November 14, 2023 • 7 mins
Here’s a surprise! It seems lots of our icons have something in common. We’re talking about Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Mozart, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Edison, John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, Michael Jordan, Olympic stars Simone Biles and Michael Phelps, as well as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk. What’s their common thread? ADHD!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Abe,
Lincoln Mozart, Da Vinci. What do they all have in common?
I'm Patty Steele. ADHD next on the backstory. We're back
with the backstory. You don't have to tell me. It's
(00:20):
frustrating if it impacts you or somebody you love that
ADHD gets such a bad rap. How come? Well, maybe
because if it doesn't impact your life directly, you think
it's just some kind of a behavioral thing, but it's not.
And if it's channeled in the right way, it can
really have some incredible benefits. In fact, some folks who
(00:42):
study it claim it's an entrepreneurial superpower. Now, going back
in time, of course, it wasn't recognized as a neurodifference.
Folks that dealt with it were considered odd different, incapable
of really achieving any kind of meaningful success. So then
where did the idea of it being an entrepreneurial superpower
(01:02):
come from? What's the story with that? And who were
these wildly accomplished folks who were able to channel their
ADHD into huge success? Okay, it is a really long list,
so bear with me. I'm going to start with Albert Einstein,
Walt Disney, Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Abe Lincoln,
(01:23):
Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham, Bell, Agatha Christie. I'm up to
more recent people like John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, Michael Jordan,
actor Ryan Gosling and Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and
Michael Phelps, as well as a whole bunch of billionaires
like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Muskin, Richard Branson. And
(01:43):
that's just the short list. All of these people were
either diagnosed with or showed crystal clear signs of ADHD. Now. Hippocrates,
the father of modern medicine, was the first to talk
about ADHD. He lived in Greece around four hundred BC,
and he wrote about some patients who couldn't stay focused
on any one thing for very long and had super
(02:05):
quick reactions to things. He called it an overbalance of
fire over water, and he recommended a bland diet and
a lot of water and exercise. Today, psychologists say people
who deal with ADHD struggle to concentrate on basic things
like school, but often have the ability to hyper focus
on things that engage them. Take a look at the
(02:28):
inventors and entrepreneurs on that list, like Edison, Disney, Gates, Musk,
all of whom were so hyper focused on whatever they
were working on they didn't even take the time to
sleep or eat enough, so their creative output was non stop.
Now let's take a look at a few of these people.
Going way back, there's Leonardo da Vinci. He was a
(02:49):
great example of somebody who couldn't concentrate in school, but
his father allowed him to take a deep dive into
the things that fascinated him, from art to invention, that
brought him legendary success. Then there's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As
a really tiny little boy, he was a prodigy who
could bring an audience to tears with his music, and
(03:12):
then he'd suddenly stop in the middle of a performance
and he'd run off to play with the cat or
look for a treat. But his music speaks for itself.
And imagine being Thomas Edison. He was the youngest of
seven kids in a family with big personalities but not
a lot of money. He was sent to a crowded,
one room schoolhouse and after twelve weeks his kind of
(03:34):
overworked teacher had enough of his inability to sit still
and learn. Now. Lucky for him, his mother decided to
homeschool him. Her belief in him and her patience allowed
him to fall in love with learning. He loved technology
and literature, especially Shakespeare, but it was his intense curiosity
and zest for constantly trying new things that eventually brought
(03:58):
him a fortune that now would be worth hundreds of
millions of dollars these days. Bill Gates has talked about
really struggling with ADHD, which was part of the reason
he dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft. He says
he couldn't concentrate in class because all he wanted to
do was just get going. Same thing for Ryan Gosling,
(04:19):
the actor and super businessman. He couldn't learn or even
sit still in school either because of his jumpiness and
endless chatter. He really had a rough time making friends too. Finally,
his mom pulled him out and home schooled him. He
says that year learning at home saved his life, also
turned him on to acting, and we're glad for that now.
(04:41):
In addition, there are the super athletes who combined the
hyper focus with hyperactivity, which experts say allows them to
push their skills to a whole nother level. Fourteen time
Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps says his mom suggested
he try swimming since he couldn't sit still due to ADHD,
and that her support and positive reinforcement pushed him toward
(05:03):
Olympic success. His mom says he needed to do something
that allowed him to concentrate on what he loved and
to never have to stop moving. Michael Jordan, an NBA
legend and a billionaire business guy, says the same thing,
focus on what you love and never give up. He
believes his ADHD made him intensely persistent in basketball as
(05:25):
well as in business. And then there's Beatle John Lennon. Now,
like a lot of these folks, he came along a
little too early to be formally diagnosed, but as a
kid he was really hyperactive, struggling to pay attention in school,
finally dropping out before he finished college. When it came
to his passion, though, his ability to hyper focus kicked
(05:47):
in as he wrote music and course worked on his
performance with the Beatles. Now there's a lesson here for
us if we're dealing with ADHD, whether personally or with
somebody we love. Keep looking forward. Even the most successful
folks failed as much as they succeeded, but they kept
pushing forward with few regrets. On the upside, folks with
(06:08):
ADHD tend to be risk takers, and that's part of
what helps them discover new thoughts and ideas, new ways
of doing things. It also helps them to not fear failure,
but to treat it as an opportunity to keep learning
and innovating. As Thomas Edison said, I have not failed.
I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work. I'm
(06:40):
Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia and
Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our executive
producer is Steve Goldstein of Amplify Media. We're out with
new episodes twice a week. Thanks for listening to the Backstory.
The pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.
(07:01):
Three
All right, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Abe,
Lincoln Mozart, Da Vinci. What do they all have in common?
I'm Patty Steele. ADHD next on the backstory. We're back
with the backstory. You don't have to tell me. It's
(00:20):
frustrating if it impacts you or somebody you love that
ADHD gets such a bad rap. How come? Well, maybe
because if it doesn't impact your life directly, you think
it's just some kind of a behavioral thing, but it's not.
And if it's channeled in the right way, it can
really have some incredible benefits. In fact, some folks who
(00:42):
study it claim it's an entrepreneurial superpower. Now, going back
in time, of course, it wasn't recognized as a neurodifference.
Folks that dealt with it were considered odd different, incapable
of really achieving any kind of meaningful success. So then
where did the idea of it being an entrepreneurial superpower
(01:02):
come from? What's the story with that? And who were
these wildly accomplished folks who were able to channel their
ADHD into huge success? Okay, it is a really long list,
so bear with me. I'm going to start with Albert Einstein,
Walt Disney, Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Abe Lincoln,
(01:23):
Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham, Bell, Agatha Christie. I'm up to
more recent people like John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, Michael Jordan,
actor Ryan Gosling and Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and
Michael Phelps, as well as a whole bunch of billionaires
like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Muskin, Richard Branson. And
(01:43):
that's just the short list. All of these people were
either diagnosed with or showed crystal clear signs of ADHD. Now. Hippocrates,
the father of modern medicine, was the first to talk
about ADHD. He lived in Greece around four hundred BC,
and he wrote about some patients who couldn't stay focused
on any one thing for very long and had super
(02:05):
quick reactions to things. He called it an overbalance of
fire over water, and he recommended a bland diet and
a lot of water and exercise. Today, psychologists say people
who deal with ADHD struggle to concentrate on basic things
like school, but often have the ability to hyper focus
on things that engage them. Take a look at the
(02:28):
inventors and entrepreneurs on that list, like Edison, Disney, Gates, Musk,
all of whom were so hyper focused on whatever they
were working on they didn't even take the time to
sleep or eat enough, so their creative output was non stop.
Now let's take a look at a few of these people.
Going way back, there's Leonardo da Vinci. He was a
(02:49):
great example of somebody who couldn't concentrate in school, but
his father allowed him to take a deep dive into
the things that fascinated him, from art to invention, that
brought him legendary success. Then there's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As
a really tiny little boy, he was a prodigy who
could bring an audience to tears with his music, and
(03:12):
then he'd suddenly stop in the middle of a performance
and he'd run off to play with the cat or
look for a treat. But his music speaks for itself.
And imagine being Thomas Edison. He was the youngest of
seven kids in a family with big personalities but not
a lot of money. He was sent to a crowded,
one room schoolhouse and after twelve weeks his kind of
(03:34):
overworked teacher had enough of his inability to sit still
and learn. Now. Lucky for him, his mother decided to
homeschool him. Her belief in him and her patience allowed
him to fall in love with learning. He loved technology
and literature, especially Shakespeare, but it was his intense curiosity
and zest for constantly trying new things that eventually brought
(03:58):
him a fortune that now would be worth hundreds of
millions of dollars these days. Bill Gates has talked about
really struggling with ADHD, which was part of the reason
he dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft. He says
he couldn't concentrate in class because all he wanted to
do was just get going. Same thing for Ryan Gosling,
(04:19):
the actor and super businessman. He couldn't learn or even
sit still in school either because of his jumpiness and
endless chatter. He really had a rough time making friends too. Finally,
his mom pulled him out and home schooled him. He
says that year learning at home saved his life, also
turned him on to acting, and we're glad for that now.
(04:41):
In addition, there are the super athletes who combined the
hyper focus with hyperactivity, which experts say allows them to
push their skills to a whole nother level. Fourteen time
Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps says his mom suggested
he try swimming since he couldn't sit still due to ADHD,
and that her support and positive reinforcement pushed him toward
(05:03):
Olympic success. His mom says he needed to do something
that allowed him to concentrate on what he loved and
to never have to stop moving. Michael Jordan, an NBA
legend and a billionaire business guy, says the same thing,
focus on what you love and never give up. He
believes his ADHD made him intensely persistent in basketball as
(05:25):
well as in business. And then there's Beatle John Lennon. Now,
like a lot of these folks, he came along a
little too early to be formally diagnosed, but as a
kid he was really hyperactive, struggling to pay attention in school,
finally dropping out before he finished college. When it came
to his passion, though, his ability to hyper focus kicked
(05:47):
in as he wrote music and course worked on his
performance with the Beatles. Now there's a lesson here for
us if we're dealing with ADHD, whether personally or with
somebody we love. Keep looking forward. Even the most successful
folks failed as much as they succeeded, but they kept
pushing forward with few regrets. On the upside, folks with
(06:08):
ADHD tend to be risk takers, and that's part of
what helps them discover new thoughts and ideas, new ways
of doing things. It also helps them to not fear failure,
but to treat it as an opportunity to keep learning
and innovating. As Thomas Edison said, I have not failed.
I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work. I'm
(06:40):
Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia and
Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our executive
producer is Steve Goldstein of Amplify Media. We're out with
new episodes twice a week. Thanks for listening to the Backstory.
The pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.
(07:01):
Three
Host
Patty Steele
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