Freelancing with ADHD: How to embrace your strengths and manage the challenges 

When I was first assigned a feature about elite athletes with ADHD, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, I assumed I wouldn’t have much in common with the subjects. After all, I had bought into common stereotypes about what the disorder looks like: a disruptive little boy. But with each expert and athlete interview, I came to learn the diagnosis, in fact, looked alarmingly just like me. 

I was nicknamed “Anna Motormouth” growing up because I couldn’t stop talking in class (a common experience for women and girls with the condition). I work better in a rowdy bar than a remote cabin. (People with ADHD often need outer stimulation to focus internally.) 

I hate “relaxing” and happily take risks (ADHD seems to be about a lack of natural dopamine, so people with it seek more of it more frequently), but seriously struggle to “adult.” (ADHD brains prioritize interest over importance. If we think it’s fun, we’re there. The DMV and dentist can wait.)

Fortunately, journalism — and in a lot of ways, freelance journalism — can be a great fit for people with ADHD. As psychiatrist Mimi Winsberg, M.D., told me: “You’re working under tight deadlines, you can hyper-focus, it gives you a concrete goal to get over the finish line and then you move on to the next one. But you’re not doing a lot of executive planning management. Typically, you’re working in short bursts.”

Here’s what else to know about the match between ADHD and freelance writing, including how to lean into your strengths and manage the career-related challenges. 

The benefits of freelancing with ADHD

While it’s hard to know exactly what percentage of freelancers have ADHD, there’s good reason to believe the disorder is more prevalent among the self-employed. 

With entrepreneurship, “you get to adapt your working environment to your needs instead of the other way around,” said Emily Anhalt, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist with ADHD who conducted her doctoral research on highly successful entrepreneurs with the condition.

Plus, the pressures of freelancing — chasing deadlines and payments between interviews and pitches — can lend itself to the ADHD brain, which works well under pressure but can idle in the calm. 

“A new creative insight, perspective or work project fuels me in a way largely unparalleled in traditional 9-to-5 predictable contexts,” said Jessie Poquérusse, an independent writer, neurodiversity advocate and researcher who has ADHD. “This to me is a superpower and has to be.”  

Tara Haelle, a longtime freelancer and AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies, also gives her ADHD some credit for her endless flow of story ideas. 

“People always say, ‘Where do you get your ideas? And my response is to look at them like they have three heads and say, ‘How do you turn the faucet off?’” Haelle said. The accompanying challenge, she added, is choosing which idea to launch into first. 

Similarly, people with ADHD can be great at brainstorming since their brains readily make connections that neurotypical brains might not, Anhalt said. That also helps Haelle ask astute follow-up questions in interviews. “Each thing they say sends my brain in a different direction [which] helps me come up with really good questions on the spot,” she said. 

Tips for freelancing with ADHD 

In one of my past staff jobs, I had a deadline at 2 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. So naturally, I started writing around 11 a.m. both days. For the most part, it worked — and is part of why freelancing works well for me now: The faster I accomplish something, the more I can take on, the more I’m motivated, and the more I get paid.

“People with ADHD need some stimulation, often in the form of anxiety, in order to be productive,” said Anhalt, who’s also an entrepreneur and founder of the mental health “gym” Coa. “So often, people with ADHD are able to accomplish an incredible amount right before a deadline.”

But most ADHD strengths can be a double-edged sword. That’s why it’s important to: 

Be honest with yourself

“Successful” procrastination has its limits. Anhalt recommends being honest with yourself about how much you can actually accomplish in a given time, perhaps by tracking the hours you spend on various projects to gauge how long similar ones might take. 

Freelancing with ADHD  “can be problematic if you’re not good at regulating your own procrastination,” she said, “but if you are good at it, it’s so freeing.“

Choose projects wisely 

As much as she admires journalists whose bread and butter is long-term, deep investigative work, Haelle knows she has to take on such projects sparingly. “If I have three months to do it, I’ll do it all in the last week — and that’s not good,” she said. So, most of her assignments have a deadline of one week or less.

Likewise, Poquérusse said, she purposefully seeks out novelty. “I am aware of dopamine running low, and have to be very deliberate to time new engagements in a strategic way — and be very patient if in a lull,” she said. 

That tracks with what Anhalt has seen and studied. “People with ADHD tend to get really energized by starting things, and they have a little more trouble finishing things,” she said. 

Set alarms 

Anhalt sets alarms to set alarms. That’s in part because ADHD brains tend to endorse the concept of “out of sight, out of mind.” “When something is not in your field of vision, it’s like it does not exist,” she said. But setting an alarm to remind yourself to start or finish something can help keep it top of mind. 

Manipulate your environment 

If un-fun tasks like pulling together your tax documents must be done (and they must!), do them in a fun environment. For me, that’s my beautiful coworking space, a hotel lobby or even a bar. If no one’s making you go into an office, embrace it! 

Haelle also frequently works from coffee shops and bars — sipping soda late into the night when her brain is most “on” — and Anhalt is sure to give herself a treat like a cafe’s pastry when the work is dull. “I don’t expect myself to do boring work in an environment I already know it’s hard for me to work in,” she said. 

Outsource 

Sure, some boring work must be done, but maybe not all of it has to be done by you. Haelle, for one, uses a virtual assistant to file invoices, keep track of her published articles and work-related travel expenses, and manage a calendar of things like award submission deadlines. 

Doing so saves her money, she said, and preserves her mental energy for the work that requires her brain and hers alone. “I don’t want to use that cognitive bandwidth doing invoices, which are going to disproportionately suck my energy and motivation when I could be using it to write a story,” she said. 

Consider an accountability buddy 

For me, working from a coworking space where other people at least appear to be hustling motivates me to hustle, too. Working in solitude, by contrast, tricks my brain into thinking no one else — including my editors — are working, so why would I? 

Other, more deliberate forms of accountability work for Haelle. For instance, she’ll often post in a Facebook group about the tasks she needs to accomplish, and update her progress along the way. “People are basically cheering me on … so it’s a combination of positive reinforcement and the accountability element,” she said. 

Haelle also uses “body doubling,” or working alongside a friend on Zoom to keep her motivated. Even if a friend is just playing video games, “her presence keeps me on track,” she said. 

Give yourself grace 

Many if not most adults with ADHD grew up with the message that they were lazy, unproductive or that something was wrong with the way they learned or worked. 

“Feel your feelings about that and grieve it, and give yourself a chance to reevaluate whether those messages were really true or if the problem was just that you weren’t in the right kind of spaces to leverage your unique mind,” Anhalt said.

Then, celebrate that freelancing allows you to find the spaces that do leverage your unique mind. “It requires some privilege, but most of us are in a position to design a job that actually works for us instead of trying to change who we are,” Anhalt said, “Freelancing and entrepreneurship are a beautiful way to do that.”