Diversity is a fact, a few days ago, LinkedIn offered me a short introduction to a course about people with high ability, autism, and ADHD (Identify and Include Diversity, sorry is in Spanish). I clicked out of curiosity, but what I found hit me right in the center: it wasn’t only about learning about this “conditions”, it was about something bigger — the fact that brains function differently.
That tiny realization opened a whole new perspective for me. Because let’s be honest: I’ve spent a lot of time wondering if there’s something “off” in the way I commit to things. Why can’t I follow discipline the way it’s sold in books — single-minded focus, eliminating distractions, repeating the same steps every day?
And then it clicked: maybe is not that I have a problem with discipline maybe this is just the way my brain is wired, maybe I have my own way of discipline.
Not one box for all
Modern studies are showing us more and more that there isn’t just one kind of brain. High ability, autism spectrum, ADHD… these are three models we already recognize and study. But a few years ago this was unknown, so…if now we know about three, how many more could there be? How many different ways of functioning are still unnamed?
And yet, most of us spend years trying to squeeze into “the box”: the idea that success, discipline, or intelligence can only look one way. We end up unhappy, drained, or feeling like failures — when the real problem is that we were never meant to fit in that box in the first place.
Falling in love with your own way of functioning
What if instead of torturing ourselves, we got really curious about how we truly work? What if discipline was not a one-size-fits-all recipe, but a tailor-made system each of us needs to discover?
For me, that discovery came with a metaphor: my brain is not a single arrow pointing straight ahead. It’s more like a solar system.
I have a sun — my main priority — but I also need other planets orbiting around it. Those other interests, projects, and sources of joy keep my system alive and balanced. They make it possible for me to sustain my central focus without becoming anxious, dependent, or terrified of losing it.
And no, in case you’re wondering, this doesn’t mean I’m like Dee Dee from Dexter’s Laboratory, floating around pressing random buttons just to see what happens. (Though, let’s be real, sometimes it does look a little like that). The difference is: my planets aren’t distractions. They are part of the structure that makes the whole system resilient.
If one planet disappears, I don’t collapse — the others are still there to keep me standing. And that’s not a weakness. That’s my design.
Resilience over rigidity
So, here’s the big shift: I don’t need to “fix” my discipline to match the manual. My way of functioning is about resilience, not rigidity, what I need is actually dedicate myself to “know myself”, try different things.
Right know for example I have noticed that all the intellectual labor is better in the mornings for me, while I love exercising and I would love to do it first thing in the morning, my body is completely sleep and rigid at that time, so If I commit to do exercise in the mornings (“because is better”) I end up hating my self in the mornings and skipping days, but if I do it at night, turns out I absolutely LOVE IT!! I’m even waiting for that part of the day, and I can do it 5 or 6 days a week without much troubles, except when my period is close, but that’s another subject (also a part of knowing my self).
A note of hope
If you’ve ever felt broken because you couldn’t fit the standard mold of focus or consistency (or some other mold, there are so many), maybe you just have a different kind of brain. Maybe your discipline doesn’t look like theirs — and that’s not only okay, it’s powerful.
Because in the end, we are not here to fit in a box. It’s about knowing yourself, find the courage to understand your uniqueness and love it!