How to stay productive with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Personal experience of a woman who has built a successful career, despite the tendency to procrastinate and forget everything in the world.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurological disorder in which people find it very difficult to focus on something for a long time. According to Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) statistics, 4.4% of the entire adult population suffers from this disorder. People with this syndrome experience problems with employment, education, more alcohol abuse and road traffic accidents.

However, ADHD is not a verdict. Some people manage to adapt to it. For example, Sasha Kollekat.

Being diagnosed with ADHD has greatly influenced my career. I have lived my entire life truly convinced that meeting the deadline is like reaching for the clouds in the sky. That choosing clothes before going to work can take an entire morning. And that criticism must necessarily be discouraging and upsetting.

I understood that my career experience was abnormal. And this understanding helped me: I was able to adapt.

Now I am 33 years old and have a job that I love, in which I excel. Every new day brings me interesting tasks that I can foresee, evaluate and solve in a timely manner. Many of my colleagues believe that I am a very responsible and organized person (which surprises me myself).

Productivity tips and techniques that are good for other people tend to be ineffective for me. And therefore, in order to keep my job and achieve career growth, I set myself the task of finding a system that would help me. ADHD usually has a specific effect on. In my case, the following abilities were affected:

• Working memory- that is, the ability to hold information in the head for a short period of time. Problems with this trait at work make it very difficult to return to your assignment after being interrupted or distracted. For the same reason, people with ADHD find it difficult to follow complicated instructions.
• Emotional self-regulation- the ability to correctly build their behavior depending on the current situation. If you don't have well-developed emotional regulation skills, you will be sensitive to criticism and miss out on career opportunities.
• Self-motivation- the ability to act in accordance with their desires. Even if you want to improve your life, it can be very difficult to keep the promises you have made to yourself. And if you don't do it, it will have dire career and financial consequences.
• Planning - the ability to foresee the future, reasonably estimate the time and predict the results of events. Meeting deadlines, being punctual in meetings, and identifying the necessary resources for a given task are essential in any job. But people with ADHD find it hard to even think about time - this strange, often overlooked symptom has been researched by Time Out of Mind: Temporal Perspective in Adults With ADHD by experts at Umeå University in Sweden.

Procrastination and forgetfulness - the eternal companions of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - haunted me at work. They just ruined my career, causing a lot of stress and frustration. And I set myself the goal of coping with them.

How to deal with procrastination

Constant painful procrastination is one of the main hallmarks of A Procrastinator's Story: Adult ADD, Life-long Habits & Irrational Thinking ADHD in adults. This is a real mental torture - depressing, exhausting and … voluntary. And in order to defeat it, you must make your own choice. I want to be in the office on time, complete projects on time, be successful, and be a great learning manager. I don't want to be a bad or even average worker.

I believe that procrastination is just a symptom of my illness.

It’s like realizing that you are simply not prepared for mountaineering. Yes, that's a problem (let's not pretend ADHD is playing with rainbows and unicorns). But this is a problem that can be dealt with.

Don't think about other people's expectations

I speak very carefully about the things entrusted to me. Instead of thinking that I should do this or that because a colleague or client needs it, I pull myself together and say to myself: I want to do this because I believe that my tasks are important to me. I try to fit my tasks into my own plan for the future and not perceive them as imposed on me.

When I think that I have to do something, as others expect of me, I risk becoming indifferent to this matter. And it allows the procrastination monster to take over my mind. Therefore, I think of the company's projects as my own endeavors, the work schedules as my personal schedule, and so on. I am always looking for ways to motivate myself personally.

See the problem differently

If you can't bring yourself to do something, try a more interesting problem. Do not give up what you started and switch to something completely different, no. Just look at the problem from a different angle.

For example, if you are tired of writing the same emails answering the same questions from colleagues, write a detailed manual and send them a link to it. Instead of tediously entering data manually using the same template, learn the basics of programming and automate the routine.

Delegate low priority projects to subordinates or interns. Ask your colleagues for help. Most importantly, avoid procrastination.

Do something you haven't done before

Procrastination is a merciless beast, but it does not adapt well to sudden changes. Take advantage of this. Doesn't work in the office - try doing it in a library, coffee shop, or park with your laptop. Do you usually work in silence? Play some music this time.

Buy a new perfume. Eat something unusual for lunch. Rearrange your table. Write with your non-dominant hand. Install a different text editor. Change the time at which you work. In general, introduce some novelty into the routine, and procrastination will recede. At least for a while.

Deceive your procrastination

Sounds silly, but it works. For example, if I can’t get ready for work in the morning, I say to myself: “I’m not going anywhere yet, I’m just packing my things.” Then: "I'm not getting into the car yet, but just enjoying the weather outside." And then, having come to work: "I have not sat down at the table yet, I only drink coffee."

And finally, getting down to the tasks: "I am not working yet, I am just sketching a plan." And by the time the procrastination monster realizes what's going on, I'm completely immersed in the work process and redoing a bunch of things.

