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You can do this. I got diagnosed at 40. I often feel scared that I am so disorganized and screwing up. It takes a lot of work to stay on track. I have just started being honest with people that I struggle with things. I don't always tell everyone that I have ADHD, but there are a few people in my inner circle who know it and help me out with things like reminders and staying on track.
Things that have really helped me is being sure to delegate things to other people when I can. I encourage you to take notes in a singular location. A single tool! I like coda.io. I am really terrible about this normally because there are so many tools and notebooks that I have, but you have to start building a habit in a singular place.
Blocking off time in your calendar will help you set goals for yourself of things that you need to accomplish that day. Do you do better solo work in the morning or at night? Block off your calendar when you work best.
Routine! Do you like exercise? I found that when I used to exercise regularly every morning it also helped. I have fallen out of the habit but need to get back on the horse.
Coffee? I find caffeine really helps me at least maintain a little bit more focus than I used to. I tried Vyvanse for a while and it was pretty great, but it was fairly expensive and I'm really worried about getting Parkinson's disease since people who take adhd stimulants may have a higher risk of developing it in older age. (This may not be 100% validated but I have a family history so I am trying to avoid anything that could result in it!)
Time keeping: I recommend getting a time timer or pomodoro timer and setting it anytime you start doing work. Or if you know that an upcoming meeting is about to happen and you have about 15 minutes to get something done, set that timer so you aren't late for a meeting. I am often late to meetings so I have to do this trick every time.
Your ADHD brings you many, many good things. You are likely very creative, imaginative, inspiring, able to make connections to things really really quickly, you are likely charming and a good storyteller, all highly valuable skills. You can be a manager too and you can do it well even with ADHD.
Order the book "order from chaos" on Amazon. It's great! There are also really great ADHD groups in Reddit and on Instagram there are some really great folks to follow too. There's also a woman on YouTube that makes really helpful videos around staying organized.
And it's okay to tell people that you struggle with staying organized. You can do this!!
Thank you so much for your response too! I am really excited for you. You should be proud of all that you have accomplished so far! I also love the music reminder. I listen to a lot of white noise or background noise when I'm working too. There's this fun website called "asoftmurmur.com" to generate some fun background noise!
The ADHD YouTuber https://youtube.com/c/HowtoADHD
Stay a Manager and work through it. Delegate adequately and show up for your team when required. Never let them see you falter because they look to you for answer. So lead like you are supposed to.. I struggle unmedicated but I usually have to pretend and make it through.. and balance it out with gym and a good rest. I’m medicated now thankfully.
For me what exhaust me is the lack of sleep with the ADHD 🧠 so I literally have to parent myself.
Most important is always look at the positives and solutions, instead of beating yourself up. Take it easy day at a time, if not one hour at a time, even with your team.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer and your kind words. I'm also unmedicated but by working remote it's a bit easier for me to hide everything. I started working out again, have healthier breakfasts and taking my vitamins. It's so bad right now, I'm actually taking it minute by minute.
Sleep is definitely hard right now, but I'm trying. I agree, after receiving this diagnosis I've felt like I needed to reraise myself which is why I'm struggling as leadership. But I'll continue pushing. We have a mini support group at my office and there's a director in there I connected with recently
Delegate responsibilities where possible!
But more importantly, most people fall short of their to-do list - being a manager means things will come up and you will find tasks take longer than expected. The only managers that reach the end of their list are those that set a short one.
What do you mean by highs and lows? Like hyper focus and distraction? Or is your mood variable?
If simple things feel complex, make the work even simpler. Keep your list to three things per day. And if you have trouble getting started, start with something super tiny. Like opening a document.
I agree with the comments above. Delegate what you can and it really helps. I would also recommend looking into medication if you aren't already on one Being on meds really helped me to manage my day to day.