How Hyperfixations Built My Career

Can you take a special interest or hyperfixation and turn it into a job?

I never intended to become a vice president. It happened accidentally.

When I look back at my career—from video production and broadcast journalism to social media, podcasting, publishing, leadership, and the work I do now—I can see how one interest kept leading to another.

In this episode, I talk about how I used transferable skills to move from one kind of work into another, and how breaking down the things you do around a hobby, special interest, or hyperfixation can help you identify skills you may be able to use on a résumé, in a cover letter, or during an interview.

I also talk about how discovering that I'm autistic and ADHD helped me understand my own career differently: the hyperfixations, the monotropism, and why I needed work that interested me and gave me energy.

Because when you break an interest down into the individual things you're actually doing, you may find skills you can take with you into other kinds of work.

Skills are skills.

Check out the Drains and Sparks AuDHD Workplace Workbook