Aspies For Freedom

It's impossible for me to get too much sleep. The more I get, the more stable, productive, optimistic and more able to cope with problems I am.

So fix the job to suit you

that is a great slogan.

like anything in life its a compromise.

I'd have to agree with that, particularly as it is obvious that he has got enough to cope with.

Quickduck, a LOT of what you said sounds very familiar to me -- and I'm ADHD, not Aspie.

I'd say this: caffeine is contributing to 80% of the problems and 20% of the solutions. Consider a n alternative like modafinil (provigil) http://www.provigilweb.org/

Also reconsider the job altogether. Most people have jobs they can "get by" with, and that really adds so little to life and takes away so much.

Identify what your true, core strengths are and get a job where you get to use those strengths at least a few times every day. The boss and the other workers need to equate your work with the particular strengths you bring to the job. The will value you more and your job will contribute to your happiness rather than detracting from it. http://self-awareness.suite101.com/article.cfm/career_advice_use_core_strengths

I agree, I spent  38 years in a job that I thought I loved, it wasn't until the job made me so ill that I had to leave, that I realised that I had been conning myself for years ( probably because I needed to work in order to live , it was easier to put up with the bad things than to try something new  & fear of the unknown ).

Wow, quickduck.

I had a VERY similar situation, back when I was working. I worked at a newspaper. It was a pain. Since I was the "graphics" person I was responsible for inputting the changes that the editor made. It was VERY stupid. I just couldn't do it correctly, despite them having a system in place to check my changes... I was always having problems. I eventually redesigned the way we did it to fit my thought process (the old way was "backwards") and that was better.

Other things I had to do included not being interrupted, or more importantly, a routine for me to do when I was interrupted (it was a newspaper after all...) so that I wouldn't get off track and was able to get back into the task at hand easier...

In the end though, it wasn't worth it. It was easier for me since I had my hubby to work and we could just suffer and be poor for a little while... your situation might be harder. But maybe a different job line?

But being "normal" isn't worth it. I was CRAZY for a year. I would come home and just sit and stare at the wall, anything but use my brain. It was SO exhausting.

I am sure that the caffeine doesn't help, but the major problem I find is not only concentration but wanting to get things "done" too quickly!

What this means is that I don't spend sufficient time checking detail. However, its because I have so many things rushing through my mind at once I just want to get things done.

I am forcing myself at the moment to re-check everything before I submit - including this e-mail. Its a discipline that I know I have to develop and has been previously lacking.

The other thing that really aids this is having solitude. I need to focus, and to achieve this I need an environment that doesn't distract.

Sleep? Am not sleeping well at the moment and need to get a routine back.

Quickduck, how are you doing with this?

I am suffering similar problems with my home business. I make decent money and I have fantastic clients, but I just can't stay focused. I waste so much of my day messing around on the internet, checking email, reading things like this forum, obsessively changing my desktop wallpaper and rearranging widgets, etc.

I need to make a rule that I simply am not allowed to do any of that until after 5:00PM when the work is all done. But it's hard, I just get lost in it.

Just wondering how you're doing, Quickduck, and if any new strategies have helped you to cope.