liking me. But I don’t think I would have been able to make my a levels with such grades without medication. Thank you for your articles, very interesting
What about those of us with ADHD that have a hard time formulating thoughts. I feel like a lot of people with ADHD are quick thinkers but I’m the complete opposite. It takes me a lot of effort to think about things and talking to people is hard for me because my brain just doesn’t formulate thoughts quick enough. I also forget specifics on everything so I spend time trying to remember something specific but can’t and end up stumbling through my words.
I’m on wellbutrin for my depression and it’s the only med that’s made a difference. Both my mom and my brother are diagnosed with adhd and when I asked my doctor about getting screened and I started rambling about WHY she agreed it would help me. I honestly just want a little boost to what I already take, like, wellbutrin is amazing, but not perfect. Your articles have given me the will to actually pursue treatment
For the first one I hate that I think of too many things at once because I become often times forgetful or I think of step 2,3 and 4 without even finishing step 1 yet… Hard for me to be present in the moment so meditation is crucial for me to be able to calm down. I’ve never been diagnosed yet but I see my psychiatrist in a couple days to see what’s going on since I don’t know. Maybe it’s inattentive ADHD or maybe it’s not. I’ll never self-diagnose because that’s dumb. I just have an everyday experience of forgetting stuff or not completing tasks and chopped it up to being easily bored.
I love you girl😍 perusal your articles makes me feel good🥰 I always knew that I was creative and I like this aspect of me so much☺ Acctually a few days ago I read an article about being creative and it said: Creativity isn’t always about being realistic. It’s about breaking mental boundaries.😁 I’m glad that we are more likely to not set useles boundaries for ourselves!😁😄 Also it had a good idea for practicing how to be more creative and for example one of them was “try aiming for ten different ideas of uses for an umbrella, or alternative ways to use shoes! That was cool😊 or another thing it said was : we should broaden our knowledge by for example, taking a class outside our comfort zone or reading journals in unrelated fields.Though still I struggle with how to use all the creativity I have, I’m writing a novel and sometimes the load of Ideas drives me crazy and makes me unable to choose!🤦♀️
I want to add to the mind map but it’s not loading or inputing my data. The things that help me are Mindfulness-Meditation-walks in nature-breathing-mindfulness rituals (ex breath deeply everytime you walk through a door) bouncing ideas off of others, free writing, free drawing, put on a playlist of music I like and just dance Get a healthy snack or meal with protein and fiber, drinking water
I really struggle with longevity with projects. It’s landed me in this “new project fear” box, and I don’t know how to navigate it. I have so many thoughts and ideas (too many really), but I’m too scared to dive deeper because I never really finish anything and I hyperfocus for weeks, sometimes months and then BAM, I suddenly forget about it until a few weeks later and don’t feel like going back to it.
Having a stream of good or better than good ideas the normies around me can’t come up with in that abundance helped me holding jobs where my perpetually straddling the edge of complete chaos would have get me fired otherwise. It’s a safety net, and I was fortunate enough to have bosses who understood somehow and let me have space to do my thing. I’m midde aged now, and it still works still way faster and inventive than my peers but it’s exhausting and anxierty riddled to permanently pull rabbits out of my hat and doves out of my sleeves just to ‘make up’ for my severe lack of planning, foresight, discipline and organisation. /:
I have been wondering about this exact topic… Having a shorter attention span and harder time focusing… I think this gives us incentive to be faster, better organized and efficient. I think it’s also plausible that because of this distractibility and oscillating between multiple mental tabs it is more likely for us to make unlikely connections. And thus novelty. Impulsivity, does not equal, more creativity, but maybe every once in a while going with our impulsivity can pay off. I don’t consider myself a creativity person, but I imagine a problem people run into is feeling too constrained. Though… because of our problems with focus we may not fully flush out our ideas and make them a reality. The fact we tend to be very interest focused can help account for why a higher percentage of us start a business. If you have a very narrow range of interest and cannot stand a “normal” job, why not start your own business doing something you care about? Of course this can be a double edged sword if the thing that is fun and enjoyable turns into a mountain of work that requires the executive functioning skills we naturally lack. Our focus being heavily interest based could lead to novelty if our interests are obscure, not heavily studied or understood. Our status as “outsiders” may also lend something of a unique perspective to writing, story telling and art. I can see how there is potential for people with ADHD to be more creative, but creativity is not an inherent trait, if this makes sense.
