People with ADHD have about 20% of the executive function capacity of neurotypical people. Using a fuel metaphor: a neurotypical person starts the day with 10 gallons and has 5 left by afternoon, while someone with ADHD starts with 2 gallons and runs empty by late morning, causing brain fog and miscommunication.
What is executive function and how does it affect your ADHD? Executive function is the fuel you're using for making decisions, organizing, planning, prioritizing. And the more you do those things, the more that fuel is getting used up throughout the day. If you have ADHD, statistically they say we have 20% of what a neurotypical person has. What that means is, if you want to visualize it, pretend it's 2 gallons of fuel and all the people around you have 10 gallons when they wake up in the morning. Well, your 2 gallons is pretty well spent and used up by 11:00 AM or 12:00. So another thing to think about with this is at 4:00 in the afternoon, if you say, wow, I have brain fog, I'm really kind of exhausted, I'm tired, and someone around you who's neurotypical feels like they're tired and they go, yeah, I understand, I'm really tired too. You think you're saying the same thing, but they had 10 gallons and now they have 5 gallons. You started with 2 and you're at 0. But when you're talking, you think you're saying the same thing to each other and you're not, just because it's not something a lot of us have learned much about.
ADHD Coaching, Career Coaching, Leadership Coaching for Tech Professionals & Founders
