I need to start knuckling down & paying more attention at work. How do I do this ?

[kermitspants]

I WAH everyday. Fairly senior. I feel like I've scrapped through my last few reviews. I need to start producing more, paying more attention & just getting my head down.

How do I do this ?

Im part of a large department. I never listen in whole-of-department meetings. I seem to have somehow lost this skill (menopause?). Anything is more interesting than work whole WAH. I would rather cut the class with a pair of scissors! I can't change jobs, that is not an option.

You want the money but not the actual job!

To be fair, surely most people want the money but not the job. That is why retiring or the lottery are so popular!

You do sound exactly like my colleague who is a similar age and has ADHD. Especially with the rabbit holes of researching.

Nope, I'm referring to reasons for the 'sudden' increase in ADHD diagnoses in women. Girls are much less likely to be diagnosed with ADHD because the stereotype is the hyperactive boy - not the inattentive girl.

Alternatively - cleaning is her hyperfocus?

I went into the office during covid too as I just couldn't concentrate at home (was classed as a critical worker and have my own office). Even now, I don't work from home even if I have appointments, I book the day off as leave or use flexi.

I make mornings easier by having a work 'uniform'. I wear the same clothes on rotation and they're in 'outfits' so I don't have to think what to wear. The youngest goes to breakfast club before school. Shower in the evenings and I sort my bag out then too. I'm up and out by 7:20am and I enjoy my 30min commute as some me-time (usually singing along in my car!).

Alternatively, is your role just boring? Could you look at secondments within the same company if you don't want to move jobs?

ADHD isn't like autism - you don't hyperfocus on 'one' thing, you find it, get bored then move on to another.
In any case if OP didn't have any problems before she just needs to return to what she was doing. As PP have said go back to the office, rent a room elsewhere, etc.
No need to jump to diagnoses

its known that people with ADHD hyper focus.

Lots of mixed replies. I used to work in the office FT before covid. There was no other choice. Post covid and I feel that home/life admin has hugely ramped up. I never had a to-do list as huge as now. Nothing has changed in terms of home set-up/lifestyle. I do believe I've now got mental health problems that were not there/evident pre covid.im not necessarily blaming covid for these.
I carried my family through covid e.g. queing at the supermarket at 6am every week to get supplies, regardless that I have a disability which means queuing is very difficult for me. I have a disabled child who I care for.
I've had ok reviews at work but I know I haven't been doing my full potential and that is why I was expecting rubbish reviews. I am not, in my opinion, performing at the same level as some of my peers. Yes I do my work but I could be doing more. I want to do more. I feel deflated and worn out in many aspects of my life. I do my contracted hours every week. I contribute in meetings. Im not off sick. I don't book same-day holiday (which i think is a piss take, unless dire emergency). But, sometimes just getting out of bed is a real effort. Menopause? Depression? Something else ?
I do do the work I'm paid to do. But feel I could be doing more/better. But it's a struggle

Do you have people in real life to see and talk to regularly? Just for general conversation and a giggle?

Wfh can be very isolating. The loneliness leaves me feeling a bit helpless and “meh” too.

Oops, that should say hopeless, not helpless.

Your last post suggests that it's probably a combination of factors. I honestly feel the same- I'm likely peri-menopausal but also scroll too much which I know has trashed by ability to focus and I let myself get distracted by "easy" tasks that I persuade myself are urgent priorities over the harder/ conflicty study on which I procrastinate like mad!!

That said, I think being at home in itself creates an "at home" to do list purely because you're there to consider it more. When you're out all day you have no time to contemplate or much care about the hard landscaping or soft furnishings. It also creates "priority conflict" which doesn't exist when you physically separate work and home.

I would at least trial going back into the office and see where you end up.

Are you doing enough to do what needs to be done? If so, why do you need to do anymore? Perhaps you've realised work isn't the be all and end all. Maybe you're 'quietly quitting'.

This. You are exchanging your labour for money. Do the work you’re paid for.

Noted.
A lot of women are now realising that they may have ADHD and or ASD, due to their children going through the ADHD Assessment process since the pandemic. This is the case in my household and I also see this in my job.

Also, let’s not forget that many of us working mums struggled through the pandemic lockdowns whilst juggling working and homeschooling, and obviously in many cases homeschooling multiple children.

Not all of us were entitled to Furlough (public sector workers) or Key Worker school places. It was a case of getting on with it or leaving our jobs.