Is Your Career Stimulating Enough for Your ADHD Brain?
A lack of motivation and boredom may be a sign it’s not.
Most modern careers are a glorified take on Henry Ford’s assembly line.
If you efficiently complete this repetitive set of tasks, in return we’ll pay you as little as we can get away with!
Sure, some companies load their employees up to their eyeballs with responsibility, but while that may create variety, it also fuels burnout.
This reality puts the ADHD brain in a tricky spot.
On one hand, the ADHD brain desires consistency and is averse to the priorities of others. What others find to be important often conflicts with one’s own intrinsic desires, causing friction.
On the other, ADHD brains crave dopamine. They seek this through intense activities which are highly rewarding in nature, creating spikes of motivation followed by a sharp falloff.
It’s as if the ADHD brain is riding a continuous dopamine wave, in constant pursuit of catching a monster breaker before being dumped off at the shore.
Herein lies the ADHD brain — career mismatch problem. Most jobs aren’t structured to provide this level of stimulation.
Your job is probably one of them
Let’s pick on a common career path as an example: Information technology.
Since IT is a broad category, we’ll drill down further and examine cyber security.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average starting salary for cyber security professionals is $73,000. Most would consider this a respectable wage, one that’s sure to gain plenty of interest from the next generation of professionals.
Even if cyber security has the potential to be a great career, is it a great career for someone with ADHD?
While job descriptions are, at a baseline, about as stimulating as reading the phone book, the following list of tasks from mycomputercareer.edu doesn’t paint cyber security as the most exhilarating profession:
Security systems development, testing, analysis, and implementation
System vulnerability assessment and management
Response to security threats, attacks, and similar events
Development of threat prevention strategies
Regular generation of reports for executives and administrators
How much do you want to bet point #5 is more like #2?
This isn’t to say cyber security can’t be a good fit for someone with ADHD, but it does exemplify the landmines hidden within the career search for those with ADHD.
The issue is compounded further given that kids are asked to decide their lifelong pursuit when they’re, well, still kids.
Yeah, some might have the foresight to know precisely what they want to do for a living, but most ADHD kids aren’t going to have the foresight as to what they want for dinner, let alone what to do for a career.
The college major decision ends up turning into the following:
Crap, I need to pick a major. What the heck should I do!?
I like computers, I could do that.
*Googles computer jobs*
Hmmm, cyber security. I get to ward off hackers and it pays $73K to start?? Sign me up!
Little did they know their first job would be auditing the browsing habits of their colleagues and leaving random USB drives around the office.
Not exactly a stimulating career.
This is why I say your job is probably one of the non-stimulating ones. We’re asked to make this lifelong decision well before we understand what we need from a career.
Multiple years and a mountain of debt later, we’re in the real world despising our jobs wondering what the heck happened.
The ADHD brain needs a perfect mix of consistency and stimulation to achieve maximum potential. Too many realize this too late in the game, and either perpetually flounder or find their way much later than others.
The ADHD brain needs a perfect mix of consistency and stimulation to achieve maximum potential
Not all careers are ADHD duds
It’s not all bad news. There are ADHD-friendly jobs out there, you just need to know what to look for.
Take sales for example. After stumbling into marketing, my first job as a college grad involved me stumbling into luxury vehicle sales. Generally speaking, it checked many of the ADHD stimulation boxes:
- Fast, expensive cars
- Big sales commissions
- Interesting clientele
- Tense negotiations
I had a blast at first, quickly finding success and genuinely enjoying my work. Eventually, the wheels came off after I ran into other ADHD related issues long before I understood what the heck I was dealing with.
Even so, not all sales jobs are as ADHD friendly as others.
My next job involved selling auto, home, and life insurance via cold calls.
Selling a massive life insurance policy may excite some, but for me it didn’t pack quite the same punch or interest as a twin-turbo V8.
But that’s the point. Finding the right career, especially if you have ADHD, is extremely nuanced. It’s about understanding yourself and aligning your career selection with your individual needs.
It takes intentionality
What actions excite you?
What are you passionate about?
What are you particularly good at?
What allows your brain to hyperfocus?
If you have ADHD and are perpetually struggling to find career satisfaction, constantly fighting battles of boredom and floundering motivation, I have to ask:
Have you ever asked yourself the above questions?
If not, you probably haven’t tried to align you with your job.
Being in alignment with your career requires intentionality. You must spend time understanding yourself and what makes you tick.
Working with a therapist, something I believe everyone with ADHD should practice, can also help you uncover what you need in a career.
But you must accept a key fact: modern corporate America isn’t built for the ADHD brain. It’s built for efficiency, and efficiency is almost always achieved through boring, repetitive tasks.
Accepting this fact is critical because instead of blaming the system, you can view the system in a different light. You can focus your attention on exploiting the system for what best suits you.
Sometimes what best suits you can be found within the system.
Sometimes, though, it can’t.
Modern corporate America isn’t built for the ADHD brain, it’s built for efficiency
Which means the normal ‘9 to 5’ might not be for you
Even the most intentional can still struggle to find the right career fit.
And that’s okay.
What’s not okay is writing off your desires to step out on your own, uncovering your unique path through entrepreneurial endeavors.
This isn’t to say you need to up and quit your job. Not in the slightest.
What it does mean, though, is you must be willing to give something a try, to put yourself out there.
Say you adore coffee, so much so you’ve taken up the hobby of roasting your own coffee beans. Why not turn your hobby into a fun little side hustle?
Or maybe, while stuck in your cyber security job, you’ve had the chance to build websites for friends on the side. Why not market yourself a bit and build websites for those who aren’t your friends?
For many with ADHD, augmenting the ‘9 to 5’ with a passion fuelled side project may be the necessary path to finding happiness. Give yourself the chance to escape the corporate rat race by stepping out on your own.
At worst, you may learn you actually prefer the corporate rat race.
And that’s okay, too.
Final thoughts
ADHD and career satisfaction have a tricky relationship. You can’t fault corporate America for the system it created. It’s efficient, profitable, and dependable.
But you also can’t rest on your laurels expecting it to somehow fit your ADHD complexities, or worse, stumble from job to job in blind despair.
You’re responsible for understanding yourself; your quirks, your nuances, your strengths, and your weaknesses, and pairing them with the right career for you.
If the right career doesn’t exist or isn’t feasible, augment it with something you’re passionate about. Maybe instead of a career you’ll discover a pursuit.
Who knows, you may even start the next mega financial corporation or airline.
But you’ve got to give yourself a chance, you’ve got to try.
You might just find all the stimulation you ever bargained for.
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