Has anyone found anything to help with making mistakes / attention to detail?

[newlabelwriter]

If so I’d love to hear it. Oh the whole I’d say I’m really good and the big picture stuff with my job but I keep making silly mistakes and I just need to stop, this isn’t helped that when I make a mistake I get anxious and then I make another. I suspect I have ADHD which obviously doesn’t help but I need to get my act together as I love my job and standards are really high here.

I’ve no experience in taking it but has anyone tried CBD for concentration? I’d really love any advice on anything that might help.

Thank you.

No but I'd love to find the answer. Even when I think I write everything down I still don't read my to do list properly.

Slow down.

It's the only thing that makes a difference.

One thing at a time, and slow everything down.

Slow down
Checklists
Ritalin

I’m dyslexic and I suspect ADHD and make lots of “silly mistakes”.

For written work I do the following:

• listen to it. So most computers will now read your written work. It tends to be slow and I hear mistakes.
• if you can leave things and go back to them after a period of time and check again
• ask someone to proof read

Other more general things

• make sure you have plenty of time to do things
• plan your work (invest in a daily planner)
• switch of emails/phone for periods of time so you can focus on tasks
• get plenty of sleep

Thank you all, this is all super helpful. I do have a tendency to rush things. This morning I was meant to have had a meeting at 8.30 with a senior partner and I put it in at 7.30! Luckily he was fine about it and also I noticed beforehand so was on the call but it’s this type of thing I struggle with.

If you have ADHD the most effective treatment is medication, so it's well worth getting on a waiting list for diagnosis. You may even be able to do this through work although on the other hand, you may not wish to disclose to them.

CBD is not really proven to be effective for very many things despite the hype.

Without medication, the best things to do are learn about executive function and what it means and what it does. This is impaired in ADHD and the reason we make mistakes and struggle with time etc.

Then externalise as much of your executive functions as you can get away with. Diaries, planners, notes.

Also exercise is very helpful and enough sleep, nutrition etc.

Thank you, all great advice

I have adhd and deal with a lot of detail.

I have one place where I write everything down (a spreadsheet).

I also always advise people to double check their work the next morning when fresh before sending.

Being stressed is naturally when balls get dropped - so try and stay on top of the important stuff.

I know I am worst at meetings, and impressions are important, so I try and make sure I am triple prepared for them, even if it means other things get left. But I also try not to have many meetings for the same reason- so time consuming!

Don't beat yourself up either!

It's so much easier said than done to fix but I do this too - I get something wrong, panic and spiral into making other mistakes; sometimes I end up 'correcting' things that are already correct and so introduce new mistakes - and for me it's very often triggered by a lack of sleep. I've just had a horrible week where I felt like I kept stuffing things up and/or missing deadlines at work, and I know a lot of it is because I've been up at night with a teething 12 month old. But I can't do much about that so, as I said, easier to fix in theory than in practice!

I suffer from this too, most notably silly mistakes in report writing. I can read through a report multiple times and then still my lovely boss will spot a typo... He doesnt seem to care but I always feel like an imbecile! I now do a search in Word for the most usual offenders-form instead of from is a favourite of mine

I used to. Double check things. Make lists. And check them.

Oh my god, you could be me. I left that kind of working environment and opened a cafe instead because I just don't have that in me. Tried cod liver oil as apparently helps with attention but obvs didn't work. I made so many project plans which were all basically unfinished and spent my working life feeling like a fraud as I did well weirdly but inside felt like I was fighting fires allllll the time

It’s very comforting to hear it’s not just me. It’s so annoying as I can produce such good work and then make a stupid mistake and feel like shit and feel like it’s all ruined. The correcting mistakes where there are none and producing more mistakes resonates A LOT

X

To do lists
Slow things down
If you have to type/write anything, read it backwards (bottom up) as it's not in sentences your eyes won't skim read so will pick up mistakes.
Clear/clutter free/ tidy desk
If you get asked to do lots of things by the same person, ask them which task is priority.
Hour of not taking phone calls
And personally I usually have to have background music, don't know why it just helps my mind relax slightly and then I can get cracking.

Thank you

Hello there. You could be describing me! Really good advice above, I'd also suggest mindfulness ~ it helps you slow down and also not give yourself a hard time for mistakes (which everyone makes by the way). Try the Insight Timer app, it's NHS recommended ~ honestly, even 5 minutes a day can make a difference. Good luck!

Thank you, I’ll check that out

It's not all negative - if suspected adhd you'll probably be brilliant at ideas, multiple projects and doing a weeks worth of work in four hours. These are super powers!

For boring stuff, you need to hack your brain. Find novelty or pleasure in the boring. I like:

• 30 mins at end and start of day to review emails and tasks. Music on for this to soften any other noisy chatter or ideas in my head.
• severely boring planning requires new stationary and coloured pens
• get on a vid call with a colleague and do your work/boring tasks. You don't need to chat
• identify the completer-finishers in your team and ask them to check work. You can help them with ideas/big picture
• try to be nice to yourself all the time. Done/started is better than perfect. I own it that I'm not a detail person but I'm a good writer. Lots of people will proof my social media copy/links because then they can steal some of it for their projects!

@mnnewbie111

Oh my god, you could be me. I left that kind of working environment and opened a cafe instead because I just don't have that in me. Tried cod liver oil as apparently helps with attention but obvs didn't work. I made so many project plans which were all basically unfinished and spent my working life feeling like a fraud as I did well weirdly but inside felt like I was fighting fires allllll the time

@mnnewbie111 have you considered that you may have adhd?