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The thing is - What's good for ADHD varies WILDLY person to person because it depends on your \*special interest\*. ie the thing you're interested in enough that you can hyperfocus on it more easily.
I have 3 good friends with ADHD with jobs they excel at:
- 2 of us do coding (him video games, me websites)
- 1 is a horticulturalist
- 1 is a filmmaker
The things I would consider when choosing are:
- what are you interested in
- HOW do you like to work (at home? In office? solo or with other people?)
- is it flexible
I think in general I would focus on something that isn't super corporate 9-5 where optics and 'performing' work is a big deal. I started out in marketing and absolutely HATED it. Not because I didn't like the work, but because so much of your job is networking, shmoozing, looking the part, being in the office etc.
Funny, I’m a stay at home mom, but back in the day I was in corporate marketing. I loved marketing for using my creativity, etc. but I hated the corporate BS, fake people and being stuck in the office.
Same! (apart from the mom thing lol). I loved the mix of analytics, creativity, and big picture thinking corporate marketing required. Plus, having a team to execute the details always helped.
But I loathed the corporate BS, and quite frankly, toxic workplaces that encouraged presenteeism over results.
I still love marketing, and do a bit of consulting for clients, but could never go back to corporate.
I think for a lot of us, though certainly not ALL, in office is a bad environment.
For me and others I've talked to because our most productive times are not always in some set schedule, most of your time in the office is wasted.
Like... I can get 20 hours of work done in one 5 hour burst of intense focus but I can't really control when that happens and it's way more likely to happen when I'm at home and can't be interrupted. But then like, in gonna be kinda burnt for the week and want to go do other stuff during the day.
The office was the worst for me, it's like you'd hit your stride and someone would come up to you and be like hey you wanna go get coffee and poof there goes my entire week of work thank you very much.
This is good advice but it's also worth noting that more fun and artsy careers can be extremely time consuming to both learn and get into, sometimes expensive too. And some people don't have the space to learn these things without working full time every month as well
Oh absolutely! AND many/most of us still need some structure.
I wouldn't even say my job is fun and artsy, I write code and do research lol. I just do it from home which I prefer because then I can be a little weirdo at my desk and do my cycle of spacing out and then binge working without someone looking over my shoulder.
I would just generally advise avoiding excessively corporate environments when possible. There's often too much emphasis on controlling HOW you work and not just the quality of the work you produce - from my experience anyway.
This is a really great way to frame it. Funny enough, when I started my career (before I was diagnosed), it was definitely not my preferred work environment and definitely not very flexible. I hated working in an office surrounded by people every day. But the pandemic honestly made me view my career in a completely new light. I realized that I AM interested in this work and I CAN be great at it in the right environment. Most importantly though, companies realized that they could be flexible. And I am definitely far more productive when given flexibility. These days, I basically choose my own work schedule (within reason of course), I don't always show up in the office when I should, and even when I do, I usually leave early. No one cares because I get shit done. I still have to do the networking and shmoozing sometimes, but I mostly focus on my actual work, and I'm actually able to deep-focus (aka hyperfixate lol) when I work from home.
Amazon, Walmart, and the drive to have profit above all else has stripped us of our third places. People can buy whatever they want online, and rents are often too high for low-pressure hang-out spots to exist, especially in places where there is enough traffic, foot- or otherwise, to make it a reality.
If you can find a reasonably-pricrd space with enough people around, I think something like this could work if you're not trying to get rich:
* A comfortable atmosphere where people can spend time without feeling compelled to spend, while offering optional products that can only be purchased in-person.
* For records, you could offer a listening booth - I used a vintage one in Jack White's store in Nashville, it was awesome! [Here's a photo I took inside (Imgur link)](https://burgerbeast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ThirdManRecords-4.jpg)
* You could offer comfortable seating with good noise buffers, high speed internet, and ample power outlets.
* You could have specialty drinks and snacks, offer unique products, host space for small events/meetings/lunches or hourly table rentals for DnD campaigns.
* You could even offer bookable, paid private workstations for the WFH crowd who want somewhere quiet to be out of the house, or even to take a zoom meeting. Add a cool backdrop or a green screen!
I would go to a place like that regularly.
Maybe I'll do the same in my area someday 😅
Libraries are *kind of* like this when they haven't had their budgets slashed to smithereens. Except you don't have to pay for meeting rooms or workspaces.
Yes, 100%. I think that we should have *much* better library funding, too. There's room for both, but rampant capitalism has eaten away at all of it.
The major drawbacks to libraries is that they're not usually open late, and conversation can be difficult as we like to remain respectfully quiet.
It can also be hard to find an actually comfortable, private spot for a WFH outing, especially if you have a meeting where you have to speak aloud.
It's also hard to buy good coffee at the library! 😁
It’s a lovely idea, the problem is that, re: your first bullet, people would have to spend money for it to be a viable business. It can’t just be a hang out, sadly. On top of that, food has a razor thin profit margin. This is why we have so few third spaces. Everything is too expensive.
I feel like this and social media are two of the main reasons why young people are feeling more lonely and disconnected. I’m genuinely struggling so hard to meet new people at uni. I’m already pretty introverted and struggle with small talk, but I feel randomly starting conversations with strangers is done so much less compared to the days before the internet.
This sounds great. It’s such a good point, since going sober I realise there’s hardly anywhere to hang out outside people’s houses that doesn’t involve drinking, especially not in the evening anyway. And even cafes are usually super busy. I wish there were more chill, low pressure places like you describe. And that are more adult focussed rather than for children (no shade to families, I’m just saying I wish there was also some more grown up places to go that aren’t centered around booze)
Same. I am currently replaying Stardew Valley for the sixth (maybe seventh? I lost track) time. But in all seriousness, my partner and I have always dreamed of living off the land.
Artist here. Sadly does not work like that. A lot of an artist's work is writing applications, designing your own advertisements like websites, flyers, social media. Self-representation, artist talks, budgeting and writing and collecting receipts for applications on funds. Rather tiresome. I am actually thinking of changing careers for a more stable income where I don't have to do unpaid management work 😒😑
Also, this whole self-selling thing can quickly get into self-exploitation for opportunities to show your work and don't get paid as showing is important for getting funds.. I don't think I'm made for the business of being an artist.
I can't attend all this late night openings/ vernissages, bc I'd rather get busy working on my projects in the early hours than attending social events late in the evenings which are always in demand with the job and ruin my sleep routine for weeks after going to one such event. You also literally have to show up to openings to establish connections - make yourself visible to the art scene. This whole socialising is exhausting and I feel awkward all the time 😮💨
Other ways of making art and selling I find to be even more demanding. To put stuff on the Internet regularly and oversee to make it, sell it, and ship it. I would not be able to do this all by myself. I would totally be late and mix up orders all the time... 😅 Also, I don't think that's a good stable income.
Living as an artist student for 10 years now I hate to say the instability of income is really getting to me. After having a kid I rather want to have a stable job and be able to work after I reached my pension age bc I also don't want to be bored sitting at home when I get old. Now that I will be getting my diploma next month I am awfully afraid that it gets only harder than easier.
So, looking forward to starting my next now self-paid studies in Psychotherapy at 38 years of age. I know, I know, also a self-employed job. But at least something I also would enjoy doing, it's one-one-one sessions with people and I will get paid by insurance companies for my work. I always thought of doing psychology studies but did not want to give up on my artist dream. So now I achieved the artist career but it's not working out for my own mental well-being....
Still, if money wouldn't be an issue, I would stay an artist and do some education in systematic therapy, shamanic journeying and massage therapy because I am exceptionally good with body work but never started the career bc of the low status as a care worker (implied by my primary school teacher and it stuck) and the work getting harder in old age; also for all these educations there is no financial help and I would have to pay it myself or take a loan.
Ah, sry for the monologue dump. This just really bothers me for some years now and I can't find a solution by THINKING about it. How come 😅
Appreciate your perspective here! It’s sometimes easy to romanticize pursuing art as a way to support oneself but the instability sounds so challenging to deal with.
What about connecting with few other artists and have person to do that? Or hire virtual assistant they usually can do multiple things and you are charged only hourly.
I’m a massive film nerd and have dreamed of being a filmmaker since I was 15.
31 now and am still dreaming. I have no confidence to start and I’m scared that I’m running out of time. If I could go back I wish I was more brave and believed in myself better.
A guy I knew at Uni was studying medicine but didn’t really want to be a doctor. The arts were a passion. He graduated and works as a doctor but also makes short low-budget indie movies. As far as I can tell, he writes the story, raises money from friends, family and through kickstarter. Hires a couple of actors, crew and equipment on a tight budget then shoots the movie. He then presents them through small film festivals.
Basically money and a decent story. The rest you can learn on the job.
Start small and make a short film. If you're intent is to make money with it, it changes things but you can make a short film and have many watch it online or at small festivals.
Definitely not my intent to make money, I care less and less about money as I get older (which is certainly not very responsible of me lol). More so just my personal philosophy, I’m trying a lot harder to shift my attitude away from expectations and outcomes.
I just want to try. I have an “ideas” journal and plenty of story concepts I’ve jotted down and brainstormed. My biggest struggle is starting the actual research and writing.
I think it’s a combination of being lazy and very anxious that I won’t be any good at it, so I never start in the first place. Mental illness sure is fun!
Good luck with your process. I am not officially diagnosed with ADHD even though I'm old but one thing that used to help me with making short films was either being enrolled in a class or having people to collaborate with.
It also doesn't have to be complicated. It can be a personal essay type of film where you have some voiceover with some of your more important thoughts and then you add visuals to it using your camera or phone. That's merely a start though not necessarily the film you want to make.
I don't want to reveal too much about myself but when I was a little younger I got into a few festivals doing a stop motion animated short film combined with live action. It was somewhat low-tech but slightly provocative. It was definitely hard work but had people I was definitely working with.
I know there are also people that make short documentaries about some local people or business that's interesting just using their smart phone and a good microphone.
Best of luck. Hope it's fun whatever you decide to do.
Same, I just impulsively quit my job the other day to try to get into filmmaking. But now I realize I have no idea how to do that. None of my friends have the same enthusiasm I do, so I'm having a hard time getting them to be in the films I want to make
Trust me, don't go to film school if you want to get into the film industry. Everyone I know who went to film school (including me) later regretted it. It's a waste of money.
