put up a pro & con "possible (for their sake)"
job board dry erase whatever, serves as a document to your insights and those goofballs will actually end up refering & adding to it.
serves as a good tool
yeah you should start your own company and then those big picture skills will really come in handy.This has happened to me more than once and at more than one employer: My dept is presented with a new project and as we're discussing the project (all of us, as a team) I'm seeing things WAAAY ahead and bringing up possible problem areas - things that could be taken care of much easier at the beginning of the project if we add them into the discussion and try to head them off at the pass. Now I'm pretty much labeled a "cynic", "always looking for the negative", "intimidating" (guess that's b/c I cut thru the b.s. quickly) and so on.
Am I just fooling myself that seeing the 'big picture' is a GOOD thing and should be encouraged in people?
Incidentally, my projections nearly always end up to be right-on. But by the time I'm 'vindicated', everyone forgets about the problems/objections I've brought up and that I was right. Instead they just retain their initial reaction to me as the one "always looking for the negative".
Is this an ADD thing or is it just me?
Thanks!
[/QUOTE]
My experience after many years in the corporate world (although none at more than 4 years per company--largely for that reason) is that it's the old "round peg in square hole" syndrome. Just a mismatch of skills and values that at least for me, have proven a source of great frustration and eventual failure. I'm invariabley told, "we all really think highly of you as a person but you just don't fit in," in one form or another.
I'm out on disability now but looking for an environment that's a better fit--one where my abilities to do what you've described are valued. Hopefully, we're diverse around that there actually IS such an environment. A think tank, perhaps? Academia, research, maybe? Got to be SOMEWHERE!
sachetm38669.7266435185Tact Gypsy? Wow - that one is tough to teach - but I do know that you can become more tactful with practice. I am not good with tact if I let myself go wild and don't practice self-control. Then I can be a rambling jerk - with all the regret I can eat for dessert.
The best thing I can recommend is what I've recommended to a few people lately. With ALL words you formulate - stop before saying even "yes". It seems a real pain (it is at first), but when you are conversing - think out the words, ask yourself "is this my word - or ADHD's?". It honestly helps. I've had moments where I was going to brag, knock something (a bad thing for me) or talk out of turn. I'll visualize internally saying the words as if I was the listener. It makes a difference as you can then use our empathy as if you were the other person.
Use my visualization of your verbal skills as a car. When talking, the other person talking is you with foot on gas. When they stop talking - your foot moves to the brake (the one-foot method the same as actually driving) and the process of looking both ways starts. "what impact is this going to have? is it ok, neutral or going to bite me in the arse?". Then if it's a go - foot comes back on gas and say what you want to say.
It takes time - you have to try it out small first (family, at the counter buying stuff at the store, etc.). Process, slow it down and proceed with care and attention. It truly does work eventually. Slow and steady!!
Since starting I've screwed up a few times - but that's what reverse is for! LOL!! Back up - state the obvious (I screwed up and I apologize - I will try not to again). It makes me feel better and lets people know I am working to be a better person as well.
Good luck - try it and let me know if you succeed!
Calypso # 1Thanks, Glen, but I'm hardly looking now. Am on disability and am lucky to walk to and from my car right now! (Breast cancer, heart failure, either fibromyalgia or MS).
I'm looking at the big picture in terms of careers and kind of environment. Right now, I'm thinking about a "think tank," academically-oriented research, academic writing, or maybe higher ed teaching--probably online. Maybe some combo of those--when I get well enough to work at all. Does that clarify where I was coming from?
sachetm38670.9051157407This has happened to me more than once and at more than one employer: My dept is presented with a new project and as we're discussing the project (all of us, as a team) I'm seeing things WAAAY ahead and bringing up possible problem areas - things that could be taken care of much easier at the beginning of the project if we add them into the discussion and try to head them off at the pass. Now I'm pretty much labeled a "cynic", "always looking for the negative", "intimidating" (guess that's b/c I cut thru the b.s. quickly) and so on.
Am I just fooling myself that seeing the 'big picture' is a GOOD thing and should be encouraged in people?
Incidentally, my projections nearly always end up to be right-on. But by the time I'm 'vindicated', everyone forgets about the problems/objections I've brought up and that I was right. Instead they just retain their initial reaction to me as the one "always looking for the negative".
Is this an ADD thing or is it just me?
Thanks!
