Not broken just build different

So Juan messaged me the other day and said,

“Hey Alex, I’ve really appreciated your posts around hiring, inclusion, and people-first culture.”

And I thought, wow. That’s really nice.

Then he said he’s navigating ADHD in the workplace and it’s been a journey.

And I said, “Same, brother. SAME.”

Because let me tell you something — if you’ve ever had ADHD and a job, congratulations.

You’ve basically signed up for the Olympics of pretending to be normal while secretly Googling “how to stay focused for longer than 6 minutes without spiraling.”

I once spent 45 minutes writing a work email.

Not because it was complicated.

But because I changed the opening line 12 times.

“Hope you’re doing well”

“Hope this finds you”

“Hope you survived Monday”

“Hope no one cc’d Karen on this”

By the time I hit send, the project was already obsolete.

Now imagine that in a workplace that doesn’t get it.

Where being neurodivergent is treated like a character flaw instead of what it actually is —

a brain running 37 browser tabs, 2 playlists, and a full internal TED Talk all at once.

I’ve had jobs where people said things like,

“We value all minds here.”

Then side-eyed me for bouncing my leg in a meeting like I was trying to send Morse code to freedom.

Once, I brought up that I have ADHD during an onboarding “getting to know you” moment.

They said, “That’s great! We love diversity.”

Two weeks later I missed a Slack message and they were like,

“Hmm, seems disorganized.”

Ma’am. I told you I’m neurodivergent.

This isn’t disorganization.

This is personality with flair.

And don’t even get me started on the performance reviews.

“We’ve noticed you have bursts of brilliance followed by… naps?”

Yes. That’s called surviving modern capitalism with dopamine issues.

But Juan said something powerful:

He’s not sharing to vent — he’s sharing to help people feel seen.

That hit.

Because when you live in a brain that operates like an over-caffeinated squirrel trapped in an escape room, you spend a lot of your life masking, apologizing, shrinking.

And sometimes, just hearing someone say, “Hey, you’re not broken. Your brain just runs on custom settings,”

is enough to breathe again.

So to all the Juans out there:

The ones sending calendar invites and forgetting them 5 minutes later.

The ones who overthink Slack emojis.

The ones who say, “I’ll circle back” and then immediately orbit Saturn.

You’re not lazy.

You’re not unmotivated.

You’re doing your best with a brain that’s busy building cathedrals while being asked to format spreadsheets.

And to every company that says “people-first” — prove it.

Hire the Juans.

Support them.

Don’t just include them in the slideshow. Include them in the actual strategy.

Because when people like Juan thrive,

we all win.

And if we get a few color-coded sticky notes and hyperfixated Slack messages along the way?

Even better.