Celebrities Over 40 with ADHD: Lisa Ling

When Success Isn’t Enough: Lisa Ling’s ADHD Discovery and Why Grounding Practices Matter for High-Achieving Entrepreneurs

She had built an acclaimed career in journalism. She had reported from war zones, conducted intimate interviews with world leaders, and produced award-winning documentary series. By age 40, Lisa Ling had achieved what most would consider extraordinary professional success. And yet, something wasn’t right.

“I have always had a bit of a difficult time focusing on things that aren’t interesting to me, and I get really, really anxious before taking any kind of test or having any kind of evaluation,” Ling revealed during an episode of her OWN series, Our America With Lisa Ling, which explored Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

What began as a journalistic investigation became a personal revelation. After undergoing comprehensive testing with Dr. Craig Liden, a worldwide ADD/ADHD expert, Ling received a diagnosis that explained decades of internal struggle: she had Attention Deficit Disorder.

The Paradox of the High-Achieving Mind

Ling’s story illuminates a truth that many successful entrepreneurs know intimately: you can be extraordinarily capable in your zone of genius while simultaneously struggling with basic executive functions. As she explained to Dr. Liden, “As a journalist, when I’m immersed in a story, then I feel like I can laser-focus. But if I’m not working, my mind goes in every direction but where it’s supposed to go.”

This pattern began in childhood. Ling’s elementary school teachers frequently contacted her parents about focus issues. By high school, the challenges intensified. “I could go through an entire period and not retain a sentence if I [wasn’t] interested in the topic or the subject matter,” she recalled.

Sound familiar? For entrepreneurs, this creates a unique predicament. You can spend twelve hours developing a business strategy or creating content for a passionate project, but answering routine emails feels impossibly difficult. You can present brilliantly to potential investors while your personal finances remain in chaos. The world sees your success, but you feel the constant friction between what you can do and what you struggle to manage.

The Relief of Recognition

When Dr. Liden shared the test results, pointing out that Ling struggled significantly with tasks demanding sustained, focused attention and had performed below expectations on processing and retrieval tasks, her initial reaction was surprise. “I thought I did well on that one!” she said of a picture-naming test.

This disconnect between perception and performance is telling. People with ADHD often can’t accurately gauge their own executive function struggles because they’ve been compensating for so long. They’ve developed workarounds, pushed through with sheer determination, and internalized the belief that they just need to try harder.

But when Dr. Liden delivered the diagnosis—”I do feel like you meet all the criteria for having Attention Deficit Disorder”—Ling experienced something powerful: relief. “My head is kind of spinning,” she acknowledged. “But I feel a little bit of relief because, for so long, I’ve been fighting it and I’ve been so frustrated with this inability to focus.”

That relief matters. For entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses while battling an invisible challenge, a diagnosis doesn’t diminish their achievements. Instead, it validates the extra effort required to reach them. It transforms the narrative from Why can’t I just get it together? to Now I understand what I’m working with.

Beyond Medication: The Power of Grounding Strategies

Dr. Liden’s treatment approach is instructive for entrepreneurs navigating ADHD. While he acknowledged that medication could address the biological attention issues—”My belief is that if you’ve got a biologically based problem with your ability to pay attention, then you’re a candidate for using medication”—he was clear that medication alone isn’t the answer.

“I don’t see the medicine as being the sole treatment,” Dr. Liden explained. “We’re going to help refine the strategies that you do have right now and develop some new ones to help you function at a much higher plane than even where you are right now.”

This is where grounding practices become essential. For the entrepreneur whose mind perpetually races in multiple directions, external anchoring systems aren’t optional luxuries. They’re necessary infrastructure for sustainable success.

Journaling as a Compass for the Scattered Mind

When your internal landscape feels chaotic, a journal becomes a container for the noise. Unlike digital note-taking, which invites distraction through notifications and endless browser tabs, the physical act of writing engages different neural pathways. It slows the racing mind enough to capture thoughts before they scatter.

For entrepreneurs with ADHD, journaling serves multiple critical functions:

External Memory Storage: When working memory is compromised, you need a reliable place to capture ideas, commitments, and insights. A journal becomes your external hard drive, ensuring brilliant 2 AM ideas don’t vanish by morning.