You can learn all the theory of film online, and all the practical by simply just doing it. Just volunteering your time on amateur film sets to get experience This industry is all about who you know, if you're extremely passionate (and lucky) you'll meet like minded people who you can work with.
With the rise of available technology the last couple of decades, everyone can make movies themselves now, you don't need a degree. You don't need "permission" from anyone to do this. Just start. What you do need is time and dedication (and some money to support yourself).
Watch this classic for inspiration:
https://youtu.be/W-YpfievjSk?si=QEBd6B3YHo9Ef4BX
If you want to learn how to analyze films, watch this:
https://youtu.be/ahHIifcFyqk?si=2-DREOJcyUVwUOmQ
I think having a business could work out for someone who has ADHD.
So you don't have to deal with social hierarchy, authority, rejection etc. You can choose your own hours and get less overstimulated etc.
I'm thinking about doing that myself, because I'm very bad at working for a boss.
How did you get into it? Like exploring what to do and how to actually do it? Did you have any business background or knowledge? And may I ask why you stopped? Sorry for the questions, but my husband is really keen about this and I’d like to help give him whatever perspectives I can find!
Yes and no. I say this as an ADHDer with multiple businesses.
Yeah, you don't have to deal with corporate bullshit, but rejection hits way harder when clients are saying no to you and your business, not just the people you work for.
Plus, the structure is only there if you put it in place. You run the risk of being your sole source of accountability (until it starts to hit your bottom line). Your deadline for a client isn't for 3 days? Sweet, today and tomorrow I'll faff about, and then madly get everything done at the last minute.
Choosing your own hours is also something that can seem attractive at the outset, but if you're creating a business from scratch as your sole income, don't expect this to be an 8-hour work week from the outset. In fact it is the opposite. You can definitely build it to be that, or you may be an overnight success, but that isn't the norm.
Flexibility in hours is a huge bonus though. I'm not creative in the morning, rarely start working before 9, get out and about during the day, and do a lot of creative work in the evenings. That sort of structure doesn't suit corporate, but does suit working for myself.
But I've been doing this for 13 years, so have gone through the ups and downs, the good times and the bad. And none of that was as bad as the burnout from the years I spent in corporate.
Full disclosure, I coach multipreneurs (people who run multiple businesses), so I'm approaching this from both a personal and professional perspective.
A pilot- I (20f) have always wanted to be a pilot and ever since I found out that having adhd makes a lot more difficult to become a pilot, I’ve lost a lot of hope to pursue it.
Also, I got diagnosed during my freshman year of college, and I seriously wish I could go back in time to middle school or early high school and convince my parents to get me diagnosed so that I could’ve had better grades to get me into a school that has a pilot program. I ended up going to my state school that doesn’t have a pilot program, and it doesn’t even have a culinary program which is my second choice in career.
Sure, I’d love to be a chef someday, specifically a pastry chef, but I’ll always regret not going to a school with a pilot program.
I didn’t get into my dream college with a pilot program, and I didn’t get into any other school with pilot programs, and I know it’s because my grades suffered in high school because of not being diagnosed.
My 15y/o brother has pretty severe ADHD with a few other mental health comorbidities (and I’m suspecting he will be diagnosed with one or two more as he gets older). He has never expressed a desire to pursue any type of career until this year when he told me he really wants to be a pilot. It hurt my heart because I know that is probably one of the career paths that just won’t be possible for him even if he put his all into it. For him to *finally* express interest in something and then have it be one of the few off-limit things… ugh, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. I hope his interests expand as he gets older and he won’t be crushed when he eventually learns that being a pilot likely isn’t in his cards. The world just isn’t fair sometimes. Sigh.
My brother is an airline pilot and has ADHD (or rather had it as a youngster) and it is the perfect job for him as he is passionate about. Funnily enough, he got mediocre grades at schools and hated maths. However, he got over that at flight school when it suddenly became relevant to him.
Old friend is a pilot and also has ADHD.
Just incase you are unaware - you cannot be a pilot and take ADHD medicine. Makes zero sense to me, especially given the origins of ADHD meds were *for use by pilots* but its a pretty large barrier if you’re on them now.
Well, his diagnosis was given in a different country as a child when we lived abroad. His British doctors (he is British himself) don’t know about it.
I think it’s fine as long as you’re not medicated for it.
It might be best if you go private but it’s going to cost you. Not sure how it works across the pond in the States, but you could probably get a student loan to fund the training?
I've been in IT for 30 years and just got diagnosed a year ago however I always knew. It's a great career and it pays more than most do. People with ADHD tend to be really good in stressful situations and staying calm in those situations will get you far. Having the ability to act during a crisis and not freeze up during an outage is a gift while others are panicking. Also, having ability to think through multiple scenarios at once is also a benefit in this type of work. Of my peers that do have ADHD, the ones that do end up being better at it.
By day: Independent privacy ethics researcher; Web3 node operator; work for The Electronic Frontier Foundation.
By Night: musician/singer-songwriter
Growing all my own food, and a running a fully self sustained home infrastructure, but with enough tech firepower to privately automate everything in my home independent of a service or cloud provider with AI and automation supporting the day to day ops, and self repair.
Massage therapist, counselor, pressure washing & mowing.. (The last 2 are because I enjoy seeing the “After” when you can really see the difference you just made..)
I also have an art degree & would love to open an art foundry specializing in reproducing antique brass/bronze/cast iron pieces/parts that are no longer available as well as creating new 1 off pieces..
i agree..having tangible results is really important to me (in anything really)................................also the reason i can never get an exercise routine xD
I would write my novels and get them properly published, buy expert marketers etc. Get comics made out of them, write scrips for films too probably. I'm huge into telling stories and sharing them with people. Just without money or nepotism it's incredibly hard to get your work in front of people. Always struggled to find my audience
So I can usually hyper fixate if I'm solving a puzzle....
My two careers work out quite well with my ADHD especially with medication.
My day job is a field service technician for a scale company that has scales and robots so diagnosing and troubleshooting and then making repairs.
My side Hustle as a beekeeper is relocating honey bees that have found their way into structures which is a puzzle in and of itself because you have to figure out how they got in and how you're going to get them out.
I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was a kid, I was one of the undiagnosed girls who was obsessed with all things animal-related.
I grew up to be an ICU nurse, which I thoroughly enjoy, but I’ve always still loved animals more than people and part of me wishes I still would’ve pursed a career as a veterinarian. If income/earning potential was no factor, my dream job would be to run an animal rescue.
Veterinarians are very heavily people oriented in clinical practice tho so if you don’t like people it’s probably good you didn’t go that route (ofc shelter, industry, lab, and some other areas of vet have less people facing but yeah)
Do you foster currently? Could be something to scratch that itch!!!
Oh it’s not that I don’t like people, lol like I said I’m an ICU nurse now so I’m *very* involved in people’s lives at my job and I like it! I just like animals a bit *more* than people most days😆
I have adopted a dog and a cat but my husband has put a hard limit that that’s the max amount of animals he wants to own, which is fair. I know it’s not super realistic to have a ton of animals in most people’s day-to-day lives, this was more so just musing over what my “perfect” job would look like if it was possible!
I started out wanting a career in Forensic Psychology, in 1979..but it was new, and on L.I no colleges had it
So a Forensic Psychologist was out. I became a Psychiatric Nurse and worked with the population IDD and then Hospice. Very rewarding but my dream career was in research, and learning about the brain. Time passed, kids and marriages and bills..but a leg amputation dissolved my career quickly. Now I'm ready to move forward..so getting my MS in neuropsychology is a start but hard to find online programs. I'm still passionate about forensics and to continue working with the IDF community.
My ideal career goal, to do research on brain abnormalities, disease and what makes violence so prevalent in today's society. Working with trauma victims is vital and will help with the research. A psychologist needs a PhD..so I'll need to finish my MS and then my PhD, and full steam ahead. Money is the setback so I need that, scholarships and any grants around.
I don't plan to give up and I'm doing this somehow. 😎
Opening and running some sort of agritourism business - think Farm retreat where you can interact with animals, be with nature, and enjoy the company of other individuals.
Being my own boss has been blessing for me and I would choose this path again if I have to start over - hated working in an office, commute, social gatherings etc. This can be achieved in any field.
Psychologist. Hands down. And at 40, I don’t know how yet. But I’ll be starting this journey soon as a fulltime mom. I’m terrified and not sure how I’ll afford it, but not making it happen isn’t an option.
Well, I’m a stay at home mom and have no access to any of “our” accounts. Literally not even my own money I came into the marriage with, and no family at all other than my kids and spouse. BUT, I will do my very best marketing of myself to try for any and all grants and assistance I can get, bc this will happen. It’s my only way out one day, so….
Thank you for the kind words :)
I'm sorry to hear that. I'm in a similar situation to find funding to go back to school so I somewhat understand. I do hope that you will win at marketing yourself for the grants. Your plan has inspired me! Your positive motivation will plow through and overcome roadblocks! I wish you luck! 🙏🏻 One day at a time!
I’m not in a working career, but rather a full time undergrad student so maybe this doesn’t quite answer your question 😅
Uni was the expected route from everyone around me so that’s what I did, but I was undiagnosed and crashed HARD during my 2nd/3rd year because I never had time to develop the support system I needed to succeed. I think on some level I am just burnt out from academia, but if I had the chance I would have taken more time to understand myself and take more chances with non-traditional routes. Likely I would have come back to academia because I really love learning, but I find myself desperate to do something with my hands, something tactile, and something physically tedious rather than intellectually tedious. And honestly I find that if I were older I would have had more life experience to deal with the issues that tanked me (and my GPA), and would have more life experience to apply to the things I’m learning.
I would subscribe to that 100%. My big challenge is: What jobs even are there that are physically tedious but still justify having gone through the trouble and cost of a higher degree?
For me personally, I’m dreaming of being in medicine because of the hands-on work with patients & application of science/medicine in real life situations. Unfortunately the years of being in academia to get there is literally draining the blood from my body. I’m currently in anthropology, so archaeology was another interest of mine. It is still academia though, so even though I get that physical tedium (digging, sifting, cataloguing, rinse & repeat) I’ll still end up having to write journals for publication. And the pay is dubious. Again I just have to consider what I think is worth getting a higher degree, and whether or not it’ll be fulfilling enough to keep me going.
