Neil Lock

Neurodivergent, and proud of it

I am neurodivergent. I have ADHD and autism, and I am open about both, because they are a big part of who I am and of how I work. My mind does not work the way most people's does, and I would not change it.

It has not always been easy. Being neurodivergent has brought its own struggles and complications into my life, and at times it has led me into decisions I would not otherwise have made. My mind can work like a row of tick boxes: someone asks me something and, before I have really thought it through, it goes tick, tick, tick, yes, of course. More than once I have agreed to something I should not have, simply because the answer came out faster than the thinking.

Over the years I have learnt to scaffold around that. I try to avoid the situations where an impulsive answer can do harm, I slow myself down before I say yes, and I talk the bigger things through with Natalie first. Some of the scaffolding is very firm indeed: Natalie has banned me from doing the shopping, because I over-order, come home with things we do not need and spend far too much. She is right, and we can laugh about it.

But the same mind that ticks the boxes too quickly is the one that sees the patterns others miss. When I work on code, numbers or SEO research, I see connections in the system that other people overlook, and I stay with a problem until it is solved. Despite the complications, I have learnt to push past the hard parts, and what can be a challenge in everyday life has become a genuine strength in my work.

That determination does not switch off at night. When a problem is urgent, I simply cannot sleep until it is solved; my mind will not let it go. When it is a more general puzzle, a piece of code, a pattern or the shape of a solution, my mind carries on working while I sleep. I often wake up with the answer already there, and sometimes I see it in a dream, which I think is pretty cool. My brain never really switches off, and whatever the hour, I do not stop until a customer's problem is fixed.

That is why I call it my superpower, and why I hope that anyone who is neurodivergent, and every family living with it, knows that the way your mind works can become your greatest strength.

Awards

Zinn Hub®, the freelance marketplace I founded, received two awards in 2026:

• UK Freelance Marketplace of the Year 2026
  Zinn Hub® was named the United Kingdom's freelance marketplace of the year for 2026.
  Awarded by 365 Awards
• Best Multilingual Freelance Marketplace in the United Kingdom of 2026
  Zinn Hub® was recognised as the best multilingual freelance marketplace in the United Kingdom for 2026.
  Awarded by Best of Best Review