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When we think of ADHD, children come to mind. Even though, children may get the most media coverage these days, adults with ADHD also must learn to cope with their disorder. Since most adults are no longer in school, they tend to fly right under the radar. Many of the teenagers and adults who are walking around jobless and never finished school may have ADHD. Some were never properly diagnosed in school and therefore never got the help they needed. Some were labeled as disruptive children and in school and some went on to become disruptive adults. You may also know an adult who is working, but just seems to be unable to sit still for a minute.

Bruno,a 26-year-old male is a young man who is able to keep down a job but unable to sit still. Fortunately, he chose a job where he could move around a lot. He went into the construction business.

What can you do if you are someone like Bruno and you just can't sit still? First of all you have to accept the fact that you are this way and work with it. Do not give up on life. Do not decide that you will never be able to work because you cannot sit at a desk job all day long. There are many jobs out there that do not require sitting at a desk. Look for jobs that require lots of movement. This is important for people like Bruno who has to remain active. Bruno found his fit in construction work, your fit may be different. Think about the types of things you like to do and look for a job that fits your character and your needs. Perhaps you are good at sales. If so, think of taking a sales job that requires traveling. You don't have to limit yourself to a desk job in sales. You may consider valet parking for a large hotel chain, or perhaps you would prefer a job working as a home inspector, or park ranger. Whatever you choose make sure you can get enough movement in your work. Many adults with the hyperactivity component of ADHD can handle sitting down for a few hours at a time, they just cannot do it for eight hours a day.

Specialists do not want to keyhole people with ADHD into specific jobs. It is hard enough as it is for people with ADHD individuals to maintain a job. The sad facts are out there. Finding that right fit in terms of a job, will require that you also know your skills and weaknesses. This is an important component to your job searching strategy. If you are unsure, you can go to your university counseling center, ADHD/learning disability specialist, career counselor, or psychologist in your community to take some vocational testing in order to get started on the road to the right career. After you have taken the testing and given the list of what you may be good at doing, you are going to need to read up and get all the information about these types of jobs. From there you will create a short list by ignoring the jobs you have absolutely no interest in. Then you will find out what is required to get the job you had in mind. For example, do you need more schooling, do you need to take an apprenticeship, do you need on the job training, or simply work your way up in the job you want from an entry level position.

Howard Eist, MD, past president of the APA and an ADHD specialist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., admits it is not easy for people to remain gainfully employed but they do well in journalism and emergency room medicine. In the end, Edward Hallowell, M.D. maintains, “The best job is the one that lets adults with ADHD work at what they do best and love most, according to career advice experts.”

Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/20050526/workplace_overwhelm_adults_with_adhd
http:/www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/1497/html

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When you have ADD or ADHD, you may have your own way of doing things. For the most part,
you may be able to find things in what others might call ‘organized chaos.’ However, all too
often, organized chaos won’t work well in on the job. If your cubicle is a trashed, and your boss
sees it, he may tell you to clean up your act. Image and impressions are important, even if you
are in the “back office”.

Here are some work strategies that might help you in the workplace:
● Take some time to organize your work environment. For instance, if you have to go into
your filing cabinet for anything, take a minute to see if there are any files there that can
be cleared out. Nothing can be worse than a filing cabinet that is stuffed to the gills with
paperwork that is obsolete.
● Keep pads of sticky notes handy. It also helps to have other types of organizational
tools available to you. Sometimes, low tech is the way to go! There’s no sense in having
a digital doo-hickey-thing-a-ma-jig if you can’t remember where you had it last. I have a
bulletin board in my office. I use different colored sticky notes. I use red ones for things
that have to be done now, and yellow ones that aren’t as urgent. If you have an erasable
white board, you can keep up with your tasks that way.
● Try to clear your work area as you work. Don’t make a mess bigger than you are willing
to clean up. I can’t tell you how many times my mom said those exact words to me. I
would answer “I don’t make messes; I know where everything is.” To anyone else, my
work area might appear to be cluttered, but it works for me. As I get work completed,
I put it away in its proper place… eventually. But sometimes we have to put on our
Sunday best for the sake of others.
● Develop new habits. We are creatures of habit, after all. Letting the clutter pile up
and making a mad dash to clean it up once week or two isn’t going to help you stay
organized at the workplace or at home. Take a minute or two, look around and see
where you could do a better job of organizing. It will only take five minutes. Taking a
few minutes to de-clutter your work area every day will keep your desk from looking like
a mountain of clutter.
● Make notes on your wall or desk calendar when you have appointments. If you don’t
already have a calendar that has spaces where you can write, you might want to go
ahead and get one. If I didn’t use a calendar to keep up with the tasks I have to do every
day, I wouldn’t get a thing done. Why? …Because my forgetter is getting better and
better! I find that it is something about hand writing something that makes it stick out in
my memory banks.

We, who have ADD or ADHD, cannot always rely on our memory to get all of our tasks done.
Oftentimes, we have so much spinning around in our brains that we tend to forget important
details. It is vitally important that we have strategies that help us be efficient workers in the
workplace. The strategies you use to make your job easier should be doable; this means that
your work strategies should feel natural. Give it time. I heard that it takes about ten days to
develop a new habit, good or bad. These strategies and good habits can work well to overcome
the organized chaos that those of us with ADD / ADHD have grown comfortable with. If only we
could get others to see all the beauty in our messes!