How to manage ADHD at work

If you have been diagnosed with ADHD or just suffer any of the symptoms related to it such as the deficit of attention or hyperactivity you have probably found yourself struggling at work fighting those symptoms. What can you do to help you to better manage your focus at work?  

Use open communication

Don’t be ashamed of sharing your struggles with your boss or colleagues so they are aware of the obstacles that you are facing. Ask for realistic deadlines, work together with your colleague and share your progress so that you are not tempted to procrastinate and really focus on the job. Take a day off for therapy is necessary, just don’t keep your issues just to yourself as it may bring you even more struggles at work.

Try to stick to a regime

Some people with ADHD have a problem sticking to a regime. They find themselves going late to work, miss out on the meetings because they mess up the date, time or place. What can help you is to write everything down, set up reminders on your phone or ask colleagues to remind you of important meetings. Above all this you should try working on creating a regime – when to go to bed, when to wake up, when to check on the work updates, when to have a break from work. 

Your phone can be your best tool for this so use the most out of it you can. First thing you can try is blocking all distractive apps with the Scheduled Blocking feature of our AppBlock. 

This feature allows you to create schedules based on the time and based on location. In the free version you can schedule a profile for one day where you select different time slots in which you want to block selected apps and websites, the premium feature is much more flexible allowing you to create unlimited scheduled blocks for exact days and time which you can base on your schedule.

Scheduled blocking can be also super helpful when you want to keep your work-life balance as you can create scheduled blocks for different types of apps for various locations. 

Do not undervalue your work  

For the issue mentioned above – coming late to work, or missing out on work stuff, many people with ADHD choose to work freelance. This comes with many obstacles as well. One of them is that as a person suffering with ADHD you can often strive for a level of persecution that is unachievable and therefore you can consider your work as low valued. However this is often a misstep. When valuing your work for your customer, always look for the cost of the work that other people in your field ask for so you do not undercut yourself. 

Learn how to cope with over-perfectionism 

Depending on the work you are doing you can either learn how to fight it, or use it to your advantage. For instance this can come in handy in a job where you need to fill out important forms such as applying for grants, doing taxes or being a text corrector or editor. In many other jobs this can however keep you back and slow down your work progress. If you see yourself in any of these examples, learn how to remind yourself if this is something you should fight or learn to use to your advantage. If you feel you should share your struggle with your manager, as we already mentioned – do not worry and communicate about it openly with him or her. 

If all else fails turn to your doctor for medication or therapy

If you feel like you are being too unfocused,unable to listen and pay attention during meetings, missing out on important details and doing mistakes at your work, consider visiting a doctor or a therapist so you can find the best professional help you might need in order to lessen the impact of the symptoms.