10 Signs You Do NOT Have ADHD

• The author reflects on their previous assumptions about ADHD.
• They share 10 signs that suggest one does not have ADHD.
• Each sign highlights typical behaviors associated with attention and organization.
• Insights into lying and coping mechanisms related to ADHD are discussed.
• Importance of diagnosis and understanding of ADHD in families is emphasized.

Hi. Like most adults, I was pretty sure that I did not have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Honestly, I was confident because I knew, as everyone else knows, ADHD looks like this.

Then when I found out what ADHD actually is, suddenly my life made complete sense. Okay, it made more sense. It explained a lot. The good, the bad, and the bug me. The bug me, like the tags, the shirts that bugged me.

And when you're in a noisy room at a party or you're in a restaurant, there's like six TVs going, everyone's got a different channel on, and I'm trying to have a conversation in here, and there's so much.

If you worry that you might have undiagnosed ADHD and you're really hoping you don't, well, let me calm your fears because here, for your edification, are 10 signs that you do not have ADHD. None of them are decisive. You don't have to have them all, but they do add up.

Number one, you feel like you are living up to your potential. So many adults with undiagnosed ADHD feel I'm underachieving, regardless of how much they've achieved. I mean, despite co-writing, co-starring, and producing hundreds of episodes of TV and radio, not on my own, of course. I always felt like I'm not achieving what I sense that I could.

Now, one reason people with ADHD often feel this way is that it's often true. It's kind of hard to achieve your best when you have the equivalent of four conversations blaring in your head 24/7.

While someone who's really important to you is sharing something very personal with you and you really want to get what they they saying, but there's all these distractions, and you're trying not to. And what is that over there? And oh, Swiss cheese. Is it really Swiss cheese? I wish I'd never been to Switzerland.

No, wait, I have been. Have I been to Switzerland?

Number two, you finish tasks and projects on time. Wow, what's that like?

Number three, your finished projects are actually completely finished. They aren't full of little mistakes or missing details or they address the wrong problem because you left at the last moment, you didn't read the instructions.

And number four, you read the instructions through and then you followed them in order and you did not think at some point, "This is boring. I have a better idea. I know I could do this faster."

Number five, you read the instructions and started the project and did not get sidetracked, ending up at an outdoor shop. Or the fabric store buying 20 yards of chintz for something that you've forgotten you needed it for.

And then five days later, two days after that project was due, you stumble across all of the unfinished project. It's under a pile of stuff, and now you can't find the instructions, and you can't remember what they said, and so you wing it, and it kind of turns out okay, no big deal. If that's not you, good.

Number six. Or is it seven? Did I see six? Five, four? Number whatever.

You rarely lose track of where you are or what you're doing. I think it was number six.

Number seven. Someone who knows you well suggests that you seem really scattered lately. Lately? I wish.

ADHD is driven by genes. So unless you've had a head injury or something else, it's present there in childhood. Whereas, you know, I've been distracted and restless and tuned out all the time ever since I found out I'm adopted and my real parents are Bill and Melinda Gates.

In that case, being kind of foggy and zoned out is probably an appropriate reaction. Or maybe you're overwhelmed by a new job, a divorce, a wedding, losing a pet, losing a loved one. Basically, any life crisis.

Or it could even be an ongoing crisis, like a pandemic. So if you're struggling with ADHD symptoms lightly, if you're not your usual self, that's probably not ADHD. Although, to be fair, it might be that you've been coping okay, treading water, keeping your head above water.

But things have changed. Stuff starting to pile up. You took on too much and now you're overwhelmed. But generally, we don't fall into and then bounce back from ADHD. It has been our baseline for as long as we can remember.

Or, okay, as long as someone who knows us back then can remember, because our memories often not that great. Childhood, I can't even.

I don't know the eighth sign that it's not attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. You wash and then dry and then fold and iron and immediately put away your clean laundry calmly in one day.