Praise yourself for your accomplishments

It is very unpleasant to finish important work at 3 a.m. because you have been putting it off for a long time. You would probably be glad that the job is done, but, most likely, you will still be angry with yourself that you pulled the cat by the tail for so long.

Anger is a bad weapon against procrastination, and contentment and pride in oneself, on the contrary, are very helpful.

Therefore, do not forget to praise yourself for the seemingly smallest victories.

I like to go through my to-do list and have fun checking out completed items. Opening your email inbox and finding that all emails have been answered - what could be more beautiful? And watching a company thrive thanks to my efforts is very helpful for motivation. And for self-esteem.

Understand the very nature of procrastination

This will help you be a little more tolerant of yourself when you try to control her. Procrastination is a kind of attempt by Procrastination and the Priority of Short-Term Mood Regulation: Consequences for Future Self to restore your mood. This monster tries to convince you that the pleasure of being idle in the short term outweighs all the problems that you will face later as a result of your inaction.

How to deal with forgetfulness

Forgetfulness is extremely common among people with ADHD. In fact, this is the most common symptom of this disorder. I was very embarrassed because of my bad memory and was constantly criticized and even contemplated by others.

I keep forgetting little things. For example, I may suddenly forget what I did yesterday. Or who are my favorite writers. I forget to make regular backups, perform scheduled tasks, and come to appointments and meetings, even if they repeat at the same time weekly.

Dealing with ADHD is hard work, and dealing with forgetfulness takes a lot of effort. Don't waste your resources trying to deal with your weak memory. Focus on acquiring permanent knowledge.

Observe

Saying "focus your attention" in an ADHD article is silly, so I won't tell you that. Observation is much more than just attention.

It requires openness, curiosity, interest and focus on your feelings.

And with curiosity, people with ADHD are fine. The main thing is when you observe, do it with the firm intention of Modulation of Neural Activity during Observational Learning of Actions and Their Sequential Orders to understand and repeat the actions you saw yourself.

Read

I read a lot. This is the most effective way to learn. The more I read, the better I learn. I'm not picky about this. Read news in RSS manager, newsletters, media, open access magazines and new books. I borrow, buy and even restore a lot of publications.

Take time to re-read books and assimilate, generalize, test and apply the knowledge you gain through reading. Knowledge is useless if you don't put it into practice.

Write

Even the process of writing this article helps me fight ADHD forgetfulness. Just like reading an article helps you.

Packing what you know into logical and understandable text is difficult, but doing so reinforces your knowledge.

No wonder students take notes. If you can write by hand instead of typing, it's even better. As with reading, take the time to reread and rethink what you write down - days, weeks, months, or even years later.

Train others

Can you explain something you are competent at to an inexperienced beginner? The ability to share your knowledge is a real sign of professionalism. I train others to test how deep my knowledge is. For me, this is a kind of test of my own abilities - how quickly can I pull up a beginner to my personal level.

Enjoy your own learning

Like most people with ADHD, I have an unrelenting attraction to novelty and surprise. And this is useful for learning. The topics that I master are best remembered for me if they are related to my work.

Therefore, I try to gain knowledge about everything that is even remotely related to my field of activity.

Do your best to continually learn something new in your field. Strive to master all aspects of your job.

Recognize ephemeral knowledge and get rid of it in time

Ephemeral knowledge is information that is only useful for a short time. You need to remember that your flight is scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday so you know when to pack and travel to the airport. But as soon as you find yourself on the plane, this information can be thrown out of your head without any consequences - as no longer necessary.

Ephemeral knowledge can be easily forgotten and recovered later. Therefore, you should not waste your energy on memorizing such information. Research from Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips shows that memorizing how to access ephemeral knowledge is better than trying to keep it in your head.

Here are some examples of such information (I don't even try to remember this information, because I know where to get it if necessary):

• The day my colleague leaves for work (this is written in my calendar).
• The reverse Vincent equation (there is Wikipedia for this kind of thing).
• What does Nothofagus pollen look like (you can find out in the handbook).
• Do I need a visa to travel to this or that country (Google will help here).

I have this kind of information stored in many places at the same time. For example, I write something in my notebook and at the same time make a note on the calendar with a detailed description. I email myself a note and then forward it to my messenger to be available on all my devices. I even use sketches on scraps of paper.

But if there is an opportunity to save yourself from memorizing things and deal with them right away, do it. For example, if you think you’ll forget to send an email to a customer, send it now, without delay. At the same time, save time for more pressing things.

What is the bottom line

I have adapted to my ADHD and it helps me in my life and career. You can do this too. I won't pretend it's easy, but progress is progress.

My goal was to deal with the two main symptoms of ADHD: procrastination and forgetfulness. And I had two strategies:

• Against procrastination:avoid direct interaction with the procrastination monster.
• Against forgetfulness:study what is really important and weed out ephemeral knowledge.

Hope my experience is helpful to you.