Every Bit Of ADHD-Friendly Freelancing Advice I Can Think Of After Five Years In The Game
Yep, us neurodivergent folks can be organised too
It took me five years — and a fortune lost in “forgotten” assignments — to accept that I can’t just switch off my ADHD when I start my workday.
It’s a part of the workday, just like my laptop or my notebook. And much as I wish my clients would magically figure out when I’m in peak mode and keep all my assignments for then, that’s not happening. I need to figure out routines and safeguards that keep me going even on the days my brain doesn’t want to — because that’s what my clients pay me to do.
You’ll find a lot of neurodivergent folks in freelancing. What you won’t find as much of? Resources designed specifically for neurodivergent people to navigate freelancing without falling prey to the inherent uncertainty. And that’s exactly why I’m sharing this piece— a list of no-BS tips for ADHD freelancers to max their game without unrealistic effort. They’ve helped me reach a baseline level of regular productivity, even on my bad days, and I’m counting on them to push that baseline higher and bring me to my six-figure income goals.
And I hope they help you grow too.
Have a morning routine
Boring, I know. And super LinkedIn bro-ey.
But having been an anti-routine person for a large fraction of my life, I can see a clear difference between how I work on days when it’s all chaos and how I work after a simple morning routine.
Brains like mine don’t just get to work when you tell them to. They need a push to get into work mode — and by push, I mean a trusted set of steps that act as a cue to exit sleepy mode and enter go-get-em mode. And no, you don’t have to take cold showers at 4AM or blend impossibly green smoothies. My slow morning routine is specifically designed for people who love sleep and coffee.
Speaking of which…
Don’t resist caffeine
All those pompous anti-coffee preachers can take a hike. A PCT-length hike with a crappy backpack and zero trail angels along the way.
First off, you can’t help wanting caffeine. Our brains naturally seek dopamine, and caffeine is an easy way to get that hit. (This is actually something I only discovered recently — no wonder I used to throw tantrums at the age of five when my grandmother refused to give me tea twice a day!)
And secondly, coffee is one of the small reliable pleasures of life. Do you really want to take that away from yourself?
Set your deadlines a day later than you can actually deliver
This has been a gamechanger for me in the last few months.
I estimate how long the assignment will take me (as a function of my other assignments, any home/social obligations and my sleeping patterns), and add one day to that number when setting the client deadline.
This is the buffer day. The day I use when my ADHD brain freeze kicks in and three hours go by in three seconds. The buffer day lets me crawl back into functionality and deliver my work within the time I was asked to deliver it, without having to play the “sorry I got sick” card. And if my brain decides to be good? I deliver early. Brownie points!
Start your less-than-favourite projects earlier
You know those assignments that’ll pay well but you just don’t like?
Start them as soon as you get them.
You can’t count on getting into flow mode with those pieces. You’ll have to do them in bits — sometimes tiny bits (I’m talking single sentences). If you put the task off until the eleventh hour, you’ll go nuts trying to finish it in one go and spend the next day in catatonic recovery (been there, done that). Just bite the bullet and make a start. You’ll thank yourself, I promise.
Get more sleep
ADHDers need way more sleep than neurotypical people. That’s just a fact.
So, please, please don’t punish yourself trying to “fix” something you
can’t control.
Take longer naps, get at least 7 hours of sleep at night. And unless you’re really in the zone, don’t force yourself to stay up all night — you’ll just feel like a zombie the next day. Again, setting deadlines with buffer days lets you get that extra shuteye!
Have a task menu for low-focus times
When a brain freeze kicks in, trying to push through something heavy and high-focus is like trying to push a ten-ton boulder up Mt Everest.
The obvious answer — take a break. The problem is, brain freeze times are also when we’re most susceptible to social media scrolling. Cheap dopamine, you know.
That’s why I recommend building a menu of activities that aren’t stressful, but that keep you in work mode until your focus comes back. You pick
Some things I like doing:
- Outlining Medium pieces
- Reading client material (this is especially useful for B2B SaaS clients, you want to really really understand the product you’re writing about)
- Reading freelance blogs to pick up tips
- Sending out cold DMs
- Answering emails (I wrote a whole piece on why emails and other admin tasks aren’t the enemy!)
All these are work-related. But if you’re really unable to focus, I’d recommend reading a good book. Well-written literature keeps you engaged and can spark creative trains of thought. I like literary fiction (since that’s what I write too), but pick anything that strikes your fancy!
When you’re stressed, walk it out
Anxiety can hit us out of the blue, and hard. Panic about a deadline. Not being able to understand the material we’re writing about. Struggling to figure out a project management tool (I swear some of those were built in the fifteenth century).
