The following is Chapter One from the book Modernising HR for Variant Minds: ADHD: The Tidal Brain.
Available on Apple Books and Kindle.

Chapter 1 - The Tidal Brain

How shifting dopamine tides shape - rather than define - ADHD work rhythms, and how smart structures transform surges into strengths.

ADHD at work


	Manager Confession “When Sam joined my customer-success team, their energy was electric. They could solve a client’s labyrinth-level problem in minutes, yet somehow miss the weekly status call entirely. I bounced between awe and frustration - until I realised I was managing as if every brain runs the same operating system.”

That small amount of honesty from a mid-level HR official helps to explain why this opener exists. The book you are holding is for practitioners, not clinicians; we will not teach you every diagnostic subtlety; but, in the next few pages you will walk away knowing exactly why Sam is brilliant and late, why reminders feel like nagging to them until five minutes before a deadline, and why “try harder” lands like an insult rather than a solution.

Two everyday snapshots


	Mini case - time slips through the crack Nina, an ADHD sales engineer, blocks ninety minutes before a client call to tailor slides. She checks one spec-sheet link, sees a pop-up about a firmware patch, and dives in. Ninety minutes later, the call starts. No slides. The fix takes five minutes; the missed opportunity costs the firm a potential six-figure sale.
	Mini case - hyperfocus saves the bid Forty-eight hours before a public-sector tender closes, the documentation team finds the encryption appendix full of errors. Ethan, another ADHD employee, volunteers. He locks in at 19:30, surfaces at dawn with thirty annotated pages, and the bid ships on time - winning the deal by three points on technical merit.

Same condition, opposite business outcomes. The rest of this chapter explains why.

ADHD in ten sentences

The heart of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a dysregulation of the brain’s dopamine system - a key driver of interneuron communication and a major influence on the reward-and-priority circuitry of the wider prefrontal networks. When this critical brain function does not operate normally, the outcome can vary from difficulty initiating tasks to bursts of concentrated attention, often called hyperfocus. That’s why an ADHD person can overlook a simple compliance-form deadline yet map a complex network failure at 3 a.m. in microscopic detail. In other words, variable attention is a downstream symptom, not the root cause. These variant brain functions often lead to what is perceived as attention swings, and is often mistaken for bad character or laziness ¹.

That neurological variability isn’t rare; in adults the global diagnosed prevalence hovers around 2.5% ², while the symptomatic screening scale indicate ≈6-7%, meaning that about three in every hundred employees to have ADHD that meets full clinical criteria, or, if you include undiagnosed and sub-threshold cases, the pool can rise to one in fifteen - so odds are there’s someone on your floor right now who doesn’t yet know they have ADHD traits.

Although diagnostic manuals list three presentations - mostly inattentive, mostly hyperactive-impulsive, and combined - real-world expression is a messy spectrum. Many ADHD people, particularly women and groups who were culturally marginalised, were missed as children because their symptoms resembled day-dreaming, inner restlessness, or perfect note-taking that covered the turmoil beneath ³. Late identification and misdiagnosis are thus common; the emotional whiplash of “how did nobody spot this earlier” walks into your HR office alongside the accommodation request ⁴. And there is no “fix” for it, ADHD is a life-long condition.

Myth-fact reality check

Myth: ADHD people just need to try harder.

Fact: Harder has been tried; inconsistent dopamine timing blocks voluntary effort ¹.

Myth: Medication fixes everything.

Fact: Even optimally medicated adults still benefit from structural supports ⁵.

Myth: ADHD employees are too erratic for leadership roles.

Fact: Founders with higher ADHD-symptom scores are over-represented among high-growth start-ups ⁶.

The dopamine dance


	Mini case - a typical career School years: Sam aces creative writing but forgets to submit it, pulls sparkling grades in subjects fuelled by novelty, flounders where rote repetition rules. Report cards alternate between “gifted” and “distracted”. Early career: Deadlines morph into all-nighters. A graduate program supervisor praises “crisis wizardry” yet files “needs to plan ahead” on the same review. Sam self-educates on three coding languages in evenings - pure dopamine curiosity - but can’t keep expense reports on schedule. Mid-career leap: With coaching and the right stimulant, performance stabilises - until promotion adds a meeting-rich calendar. Executive-function load climbs; masking the struggle drains energy, anxiety creeps in. Without systemic scaffolds Sam risks burnout even while colleagues perceive “high potential”.

