It’s taken me three weeks to start this article. I saw it pop up as a task in our snazzy marketing planner board on Monday.com – ‘Creative Director Guest Blog’. I saw that the due date was the 30th September, and so I added it as a task months in advance. Since then I have moved it. Like a rabbit making it’s way across the field, it’s hopped and bounced along my week, from day to day, and then week to week.
But enough is enough, ‘today is the day I write it’ I say to myself (it’s due today, the last day of ADHD month).
And here are the things I did instead:
- Cut wood, drilled holes and used foam to create a voiceover booth in the studio.
- Created a ‘producer area’ where we can keep clapper boards, clipboards and the megaphone (you don’t want Libby to be shouting at you with that).
- Completed the cable management on our ingest/DIT trolley so that the trolley is powered by just one plug (majestic).
Don’t get me wrong, these are useful tasks and needed to be done, but the point I’m trying to get to is that they didn’t need to be done at that moment. What I ‘should’ have been doing was writing as that was the task I had assigned myself at that particular time, and what I ‘should’ be doing now is a quote…
As of January 2024 I was diagnosed with ADHD, very much as an adult and very much unsurprised. Entering into this process I was adamant that whatever the outcome I didn’t want it to encapsulate who I am, to define me or always be my topic of conversation (oh the irony blog boy).
For those who want to know I have hyperactive/impulsive type and am still not qualified to talk about the ins and outs of any of it. However from what I have read and been told the hyperactive/impulsive ADHD brain attempts many tasks at once, enables fast processing of information and thrives in creative problem solving. On the opposite side the ADHD brain generally struggles with executive functioning, communication and ‘boring’ tasks – all things that as the CD of Bull & Wolf I need to be able to do. Although ‘We Don’t Do Boring’ so that’s good.
Thankfully being an adult who at the time was unaware of his ADHD-ness, I have developed systems to deal with what could otherwise be a very stressful career path. I am very organised (Joe might argue to the point of pedantry), because if I’m not I wouldn’t be able to remember anything or keep track of our busy production schedule and commitments. And I may in the future list some other techniques I find useful to keep on top of things in a creative career (if that would be useful to anyone?).
Are you ADHD because your creative or creative because of ADHD?
In my very much not-professional opinion, ADHD and creative careers seems to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. I started my career as a freelancer; photography, video assisting, video editing and running my own multi-crew video jobs. The fast paced nature of working for yourself and arriving on photography and video jobs where like-minded professionals gave it 110% feeds the need for movement and constant stimulus.
However, I’m not saying that only the neurodivergent can be creative, not at all, in fact learning more about ADHD has taught me the condition where creativity thrives: time.
And this isn’t a new thought, in fact my mentor and friend Thad Cox once said that our most lucid creative ideas often come on walks, at the shops or in the shower. It’s my job as a Creative Director to plant the seed early in the week, get the team thinking, so when our Friday Braindump (creative session) comes around, we have ideas to play with.
In the same way I allow myself time to accomplish tasks in what may appear to be a chaotic order, I need to allow my team (and you need to allow yourself dear reader) the time to let your ideas catch and develop. If I hadn’t let my mind wander, occupy me and find things to do, in a weird way this article would never have been written. Or I would have rushed a soulless piece of video drivel on the top five ways to ensure your ads are unskippable. So I guess my main advice (not that I’m qualified to give any) is to cut yourself some slack, as long as ‘the thing’ gets done and you don’t let any of your team down in the process, then it’s all part of a busy creative career.
Now you know me a little better. Have a great day.
Anyway:
- Create content that evokes an emotional reaction from your audience – they need to care.
- Movement – make things move early on to stop that scroll.
- Surprise your audience – show them something they may not have seen before, or shock them.
- Be funny. Easier said than done often, but funny is a clear route to entertaining.
- Be genuine.
This article has been fact checked by an actual doctor.
