Don't be too good at your job

"And any other duties as needed."

Most of our job descriptions (if you even have one) include that line. What that really means is, "We can throw any shit at you that we want and if you opt not to do it, then we can fire you because, well, it's in the contract."



Lovely right?

In some instances that's useful. A co-worker leaves and your boss asks you to take a couple of their duties over until they find a replacement - as long as they have a date that that will end, no big deal right?

But many times, if you're good at your job, if you are conscientious and do your own personal job description well, your higher ups will add on other "small" things "every once in a while" so that you can help around the office/company. If you're still good at your job, even with those additional items, then those additional items may become part of your job permanently. Your higher ups may realize, "We don't need to hire a new person to take over the person that quit's job because Bob can absorb a lot of those duties. We save money! Yay!"

Now if you're Bob, that's fucked up. So as Bob, you have a few options. First, look competent but not too competent. Get your work done, but gripe just a little about how it's overwhelming. Hopefully someone will get the picture and recognize that Bob is at his "tipping point" and can't take on extra. Period. Second, ask for a raise - I mean if you're doing this person's job, why shouldn't you get extra pay? Request the extra pay until they find someone else and this may help them light a fire to find someone else. Third, say no. Seriously. You can do it in a nice way - tell them you enjoy your job and your position with the company, but you currently feel that you're doing your job requirements just well enough and that adding requirements may cause your other work to falter.

Keep in mind that if you choose option three that because of that lovely clause at the beginning of the post you may lose your job or receive a poor review from your superiors. "Bob is not a team player and is not willing to take on extra work to help the company."

Can you tell what happened to me at work this past week? I'm definitely Bob. I look too competent apparently and I get asked to do things - not other people's work mind you, but things that need to be done and are usually distributed around the college. This past week three distributions came to me at once. I could say no or I could ask for extra pay, or I could remember that that clause is in my contract...and that these are only short-term requests.

Adults are Overstimulated, They Don't Have ADD (well not at these numbers)

A recent report indicated that more adults aged 26-34 were getting prescriptions for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) medications than previously - the numbers are up 85% since 2008.

Uh oh, she's going to get serious for a little bit today.

As a psychologist, as a former mental health counselor, I have some opinions about why this is. And my opinions are probably not going to be popular ones.

ADD is a diagnosable mental disorder which is caused by frontal lobe dysfunction - the frontal lobe is the part of the brain that helps us to think ahead, make good decisions, plan, and all those other important (and adult) functions. When the frontal lobe can't focus, it can't function well. Period. We make poor decisions. We act irrationally. We sometimes feel irrational, emotionally. We yell, we get upset easily, and obviously, it's hard to focus on what we're doing right now.

If we look at the brain, if we look at our environment, we see that there are other possible causes for this inability to pay attention and sustain positive emotion. 

- Lack of sleep.

- Feeling overwhelmed by our environment (feeling like there's "too much to do").

- Poor nutrition.

- Not drinking enough water.

- Poor planning (saying yes to way too many projects/things).

- A chaotic environment - a a cluttered home, too much auditory stimuli, too much visual stimuli (which can relate back to the cluttered home).

Am I saying that ADD in adults doesn't exist? Hell no. I've seen it. I've met adults who have difficulty with attention and some who even have the hyperactivity component (ADD with hyperactivity is what it's called now). And these folks are assisted by taking ADD medications whether they be the stimulant or the non-stimulant types.

But if you look at the data, there's some interesting things. Adult women are now taking meds for this more than men, which is an historical change. Most ADD is diagnosed in boys, not girls. But we're seeing adult women being diagnosed/medicated.

Look back at that list I just posted of other possible causes of attentional difficulties. Not to be stereotypical, but women are generally more affected by these things than men are. They're more likely to take on too much at home, at work, in life. They're more likely to experience anxiety related to feeling overwhelmed than men are. They're more likely to be doing the bulk of the at home child care (even though with historical changes they're also working outside the home more than they were previously).

Americans have become overstimulated. Blame it on what you will - cell phones, Internet, constant contact via social media, whatever. But our brains are buzzing and continue to buzz. Whenever your cell phone goes off with a new alert, your brain gets a stress signal. Add up all those things in the list I wrote, and it's like stress signal...stress signal...stress signal...STRESS SIGNAL. And the brain can't function well, it' can't focus, with all these interruptions. All these stress signals. So your attention goes out the window.

You don't need a pill for that. That's just another outside stressor being put on your brain. You need to calm the fuck down. You need to cut out some of the shit in your life. You need to simplify. You need to disconnect. Learn to meditate. Exercise. Take some time for you that doesn't involve stress signals.

I told you I'm not going to be popular for my opinion.


Photo from freedigitalphotos.net "I Can Not Answer This Question" by luigi diamanti