Attention Deficit Disorder and Occupational Compensatory Behaviors, especially for the Church Musician

Adult Attention Deficit Disorder and the church musician
-- ways to compensate for A.D.D. in any workplace

What is ADD and some tips on managing ADD in the workplace
Resources/pointers
An excerpt from a collection of famous people that likely had ADD, with a brief discussion of their modes of operation/coping

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is a brain pattern or behavior style that people young and old have in varying degrees. It is a situation of being able to keep one's attention focused, and being able to avoid being distracted by something of lesser importance. It is a double edged sword: it can emerge as highly energized and creative behaviors, or it can have the person be so disorganized and flitting from one topic to the next that nothing gets done.

For the church musician or those involved with music, symptoms may be found to various extents in the following situations:

in rehearsals, having to pay attention to many factors and people vying for your attention, and prioritizing the aspects needing rehearsing; not having a followed-through strategy for rehearsal
during prayers, meditation, sermons(!), frequently having your mind wander or being distracted by unimportant details in the environment or stray thoughts
on the opposite end of the spectrum: hyperfocusing on a task to the extent that you frequently lose track of time or commitments
becoming depressed because of lack of focus in life (career, relationships, carrying out daily routines)
being exhausted because you're always "switching channels" for your tasks or attention (my favorite example is cleaning my desk: oh, I'll reply to this note, but first I need to make this call; oh-oh I don't want to forget to enter this in my calendar; oops I'd better go practice this right now, etc.)
not being able to begin working on a task because preparing for the task (e.g., gathering materials or information) will lead you astray and you never get back to the primary task at hand
not finishing endeavors; being "all over the map" (this can be as simple as organizing one's thoughts or writing: all the ideas and points flood in at once)

Two frequently used analogies for ADD are:

watching tv: out of your control, the channels are changed somewhat randomly, thus it's difficult to maintain a focussed train of thought and make progress on any single channel
an audio mixing board where, say, 10 input channels each have a volume control, but focussing on one channel at a time for any length of time is difficult because you just can't turn down the other channels' volume.

But don't be too quick to diagnose yourself with ADD; many have a few of the characteristics as a typical aspect of their personality. However, if enough of the aspects accumulate to cause you to be ineffective or depressed, then seek professional help.

To address these aspects, often medications are used- this is the core of traditional ADD treatment and hardest to compensate for. Hyperfocussing is a good solution, but most people cannot call it into play voluntarily.

Below are some non-medication coping techniques that even folks without ADD may benefit from, yielding an increase in their effectiveness in performing tasks, or increase general happiness in getting through daily life and work life.

Several of the nation's top researchers in the field are located in the Boston area, for example: John Ratey (a Cambridge psychiatrist, and co-author of the book: Driven to Distraction), accepts single-time assessment appointments, call (617-237-6442). There's a lot of discussion in the ADDULT listserver about diagnosis concerning the opinions that it's easier to be assessed in a 1-1 session with an expert, rather than going through (very expensive) testing.

Tips for Coping with ADD in the Workplace

ADD can be devastating to productivity in the workplace; it also can be a valued gift of creativity and energy. The list below is not meant to help diagnose or be on a witchhunt for ADDers-- diagnosis is the job of a professional in the ADD field. However, for those who would like suggestions on how to cope better, here are some ways to help focus in our workplace environment:

In meetings, situate yourself so that windows or movement distractions are not in your viewing scope. If there are ambient noises, try to get closer to the speaker than the noise. Write down your own goals of the meeting or presentation, and if you catch yourself wandering, gently remind yourself of why you're there.

If you use Windows(tm), minimize all windows except the one you're working in so that the attraction to click-around is less; force yourself to absolutely ignore incoming mail alerts¾ they can wait.

Set up your office environment so that your main viewing scope (usually toward the terminal) is as plain/blank as possible for your peripheral vision; allocate a different viewing direction for wall hanging items such that you can gaze in that direction for brainstorming or creative times

Use white noise earphones or music (if that works for you, it could make things worse) to isolate audio distractions

Learn to make lists and let go of the impulse to jump around when working on tasks-- trust yourself to have time to be able to visit each task item in sequence.

Minimize stressful situations where multiple people/events are vying for your time & attention-- take them one at a time; reschedule on a list if necessary. Perhaps you can visit their office or better yet, meet in a conference room where distractions are minimized.

Minimize meetings in the cafeteria or hallway-- don't ask the impossible of yourself!

One technique that works for many, is simply to prepare ahead for what you'll need to do/complete tasks-- plan ahead so that you have everything in front of you, and there won't be any roadblocks or additional-information-needed reasons to pause in your task (and thus allow opportunities for distraction). This especially helps at home for hobbies, yardwork, etc.-- prepare things the night before starting a task, so you can channel your energies right into the task itself. And simply learn to say "no" to yourself-- when you see an opportunity (to do something else at the moment), say to yourself: "I trust myself to come back to that in a few minutes after I finish the current task."

In order not to put people off in the case when you're harried or are interrupted in the middle of a task, use phrases like "let me get back to you (in a few minutes) and you'll have my full attention then." No need for any apologies, that's just the way you work best, ADD or not.

Know yourself and how you do work best-- organize your day's tasks by what you do best in the morning vs. afternoon. Be honest with yourself that if you're hesitant to start a task or stick with it to completion: is it an ADD characteristic, or do you really just not like doing that and are avoiding it. i.e., don't blame ADD for everything.

Identify where your real motivations/interests/priorities are.

Pointers to resources/information/help

There are many discussion groups, listservers, and web pages available on the internet. See this link for a partial list.

Additional note on positive aspects of Adult ADD.

Excerpts from ADD genius list, part 2, from Usenet newsgroup alt.support.attn-deficit

These may be anecdotal and untrue, and are not meant to cast any judgment, but rather to try to understand examples of possible ADDers.

5. Buckminster Fuller: not a physicist, but a visionary whose work required him to study math and physics. At 32, he was a complete loser, unable to hold a job or support his family. At this late age, he impulsively started studying math and science, working at it for long sessions that often lasted from one day until the following morning. Oddly enough, it worked, and now we remember him as a mental giant instead of an irresponsible deadbeat.

6. Leo Szilard: this is the guy generally given credit for inventing the atom bomb. Walking down a London street, he unexpectedly realized that bombarding a suitable substance with neutrons could cause a chain reaction, releasing a huge amount of energy. Because he was not aa practical person, he did a lousy job of protecting his rights as the inventor of the nuclear reactor. Eventually, the U.S. government paid him a tiny fraction of what the patent would have been worth. During World War II, Szilard was investigated by the government because he was considered a security risk. The agents watching him noticed some interesting things. He often walked out of buildings without his hat and coat (in Chicago) because he had forgotten them inside on a rack or in a closet. He sometimes started walking down the street, stopped for no apparent reason, seemed to try to remember something, and then turned around and walked the other way.

7. Albert Einstein: as a student, he often lost the key to his apartment and had to wake his landlady in the middle of the night. In spite of his intelligence, he was denied admission to college because he failed a biology test. During his time at Princeton, he was noted for walking out of his house and into the snow, wearing houseshoes. He said he had to be very careful when shaving, because so many inspirations came to him at this time, and he worried that the shock of a blast of insight would cause him to cut himself.

If you're able to stick with it to read this far, bravo!