Darren Ho is an entrepreneur, athlete and a #Champion4ADHD – He competes professionally in pickleball and is passionate about growing the sport in China. Darren is Co-Founder of SHOT3, a Singapore-based pickleball equipment brand. He has competed in triathlons and was a business consultant. Read his #ADHDStory below.
When did you get diagnosed?
I was diagnosed at the age of 35
What was life like before diagnosis?
Life was always a bit strange.. not sure if that’s how it should be described but I always felt like I didn’t fit in properly to many things. I’d be jumping from one thing to another, overly zealous and full of energy one moment and totally drained the next. It was always about finding the next thrill and something more after that which also led me to get into a lot of trouble in school, more than I wanted to.
I guess a lot of these symptoms are those who have ADD/ADHD. School was a challenge for me and teachers found me a handful to deal with. I would always be disturbing someone or distracting myself constantly. My work was and is always full of careless mistakes, something that I try my best to control but will always exist. My one true focus was always in sports and keeping active as best as I can although there was a period where I was clinically obese at the lowest point in my life.
What was life like post diagnosis?
Post diagnosis I was relieved yet a little bit sad at the same time. Relieved because at least I knew everything I’ve felt and rightfully so are some symptoms of ADHD. Sad because I knew that I had spent a long time trying to be someone I’m not and always having to hide or put on a different social mask just to fit in. I spent a few years rediscovering my passion for competitive sports and found it again in triathlons, tennis and now competing professionally in Pickleball.
I also learnt to be more forgiving with myself and to allow myself room for error instead of always being to hard and expecting sometimes what is not possible. Importantly, I’ve learnt to laugh and accept my own mistakes as a unique individual and to not always take myself so seriously all the time. I knew I had turned a corner once I could laugh and joke about my own conditions with my close friends. I’ve gone onto to setup companies in South-East Asia and China to build and manage the growing Pickleball ecosystem and have never been happier.
What do you think are your greatest ADHD strengths?
I think one of my greatest strengths is the ability to hyper focus on subject matter that truly excites me and I have a passion for. I used to think it was tennis and then triathlon but realised that I am truly driven by the grind of always wanting to become the better version of myself. Tennis and triathlon were simply seasons for me and now with Pickleball, I get to use my hyper focus again not just in competition but also in building businesses that I could never do with my previous two sporting exploits.
Additionally, ADHD allows me to tirelessly juggle multiple things at once and not feel tired (although I do “crash” from time to time) and this enables me to complete a multitude of tasks at the same time. People often tell me that multi-tasking isn’t a good thing but I don’t really know any other way of doing things and as mentioned earlier, simply figured that if that’s the most comfortable way for me to function, then I’d make the best out of it.
Another strength I have for ADHD is this ability to keep pushing myself until I meet my goals. I used to think that this was really just my character but after speaking to friends, even they told me that my ability to keep going and going regardless how tired I am is truly remarkable. I don’t think I’m remarkable but this is how I’ve always managed to keep things moving in the direction that I want it to.
How do you manage ADHD in daily life?
I time my breaks and live strictly by my calendar by the hour. It gives me a structured guide on what to do next and I simply need to follow it like an instruction manual. The difficult part is not the following but in creating this system and process in the first place and so I try to plan my routines weeks and months ahead of time so that I don’t get caught in what I would call the “ADHD rut” where I try to plan something and my mind races all over the place.
On a daily basis, I put aside time for naps (because I don’t sleep very much) to recharge and manage my nutrition as well. I don’t eat gluten or take dairy (also because of food allergies) and limit my intake of sugar as best as I can. I find that the more organic and natural the food is, the easier it is to control my mood swings.
On really bad days where I find even the simplest of things cannot be achieved, I simply take the day off and do what I want to do (play Pickleball, go for a run, binge watch movies etc.) because I’ve learnt that I need to be more forgiving with myself and not put myself under too much pressure on things that can never be changed. This is especially so now that I’m located in China and I run an elite Pickleball academy (Pickleball Global Academy), my own equipment line (SHOT3) and an events company where things happen so fast and furious that disconnecting is particularly important.
How would you advise your younger self?
Don’t be so hard on yourself all the time, take time to rest and re-organise yourself. Live by a structured calendar and everything is going to be just fine. When the going gets tough and you struggle, just take some down time and rediscover your purpose by giving yourself time to process everything around you. ADHD is not a curse nor a blessing, its just something you have and you will be get through all of this just fine as long as you believe in yourself.
Complete this sentence: ADHD is…
ADHD is part of my life and something I have learnt to embrace. Without ADHD I’m not sure how else my life would have turned out and given a chance I wouldn’t change anything.
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