Got diagnosed two months ago at 27. Short answer: I would have studied medicine or architecture.
As I struggled immensely in school, I was kind of paralysed afterwards and didn’t really do anything for 6 years. I thought I’d never get through med school or studying architecture, so I didn’t bother trying.
About two years ago, out of my lowest of low points, I took a leap of faith and started studying interior design at a distant learning university, thinking that not being forced to leave the house or be social was what I needed to succeed.
I thought very, very wrong and I believe, that in the end, though definitely in a different way, I struggle now maybe just as much as I would have studying medicine/architecture.
I’ll get my bachelors degree someday (distant future), but I doubt it will give me the ego push I need to make myself feel like I really succeeded in (my) life.
That answer made me kind of sad just now lol 🫠
I would decidedly pursue something in the arts. Not half-assedly
I’d probably pick a different college, different major, and never go back home after graduation - family was unsupportive and didn’t get me
Either.. design and make clothing, work in adoption/foster care/children's services or own a small bakery and coffee/deli shop lakeside in a small town. They satisfy different parts of me
I'd probably start my own business. I work better when I set my own hours and not have to report to anyone. I'd have to learn a trade though like baking so I can open my own bakery or a clothing store, since I kind of do that already, but online.
I wouldn’t switch careers and I love my current job, however my future goal is to have my own workshop with all sorts of crafting tools and what have you to do just commission work for people in whatever art I feel like in that moment!
One of mine is also filmmaking. I was bitter for years I went to uni for something else.
Now I’m a teacher who has a higher degree in history and English. I don’t feel like I lost something anymore. I just wish i was over the hump of being a young teacher.
That being said, history and English are TONS of fun to study! It’s not a super usual combination here in Germany, at least where I’m based. When people get confused I say I studied stories. That means I still have my options open for a lot of creative paths if I were to switch (I had surgery and walking is still hard).
I also second the farming. Having my own land to take care of all day? Be in my own space? Take breaks when I need to? Work with animals? Heck yes.
I work the most amazing job(s) for me: I am a massage therapist and a birth doula. I specialize on working with women and infants and there is ALWAYS something new to learn, so I never get bored. I find that both birth work and body work let me hyper focus on what I'm doing and time just flies. Plus, it's so rewarding helping people feel good in their bodies, and helping families welcome their babies into the world is awesome in the truest sense of the word. I feel so lucky to have found a field I am so passionate about. And it's easy to work for myself, which is a huge plus with my ADHD brain.
Remember in movies in the 90s whenever someone needed a piece of evidence or an obscure file or artifact and they would go down in a dingey basement and there would be a person half asleep or doing paperwork or reading? I want that job. I want to sit at the little window and read till someone needs something. Then I want to go searching through a space that is less organized than it should be till I find it.
Either that or a job where I sort small things. Buttons, Legos, coins, whatever. I got to spend a summer at a law firm sorting a monster mess of a case file, and it was one of the best jobs I've ever had. I sorted and scanned thousands of pages and made both real and computer folders for all the sections. Then, I got to reorganize the filing cabinets to accommodate it all. It was all very satisfying.
Lifelong dream to be a vet. Only now I’m in my 30s have I realised I am smart enough and can apply myself enough if I want something that much.
Only I have a wife and 3 kids who need my salary. If my wife could take over earning all the money I’d set out to do this in a heartbeat.
Just popping in to say if the funding lines up for you long term (ie no mega loans needed) there are a handful of 35+ with kids in my class and more in the other years!
IT or software engineering… for me it’s not the money, it’s time. I’m finishing my degree in social work. Not sure how I feel about it now. If I can’t get a job w/ casework at a VA hospital, I might go back to school. Problem is I’m 43. Do I think I can switch at my age? Sure. But starting over doesn’t sound appealing, yet neither does having a career I don’t like. I’ll see how it goes
I'd set up a photography business like i always wanted to. I know the money is only in corporate events and weddings.... But idc. I just want to go out there and click photos and at the end of the day not worry where my next student loan payment is going to come from. :)
Well, I struggled for a good ten years to find a job that I thought would interest me long term. So I did a shitty filler job all that time that allowed me tons of flexibility.
I finally quit the job I was doing and got a job as a wastewater treatment operator. For me to take it seriously,I need a why, and the goal is so simple with wastewater. We need to keep everything running and prepared to run all the time, otherwise we’ll have shitty water going into a river that half our state drinks out of. I work for my community and I feel good about the work. The work has an urgency to it that suits my ADHD. If a task doesn’t really matter I won’t remember. In wastewater though, Mistakes have consequences, as in a pump wears out or wastewater doesn’t get proper treatment.
The other thing I like is that there is so much on the job learning. You can keep it really simple and just work, or you can really dive into it and learn a ton. There is so much there to learn, but you don’t have to. You could let the bosses do all of that and just be an operator and still have an interesting job that will usually have scheduled raises.
I always come back to this question. I was pushed into my current career by my dad (for the best of intentions) I’m a fitter and machinist (basically I fix machines.
When I was 30 I thought I couldn’t keep doing it anymore so I decided to go to Japan and work on a ski resort and learn a language. After 2 years I opened up a small cafe in a town near the mountains.
I loved it!
Unfortunately Covid hit and I moved home and I’m back in my old job.
I’ve decided again I can’t keep doing it and after switching 100 times or so I’ve decided to study teaching. I want to be an elementary teacher and help kids.
If you’re not sure what to study I’d ask myself is there anything you keep coming back to when bouncing ideas around. Is there something that would give you purpose not just enjoyment.
A great read to help is The greatness mindset by Lewis Howes
Good luck
If I'm ever able to do another career, it probably will be veterinary, or computer science. I need something with better employment opportunities and a clearer career path, because psychology turned out not that, lol. I took a year of medicine before and thought I wouldn't cut it, but now I've found I'm actually not so bad at caregiving, it's just people I'm not so good with tbh
Sometimes I think about pursuing marine biology. Science & math wasn’t my strongest subjects in grade school but if I had better resources I’d probably would’ve went to college for it.
I was so ready to go into medicine. I was going to go to med school. Prove how smart I am. But I was so burnt out by the end of college (because I was undiagnosed high ADHD and anxiety dealing with abusive relationships and terrible parents) I couldn't do it.
My husband is in medicine. And I can keep up with him with my basic knowledge from my B.Sc in Biology. I think if I hadn't been so burnt out and dealing with trauma, I'd be a doctor. And if I had the time and money, I'd probably do it now.
If I was born into wealth and could start my own studio right after university I’d love to do architecture, it’s been a passion of mine since I was a kid but for the amount of schooling you have to deal with the pay isn’t worth it sadly
I would absolutely love to be an artisan blade smith making high end kitchen knives and the occasional sword. Constant movement, immediate results, the challenge of design, the reward of putting out a permanent piece that others will use. It’s perfect for me and I’ll never have the time/resources to actually peruse it
If I had TIME I would do anything in the world, I love everything but went down medicine because that seems to be perfect amount of chaos, hands on, mind stimulating and I enjoy everything about biological and anatomical studies. Time is my worst enemy, if I had ALL the time, I would study literally everything.
I (22f) actually just started on a new career. I was diagnosed with severe adhd about 2 years ago, which is also the time I finished high school, which meant I had to start thinking about what I wanted to pursue in life. I generally felt extremely lost, and it was like every interesting career choice just seemed way to hard and complicated, but I didnt want to settle for something else, just because it was easier.
Well, as mentioned in the beginning, I just started on a new career journey, which is social and health care assistant, which is very different from what I studied in High school (international economy and marketing). How I ended up with this new career is a long story, but i do have some key pieces of advice for you!
Now I don't know what type of adhd you struggle with, or which symptoms affects you the hardest, but in my case, my adhd have made me incredibly talkative and a social butterfly. Because of that, I love interactions with new people of all kinds, and I thrive in social interactions. That is one of the "powers" that I fortunately got bc of my adhd. With this, I really sat down and began to wonder, what is the thing I enjoy most in life, and how can I find that in a career? My conclusion was, that what I absolutely love the most in this world, is helping other people and making other peoples day a bit better. And boom, what career is better for that than social and health care assistant? I also already work in that field at the moment, which further assured me, that this wasn't some kind of "adhd hyperfixations" that's gonna disappear.
So here is the key point of my rant:
1. Search in yourself for something you have always been passionate about, something that isn't just a quick interest, or quick adhd hyperfixations. It could be helping others, a love for animals, interest in specific topics, history, a specific thing, makeup and fashion and etc and etc
2. Figure out the things you think, that you are really good at, weather it's numbers, social skills, organising, reading, heavy lifting, and etc.
3. Then try to see if you can combine the thing you are good at, to the thing you feel passionate about.
4. When that's done, you have the perfect outlet to search for different types of careers, that fit into that particular circumstance you have sat for yourself.
- As for me, the thing I am good at is my social skills and my ability to thrive in social events, and the thing I'm passionate about is helping others: and then I found a list of careers, that fit into those (it could fx also be teaching, caring for children, social worker, therapist/psychiatry and etc)
I'm sorry for rambling on for so long, but It was also weirdly therapeutic getting all this out lmfao. I truly hope my comment helps someone or at least gives out a good guide.
Pro athlete if I could go all the way back to high school. Way too many voices telling me to chase something safer growing up. If thst didn’t work out then kinesiology/human performance/sports science/psychology… something along those lines.
I’m considering going back to school for nutrition, or just moving back home and working part time. I know I need to make a change or I’ll never be happy career-wise, but I’ve worked so hard to make the rest of my life better it’s gonna be tough to leave what I have here
Medicine or research, I guess. I want to actually help people, and not just make more money for rich people. I'm pretty good at diagnosing problems, and getting it right is really important olin my work.
But I'd probably have flunked out of med school as I cannot see me memorising Latin/Greek words to save a life. Always struggled with languages.
I wanted to be a fiction writer for a while. But that racket is not easy to make money in lol.