Hey, I just got diagnosed with adhd yesterday, the combined type. Testing started since december 2020, and finally I’ll get help now. One year ago I got diagnosed with dyslexia and now adhd. What should I expect now like how long will it take for medicines or do I fist have to take therapie etc. Your article’s really helped me btw Jessica 🙂
This is why I am in College for Electrical Engneering. This has been a big struggle for me. I got my ‘formal’ diagnosis when I almost got kicked out due to poor performance, before covid I was back on track and doing better than ever before. But with working from home, his has been a hurdle for everyone. Just a reminder don’t give up and don’t let yourself be your biggest problem. I believe in you.
Wow. I LOVE this one!! This is the first time I’ve ever seen ADHD looked at only from the perspective of it being something we’re lucky to have. Jessssss!! I’m so glad you built this platform and choose to dedicate yourself to this. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have processing & delivering these ideas. Thank you. 🤍
problem is the trauma, depression, and anxiety from the implicit penalties and shame, living under neuro typical society. it absolutely destroys creativity or at least the production of a creative process. who spends more time on “working” on their ptsd, anxiety, and/or depression than working on their creative endevors? the future isn’t changing us, it’s us changing them. our ideas are worth money and our attention is too.
U talk in language I understand … this is like ADHD language the way we access and perceive information is different to neura typical brains so teachers who have experienced have first hand experience. It’s like how some things u can’t really know until u experience, like riding a bike. I think the more I understand my brain and navigate thru how to work with it the happier I’ll be, the stress just makes me crumble sometimes and inability to focus on one thing affects me in the way I view myself, other ppl, the world
I’m a graphic designer and in school for projects we always had to present three concepts with mood boards and a brief explanation of what the concept is. So the work behind the scenes to get to that point always includes writing a list of everything I can think of, and then mind mapping and adding the ideas that branch off of the concepts (these things usually happen at once in a notebook lol). Then I research 3-5 concepts that I have that feel the most interesting, bring those to class/get feedback from peers, and theeeennnn we get to start thinking about how the project actually looks (colors, type treatments and fonts, illustration or photography, etc)
I write songs. I have notes on my phone for lyric ideas. Something in this article gave me an idea, and I went to my notes to write it down. Read one of my earlier notes and forgot what my idea was. Freaked out. But I managed to remember, finally. (I have trouble with visualisation; I have a pretty vivid imagination, but not an especially visually vivid one. The idea: something about how my mind’s eye is lazy. It might be good, it might be bad, but at least I got it out)
I always tell people I am lazy. But I will always find the fastest and easiest way to solve a problem. One of my wonderful supervisors was doing my performance reviews and I told him I was lazy and he said “You’re not lazy, you are effective and efficient” so renaming it in my own mind has helped me see it as an asset.
Most of the time, idea generation and iteration and problem solving are things I find easy. I can figure out how to fix your problem and come up with half a dozen options for systems to stop it becoming a problem again…. just please don’t ask me to ‘own’ implementing it or promoting it….. I’ll even talk to your team and come up with another 2 dozen options, just don’t make me the centre of attention or the person who has to make people care about the thing (enough to put in effort to change that will become almost no effort for a much better result). I also like creative hobbies like art, writing, and craft, but spend almost no time on them, so I’m not exactly brilliant.
