Adult ADHD: How to Succeed as a Hunter in a Farmer's World

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The Hunter needs to be sensitive to the distractive noises in the forest and respond to these noises with his short but intense attention span to give him what he needs to know to make quick or snap decisions. Thom Hartmann is a progressive radio talk show host, author, and retired businessman who was born and grew up in Michigan.

I felt by the end, what I got was a book with advertisements, and more than a few sections where the author got to say "I told you so!He does a great job explaining what he believes to be the evolutionary advantage of hunter children and the edge they have over us neurotypical people when it comes to creative skills. I like that Hartmann draws on biology, genetics, physiology, neuroscience and evolutionary psychology to support his assertions, and found a lot of information that was helpful in understanding, accepting, and developing this aspect of my personality. Providing a supportive “survival” guide to help fine tune your natural skill set, rather than suppress it, Hartmann shows that each mind—whether hunter, farmer, or somewhere in between—has value and great potential waiting to be tapped. The relaxing average person would fall at the middle or in the 5 to 7 inch area, while the relaxed Hunter would be found in the 7 to 8 inch area and the relaxed Farmer in the 4 to 5 inch area. To fit into the Farmer’s world the Hunter needs to break down a task into smaller tasks to compensate for their short concentration span.

it was a decent audiobook but the arguments werent conclusive for me on ADHD and it seemed as if she backpedaled on some arguments of the hunter vs farmer dichotomy.Thom Hartmann describes these ideas in a book that belongs in the hands of every educator, counselor, doctor, and parent. The rest of us who can plan out our lives and sit behind desks are the descendants of the humans who started farming. The answer is: people with ADHD are the leftover hunters, those whose ancestors evolved and matured thousands of years in the past in hunting societies. As someone who has been confirmed to have a lot of ADHD traits, I found this book fascinating, inspiring and easy to read.

According to evolutionary anthropologist Ben Campbell of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, studies of the Ariaal, an isolated nomadic group in Kenya, suggest that hyperactivity and impulsivity—key traits of ADHD—have distinct advantages to nomadic people. He reveals how some of the world’s most successful people can be labeled as ADHD hunters and offers concrete non-drug methods and practices to help hunters—and their parents, teachers, and managers—embrace their differences, nurture creativity, and find success in school, at work, and at home. As hunters, they would have been constantly scanning their environment, looking for food or threats (distractibility); they’d have to act without hesitation (impulsivity); and they’d have to love the high-stimulation and risk-filled environment of the hunting field.Hartmann shares valuable advice for both the Hunter entrepreneur and the Hunter within an existing company and for curtailing the aggressive side of the Hunter personality in group situations or manager positions. The Watchman Theory is that people with ADHD are wired to be the perfect night watchmen and hunters of our tribes and that most of our current advantages and disadvantages trace back to this vital role wherein our “symptoms” would have saved lives. About the time I got diagnosed with ADHD, Thom Hartmann produced the first edition of ADHD: Hunters in a Farmer’s World.