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Customer service is hard.

It requires a lot of focus, calm nerves, and the ability to work through multiple distractions. All of that gets a lot harder when you have ADHD.

ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. There are three general types:

Inattentive
Hyperactive
Combined

Many common ADHD symptoms spell danger for someone who works in customer service:

Lack of focus
Hyperfocus (this makes it hard to notice your surroundings)
Poor time management
Weak impulse control
Poor emotional regulation

You can read more about ADHD and common symptoms here.

I have combined-type ADHD, which means I naturally struggle with both attention and hyperactivity. This was a huge challenge for me when I was growing up. In grade school, I frequently got in trouble for disrupting the class and was a master procrastinator when it came to homework.

While ADHD is still very present in my life today, I've learned some techniques that have helped me thrive. Here are five tips that work well for me.

Getting outside is one of the best ways to recharge my brain and restore my ability to focus. This is me standing atop Los Pinos Peak on a sunny day.

Tip #1: Create a vision

Nothing helps me focus on the right things better than a vision.

A vision acts as a compass to always point me in the right direction and get me back on course when I start to lose focus. Think of it as your overall intent when serving a customer.

For example, my vision is "Your Service Culture Guide." My clients come to me because they want to develop a customer-focused culture, so I always keep in mind that I'm there to guide them on their journey.

As an individual, you can create your own vision by completing the Thank You Letter Challenge. It's a fun exercise where you imagine a customer was so delighted with your service that they wrote you a thank you letter. The goal is to receive that same feedback from a real customer.

Visions can be even more powerful for teams or entire organizations. Incredible things happen when everyone is focused on the same goal. You can use this step-by-step guide to create a vision for your organization.

Tip #2: Manage Distractions

Consciously reducing and avoiding distractions can be a game-changer.

The world of customer service is full of distractions. Multiple customers vie for your attention. Coworkers constantly interrupt. Our computers flash pop-ups and our phones beep and buzz all day.

This is a huge challenge for anyone, let alone people with ADHD.

Fortunately, many of these distractions can easily be reduced or eliminated. Here are just a few examples of how I do this:

Reduce Notifications: Turn off unnecessary phone and computer notifications.
Clear Clutter: Keep a clean workspace to make it easy to find things.
Get Quiet: Find a quiet space to work on tasks that require concentration.
Rotate Tasks: Move to different tasks throughout the day to avoid zoning out.
Take Breaks: Recharge by taking regular breaks.

I asked people on LinkedIn to share their best tips for managing distractions and received some great advice.

Tip #3: Create a System

Customer service professionals need to keep track of a million little details. ADHD brains aren't good at doing that, but you can build a system to do it for you.

David Allen's classic book, Getting Things Done, provides the perfect blueprint for getting organized. Rather than sharing a rigid process, the book contains a set of principles for building a time management system you can trust.

For example, putting all of your reminders in one place, such as your customer relationship management (CRM) software or on your calendar, can reduce the amount of follow-up items that get lost on scribbled notepads, stickie notes on your computer monitor, and countless other places.

I read Getting Things Done over 20 years ago and the impact has been huge. Close friends and family members think I'm naturally organized and don't even know I have ADHD.

Tip #4: Buy Time

My boss often had to remind me to smile when I first started working as a cashier in a clothing store. I'd get so focused on ringing up transactions that the look of concentration on my face inadvertently looked like a scowl.

I was always worried about missing a simple detail, which happens a lot to me if I'm not careful. Eventually, I realized I could avoid mistakes and create better connections with customer by buying just a little time.

As a cashier, this meant trying to build rapport with each customer before starting their transaction. I'd chat a little while I scanned the customer's items and removed the security tag from each one. Then I would slow down and focus while I processed their payment because that was the moment when I needed to get things right.

I was free to engage with the customer once again after the payment was complete.

Try to find those moments in your own work. Identify situations where you need to slow things down and buy some time. Give yourself permission to express your natural creativity at other times.

Today, I support more than 10,000 Customer Service Tip of the Week subscribers on my own. I'm able to do this because it's almost exclusively via email. I can read each message carefully and respond thoughtfully to avoid misunderstandings or repeat messages.

Tip #5: Use Pomodoro

The Pomodoro Technique helps me when I really need to concentrate on an important task. Here's how it works:

Pick a task you want to focus on.
Set a timer for 25 minutes.
Give yourself permission to focus on that task until the timer goes off.
Take a short break.
Pick a new task.

It's amazing how quickly you can get absorbed in doing work this way!

Resources

People with ADHD can face a lot of challenges at work. Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) has a great overview.

ADHD can be considered a workplace disability. In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires most employers to make reasonable accommodations to help people with disabilities do their jobs.

Consider asking for an accommodation if you've been diagnosed with ADHD and struggle at work. You can learn more from this article.

Finally, I've found ADHD 2.0 to be an invaluable book for learning about ADHD and discovering strategies for to maximize my effectiveness.