A few weeks ago I received an email from the “Twilight Zone.” It read, “Are you the Shelley Mendelson I met in Europe in 1980? Actually it was 1981, but I digress. In fact, he was a friend that I had gotten to know while traveling and living in California and came up to visit and “play” a couple of times. Turns out that I recently looked at the photos I took back in the olden days and perhaps some of the memory cells had drifted out into the universe and caught his attention – who knows. All I remember is what fun I had.
Being two states away we emailed a few times and then I get this note asking how far I lived from Austin. Well, I live down the road a piece and let him know. He said he was flying out the next day for an unrelated event, and maybe we could get together. Very shortly after that first email, we got together with 32 years of catching up to do. Lots of cappuccino’s and Sangria.
I forgot to mention something very important – he told me he was diagnosed with ADD. This unwittingly led to being fired from a few jobs earlier in his work history, because he chose to hyper-focus on the tasks he enjoyed and not particularly what was in his job description. Sound familiar?
Most importantly, however, he took his love of electronics and science and parlayed his inner geek into a thriving company that now produces electronic components for guitars. His position in the company is simply “the Chief.”
Among his clientele is one of my son’s favorite rock bands, The Killers.
But, again, I digress. Of course we had a lot to discuss that was not about ADD, but add to it this component and the conversation became even more animated. True to form, rather than focusing on all the positives of owning and operating a thriving business, he focused on how his ADD gets in the way.
In fact, everything that led him to creating this amazing company is exactly what is right about having ADD. Time for my friend to own it.
Before he was diagnosed, everyone seemed to already know he had ADD – not uncommon. My own best friend sent me a book on the subject two years before I even acknowledged it. This realization can be disarming, but does tend to put things into perspective.
Now, the cool thing is that he has the foresight to know to hire a personal assistant to help him handle the details, so he can focus on the creative aspects of the business and not step on the toes of his employees. Bravo! It just shows actually creating work we love continues to challenge us when we are faced with ADD characteristics getting in the way. Management is and always will be important for focus on – maybe it should be in the job description!
OK, so you might be asking how all this relates to you if you are currently in the wrong job and ADD is all but kicking your butt out the door – AND, you don’t have a clue where to go.
In reality, I have written several posts that will help you clarify this. But the first and most important question to ask you is this:
- What is NOT working now and why is it not working. If you can answer this question, in detail, without judging yourself and simply write:
- It’s not working because….
- It’s not working because….
- It’s not working because….
It might go something like this as an example: “My current job is OK when I get to do the tasks I enjoy, but there aren’t enough of them. Most of my job requires me to do complicated, boring, mundane (you name it) tasks that take me forever to do. Then I get called on the carpet when I’m not doing what it takes to meet the company’s “bottom line”, etc. Keep writing until you have it all written out and exhausted every reason possible. Do NOT HOLD BACK. Stay honest.
- Now imagine one thing you can do to
- Shift the situation so that you are doing more of what you like, or
- Think about an exit strategy and be determined to honor who you really are KNOWING that when you do so, opportunities will emerge.
I realize this might be a stretch so if it works for you just to KNOW and understand yourself better with ADD and why things are not working out, you have a great start.
For even greater insights on this and other Career ADD topics, be sure to schedule your complimentary session with me. It is 30-45 minutes and could provide answers that have been plaguing you for years.
Email me at shell@passiontocareer.com to schedule a date and time.