Mini case - a typical career

School years: Sam aces creative writing but forgets to submit it, pulls sparkling grades in subjects fuelled by novelty, flounders where rote repetition rules. Report cards alternate between “gifted” and “distracted”.

Early career: Deadlines morph into all-nighters. A graduate program supervisor praises “crisis wizardry” yet files “needs to plan ahead” on the same review. Sam self-educates on three coding languages in evenings - pure dopamine curiosity - but can’t keep expense reports on schedule.

Mid-career leap: With coaching and the right stimulant, performance stabilises - until promotion adds a meeting-rich calendar. Executive-function load climbs; masking the struggle drains energy, anxiety creeps in. Without systemic scaffolds Sam risks burnout even while colleagues perceive “high potential”.

Think of dopamine as the brain’s project-manager-plus-barista: it gives priority and provides the jolt of inspiration to get going. In ADHD circuitry, delivery service is erratic - sometimes early, sometimes non-existent and sometimes in excess and sometimes in deficit. Routine chores (expenses, required e-learning, monthly measurements) present with no dopamine attached, so they slide down the mental escalator. On the other hand, high-novelty or high-stakes assignments or problem solving cause a flood that sets off a turbo-charged sprint at 3 a.m. the night before board papers are due.

Neuroscience shows dopamine has two different rhythms. Phasic bursts are the sudden, sharp waves that occur when something suddenly matters, while tonic firing is the slow, background drip that keeps attention in neutral ⁷. In ADHD phasic spikes occur later and shoot higher than usual, while the tonic baseline is lower than usual ¹. Imagine a harbour during spring tide, when the water rushes in and floods the pier after pulling back so far that you can see the sandbars. Routine e-learning, monthly metrics, and expense forms are like wading through mud at low tide. New client fire drills, hack-day prototypes, and unexpected pattern recognition are all examples of high tide.


	Insight: Why it matters for HR Workplace design must happen at low tide. Calendars, checkpoints and feedback scripts get locked in while the water is calm, because that is when the employee most needs the external map. Performance can peak at high tide. Those same phasic surges drive hyperfocus, crisis composure and idea generation. In other words, the condition’s greatest management liability and its sharpest competitive edge are two faces of the same tidal cycle. A longitudinal study of stimulant-treated adults found that when projects supplied clear schedules and visible progress cues, baseline (tonic-state) productivity rose by 27% - and the phasic highs still delivered 40% faster bug-resolution times than non-ADHD peers ⁸. Structure does not blunt the surge; it lets the surge hit the right target.</p>

Insight: Why it matters for HR

Workplace design must happen at low tide. Calendars, checkpoints and feedback scripts get locked in while the water is calm, because that is when the employee most needs the external map. Performance can peak at high tide. Those same phasic surges drive hyperfocus, crisis composure and idea generation. In other words, the condition’s greatest management liability and its sharpest competitive edge are two faces of the same tidal cycle.

A longitudinal study of stimulant-treated adults found that when projects supplied clear schedules and visible progress cues, baseline (tonic-state) productivity rose by 27% - and the phasic highs still delivered 40% faster bug-resolution times than non-ADHD peers ⁸. Structure does not blunt the surge; it lets the surge hit the right target.</p>

Functional MRI studies show reduced activity in the ventral striatum during anticipation of low-reward tasks ⁹. Behavioural economists neatly sum this up: People with ADHD have a present-bias curve so steep that “next Tuesday” and “never” seem oddly similar until Tuesday becomes “now” ¹⁰. ADHD advocates joke that their brains have only two modes; Now and Not-Now.


	Manager cue: Build the workflow so the low-dopamine moments rely on rails (pre-blocked work sessions, automatic nudges, shared Kanban) and the high-dopamine moments land where speed and creativity pay off (brainstorm sprints, last-mile troubleshooting, client escalations). The tidal rhythm becomes an asset, not a risk.

