Hey friend,
I've had a lot of different jobs in my life . . . a lot.
The exact number is hard to figure out since many of those jobs lasted for mere weeks, but it's definitely somewhere over 30.
This is something I've discovered is pretty common for people with ADHD, for a few different reasons.
- Impulsivity may lead you to simply walk off the job site if something goes wrong
- Rejection sensitivity and emotional dysregulation may cause you to respond strongly if our boss says something that hits us the wrong way
- You just get bored, really really quickly
Dr. Russell Barkley, a leading expert on ADHD, says that ADHD isn't a mood disorder, but a failure-to-regulate-mood disorder.
In other words, when a boss says something that might make you upset, most people feel frustrated or angry. But you—or someone else with ADHD—are much more likely to respond immediately (through words or actions) and get yourself into trouble.
There's also another factor that causes us to leave more jobs which I think of as a filtering effect.
We are quick to discover when something about the job is simply incompatible with the way our brain works. And once we figure that out—we're gone (even to our detriment if we have nothing else lined up and no savings to rely on).
The downside of this is immediate and obvious: you may find yourself without work and in trouble, regretting that you quit a job without first finding something new.
But the potential upside?
Through the dozens (and dozens) of jobs we've tried and left, we are constantly learning and filtering through what is compatible with our way of working, and what is not.
We often don't waste time working a job that we can tell isn't going to work out in the long run, so our filtering process for finding that good fit moves in hyper speed.
For example, I've learned that I cannot work at a job that requires me filling out time sheets. I can't work at a job that requires me to be precise with my time. I can't work at a job that requires me to do long periods of manual labor without breaks, or a job where I don't have some form of autonomy to decide my own work rhythms without someone tracking every thing I do.
I definitely feel lucky to have found a career (as a designer/developer) that checks the right boxes for me and I feel like I can thrive, but it was a long road to get to where I am today.
Stay focused,
Jesse J. Anderson
P.S. I've been thinking about doing an upcoming series where I stick with a theme for 6-8 weeks. Something like "Breaking Down ADHD Myths", "ADHD Toolbox", "ADHD Terminology", "Navigating ADHD + Relationships", "Organization Skills for ADHD", etc.
I'd love to hear from you what sort of series you would be interested in learning more about—just reply to this email and let me know if you have some ideas!
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