ADHD will inherit the future of work.
Tell me who you know that fits any of these traits and I'll tell you why that person will thrive in the future of work:
They constantly flit between seemingly random ideas, hobbies, and side quests.
They would be considered a "jack of all trades, master of none (or some)".
They thrive in solo work.
They can connect seemingly random dots into unique ideas and insights.
They solve common problems with uncommon solutions.
They can spot patterns with limited info.
They were terrible students in school, but were great at tests and extracurriculars.
They struggle with consistency, but excel in sprints and bursts.
They crave novelty and bespoke-ness.
All of these are traits of the ADHD brain. I know this list well. I was diagnosed under a year ago.
It’s uncommon for people with these traits to thrive in the standard education to workforce pipeline, but luckily for them (and unluckily for the rest) the status quo is under radical change.
AI and automation will continue to ravage the workforce and snatch up the careers of all those who are best at following instructions instead of writing them, executing tasks instead of exploring ideas, left-braining instead of right-braining. The skills that once made an employee indispensable (consistency, task execution, rule-following) are exactly what AI does cheapest and best.
Simultaneously, automation has made it simpler than any other point in human history to launch and execute on an idea. Now the main battle is in finding ideas worth building in the first place. We’re discovering that the skills that once made an employee hard to manage (ideating, rule-breaking, pathfinding) are increasingly hard to replace with AI. This shift has positioned the ADHD brain as uniquely primed for the future of work.
Friends, we have tons of work to do to fix the problems of this world. Those with ADHD traits are often the best at discovering novel ideas for business ventures and launching them from 0 to 1. I'd advise that those of you who thrive at growing a business (the linear builders, doers, cogs) pair up with those who thrive at creating something new (the non-linear thinkers, artists, explorers). Together, you will have the best chance at architecting the future of humanity, and making a damn good living doing so.
If you’re looking to launch something new but don’t know what to do, reach out to me. I’d love to chat with you.