Nope, not just you. Not sure if it's ADD, but it isn't just you. I'm often the one who does it, but my boss has taken it to a whole new level. My boss is great at identifying possible problems, but he has this annoying habit of making everyone else feel stupid for not having considered them, throwing the entire meeting off track, and forcing other people to think of potential solutions. He is often right about the problem down the road, but he pisses people off, destroys any sense of teamwork, and just makes everyone feel negative.
You might try spinning your troubleshooting to sound a little more positive, and/or suggest solutions at the same time you are identifying the obstacles. Maybe try to steer the project a bit at the outset to get around the problems.
taritac38664.7320717593I've been in similar situations.Am I just fooling myself that seeing the 'big picture' is a GOOD thing and should be encouraged in people?
[/QUOTE]I know that before I got a handle on my ADHD I was labeled by coworkers, friends and family as a negative guy. No matter what the discussion I tended to take an oppositional view on it. Later many times I'd realize that I actually felt positively about whatever the discussion was about - but it was knee-jerk and very fast from my mouth.
Perhaps they feel that you should temper your worries and concerns with some "positive feedback". Perhaps you could try - "well - I like point A and point B - but I see problems with point C in the future". If your input is not required in a particular project but you feel that you could contribute - maybe put it down in writing, take a look at it a while later and make sure it's still a valid concern.
I still feel the urge sometimes to see the negative in things - or look far into the future and see all the possible scary things that could happen. I tend now to put the brakes on - slowly consider if I REALLY need to add my two cents worth and often I just don't say anything unless I can see truly upcoming bad things that I'm certain will be there.
It's the ADHD - but you can become the master of what you say about it. It's good to look at everything in a decision - but try and add something positive no matter how small whenever you do.
Hey, the big picture is there for some to see, others are blind to it. As for me, I'm a big picture dude, with an ability to confidently predict consequences of actions. My weakness is an inability to see the individual tree in a forest, or the chicken noodle soup in a sea of cans. For these details, we need a detail to follow us, and follow thorugh on what we started. A good CEO will have both on his staff. A fareseer, and a closer.
I have had this issue at work before. I do not have ADD. When the "Powers that Be" would start a Big New Plan for either procedures or paperwork, they wanted everyone to jump on board, regardless of whether it was practical or positive. Usually it was an attempt to save money. If anyone pointed out shortcomings, flaws, or poor outcomes, they were labeled negative and not a team player. Instead of being viewed as knowing what you were doing and having foresight.
Management made it quite clear they only wanted potential solutions, otherwise keep your mouth shut. Predictably, most of their Big New Plans failed miserably, and after a lot of agony imposed on the staff trying to follow it. If your company is consistently like this, look for a new job. They want robots.
yeah, i don't really fit in anywhere either.
i'm good at unintentionally bruising egos- and always the wrong egos at that.
one major way is this big picture stuff. i get lots of opportunities in life to say 'i told you so', but i try not to even acknowledge it.
there seems to be something about me that makes people really need to feel superior. so, it is extremely rare for me to be told 'well, you were right. i/we shoulda listened to you then'.
sachetm - have you tried monster.com for jobs specifically to your skills? I've not done that - my looking days are over (for now) but I hear good things.
Try a non-chronological resume - skill-focused might work. I have helped many with resumes - most people learned their resume skills from high school business classes (ARGH!) that are painfully outdated and more for blue collar workers than for specialists or for artistic endeavors.
Another thing that seems to hit us on this site (from what I've read) is the stubborn streak that confidence often brings. The "if I can't have it all my way I don't feel satisfied" line is often heard by me.
I didn't even realize I had done it - but often I've used what I used to think of as all bad to my advantage. My hate of confrontation of anxiety. I could not go directly AT a problem - rather I'd either try and avoid it or go around it. Do you see what I'm getting at? So when I came into a job where they seemed to give me option A or B - I'd invent C! So they would tell me "do it this way or you don't have a job" - I'd say "although I see your point - if you'll allow me I can show you a way to do this and still get what you thought you wouldn't out of it!" Then I'd show them MY way - spiced so it's palatable to the corporate palate, do some business speak (paradyne shift, expedite, blah blah blah) and they often as not found it to their liking. It saved my skin for a while - if not for my avoidance and failure to meet deadlines I'd have been hot property!
Often it's like that old chinese tao saying "the large old tree breaks in the strong wind - it's the young flexible bamboo that survives by bending when the wind blows". I learned that if I bent - or went around the proverbial wind I could have my cake and eat it too! Maybe that can be taught - anyone up for a lesson in corporate speak??