ADHD on the Job
You thought school was tough but somehow managed to get through
it. Now you find that many of the same issues you faced as
a kid — being unable to keep still, being unable to
focus, being unable to ignore distractions, being disorganized
— continue to haunt you in your professional life. Do
these examples sound familiar?
- Your boss hands you an assignment and gives you a deadline.
You don’t start the project — you can’t
start the project — until the day before it’s
due. Perhaps you miss your family dinner for the night,
perhaps the project is not as good as it could or should
be, but it took this last-minute pressure for you to get
in gear.
- You do inspired work at your clients’ sites but
your greatness doesn’t follow you back to the office.
You get stalled on producing the paperwork and reporting
that your boss requires. This documentation should
be the easy part, but your inspiration fails when faced
with the administrative task of recording past events.
- You have lots of loose ends that you just can’t
tie up. When you are not pulled away by competing priorities,
you find yourself helping colleagues with their projects,
chatting with colleagues, or just killing time. Even when
you are left alone, somehow you can’t get productive
amid the office noise, the ringing phones, and other people
typing away.
- Your desk is awash in paper and sticky notes. Your boss
comes over and is amazed that you can find anything! You
assure your boss that there is a system to your madness
but secretly you acknowledge that it is woefully disorganized
and problematic. Not for the first time you wonder, “Does
everyone live this way?”
- You have already been warned about your tardiness. You
set the alarm to give you plenty of time to get showered,
dressed and out the house, but, as usual, there is more
traffic than usual! You’ll have to sneak in and hope
that your boss doesn’t see you.
These are all very real examples of how ADHD can affect professionals.
There are solutions to these problems. There are ways to learn
to channel your energy in new ways to help you work on a project
so that it is done on time and done well. There are ways to
schedule time to do the busy work associated with your job
and actually keep to your schedule so that you get the credit
you deserve. There are ways that you can manage your things
more effectively so that you always know where to find those
important phone numbers. There are ways for you to manage
your time so that you can get to work without hiding from
your boss.
I can help you discover these ways. I can work with you in
an understanding and insightful manner to help you discover
how to best exploit your strengths, how to compensate for
your weaknesses, and how to reach your best professional potential.
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