Interestingly, emotional regulation rides the same neuro-circuit that governs the tidal swing of dopamine, which is why Sam’s cheeks can flush crimson at either praise or critique. The reaction often puzzles managers: you thank Sam for “saving the day,” Sam shrugs it off as “just doing my job,” yet one hour later a mild note about font size feels like a gut-punch. This paradox is best understood through Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), a form of neurologically amplified social pain reported by many ADHD adults ¹¹. Because ADHD heightens threat detection, the brain flags possible rejection as urgent, giving negative cues priority access to attention and memory while letting positive cues slide by almost unnoticed ¹². A passing remark you meant as routine coaching can hit Sam like a red-alert siren. Instead of leaving a gap that might fester, give the context and the core message up front and in writing - but stay in the room (or on the call). A short note that states the purpose (“Two quick tweaks to tighten the slide deck, add clout to the pitch; goal is client-ready by 4 p.m.”) lets Sam read the exact words, check for hidden landmines, and ask clarifying questions on the spot. Seeing the text anchors working memory; hearing your steady tone signals the sky isn’t falling. Follow with one specific success, one concrete improvement, and agree on the very next action. The brain now has a roadmap, not a riddle, so the threat response winds down, and the cognitive engine can engage.


	Manager cue: Safety first, then standards. Put the feedback in a brief written stub, share your screen or slide it across the table, then walk through it together. The clarity quells rumination; collaboration turns potential rejection into joint problem-solving - not judge and defendant. The emotional load drops; the cognitive engine switches on.

Signature challenges in the workplace

Time blindness is the headline act. Ask an ADHD employee for an estimate and you may receive optimism untethered to arithmetic. It is not dishonesty; the temporal self-monitor of the brain is simply missing batteries ¹³. Combine that with executive-function gridlock - difficulties starting, sequencing and switching tasks - and the typical corporate day becomes an obstacle course.

Meetings layer on another hazard: working-memory deficits. Even if Sam can remember every specification of the client’s software stack from three years ago, he may forget point 1 by the time you reach point 4 when agenda items fly in fast succession. Add an open-plan office with fluorescent lighting, and you have a live sensory distraction demonstration.

The perplexing lag between knowing and doing is known as “initiation inertia.” Sam can visualise every step - open the spreadsheet, pull the data from the previous month, and drop it into the dashboard - but he simply won’t get started. Neuroimaging research indicates that the stall starts when low-tonic dopamine is unable to provide the slight surge of perceived importance that typically initiates action ¹. The prefrontal cortex hesitates in the absence of a chemical “go” signal, and two types of drag simultaneously take over. First comes decision paralysis, where the task feels more difficult than it actually is because every micro-choice (which tab, which field, which font) vies for limited executive bandwidth ¹³. Optimal Arousal Theory is the basis for the second strategic delay. Sam’s brain knows that a phasic dopamine surge will make the work nearly effortless once the deadline approaches, so starting early feels inefficient. After all, why push mud uphill now when a tide will lift it later ¹⁴? Deeper down, however, a more subtle motivation may be concealed: the worry that if you finish too soon, you’ll have a period of under-stimulating time, which many ADHD sufferers find more punishing than the task itself ¹⁵ - ADHD individuals literally fear boredom. The outcome is an odd combination of involuntary procrastination and paralysis, neither of which gives way to a quick “just get started.” An external spark - an accountability check-in, a visible countdown clock, a coworker working concurrently- breaks the impasse until the brain’s natural chemistry catches up.

Ignored, these conflict areas lead to performance-review heartache, presenteeism, or quiet quitting masquerading as tiredness ¹⁶.