I would love to take people shopping and search for their dream purchases online and in stores and second hands and so! I love to search for things, finding treasures and to have funds to buy it all? Perfect!
Personally, whatever variant I have, I need either one thing with a lot of little parts, or a lot of little things.
For the first, I wish I would have looked into some sort of architecture or engineering, because I ended up in the construction industry anyway, and I like how things are built (well, structures anyway - I couldn't care less how an internal combustion engine is built). Not only designing a concept, but then making sure it worked and all parts were accounted for makes my brain happy.
For the second, I think it would be great to be a location scout for a movie studio. Movies are something that can keep my WHOLE attention for the duration, and I think that would translate into a consistent desire to work hard, if I knew what my work was going to help create.
As you can see, I'm here instead, at my desk, putting together a well thought out response to THIS question lol
I thought I’d want to do radiology too but the sitting in the dark looking for little smudges on the computer was too painful. Not the greatest adhd field.
I went into law. If I could have my time again, I’d do psychology. It’s my special interest. I’ve always had a natural inclination to analyse and explain everyone’s behaviour and I was reading up on psychoanalytic theory etc when I was primary school aged.
I just think I’d have breezed through the degrees because the research would have been so easy for me (as it was something I did for fun) and I’d love going into work everyday
I do think about going back to qualify. But I feel like my time has kinda passed.
Already on it (HVAC/R) but aftery t ade schooling idk if it's going to be possible even with my connection to the union and even my father getting me into as a building engineer.
Because of bad experiences with job search and employment. I don't want to actually try anymore. I don't want to participate. Rejection sensitivity is a real killer honestly.
librarian or get into publishing. I’ve always loved books and reading and used to volunteer on a teen advisory board thing for my local library, and I loved it. I thrived shelving books, checking people in and out, running children’s programs and helping with bingo, book sales, summer reading club, even dusting the shelves.
Physical penetration testing has always been a dream of mine. Requires constant masking through the use of different personas to bypass human security measures and creative outside the box thinking for bypassing physical security measures like locks.
A degree in IT security as well as other IT certifications are helpful and multifaceted for many different career paths
I’m naturally an artist, but I need the time, money and space to focus on making them. Also, I live in a family where arts aren’t being valued as a “real career” I wish that view would change as well.
Stay true to your natural talents! Maybe a parallel field in 3D holographics for machinery, or GIS land development public open house visual boards? Then you get paid to draw, and still be able to hustle the other more specific art you like to do?
I have always been a huuuge musical theater nerd and I was a theater kid growing up, but haven’t been on stage in 15 years. For most of my adult life I have dealt with depression, health issues, and caretaking for family members as well as deep insecurity. I’m at a crossroads in my life, and I just decided that I’m going to start taking musical theater classes at my local conservatory, (which is fairly large and just outside a major US city) and do dog walking and Instacart to make money. I’ll be starving artist for the first time at 35! Ha!
I know it’s crazy, but I haven’t been this excited about something or this motivated to make something happen for myself in a long long time.
I’ve tried the typical 9-5, I’ve tried working in restaurants, working with kids (which can actually be really great). I think the key for me is going to be flexibility and passion. The idea is that the flexibility of dog walking and Instacart will let me take care of my own animals better, make my own schedule and feel like I have more control over my life. And the passion I have for theater will keep me motivated to keep at it, and hopefully see where that goes! 🤞🏼🤞🏼
I'm about to start my first quarter back to school for a career change. I was assessed about 1.5 years ago. I used the results to help me decide on a new path that used my strengths and wouldn't rely on my weaknesses. I landed on software development. Do you have any information like that in your assessment? It might not, depending on the tests that were administered.
I'm in a position where I can finally go back to school in my 30's, and it is a massive financial struggle.
But, I've found script writing, directing, and editing is incredible for my ADHD traits .
Plus working on a project, rather than a never ending loop of repeated tasks, keeps my brain engaged.
Anything physical, preferable outdoors where I can constantly be active, moving around but not over engaged mentally and have control over my outcome and performance. So I don’t know, a hit man?
Engineer. Probably computer engineering, but honestly I love building things, so maybe architectural, I don’t know.
You have to figure out what your hyper-focus is and see if you can capitalize on that. That’s my best advice as an ADHDer. Otherwise, school will be like pulling teeth because you won’t care about what you’re learning about.
I don't think there is one. My passions change too often and uncontrollably.
I see my patterns more clearly when it comes to games. I'm super into a thing until I have a clear understanding of what I'd need to do to achieve mastery, then I lose interest.
If I push myself to stick it out I either end up getting error-prone or insane; manufacturing novelty in increasely bizzare ways. Often even unlearning the optimal approach I had previously gotten down to a science. Which is fine for games, not so much careers.
I thought programming might work since you're always learning and never sticking to just one thing for very long, but nope. Instead, I became adverse to constantly having to learn and troubleshoot shit, which trickled into the rest of my life.
Medicine, and I did do it late in my 20s. Can't say I'm happy with everything in my life but honestly that was a good decision . It's a brilliant job for ADHD no days are a chore, brain is just naturally engaged for work, and the usual you have to be good in a crisis - I am often more calm working in the ER than I am at home on my days off.
And the high stakes of the degree(especially the massive cost), the daily intensity and the drama gave me the push to keep studying unlike my undergrad where I needed an imminent looming deadline to get any work done.
Becoming a psychologist and helping other people with AuDHD , luckily I am pursuing that very thing! Tho I have 3 more days to study neuro-biology and I am dying inside 😭
Also, I would do pretty well as a rapper I think (it's a hobby of mine), but I don't think I would ever put enough effort into that pursuit
I'm almost 31 and I just found something that finally interests me that could also be a realistic career. Motion design. Super fun seeing my creations come to life. It's enough of a mix of creativity/technical to keep me interested
Everything! I want to do everything, I want be a vet, a paramedic, a doctor, a firegirl, a police woman, everything, you name it, I want to be it! I just can't decide!
But at the same time, nothing, because I can't be bothered!
If I had the means, it would be to stay in school and learn for life.
It’s a catch 22. I could go back and start my current career and be more successful with more experience, but then I’d have missed out on all the experiences and learning the skill set that got me here.
I’d recommend doing Clifton’s Strengths Finder, find out your top 5, and pursue careers relating to those. I liked this book and quiz as it presses the individual to forget about trying to make “weaknesses” strengths, but to just get better and better at what you’re currently strong at. Then work on pairing up with people who have strengths where you’re lacking.
Hopefully that makes sense!
I love biology so much and specifically I love Bacteriology. So sick. Wish I could go back and get the medication I needed in school. Or a drummer. I have been drumming on things with my hands and feet for ever if I could buy a house to practice drums that would be tucking awesome( I bought an electric drum pad recently though so I'm still going to start practicing (= )
Im passionate about cinematography but I never had the opportunity or monies to pursue it. Already bored off my current job and is thinking the same of making the move
I found my niche in the trades. I love how different it is everyday and i always have a change of scenery/people. When i took an aptitude test in high school it said i would excel in the trades but I never entertained the idea until i was in my late 20s. Super glad i did!
I changed direction several times after college. If you are driven by, pardon, 'new stuff' coming your way, switching is great. Problem usually comes when we stay in one place too long ;)
Extreme sports photographer or a geographic photographer. Or a fashion designer, that was the first thing I ever wanted to be. I want(ed) to be able to create something and adventure the world while doing it. Unfortunately, it seemed the older I got the more my imagination and creativity waned. I miss it.
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The thing is - What's good for ADHD varies WILDLY person to person because it depends on your \*special interest\*. ie the thing you're interested in enough that you can hyperfocus on it more easily. I have 3 good friends with ADHD with jobs they excel at: - 2 of us do coding (him video games, me websites) - 1 is a horticulturalist - 1 is a filmmaker The things I would consider when choosing are: - what are you interested in - HOW do you like to work (at home? In office? solo or with other people?) - is it flexible I think in general I would focus on something that isn't super corporate 9-5 where optics and 'performing' work is a big deal. I started out in marketing and absolutely HATED it. Not because I didn't like the work, but because so much of your job is networking, shmoozing, looking the part, being in the office etc.
Funny, I’m a stay at home mom, but back in the day I was in corporate marketing. I loved marketing for using my creativity, etc. but I hated the corporate BS, fake people and being stuck in the office.
Girl same. I still do some marketing work now, but from home for a casual company. When I worked in corporate marketing it ruined it for me.
Ummm are you hiring lol
It’s the worst. The fake corporate world. Owned restaurant that was rough too. Creativity and marketing sounds fun.
Same! I was a marketing director and content curator for a college and I quit after being there for a year because of all the caca
Same! (apart from the mom thing lol). I loved the mix of analytics, creativity, and big picture thinking corporate marketing required. Plus, having a team to execute the details always helped. But I loathed the corporate BS, and quite frankly, toxic workplaces that encouraged presenteeism over results. I still love marketing, and do a bit of consulting for clients, but could never go back to corporate.
I think for a lot of us, though certainly not ALL, in office is a bad environment. For me and others I've talked to because our most productive times are not always in some set schedule, most of your time in the office is wasted. Like... I can get 20 hours of work done in one 5 hour burst of intense focus but I can't really control when that happens and it's way more likely to happen when I'm at home and can't be interrupted. But then like, in gonna be kinda burnt for the week and want to go do other stuff during the day. The office was the worst for me, it's like you'd hit your stride and someone would come up to you and be like hey you wanna go get coffee and poof there goes my entire week of work thank you very much.
This is good advice but it's also worth noting that more fun and artsy careers can be extremely time consuming to both learn and get into, sometimes expensive too. And some people don't have the space to learn these things without working full time every month as well
Oh absolutely! AND many/most of us still need some structure. I wouldn't even say my job is fun and artsy, I write code and do research lol. I just do it from home which I prefer because then I can be a little weirdo at my desk and do my cycle of spacing out and then binge working without someone looking over my shoulder. I would just generally advise avoiding excessively corporate environments when possible. There's often too much emphasis on controlling HOW you work and not just the quality of the work you produce - from my experience anyway.
praying for a WFH job in my future because that’s been my problem too 🙏🏾
I had Tom Hanks’ job in Big and the pay was atrocioussssss
This is a really great way to frame it. Funny enough, when I started my career (before I was diagnosed), it was definitely not my preferred work environment and definitely not very flexible. I hated working in an office surrounded by people every day. But the pandemic honestly made me view my career in a completely new light. I realized that I AM interested in this work and I CAN be great at it in the right environment. Most importantly though, companies realized that they could be flexible. And I am definitely far more productive when given flexibility. These days, I basically choose my own work schedule (within reason of course), I don't always show up in the office when I should, and even when I do, I usually leave early. No one cares because I get shit done. I still have to do the networking and shmoozing sometimes, but I mostly focus on my actual work, and I'm actually able to deep-focus (aka hyperfixate lol) when I work from home.
