A person with ADHD has the power of a Ferrari engine but with bicycle-strength brakes. It’s the mismatch of engine power to braking capability that causes the problems. Strengthening one’s brakes is the name of the game.

the sense that they tend to have unbridled optimism. We never met a deal we didn’t like, an opportunity we didn’t want to pursue, a chance we didn’t want to take. We get carried away. We see limitless possibilities where others see just the limits. The lover has trouble holding back, and not holding back is a major part of what it means to have

“ADHD” is a term that describes a way of being in the world. It is neither entirely a disorder nor entirely an asset. It is an array of traits specific to a unique kind of mind. It can become a distinct advantage or an abiding curse, depending on how a person manages it.

The great mathematician Alan Turing summed us up when he said, “Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.” That sums us up perfectly.

we have a pronounced intolerance of boredom; boredom is our kryptonite. The second that we experience boredom—which you might think of as a lack of stimulation—we reflexively, instantaneously, automatically and without conscious thought seek stimulation. We don’t care what it is, we just have to address the mental emergency—the brain pain—that

Trouble sharing and playing with others early on, but at the same time, a desire to make friends. As life progresses, social problems can develop, due to trouble reading the social scene and inability to control the impulse to interrupt or butt in. In adulthood, this translates to seeming gruff, awkward, rude, self-centered, unfiltered, or aloof;

It occurs in at least 5 percent of the population, though we believe that that number is much higher because there are people who seem to be doing well in life (but who could be doing so much better) who do not get diagnosed.

Unexplained underachievement. The person is simply not doing as well as innate talent and brainpower warrant. There’s no obvious explanation, like poor eyesight, serious physical illness, or cognitive impairment due to head injury, say.

in less clinical terms, it helps to think of ADHD as a complex set of contradictory or paradoxical tendencies: a lack of focus combined with an ability to superfocus; a lack of direction combined with highly directed entrepreneurialism; a tendency to procrastinate combined with a knack for getting a week’s worth of work done in two hours;