Optimal Arousal Theory … was developed long before ADHD was listed in diagnostic manuals. Its origins date back to 1908, when American psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson demonstrated that mice learned a task most quickly at a middle-range stimulus intensity level: too little stimulation resulted in slow learning, while too much caused disarray ¹⁷. Donald Hebb expanded the concept to humans half a century later, suggesting that the brain looks for a “just-right” zone of cortical arousal and will take conscious or unconscious action to bring it back whenever it deviates ¹⁸. In the 1970s, Hebb’s thread was picked up by researchers looking into children’s hyperactivity. Susan Zentall’s classroom experiments found that children who were later recognised as ADHD performed better on academic tasks when they were allowed to move around or listen to background noise, and worse when they were made to sit still and silent. She explicitly framed this pattern in terms of Optimal Arousal ¹⁹. These behavioural findings were linked to dopamine-driven fluctuations in the brain’s alerting networks by later neurobiological research, such as Edmund Sonuga-Barke’s dual-pathway theory and Emmanuel Sergeant’s state-regulation model ²⁰^,²¹. Put simply, the theory says that each brain has a preferred stimulation bandwidth. In its tonic state, an ADHD brain sits lower than the majority of neurotypical brains, which automatically hover there, i.e. ADHD brains are, in their unaroused mode, dysfunctional. Thus, it unconsciously looks for additional input - fidgeting, novelty-hunting, crisis-chasing - to enter the “Goldilocks” zone until phasic dopamine surges provide sufficient arousal. Following the discovery of this connection to dopamine timing, the Optimal Arousal Theory emerged as a key lens through which to explain why ADHD behaviour fluctuates between under-engagement and laser-like intensity and why managers can effectively use external structure instead of self-discipline lectures. This is also why off-the-shelf personality inventories often misclassify ADHD potential, but more of that in Chapter 4.

Optimal Arousal Theory

… was developed long before ADHD was listed in diagnostic manuals. Its origins date back to 1908, when American psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson demonstrated that mice learned a task most quickly at a middle-range stimulus intensity level: too little stimulation resulted in slow learning, while too much caused disarray ¹⁷. Donald Hebb expanded the concept to humans half a century later, suggesting that the brain looks for a “just-right” zone of cortical arousal and will take conscious or unconscious action to bring it back whenever it deviates ¹⁸.

In the 1970s, Hebb’s thread was picked up by researchers looking into children’s hyperactivity. Susan Zentall’s classroom experiments found that children who were later recognised as ADHD performed better on academic tasks when they were allowed to move around or listen to background noise, and worse when they were made to sit still and silent. She explicitly framed this pattern in terms of Optimal Arousal ¹⁹. These behavioural findings were linked to dopamine-driven fluctuations in the brain’s alerting networks by later neurobiological research, such as Edmund Sonuga-Barke’s dual-pathway theory and Emmanuel Sergeant’s state-regulation model ²⁰^,²¹.

Put simply, the theory says that each brain has a preferred stimulation bandwidth. In its tonic state, an ADHD brain sits lower than the majority of neurotypical brains, which automatically hover there, i.e. ADHD brains are, in their unaroused mode, dysfunctional. Thus, it unconsciously looks for additional input - fidgeting, novelty-hunting, crisis-chasing - to enter the “Goldilocks” zone until phasic dopamine surges provide sufficient arousal. Following the discovery of this connection to dopamine timing, the Optimal Arousal Theory emerged as a key lens through which to explain why ADHD behaviour fluctuates between under-engagement and laser-like intensity and why managers can effectively use external structure instead of self-discipline lectures. This is also why off-the-shelf personality inventories often misclassify ADHD potential, but more of that in Chapter 4.

Unequalled advantages (when conditions are right)

Flip the script, and those same neurological traits power serious competitive edge. Hyperfocus is the proverbial super-laser on bleeding-edge puzzles: cybersecurity incident rooms, forensic audits, emergency logistics, late-stage product bugs, critical event management. Hyperfocus weapons-grade problem-solving. Pattern recognition often exceeds neurotypical peers since the ADHD attentional filter lets in more stimuli; correlations pop where others see static ²²^,²³.

Dopamine-driven novelty-seeking fuels idea generation. Evidence points in the same direction wherever you look. A multi-country study of entrepreneurs showed that individuals with higher ADHD-symptom scores engaged more often in innovative and internationalising activities, which in turn raised their ventures’ growth aspirations ⁶. Furthermore, a Deloitte Insights review of major neuro-inclusion programmes found that “teams with neurodivergent professionals in some roles can be 30 per cent more productive than those without them” ²⁴. Combine that with crisis-mode calm - paradoxically, ADHD cortisol spikes sharpen decision speed - and you have talent exactly suited for zero-to-one product sprints or customer-escalation triage.