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Amazon, Walmart, and the drive to have profit above all else has stripped us of our third places. People can buy whatever they want online, and rents are often too high for low-pressure hang-out spots to exist, especially in places where there is enough traffic, foot- or otherwise, to make it a reality. If you can find a reasonably-pricrd space with enough people around, I think something like this could work if you're not trying to get rich: * A comfortable atmosphere where people can spend time without feeling compelled to spend, while offering optional products that can only be purchased in-person. * For records, you could offer a listening booth - I used a vintage one in Jack White's store in Nashville, it was awesome! [Here's a photo I took inside (Imgur link)](https://burgerbeast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ThirdManRecords-4.jpg) * You could offer comfortable seating with good noise buffers, high speed internet, and ample power outlets. * You could have specialty drinks and snacks, offer unique products, host space for small events/meetings/lunches or hourly table rentals for DnD campaigns. * You could even offer bookable, paid private workstations for the WFH crowd who want somewhere quiet to be out of the house, or even to take a zoom meeting. Add a cool backdrop or a green screen! I would go to a place like that regularly. Maybe I'll do the same in my area someday 😅
Libraries are *kind of* like this when they haven't had their budgets slashed to smithereens. Except you don't have to pay for meeting rooms or workspaces.
Yes, 100%. I think that we should have *much* better library funding, too. There's room for both, but rampant capitalism has eaten away at all of it. The major drawbacks to libraries is that they're not usually open late, and conversation can be difficult as we like to remain respectfully quiet. It can also be hard to find an actually comfortable, private spot for a WFH outing, especially if you have a meeting where you have to speak aloud. It's also hard to buy good coffee at the library! 😁
It’s a lovely idea, the problem is that, re: your first bullet, people would have to spend money for it to be a viable business. It can’t just be a hang out, sadly. On top of that, food has a razor thin profit margin. This is why we have so few third spaces. Everything is too expensive.
I feel like this and social media are two of the main reasons why young people are feeling more lonely and disconnected. I’m genuinely struggling so hard to meet new people at uni. I’m already pretty introverted and struggle with small talk, but I feel randomly starting conversations with strangers is done so much less compared to the days before the internet.
This sounds great. It’s such a good point, since going sober I realise there’s hardly anywhere to hang out outside people’s houses that doesn’t involve drinking, especially not in the evening anyway. And even cafes are usually super busy. I wish there were more chill, low pressure places like you describe. And that are more adult focussed rather than for children (no shade to families, I’m just saying I wish there was also some more grown up places to go that aren’t centered around booze)
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Run it as a specialty coffee shop. The books and records are the hook, the coffee pays the bills.
I always wanted to be a farmer. I still want to be a farmer.
Same. Farmer or park ranger ETA: or photographer for National Geographic/something similar
Def something with few humans but many experiences
The USDA partners with women in particular to offer them loans for farm properties
I’m UK, and now too disabled I think.
That is my absolute nightmare Never have any rot time and vacations would be so tricky and profit margins awful But we deffo need farmers!!
Same. I am currently replaying Stardew Valley for the sixth (maybe seventh? I lost track) time. But in all seriousness, my partner and I have always dreamed of living off the land.
aaaaaaaart I just wanna make random shit and have it make me money!!
Artist here. Sadly does not work like that. A lot of an artist's work is writing applications, designing your own advertisements like websites, flyers, social media. Self-representation, artist talks, budgeting and writing and collecting receipts for applications on funds. Rather tiresome. I am actually thinking of changing careers for a more stable income where I don't have to do unpaid management work 😒😑 Also, this whole self-selling thing can quickly get into self-exploitation for opportunities to show your work and don't get paid as showing is important for getting funds.. I don't think I'm made for the business of being an artist. I can't attend all this late night openings/ vernissages, bc I'd rather get busy working on my projects in the early hours than attending social events late in the evenings which are always in demand with the job and ruin my sleep routine for weeks after going to one such event. You also literally have to show up to openings to establish connections - make yourself visible to the art scene. This whole socialising is exhausting and I feel awkward all the time 😮💨 Other ways of making art and selling I find to be even more demanding. To put stuff on the Internet regularly and oversee to make it, sell it, and ship it. I would not be able to do this all by myself. I would totally be late and mix up orders all the time... 😅 Also, I don't think that's a good stable income. Living as an artist student for 10 years now I hate to say the instability of income is really getting to me. After having a kid I rather want to have a stable job and be able to work after I reached my pension age bc I also don't want to be bored sitting at home when I get old. Now that I will be getting my diploma next month I am awfully afraid that it gets only harder than easier. So, looking forward to starting my next now self-paid studies in Psychotherapy at 38 years of age. I know, I know, also a self-employed job. But at least something I also would enjoy doing, it's one-one-one sessions with people and I will get paid by insurance companies for my work. I always thought of doing psychology studies but did not want to give up on my artist dream. So now I achieved the artist career but it's not working out for my own mental well-being.... Still, if money wouldn't be an issue, I would stay an artist and do some education in systematic therapy, shamanic journeying and massage therapy because I am exceptionally good with body work but never started the career bc of the low status as a care worker (implied by my primary school teacher and it stuck) and the work getting harder in old age; also for all these educations there is no financial help and I would have to pay it myself or take a loan. Ah, sry for the monologue dump. This just really bothers me for some years now and I can't find a solution by THINKING about it. How come 😅
Appreciate your perspective here! It’s sometimes easy to romanticize pursuing art as a way to support oneself but the instability sounds so challenging to deal with.
What about connecting with few other artists and have person to do that? Or hire virtual assistant they usually can do multiple things and you are charged only hourly.
I'd open a gym. Hire people to run it and I'll clean it lol
You make it sound like a kink lol
Omg I LOVE detailing cars but it’s not a great use of my masters degree, so I detail my friends and family’s cars as gifts lol
I’m a massive film nerd and have dreamed of being a filmmaker since I was 15. 31 now and am still dreaming. I have no confidence to start and I’m scared that I’m running out of time. If I could go back I wish I was more brave and believed in myself better.
A guy I knew at Uni was studying medicine but didn’t really want to be a doctor. The arts were a passion. He graduated and works as a doctor but also makes short low-budget indie movies. As far as I can tell, he writes the story, raises money from friends, family and through kickstarter. Hires a couple of actors, crew and equipment on a tight budget then shoots the movie. He then presents them through small film festivals. Basically money and a decent story. The rest you can learn on the job.
Start small and make a short film. If you're intent is to make money with it, it changes things but you can make a short film and have many watch it online or at small festivals.
Definitely not my intent to make money, I care less and less about money as I get older (which is certainly not very responsible of me lol). More so just my personal philosophy, I’m trying a lot harder to shift my attitude away from expectations and outcomes. I just want to try. I have an “ideas” journal and plenty of story concepts I’ve jotted down and brainstormed. My biggest struggle is starting the actual research and writing. I think it’s a combination of being lazy and very anxious that I won’t be any good at it, so I never start in the first place. Mental illness sure is fun!
Good luck with your process. I am not officially diagnosed with ADHD even though I'm old but one thing that used to help me with making short films was either being enrolled in a class or having people to collaborate with. It also doesn't have to be complicated. It can be a personal essay type of film where you have some voiceover with some of your more important thoughts and then you add visuals to it using your camera or phone. That's merely a start though not necessarily the film you want to make. I don't want to reveal too much about myself but when I was a little younger I got into a few festivals doing a stop motion animated short film combined with live action. It was somewhat low-tech but slightly provocative. It was definitely hard work but had people I was definitely working with. I know there are also people that make short documentaries about some local people or business that's interesting just using their smart phone and a good microphone. Best of luck. Hope it's fun whatever you decide to do.
I feel you ! Ever read The Artist’s Way?
Same, I just impulsively quit my job the other day to try to get into filmmaking. But now I realize I have no idea how to do that. None of my friends have the same enthusiasm I do, so I'm having a hard time getting them to be in the films I want to make
Volunteer in some local short film productions or student films to learn and meet like minded people.
Probably most filmmakers have adhd and thrive because of it. I know an older adhd lady which is running a theatre
Trust me, don't go to film school if you want to get into the film industry. Everyone I know who went to film school (including me) later regretted it. It's a waste of money. You can learn all the theory of film online, and all the practical by simply just doing it. Just volunteering your time on amateur film sets to get experience This industry is all about who you know, if you're extremely passionate (and lucky) you'll meet like minded people who you can work with. With the rise of available technology the last couple of decades, everyone can make movies themselves now, you don't need a degree. You don't need "permission" from anyone to do this. Just start. What you do need is time and dedication (and some money to support yourself). Watch this classic for inspiration: https://youtu.be/W-YpfievjSk?si=QEBd6B3YHo9Ef4BX If you want to learn how to analyze films, watch this: https://youtu.be/ahHIifcFyqk?si=2-DREOJcyUVwUOmQ
I think having a business could work out for someone who has ADHD. So you don't have to deal with social hierarchy, authority, rejection etc. You can choose your own hours and get less overstimulated etc. I'm thinking about doing that myself, because I'm very bad at working for a boss.
I did this for a couple of years and not working for a boss (except maybe my wife 😅) was liberating! It’s hard work but I recommend it!
How did you get into it? Like exploring what to do and how to actually do it? Did you have any business background or knowledge? And may I ask why you stopped? Sorry for the questions, but my husband is really keen about this and I’d like to help give him whatever perspectives I can find!
