People who have ADD are living in an alien environment. They are zig-zag people living in a straight-line world. But regardless of whether you are ADD or linear, you can still achieve any goals you set. But the way you go about structuring your life has to be a bit different. For example, you probably won't do well with traditional classroom education. You need a more flexible environment, so you may seek colleges where you can design your own major field of study. But once you're done with all that, it's time to find a job and not all jobs are as well suited to our ADD brains as others.
Many jobs, such as police officer, freelance writer, or entrepreneur are perfect for those of us with attention deficit. But if you can stand to go through higher education than just college, ADD brains make great lawyers and doctors, too, because there's always an atmosphere of excitement and you need to multi-task to survive. Yet, business is sometimes much more linear. However, that doesn't mean you can't work in a business environment. Though you may need a personal assistant to keep things going smoothly, but you can make an office job work, just by following a few easy tips.
First, when you have a large project due, take it and break it down into bite-sized "chunks." Sometimes, when you look at a big project, it can seem like eating an elephant, but just as the old adage goes, you can eat it one bite at a time. Decide how long your attention span is and then, chunk things down to fit into your time constraints. Then, give yourself deadlines.
For example, you have a comprehensive report to write, and the thought of it makes you nervous. Your ADD procrastination kicks in and you just feel as though it's too much. You don't want to touch it. So, you decide on the components needed to complete the report and prioritize them. What has to be done immediately, what can be done a little later, and what can be done to finish the project. Then, pick the hardest parts of each section and start there, when you have the most energy. Make checklists for yourself, too, so you can cross off tasks as they are completed. This will make you realize that the project is getting done and it will feel pretty good. So, if this report requires statistics to be gather. That's great! ADD people are the hunter-gatherers of our society, and though getting those facts together may be the hardest part of one facet of your project, you may really love doing that. So, start there.
And if you have to, take attention breaks, like when you feel that your mind is wandering, step away from your desk. Go to the water fountain and get a drink of water. Or, do something else. Just get your mind off the project for ten minutes. Then, go back refreshed and start again.
If your office plays continuous music, that could be a huge distraction for you. Get some ear plugs to drown out the noise or turn off the music, if you have an office where it's possible to do that. It may be distracting you without your ever knowing it. On the other hand, you may need that music or some other sounds or smells to keep you from boredom. Some people with ADD need to have all their senses busy. It just depends on your personal version of ADD.
Breaking the day into hours and scheduling in time works really well, too. You may work on your report at the top of every hour for twenty minutes, if that's what your ADD attention span can handle, or maybe you can only take it for 10 minutes. So, decide how many hours you have to complete the report, how long it will take to finish it (and double the time you estimate), and then you can decide what your ADD time modules should be. You may be able to do some of the report work every hour, or your deadline may mean you'll have to work on it for 10 minutes, every half hour. Whatever it's going to take you to reach your goal of completion needs to be factored in when you're breaking down time like this, but it works for ADD brains. You can do something you don't want to do for as long as you can stand it and then, move on to something else. Its' amazing how easy it is to accomplish boring tasks this way.
Having ADD doesn't mean you won't do well in the business world. You just have to learn how to budget time and work within the boundaries of your ADD. When you train your brain to do that, you'll excel. Nothing is better than a highly-intelligent and creative employee. You may need to do things a little differently from the linear-thinking people, but nothing says you can't be on top of the game using some time-tested ADD techniques.
Tellman Knudson is a certified hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner, who has helped many of his clients to cope with the symptoms of ADD. Subscribe to his free weekly ADD Success tips when you visit Instant ADD Success at www.instantaddsuccess.com/