Wow. WOW. WOWW.

This just triggered a Total Recall for me - made me rethink the lens through which I viewed myself all my life.

Always called "Gifted", I aced throughout school and college with straight As effortlessly - while gaming for long hours and studying last-minute.

Got into one of my country's top 10 Unis, bagged a top job offer, then quit 2 years in - and in the 3 months since I embarked on "solopreneurship" things have been unruly and torturous.

I remember repeatedly lamenting that I can excel beyond an exceptional degree in any "structured" game (Competitive exams, jobs, chess, and more) - but "doing my own" thing or playing "unstructured games" feels Herculean.

It's almost like "something" needs to protect me from my own mind.

The discipline, habits, and environment optimization I cultivated throughout the years "protects" my focus and productivity now, my mind runs super-fast on so many multiple tracks simultaneously that it gets overwhelming sometimes.

So, is the solution to gifted minds with ADHD (or neurodivergence as in my case) to play and excel in structured games?

Degrees, PhDs, research, and so on? But then what about the multiple tracks and vastness of ideas? Such structured games sadly become limiting?

I am yet to arrive at a solution and if anyone else can relate and has found one - I beseech you to share it with me.

Thanks for writing this article - and thanks to everyone who read this response.