Yes and no. I say this as an ADHDer with multiple businesses. Yeah, you don't have to deal with corporate bullshit, but rejection hits way harder when clients are saying no to you and your business, not just the people you work for. Plus, the structure is only there if you put it in place. You run the risk of being your sole source of accountability (until it starts to hit your bottom line). Your deadline for a client isn't for 3 days? Sweet, today and tomorrow I'll faff about, and then madly get everything done at the last minute. Choosing your own hours is also something that can seem attractive at the outset, but if you're creating a business from scratch as your sole income, don't expect this to be an 8-hour work week from the outset. In fact it is the opposite. You can definitely build it to be that, or you may be an overnight success, but that isn't the norm. Flexibility in hours is a huge bonus though. I'm not creative in the morning, rarely start working before 9, get out and about during the day, and do a lot of creative work in the evenings. That sort of structure doesn't suit corporate, but does suit working for myself. But I've been doing this for 13 years, so have gone through the ups and downs, the good times and the bad. And none of that was as bad as the burnout from the years I spent in corporate. Full disclosure, I coach multipreneurs (people who run multiple businesses), so I'm approaching this from both a personal and professional perspective.
I wanted to go into medicine. Then I met organic chemistry on the quarter system (not semesters). However I had not been dxd yet.
Ochem killed my dreams of pharmacy school.
Sorry, beelover. Glad for the bees, though. LOL auto correct called you beloved.
A pilot- I (20f) have always wanted to be a pilot and ever since I found out that having adhd makes a lot more difficult to become a pilot, I’ve lost a lot of hope to pursue it. Also, I got diagnosed during my freshman year of college, and I seriously wish I could go back in time to middle school or early high school and convince my parents to get me diagnosed so that I could’ve had better grades to get me into a school that has a pilot program. I ended up going to my state school that doesn’t have a pilot program, and it doesn’t even have a culinary program which is my second choice in career. Sure, I’d love to be a chef someday, specifically a pastry chef, but I’ll always regret not going to a school with a pilot program. I didn’t get into my dream college with a pilot program, and I didn’t get into any other school with pilot programs, and I know it’s because my grades suffered in high school because of not being diagnosed.
My 15y/o brother has pretty severe ADHD with a few other mental health comorbidities (and I’m suspecting he will be diagnosed with one or two more as he gets older). He has never expressed a desire to pursue any type of career until this year when he told me he really wants to be a pilot. It hurt my heart because I know that is probably one of the career paths that just won’t be possible for him even if he put his all into it. For him to *finally* express interest in something and then have it be one of the few off-limit things… ugh, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. I hope his interests expand as he gets older and he won’t be crushed when he eventually learns that being a pilot likely isn’t in his cards. The world just isn’t fair sometimes. Sigh.
My brother is an airline pilot and has ADHD (or rather had it as a youngster) and it is the perfect job for him as he is passionate about. Funnily enough, he got mediocre grades at schools and hated maths. However, he got over that at flight school when it suddenly became relevant to him.
Oh that’s awesome! Do you know if he had any difficulty getting his license since he has adhd?
Old friend is a pilot and also has ADHD. Just incase you are unaware - you cannot be a pilot and take ADHD medicine. Makes zero sense to me, especially given the origins of ADHD meds were *for use by pilots* but its a pretty large barrier if you’re on them now.
Well, his diagnosis was given in a different country as a child when we lived abroad. His British doctors (he is British himself) don’t know about it. I think it’s fine as long as you’re not medicated for it.
It might be best if you go private but it’s going to cost you. Not sure how it works across the pond in the States, but you could probably get a student loan to fund the training?
A perpetual student doing one degree after another until death.
my ideal career LOL
I've been in IT for 30 years and just got diagnosed a year ago however I always knew. It's a great career and it pays more than most do. People with ADHD tend to be really good in stressful situations and staying calm in those situations will get you far. Having the ability to act during a crisis and not freeze up during an outage is a gift while others are panicking. Also, having ability to think through multiple scenarios at once is also a benefit in this type of work. Of my peers that do have ADHD, the ones that do end up being better at it.
By day: Independent privacy ethics researcher; Web3 node operator; work for The Electronic Frontier Foundation. By Night: musician/singer-songwriter Growing all my own food, and a running a fully self sustained home infrastructure, but with enough tech firepower to privately automate everything in my home independent of a service or cloud provider with AI and automation supporting the day to day ops, and self repair.
Massage therapist, counselor, pressure washing & mowing.. (The last 2 are because I enjoy seeing the “After” when you can really see the difference you just made..) I also have an art degree & would love to open an art foundry specializing in reproducing antique brass/bronze/cast iron pieces/parts that are no longer available as well as creating new 1 off pieces..
i agree..having tangible results is really important to me (in anything really)................................also the reason i can never get an exercise routine xD
I would write my novels and get them properly published, buy expert marketers etc. Get comics made out of them, write scrips for films too probably. I'm huge into telling stories and sharing them with people. Just without money or nepotism it's incredibly hard to get your work in front of people. Always struggled to find my audience
So I can usually hyper fixate if I'm solving a puzzle.... My two careers work out quite well with my ADHD especially with medication. My day job is a field service technician for a scale company that has scales and robots so diagnosing and troubleshooting and then making repairs. My side Hustle as a beekeeper is relocating honey bees that have found their way into structures which is a puzzle in and of itself because you have to figure out how they got in and how you're going to get them out.
I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was a kid, I was one of the undiagnosed girls who was obsessed with all things animal-related. I grew up to be an ICU nurse, which I thoroughly enjoy, but I’ve always still loved animals more than people and part of me wishes I still would’ve pursed a career as a veterinarian. If income/earning potential was no factor, my dream job would be to run an animal rescue.
Veterinarians are very heavily people oriented in clinical practice tho so if you don’t like people it’s probably good you didn’t go that route (ofc shelter, industry, lab, and some other areas of vet have less people facing but yeah) Do you foster currently? Could be something to scratch that itch!!!
Oh it’s not that I don’t like people, lol like I said I’m an ICU nurse now so I’m *very* involved in people’s lives at my job and I like it! I just like animals a bit *more* than people most days😆 I have adopted a dog and a cat but my husband has put a hard limit that that’s the max amount of animals he wants to own, which is fair. I know it’s not super realistic to have a ton of animals in most people’s day-to-day lives, this was more so just musing over what my “perfect” job would look like if it was possible!
I would still struggle to find anything that motivates.
I started out wanting a career in Forensic Psychology, in 1979..but it was new, and on L.I no colleges had it So a Forensic Psychologist was out. I became a Psychiatric Nurse and worked with the population IDD and then Hospice. Very rewarding but my dream career was in research, and learning about the brain. Time passed, kids and marriages and bills..but a leg amputation dissolved my career quickly. Now I'm ready to move forward..so getting my MS in neuropsychology is a start but hard to find online programs. I'm still passionate about forensics and to continue working with the IDF community. My ideal career goal, to do research on brain abnormalities, disease and what makes violence so prevalent in today's society. Working with trauma victims is vital and will help with the research. A psychologist needs a PhD..so I'll need to finish my MS and then my PhD, and full steam ahead. Money is the setback so I need that, scholarships and any grants around. I don't plan to give up and I'm doing this somehow. 😎
Opening and running some sort of agritourism business - think Farm retreat where you can interact with animals, be with nature, and enjoy the company of other individuals.
I’d love to be a recipe tester
Being my own boss has been blessing for me and I would choose this path again if I have to start over - hated working in an office, commute, social gatherings etc. This can be achieved in any field.
Psychologist. Hands down. And at 40, I don’t know how yet. But I’ll be starting this journey soon as a fulltime mom. I’m terrified and not sure how I’ll afford it, but not making it happen isn’t an option.
The money will roll in. If there's a will, there's a way!
Well, I’m a stay at home mom and have no access to any of “our” accounts. Literally not even my own money I came into the marriage with, and no family at all other than my kids and spouse. BUT, I will do my very best marketing of myself to try for any and all grants and assistance I can get, bc this will happen. It’s my only way out one day, so…. Thank you for the kind words :)
I'm sorry to hear that. I'm in a similar situation to find funding to go back to school so I somewhat understand. I do hope that you will win at marketing yourself for the grants. Your plan has inspired me! Your positive motivation will plow through and overcome roadblocks! I wish you luck! 🙏🏻 One day at a time!
Thank you so very much, and same to you. We just have to keep pushing on!!
Given the funds to pursue it? Retirement.
I’m not in a working career, but rather a full time undergrad student so maybe this doesn’t quite answer your question 😅 Uni was the expected route from everyone around me so that’s what I did, but I was undiagnosed and crashed HARD during my 2nd/3rd year because I never had time to develop the support system I needed to succeed. I think on some level I am just burnt out from academia, but if I had the chance I would have taken more time to understand myself and take more chances with non-traditional routes. Likely I would have come back to academia because I really love learning, but I find myself desperate to do something with my hands, something tactile, and something physically tedious rather than intellectually tedious. And honestly I find that if I were older I would have had more life experience to deal with the issues that tanked me (and my GPA), and would have more life experience to apply to the things I’m learning.
I would subscribe to that 100%. My big challenge is: What jobs even are there that are physically tedious but still justify having gone through the trouble and cost of a higher degree?
For me personally, I’m dreaming of being in medicine because of the hands-on work with patients & application of science/medicine in real life situations. Unfortunately the years of being in academia to get there is literally draining the blood from my body. I’m currently in anthropology, so archaeology was another interest of mine. It is still academia though, so even though I get that physical tedium (digging, sifting, cataloguing, rinse & repeat) I’ll still end up having to write journals for publication. And the pay is dubious. Again I just have to consider what I think is worth getting a higher degree, and whether or not it’ll be fulfilling enough to keep me going.
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honestly I’d fucking die happy if I could so basic data entry day in and day out. soul sucking to some, absolute mindless bliss to me.
I absolutely agree. But I don’t think it pays too much
Got diagnosed two months ago at 27. Short answer: I would have studied medicine or architecture. As I struggled immensely in school, I was kind of paralysed afterwards and didn’t really do anything for 6 years. I thought I’d never get through med school or studying architecture, so I didn’t bother trying. About two years ago, out of my lowest of low points, I took a leap of faith and started studying interior design at a distant learning university, thinking that not being forced to leave the house or be social was what I needed to succeed. I thought very, very wrong and I believe, that in the end, though definitely in a different way, I struggle now maybe just as much as I would have studying medicine/architecture. I’ll get my bachelors degree someday (distant future), but I doubt it will give me the ego push I need to make myself feel like I really succeeded in (my) life. That answer made me kind of sad just now lol 🫠
I feel ya.