The upside is real.

Why “work harder” fails - and what works instead

Most performance guides advise staff members to set early deadlines, divide large projects into smaller ones and schedule backwards. None of those strategies alter the fundamental dopamine-timing flaw, thus an ADHD brain just experiences those effects as more administrative ¹³. That’s why Sam tried three highly rated productivity apps last quarter and still filed the vendor contract late: every app assumed Sam would remember to open it, interpret its dashboard and act on it unaided.

What works is an externalised structure seen by the entire team, not merely buried on Sam’s phone. Research on ADHD coaching, CBT and workplace accommodations shows the largest gains when the cue lives outside the individual - on a calendar everyone sees, in an automated prompt the system sends, or in a physical or digital Kanban board that makes status obvious ⁵^,²⁵.

Executive-function pinch-point	Shared scaffold (example)	Why it works
Time blindness	Calendar invites with time-boxed micro-deliverables (“Draft intro 09:00-10:30”, not “Work on report”)	Turns an abstract deadline into a visible block; the invite itself triggers action ²⁶.
Initiation inertia	Just-in-time prompts - an automatic Slack nudge 48h and 4h before hand-in	Supplies the missing now tag; brief digital nudges outperform monthly check-ins ⁵.
Sequencing overload	Explicit licence to draft in bullet fragments, then polish later	Aligns work with natural motivation peaks; removes perfectionism bottleneck ⁸.
Sensory distraction	A standing offer of noise-cancelling headphones or a bookable quiet pod	Lets the employee modulate input without ad-hoc permission, protecting focus ²⁶.


	Manager cue: The difference is where the prompt lives. If the cue sits only on the employee’s personal device, it still depends on their fluctuating executive function. Place the cue in the shared workflow, and the system - not the ADHD brain - does the reminding.

A Deloitte Insights survey ²⁴ of knowledge-work teams show that adoption of shared-cue practices, like colour-coded Kanban boards, auto-reminders and agendas shared 24h in advance, delivered a 28% drop in missed deadlines and no loss of throughput for neurotypical colleagues. Fundamentally, universal design pulled variant minds firmly into the game and raised the floor for everyone. None of these interventions calls for a medical degree or a costly software licence; rather, they call for managerial flexibility anchored in outcome measurements rather than process orthodoxy.

Thus, an ideal outcome would look like this:


	Mini case - Sam’s productive week Monday: Alex, the product manager, begins a launch sprint on Monday. Alex previously sent out an email with a Friday night deadline; this time, Alex makes calendar invites for micro-milestones: draft by Wednesday at 17:00, outline by Tuesday at 14:00, and polish window on Thursday night. Six and two hours prior to each checkpoint, Slack reminders automatically go off. Tuesday: The time-boxed block transforms an abstract goal into an instantaneous cue when Sam opens the outline invite. Sam’s card slides to “in progress” on the team wall, which eliminates the need for everyone, including Sam, to keep track of who is on what. Wednesday: Open-plan noise spikes on Wednesdays. Sam turns on his firm-supplied, permission-implied-by-policy noise-cancelling headphones. The draft lands at 16:48 and slides to “awaiting review” on the board, preventing derailment thanks to the sensory toggle. Thursday: QA feedback is disseminated. Revisions conclude within the allotted polishing block, and Sam’s rejection-sensitive dysphoria remains silent because feedback follows a script: one positive note, one actionable correction if needed. No one works past 19:00, and the team turns over to Marketing on time.

Mini case - Sam’s productive week

Monday: Alex, the product manager, begins a launch sprint on Monday. Alex previously sent out an email with a Friday night deadline; this time, Alex makes calendar invites for micro-milestones: draft by Wednesday at 17:00, outline by Tuesday at 14:00, and polish window on Thursday night. Six and two hours prior to each checkpoint, Slack reminders automatically go off.

Tuesday: The time-boxed block transforms an abstract goal into an instantaneous cue when Sam opens the outline invite. Sam’s card slides to “in progress” on the team wall, which eliminates the need for everyone, including Sam, to keep track of who is on what.

