Challenges & Strengths
Challenges:
Inattention: procrastinates; overwhelmed by details; trouble prioritizing and staying organized; often loses things; may miss turns when driving, hypo-focus (daydreams or “tunes out”); sensitive to interruptions and can get annoyed, often late or goes to great lengths to be in time,
Impulsivity: impatient waiting on line and in traffic, blurts out answers before questions are completed, or has trouble not interrupting, finishes others’ sentences, compromises own boundaries; crosses others’ boundaries; doesn’t always think before speaking, can be impulsive eater, sometimes speaks too rapidly
Physical Hyperactivity: unable to sit still, fidgets, feels restless and has an itch to move, has high driven nature unsure how to use it, doesn’t like to waste time yet doesn’t give self credit for accomplishments
Mental Hyperactivity: bombardment of thoughts or creative ideas; may go off on tangents; gets flooded emotionally when upset and needs time to process and pinpoint “correct” thoughts
Sensory Hyper-Responsiveness: sensitive to some materials, loud noises, bright lights, certain smells, feels easily criticized, sometimes goes to great lengths to avoid criticism
Strengths:
Inattention: creative and excellent brainstormers, well-spoken, quite articulate (better than they think) love to learn; non-linear thinkers, good storytellers; capable of being groundbreakers, intuitive; values integrity, can sustain intense focus on what interests them meaning they are excellent workers when matched with their sterngths, love to learn
Impulsivity: authentic, genuine, quick witted with a sharp mind; charming, clever, entertaining and well-paid speakers (prefer to go on the fly), risk-takers, trendsetters, some are adventure seekers
Physical Hyperactivity: easily notices and assesses their environments, rapidly recognizes and puts together patterns, contagious energy and enthusiasm, driven and open to risk, hard workers and usually willing to continue trying despite past results, values integrity
Mental Hyperactivity: idea machines, able to use intuition so naturally they don’t realize it, generally visual and, or verbal processors, at times need solitude to restore or reflect which is time well spent; values authenticity in others
Sensory Hyper-Responsiveness: highly intuitive; empathetic; recognizes and assesses situations faster than most; excellent people reading skills (can easily see below the surface); learns quickly when interested; values wisdom
Clues if have ADHD:
High caffeine intake
Senses underachievement despite past, even, recent accomplishments
Feels guilty if not using time to expectation; time is pressure
Needs diversification to maintain interest; sometimes this leads to creating drama in relationships
May switch jobs within a year and a half
Hard on self; not familiar with giving self-credit
Experiences sleep difficulties (either trouble falling asleep and, or staying asleep)