217: Your Achievement Is an ADHD Symptom

Full show notes here: https://sociallyausome.com/post/adhd-overachiever-achievement-is-a-symptom-ep-217/

I want to read you a list. A TEDx talk. Two books. Two coaching certifications. A marketing agency. A nonprofit board seat. This podcast.

I do not think I collected any of that because I am ambitious. I think I collected it because somewhere around age nine I figured out that being impressive was the only thing that made being difficult forgivable.

And not one of those things ever felt like arriving.

This episode makes an uncomfortable argument: for a lot of ADHD adults, achievement is not the evidence that we overcame our ADHD. Achievement is the symptom. Stay to the end for one question, four seconds, that tells you the difference between ambition and armor.

In this episode:(00:00) The list, and why I do not think it is ambition(02:00) "She has so much potential" and what that sentence actually installs(04:30) Sign one: the finish line moves every single time(05:45) Sign two: you collect credentials you do not need(06:45) Sign three: rest feels like risk(07:30) Sign four: you cannot take a compliment and cannot function without one(09:00) Why ADHD brains get trapped here specifically(11:00) What it cost me, and the business I burned down(12:30) The four second question: ambition or armor

Your one action: take the next goal on your list and ask, if nobody ever found out I did this, would I still do it? Then DM me on Instagram @socially.ausome and tell me which goal it was and what the answer was.

Resources mentioned:FLOW-First Thinking on Amazon and Audible: https://amzn.to/3TaVuD7My TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBaJhU1gOVUFree Spark Tracker: https://sociallyausome.com/spark-tracker-pageDiscounted 1-hour call for listeners who finish the episode: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/onehourwithalyecesmithg0cjjj

If the book has made you feel seen, drop it a review on Amazon. It costs nothing, and it is how other ADHD adults find it.