Having problems succeeding at work

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For the last 8 months, I've been working part-time at a job. In many ways, it's ideal: flexible hours, good co-workers, a great boss, a large degree of independence, and I actually find the work pretty interesting (most of the time.)

However, I feel like I've not been doing well the last few months, and I am especially worried that my boss (whom I greatly respect and genuinely like) is unhappy with me. I have found myself in this position at one point or another with nearly every job I've ever had. The problems boil down to some issues that I suspect to be very common to people around here.

I find myself procrastinating, getting distracted, and generally disorganized. I goof off by researching my special interests instead of working, and I can't force myself to get anything done. While I do meet deadlines, it tends to be at the last minute, and not to the level of performance of which I know I'm capable. My job involves occasionally making phone calls and sending emails, and I sometimes can't bring myself to pick up the phone. My desk gets messy, and I can't keep track of the papers and computer files flying at me. I forget to do things - despite the fact that I have a whiteboard. I get depressed because I'm not satisfied with myself and my situation, and I get discouraged because I feel inadequate. My performance further suffers, because I lose confidence in my abilities. Then I retreat further into my special interests.

My boss does not know I'm an Aspie, although I doubt it would come as a surprise. I've thought about "coming out", but I'm worried that it would come across as defensive. I know I'm capable of doing this job. I've held down more demanding jobs than this before. I'm just a bit discouraged.

I've had similar problems with working before. My advice is, since you say you have a good boss, to tell him the issues you are having. I have been notorious for holding out until the point I implode or explode and there is no hope mentally for me to stay at the job even with accommodations. It's better to avoid getting to this point and ruining a job you say you like. Also if he refuses to understand then maybe you don't want to work in that environment anymore anyway. You could also try telling him some of the issues without totally disclosing and seeing how that is received before decided to tell all. Good luck.

It sounds like you are having EF problems. There are strategies that are supposed to be helpful with this. I rely on lists and iOS reminders and calendars. I struggle with all this. I could have written this.

It wasn't like this before, but then my aspie boss retired and her replacement was a bully who tried to destroy me. I lost confidence and I am still struggling to get back to where I was. I ran into some trouble that I could not rationally explain* at around the same time that I was diagnosed, so I did tell my boss about it. This was a very good thing--it saved my job.

I do have to struggle to stay focused on the aspects of the job that bore me, but they know I can shine in the aspects of the job that I enjoy and they decided to keep me.**

I am continuing to experiment with workarounds and countermeasures for my executive function problems. I'll let you know of anything that is particularly successful.


*actually, I can explain: they changed a detail in the way we had to keep paperwork and I couldn't do it anymore. It seemed like a small thing but it meant routinely clicking a button to assert something untrue for the digital record--lying, basically--and it meant using a system that didn't work. Most people accepted that the system and just made up the parts where the system failed, I got stuck when it didn't work and couldn't bring myself to pretend it had…

** The bullying boss is gone and I am still employed!! !

A lot of the original post seems awfully familiar and my work history for the first twenty years or so was a bit 'spotty'. I seem to remember that a poor work history is one of the symptoms of AS and I certainly qualify!

I now work for myself, from home, and I find that things are a lot easier. No boss to worry about, no office politics, no salary reviews, no submitting forms in triplicate to get a day off, it's one of the best steps I ever took.

Is part of the problem is not being focused on the immediate task you have to complete? If so, possibly try consciously micro-managing yourself by setting mini-goals: "for the next five minutes I will focus on/do this and nothing else". I had similar problems because I have quite a busy brain and thoughts kept distracting me off task. Micro-focus helped to some extent.

I can relate, unfortunately.

Yesterday was my first day at what should be an ideal job for me, being a page (only 2 nights a week and alternate Saturdays) at the library. I was really excited and thought I could finally be good at my job, I've failed spectacularly and been fired after a short period from many fast-food jobs and one retail. This would be better though because it doesn't require much interaction or complex technical skills or much multi-tasking. It's basically just shelving books. I also really liked my boss and co-workers. Well ,after my boss showed me around and gave me a little training, I was given the task of closing which involved pushing in chairs and checking all the aisles to make sure there weren't any books out of place and shelving the items I found ,on the truck by the Dewey decimal system. I had a whole half hour to do this and I spend so long trying to shelve the books on the truck correctly and re-checking my work that I had only finished checking half of the aisles by the time it was time to go and the boss said "okay , so I'll have to give you extra time to close next time". I made a couple of careless errors as well like shelving newspapers which didn't belong to the library (didn't have the library stamp) but were just freebies given away to the patrons. Also, during training I forgot to be quiet when talking to the boss to say I understood and whatnot and a patron came over and shushed me and told my boss and I that we were in a quiet study area. My boss said " okay, I know, we're just doing some staff training right now" and the patron said "I know but you have to be quiet". I found the image of a patron shushing a librarian rather than the other way around so funny that I burst out laughing loudly. I didn't think about being socially appropriate or being too loud in that moment , I just reacted. I did disclose my disability to my boss but if I'm just too slow and can't get my work done by closing or judge properly how long to spend sorting and shelving vs checking the aisles and if I piss off the patrons (*I was actually making a conscious effort to remember to be quiet and was quiet up until the incident because I know I can't modulate my voice well) then I don't know if they can accommodate me.

*Edit- I'm not giving up though , I'm going to keep trying to keep this job. It was only my first day albeit an incredibly pathetic one.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Yes, I'm pretty sure it's EF issues, along with possibly some (undiagnosed) ADD.

B19, this is probably the best piece of advice. It's worked for me in the past, and I just need to be more disciplined about applying it. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to be open to my boss just yet. We'll see.

I guess I should have posted this topic months ago. As it turns out, I was too late. I was let go yesterday. I'm trying to take it as best I can. I'm even going to a recruitment event later today. Wish me luck.

Sorry about that, tonmeister.

Good luck with the job search.

Maybe the next one will be much better for you.

Best wishes to you. Sounds like this last job wasn't right for you? What job in the past has suited you best? Time to focus on your strengths, and be kind to yourself.