Secret Superpowers

The sickest burn I have ever received in my life went a little something like this.

I was shutting down the espresso bar I worked out of back in the day with a couple of collegues. If you know, you know. Lock the doors, change the music, and make the place look brand new again for the morning. Nothing to it but to do it!

My younger pals were singing along to a relatively new rap song that I had only discovered a few days before. I used to entertain on the weekends as an acoustic performer and have been known to forget the words to even my own originals. 😅

But these guys were hitting the words left and right! In my bitter envy, I muttered "Gosh.. it just seems like everyone else has this secret superpower for remembering lyrics but me."

My best friend smirked and goes "Babe, if it seems like everyone else has a superpower.. it's likelier *you* have a disability."

🤬🤣☠

We laughed for a solid ten minutes easily. I was hurt, but I couldn't argue with the sheer brilliance of the roast. My buddy had a knack for it.

A couple of months ago, a professional finally confirmed something I've known my whole life. I have Inattentive Type ADHD. My face still burns red when I tell that old story, but it makes me smile too. I might have some disadvantages, but in the right light I've got superpowers too.

Pictured: A post to my Snapchat story, or a bad omen?

My day started early. Like *early early* because I woke up at 4:30 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. After scrolling my device for about an hour, I got myself together and my head in the game (by that I mean coffee and lo-fi) to settle in and do some work.

Getting my startup ready to launch feels invigorating. I've partnered with investors and entrepreneurs to create and streamline new businesses in my career plenty of times. This time, it's my show. I know what needs to be done, and I know how to do it. Only this time, there's nobody to say "There are things I liked and didn't like" about my ideas. No deadlines, assignments, or performance expectations. 

And I'm finding my secret superpower thrives like this. I've had to learn not to be so hard on myself. That it's okay to hop from task to task as inspiration strikes. To redefine the chunks of time I lose daydreaming as just a different brand of productivity, rather than a waste. Cope and adapt, babe.

Pictured: The method behind the madness. Now with multiple nicotine sources!

With forgiveness comes opportunity. Let me get sidetracked and talk to ya'll about what you're looking at here.

Legal pads. They're awesome for lefties, and that's just the start. If you look closely, you'll see *four* of them, all in different colors. You might suspect they are color coded and each contain a different purpose. Nope! They're all facets of *the same concept* and not even loosely organized. When I want to double back, review, or add something, I have a vague recollection of what color I was looking at the last time I focused on one of my lists. It is as insane as it sounds, but it works for me.

Bluetooth keyboard. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, there's always a checklist or ritual involved that can take me forever to get through if I don't get organized in my own fashion. Even a relaxing bath means multiple trips around the house to gather things like my portable speaker, vapes, essential oils, and so on. By the time I cut off the water, I don't even want a bath anymore. So if already keep my phone on me constantly, it's a much better fit to have a loose keyboard hanging around so I can just prop up my phone and jump in any time. The "convenience" of a laptop just doesn't do it for me. When I want to respond to messages, do research, or just take a break, I have to physically pick my phone up. It sounds like a small difference, but it helps my brain shift gears and keeps my focus hot.

Chemicals. All of my favorite ones. Candles. Incense. Coffee. Tea. Nicotine. Water. Not all of those things made it into that picture, but I have everything I like at my fingertips in my own home office buffet. If you find my other Novo 2, please let me know. I rarely have track of both of them, but that's why I keep an extra. I just know myself well enough. 😅

Index cards. Sometimes, I have a train of thought I want to keep at the depot for a bit longer. It is important for me to grab inspiration as it springs up, otherwise I'm off again like a shot and it's lost forever. So much of what I'm working on uses ideas that lean into each other or work together, so it is natural that I will get clarity on a detail while I'm working on the bigger picture. No worries! I just grab an index card with notes along that vein and add to it. When I'm ready to start a new page on my legal pads, those ideas will be ready and collected. 

My wallet and other clutter. I try to start the day with a clean slate. if I didn't straigten up the day before, I take a moment to put things back where they go. This helps me in several ways, first thing being object permanence. If I haven't seen it recently or know *exactly* where it is, it doesn't exist. I only ever have one Novo 2, for example, even though I rationally know that I own two of them. Throughout the day, the shape of this work space changes. If I have to take a picture of my ID or pay for something, I'll just add my wallet to that home office buffet. Outsmarting my brain on a regular basis has taught me that I'm almost never as done as I think I am. There's a good chance I'm going to need that card again, and it is usually about five minutes after I put it back in my bag.

Pictured: A junior high science fair project on object permanence. Not pictured: the Honorable Mention ribbon it won

Let me get even more sidetracked and talk about the next part of my process. Startups have needs. You can spend hours launching social media campaigns and reading your research, but eventually this monster is going to have to actually exist. This means keeping track of what you have, what you want, and what you need. Remember object permanence? That thing babies are terrible at and grownups should have down pat?

The only way I could even begin to understand what comes next was to figure out where I am now. If you don't know what you're looking for, how can you find it?

I went around the house and grabbed everything I already had that I knew could be used for my mobile barista premise. Being a former professional means I probably have more coffee gear than the average person, but being a transplant to a new part of the country means I hardly know what own anymore post-konmari.

Where the cuss are my shot glasses? I used to have some very nice ones from Josuma Coffee Company and Barista Pro Shop. I was using them as guitar slides at one point, but they're not in with the music stuff. Not in with the wine and cocktail glasses. Nary a sight of them in any cabinet or junk drawer in the house. Would they be in the laundry room? That's the room in my house that is full of things that don't exist. I go there long enough to stash even more things away and then nope right out. It will be a pleasant surprise to find out what I put in there someday.

Pictured: Yet another thing I'm going to have to forgive myself for

So with the whole world in front of me, and most of my crap, I was finally able to sit down and puzzle out my immediate limits. What menu items I could offer if I was starting today. How I could set up a performance with just what I have, and what I would have to beg and borrow? There is a *whole lotta* negative space between the current reality and the end vision.

I love making specialty coffee. It can be a complicated world to navigate, but the core premise is simple enough. Identify and control your variables to achieve the desired outcome. Knowing what I already have to work with isolated a big variable for me, and it meant I could actually sit down and get to work.

It might sound like I had already done so much, but it was barely 10AM. I didn't call it a day until after midnight. I've worked 17 hour shifts before and it stinks. Working at home, in my pj's, on my own project? With no pressures or distractions, it was bliss.

Pictured: an image I grabbed off of Google search and redacted to make myself look cool. (just kidding, I deadass got a federal EIN) 

By embracing the chaos and owning my shortcomings, I was able to get a massive amount of work done. By dragging out all of my gear and putting eyes on it, I was finally able to move forward.

"Uhm, hey lady. You're going to need so much more than a mess in your living room and an EIN to launch a startup y'know!"

Remember the discussion about ideas intersecting and working together? Somewhere between my morning coffee and my shower before bed, I managed to:

✅Get a Federal EIN

✅Get a Kentucky CIB

✅Calculate all permit and insurance costs

✅Download all pertinent applications

✅Create a four phase growth plan

✅Create business and branding pages on multiple social media platforms

✅Comission and review six logo samples

✅Price and source all operating supplies

✅Have a sweet day doing it 👍

When I woke up that morning, I was a random with a dream long deferred. By the time I went to bed, I was a business owner.

*That* is my superpower.