Why "Pick One Thing" Feels Wrong When Your Brain Loves Everything

Please Stop Trying to Shrink Your ADHD Brain Into a "Niche"

Everyone keeps telling you the same thing:

"Just pick one thing to focus on.”

“Find what you're good at and stick with it."

And every time you hear it, it feels icky.

Like someone's telling you to cut off parts of yourself.

Our ADHD brain works differently from other people's brains, which is why this advice feels so wrong.

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Your Brain Is Like a Curious Kid

Think about how a kid explores a playground.

They don't just use the swings the whole time.

They try the monkey bars, the slide, then they notice a cool bug, and want to climb the fence to see what's on the other side.

That's our brain.

It loves trying new things and making connections between stuff that seems totally different.

But grown-ups keep saying, "No, you have to just use the swings. Only the swings. Forever."

Why This Advice Doesn't Work for You

When people say "pick one thing," they're thinking about brains that work differently than yours.

Your interests aren't all over the place for no reason.

They actually connect to each other in cool ways.

Maybe you love drawing AND writing AND helping people feel better.

Those things can work together.

See yourself as a spider web - everything connects.

What Actually Happens When You Try to Shrink Yourself

Maybe you've tried picking just one thing before.

You told yourself, "Okay, I'm only going to do photography now. Nothing else."

And then?

You probably got bored.

Or frustrated.

Or felt like you were pretending to be someone you're not.

The excitement slowly drained away.

Like trying to keep a butterfly in a jar:

It might stay alive, but it can't really fly anymore.

The Hidden Cost of Fighting Your Nature

Here's what nobody talks about:

When you force yourself to focus on just one thing, you don't just lose the other interests.

You lose the magic that happens when they mix together.

Think about chocolate chip cookies.

The chocolate is great.

The cookie dough is great.

But when you put them together?

That's when something amazing happens.

Your different interests work the same way.

Your art makes your writing better.

Your love of psychology makes your design work deeper.

Your random obsession with how plants grow might give you the perfect metaphor for a business idea.

When you try to separate them, you lose the special sauce that makes you, YOU!

Your Brain Has Superpowers (Seriously)

ADHD brains are really good at something called "divergent thinking."

That's a fancy way of saying you can see connections that other people miss.

While someone else looks at a tree and just sees a tree, you might see a tree and think about root systems, which makes you think about family connections, which gives you an idea for a story, which inspires a drawing, which leads to a new business idea.

That's your superpower.

Most people can only think in straight lines.

You think in webs, spirals, and three-dimensional shapes and can take ideas from totally different places and smoosh them together into something new.

Why Society Keeps Getting This Wrong

The world loves simple, easy-to-understand categories.

It's easier to market "the photographer" than "the person who takes pictures and writes stories and teaches people how to feel calm and also makes really good playlists."

But easy to market doesn't mean better.

It just means, easier to market.

Think about your favorite people - the ones who really inspire you.

Do they just do one thing?

Or are they interesting because they do lots of different things in their own unique way?

Here's What You Can Do Instead

You don't have to pick just one thing.

Look for the invisible thread that connects all your interests.

Maybe everything you love is about making people feel happy.

Or helping things look pretty. Or solving problems in creative ways.

That connection - that's your real "one thing."

Creating Space for All of You

Make containers for your different interests.

You can draw AND write AND teach AND sell things.

No need to “choose” between them.

Let yourself have seasons.

Maybe you focus on art for a few months, then switch to writing, then try something new.

The Truth About Success

The most interesting people in the world don't just do one thing.

They try lots of things and mix them together in new ways.

Your brain gets excited about lots of different stuff because it can see connections other people miss.

That's what makes us special.

The world needs people who can't fit into neat little boxes.

The world needs you, exactly as you are, with all your wild interests and crazy connections.