Thank you for this article! I keep planning to write a book on ADHD specifically for writers, but then I just end up writing another novel instead. 🤷♀️ I really need to try mind mapping for revision ideas. Scrivener is useful for this but what I really want is to somehow see all the ideas at once but also have them categorized in several different ways. I need an app that shows things in six-dimensional space. 😆
Can you please caption these 🥺 auditory processing disorder is a common co-diagnosis with neurodivergencies, and having to go by automatically generated captions puts a lot of extra processing load. There are probably some brains happy to help for compensation 🥰 (it’s a shame they got rid of the community captions options!)
after a science primary high school equivalent and 10 months of conscript training as a radio specialist, I did a science and technology studies primer year before starting an engineering college programme in innovation and design. 2 months into college studies, I dropped out. Beeing gifted enough to pass high school STEM classes at above average grade without needing to actually study turned college level maths into an impenetrable wall… I shifted to become a water treatment tech and worked as such for five years before hitting a stress overload crash. Studied blacksmithing for a year to stave off unemployment. At 31yo, an unemployment office counsellor asked me if I wanted to take an ADHD/Autism evaluation from what we had talked about regarding my life so far. At 32, I got diagnosed with ADHD type2 (ADD) And I started medication. For me, the diagnosis, the medicinal aid, and finding this website and community has made my life much less confusing and provided me with practical and cognitive tools to deal with issues in my life in a way that most of the time works and doesn’t rely on hulk smashing myself insane in the process…
Hi hope your having a great day! I’ve been perusal ur articles and would like to thank you for making these articles and spreading your knowledge. One of my biggest problems is getting hyper focused on absolutely nothing. I feel like I get carried away about daydreaming about nothing and was wondering if you had anything on this topic. I have talked to many therapists and other people about this problem and they are also confused. Thanks for the help!
The person who animates this is doing an amazing job! And you too, Jessica! I’ve learned a lot about myself and, as a teacher, I also really appreciate hearing about a perspective that’s slightly different from mine. It helps me help my students and I think that’s really neat 🙂 Also: I seem to have trouble with opening the Mindmap. I’m wondering if that’s just a me-problem or if anyone else has the same issue?
Thank you so much for this website! I was born during a time when children with ADHD were called lazy. I was put in “special education” because the school system didn’t know what to do with me. Now that I am 34, I embrace the fact that I am a creative thinker and excel in areas where other do not. My creativity has pushed me to get 5 college degrees in graphic and web design to be a better professional in ways my colleagues do not.
One time.. we were looking for candidate profiles, but suddenly the system crashed and all was lost. I came up with the idea of going into browsing history and retrieve the information. I also have to make a lot of reports (same task twice every week) motivated me to create formula driven excel sheet. Now I replace the sheets and it gives me output. And the way I look at data and come up with ways of looking is one of the kinds. Normal people can’t think like that.
I’m creative with a love for fiber arts. I have several projects going at any given time and have a problem with wanting to add more. I have made a list of these projects and signed one to each day of the week. It’s working okay so far but I find that YouTube and Facebook only serve to fuel my yearning for adding to my project list
It helps to have the right environment for creativity. Other people’s idea of that environment might not work for those of us with ADHD. While at art school I found it a very exciting and stimulating place that fed my creative thinking but too fast for me to control. I spent a lot time talking about whichever new idea I was hyped about to anyone in our shared studios but rarely reallising or even starting those ideas. They would often seem too enormous or precious to risk failing. Distraction and mental overstimulation meant that I couldn’t work in the shared space and the tutors accommodated me by making my studio area enclosed so I could’t see out and no one could see in. This was years before my diagnosis. I ended up not painting any more but worked at home through the night in long sessions on article, animation and sound art. There would be days and days of not doing anything and feeling bad about it in between. I didn’t know then why some things were working and others weren’t. I’ve remained actively creative and now recognise that I get frustrated because I don’t have the control to match my motivation. Or the direction it flows. I have a history of delivering grand, overachieved projects that are only tangentially related to what I was originally asked to do.
Thinking outside of the box means you’re able to use outside information not directly relating to that specific topic. I imagine I have highway that passes a lot of boxes and I’m able to rapidly switch between each box and gather the information I need to complete a task inside one of the boxes. My mind wants to create stronger and stronger links between boxes so it’s easier and faster to come up with ideas. I ask questions and try to find correlations between different topics. Once you have enough links you have this giant spider web.
If you ever do find a way to fund new research, I would be DOWN to help with that and be a participant in any way possible. My creativity has thought me everything i know and can do, which is a lot, but is also the main reason why it never comes together in 1 creation. frustrating, and meds won’t kill perfectionism. So to get more facts i would be honered to help:) Thank you, for all the great content, always<3