If 3 Steps to Conquering ADD-ADHD is familar to you, you’ll see lots of reasons to be glad you, your child, or both of you have ADD/ADHD. Even though the cons to have ADD/ADHD are promoted, let us not overlook the positives.
Just like those with other special skills or needs, certain jobs have a better “fit” than others. Nothing could be more true for the ADD/ADHD person. If you are feeling that your job isn’t “you,” there may be a reason and it could be linked to your ADD/ADHD. If your children are tossing ideas around about careers
or college majors, his/her ADD must be considered, too.
Having ADD/ADHD does not mean you cannot succeed - it merely means that you are dealing with a host of variables that effects everything from your interests to your frustration level to your motivation. In truth, there are close to thirty professions that appear to be well matched with people who have ADD/ADHD. In this article, we’ll look first at what makes a job “ADD-friendly” and how to go about figuring where you best suited.
If you are looking at choosing another line of, or are new to a career, it might be well worth your time to seek the help of a career counselor. As part of their job they conduct an ADHD test to discover what your interests are and what are your aptitudes. But as well, you need to make sure your counselor has a thorough understanding of your particular brand of ADD/ADHD so that this is taken into consideration .
It has been shown that when a person has ADD/ADHD they need work that has pressure, autonomy, and variety. Pressure comes in the form of the excitement from a job that causes your adrenaline to flow. Being autonomous does not mean that you have to lead the pack in everything. You are usually one that likes to pace yourself and not be rushed by other people and to be responsible for your work without someone breathing down your neck. Do we need to even review what variety means? A job without variety is never going to work for the ADDer!
So what exactly is a ADD/ADHD-friendly job anyway?
An ADD-friendly job usually requires that a person with ADD must pay attention to the details for time segments that are much shorter than most people. The length of time depends greatly on each person person. Particularly if your are extremely stimulated by what you are doing, you are apt to be able to sustain attention longer.
An ADD-friendly job can include that of the role of supervisor if you can pay closer attention to other people’s work including your own. Depending on how much pressure managing detail and also the details of others, you more than likely are better suited to leave the managing to someone else!
An ADD-friendly job offers a frequently changing environment along with multiple
responsibilities. Boredom is reduced. In addition, most ADDers prefer to work independently and take a lot of ownership in their work. If all these are found in a job, the chances for satisfaction is not too farfethced!
If you are evaluating a career or trying to determine if it’s time for a job change, look to see what your answer are to these.
- What demands does this position call for?
- How must autonomy will you have?
- How much detail work is required? Is boredom likely or is yourself becoming stimulated by these tasks?
- How active is the job? In other words, does it offer a lot of change in
job duties or or is it a repetivitive job long?
Will the activity have enough energy to hype you up excited about your work?
Do not be looking for a job that fits the bill of all these, but make sure that you have as many of them as you can. Everyone needs to be able to give a little extent for our jobs, but don’t forget that the job in turn must offer you a pretty good fit, too! In next week’s article, Jon Bennett will take a look at 30 job categories that are ADD/ADHD-friendly!