This tip, like many at the ADDexecutive, sounds like common sense. It is. But for adults with attention deficit disorder, it’s common sense that often needs reminding.

I once did some consulting work for a small health care provider that was in big trouble. They had lost most of their contracts, their management team was crumbling, and their past due bills were piling up.

Though the odds were long, they had half a chance of saving the company if they focused 100% of their attention on nailing two important contracts: one with a prospective client, and another with a necessary partner. Instead, the owners spent half their time on CYA* tasks, interviewing accountants and attorneys that they might need if they had to declare bankruptcy, and looking at cheaper office space that they could move into if they didn’t win a contract with the new client.

Do these people sound crazy to you? Perhaps a little stupid? Just stupid and crazy enough to have earned two PhDs. and an MBA, and to have run a longtime mental health care practice. It can easily happen to the best of us. That’s why we need the reminders.

And you can guess what happened.

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*”cover your ass”