Pattern Recognition: ADHD brains excel at seeing connections but struggle with linear processing. Regular journaling reveals patterns in your energy, productivity, and challenges that might otherwise remain invisible. Over time, you discover when you do your best creative work, which tasks consistently drain you, and what triggers your hyperfocus.

Emotional Regulation: The anxiety Ling described before evaluations is common among people with ADHD. Journaling provides a pressure release valve. Writing about overwhelming feelings doesn’t eliminate them, but it prevents them from hijacking your entire nervous system.

Decision-Making Support: When your mind pulls you in multiple directions simultaneously, deciding what deserves your attention becomes paralyzing. A structured planning practice helps separate the urgent from the important, the brilliant idea from the shiny distraction.

Progress Tracking: ADHD creates a biased perception of time and achievement. You forget what you accomplished last week because your brain is already three projects ahead. A journal provides evidence of progress when imposter syndrome whispers that you’re falling behind.

Designing Support Systems That Actually Work

The key to effective grounding practices for ADHD entrepreneurs isn’t complexity. It’s consistency through simplicity. Traditional planners with rigid daily schedules often fail because they demand the kind of linear thinking that ADHD brains resist. Instead, successful systems work with the way your mind naturally operates.

This is the philosophy behind Atelier de la Cour—luxury journaling tools designed for non-linear thinkers who need structure without rigidity. Rather than forcing you into someone else’s organizational system, these journals provide flexible frameworks that accommodate both hyperfocus and scattered attention.

For the entrepreneur who can laser-focus on passionate projects but struggles with routine tasks, the planning system needs to honor both realities. It needs space for capturing rapid-fire ideas without losing track of essential deadlines. It needs to be beautiful enough that you actually want to engage with it, because ADHD brains respond to aesthetic pleasure and novelty.

Most importantly, it needs to be tactile and present. Digital tools disappear into the chaos of browser tabs and notifications. A physical journal sits on your desk, a tangible anchor in the swirl of mental activity. Opening it becomes a ritual that signals to your brain: We’re grounding now. We’re focusing.

The Excitement of Understanding

At the end of Lisa Ling’s evaluation, Dr. Liden said something profound: “It’s sort of exciting to think where things could go.” Ling smiled and nodded, recognizing that diagnosis wasn’t an endpoint but a beginning.

This is the promise of understanding ADHD as an entrepreneur. You’ve already achieved remarkable things while fighting your own neurology. Imagine what becomes possible when you stop fighting and start strategically supporting yourself instead.

The journalist who could laser-focus on compelling stories but struggled to retain information about uninteresting subjects wasn’t lazy or undisciplined. She was working with a specific neurological profile that required specific support. Once identified, that profile could be optimized rather than overcome.

For entrepreneurs recognizing similar patterns in themselves, the path forward involves both self-compassion and practical strategy. You need to accept that your brain genuinely works differently, which means standard productivity advice may not apply. But you also need to build systems that compensate for executive function challenges while leveraging your unique strengths.

From Frustration to Function

The relief Ling experienced—”for so long, I’ve been fighting it”—speaks to the exhaustion of undiagnosed ADHD. Every day becomes a battle against your own mind, a constant effort to force yourself into patterns that feel fundamentally unnatural.

But it doesn’t have to be a fight. With understanding comes the possibility of collaboration with yourself. Your racing mind isn’t the enemy. It’s the source of your creativity, your ability to see connections others miss, your entrepreneurial drive. The challenge isn’t to eliminate these qualities but to create enough structure that they can flourish without creating chaos.

Grounding practices—journaling, intentional planning, physical anchors for your attention—don’t restrict your natural thinking patterns. They channel them. They provide just enough containment that your brilliant, scattered energy can actually build something sustainable instead of constantly starting over.

Whether you pursue formal diagnosis or simply recognize ADHD patterns in your entrepreneurial journey, the invitation is the same: stop trying to be someone you’re not. Build systems that work for who you actually are. Create external structures that support your internal reality. And most importantly, extend yourself the same understanding and strategic support you’d offer any other valuable business asset.

Because you are valuable. Your mind, exactly as it is, has already created success. Imagine what happens when you finally stop fighting it and start working with it instead.

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Resources:

At 40, Lisa Ling Gets Surprising Diagnosis Of ADD – HuffPost

Atelier de la Cour: Luxury Journaling for Non-Linear Thinkers

Note: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. If you suspect you may have ADHD, please consult with a qualified healthcare professional.