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I DON’T HAVE ADHD

I’VE GOT ADHAAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Asset

Turning Weaknesses into Strength

Dave Gilpin

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PREFACE

Bill Murray has starred in a lot of very funny movies. He once starred in

a film called ‘Quick Change’ in which he played a bank robber dressed

up as a clown. A security guard sees his gun and asks him, ‘What kind

of clown are you?’ Bill Murray’s character replies ‘The crying on the

inside kind.’

What kind of person are you? A ‘crying on the inside’ kind or a ‘crying

on the outside’ kind? Are you ‘indoorsy’ or ‘outdoorsy’?

Are you a thinker, a doer or a feeler? Are you well organised or a

smidgen spontaneous? Do you fly by the seat of your pants or is there

a boy scout or a girl guide in you that’s always prepared in advance?

Do you find yourself quite different to everyone else around you?

To find out who you really are is one of the greatest discoveries of life.

To unearth the talents, gifts, personality and eccentricities within you

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and to connect them to your divine destiny is to experience amazing

freedom.

Every great discovery, however, often comes with great opposition

to guard it against all possible explorations - fort like walls, armed

soldiers and scrolls of barbed wire all stand in the way between you

and your liberation.

Each of these talents and gifts that lie within us are natural, God given

strengths and are situated within The Natural Region of our Minds

and Souls. This God created Region within us needs to be cut off from

The old Fallen Region of fears, phobias and selfconsciousness and

opened up to the faith and power of The New Regions of The Mind

that the Holy Spirit has placed within every Christian.

High up on the turrets of the Fallen Mind are the Special Forces. Their

weapons are designed to get you to constantly compare yourself

with everyone else around you, eventually robbing you of all your

confidence and uniqueness.

Hiding behind the Walls of Deceit in the Fallen Region of the Mind

is the Disorder Division. Their sole aim is to fire bullets telling you

that every quirk and abnormality in you is actually a psychological

disorder. They’ll do anything they can to stop you realising that many

are actually gifts from God just waiting to be released from the fears

of the Fallen Mind and attached to the faith of the New Mind.

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Also lurking in the shadows just across the border between the

Natural Region of the Mind and the Fallen Region of the Mind are the

Pharisee Fighters. Their aim is to shut down the Natural Mind will all

of its rich resources by poisoning its water supply with the thoughts

that personality and creativity are unspiritual and even carnal in

origin. They want you to abandon your talents and for you to rely

totally upon ‘The anointing’. Their motivation, however, is to control

and not liberate.

On the other side of the Natural Region of the Mind, however, is the

New Region of the Mind. It too is armed, not with destructve forces

but with the Soldiers of Peace, the Tanks of Trust and the Power of the

Holy Spirit. The desire of the New Mind is that it would be served by

the Natural Mind with all its talents and abilities in order to see God’s

plans and purposes accelerate in our lives.

‘I Don’t Have ADHD, ‘I’ve Got ADHA - Attention Deficit Hyperactvity

Asset’ is all about strengthening your strengths, minimizing your

weaknesses and ignoring your non strengths.

It’s aim is to breathe on the divine spark inside of you, allowing you to

relish in the wonder of the person God made you to be.

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INTRODUCTION

Some years ago when my wife came home from a two week trip to

America. She said that she’d finally worked me out. In her hand were

two books someone had given her on ‘Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder’ in adults. While she muscled through the pages on the plane

she was filled with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. She’d seen it all

before – in ME! As I devoured the gospel according to ADHD in adults

a huge sense of relief went through me. I’d finally seen the light! It

was me - me throughout my childhood years, my teen years and all of

my adult years. Finally I was being analysed and I felt good!

But was it all the truth? Each of the characteristics appeared to line up

with all I’d been displaying all of my life, but there was something in

it all that made me feel uncomfortable. What was it? It finally dawned

on me that it was found in the small print - well actually in the largest

print on the cover – ADHD. This abbreviated title masks a heresy

that has created a curse. Who says that ADH is a Disorder? By what

standard of normality is it mapped against? Everybody’s normal until

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you get to know them!

This book is dedicated to the ADH geniuses who walk the earth. It’s

aim is to free them from all judgement and curse – from the primeval

knife of society that only has eyes to divide normal from abnormal

and sane from insane.

It’s time to take the labels off. Farewell ‘disorder’. Welcome ADHA –

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity ASSET! (If you have a minute right

now - do a silly little dance around your room, at the tube station,

at the resort, in the jail or in the waiting room of your psychologist’s

office). Wherever you find yourself – goodbye Robin Island, goodbye

Alcatraz – your walk to freedom has just begun! Well it certainly

became the dawning of my walk to freedom.

Right! Let’s list it! They say I’ve got ADHD. I’m definitely on the autism

spectrum and I’m littered with compulsive obsessive disorders.

