Instead of just seven learning styles, he says, there are over seven billion -- as many learning styles as there are individuals on the planet! This is because each of us has a uniquely wired brain that “learns in ways unique to that wiring.”

If each of us has a unique brain, then each of us sees and interprets things in our own way. Each person’s input, when solicited, will enrich the outcome of any deliberation, because each of us is likely to come up with a slightly different way to solve a problem. That makes each of us invaluable. We see things from our own, one-of-a-kind perspective!

Even though each brain is unique, there seem to be certain commonalities about the brains of the 5-10 percent of people we label as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We know that no two “ADDers” are alike, but there do seem to be certain “hard wired” similarities. These include an inability to pay attention to boring things and the corollary – a tendency to be attracted to anything that is interesting to us, whether externally or internally. 

ADHD brains are understimulated due to reduced dopamine in the synapses of the brain. As a result, we are looking for anything and everything that is “sparkly,” that might provide stimulation and make our brains feel "normal." The sparkly thing could be the proverbial squirrel running by, or it could be one of the many thoughts that are constantly running through our heads. 

The large number of thoughts may be one of the reasons that folks with ADHD seem to have a greater degree of creativity than average. In addition, we pay attention to more objects and happenings in our environment, always on the lookout for interesting things to stimulate our brains. Putting all that input and all those thoughts together, we often solve previously unsolvable problems by bringing together things that the average person doesn’t consider combining. 

There is apparently an organization called The National Center for Biotechnology Information that has published a document called The History of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The website Quora has published an article based on this document that lists some of the influential people throughout history who are believed to have had ADHD. It's quite a roster, (though of course we can't know for sure that they all had ADHD). 

We ADDers are often “out-of-the-box” thinkers – just the kind of people who will not be easily replaced by computers in the coming years. In other words, the world needs us and our creative input to solve the enormous number of problems the world is facing today! 

Not all the ideas that occur to us are good ones. Perhaps many of them wouldn’t work out. But some of them might be just what humanity needs to solve problems such as the climate crisis, water and food scarcity, militarism, discrimination, and many more!

At Free To Be Coaching, Neil and I believe that each individual’s unique, positive contribution is necessary if we are to resolve the many crises in our world. In our work, we are particularly focused on individuals with ADHD and similar challenges. These people are often unable to bring their brilliant ideas to fruition due to challenges that respond very well to coaching. 

Neil and I believe that one of the primary ways we can make a difference in the world is by supporting the folks with ADHD challenges so that their creative and potentially world-changing ideas can see the light of day. 

We are all Free to Be our most brilliant and creative selves once we let go of limiting beliefs and find ways to get things done by working with our strengths and compensating for our challenges. 

Where will you use your ADHD strengths to make a contribution, large or small?