Wednesday: Open-plan noise spikes on Wednesdays. Sam turns on his firm-supplied, permission-implied-by-policy noise-cancelling headphones. The draft lands at 16:48 and slides to “awaiting review” on the board, preventing derailment thanks to the sensory toggle.

Thursday: QA feedback is disseminated. Revisions conclude within the allotted polishing block, and Sam’s rejection-sensitive dysphoria remains silent because feedback follows a script: one positive note, one actionable correction if needed. No one works past 19:00, and the team turns over to Marketing on time.

Sam didn’t have to download any additional apps or summon hidden will-power at any point. The heavy lifting was done by shared scaffolds, which included external memory, visible time, sensory control, and clear feedback.

What else might show up?

Rarely does ADHD show up alone. According to a dimensional analysis of 60 studies, roughly six in ten ADHD adults fit full criteria for an anxiety disorder and roughly one-third for a depressive disorder ²⁷. Medication and counselling can reduce impairment scores; in workplaces that demand constant self-camouflage, that progress collapses. Employees pour energy into “looking normal” instead of performing their jobs. The resulting cognitive fatigue drags symptoms back to baseline.

Diagnostic blind-spots magnify that risk. Women and gender-diverse ADHD people are routinely identified years later than men, in part because inattentive or internalising profiles violate the cultural stereotype of the disruptive boy in the classroom; long-form reviews report delays of five-plus years and higher rates of misdiagnosed anxiety or mood disorder ²⁸. Race and ethnicity add another layer: a ten-year cohort study of more than five million Kaiser Permanente members showed that Asian, Black and Hispanic adults were 20-40% less likely than White peers to receive an ADHD code even when symptom counts and impairment levels matched ²⁹. Under-recognition means those employees enter HR processes without a label, but not without the executive-function load.

And one of the most dangerous outcomes of all this misinterpretation is when chronic under-stimulation begins to resemble clinical depression, particularly for workers whose ADHD tends to be quiet or internal.


	Insight: For ADHD minds, boredom isn’t trivial - it’s dangerous. Extended periods of low stimulation can trigger an emotional state that mimics clinical depression: fatigue, hopelessness, disinterest, even suicidal ideation. And too often, this state is misdiagnosed, leading to treatment plans that miss the root cause: dopamine starvation. This is not a failure of resilience; it’s a neurological consequence of how lifelong brain function shapes experience for these individuals. Environments that fail to engage the ADHD brain aren’t just unproductive (underutilising a brain that can do more) - they’re mentally hazardous.

Insight: For ADHD minds, boredom isn’t trivial - it’s dangerous. Extended periods of low stimulation can trigger an emotional state that mimics clinical depression: fatigue, hopelessness, disinterest, even suicidal ideation. And too often, this state is misdiagnosed, leading to treatment plans that miss the root cause: dopamine starvation. This is not a failure of resilience; it’s a neurological consequence of how lifelong brain function shapes experience for these individuals. Environments that fail to engage the ADHD brain aren’t just unproductive (underutilising a brain that can do more) - they’re mentally hazardous.

The implication is clear for HR. First, create universal-design practices - clear written agendas, shared task boards, quiet-focus options - that any employee can use without declaring a diagnosis. Second, create a voluntary, confidential, low-friction accommodation-to-need disclosure path free from documentation. When the base environment aligns with the ADHD nervous system, stimulant prescriptions and coaching aren’t forced to fight the workplace too. They finally get to work with it.


	Insight: ADHD rarely walks into a clinical office alone - and it rarely walks out with the right label. The DSM-5-TR references ADHD in over sixty pages linking it with several differential diagnoses, including anxiety, depression, personality disorders, and trauma-related conditions ³⁰. This book won’t turn you into a diagnostician, but it will help you recognise that employees with seemingly inconsistent, emotional, or hard-to-categorise behaviours aren’t difficult - they’re navigating a brain you haven’t been trained to understand.

Insight: ADHD rarely walks into a clinical office alone - and it rarely walks out with the right label. The DSM-5-TR references ADHD in over sixty pages linking it with several differential diagnoses, including anxiety, depression, personality disorders, and trauma-related conditions ³⁰. This book won’t turn you into a diagnostician, but it will help you recognise that employees with seemingly inconsistent, emotional, or hard-to-categorise behaviours aren’t difficult - they’re navigating a brain you haven’t been trained to understand.

