I knew nearly all of the 800 employees in the region, knew what kind of car they drove to work, what part of town they lived in, spouses and children, their degrees and disciplines, etc.

I thrived on the 70 to 100 interruptions a day and managed to stay up with and ahead of changes that occurred over a 25 year period. I installed the first computer network in the building, maintained it for years, and later installed and maintained a leading edge digital, fiber-optic PBX phone system with an advanced auto-attendant system….. all while continuing to supervise a staff of 16 employees who performed the work in their respective sections. I could always not only do any task myself, I developed procedures and wrote manuals for each person in each of the disciplines.

While I could focus when I had to on a single task, a three hour project often had to be completed after 6:00PM when everyone else went home and I was alone.

It drove my subordinates nuts when I skipped from task to task. I had trouble answering the most basic questions because there was too much going on for me to focus and give a simple answer.

After I learned that my son and daughter were ADD, I understood myself better. I got through high school and college but studying was torture and I had trouble memorizing….. even the alphabet when I was in elementary school. IQ 127 to 142? My grades never reflected any abilities above average.

I had the perfect job for an ADD. When I got bored, there was something else that needed attention.

A normal, non-ADD person would have had to limit the interruptions and would have never been able to deal with the constant bombardment of tasks and problems.