If you can’t sit still, love talking on the phone, meeting new people, networking, and juggling 20 tasks at once, you might have attention deficit disorder, also known as ADD. Believe it or not, real estate can be a great career for you.
Of course, having a straight or queer eye for architecture, fashion, spatial relationships and synergies helps.
It also helps to know math – but that’s what calculators and assistants were made for.
People affected by ADD recognize the flexibility of working on real estate deals, financings, construction projects and leases, which makes for a more enjoyable career than sitting at a desk all day.
There are times you have to do that, too, though.
But if you can’t sit still for long – get up and take your mobile phone and sit in the park. Bring your WiFi-enabled laptop, a Blackberry or what have you. Keep on working your leads, and making decisions – even if you have to sit through a luncheon or keynote meeting speaker.
Television superstar and real estate billionaire Donald J. Trump says no one ever told him he had ADD – but admits he probably has it. “I can understand that [a lot of people in real estate have it]. I probably do, but I didn t know it,” he says.
One prominent leasing broker says he figured out he must have ADD when his son was diagnosed with the disorder by a doctor. “When I was a child, they labeled it different things,” he recalls. “Clearly I had to work harder at school and was never an A student. It was hard to sit still and focus on doing my work.”
To overcome those potential handicaps, he became a people person.
“I’ve had compassion and understanding and been listening and solving problems since I was 10 years old. Now I solve clients’ problems,” he says.
Those with ADD have difficulty focusing on one thing at a time, but once the condition is understood, it becomes an advantage, since most sufferers multitask very well.
“I turn the impulsivity into drive and energy to tasks that I can accomplish for my clients,” explains the broker.
Since he also lacks the confidence he believes would automatically come along with an MBA from Harvard, a credential some of his competitors can claim, he says he strives to do his due diligence and be complete in his presentations.
“Not having the academic success gives me the drive to be successful,” he says.
CEOs from companies like Cisco, Jet Blue, and even Charles Schwab have recognized they have learning difficulties to overcome. When they have to give public speeches they rehearse and practice them well beyond what other chief executives would do. Cisco’s John Chambers is a visual thinker who warns his staff that if they can’t make it simple, he won’t understand it. They want an executive summary where less is more.
Another owner-investor also hasn’t been formally diagnosed with ADD, but recognizes he would likely be told that today. His child was recently diagnosed with a similar condition.
“We all tend to be bouncing around from deal to deal and I see my child having issues that probably come from me,” he says. “I work hard on focusing on what I need to get done.”
This owner says he was not an A student like his siblings but a B-minus student who just wanted to get out and work — and did that successfully.
To focus, he makes lists of things that need to get done and keeps updating the list. “To stay focused I consciously tell myself I can’t start one item until I finish another,” he says. Otherwise, he knows he would indulge his tendency to jump from item to item. “I have conditioned myself to focus and stay on the project.”
Many folks with ADD get bored easily and so enjoy the constant challenge of the next real estate deal with its individual permutations. Some may need a structured environment while others enjoy the entrepreneurial challenges and constant deadlines.
Legal medications targeted to ADD also help keep executives focused without the risks associated with self-medication from drugs such as nicotine, marijuana or alcohol. Medical research documents that many affected teenagers explore these options before they are properly diagnosed.