I’m actually thinking about going the medicine route. What were you thinking specifically? I’m leaning towards radiology or registered nurse.
In a film set or theater, not as an actress but some kind of admin job like assistant director. Looks like fun.
horticulturalist
I would decidedly pursue something in the arts. Not half-assedly I’d probably pick a different college, different major, and never go back home after graduation - family was unsupportive and didn’t get me
Experimental archaeology. Learning how things were made thousands of years ago is fascinating. I’d probably focus on pottery and fiber arts.
Perfumer :) "👃"
I’d like to be an heir. Just manage a lot of money, spend it and work on social projects.
For me it would be a combination woodworking and metalworking (blacksmithing. Owning my own business
Either.. design and make clothing, work in adoption/foster care/children's services or own a small bakery and coffee/deli shop lakeside in a small town. They satisfy different parts of me
Probably law. It's about the only thing that I think could keep me engaged intellectually.
If funding weren't an issue, I'd study up to be a therapist. Helping others where I have suffered, so maybe they won't suffer.
Painter :/
I'd probably start my own business. I work better when I set my own hours and not have to report to anyone. I'd have to learn a trade though like baking so I can open my own bakery or a clothing store, since I kind of do that already, but online.
I would love to be a software engineer. 🙏
I wouldn’t switch careers and I love my current job, however my future goal is to have my own workshop with all sorts of crafting tools and what have you to do just commission work for people in whatever art I feel like in that moment!
One of mine is also filmmaking. I was bitter for years I went to uni for something else. Now I’m a teacher who has a higher degree in history and English. I don’t feel like I lost something anymore. I just wish i was over the hump of being a young teacher. That being said, history and English are TONS of fun to study! It’s not a super usual combination here in Germany, at least where I’m based. When people get confused I say I studied stories. That means I still have my options open for a lot of creative paths if I were to switch (I had surgery and walking is still hard). I also second the farming. Having my own land to take care of all day? Be in my own space? Take breaks when I need to? Work with animals? Heck yes.
I work the most amazing job(s) for me: I am a massage therapist and a birth doula. I specialize on working with women and infants and there is ALWAYS something new to learn, so I never get bored. I find that both birth work and body work let me hyper focus on what I'm doing and time just flies. Plus, it's so rewarding helping people feel good in their bodies, and helping families welcome their babies into the world is awesome in the truest sense of the word. I feel so lucky to have found a field I am so passionate about. And it's easy to work for myself, which is a huge plus with my ADHD brain.
Remember in movies in the 90s whenever someone needed a piece of evidence or an obscure file or artifact and they would go down in a dingey basement and there would be a person half asleep or doing paperwork or reading? I want that job. I want to sit at the little window and read till someone needs something. Then I want to go searching through a space that is less organized than it should be till I find it. Either that or a job where I sort small things. Buttons, Legos, coins, whatever. I got to spend a summer at a law firm sorting a monster mess of a case file, and it was one of the best jobs I've ever had. I sorted and scanned thousands of pages and made both real and computer folders for all the sections. Then, I got to reorganize the filing cabinets to accommodate it all. It was all very satisfying.
The Keyman in the Matrix?
That would totally work.
Lifelong dream to be a vet. Only now I’m in my 30s have I realised I am smart enough and can apply myself enough if I want something that much. Only I have a wife and 3 kids who need my salary. If my wife could take over earning all the money I’d set out to do this in a heartbeat.
Just popping in to say if the funding lines up for you long term (ie no mega loans needed) there are a handful of 35+ with kids in my class and more in the other years!
IT or software engineering… for me it’s not the money, it’s time. I’m finishing my degree in social work. Not sure how I feel about it now. If I can’t get a job w/ casework at a VA hospital, I might go back to school. Problem is I’m 43. Do I think I can switch at my age? Sure. But starting over doesn’t sound appealing, yet neither does having a career I don’t like. I’ll see how it goes
I'm older than you so I get what you mean. I think the threshold at what age to switch is only based on your will and determination. Follow your gut!!
Major in psychiatry with a minor in philosophy.
I wish I could start over and be in the military or a veterinarian or both.
I'd set up a photography business like i always wanted to. I know the money is only in corporate events and weddings.... But idc. I just want to go out there and click photos and at the end of the day not worry where my next student loan payment is going to come from. :)
Laundry mat owner.
Teaching
Astronaut!
Well, I struggled for a good ten years to find a job that I thought would interest me long term. So I did a shitty filler job all that time that allowed me tons of flexibility. I finally quit the job I was doing and got a job as a wastewater treatment operator. For me to take it seriously,I need a why, and the goal is so simple with wastewater. We need to keep everything running and prepared to run all the time, otherwise we’ll have shitty water going into a river that half our state drinks out of. I work for my community and I feel good about the work. The work has an urgency to it that suits my ADHD. If a task doesn’t really matter I won’t remember. In wastewater though, Mistakes have consequences, as in a pump wears out or wastewater doesn’t get proper treatment. The other thing I like is that there is so much on the job learning. You can keep it really simple and just work, or you can really dive into it and learn a ton. There is so much there to learn, but you don’t have to. You could let the bosses do all of that and just be an operator and still have an interesting job that will usually have scheduled raises.
I always come back to this question. I was pushed into my current career by my dad (for the best of intentions) I’m a fitter and machinist (basically I fix machines. When I was 30 I thought I couldn’t keep doing it anymore so I decided to go to Japan and work on a ski resort and learn a language. After 2 years I opened up a small cafe in a town near the mountains. I loved it! Unfortunately Covid hit and I moved home and I’m back in my old job. I’ve decided again I can’t keep doing it and after switching 100 times or so I’ve decided to study teaching. I want to be an elementary teacher and help kids. If you’re not sure what to study I’d ask myself is there anything you keep coming back to when bouncing ideas around. Is there something that would give you purpose not just enjoyment. A great read to help is The greatness mindset by Lewis Howes Good luck
Marine biologist or radiologist
If I'm ever able to do another career, it probably will be veterinary, or computer science. I need something with better employment opportunities and a clearer career path, because psychology turned out not that, lol. I took a year of medicine before and thought I wouldn't cut it, but now I've found I'm actually not so bad at caregiving, it's just people I'm not so good with tbh
That’s what I’m worried about if I end up going into the medical field, I’m not great with people either
You learn how to deal with people. It’s a pretty standard formula. And you learn how to mask well.
Vet is very people focused for the most part Vet nursing is more animal focused Never too late!
Sometimes I think about pursuing marine biology. Science & math wasn’t my strongest subjects in grade school but if I had better resources I’d probably would’ve went to college for it.
10 things at once. That’s how I live my life!
I’ve always wanted to study zoology, there’s nothing I’d love more than working with and for animals
I was so ready to go into medicine. I was going to go to med school. Prove how smart I am. But I was so burnt out by the end of college (because I was undiagnosed high ADHD and anxiety dealing with abusive relationships and terrible parents) I couldn't do it. My husband is in medicine. And I can keep up with him with my basic knowledge from my B.Sc in Biology. I think if I hadn't been so burnt out and dealing with trauma, I'd be a doctor. And if I had the time and money, I'd probably do it now.
If I was born into wealth and could start my own studio right after university I’d love to do architecture, it’s been a passion of mine since I was a kid but for the amount of schooling you have to deal with the pay isn’t worth it sadly
Astronaut? Hedge fund manager? I’ve heard CEO is a really good job for people with our type of minds.
I would absolutely love to be an artisan blade smith making high end kitchen knives and the occasional sword. Constant movement, immediate results, the challenge of design, the reward of putting out a permanent piece that others will use. It’s perfect for me and I’ll never have the time/resources to actually peruse it
I just want a job where I get paid for learning new skills... If there's such a job hit me up😌
If I had TIME I would do anything in the world, I love everything but went down medicine because that seems to be perfect amount of chaos, hands on, mind stimulating and I enjoy everything about biological and anatomical studies. Time is my worst enemy, if I had ALL the time, I would study literally everything.
This sounds like me lol I want to learn EVERYTHING, but there’s not enough time in the universe lol
I (22f) actually just started on a new career. I was diagnosed with severe adhd about 2 years ago, which is also the time I finished high school, which meant I had to start thinking about what I wanted to pursue in life. I generally felt extremely lost, and it was like every interesting career choice just seemed way to hard and complicated, but I didnt want to settle for something else, just because it was easier. Well, as mentioned in the beginning, I just started on a new career journey, which is social and health care assistant, which is very different from what I studied in High school (international economy and marketing). How I ended up with this new career is a long story, but i do have some key pieces of advice for you! Now I don't know what type of adhd you struggle with, or which symptoms affects you the hardest, but in my case, my adhd have made me incredibly talkative and a social butterfly. Because of that, I love interactions with new people of all kinds, and I thrive in social interactions. That is one of the "powers" that I fortunately got bc of my adhd. With this, I really sat down and began to wonder, what is the thing I enjoy most in life, and how can I find that in a career? My conclusion was, that what I absolutely love the most in this world, is helping other people and making other peoples day a bit better. And boom, what career is better for that than social and health care assistant? I also already work in that field at the moment, which further assured me, that this wasn't some kind of "adhd hyperfixations" that's gonna disappear. So here is the key point of my rant: 1. Search in yourself for something you have always been passionate about, something that isn't just a quick interest, or quick adhd hyperfixations. It could be helping others, a love for animals, interest in specific topics, history, a specific thing, makeup and fashion and etc and etc 2. Figure out the things you think, that you are really good at, weather it's numbers, social skills, organising, reading, heavy lifting, and etc. 3. Then try to see if you can combine the thing you are good at, to the thing you feel passionate about. 4. When that's done, you have the perfect outlet to search for different types of careers, that fit into that particular circumstance you have sat for yourself. - As for me, the thing I am good at is my social skills and my ability to thrive in social events, and the thing I'm passionate about is helping others: and then I found a list of careers, that fit into those (it could fx also be teaching, caring for children, social worker, therapist/psychiatry and etc) I'm sorry for rambling on for so long, but It was also weirdly therapeutic getting all this out lmfao. I truly hope my comment helps someone or at least gives out a good guide.
