The Certainty of Uncertainty - How ADHD Helps
If there is one thing we know now with the new President having served 100 days, it is that we really have no idea what policy, procedure, trade, tax, economic or social policy will become reality.
Uncertainty is around us daily, with threats of cutting our auto, lumber and even sacred milk trade agreements. Having ADHD can make you enjoy these times and use your skills to calmly see the chaos as easily manageable. Here are some ideas that may help you survive and even take advantage of these uncertain times:
1. Having ADHD often means living within chaos. You have to turn on a dime, fix a mistake or adjust to an ever changing world around you. If you apply those skills to what is now our reality, you will thrive and prosper. Job 1 is to identify the chaos.
2. At a time of chaos, economically you need the "farmers" insurance as I call it. Farmers will plant 3-5 different crops on many different fields if they can to ensure that if something goes wrong with one crop or micro climate, the other crops will help save them. Diversify your career, finances or other aspects of your life by spreading those to many options. In your work life, learn new skills, take a new class or work to divert your interest into another related field. In finance, as I write in The Psychology of Investing this month, make sure you have your investments spread into as many unrelated areas as possible. Real estate, bonds, debt, boring dividend paying stocks in a number of sectors, a bit of gold, solar if you can and cash. Yes cash is an investment because it will help you take advantage of a sector or situation should that sector crash. Having ADHD means you embrace the change and excitement of diving into as many as 8 different income streams.
3. Understand the real estate negotiation style of the new president. He will trash a world leader before meeting them, say to Canada he is cutting all deals, only to later make a deal based on that negotiation style. It's common in real estate to complain about everything in a building, then agreeing on a lower price and buying it. The roof is old, the windows need replacing, the carpet is dirty, the neighbourhood questionable, the tenants not stable, the heating needs to be replaced with possible environmental issues everywhere. After beating up the seller, a deal is then made. The win-lose style in real estate negotiations isn't effective in developing long-term relationships with buyer and seller because generally the seller loses and the damage done in negotiations cannot be repaired. I don't know if anyone in Washington has figured that out yet.
4. Embrace today. With ADHD, living in the moment and enjoying right now is a positive trait. With the threats made of nuclear war and other significant conflict, live the ADHD life in this moment. Embrace it.
5. Find a place where you can create stability and certainty. Plug out of social media type news and limit your access. Get to know your small town or community, local shops or restaurants. Explore the excitement all around you within 20 km or so and forget the rest. An important skill to learn with ADHD is the CBT strategy of only focusing on that which you can control. You can't influence world politics, trade or decisions made by our politicians. So other than on election day, forget about it and focus on what you can control right now.
