One of the biggest problems facing many adults with ADHD is credibility. Credibility is probably the single most important factor in becoming successful, no matter what the occupation or area. Talent, knowledge and ability are very important, but you can be overflowing with all of that and still not have a good reputation. Credibility is a part of reputation and it is more than reputation.
Punctuality, performance, skill and creativity, talent, communication and reputation are all parts that create a person’s credibility level. If you look at anyone with or without ADHD who becomes successful they all have one thing in common, no matter if they are liked or disliked, and that is credibility. Some with ADHD believe that self-employment is the answer; however, credibility is actually additionally decisive when self employed.
Credibility doesn’t have to do with rules. It has more to do with promises. If you have talent, skill and creativity and you keep your promises then you create credibility. You can actually be the worst in a lot of areas; however, if your promises are kept in all areas – promises to yourself and to others, then you build credibility. What about our New Year’s resolutions? Do they have credibility? If we keep them and maintain them, then yes. New Year’s resolutions usually have very little, if any, credibility. New Year’s resolutions are more of a symbol of what we want and not what we will actually do and therefore we do not really rely on our resolutions as ‘real’ promises. Remember though, that any promise made and not kept takes away from credibility.
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If you are called upon for the same type of job over and over again and you always come through then you are doing more than simply creating a good reputation, you are creating credibility. We don’t always elect public officials on reputation alone, it is almost always on credibility and yet sometimes we elect officials on other criteria and if the official does not perform to our expectation then we realize later that if we had voted on credibility instead, then we would have perhaps not voted for the official and we would have voted someone with = credibility.
Whether we realize it or not, each and every time we do something or say something, we earn either credits or demerits. It doesn’t have to be written and recorded in standard form, those credits and demerits become part of our = reputation.
Credits and demerits are not always fair. Take for example if we are good at something and have created credit for that and then take on something we are not good at, we risk credits. If the choice is within our control, then we must examine our own abilities and make a good decision. Taking 3 steps forward isn’t any good, if you’re going to take 5 steps backwards thereafter.
Credibility isn’t only a business issue. Credibility has to do with everything and anything. If you have many relationships and never settle, then you have very little, if any, credibility as a long term companion. Blaming the relationships on others and not finding the ‘right’ person does not enhance credibility. If you are always nice and civil, no matter what the situation, then you have credibility as a nice civil person. We can also have credibility with exceptions, but that only means we have demerits in areas of concern.
Nobody is perfect and not everyone is a jack-of-all-trades and we should not have to be; however, in whatever we do credibility is a factor and must be considered. Being naive of credibility isn’t helpful and does not create credit. Knowing what credibility is, and working to build it, does create credit.
Keeping promises to yourself, and others, will build your credibility. Make smart promises, and remember that promises made by others for you can be just as important and far more difficult to keep. So you see, sometimes rules are good. Never roll the dice with credibility.
There is a confusing part of credibility, and that is the fact one must not have credibility in all facets of something in order to have credibility in an over-all manner. For example, I don’t have much credibility when it comes to punctuation and grammar, but that doesn’t take away credibility from having something to write which is interesting and of merit…
~Bryan
