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Thread : Types of ADHD Assistance/Support - Please Help Clarify  
22 Dec 2008 @ 1:37 PM
Cassandra Join Date: Thu 18th Dec 2008
Threads: 2 Posts: 2
Types of ADHD Assistance/Support - Please Help Clarify

Hello, I need some help, but I'm now stumped where to correctly go to get it. Forgive my wordiness, but I want to provide my context. I have high anxiety on top of the ADD. I can work well at big pictures and troubleshooting details, but I get foggy and lost in the middle of those.

I started working for my family almost 3 years ago to help relieve pressure off my Dad [non-ADD, overly responsible and does EVERYTHING]. I used to be in application support programming and I LOVED the job [troubleshoot bugs, structured list of what I needed to address, occasional creativity in developing new fixes or solutions.. interaction with more people, but not constantly with customers] but I ended up wanting to leave because it was driving me into the ground. 9+ hour days with a 40min commute on each end and no promising relief from the company any time soon.. Company politics and environment became the issue, not the day to day job. About the time I was looking to get out, my Dad finally asked for help. I now "handle" anything technical, whether it be replacing a printer cartridge to researching a new phone system. I'm the go-between for Dad's requests and whoever the vendor is. There is a lot of freedom and I'm continually coming up with new processes or ways to change the workflow, but half of them are ways that I can't implement or I find I just can't focus on them. I can have many days where I feel utterly useless because I only got one or two things done while creating more things 'to do'. I can have a day where nothing is done but 'getting my ducks in a row' and then usually a day or two of productivity.. unless a big issue interrupts the whole thing. I miss the structure of my last job, but can't get that from my Dad. Leaving my job is just not an option for at least another year or two. (Though I'm hoping to be able to have some of the responsibilities shifted away so I can get to the tasks I like.. no timeline on when that can happen).

I have soo many tools and yet it's not working.. My cell phone that holds my Outlook calendar and syncs with my PC, MindManager maps of to dos & project ideas for short term & long term, an Issue Tracking web program that I implemented in hopes that our programmers would use it for keeping better documentation of requests & bugs, though I'm not crazy about the interface and it's not used as much as I had hoped, Notepad files of "daily" lists [though I'm trying to stay away from those and just use the MindManager software to keep it all in one place] And of course, post it notes all over my desk, until I get around to consolidating them.

SO I'm trying to find help creating structure or keeping me in line. I've been trying to come up with a job description for someone to help me, but either getting the ball rolling on something or by being a sort of 'handler'. Helping me keep on top of my lists and working on something to the end.

I've been researching ADD Coaches who I sort of understand help you do the work, but I don't know how. Virtual Assistants sound like a solid second set of hands, but I don't know if they are used for handling someone more than running with their own projects. A Virtual Admin Assistant would be more for having some to delegate tasks that I can see need to be done, but I can't focus on or get to. But I'm not sure adding someone else to manage would be a good idea or not. Employing someone to be full time in the office to help a few of us may be an option in a few months, but isn't an option right now.

Can anyone clearly compare these types of help and suggest which type I should be looking at? Every time I think I've 'got it' and picked the right one, I second guess it and the head starts spinning again.

Thank you for your patience in reading this, if you've gotten all the way here!

[This is an updated duplicate from the message I posted in General Help.. I can't figure out how to delete that entry though]

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22 Dec 2008 @ 1:47 PM Reply # 1
Anni Join Date: Thu 25th Oct 2007
Threads: 18 Posts: 416
ADD Coaches

Hi Cassandra:

I have to admit I got a little lost at the end of your post, but I wanted to pass along ADDitude's best articles about ADD coaches because I think they could really help.

In short, an ADD coach can help you set up the organizational systems you need (or weed out/improve existing ones) in order to achieve productivity on the job moving forward. They don't actually do any 'work' for you, but rather help you figure out ways to operate more effectively with ADD.

I think this might be a good answer for you, regardless. Certainly it can't hurt.

Best of luck!

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