Interest lost at work in general.

[griffaliff]

Hey all,

I wanted to ask a group of other dyspraxic people a question about jobs they've had in the past, or currently have. I have done a lot of varied work from P.A. speaker set ups for rave parties to computer programmer and now I am working as a tree surgeon.

My issue is that I can't seem to find a job that I really feel like I can stick at. Every employment position that I've had in the past I end up getting bored of within the first 12 months and wonderlust kicks in and I start wanting to do something else. It's quite frustrating at the moment as being a tree surgeon does sound like an exciting job. However, the only company I have found after searching for months that employs full time is very demanding (hours wise). I can do the physical work no problem but I'm often out the house for 12 hours of the day, then asleep for 8 which leaves me with 4 hours. I have been there for only 6 weeks and I can feel myself starting to resent the job because of the hours, my work/life balance is out of kilter. Not to mention that I joined the company expecting to be climbing trees and all I'm doing is lugging logs and dragging branches to the chipper which is something I am over-qualified to do (I'm a qualified tree surgeon). . I can imagine some of you may be thinking 'move to another company' but the tough thing is in this line of work, it is ridiculously difficult to find a business that is big enough to offer full time hours.

I know a lot of what I've said above isn't dyspraxic related, it's just to give a more detailed outline. I wanted to ask if anyone else has had the issue where they get bored of a job quite quickly and start wanting to move onto something else?

It depresses me to be honest that I have to work in the first place. This sound horribly lazy, I know, I just find work for financial reward tedious. Every company I've worked at, it seems that you have to brown-nose the superiors to get anywhere and it's not in my nature at all to suck up to people so I usually find I'm kept on the lower-rungs of the company, doing the donkey work. My girlfriend has a go at me for 'torturing myself' as I often dream of just being able to travel the world without money being an issue, I honestly wish it were so because I wouldn't work for money another day in my life! I feel that I was put on this planet to explore it and learn from it, to do good for other people. We only have one chance/life on this earth, it frustrates me most that I have to waste my time working, earning money for someone else while I get paid a pittance, to pay rent for someone else's mortgage (I'm 27 in the UK so like many others, buying a house myself is out the question).

Apologies for the gushing rant, all this is just something that has been building up in my head over the past few weeks and this is the only forum I go on. Does anyone else feel this way or am I just being pedantic and a cry-baby that needs to grow up and realise that adult life is just frustrating and disappointing in general?

[Tom fod]

It's all relative as to how much different people are willing to suck up and accept at different stages of their lives Really no problem with you having a rant. we all need to have one to let off some steam occasionally and feeling like a wage slave, underpaid and under appreciated is sadly not uncommon. anywhere and for anyone.

Sadly unless we're born to rich parents or we win a stack of cash or marry into riches the vast majority of us will have to do something to try and earn a crust. The other certainty is that at least some of the time it will be a pain for various reasons and we sadly won't have the freedom to do what we want to do our way. I've endured work/work experience changing the tops on overtightened lots of perm lotion, stuffing envelopes, and inputting responses from a survey on parking. work often involves having to prove we can get on with the mundane and boring tasks that still need to be done though I do wonder if to borrow a metaphor there is a glass ceiling that unfortunately holds some people back as they find it more difficult to prove themselves doing certain tasks and are unfairly sidelined

What do others think?

[screengreen]

I often think that I would do a much better job if I had a PA, but in order to do that I would have to work through several levels were my personal organisation would be challenged without the help of a PA to keep me organised!

[griffaliff]

Hi Tom,

I totally agree with you regarding the glass ceiling metaphor. I've worked so many jobs (been fired plenty of times) where I've watched people start at the same time as me, with the same level of experience, and they've gone on to be promoted/given more responsibility. Whereas in my case, I've been sidelined, kept doing the basic work because my superiors believe that I can't be trusted. No one has said this to me explicitly in the workplace before but actions speak louder than words and I'm a good reader of peoples behaviour. What's most frustrating is that I know I'm an intelligence person (I have a degree in audio engineering) but in the world of work I am seen as slow, dim and 'useless' (that I have been explicitly told). I find myself not sticking at jobs either, I either get bored of the tediousness of the work as I'm kept doing the bare basics, become lax and get fired or end up leaving because I can tell a sacking is imminent. It just worries me as this seems to have been a running theme in my working life thus far (I've been in work since I was 15, on and off as a student).

The brighter side of things currently is that despite not enjoying the company I work for at the moment, I do have an interview at the biggest tree surgery company in the U.K. and U.S. tomorrow which will offer proper training and just be a much more professional outfit overall. I'm hoping I can stick at it there, provided I am offered a position, as there is serious career progression I can see within the business and it looks like somewhere I'll enjoy working. If I end up getting sacked after six months I'll simply be at a loss. I cannot claim disability because I can technically do mundane office/service work, I just worry, seriously worry, that dyspraxia is going to be a huge curse that I carry around for the rest of my working life. Jumping from job to job, never getting anywhere on the career ladder, earning a pittance because I can't work my way up anywhere and eventually just sinking into a depression after losing the support of those around me because I can't seem to hold down a job.

To sum up I just worry that dyspraxia will be this consistent barrier against what I want to do in life which will result in it falling apart in front of me. My mental issue comes from my dad as he has the same problem and he has wound up incredibly overweight, in a HUGE amount of debt and was never able to hold a job down either. Now he lives alone in a grim house with no friends and I find it really sad. I suppose the jist is that people say the apple never falls far from the tree and I don't want to wind up like my dad but the way things are going, I very may end up doing. All because I couldn't hold down a job.

[gabo]

God, I just read your post and it sounds like me. Excuse me for the poor grammar as I am writing rather quickly - I've always been like this with so many things and since I diagnosed at uni aged 23 (I never finished uni) I could actually put a reason to this behaviour. I start things... jobs, college, courses etc - I am enthusiastic and then somewhere along the line I loose focus, interest and pretty much feel like a child or something, thinking oh god stuff this, or even If i stick at it, for some reason I just can't really progress because I feel no one takes me seriously. When I feel like this.. All my professionalism goes out of the window. I am now a 28 year old female, have studied Arts, