The creative adult is the child who has survived.” — Julian F. Fleron
Somewhere between 2.5% and 4% of adults have ADHD. This can mean restlessness, disorganization, and difficulty focusing—significant challenges in most traditional jobs.
But what makes some jobs challenging can prove advantageous to others. Choosing the best job for adults with ADHD is essential to both long-term happiness and a successful career.
What you’re looking for are jobs that require novelty and dynamic environments to stop the onset of boredom, that are passion-fueled, and that offer creative freedom and flexibility.
Managing to find something with all of these dynamics might sound difficult, but it is possible and highly rewarding. Below are some of the best options.
1. Entrepreneurship
Studies suggest that people with ADHD are 500% more likely to have entrepreneurial intentions than people without ADHD, and they’re twice as likely to act on those intentions.
This isn’t surprising. Entrepreneurs get to start and run their own businesses with complete freedom. The creative vision, organization, marketing—all the important decisions are up to you.
The income potential may as well be unlimited, but the difficulty is getting a business off the ground. Most of them fail, so you’ll likely need to start and discard a few before things take off.
2. Creator And Coaches
Like entrepreneurship, being a content creator and online coach can be a high-paying job, but only if you’re in the top 5-10%.
The most successful content creators don’t just build audiences, they build communities through online courses, coaching programs and membership communities. Content creators differ from influencers in that they make more of their money from their own knowledge and expertise than from referring people to other brands.
Right now the most successful content creators and coaches are building online communities and email newsletters to get people off highly distracting social networks and into a private space where the content creator can build human connection and engage a community.
3. Digital Marketing
Another great creative job for ADHD adults is in the digital marketing sphere. If you can produce effective marketing campaigns for channels on social media and for online advertising, you could find yourself with a high-paying, high-growth job.
You’ll need to learn different strategies and techniques, SEO marketing, how to analyze important metrics, and stay up-to-date on relevant tools and platforms. It’s a constantly changing field but that’s what keeps it interesting.
I have worked in digital marketing for over a decade and found that many digital marketers, SEO professionals and advertising executives have ADHD.
4. User Experience Designer
Creating eye-catching visuals for websites, advertisements, products, and software, is another great creative job for ADHD adults. It relies on creativity and has plenty of variability to keep you engaged.
You’ll want a grasp of some relevant software such as Adobe Illustrator and Figma, but there are other apps and tools popping up online all the time, making the process that much more efficient.
User Experience Design (UX design) involves graphic design but it is less about flash and more about function. It requires a greater understanding of users and the decisions they make, and you’ll be building wireframes and prototypes for your clients.
5. Software Engineering
Coding has a reputation as a trigger for hyperfocus and flow. If you have the right knowledge and skills in certain programming languages, you can work quickly and intuitively, solving problems as you build products and programs.
This is also a role that is significantly remote, there are many software companies that will let you work from anywhere, as long as you can jump on a meeting every now and then.
The income potential is also quite high for developers with the right skills. If you learn how to work in fields like artificial intelligence, you’ll be in demand and working on the cutting edge.
6. Copywriter
Virtually every business needs quality written content, whether it’s on the front of their website, in blog posts and articles, on their social media channels, throughout a magazine, or printed over the packaging of a product.
A copywriter needs to know how to adopt the voice of different brands while crafting engaging, informative, and persuasive text. You’ll also need to be good at researching topics and getting to know different products inside and out.
The job usually allows for remote work, and you can find the businesses and products that most interest you, it also gives you some creative licence.
7. Sales Representative
As a sales representative, you sell products or services to customers on behalf of other businesses. You’re the link between buyer and seller, responsible for finding the customers and convincing them of the benefits of the product.
This is perfect if you have great communication skills, as you will need to build and maintain relationships with clients. You’ll need to be persuasive and capable of negotiating.
It’s fast-paced and goal-oriented. You can face a variety of challenges and need to adapt to different clients, companies, products, and sales techniques.
Forging Your Path And Using The Creative Gift of ADHD
Each of these jobs has the potential for remote work and high-income potential. They have room for growth and a chance to let your creative mind shine in different ways.
This makes them some of the best jobs for adults with ADHD. There’s very little monotony, in each role you’ll build new skills as you face unique challenges and problems.
Each of them has different learning curves and barriers to entry, but once you know which are the most appealing to you, you can set about learning the relevant skills and putting yourself in a position to succeed.