Micro-case: two emails, two outcomes


	Scenario A Friday 18:47, subject line “URGENT - need slide deck by Monday”. Manager attaches last year’s template and logs off. Sam sees the email Sunday night at 16:10, hyperfocuses, pulls an all-nighter, delivers at 04:52, then sleeps through Monday’s stand-up. Performance note: “unreliable”.
	Scenario B Same request, but the manager schedules the email for Monday 09:05 with three bullet checkpoints: ● Draft headlines by 13:00 today. ● First slide pass by 16:00. ● Polishing window 18:00-19:00. Calendar invites embedded. Sam completes in two manageable bursts, attends the stand-up, gets kudos.

The difference never about will-power, ability, or Sam’s commitment to the team. Pulling an all-nighter proves Sam has plenty of grit, and the slides in both versions of the tale were equally polished. What changed was the runway the manager built. Sam’s invisible, last-minute deadline let time work against him in the first scenario, thus the outcome appeared to be flakiness and inadequate cooperation. The visible checkpoints in the second scenario handled timekeeping and let everyone see consistent development. Without a performance plan, a pep-talk, or a single extra dollar of budget, the manager turned the same employee from “high-maintenance” to “high-value” by moving the emphasis from personal virtue to shared structure.

⁂

Reality check

ADHD is not a passing phase or a motivational flaw - it is a lifetime variation in how the dopamine system of the brain pulses and times its signals ¹. Routine tasks never seem urgent when that timing runs late; when it surges, the same brain can lock into hyperfocus and map a complex problem at lightning speed. Medication can help to smooth out peaks and valleys; coaching can teach workarounds; neither rewires the circuitry. Though the outward symptoms vary, the condition lasts all of life ¹³.

What makes the biggest workplace difference is managing, not “fixing,” the biology: visible timelines, shared reminders, quiet-focus options and feedback given in clear, concrete language makes the biggest workplace difference. Install those scaffolds for one of your colleagues with ADHD, and the whole team gains from better priorities and simpler teamwork. Laziness never entered the picture; consistent dopamine timing does; and smart design can bridge that gap for all.

