Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I can recall stuff from years ago, but notice that if I'm supposed to be doing A and then someone comes along and asks me to do B and C, I'd do B and C but then forget that I was supposed to be doing A and then get yelled at for not doing A. (Hence why I hate being interrupted until I'm done with a task.)
I think I can rule out customer service jobs as that is a must to be able to do B and C and still recall to do A.
My ability lies in that I can recall stuff from when I was 2 years old but cannot, sometimes, recall, if asked too much, what someone asked me to do five minutes ago.
I also can focus on a task for hours (which can be an asset) without losing focus, but sometimes I can be so absorbed that someone has to keep calling me from several minutes before they get my attention.
engineering, science, medical (other than an ER doctor or something like that). I get into work when I get in and just have to meet my year end metrics. I could not imagine having a day to day task master, I think that would be a nightmare, then getting yelled at on top of that. I would be applying for new jobs every night, that would be highly stressful.
Are you in the military or something, I would record that behavior and take it to a lawyer and see if you can cash out.
The first thing that comes to mind is repetitive task work such as assemble line or packaging. But, that's secondary to what is your education and skills? What would you want to be doing? Twirling a sign at the corner may be the perfect fit but is that you?
are you sure it isn't just because you are disorganized? or set a timer for the tasks, when they beep, you know to look at timer then you remember to go back to the task it beeped for. I mean you just might be bad at multitasking for some other reason
it sounds kind of like forgetfulness from ahdh or something? and not bad short term memory unless you had a professional look at it already
I DO have ADHD. Try, maybe I should write it down, but I know that my tendencies are better with a couple of large tasks rather than multiple small ones.
On the flip side, I also notice that I have the tendency, if something that looks it'll take forever and I won't have enough time for it to go into freak out mode. (i.e. stuff that would be pulled at the last minute and be expected to be done fast and that isn't that easy would NOT be a good fit.)
I know I did fine up through Jr. College, but when I went to University, I had a harder time prioritizing the huge amount of work I had to do often with shorter deadlines. True, I might be a procrastinator, but, on the flip side, after spending hours and hours on something and then having a freer period with something big down the road, I tend to have fun and not do much on the big thing till later as I already feel burned out. Led to a bad trend and I did stuff in school, that, while it let me get A's and B's (often B's) in University, wouldn't work so well in the working world.
On the flip side to the too many shorter assignments thing, I recall that I could probably get myself to do 4 different 15 page reading assignments in college easier than I could a single 60 page reading assignment as the thought that kept going through my mind with the longer one is "this is going to take FOREVER".
So I know that, while too many short tasks being needed to be remembered at once is too much for me, the other extreme, one BIG task, is also hard for me as I get overwhelmed.
So I could do a big task in steps, but if I had to "just get it done" and didn't get too much on the smaller steps, or didn't have much time to make a plan, I'd be overwhelmed.
On the flip side, I know when helping with my parents, I can do well, though when my mother would ask me to do A and B and, while in the middle of it, would suddenly get me to do C, D, and E, I have found that several time I did C, D, and E and B but forgot that I had to do A. Thus any environment where I'd keep getting interrupted from my original task to get new ones (and where this is frequent) would be a very bad fit indeed.
I struggle with the same issues. I've never found a job where there are no interruptions, but there are some things that work better than others, thoughts below.
First, making mistakes or losing your ideas because you get interrupted is one issue, but having my frustration show on my face is what sets me back in jobs the most. For this reason, phone or other non-face to face interruptions can be easier to handle. The job culture is also important. How open is the office layout, can people wear headphones (wouldn't ask this in an interview!), how much control over their day do people have, things like that.
Then for mistake avoidance, try to find productivity tools, for example a parking App if you're on the road, using Excel and sorting different ways, taking screen shots, creating cheat sheets, notes and reminder Apps, I guess planning ahead for spacing out! Company culture is important too. I'd say look for cultures where taking chances and coming up with new ideas is valued as they may not take errors as seriously (and of course you'd want to avoid jobs where forgetting what you were doing would be dangerous). On the flip side, maybe a culture where they take mistakes seriously would have people who interrupt each other less, but I'd imagine that gets boring!
Then it does seem like Sales jobs and higher level manager roles have people who get to pass off the detailed work to others, and they can be ADD-ish and it seems fine. If you have good people skills and could get in a position that values ideas, delegating, talking, counseling, and not lots of detailed work that could fit depending (I wish I went more in this direction myself).
I'll also add that I was horrible at waiting tables, except for a pizza and beer restaurant, and I was fine at customer service (phones) although not fun long term.
that's why they created post it notes!-- my g-son has ADHD and he is a barber at 19-- there is learned behavior you have to incorporate to keep the flow going. A course on organization might help figure what those things are.
that's why they created post it notes!-- my g-son has ADHD and he is a barber at 19-- there is learned behavior you have to incorporate to keep the flow going. A course on organization might help figure what those things are.
Exactly.
you shouldn't look for a job that doesn't require short term memory, you should look for techniques that help with your challenges.
If your memory is short, you may want to get a job that's not to far away from the house.
There's a lot of distractions out there !
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
