Work and ADHD - any books or advice?

[Youngatheart00]

I have a pretty senior job and I do believe my ADHD has in some ways helped me get there (I should not I am not formally diagnosed - but off the scale in all questionnaires I’ve done and I have pretty much all the traits - both positive and negative).

I’ve always been capable of producing fantastic, impressive work when I get myself into ‘a zone’. But my job now requires a lot of organisation, a lot of variety and just a massive amount of responsibly. At times I am struggling to cope with the rigidity of a 9-5 (more like 8-7) and especially with back to back meetings.

I have days when I feel I cannot be productive at all and others where I am on a crazy productive roll. But I am not consistent.

Does anyone have any recommendations for books / podcasts / coping strategies that would help me manage this better?

I think my very long hours are partially due to the unreasonable demands but also definitely not helped by my procrastination and brain fog

Watching this thread with interest. My only advice with coping strategies is that, for me, one strategy will only work for so long. Whether it's software or a physical change (post-its, lists, reminders) I think it only works so long and then I actually just forget about it so it stops working for me. So I rotate the things I do and that seems to work quite well. The first thing to do is to not try to find the one thing that will work, but lots of little things that help you and then bounce between them. So I guess that doesn't answer your consistence question but to me ADHD and consistency don't really go together too well so I just try to own it.

I'm just diagnosed ASD not ADHD, but experience a the fog/productive roll cycle a lot, and as @ToodlesMcGee says the strategies don't stick for long.

I'm speaking from the privileged position of not having kids at home, but the only way round it I have found is to stop trying to push through the procrastination and brain fog, and go and do something completely different for an hour where I don't have to think about work. I then stay logged on till later than my usual logoff time, but I find my evenings are my most productive period. It's amazing how much I can get done when I don't have emails, IMs and phone calls all going off in quick succession.

I feel your pain though, I have gotten NOTHING done today apart from pick up even more work for my to do list 😭

Oh, hat's a good idea, about rotating things.

It's not been a very productive day here today...

No kids at home either.

A to do list or a full diary overwhelms me. Even if I get through a good deal of work, to see it laid out in front of me and the expectation of being pretty much held captive in my own home between the hours of X and Y just seems to set off a deep malaise. I’m wondering if it’ll be better when we are back to the office. WFH seems to have made my tendencies worse. I cause myself so much stress by leaving stuff to the very last minute

ADHD and WFH (have done for a few years now). My standing desk helps loads, I can't possibly sit still all day every day. When malaise and distraction hit hard, I just try to roll with it. When I feel ashamed or anxious, my brain just short circuits even more, so there's no point in beating myself up. I usually have various projects on the go, so I swap between them, when something takes my fancy I do that.

I hate the feeling of needing to do something and having no will to do it, it's like drowning in treacle! A bit of exercise can help clear my head.

Too many interruptions in one day completely ruin my concentration and by 3pm I'm useless. Some days are like that, though, so I just bank on excelling with my productivity another day.

Luckily tight deadlines and fast turnarounds are deemed interesting rather than terrifying by my brain, so I seem to be able to get away with slow days.

Things that help in general: reducing carbs (make me sluggish amd lethargic), daily meditation, fresh air and exercise, watching old TV shows on repeat (can't take in new information when stressed, and the repetition is soothing).