Workplace Ruminations

Suddenly feel like you have ADD? Can’t seem to focus on one thing? It seems like you can never finish anything? Well, you aren’t alone. Over the past decade, Psychiatrist Dr. Edward Hallowell, has seen a tenfold rise in the number of patients showing up with symptoms that closely resemble those of ADD, but of a work-induced variety. Symptoms include:

  • Irritability
  • Decline in productivity
  • Inability to get organized

In his Harvard Business Review article, Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform, Hallowell, an ADD expert, gave the condition a name: attention-deficit trait, or ADT. Unlike patients with typical ADD, which persists no matter the setting, the new patients felt frantic only in certain situations--primarily in the workplace. Hallowell explains that ADT takes hold when we get so overloaded with incoming messages and competing tasks that we are unable to prioritize. Distractibility, impulsiveness, and haste combined with feelings of guilt and inadequacy are the results.

According to Hallowell, “The ADT sufferer therefore feels a constant low level of panic and guilt. Facing a tidal wave of tasks, the executive becomes increasingly hurried, curt, peremptory, and unfocused, while pretending that everything is fine. He goes on to say, "People think it's their fault that they're falling behind. They think they have to sleep less and work harder and stay later at the office, which only makes it worse because they're not taking care of their brain by getting enough sleep.” How common is this phenomenon? "It's rampant," says Hallowell.

We hear so much about taking care of the body and now, we are told we need to take care of the brain too? It makes sense; the mind/body connection is a tight one. When was the last time you gave your mind a break?

Productivity Pointer

If you ever need to change a specific word throughout an entire document, here’s an easy way to do it:

    1. While in the document click: Edit > Replace
    2. In Find box, note term that you would like to find and replace > in Replace box, note new term
    3. Select Replace or Replace All

Learning Opportunities

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Problems can’t be solved at the same level of consciousness that created them.
~Albert Einstein