Transitions in the Workplace: ADHD in the workplace

Transitions in the Workplace: ADHD in the workplace


Transitions happen constantly in life and in a multitude of ways. There are transitions between jobs, months, weeks, days, tasks, meetings and conversations--just to name a few. With ADHD, these transitions can be a time when we lose focus, become stressed or otherwise become less than our best. On the other hand, working with our support team, whom understand the nature of transitions for those with ADHD, transitions can become a chance to re-center, re-focus and come back to our best center before going to the next element in our day. For this entry, let's look at the smaller transitions between tasks, meetings and conversations.

When thinking about your work day; are there times when you are transitioning from desk work to meetings? Are there times when you are transitioning between the tasks that make up a project? Are there times when you are transitioning from a computer work to phone work? These are common transitions in the workplace that many do without thinking however for those with ADHD it might be fret with the debris of possible distractions and stress.


Let's look at a type of transition: What are some of the things that need to happen while transitioning from writing a document to going to a meeting?

1. We must notice internally (with or without external prompts) that it is time to prepare to stop what we are doing.

2. We must gather and organize things that we were working on so that they will be ready for us.
3. We must notice it is time to go to the meeting.
4. We must gather the items we need for the meeting.
5. We must get to the meeting on time and sitting down.

The less we notice and attend to these elements of transition the more that overwhelm, stress and poor focus have opportunity to come into play. When we set up systems to help us recognize these elements, we bring calm, clarity and great focus to our transitional moments which aid in our grounding and effectiveness. There are many different systems to utilize to make transitions easier. However, each person has individual needs that will help them to be successful. Some people have administrative assistants to keep them on task while others employ watches with beepers. Your coach or success team can help you to identify your challenges and implement your transition system. The practice and mastery of these fundamental elements are the makings for very satisfying, effective and productive days.

Using Your Planner to Get Started with ADHD

Using Your Planner to Get Started

Sometimes getting started can be difficult. It may be that proper scheduling or planning hasn’t been done. It may be the complexity of the task. It may be a dreaded task. Today let’s take a look at the scheduling and planning piece.

I’ve noticed that some clients have trouble getting started if they are deciding in the moment or the day of; what to get started on first or how to get started at all.
A simple approach is starting to plan a day ahead. Meaning that in the morning or afternoon, you pull out your planner to schedule and plan the next day. You may have a checklist that you can input into your calendar on specific time slots to ensure your “to do” list is completed. You may have important meetings to that need a file pulled or printed. If you plan the day before you may eliminate that overwhelmed feeling and your feeling of being in control will be heightened. There is something about getting up with a plan or schedule already in place that takes off a burden that can send my ADHD clients into overwhelm if it’s not lifted off of them.
Don’t you usually sleep better too if you know you are ready for the next day? I know I do. And don’t you love the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day when your to do list is completed?

The main thing about getting started is just getting clear on what needs to be done, getting moving and staying in forward motion. This is where your ADHD coach can come into action. You and your coach can set your plans in motion working around your ADHD and creating a solution that will work for you to succeed. Remember everyone’s ADHD shows up different so the plan above may or may not work for you however the goal is to get started and keep moving forward with your projects. So keep trying new ideas and keep your mind open to the possibilities around you for success with getting started on your projects.

Perfectionism and ADHD in the Workplace

Perfectionism in the Workplace

Perfectionism in the workplace can show up in odd and unexpected ways. Some may be thinking, “What is the problem with this? People who tend toward perfectionism turn out work that is such a high standard that it’s near perfect right? So if I try to turn out perfect work, the end result is that my work will be better quality – right?” This is the thinking of how it might be but it isn’t the reality of how it shows up. A person with ADHD and perfectionism may find that they are behind on work, missing deadlines and often not getting all the work required completed. Sometimes the quality of the work being done may be far from high quality; it may be low or of unacceptable quality. These situations may arise from perfectionism; so let’s take a deeper look.

Perfectionism from a workplace point of view may show up with the desire to be error free and produce excellent work however what usually underlies these desires is the fear of mistakes, acceptance by others or a fear of being negatively judged by others. One may, under self imposed stress, have difficulty starting a task or knowing what to do first because nothing seems quite good enough. One may have many false starts (starting a project and discarding the work) or starting it over and over again thereby running out of time and being rushed at the last moment to get something in that may result in an unacceptable quality of work. Perhaps there are 10 critical tasks that need to be done and one completes only two or three, although they are of exceptional quality, time and resources have been misallocated. Do any of these scenarios’s sound like your situation? You are not alone. Many have this perfectionism trait both with and without ADHD present.

I think that the best examples I have heard regarding this is a story of two graduate students. One was a perfectionist and the other strove to write well enough for the task at hand and within the time allotment. They were both writing articles to be published in journals regarding their studies. The perfectionist ended the year with one well written article while the other student wrote numerous articles in that same amount of time that were good enough for publication. The student with the most published articles was approached by a book publisher. He was given an advance because he was viewed as the top expert in his field. The perfectionist was not made an offer.

So perfectionism is not anything to be desired or sought after but rather it’s something to be let go so in the mix of things one is able to freely discern what tasks need to be done in a good enough fashion and what are the handful of things that need to be done to an exemplary level of quality. The reality is in the human realm of work and productivity, perfectionism is only an ideal that is not attainable in human reality.