Can't Keep A Job Because Of My Adhd

[LostOne1985]

Hello all,

For the longest time I've had trouble holding down a job as I can remember. I was just researching to look at the traits of having ADHD and it seems adults that have ADHD are impulsive and have a hard time holding down a job. it's like I build up these scenarios in my head where everybody hates me or has something against me. This causes me to lose my job as I quit. I was wondering if anybody out there has the same issues that I'm having. If so, how did you get over it and get past it because I'm tired of this. Also, people with adult ADHD have relationship issues. I really need some help because this is getting to me really fast.

Thanks

 

[twinkle30]

I have had the same issues with work but I have another mental illness. I always think people are plotting against me. I don't know how to get over it.

 

[LostOne1985]

Yes I know the feeling it's terrible I literally can only hold a job down for one or two months and then I quit.

 

[twinkle30]

How about a job that doesn't require lots of human interaction. Like a janitor. In my area if you are a janitor for a government office you get some really nice benefits.

 

[LostOne1985]

How about a job that doesn't require lots of human interaction. Like a janitor. In my area if you are...

I never thought about that but I wouldn't even know where to start

 

[Friday]

With ADHD? It's all about finding the right job. One that utilizes the strengths of the disorder, and minimizes the weaknesses. Every single field, however, has subFields in it that rock out the strengths of ADHD & minimizes the weaknesses. Just as one example amongst thousands... In medicine? You tend to find the ADHD crowd in trauma/ER, Surgery, & Research. Will you find individuals in each and every single other branch of medicine? Absolutely. Individuals always vary. But where you find the crowd? Those 3 sub specialties*.

Certain kinds of jobs & ADHD don't tend to get along. Think time cards. In most fields, you won't find a lot of ADHD people punching a clock -without a long history of being fired from similar jobs- unless there's a separate motivating or mitigating factor. Think the cop who always uses the gym an hour before shift. In his/her mind, shift doesn't start at 4. It starts at 2. So sometimes they're there at 130 because what they were doing wrapped up early... But most of the time they're in the locker rooms getting gym clothes on between 204 & 237. The gym is start of tour. The commitment, each and every single day, is to be at the gym at 200. The moment the mental shift happens to "Nah. Don't need to be at rollcall until 4?" they're gonna start running late.

So the challenge with ADHD? First to find the driving force that motivates you to be there to begin with (a paycheck ain't good enough, plenty of things pay), to keep it an active part of the mental Rolodex, and second to figure out work arounds to put the strengths to work / minimize weaknesses.

When the challenge is social / interacting with others? Generally, first figure out what class of people it is that are problematic (authority, colleagues, general public), and then find a subSpeciality -in your field- that minimizes that. Whether it's being your own boss, if the problem is authority; working independently, if the problem is colleagues; or never ever ever -or at least very rarely- having to deal with the public, if the problem are clients/customers/people outside your field.

* Why? 1) Active fast paced environment of constantly shifting goals, super high adrenaline. 2) Hyperfocus, hyperfocus, hyperfocus (standing 14 hours without taking a potty break, much less any other kind of break, doing incredibly precise work... Is something that is physically impossible for many people, but a very natural part of this disorder). & 3) Cognitive leaps / taking disparate pieces of information and formulating them into a cohesive whole or theory. Respectively.

 

[LostOne1985]

With ADHD? It's all about finding the right job. One that utilizes the strengths of the disorder, an...

So do you suggest me going into some type of job that requires to be in the medicine field?

 

[shimmerz]

but I wouldn't even know where to start

This is what gets to me the most. I have no freaking idea how to sequence things anymore. I don't know how I would start either. So big...

 

[LostOne1985]

This is what gets to me the most. I have no freaking idea how to sequence things anymore. I don't kno...

I'm sorry this condition really really sucks

 

[Friday]

So do you suggest me going into some type of job that requires to be in the medicine field?

Not unless your interests are medical. Name any field... And there are subspecialties within it.

ETA... Nearly 3/4s of my family is ADHD. Every single person (save myself, at the moment) is rabidly successful. No one takes meds (although that's one way around needing ADHD work-arounds). Education & Employment? Are simply handled differently in my family than one regularly sees. It's all very outside the box kind of thinking... Because ADHD doesn't fit well inside the box. So one can't simply coast along doing what everyone else is doing, but has to actively find ways to work with the disorder. Unlike PTSD, ADHD doesn't change. The symptoms will always be there. So it's a matter of turning problems on their ear & figuring out ways around them. Instead of trying to force ourselves to change -ain't gonna happen, no matter how much one might want to- it's about finding niches that take total advantage of our strengths. Inside my family? We have individuals in Medicine, Military, Engineering, Art, Law Enforcement, Education, Art, Children (list goes on)... You take the individuals unique interests, put them in the field they have passion for, in a sub speciality they can rock their strengths out in, and then use work arounds to deal with inherent weaknesses. The field itself? Doesn't matter in the least. Finding their niche within the field is what matters. Where the disorder is an asset, instead of a liability.

 

[Ed Norton]

Have you ever considered medication?

 

[LostOne1985]

Have you ever considered medication?

Yes, but I hate how they make me feel. I would rather die than be medicated.