Do you hate your job? Do you intensely dislike the people who work with you? Do you put things off until your boss roars because you've not gotten a project done? Are you just totally and horribly unhappy? If you have adult ADD, this could easily be true.
If you find the 9 to 5 routine impossible for you, don't forget that you're bringing a wealth of creativity and energy with you. Plus, you have that great laser hyperfocus ability to get what you enjoy doing done in a relatively rapid period of time. You might be great at talking to clients and selling, for instance, but your eyes might glaze over when it comes time to do the order form. Paperwork is just boring for you, and you just really, really hate to do it.
There is help! What you need is a job that can be ADD-friendly, a job that you can love and that can be enriched by the power of your ADD brain.
Running an entrepreneurial business is one way to solve the issue. Being your own boss, and running things the way you'd like them to run is ideal for someone with ADD. However, you may need to hire people to take care of the details. Though the issue is not one of self-sufficiency in all respects, having your own business is one way to be in control.
Yet, people with ADD often enjoy fast-paced situations. Firefighters, police officers, and EMS technicians all have this kind of job. People who trade stocks, auctioneers, and food servers are high energy jobs, as well. However, you can really work any job, if you have ADD symptoms under control.
Watch out for impulsive behaviors. It can have you flying off on tangents, away from your goals for the day. Because of your ADD, you may be trying to do too much, which brings on stress and even higher levels of ADD behavior. Instead of accepting or volunteering for every new project, back off a little. Fill in other things to do when your primary responsibilities to your job are fulfilled. If you overload yourself, all that will happen is that you'll be even more unhappy.
Distractions can impede your progress, too. Set your watch to beep every ten minutes to remind you to focus. Another way to stay focused is to focus in for short time spans. For instance, do something you really hate for 10 minutes, then do something you really love. Find six activities that you need to accomplish and rotate the tasks, every ten minutes for one hour. Then, repeat the process. That way, you'll never be bored. If you have fewer tasks or a longer attention span, then rotate fewer tasks. Yet, this diversity can keep you on target and away from distractions.
Boredom is one of the major issues for adults with ADD. We just hate boredom! The rotating tasks plan is one way to reduce the time you have to spend focusing on boring tasks, but if you can't do that, try to accomplish the boring things when you're at high energy levels, usually at the start of your day. Try delegating some of the boring tasks, too. Just because you hate to do something, it doesn't mean that other people hate to do it, so don't feel as if you're pawning a job off on someone else.
Just don't procrastinate. Get the hard parts of your job done first, and the rest of that job will go more quickly because it will seem easier. Never anticipate things. Get them over with because the faster you get the thing you're procrastinating over done, it will be gone, out of the way. An accountability partner can help you with this. Find someone who will rattle your chain if you don't have things done on time.
But if it's your co-workers that are giving you cause for pause, look in the mirror. Could their antagonism actually be your fault? Try not to go off into long lectures about things that nobody is interested in, anyway. And if you interrupt people in conversation, and catch yourself doing it, apologize and stop talking. Don't be blunt, either. Though honesty is always good, it's not always socially polite. Try to be more tactful and your inter-office relationships will improve.
Any of these ADD-related issues may cause trouble at work. But don't hop from job to job, trying to find a place that suits you. Try these techniques, and see if they don't improve your condition at work first. Of course, if you try them and nothing improves, you may want to find a more flexible job, one where your ADD will be appreciated.
Tellman Knudson, CEO of OvercomeEverything, and Stephanie Frank, author of "The Accidental Millionaire," find more