How to Be a High Achiever With ADHD

Or: Why do some of us seem to thrive while others struggle?

Yesterday, I posted this on social media:

Unfortunately, a task that is “easy” or “simple” or even “super important” is not the same as “something I can convince my ADHD brain to do.”

Someone replied and essentially asked, “if this is true, why does it seem like some people with ADHD are able to achieve a lot of things, and others aren’t?”

Great question.

I talk a lot about motivation with ADHD in this newsletter. The difficulties of living with ADHD in a neurotypical world often circle around motivation—specifically finding the motivation to tackle tasks and projects that are really important, but oh so boring.

It sounds like laziness without those that don’t understand ADHD. But for those of us that have it, we know that those mundane and boring tasks can feel impossible for us to do.

Not difficult. Impossible.

“Just force yourself to do it” doesn’t work when your brain is so extremely opposed that you’ll spend an hour just staring at the task. You know it would take just 5-10 minutes if you actually moved into action. But you… can’t. For some reason, you just can’t.

So how are some people with ADHD seemingly able to get a lot of stuff done? What is the difference? First, let’s look at a couple important caveats.

Caveat #1: Social media is never the full story

It’s easy to think you have a full picture of someone’s life based on what you see on social media, but usually that’s much more of a highlight reel. All the hard stuff is edited out and you’re mostly just seeing the things that are going well.

If you do get some of the negative stuff, you’re seeing the highly edited version, crafted to feel authentic but just without any of the ugly stuff.

You’re getting a fraction of what life is actually life, the select moments they’ve chosen to share.

Caveat #2: Invisible support systems

You likely aren’t seeing any of the supportive structures they have in place that may make it easier to manage those tasks that make it into their highlights. Some people with ADHD are able to get a lot of stuff done because they have support systems that help counter-balance some of those difficulties with the uninteresting-but-necessary tasks.

This counter-balance may come from a variety of things (and is often rooted in some form of privilege they may be oblivious to). Some examples include:

• Access to medication (and the prerequisite of an often difficult to get formal diagnosis)

• Supportive partner (with or without ADHD) that takes on some of those tasks or helps provide a structure that makes it easier to get them done

• Working environment where it’s someone else’s job to take on those tasks they are better equipped to handle

• Some sort of specific work structure or environment that makes it easier to manage those difficulties

Finding the Right Type of Motivation

The other big factor is about the differences in the way the ADHD brain works.

People with ADHD aren’t motivated by things that are important (or things with rewards/consequences)—our brains are most motivated by things that are interesting, creative, novel/new, competitive, and/or urgent.

Those “high achievers” with ADHD often have found some level of alignment with the type of work they do and what they find interesting, novel, etc.

When your work lines up with your interests, it can sometimes feel like you’re unstoppable!

Or if you work in a place that thrives on urgency, you may find it much easier to get stuff done, unaware that your highly urgent work environment is a primary driver.

Since learning about how the ADHD brain is motivated and making the 4 Cs of Motivation something I refer on a daily basis, I’ve found that a lot of my difficulties with motivation become possible to overcome.

It’s not a magic fix—I have to cycle through my strategies often, and sometimes it just doesn’t work and I feel completely stuck.

But now I have optimism that I will figure out a way to tackle a task. Now that I know most productivity advice wasn’t designed for the ADHD brain (and is often toxic advice), I don’t feel bad when stuff doesn’t work.

Shame just isn’t a very good motivator, it makes me feel bad and stalls out any progress I’ve made. I reject shame-based strategies with a passion.

Instead, I treat any productivity hack or strategy that stops working like a fruit that’s gotten old. Novelty is important for motivation so it’s not surprising that we often need to change things up. When the fruit of a good strategy starts to brown, that’s just a sign that it’s time to try something new.

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For more on this type of interest-based ADHD motivation, check out my book, Extra Focus: The Quick Start Guide to Adult ADHD or watch this video:

Stay curious,
Jesse J. Anderson

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P.S. Tickets for NeuroDiversion 2025 are now available! If you don’t know, NeuroDiversion is a new conference designed for the neurodivergent community that takes place March 27-29 in Austin, TX.

I’m super excited to be attending and seeing many of my favorite ADHD friends in person! If you want to connect with like-minded individuals that both understand and celebrate neurodiversity, this is the event for you—I hope to see you there!

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P.P.S. So many people replied to last week’s introductions post, it was awesome getting to know some of you better! Check it out to meet other readers in this Extra Focus community and leave your own intro if you haven’t yet.

#posts