There aren't garments hanging everywhere or crumpled and piled up on chairs waiting to be folded or still in the laundry basket, or still in the dryer or neatly folded, but never put away. Basically, if you finish what you start, whether it's going to replace a light bulb or earning your college degree, then probably not ADHD, because you're doing things step by step in the right order. And you like that.

We wish we could do that. We'd like that. Now don't get me wrong, I do do things in the right order, but on the way, I…

Oh, right. Welcome. I'm Rick Green, I'm the founder of Rick has ADHD. I should have introduced the. Did I intro. Let me explain. I was a moderately successful comedian and then I was diagnosed in midlife.

Well, midlife if I live to be 94, because I was 47, but I was diagnosed and actually 94 would be a bit of a stretch because according to a number of studies, we actually live shorter lives, up to 10 years shorter than our neurotypical friends and famil.

I know you alone. What? Well, higher rates of depression, anxiety, car accidents, divorces, being fired multiple times, addiction, binge eating, self-medicating, risky activities. It adds up.

Of course, once you've got a proper diagnosis, that changes. Sign number nine, that you don't have ADHD. When the shoot hits the fan and it's a crisis, you are overwhelmed, you're in crisis with ADHD.

Well, you may not be. A veteran paramedic who has ADHD told me that his colleagues who have ADHD as well are brilliant at their job and whereas most folks would be, ah, he was calm, he's clear, he's focused, he can get things done as it's happening.

And I told him that's what I'm like when I'm on stage in front of a thousand people. Fear of public speaking, no excitement at public speaking. Whereas staying focused on a one in one conversation with someone is actually more stressful because what's that over there?

You see, ADHD is complex, it's kind of individual. Some of us only struggle with inattention, focus, distractions, memory. But others, myself included, also have the hyperactivity, the restlessness, the impulsivity. And we can become adrenaline junkies. We thrive in things like the military, police, fire and rescue, emergency rooms, stock trading, day trading, sales.

Hey, how are you pro sports, showbiz and entrepreneurs? You see, when we find a career that works with our particular version of ADHD, a niche where we can soar, well, then we Soar.

And number 10, the final sign that you do not have ADHD. None of your parents, grandparents, siblings or children have ADHD. It's highly heritable, it runs in family.

It's almost as heritable as height. Although a head injury, lead poisoning, other factors can produce the same symptoms, for most of us, it's how we arrived in the world.

In fact, I was diagnosed after one of my kids was. And then I thought about my dad and oh, yeah, right, this was him watching TV. He'd be pacing, rattling his keys.

But hey, great. In a crisis, ADHD is in my family tree. That's why when we made our documentary ADD and loving about fellow comedian Patrick McKenna getting diagnosed, we went into it pretty sure he had it because he looked into his family tree, the roots that he came from, and the fruit of his loins.

That was a nice little analogy, wasn't it? Okay, sorry, number 10. Wait, maybe was that number 10 or I should have written it down? Probably 10. Usually, I do like 13, but that's fine.

If hearing these 10 signs suggest that you don't have ADHD, congratulations, you can get on with your well organized A. You'll never know what it's like to have four conversations going on in your head 24/7.

Next time you're at a really noisy party, just imagine that chaos going on all the time. And really, to get the full effect, you might be trying to solve a Rubik's cube while standing on one foot as well, just to get the full effect.

If, however, you're feeling confronted, finish what I start. Remember where I put things, not get distracted. Yikes. In that case, check out Rick has ADHD.

I'll put links in the description. That's okay. That's a lie. Actually, I won't put them in because I'll forget to do it or I'll make mistakes and David will do it.

David's great. And you know who else is great are patrons. Their support through patreon.com funded this video and all the videos, past, present, and hopefully future.

Their support is what came, keeps us independent and it ensures that Rick has ADHD is here for everyone 24/7. Did I say my name? I forget.

I forget whether I said it. I know what my name is. It's Wrick Rich.