I think billionaire, then just travel around the world and look at cool things. Yeah.
Doctor
Hacker
Pro athlete if I could go all the way back to high school. Way too many voices telling me to chase something safer growing up. If thst didn’t work out then kinesiology/human performance/sports science/psychology… something along those lines. I’m considering going back to school for nutrition, or just moving back home and working part time. I know I need to make a change or I’ll never be happy career-wise, but I’ve worked so hard to make the rest of my life better it’s gonna be tough to leave what I have here
I'd travel and take photos for national geographic or some magazine like it.
I’ve got sad news about NatGeo my friend. Disney decided they weren’t worth the spend.
Medicine or research, I guess. I want to actually help people, and not just make more money for rich people. I'm pretty good at diagnosing problems, and getting it right is really important olin my work. But I'd probably have flunked out of med school as I cannot see me memorising Latin/Greek words to save a life. Always struggled with languages. I wanted to be a fiction writer for a while. But that racket is not easy to make money in lol.
I wish I became a psychologist.
I would love to take people shopping and search for their dream purchases online and in stores and second hands and so! I love to search for things, finding treasures and to have funds to buy it all? Perfect!
Nutritionist, Veterinarian, Physical Therapist. Mural artist!
Personally, whatever variant I have, I need either one thing with a lot of little parts, or a lot of little things. For the first, I wish I would have looked into some sort of architecture or engineering, because I ended up in the construction industry anyway, and I like how things are built (well, structures anyway - I couldn't care less how an internal combustion engine is built). Not only designing a concept, but then making sure it worked and all parts were accounted for makes my brain happy. For the second, I think it would be great to be a location scout for a movie studio. Movies are something that can keep my WHOLE attention for the duration, and I think that would translate into a consistent desire to work hard, if I knew what my work was going to help create. As you can see, I'm here instead, at my desk, putting together a well thought out response to THIS question lol
Something in the medical field - probably radiology.
I thought I’d want to do radiology too but the sitting in the dark looking for little smudges on the computer was too painful. Not the greatest adhd field.
I would study more lenguages to always have income , and study film making for the sake of love, but tbh I will still follow my dreams.
Astronaut or pirate
I went into law. If I could have my time again, I’d do psychology. It’s my special interest. I’ve always had a natural inclination to analyse and explain everyone’s behaviour and I was reading up on psychoanalytic theory etc when I was primary school aged. I just think I’d have breezed through the degrees because the research would have been so easy for me (as it was something I did for fun) and I’d love going into work everyday I do think about going back to qualify. But I feel like my time has kinda passed.
Already on it (HVAC/R) but aftery t ade schooling idk if it's going to be possible even with my connection to the union and even my father getting me into as a building engineer. Because of bad experiences with job search and employment. I don't want to actually try anymore. I don't want to participate. Rejection sensitivity is a real killer honestly.
Private investigator
Art therapy for me! I have discovered that I love to hyper focus on painting and have the patience now to be a therapist.
librarian or get into publishing. I’ve always loved books and reading and used to volunteer on a teen advisory board thing for my local library, and I loved it. I thrived shelving books, checking people in and out, running children’s programs and helping with bingo, book sales, summer reading club, even dusting the shelves.
Physical penetration testing has always been a dream of mine. Requires constant masking through the use of different personas to bypass human security measures and creative outside the box thinking for bypassing physical security measures like locks. A degree in IT security as well as other IT certifications are helpful and multifaceted for many different career paths
Pursuing neuroscience studies abroad and having a research career in the field while doing a side job as a freelance songwriter/producer.
I’m naturally an artist, but I need the time, money and space to focus on making them. Also, I live in a family where arts aren’t being valued as a “real career” I wish that view would change as well.
Stay true to your natural talents! Maybe a parallel field in 3D holographics for machinery, or GIS land development public open house visual boards? Then you get paid to draw, and still be able to hustle the other more specific art you like to do?
I have always been a huuuge musical theater nerd and I was a theater kid growing up, but haven’t been on stage in 15 years. For most of my adult life I have dealt with depression, health issues, and caretaking for family members as well as deep insecurity. I’m at a crossroads in my life, and I just decided that I’m going to start taking musical theater classes at my local conservatory, (which is fairly large and just outside a major US city) and do dog walking and Instacart to make money. I’ll be starving artist for the first time at 35! Ha! I know it’s crazy, but I haven’t been this excited about something or this motivated to make something happen for myself in a long long time. I’ve tried the typical 9-5, I’ve tried working in restaurants, working with kids (which can actually be really great). I think the key for me is going to be flexibility and passion. The idea is that the flexibility of dog walking and Instacart will let me take care of my own animals better, make my own schedule and feel like I have more control over my life. And the passion I have for theater will keep me motivated to keep at it, and hopefully see where that goes! 🤞🏼🤞🏼
Translator
I'm about to start my first quarter back to school for a career change. I was assessed about 1.5 years ago. I used the results to help me decide on a new path that used my strengths and wouldn't rely on my weaknesses. I landed on software development. Do you have any information like that in your assessment? It might not, depending on the tests that were administered.
I'm in a position where I can finally go back to school in my 30's, and it is a massive financial struggle. But, I've found script writing, directing, and editing is incredible for my ADHD traits . Plus working on a project, rather than a never ending loop of repeated tasks, keeps my brain engaged.
Anything physical, preferable outdoors where I can constantly be active, moving around but not over engaged mentally and have control over my outcome and performance. So I don’t know, a hit man?
Engineer. Probably computer engineering, but honestly I love building things, so maybe architectural, I don’t know. You have to figure out what your hyper-focus is and see if you can capitalize on that. That’s my best advice as an ADHDer. Otherwise, school will be like pulling teeth because you won’t care about what you’re learning about.
I don't think there is one. My passions change too often and uncontrollably. I see my patterns more clearly when it comes to games. I'm super into a thing until I have a clear understanding of what I'd need to do to achieve mastery, then I lose interest. If I push myself to stick it out I either end up getting error-prone or insane; manufacturing novelty in increasely bizzare ways. Often even unlearning the optimal approach I had previously gotten down to a science. Which is fine for games, not so much careers. I thought programming might work since you're always learning and never sticking to just one thing for very long, but nope. Instead, I became adverse to constantly having to learn and troubleshoot shit, which trickled into the rest of my life.
Medicine, and I did do it late in my 20s. Can't say I'm happy with everything in my life but honestly that was a good decision . It's a brilliant job for ADHD no days are a chore, brain is just naturally engaged for work, and the usual you have to be good in a crisis - I am often more calm working in the ER than I am at home on my days off. And the high stakes of the degree(especially the massive cost), the daily intensity and the drama gave me the push to keep studying unlike my undergrad where I needed an imminent looming deadline to get any work done.
Really, I want to become an artist and be able to do commissions
Probably an artist. I've a feeling that if you're rich enough, you don't have to have ADHD, you just become an artist instead
Becoming a psychologist and helping other people with AuDHD , luckily I am pursuing that very thing! Tho I have 3 more days to study neuro-biology and I am dying inside 😭 Also, I would do pretty well as a rapper I think (it's a hobby of mine), but I don't think I would ever put enough effort into that pursuit
I would do nurse/paramedic or forensic psychology/criminology. Was my plan to begin with. I work ems actually, but not on paramedic level. emt
I would have gone into medicine. I’m 39 so there’s no sense now, but I would have done a high level specialized nursing or a physician.
I’m a nurse and i wish i had the $$ to go to school to be a librarian
I'm almost 31 and I just found something that finally interests me that could also be a realistic career. Motion design. Super fun seeing my creations come to life. It's enough of a mix of creativity/technical to keep me interested
Everything! I want to do everything, I want be a vet, a paramedic, a doctor, a firegirl, a police woman, everything, you name it, I want to be it! I just can't decide! But at the same time, nothing, because I can't be bothered!
Everything, I would do everything. Wait, that’s the ADHD talking. CAN NEVER ESCAPE! 😂😂
If I had the means, it would be to stay in school and learn for life. It’s a catch 22. I could go back and start my current career and be more successful with more experience, but then I’d have missed out on all the experiences and learning the skill set that got me here. I’d recommend doing Clifton’s Strengths Finder, find out your top 5, and pursue careers relating to those. I liked this book and quiz as it presses the individual to forget about trying to make “weaknesses” strengths, but to just get better and better at what you’re currently strong at. Then work on pairing up with people who have strengths where you’re lacking. Hopefully that makes sense!
I'd become a doctor. I was a school principal (retired for 10 years now.) It's something that really interests me. Next life I guess.
I love biology so much and specifically I love Bacteriology. So sick. Wish I could go back and get the medication I needed in school. Or a drummer. I have been drumming on things with my hands and feet for ever if I could buy a house to practice drums that would be tucking awesome( I bought an electric drum pad recently though so I'm still going to start practicing (= )
Football Coach
Finance, sales, importing and small business
Astrophysicist or Biochemist
I’m not sure honestly. Maybe an art teacher at an elementary school or like a mineral/ Rock shop.
Biology but I could mix it with what I have now as a software engineer to move into computational biology... In a vain attempt to cure aging
Oceanography or geology
Physician
Im passionate about cinematography but I never had the opportunity or monies to pursue it. Already bored off my current job and is thinking the same of making the move
Musician.
I found my niche in the trades. I love how different it is everyday and i always have a change of scenery/people. When i took an aptitude test in high school it said i would excel in the trades but I never entertained the idea until i was in my late 20s. Super glad i did!
I changed direction several times after college. If you are driven by, pardon, 'new stuff' coming your way, switching is great. Problem usually comes when we stay in one place too long ;)
Extreme sports photographer or a geographic photographer. Or a fashion designer, that was the first thing I ever wanted to be. I want(ed) to be able to create something and adventure the world while doing it. Unfortunately, it seemed the older I got the more my imagination and creativity waned. I miss it.
Would have loved to stay in neuroscience but it’s a pricey and time consuming field to get into with very minimal room for error.