Surely I should have snapped by now. I can’t believe it – I’m a pastor,

an author, still got the same wife, a motivational speaker and on two

or three boards of national charities associated with the church (even

with almost zero empathy!). I also have a knack for clothes shopping

– but always wear a white t shirt to bed – with no exception.

There’s a lot of plates spinning and I love every minute of it. All

because I’m ramped with assets - ADHA, OCA (Obsessive Compulsive

Asset!) plus plenty more. Life isn’t just about what you’ve got - it’s

about how you look at what you’ve got!

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They say that Michelangelo painted areas of the Sistine Chapel that

would never be seen by anyone observing from the ground up. His

meticulousness went way beyond that of most of the human race,

who simply try to do the least to impress the most! Is it the truth,

however, that Michelangelo wasn’t just a gifted artist and sculptor

but the proud owner of a number of disorders that were in reality

gifts being used for the glory of God?

My disorders (yeah right!) have taken me out of the nice little ordered

packages this world would prefer, and brought me into a chaotic

world of creativity and colour. Just because guns are used to shoot

people doesn’t make guns wrong. Just because money is used for

greed and crime doesn’t mean money is wrong. It’s the same with

these unique mental talents. OCD and Autism have created some

anti social and highly disruptive behaviour but it doesn’t mean

they’re disorders. They have the capacity to take one from the plains

of mediocrity to the heights of genius in a nano second.

For centuries, many of these assets that have been labelled as

‘disorders’ have been used to create a world full of originality,

inventiveness, diligence and design. If the gift of Attention Deficit

enables people to get started on lots of projects all at the same time,

then those who are also blessed to have the gift of autism have the

added advantage of being able to finish each project - and in record

time! Here’s the top three advantages of having the gifts that are

most often seen as disorders!

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1. Tunnel Thinking - It Can Tunnel Through Anything!

Obsession is always the key to success. Thomas Edison was obsessed

about the electric light bulb - his attempts at creating one ran into

the thousands. Mike Oldfield’s obsession with music and his inability

to work well in a team created a masterpiece called ‘Tubular Bells’ that

launched Richard Branson and the ‘Virgin’ Brand into global success.

Obsession is only destructive when it becomes preoccupied by

the unhealthy quests and fears of the Fallen Mind. I remember as

a teenager feeling lumps in my chest and being convinced that

they were cancerous. I told no one about it and I became totally

preoccupied with it. My constant re-evaluation of the situation

always led to the same conclusion, ‘I’m going to die!’! I’ve been

obsessed about my teeth (as a teenager, I regularly checked their

colour with a small mirror tucked into my wallet), my walk (again, as

a teenager, I regularly checked how bouncy my strut was against the

parallel beams of the wooden fencing),my body (wearing my jumper

through at least two Australian summers to disguise my thinness), as

well as my skin (wearing foundation and rouge from a red pencil to

cover up my paleness). Inside, this boy was a mess. And it certainly

was starting to show on the outside!

In detaching my obsessive nature from fears and phobias and

reattaching it to the plans and purposes of the New Mind, I’ve been

able to use both my obsessive nature and my autistic over focussing

to maximum advantage. I’ve written books, started businesses, made

videos, established church congregations across the country - all

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through the ability to go overboard about the stuff that builds God’s

Kingdom on earth and not the destructive things that lead to a self-

focussed existence.

2. Attention Deficiency Means Lateral thinking!

The world has enough logical thinkers! It needs more people

who think outside the box! Attention deficiency is an asset that

allows people to jump out of all the boxes. Instead of going down

conventional routes, it sneaks around to find alternative solutions to

difficult problems and new paths to the future. Instead of flowing

with the crowd, it heads against the flow and seeks to be different

and original. It’s inquisitiveness may have got it into big trouble at

school, yet it’s precisely that gift that causes the big breakthroughs

of life there after.

For those with ADHA, life on the cutting edge is the only place to live.

When mixed with a melancholic personality (discussed a little later

on) it’s always exploring new ideas, new details and a whole new

way of thinking. When mixed with a choleric personality, it’s always

embarking on fresh experimentation and fresh new initiatives. With

the addition of the gift of faith, it’s amazing where the gift of ADH

can end up.

Since moving to England to plant our church called Hope City Church,

we’ve established the second largest indoor play centre for kids in

England’s fifth largest city, one of the best conferencing venues in

the city, a full time Leadership Academy, Megacentres in multiple

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cities as well as a ministry for women with life controlling issues.

All because of a gift that’s been severed from the Fallen Mind and

reconnected to the New Mind of life and health. It may have taken a

little time to free it from the dogma and destructiveness of the Old

Mind, but if it can happen to me, guess what? It can happen to you!

