Episode Details

You hired someone good. The work was fine. You still sent the late-night Slack message, redirected the task, and checked in on something that had already been handled.

This episode looks at what the research suggests is actually driving that pattern. Not trust issues. Not a bad hire. A specific kind of perfectionism that shows up differently in people with ADHD.

Two studies help explain it. A 2016 study found perfectionism was the most common cognitive distortion in adults formally diagnosed with ADHD, endorsed by 55% of the sample. It was not close. A 2023 study then looked at what kind of perfectionism. Their findings indicate ADHD founders are not setting impossibly high standards. They are feeling the gap between what they expected and what was delivered more intensely than others. What drove avoidance most strongly was not perfectionism in the traditional sense, but the persistent feeling of falling short, even when the original standard was reasonable.

Delegation becomes the thing most associated with that painful shortfall. So the brain starts treating it as a threat.

Friday's episode covers the practical side: how to structure delegation so the gap is smaller from the start and your perfectionism has less to react to.

What We Cover:

• Why ADHD perfectionism research suggests it is not about high standards but about feeling any shortfall more acutely than others
• How the discrepancy between expected and actual output drives avoidance in ADHD founders specifically
• The two scenarios where delegation breaks down even when the team is competent and the work is solid
• Why the founder who re-enters delegated work is not micromanaging but responding to a learned pattern of emotional pain
• What Friday's episode will cover on structuring delegation to reduce that gap from the start

If you’re an entrepreneur with ADHD who’s tired of being asked “Why don’t you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We’ve gotchu! 

1. Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.
2. Find out what’s holding you back. I’ll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.
3. Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you’re tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.
4. Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can’t explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.