Action Powers No. 16 of 28
They call it: Too impulsive We call it
Lightning Decisions
Also known as fast intuitive decisions.
The short version Your answer arrives before the reasons do, and that speed starts things nobody else would start.
Collected. 0 of 28.
Sounds like you?
- You pick a restaurant while everyone else reads the menu twice.
- You answer the text before your friend has put the phone down.
- You change plans mid-sentence and the new plan is better.
Why it’s a power
Your brain skips the slow meeting and goes straight to the answer. For lots of people with ADHD, the decision arrives before the reasons do. Ask us to explain and we might have to work backwards.
Entrepreneurs with ADHD describe exactly this. In interviews with 14 entrepreneurs who have ADHD, acting fast without long analysis was how things got started, and they reported good and bad results from it.Source 1 Acting without long planning also went with more entrepreneurship, in a bigger study from the same research team.Source 2
Nobody has shown these fast decisions are more often right. A review of 37 studies found people with ADHD made riskier choices in lab tasks.Source 3 So the gift is speed and nerve, not guaranteed accuracy. Speed plus one quick check beats either alone.
Early evidence
Fourteen entrepreneurs with ADHD described fast gut decisions, with good and bad results. Nobody has measured whether those decisions are more often right.
Where it shines
- Starting a business or a project
- Choosing under the clock in a game
- Deciding which team to join
The flip side
Fast also means wrong sometimes. In lab tasks people with ADHD made riskier choices, so the same speed that starts great things can cost you.
Power-up: try this today
Before your next small decision, say your choice out loud with one reason. Speed stays, and you get a two-second check.
Say it to a kid
Some kids take forever to pick a flavor. You already know which one. Your brain skips the long list and jumps to the answer.
Where this comes from
- Wiklund, J., Patzelt, H., & Dimov, D. (2016). Entrepreneurship and psychological disorders: how ADHD can be productively harnessed. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 6, 14-20. Read it
- Wiklund, J., Yu, W., Tucker, R., & Marino, L. D. (2017). ADHD, impulsivity and entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(6), 627-656. Read it
- Dekkers, T. J., Popma, A., Agelink van Rentergem, J. A., Bexkens, A., & Huizenga, H. M. (2016). Risky decision making in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-regression analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 45, 1-16. Read it