ADHD at Work
Return to 9 to 5 with ADD: Practical Work Strategies for Clever ADHD Brains

9 to 5 with ADD: Practical Work Strategies for Clever ADHD Brains

What jobs are best for ADHD brains? What workplace accommodations help the most? How do I stop procrastinating? How can I learn to navigate office communications and politics? Here, two successful entrepreneurs with ADD answer the most common and plaguing questions from ADDitude readers trying to manage their symptoms at work.

4 Comments: 9 to 5 with ADD: Practical Work Strategies for Clever ADHD Brains

  1. How did i pick out this job and how did I know it could be the right job. Three things worked in my favor. When I left this city I had a large group of friends similar in age, some of whom had started work immediately upon graduation from high school. I had worked at house repair work painting, roofing, eavestroughing and other work for 3 years part time by then and hated it ergo I was not interested in an outside job specià’y in the cold winters. I had also worked two summers in a mining hardware warehouse, training similar to my armed forces trade and was also not overly fond of this . Finally i thought about the jobs my former close buddies had and the two who were enjoying their work the most and were seemingly well paid were in the corporate insurance industry speciàizing in transportation.
    I had lined up two jobs one in Healthcare of the HO of a very large insurer and the other in parts and stock control of a catepillar dealer.
    Choice was easy to make and the result landed me 9 years of technical administration and claims experience, which led directly to my next job as a consultant and eventually Senior executive with a major actuarial and consulting firm. Working for many clients i left this job 9 years later to form first a business partnership and later my own consulting business. Although this began in 1965 i was still using some of the knowledge i gained in my first few years 35 to 40 years later and no one person could fire me .
    I did learn to deliver reports on time though. Best of all the timeliness and many of the other weaknesses we have were attended to by staff who i employed to manage me. Doing the job i loved. As i often said to my business partner its a good thing they dont know I would do this for free i like it so much. Of course i much preferred the $200 to $300/hr we billed for my time.
    A few years later following a major bout with cancer I made a concious choice to work no more than 1000 hours a year 2000to 3000 hours is the expected norm in the industry. . Just another accommodation that as an entrepreneur one can make.
    Now if only i could have had as much success in relationships.

  2. Leaving the armed forces and getting my civilian job which luckily was enjoyable, and something I excelled at, it never dawned on me that puctuality would be a problem . Of course it was so when my first job evaluation arrived and by then i was now replacing 2 people the supervisor told me how pleased they were.. but could i try to arrive on time. Time cards were not used but it was very noticeable when i came rolling in 15 minutes late often. I promised I would and was awarded double the normal raise at the time. I lived 10 minutes walking time from work. Well a year later and our baby who was now one years old and would not sleep at night for another two years, was on the scene. I had just bought a house anticipating another raise to help pay for it along with my Taxi driving 4 nights a week. We sat down for the interview and agin he emphasized how pleased he was with performance ( my Math skills are savant like) and again the issue of timeliness came up. I explained the baby problem and he was more than accepting of this issue. He however suggest that it would be better to come in the back stairs door so as not to flaunt the priviledge. That raise and promotion and another the following year doubled my original salary as this place valued performance beyond anything. That was 50 years ago and many places still do.
    Great advice about making sure it was the right work place. And 50 years ago adhders including me seldom graduated Highschool much less university as education tolerance about homework was non existent. The armed forces training seemed to even the playing field at places i applied for that required a university degree or HS Diploma.

  3. Great Article!
    Loved the Discussion and Advice!
    It helps understanding the explanation re: Why adrenaline helps so much in getting things done “at the last minute”; And how to create that feeling in healthier ways to get things done! Will try that today!

Leave a Reply