What Do You Want?

What matters most to you?

Do you have an answer?

Granted, the question is pretty vague and your list for what matters most when ordering a Dairy Queen Blizzard™️ is obviously going to change quite a bit if I asked what matters most when buying a new car.

However, today I want to focus on what matters most to you in the workplace.

Recently on The ADHD Podcast...

Pete and I had the opportunity to talk to ADHD Career Coach, Shell Mendelson, about what it takes for ADHDers to find the perfect job.

Shell had so many great things she brought to our conversation that day, but one that really stuck out to me was how often ADHDers forget to consider how their ADHD affects them when looking for a job or considering a career,

"For whatever reason, people take jobs without considering what skills they truly enjoy using, and then with ADHD, ... they realize something's off because they're not using those skills."

It seems so simple! But, how often do we take into account our likes and dislikes or our strengths and shortcomings when looking for a job?

Instead, it seems like we have been trained to find jobs that pay the most and offer the best benefits—telling ourselves that we'll endure a lot more of the unappealing parts of a job if the benefits are good enough.

According to many sources, including research done by author Jessica Pryce-Jones in her book, Happiness At Work, the average person will spend 90,000 hours, or one-third of their entire life, at work.

Don’t forget to factor in that another 8 hours a day or another one-third of your life is spent sleeping.

That would mean, when you’re awake, half of your life is spent at work!

Now that we’ve done the math, do you really want to spend half of your waking hours in a job or career that makes you miserable?

I can't imagine a 401k plan or dental package out there that’s worth being unhappy for half of your life.

Don't forget—that doesn't even take into account how those negative feelings from work always seem to follow you home and affect how you feel when you’re not working.

So, after all that has been said, it seems pretty clear (at least I hope it seems clear) that it's really important to find a job you enjoy, because it can have a huge impact on your whole life!

It's time to figure out what you want

Now that we've decided that your enjoyment and happiness in a job is just as important as how many vacation days you get each year, it's time to decide what you want in a job, and what you absolutely do not want in a job.

During our interview with Shell, she talked about how she encourages her clients to write down everything they could possibly want in a dream job scenario, as well as everything they would hate in a nightmare job. Then, rank those things in order of importance. Start with the things on your list that are an absolute must-have, and work your way down to things you would like to have, going all the way down to those dream wants that you don't necessarily expect in a job, but would love if they were included. Then do the same with the no-go side.

This is a great exercise whether or not you are currently looking for a new job. It can also be very helpful if you're a college student deciding on your future career path.

Just remember: the goal is to find a job you can enjoy and see yourself doing half of your life. Once you have that figured out, the rest should take care of itself.

Want to hear more from Shell Mendelson?

Listen to our entire conversation with Career Coach, Shell Mendelson

Learn more about Career Coaching with Shell

Thank you for your time and attention,

Nikki