TL; DR:

• The list is infinite -- accept it and prioritize accordingly
• Lean into the work that actually energizes how you're wired
• Pick the easiest task to break paralysis when overwhelmed
• Join me for the live stream (or watch the recording) on Monday, June 1 at 7:00 PM Pacific!

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ADHD, Burnout, and Building a Career That Fits Your Wiring

This week's Reddit thread is from the ExperiencedDevs subreddit, and it asks a question that I think a lot of people quietly wonder about: if you have ADHD, anxiety, depression, or some combination of those things, do you feel "nerfed" compared to your colleagues?

I want to be careful with this one. I'm not lumping these together because I think they're correlated. They're not. They're distinct things that show up very differently in different people. But the question is real, and I have my own answer for parts of it, so I want to walk through what I've actually learned -- specifically as it applies to engineering work -- rather than offer abstract reflections.

I'm also going to be upfront: I've been diagnosed with ADHD. I've gone through periods of depression at earlier points in my career. I don't have an anxiety diagnosis. I'm not a doctor, I'm not telling you what to do, and the words I use here come from my lived experience as an engineer and engineering manager. Take what's useful and leave the rest.