Spring-Summer 2008 Edition

Welcome to the Spring-Summer Bristall Morgan Report.

If you would prefer to download the Report as a PDF, click here.

Table of Contents

• Do I Have ADHD Or Am I Just Too Busy? (story below)
• Planning a Vacation? Plan Your Colleagues' Vacation, Too
• Bumps in the Road: Keeping Your Resolve Strong When You Lose Sight of Your Goals
• How a Mirror Can Add Polish to Your Telephone Manner
• Executive Profile: Howard Suissa - Suissa Computers
  

Do I have ADHD or am I just too busy?

Many people tell me that they feel that their current loss of focus or control is due to them suffering from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), which are neurological conditions once found mostly in hyperactive children but now becoming more and more identified with adults.

They feel constantly as if they are moving from one issue to the next, never being able to complete tasks, with more and more coming in all the time. The resultant stress causes sleep disturbance as well as dietary imbalance and a general sense of despair.

Is this you?

If so, I would suggest having a look at your work schedule before deciding that you actually have a disorder as serious as this. In our studies, conducted over the past 15 years, we have observed a significant rise in the speed of workflow - e-mails, for example seem to take a top priority and must be answered immediately. Similarly, when people walk from place to place, they do so with PDA in hand, checking e-mails as they walk, and when standing in elevators, they read the ubiquitous news screens.

What this amounts to is a constant bombardment of information to the short-term memory area of the brain. I like to equate this to a bathtub sponge, in that when it is squeezed to its smallest size, it compresses to a small volume and can't get any smaller. When your brain gets squeezed by the information coming in from all sides, it remains in that compressed size and never gets a chance to re-expand.

And re-expansion is what it needs. In the course of a busy day, it is essential to let your thinking mind re-expand, like the sponge would do once you let go of it. Only then is it able to sort things out.

This is why we dream at night. It's a period of (hopefully) undisturbed peace and quiet during which the brain can actually stop and figure things out in a big way.

But don't wait until night time to do this. You need to let your thinging brain re-expand constantly.

So, before accepting that you have a serious neurological condition such as ADHD, consider taking on a few of these as new habits:

• Turn off your e-mail for half an hour or so and focus on one piece of work undisturbed.
• When you take a walk to the kitchenette, to the food court or anywhere else you go, don't check you e-mail on the way. Let your feet do the walking and let your mind think of nothing.
• Take time for lunch every day. Even 15 minutes on the busiest day - eat without working, simply watch people or cars go by.
• Invest in your commute. Make it a time for relaxation, even if the traffic is lousy. Read a book or listen to spoken novels or music on your iPod. Use this time as decompression time.

I have always subscribed to the 80/20 rule - in this case I would rather see you work at your best for 80% of the time and invest the other 20% in recuperation and reflection, than have you work at a mediocre level for 100% of the time.

Practice giving yourself this time to allow your brain cells time to re-expand. Not just for the short-term as a therapy, but for always as an investment in your own excellence. I think you will then find your perceived ADHD fades away and is replaced with a healthy sense of control and comfort.

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