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Taking Charge of Your ADD: Job Performance

This chapter focuses primarily on ways to perform your work more efficiently. Keep in mind that ADD is not manifested identically in all people. Some of the patterns described may apply to you while others may not. Focus on those sections that correspond to your particular concerns.

Inattention/Distractibility

Problems with distractibility can be either external (distractions in the environment) or internal (distractions due to internal thoughts, reactions, or daydreams).

External Distractions

Distractibility is a difficult issue for many ADD adults. The mental energy drained from an ADD adult in a distracting environment with frequent interruptions can significantly detract from his or her ability to be efficient and productive. Here are some suggestions for managing environmental distractions:

• Shift your work hours in order to increase distraction-free time at the office.

• Work from home part of the time.

• Use headphones to help screen distracting sounds.

• Use a fan or white-noise machine to muffle sounds.

• Request a private office, if available.

• Use conference rooms, or unused private offices when available.

• Shift your work space to a less trafficked area.

• Request sound-absorbing portable office partitions.

• Request an office mate whose work habits are less distracting.

• Face your desk away from the office door or the line of traffic.

• Use foam earplugs.

Internal Distractions

Many ADD adults struggle as much from internal as from external distractions:

• “Ahha!” Distractions Creative ideas that take you off-task can be managed by writing your ideas down before you return to your current task. By managing your “ahha’s,” they can become a real asset rather than a distraction from current work.

• “Oh no!” Distractions The sudden intrusive memory of a forgotten task. Your solution can be found in learning to effectively use a day-planning system to record tasks, phone calls, meetings, and so on, so that you are less likely to forget.

• “Ho hum” Distractions Work avoidant daydreams. Your solution will come in finding ways to make your work more interesting or in seeking more interesting work elsewhere. Chronic daydreamers are often stuck in a poor job match.

Hyperfocusing

Hyperfocusing can lead to tremendous productivity, but it can also derail your daily schedule. Some adults with ADD report that they become so oblivious when working that they miss meetings and lunch appointments and otherwise lose all track of time. Less engaging aspects of your job tend to go entirely ignored, as you hyperfocus on what fascinates you. Here are some coping techniques:

• Look for a compatible work environment in which total immersion and lack of social interaction is acceptable.

• Learn to cue yourself. This might mean setting an alarm or perhaps asking a coworker to tap on your shoulder or your door as he or she leaves for a meeting or lunch.

• Plan your periods of hyperfocusing so that they don’t interfere with scheduled commitments.

• Get the boring stuff out of the way, then hyperfocus to your heart’s content.

Impulsivity

Extreme impulsivity can be very destructive. Highly impulsive individuals make even major life decisions without much thought of consequences. They may repeatedly leave jobs on impulse, never staying long enough to find solutions or compromises; they commit to projects or tasks without considering whether they have the time or resources. Impulsivity can lead to great inefficiency. Jumping into a project without forethought or planning leads to blunders, ineffectiveness, and disorganization. Here are some some coping techniques to manage impulsivity:

• Impulsive job-hopping. Learn to better understand your needs. Analyze whether a job is suitable for you before accepting it. If you need work immediately consider temping while you work to better understand your needs and talents. If you are more thoughtful in accepting your next job, you will be less likely to quit impulsively.

• Making impulsive commitments. Rather than giving an automatic “yes,” learn a catchphrase such as “I’d like to, but let me take a look at my calendar.” This phrase can act as a set of brakes for you. With a little time for reflection, you’ll be able to make sounder decisions.

• Jumping in without a plan. This lack of planning can be a very inefficient way of doing things and is discussed more fully under the section, “Problems with Organization” later in this chapter.

• General impulsivity. In general, the rule is to slow down and consider. If you have already acted impulsively—by making a misguided commitment or decision, go back and “undo” it quickly. Changing your impulsive commitment or decision at the outset is much less damaging, before others have already committed time and energy to your impulsive plan.

Hyperactivity

Unfortunately, for some people with ADD, the majority of jobs today are sedentary. Hyperactive ADD adults are poorly suited to such environments. Their tapping, walking, and wandering can easily be interpreted negatively as boredom, disinterest, or low motivation. Additionally, when they do things at a quick pace, they sometimes frustrate or fluster coworkers who work at a more measured pace. Here are some techniques for coping with hyperactivity:

• “Fidget” intentionally by taking notes during meetings (this not only will give you an activity but also will enhance your concentration).