Everyone has their own ways of coping with anxiety. But for me, the nothing helps as reliably and easily as a quick walking workout. The Grow With Jo YouTube channel has a ton of them, perfect for people at all fitness levels — pick one and get moving, even if it’s just for ten minutes.
I promise, no matter what you’re going through, you will never not feel better after exercise.
Be (judiciously) open about your ADHD
More and more people are becoming aware of ADHD and getting diagnoses for themselves. So chances are, if you mention your ADHD to clients, they’ll understand — and might even make accommodations for you!
The caveat — there’s a strong geographical/cultural element involved. I’ve found people in the States to be pretty understanding, but in India (and I hazard many other Asian countries), mental health is still stigmatised, so I’d be careful about doing this. I only opened up with an Indian client about mental health after I’d been working with them for three years, at which point we were more like friends, and they were cool. But I’ve also heard of folks getting job offer rejections for mentioning that they took antidepressants, so use your best judgement before opening up.
Have at least one low-effort client
Low effort = low pay. I know. But hear me out.
There are a zillion reasons you might lose clients that have absolutely nothing to do with you. Just last week, for instance, a client I was doing a test project with told me their budget for writing was cut so they’re putting all freelance work on hold until later in the year (they’ll still pay me for the test piece, though).
At that point, while you look for new clients, low-effort projects can keep the lights on. There are several agencies that offer a regular-ish stream of work at below-average rates — and they usually have available projects. I’d suggest signing up on at least a couple and doing maybe one piece for them every month, just so you’re on their radar. That way, if other projects go south, you can ask them to assign you more.
Have at least as many backup clients as you do current clients
By backup clients, I mean people who’ve expressed an interest in working with you as well as people you’re connected with and who might have work for you in the future.
Why you need these backups? Because ADHD very often co-exists with depression, and if the depression gets bad, you might find your business sliding — which means you’ll have to rebuild things after you’ve recovered. I had to do that last year, and I was starting out cold in a new country. Let’s just say, it wasn’t fun.
Which is why, even though I’m not posting actively on LinkedIn, I am working on reaching out to potential clients and getting my name out there as a writer. They may not have work for me right now, but I’m going to keep asking every quarter or so. Chances are? At least some of them will have something for me when I need it.
Don’t feel like you have to be a social media star
I’m on an indefinite break from LinkedIn posting.
I don’t have a newsletter, I don’t have Twitter.
And I’m doing okay.
Sure, it’s a bonus to have an online presence, and it definitely helps put your name in front of more people — some of whom might end up hiring you. But there are many many freelancers who are quietly doing their work and raking in the cash. No newsletters, no nothing.
Putting yourself in front of the world is hard. Don’t feel obliged to if you aren’t ready for it.
Invest in emotional health
Stress is never fun, and ADHD stress can spiral faster than Usain Bolt on steroids.
I can get mad about the tiniest thing and seethe in those feelings until they’ve assumed the proportions of an intergenerational injustice and boom, the deadline’s arrived and I haven’t done any work and I’ve pissed off everyone around me in the process.
Admittedly, this part I’m still bad at. I’ll be returning to therapy (more on this later) to learn how to process my emotions better — for now, I’m working on identifying small things to help me feel better in the moment. Writing by hand always helps, as does multiple replays of whichever song is playing in my head. Some chores are soothing too — scrubbing the kitchen countertop or taking out the trash.
Accept that freelancing is always a gamble
You could do everything right and still have clients let go of you.
It’s tempting to blame your ADHD when that happens — to tell yourself that it’s because you weren’t prompt/orderly/predictable/communicative/neurotypical enough.
Don’t. It’s not true. And even if it is true, there’s nothing you can do to change it.
When you go freelance, you do so knowing that things will never be certain. The flexibility that you have? Clients have that too. They may need more work one month, less a second month, and might even scrap their freelance budget altogether a third month. That’s just the way it is.
If (and when) that happens? You keep going.
Easier said than done, I know. But that’s why having safeguards in place is so critical. Things like:
- A predictable routine
- A healthy sleep schedule
- A healthy attitude toward processing emotions
- A low-effort task menu
- A toolkit for processing anxiety
will keep you sane and keep you going just as much as the conventional freelance tips will (solid portfolio, monthly budget, rate chart and so on). And the time to invest in those things is now, while you’re doing okay and are more likely to be in touch with your needs and make smart choices to support those needs.
Remember — ADHD is a part of you. Work with it (instead of against it), and it’ll work with you too.
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