All about me - disorganised me

I’m not sure whether disorganised is the best way to describe it, but I find it very hard to work in what others consider to be a logical, ordered sequence.

When I am in my office catching up on administrative tasks I work in a very haphazard way. I often wish I could video myself as I am sure my boss and many of my work colleagues would be surprised if they knew this was the way I worked. Firstly, I have a pack of post its next to me because as I start working through one task my mind will remember something else I am meant to do. I always write this down on a post it so that I don’t forget it. However, sometimes I will leave the first task and start this second task straight away. Then about half way through this second task I might notice something on my desk that I need to sort out. Again, I will stop the task I am doing and start this third task. But as I work through the third task I will remember that I didn’t finish the first or second task and I will go back to one of these. And so, the merry go round will continue of me flitting from task to task and adding new tasks to my post it list until I have completed my tasks or time runs out. Over the years I have tried to fight it and work sensibly through my to do list but I end up being less productive.  I spend so much energy trying to stay on task that the first task will take forever and I rarely get to start the other tasks. In addition, I feel frustrated that I have worked so slowly. On the other hand, if I allow myself to go with the flow and work the way I feel comfortable I feel energised and seem to complete more work.

The same is true when I write, I really struggle to organise my thoughts one at a time in a logical order. My mind seems to flit from one thought to another and my hand cannot keep up.  When I write a Blog article I do start with the title and I usually manage the first couple of sentences but then my mind will jump to ideas that belong at the end or in the middle of the article.  I will write a sentence for each idea and then go back to working on the introductory paragraph. Then other ideas pop into my mind and I will add these to which ever part of the article I think they belong to. I will continue to go back and forth between ideas, adding sentences and developing paragraphs. I will read and re-read, change the order and edit until I am happy. I am very grateful for word processors that allow me work in a fluid way, jumping from idea to idea. Again, when I work like this my brain seems to flow and feel happy.  If I try to write an article in order I get distracted and frustrated.

Perhaps this is way everyone would work this way if they had the choice – I just know from observing my work colleagues it does not seem to be the case!

There are 2 things I take from my working style and experiences.  First, we need to learn to accept ourselves and the way our minds work best. Second, we need to accept that what works for us and seems logicial and straightforward may not work for someone else. Unfortunately, schools seem to spend too much time trying to get all children to work in the same way rather than accepting that our minds are wired differently and trying to help children play to their strengths.