Working with ADHD
- Oct 1, 2016
- 3 min read
I wouldn't really get rid of my ADHD if given the choice since it's kind of integral to who I am now, but it has made work-life a bit more difficult than it could be. In my opinion it's a tool with upsides as well as downsides but a tool kind of has to be applied correctly. The first upside I've found with it is when I'm in the zone, no one can keep up with me or get as much done as I can generally. The other upside I've noticed is I am really good at seeing things from a different angle than most people and I tend to pick up on details a lot of people miss. However, even though I pick up on details most people miss, I sometimes miss things most people would notice. This isn't too bad since I can easily find other people and get their feedback to fill in the gaps, but it still can cause problems. I also am sometimes forgetful, which can be incredibly frustrating, especially when forgetting something can easily can be misinterpreted as not listening. Taking notes obviously is a life saver but it only goes so far when your mind is running a mile a minute. My biggest advice to anyone trying to work professionally with ADHD is to first spend a lot of time figuring out just how your mind works. It took me a lot of years and a lot of mistakes to figure out how to effectively work off of my medication. In my case I found a thousand ways that didn't work, such as working at home in any fashion, etc. and one way that worked (Doing my work in a work-like environment like at school/etc).
In the workplace you also seriously will need to take some time and figure out how to work with your co-workers. There is so much room for misunderstanding and misinterpretation that it's not even funny. By far the strongest method I found is unfortunately not one that is always doable, which is taking time occasionally to check in one-on-one with co-workers. Usually you're doing this to identify any problems you might be causing but are completely unaware of (missing obvious details), but other times it can be to understand how your co-workers work to see if there are ways you can adjust your behavior to make interacting with them smoother.
Some examples of things you may need to address:
Forgetfulness and ways to mitigate it, sometimes you may honestly need a bit more help from a senior or someone to keep you on track (not all teams will be open or have the time to help with this)
Chatter, and managing the amount of time you spend discussing things that aren't immediately relevant.
Coming on too strong in conversions or discussions, and seeing if you are stepping on people, especially quieter spoken workers.
It's a two-way interaction, but at the end of the day the bulk of the responsibility is on your own shoulders to keep your behavior in check where you can. The ability of getting help from your team will vary completely from team to team. For me, specifically people that are comfortable shutting me down or calling me out if I'm talking too much/overpowering discussions are pretty awesome until I get a handle on interacting with everyone. For other teams it may be 100% on your own shoulders to dial that back, and it can be rough.
At the end of the day, if you play your cards right your team will appreciate you for what you bring to the table. If you don't, you'll need to be on the top of your game mitigating the best you can.
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