ADHD, Stress and Decision Making: The Plight of the Knowledge Worker
How does stress inform your most important decisions? If you do knowledge-based work and you have ADHD, stress likely informs your decisions more than you give it credit. Why?
Most knowledge-based jobs have a basic formula of more work than you can ever complete and very little direction provided in how that work gets done. Most of my clients are knowledge workers, where they are valued and compensated for gathering, prioritizing and disseminating their knowledge. They are professionals, business owners and leaders and each one struggles with this daily dilemma of too many tasks and little direction other than the expectation that their work will be done in a timely fashion.
ADHD makes it difficult to identify, prioritize and take action on items that have no discernable ‘big signal’ - a high level of interest or a high level of anxiety and consequence.
ADHD makes it difficult to identify, prioritize and take action on items that have no discernable ‘big signal’ - a high level of interest or a high level of anxiety and consequence. We use stress and anxiety to activate our adrenaline system. When we find ourselves in a tight spot we can activate our fight/flight center of the brain and induce a hyper-fiocus state of mind. This provides handy guardrails to the daily decision making process, determining what gets addressed and what does not. Repetitive engagement of conjuring urgency, both real and imagined, comes at a decent cost as described in my Adrenaline Response Cycle model. ARC dependency can also unleash some not so supportive inner critics or Saboteur chatter.
So what is a knowledge worker to do? We certainly don’t want to give up agency in how we choose to spend our day or implement some restrictive draconian process or system. Here are a few thoughts:
Get accurate data - Start with noticing how stress and urgency inform your decision making process. This is about developing an accurate picture of how you engage stress with your work and it helps to overcome the first barrier of ADHD - Awareness. How often do you try to fabricate urgency to get stuff done?
Prioritize - Identify the 20% of items that will have 80% of the impact - a mix of urgent, important and fun items. This is a variation of the Pareto Principle.
Identify structural elements that have worked in the past - Part of our dilemma is an absence of any useful structure other than obligations like meetings or tasks like let the dog out. I use events and people here - identifying collaborators with a vested interest who appreciate my add-value. Also committing to events that are in my wheelhouse of strengths and values. I do a lot of coaching, teaching and presenting and I can definitely show up and deliver since getting accurate info out about coaching and ADHD is a Big Agenda item of mine - What Simon Sinek refers to as your Why.
Commit to a practice mindset - Identify field work with an emphasis on practice and play. Treat failures and setbacks as opportunities for learning, especially in how your brain wiring may be coming into play.
Let it be iterative - Look to move the needle by some small but real percentage like 5-10%. Can 10% of your daily decisions be informed by something other than urgency or some impending threat level? If so, then what can inform your choice?
Shift your relationship with time - We tend to view time from two polar extremes - we horde it like a precious metal or give it away as some worthless surplus. This is often dependent on our level of urgency. Look to give time a more consistent value or at least don’t let it be as volatile in value as the current stock market.
Protect your downtime or recovery time - Engaging in activities that are not work related gives your task management system (where Executive Functions live) a needed break. My inspiration series speaks to the need for rest and renewal. We also speak to this at length on the podcast.
Do next-level emotional work - like Emotional Intelligence or Positive Intelligence. Your negative emotions get activated when you engage with ARC type work. Anxiety can exacerbate the situation with excessive worry and negative self-talk. My Equanimity Class addresses this but there are many other resources out there. Developing greater emotional awareness leads to greater emotional resilience and more effective decision-making.
Developing greater emotional awareness leads to greater emotional resilience and more effective decision-making.
Shifting from a stress informed decision-making process to one that is informed by values, priorities and strengths is no simple feat and is often the focus of the work of ADHD coaching. In coaching, my clients and I spend much of our time addressing the concepts I shared above. Joining a supportive accountability group can provide much of the benefits of coaching at a fraction of the cost. Enrolling in a program like 10% Happier can help to address issues like stress and anxiety. And of course there is always the professional therapeutic route. There is no quick fix here but there are pathways to a more empowered and more informed decision-making process for knowledge workers with ADHD.