Hey man, just got diagnosed myself less than a week ago. I went to a shrink after once again failing my latest round of papers for college despite having every reason to pass them with flying colors.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this over the weekend and I decided the diagnosis hasn't bothered me that much. For one, I'm still me, being diagnosed hasn't changed anything.

But number two (to answer your question), I don't think of my life up to this point has been a failure. I've done a lot of seriously cool things over the past few years and found other ways to make up for my deficits.

I'll give you an example. Last semester, I ran a campaign against a political lobbying group on my campus to prevent them from taking money directly out of our tuition. The system I thought was unfair to students who didn't agree with the idealogical views of the organization.

I have never really been involved in politics so I made up a lot of it as I went. I started writing an op-ed to our school newspaper and couldn't stop procrastinating no matter how hard I tried. So you know what I did? I paired up with a friend who I knew was a strong writer and had him write the op-ed instead. After that point I basically ceded all control over to him on writing blog posts and social media stuff (though I did check over his work before he submitted anything). On my end, I would hit people up and try to convince them to hand out flyers for us and tell their friends about our cause. I was also outside everyday, talking with students about the issue and making sure they knew what was going on.

Long story short, when the issue came to a vote, our coalition won in a landslide...against a political lobbying group. I worked my ass off for this campaign and catered to my own strengths and no matter what I do later in life it will always be one of my biggest accomplishments. Most importantly, it all happened while I was blissfully unaware that I had a neurological disorder.

Frankly, I can't wait to start taking meds since I understand ADHD is readily treatable. I'm excited to think that I might actually be able to concentrate on writing and finally feel like I can achieve my potential in that department. But honestly? If I never can, I think I'll figure things out.

Regardless of mental impairment, we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. The key is to find your strengths and use them to your advantage. That's how life works and ADHD doesn't really change that one bit.

Btw, for the record, Bill Gates might not have had ADHD but several successful people do. Richard Branson is a billionaire in charge of the much envied Virgin brand. James Carville is most likely the reason Bill Clinton got elected President and is known to have severe ADHD; he's now a professor at Tulane.

P.S: I am writing this to procrastinate a 5 page essay due last Wednesday, go figure.