⁂

Volkow, N. D., Wang, G.J., Kollins, S. H., Wigal, T. L., Newcorn, J. H., Telang, F., Fowler, J. S., Zhu, W., Logan, J., Yeming Ma, Pradhan, K., Wong, C., & Swanson, J. M. (2009). Evaluating Dopamine Reward Pathway in ADHD. Journal of the American Medical Association. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2009.1308 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Simon, V., Czobor, P., Bálint, S., & Bitter, I. (2009). Prevalence and Correlates of Adult ADHD: Meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.048827 ↩
Quinn, P. O., & Madhoo, M. (2014). A Review of ADHD in Women and Girls. European Psychiatry. DOI: 10.4088/PCC.13r01596 ↩
French, B., Daley, D., Groom, M., & Cassidy, S. (2023). Risks Associated with Undiagnosed ADHD and/or Autism: A Mixed-method Systematic Review. DOI: 10.1177/10870547231176862 ↩
Ramsay, J. R., & Rostain, A. L. (2008). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult ADHD: An Integrative Psychosocial and Medical Approach. Taylor & Francis [CAM]. DOI: 10.4324/9780203844519 ↩ ↩² ↩³
Stappers, J., & Andries, P. (2024). Entrepreneurs’ Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Growth Aspirations: The Moderating Role of Team and Industry Characteristics. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal. DOI: 10.1007/s11365-023-00888-9 ↩ ↩²
Grace, A. A. (2016). Dysregulation of the Dopamine System in the Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia and Depression. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1038/nrn.2016.57 ↩
Young, S., & Bramham, J. (2012). Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for ADHD in Adolescents and Adults: A Psychological Guide to Practice. Wiley-Blackwell. [ISBN: 978-1119960737] ↩ ↩²
Schultz, W. (2013). Updating Dopamine Reward Signals. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2012.11.012 ↩
Kurth-Nelson, Z., & Redish, A. D. (2009). Temporal-Difference Reinforcement Learning with Distributed Representations. PLoS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007362 ↩
Dodson, W. R., Modestino, E. J., Ceritoğlu, H. T., & Zayed, B. (2024). Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. In Acta Scientific Neurology. http://actascientific.com/…0762.pdf ↩
Beheshti, A., Chavanon, M. L., & Christiansen, H. (2020). Emotion Dysregulation in Adults with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1186/s12888-020-2442-7 ↩
Barkley, R. A. (2018). Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment (4th ed.). Guilford Press. [ISBN: 978-1462517725] ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Steel, P. (2007). The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-regulatory Failure. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65 ↩
Sirois, F. M., & Pychyl, T. A. (2013). Procrastination and the Priority of Short-Term Mood Regulation: Consequences for Future Self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12011 ↩
Kessler, R. C., Adler, L., Ames, M., Barkley, R. A., Birnbaum, H., Greenberg, P., Johnston, J. A., Spencer, T., & Üstün, T. B. (2005). The Prevalence and Effects of Adult Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder on Work Performance in a Nationally Representative Sample of Workers. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. DOI: 10.1097/01.jom.0000166863.33541.39 ↩
Yerkes, R. M., & Dodson, J. D. (1908). The Relation of Strength of Stimulus to Rapidity of Habit‐formation. In Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology. https://psychclassics.yorku.ca ↩
Hebb, D. O. (1955). Drives and the C.N.S. (Conceptual Nervous System). In Psychological Review. https://yorku.ca ↩
Zentall, S. S. (1975). Optimal Stimulation as a Theoretical Basis of Hyperactivity. Exceptional Children. DOI: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.1975.tb01185.x ↩
Sergeant, J. A. (2000). The Cognitive‐Energetic Model: An Empirical Approach to Attention‐Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. DOI: 10.1016/S0149-7634(99)00060-3 ↩
Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S. (2002). Psychological Heterogeneity in ADHD - A Dual Pathway Model of Behaviour and Cognition. DOI: 10.1016/S0166-4328(01)00432-6 ↩
White, H. A. (2018). Creative cognition in ADHD. Personality and Individual Differences. DOI: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.1975.tb01185.x ↩
White, H. A., & Shah, P. (2011). Creative Style and Achievement in Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Personality and Individual Differences. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.12.015 ↩
Deloitte. (2022). A rising tide lifts all boats: Creating a better work environment for all by embracing neurodiversity. Retrieved June 2025 from https://deloitte.com/…workforce.pdf ↩ ↩²
Prevatt, F., & Yelland, S. (2015). An Empirical Evaluation of ADHD Coaching in College Students. DOI: 10.1177/1087054713480036 ↩
Kooij, S. J., Bejerot, S., Blackwell, A., Caci, H., Casas-Brugué, M., Carpentier, P. J., Edvinsson, D., Fayyad, J., Foeken, K., Fitzgerald, M., Gaillac, V., Ginsberg, Y., Henry, C., Krause, J., Lensing, M. B., Manor, I., Niederhofer, H., Nunes-Filipe, C., Ohlmeier, M. D.,…Asherson, P. (2010). European consensus statement on diagnosis and treatment of adult ADHD. In European Psychiatry. http://biomedcentral.com ↩ ↩²
Katzman, M. A., Bilkey, T. S., Chokka, P. R., Fallu, A., & Klassen, L. J. (2017). Adult ADHD and Comorbid Disorders: Clinical Implications of a Dimensional Approach. BMC Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1186/s12888-017-1463-3 ↩
Rucklidge, J. J. (2010). Gender Differences in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Psychiatric Clinics. DOI: 10.1016/j.psc.2010.01.006 ↩
Chung, W., Jiang, S.-F., Paksarian, D., Nikolaidis, A., Castellanos, F. X., Merikangas, K. R., & Milham, M. P. (2019). Trends in the Prevalence and Incidence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Adults and Children of Different Racial and Ethnic Groups. JAMA Network Open. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.14344 ↩
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5-TR (5th, Text Revision ed.). APS. [ISBN: 978-0890425756] ↩