My Biggest Obstacle Became My Stepping Stone

Confession time: I have a disorder that I struggle with every day of my life. This disorder stole my focus and diffused my energy for years.  It's prevented me from accomplishing a lot of things in my life, and led to a lot of frustration. I'm talking about ADD. Apparently, it's not just for kids anymore!

When it comes time to sit down and focus on something that I'm not passionate about, I don't last long. School was torture. I knew in my gut that I wasn't stupid, but as soon as the math professors started talking about imaginary numbers, I was out! 

ADD prevented me from having success in some of my previous jobs as well. I didn't have a whole lot of passion for janitorial or food service, retail, or automotive sales. Male modeling never worked out, but that may not have been the ADD... 

I'm so lucky to have found a career with Workfront, because I'm doing something I am passionate about! There are real challenges that businesses are facing, and we have real solutions to those challenges. I'm fortunate to be a part of the solution, and I'm grateful for that. I'm also blessed to be compensated well for doing something I love, and it allows me to spend time with my family.

Well, it turns out that I'm not the only person to find success, who also struggles with ADD/ADHD. Here are a few others, according to elitedaily.com:

1. Walt Disney - Walt was passionate about taking his crude drawings and using his imagination to bring a smile to people's faces. I'd say he did a pretty good job!
2. Michael Phelps - Phelps’ mother described her son’s exhibition of classic ADHD symptoms: not sitting still or being able to focus. However, he channeled that into swimming, and with “continuous praise and positive reinforcement,” Phelps found the encouragement he needed to fight on to victory. - elitedaily.com
3. Justin Timberlake - JT has become prolific through his singing/acting/producing/business acumen. He describes himself as having "ADD mixed with OCD". Either way, dude's definitely brought sexy back, and keeps on bringing it.
4. Michael Jordan - MJ is arguably the best basketball player of all time, and is still one of the most recognizable names in sports. "His Airness" led the Bulls to 6 NBA championships. He was laser-focused on the court, but couldn't seem to focus on staying retired - it took him 3 retirements before it finally stuck!
5. Jim Carrey - Ok, we probably could have seen this one from a mile away. Carrey coped with his ADHD by becoming the class clown. He transferred that into his entertainment career... which has turned out pretty well for him!
6. David Neeleman - Serial aviation entrepreneur, and co-founder of Jet Blue Neeleman credits much of his success to having ADHD. He says that with the disorder comes creativity and the ability to think outside the box.
7. Will Smith - The Fresh Prince has reinvented himself time after time, leading to successful careers as a rapper, actor, and producer. As a result of his ADD, he can't settle on a single channel. He's even copped to having trouble reading movie scripts - that hasn't stopped him from blowing up.
8. John F Kennedy - 35th President of the United States of America. JFK did a lot of things - some NSFW, but there are some that I revere him for. Namely, playing a pivotal role in averting World War III when the Soviets were intent on planting ICBMs in Cuba. Thanks JFK, for ensuring that mankind wouldn't glow in the dark.
9. Richard Branson - Sir Richard is constantly innovating, and has done some pretty amazing things. He started by trying to sell Christmas trees (failed), then went into publishing, record sales by mail-order, opened Virgin Recording Studio, then Virgin Records, Virgin Communications, Virgin Games, Virgin Atlantic Airways... all this by 1984. He has his hands in many, many different pies.  His ability to do many different things at once has paid off in billions. Also, he owns an island.
10. Albert Einstein - Albert Einstein was a classic case of ADHD. He was forgetful, could never find his keys and often seemed oblivious to his surroundings. When it came to theoretical physics, however, Einstein saw things clearly. His ability to conceptualize atomic principles has had inestimable impact on our world. 

The things we view as walls preventing our progress are often just giant steps in the stairway to success. Take a step back, look around, look up, and find a way to keep moving. As William D. Brown said, "failure is an event, never a person."

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Steve Underwood is a technology sales professional and life-long learner. He is currently focusing on large account acquisitions for Workfront, and is based in sunny San Diego, CA.