3. Emotional Detachment Creates Emotional Intelligence!

Often seen as a weakness and a disorder, emotional detachment

is actually a part of the foundations of great leadership. Unbridled

emotion blurs vision, causing decision making to be both inconsistent

and inaccurate. To be emotionally detached yet able to understand

the gravity of a situation as well as the complexity of a situation can

create an emotional intelligence that can enhance good decision

making and not jeopardise it.

Whenever I go to watch a football game (which is not very often; I

pretend to support Tottenham Hotspurs) or whenever I watch it on

television, I get slightly jealous of all of the men I see who possess the

ability for spontaneous outbursts of emotion. There’s an engagement

that staggers me. They stand, they sit, they swear, they sing, they

jeer, they applaud, they yell and they cry. I would love that kind of

spontaneity. Yet when it comes to the art of leadership and the ability

to remain calm and controlled through great disappointments and

crises, my gift of being able to subdue emotion has proved time after

time to be an asset worth prizing.

It has actually dawned on me that my low emotional layout is a result

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of the exact opposite of what’s going on inside of me. To tell you

the truth, because of the autistic layout of my mind, everything,

including my emotions, is actually at a heightened state. Not only are

smells accentuated and the smallest of noises and rattles amplified,

but disappointments are also highly magnified. Without emotional

detachment and surpressing, it would be impossible for me to live

within at least the suburbs of respectable social conventions. Every

now and again I have what I call a ‘torettes’ moment when my

spontaneity bursts into action resulting in weird behaviour that can’t

be explained or excused!

It’s time to take off the label of ‘disorder’ and replace it with the label

of ‘asset’. Just as the splitting of an atom can create either a bomb to

destroy a city or the power to light up a city, every gift of yours and

mine is the same. It can lead to destruction or lead to great success.

The problem is not the gift, but the application of the gift. It’s time to

set it free!

50% Of All Your Of your Weaknesses Are Mythical

If you were to count all the weaknesses that you have operating in

your life right now, fifty per cent of them simply don’t exist: they’re

mythical. How many people have ever told you that you’ve lacked

a certain talent or are weak in a certain ability? Maybe your lack,

however, is no lack at all. Maybe your failure is not a failure at all. It

may not be a weakness – it may simply be a ‘non strength’. I’m not

a failure at cello playing – I simply can’t play the cello, don’t have a

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great musical ear and have no desire to learn to play. My weakness

at the cello is not actually a weakness – it’s a non strength. It lies

outside my domain of destiny, desires and strengths. Think about this

– Is the short stockiness of a Hungarian a weakness when it comes

to the hundred metre sprint final at the Olympic Games or could it

simply be a ‘non strength’? With those same ‘weakness’ attributes,

Hungarians have proved to the world their genius at the power sports

of weightlifting, javelin, discus, hammer throwing and anything else

that requires massive momentum to succeed.

For the human race (and that includes you and me) no one is ‘more’

talented than anyone else and no one is ‘less’ talented than anyone

else – it’s just a different talent mix for differing things. Success

comes when you find your fit with the talents and strengths that

you possess. Much of what we’ve failed at in the past has nothing to

do with our weakness, but everything to do with our non strengths.

We’ve attempted to use a hammer to cut down a tree – great gift

but wrong application! While many have put the experience on life’s

learning curve, many have never recovered and continue to live

a lack lustre life while their true genius lies abandoned because it

didn’t work for them in the past.

It’s the same with the way you’re wired. Just because you don’t

use Microsoft Outlook everywhere you go doesn’t mean you have

to wear a disability badge for being vague and disorganised. Just

because you love being on your own and resist big parties doesn’t

mean that you’ve got a weakness for socialising. It could just be one

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big non-strength! You may not be a deep thinker or ever get involved

in heavy analysis – you don’t do it because it’s simply not you. If you

try to become a deep thinker and an in-depth analyser then a real

weakness does start to emerge – you’re trying to be someone you’re

not. When I try and be funny, it usually falls flat on its face. I’m too

self conscious and start to look stupid. When I speak somewhere

and start my message off with some jokes that I read in a magazine

I usually end up with egg on my face for two reasons. Firstly, I never

found them funny to begin with and, secondly, I’m too uptight to

play the role of the really funny man when I first begin my message!

I’m working against who I am and the way I’m wired. I’m trying to be

like someone else! In fact when I speak to a group of people I need

to get straight to the point because that’s me – direct, passionate

and slightly obsessive. I’ve learnt to throw in a few anecdotes, but in

essence, I’m direct and unwaffly. That’s who I am!

Unless you’re great at the celebrated talents of sport, music or

intelligence, most people are unaware of the incredible gift mix

that they’re sitting on. Like someone who hasn’t realised that they

actually have that winning ticket to the lottery, many never live their

lives according to the riches that they possess.

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