Overcoming ADHD Career Anxiety: A Three-Step Framework for Success with ADHD

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As an ADHD coach, I get a lot of questions from people who feel overwhelmed and anxious about their careers. It’s a common struggle that many of us face, and it’s something that I dealt with for a long time.

I recently received a question from a young woman with ADHD who just finished university and is starting to build her career. She wanted to know how to start the process without feeling like she’s “failing” along the way. She’s always been passionate about many things and is scared to make the wrong decision. She also feels like she couldn’t be happy in many jobs because she gets overwhelmed and overstimulated very easily.

This question is not just an ADHD challenge, but it’s something that all of us grapple with. In this blog post, I want to provide some insights and actionable takeaways for those of you who are struggling with career anxiety and the fear of failure.

ADHD Career Success Starts with Self-Awareness

The first step in any career journey is self-awareness. This means understanding where we get in our own way in terms of our thoughts and feelings. I would invite you to think about the fear of failure and ask yourself, what does a life without failure actually look like? If you’re so afraid to try anything because it could be the wrong decision, then you would never try anything. To live means to fail, and to fail means to learn.

When it comes to choosing a career, the only wrong decision you can make is to completely ignore whatever is in your heart or whatever feels most interesting to you right now. If you’re constantly pushing yourself to do things that you’re not interested in or inclined towards, you’re going to have an uphill battle in that career, and you’ll feel like you’re failing a lot.

In terms of fear of failure, it’s important to note that there is no right or wrong decision at this point in your career. There are jobs that are a better fit for you and jobs that are less of a fit for you, but you can’t know those things until you’ve put yourself in those positions.

It’s also important to note that ADHDers tend to have a lot of interests and passions, which can make it difficult to choose just one career path. It’s okay to have multiple interests and passions, but it’s important to identify the ones that are the most important to you and that will give you the most staying power and emotional resilience.

Designing Your Life & Career With ADHD in Mind

Once you have a better understanding of yourself and your interests, it’s time to move on to designing a path forward that aligns with your ADHD (rather than working against it). This means taking that self-awareness and applying it to your life so that you can move forward in the right direction leveraging your strengths and the things that light you up.

Start by getting super clear on what you want. Look at all those interests that you have because that’s what’s going to give you the most staying power, consistency, and emotional resilience. Also get clear on your values, strengths and needs to help you crystalize your zone of genius. You might want to try my system to help you through that process.

It’s also important to define what success and failure look like. Once you’ve put a stake in the ground and start to take action, accept that things won’t always go as planned, but if you know what you’re looking forward in terms of successful outcomes, then you can make choices with more confidence. Defining what failure looks like will help you navigate unexpected circumstances without automatically assuming it’s your fault or failure.

It’s also important to remember that this design stage is an ongoing process. As you grow and change, your interests and passions may shift, and that’s okay. It’s important to regularly evaluate your goals and make adjustments as needed.

Managing Your Energy As You Grow Your Career

The last thing to consider as you embark on your career, especially for those of us with ADHD, is energy management. This is so important for ADHDers because we tend to start new things and then forget about them. We also tend to have unpredictable energy, so the more we can be aware of our own highs and lows, the better we will be at managing our ADHD symptoms.

In the context of starting a career journey, energy management might look like setting up a system or routine to calibrate your progress on a weekly basis.

I recommend doing a weekly review routine, including what drained you this week, what lit you up, what you’re excited about, where you’re overcommitted, what you look forward to, and what you no longer want to do.

This process is where the magic happens, especially if you have an ongoing fear of making the wrong decision. It will help you understand the nuances of whatever it is you’re going after, rather than assuming you’re going to be able to make this big life decision and it’s either going to be the right decision or the wrong one.

It’s important to note that energy management also includes self-care and more specifically, self-regulation. As someone with ADHD, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new project or opportunity and forget about our emotional, mental and physical state. However, self-care is crucial for maintaining energy and focus. Make sure to prioritize rest, exercise, and other self-care practices as part of your energy management routine.

Choosing Your ADHD Career Path – Next Steps

Here are some actionable takeaways for those of you who are struggling with ADHD and career anxiety:

1. Embrace failure as part of the learning process.

Failure is not the end of the world. It’s a natural part of the learning process, and it’s how we grow and develop. Don’t be afraid to try new things and take risks.

2. Focus on your interests and passions to find a career that will give you emotional resilience and staying power.

Identify the interests and passions that are the most important to you and that have been with you the longest. Don’t be afraid to explore different career paths to find the right fit for you and keep in mind, a job that’s not the right fit isn’t a failure. It’s an important personal discovery.

3. Don’t assume that there is a right or wrong decision when it comes to choosing a career.

There are jobs that are a better fit for you and jobs that are less of a fit for you, but you can’t know those things until you’ve put yourself in those positions. Don’t be afraid to try new things and take risks.

4. Define what success and failure look like to give yourself direction and a stake in the ground.

Once you’ve identified a career path you want to try, be very clear from the start what success and failure look like. This will help you calibrate your progress without making it personal. This will help you stay focused and motivated.

5. Practice energy management by doing a weekly review to calibrate your progress and stay on track.

Set up a system or routine to calibrate your progress on a weekly basis. Use this time to reflect on what drained you, what lit you up, and what you’re excited about. Make sure to prioritize self-care as part of your energy management routine.

Final Thoughts on Choosing the Right ADHD Career Path

Career anxiety is something that we all deal with, and it’s not a once-in-a-lifetime situation. Throughout our entire lives, we are going to deal with career angst. But by practicing self-awareness, designing our lives around our strengths and interests, and managing our energy, we can learn to navigate these challenges and build a career that is fulfilling and successful.

I hope this was helpful!