• Do things that require movement—picking up the mail, going to the copy machine, getting a cup of coffee—when you need a break from sedentary activity.

• Bring your lunch and exercise during your lunch break.

• If you have a private office, take brief exercise breaks every hour or two.

• Build more movement and activity into your life; for example, park further away from the office and walk to work from there.

• Engage in athletic activities after work.

• People with ADD who are extremely restless should look for types of work that routinely allow movement; work in sales, construction, repair, servicing, law enforcement, and fire protection may be a good fit.

• Work two part-time jobs rather than one full-time job, to increase movement and variety.

Need for Stimulation (Intolerance of Routine)

Many jobs entail repetitive, uninteresting work. People who have a low tolerance for this may be perceived as “spoiled” or poorly motivated. Many adults with ADD grow bored by the daily management and follow-through tasks which follow the creative, exciting start-up phase of projects. Here are some suggestions:

• If you have the opportunity, team up with a coworker whose strengths are in your areas of weakness (look for a partner who is good at details and day-to-day management).

• If you do not have this luxury, look for assistance or training to improve your skills in organization.

• If possible, choose work that allows a high degree of change and variety.

• Look for work that calls for a minimum of record keeping and paperwork.

• If you work for yourself, hire someone to manage the details and keep the records.

Memory Difficulties

Often many ADD adults exhibit poor short-term memory; they absentmindedly misplace items, lock their keys in their car, or forget to carry through on verbal requests from others. Frequent forgetting at work can be misperceived as irresponsibility or poor motivation. The following list shows practical approaches that some adults with ADD have found helpful.

Time Management

Running Late

“Running late” is an almost classic ADD symptom. There are several coping techniques:

• Plan to arrive early to allow for unforeseen events. If none occur, you will arrive early, allowing time to plan, focus, take notes, or reread the memo, which well help you to organize and improve your work performance.

• Don’t give in to the “just-one-more-thing” impulse. If you think of one more thing to do as you prepare to leave, write down your idea in your day timer and act on it later.

• Be on the lookout for impulses that occur on the way to do something else. One man with ADD found that even after he had mastered leaving for work early, he still on occasion arrived at the office late because he gave in to impulses on the way.

• Build in “getting ready” time. For some adults with ADD, the “it’s time to go” cue often becomes their cue to get ready. Only then do they ask themselves such questions as “What do I need to take with me?” and “What is the phone number in case I get lost?” These questions are important, but they should be asked—and answered—before it’s time to walk out the door.

Overcommitment

Another classic ADD time management problem is overcommitment, that is, deciding to do things that you really don’t have time to do and then attempting to squeeze them in, anyway. Whether this kind of overcommitment occurs on a large scale at work or on a small scale with friends or family, it can wreak havoc with conducting life in some kind of orderly fashion. Here are a couple of techniques to help you cope with overcommitment:

• Make it a habit to say, “Let me check my other commitments,” before accepting a new one.

• Try to catch yourself before giving in to an impulse to squeeze something into your busy schedule. Finish the already scheduled things first. Then, if you have time, you can add other things to your list.

• If you add a commitment, then you must subtract a previous one. Your time is not infinitely expandable.

Procrastination

Procrastination is a major time management problem for many people with ADD, especially for tasks that are difficult or uninteresting.

Here are some coping techniques for managing a tendency to procrastinate:

• Look for jobs in which there is a minimum of tedious paperwork—the number one procrastination item.

• Look for jobs in which there are few long-term projects requiring a large report at the end, another item that typically poses major problems for ADD procrastinators.

• Commit yourself to a deadline and declare it to colleagues or to your supervisor. Making a promise to others often helps people overcome their own resistance.

Paperwork Problems at Work

Paperwork poses typical problems for adults with ADD. These can range from relatively minor ones (e.g., turning in your expense record or time sheet late) to major ones, such as losing important material or not completing paperwork critical to the functioning of your organization.

Why do these problems happen? A number of ADD traits come together to create the paperwork pile: impatience with detail; a tendency to put off doing boring, unessential things; a tendency to toss papers on your desk to deal with later rather than take care of them as soon as they arrive.

To cope with this problem, you can try the following:

• Look for work that has a minimum of paperwork.

• Look for ways to streamline your job to reduce paperwork.

• Find ways to reward yourself for completing unavoidable paperwork.

