ADHD/ADD and Work Part 1 - Finding The Perfect Fit
Table of contents for ADHD/ADD and Work
- ADHD/ADD and Work Part 1 - Finding The Perfect Fit
This is Part 1 in a series of articles about ADHD/ADD adults and their careers.
The perfect job. It’s an elusive quest for most people, let alone those of us with ADHD/ADD. Finding a job we can do is easy. Finding we can do a job after the challenge, the excitement, the monotony of day to day grind sets in is hard. In fact, I’ll say from personal experience it really sucks. So what happens next? Find another job, find another position, change careers, etc.
So how do you find the perfect job? How about the perfect career? As a professional recruiter I was asked this question regularly. It wasn’t until I realized that I had ADD and understood what that implies that the advice that I was giving out for so many years still applies, even more so to those of us with ADHD/ADD.
Your Career
Finding the perfect career is different than finding the perfect job in that career.
A career is defined as an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one’s lifework. When you say career, the word evokes thoughts of Lawyers, Teachers, Dr’s, etc. So if you don’t have specialized training can you or do you have a career? Yes. Whether you realize it or not what you are doing right now is a career. You don’t always have the training when you start but you get that training while working to the point that you can do it as good or better than others around you.
How do you find the perfect career? Start by looking at your current career. Whether it be writer, cook, home maker, IT professional, accountant, or sanitation worker. Ask yourself a few simple questions.
Why did you go into this career in the first place? If your answer is, it seemed like a good idea at the time? Then what’s the difference now? What’s changed? What about the field appealed to you?
Instead of thinking about the answers, get a pen and paper out and write it down. Making a physical list takes the ambiguity or cloudiness you might have when connecting your job with your career. Don’t write your job description or what you do, focus on the career. The big picture. If I was a cook (chef in my mind at least) I might write something down like, creativity, satisfying, complex, diverse, financially rewarding. There are other ways to describe this career but those are the things that I think of.
The next question is what don’t you like your career now? Boring is every bit as valid an answer as say lack of opportunity, or financial stability. Write this down too. Write down things about your CAREER. Not your job. The two combined might be listed or written in a pro/con style to make it easy to see the difference. On the theme of a cook I might say, labor intensive, frustrating, inconsistent, monotonous, slow paced, etc.
Written that down? Now think about this for a second or longer. This is the kind of list you can use to evaluate anything you take on that involves your professional life. What do you like to do? If you didn’t have to work and you had every day off to do whatever you wanted what do you like to do? Again this is my personal list but it looks like this. Writing, creating, using my hands, thinking of ways to make money, creating new recipes, cooking for people, cleaning, organizing, playing with my boys, etc. It’s easy to think of what you would do if you didn’t have to work. I’m sure we all have a list a mile long TO do, but what do you LIKE to do.
As someone with ADD I know first hand how difficult this can be to answer. Do you notice my list varies from thing to thing. No real consistent pattern other than creating. AD/HD and ADD minds are creative minds. Creativity kicks off chemicals in our brains that help us feel calm. They help us relax and gain a sense of normal focus. It’s not just me, check out Delivered From Distraction sometime to see what I’m talking about. Dr. Hallowell talks about this very thing as do other books, sites, and Dr’s.
Now list the things you don’t like. This again is easy to focus on the job you are currently in but think past that. Think about what type of things you don’t like to do. This is far easier than the first. I don’t like the monotonous repeating tasks, sitting for too long, loud noises, dealing with chaotic situations beyond my control,etc.
What’s the pattern there? If you are a non-ADDer then you won’t necessarily understand but for the ADD adult it’s the signs and struggles of the ADD mind. The lack of stimulation or loss of control. Those stick out.
Now take your lists and compare the likes and the dislikes. Does your career afford the good and minimize the bad? Looking at my list an accounting career is not necessarily the way to go. But as a cook I get a lot of the good and a little of the bad. If not what careers do afford those? If you said lawyer, or doctor, or developer. Those might be difficult unless you have a lot of training and money for training.
Think about these lists. it’s the start of the process. In ADHD/ADD and Work part 2 we’ll be discussing what you found here and start talking about specific types of jobs.
Identifying
Do you feel like you can identify with others? Show a sense of empathy? I think a lot of people would say yes. On the same hand do you think a lot of people can identify with you? If you were me that would be a resounding NO.
I feel most days like no one gets me. That most people cannot identify with me. No matter how succesfull or well I do my job, I feel like I am not. I don’t know of many people that can identify with that. That have that question burrowing into their head. I do. But for some reason I don’t let it stop me.
I recently found someone I think I can identify with. He posts around the frequency I do and we have similar hobbies. Jeff’s A.D.D.
Sometimes I head over to the different ADHD forums, Additude magazine, or other blogs by people with ADD. Some of them seem similar but like all mental health deficiencies it varies by person. Our brains work in such an amazing way it can be so heartening to find someone you can relate with.
I love to work, to cook, to create, to solve problems, to dive in and find problems I can solve, and to help people, and to find new ways to do old things. How many of us do this? I belong to a group of men and women around the world called The BBQ Brethren. These people I can identify with. On the other hand, I wonder if they can identify with me? I put that aside and enjoy their company, even if I’ve never met most of them.
It is refreshing to read Jeff’s blogs and see what he’s seeing. Identifying. It’s a nice feeling.