Jeff's Story
Jeff sighed as he explained everything that was going wrong. There were so many people depending on him.
Like many people with ADHD, Jeff was intelligent, engaging, and capable of excellent work when something captured his attention. He’d been working as a plumber for twelve years, and supervising others’ work for seven. He’d always been seen as a high performer. Then six months ago, the previous owner of BluePipe Plumbing, where he worked, had retired. Jeff and a work mate had bought the business.
(Jeff is fictional, but his story illustrates some common themes in working with ADHD clients).
Things seemed to go well at first. The team liked working for Jeff, and clients loved him. But the administrative side of running a business was not Jeff’s strength.
Jeff was constantly behind on his financial management. He forgot to record expenses. He forgot to invoice customers. He’d made a couple of careless errors when pricing work, which had resulted in serious losses. His business partner was increasingly frustrated with him, and constantly criticised Jeff’s administrative skills. Their relationship was starting to fray.
Jeff had long struggled with personal organisation. In high school, while a gifted student, his grades were mediocre. During his plumbing apprenticeship, he crammed at the last minute for his written assessments, pulling all-nighters to make up for the study he hadn’t done. About a year ago, he was diagnosed with ADHD and started medication, which did help a lot with his ability to focus, when he remembered to take it regularly.
Everything had seemed to be going well until he bought into the business. Now things had gone so far off track that he’d done something he once thought he’d never do: reach out to a psychologist for help.
“Where do I even start with this?” Jeff asked.
We started by working out a plan for catching up on his financial management tasks. Jeff felt overwhelmed by them, and when he sat down to try to do them, his mind filled with reasons not to start quite yet.
“This is stupid.” “This takes too long.” “I can do this later.” “There’s another job I should do first.” “Why can’t I do this?” “My business partner is going to tell me off for doing this wrong.” Anxiety showed up alongside these thoughts, and Jeff avoided it by doing something else — making a coffee, talking to an employee, checking his phone — anything other than doing his finances.
The key to progress was learning new ways of handling the anxiety, the overwhelm, and the thoughts telling him that the whole exercise was pointless anyway. Also helpful was working together on a simple system for prioritising his admin tasks, so that the next step was always clear.
One of the hardest things was convincing Jeff’s business partner, Martin, to provide some positive recognition for his progress, even when he hadn’t done things exactly how Martin wanted. When Martin started doing that, they started working more as a team, and it helped a lot.
We also worked out a written process that Jeff could use for preparing a plumbing quote. I don’t know how to prepare a plumbing quote, so Jeff walked me through the steps. We added some steps into the plan: checking that he’d understood his customer’s instructions, reviewing his calculations, checking for typos. The written process didn’t solve everything, but it did help make his pricing more consistent. His business partner was very pleased
Psychological Skills Matter
For Jeff, as with most clients, the key to success was a mixture of the psychological and the practical. We worked on what was important to him, where he wanted to get to, how to get there, and how to overcome his psychological barriers to action. Jeff’s story is a small example of what Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, for ADHD can look like in practice.
Everyone with ADHD has different strengths and challenges. Where you are right now, and your journey towards the life you want to lead, might look quite different from Jeff’s. Whether you’re working with a psychologist or coach, or going it alone, you will need to explore and experiment with what works best for you. Medication often makes a difference, and so does improving sleep, rest, exercise, learning techniques for improving focus, and having a plan. Medication works best when you take it as instructed and renew your prescription before it runs out, so putting in place strategies for that is helpful too.
If you have ADHD, you might recognise some of Jeff’s experiences. What tends to get in the way for you when you’re trying to start or finish something important?
Support Makes a Difference
If you have ADHD, or think that you might have ADHD, you are not alone. Other people have faced the same challenges and found solutions that help. You can find support by reaching out to a group like ADHD New Zealand, finding a book with practical advice, or working with a psychologist or coach.
Medication can help with focus – but building psychological skills and self-understanding is often just as important. For many people with ADHD, progress comes from a combination of practical strategies and psychological support that helps them move toward the life they want to lead.
Article posted 13 March 2026
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
Dr Carl Beuke
Carl is a a Registered Psychologist in Nelson. He has over twenty years’ experience, and specialises in supporting people with ADHD manage better in life, study, and work.