• Develop a more streamlined filing system to make your filing chores easier and less tedious.

• Do tedious tasks regularly, in small bits—do not let the filing or correspondence pile up and become overwhelming.

Problems with Organization

Many ADD adults have a tendency to jump into tasks and figure them out as they go. This approach can work for some relatively simple tasks and can be tolerated in complicated tasks in which the ADD adult is working solo. The impromptu approach is more likely to fail, however, when the project is complex or must be coordinated with the work of others. Here are some tips to consider if you have problems with organization:

• Start at the end and work backwards. Mark on a calendar when your project is due and then work backward, indicating on the calendar the various dates by which earlier stages must be completed. This approach often results in a more realistic time line.

• Make it visual. For many adults with ADD, “out of sight is out of mind.” Make a large chart of time lines for all of your projects, and place it on the wall of your cubicle or office so that you can readily check what needs to be done when.

• Divide projects into bite-sized tasks. Reward yourself for the completion of each task.

• Prioritize and plan with a coworker or supervisor.

Difficulty with Long-Term Follow-Through

Some behavior patterns that may appear to be procrastination are actually a product of distractibility and poor organization. An ADD adult may have a host of projects that have been left undone because his flow of ideas have led him further and further away from his original task. He may be simply caught up in the project of the moment and may have little or none of the negative, avoidant pattern present in procrastination. Such ADD adults are often enthusiastic, energetic initiators who, being drawn from one interesting idea or impulse to the next, are simply ineffective in task completion. If this description fits you, consider these tips:

• Use a day planning system religiously.

• Take a course in time management and organization.

• Work with a partner or group that can help keep you on task.

• Establish a pattern of daily or weekly reporting to your supervisor to help keep you focused.

Difficulty Coordinating Simultaneous Tasks

Many bright, capable ADD adults encounter severe performance problems in the workplace when they are promoted to managerial positions in which they are expected to coordinate multiple projects and people. Jobs that require ADD adults to oversee many people in several different projects may over-tax their organizational capacity. They may encounter enormous difficulty monitoring both their own progress and the progress of the rest of the team involved in a complex, long-term project.

ADD adults may frequently have the feeling that they have been frantically busy all day but have accomplished little. In fact, their disorganization and forgetfulness may have created crises to which they then had to respond, further distracting them from attending to other aspects of their complex job. If you have difficulty coordinating several tasks at once, consider the following suggestions:

Be realistic in assessing your managerial abilities. No matter how tempting a managerial position may seem initially, it may in the end bring more frustration than satisfaction.

Try shifting the responsibility to your supervisees to “check in” with you rather than wait for you to “check up” on them.

Divide your day: Begin with supervisory tasks and then move to your own work. If you begin your own work first, you may find that you have hyperfocused, overlooking your supervisory responsibilities.

Carefully protect yourself from constant interruptions by those whom you supervise. Set aside times when you are available.

Conclusion

In this chapter I have tried to deal in a limited space with a wide range of job performance difficulties often experienced by individuals with ADD. The suggestions here are by no means exhaustive. Memory, time management, procrastination, planning, and organizational skills are all complex issues. Entire books have been devoted to each of them. The suggestions here are meant as a starting point for you. In order to succeed in really changing some of these troubling work patterns, you will need to devote extended time; moreover, you are likely to need the assistance of a tutor, counselor, or coach. Here are a few general suggestions for you:

• Don’t try to tackle everything at once. Successes tend to build, one on top of the other. For example, better time management on your part will enhance your later efforts toward better organization and planning.

• Build habits. Pick a crucial area, identify some practical approaches, and then keep at it until you have developed a new habit.

• Use others to keep you focused. A coach or counselor may be useful to help you figure out where things are going wrong and to suggest a different approach.

• Be realistic. Some people with ADD, determined to master their difficulties, create their own downfall by sticking with a job for which they are poorly suited. Your efforts will be much better spent if you choose a job wisely, one that calls upon your strengths, and then work on habit building in an ADD-friendly environment.

Many adults with ADD find that they are most effective in beginning to implement some of these approaches when they work regularly with a therapist and/or an ADD coach, who helps them to prioritize, keep focused, and problem-solve when things go wrong.

Remember, don’t try to do too many things at once, and don’t try to do it all alone. Habits take time to build! If you are patient with yourself, you may be very pleased to recognize how much better organized and efficient you are a year or so from now.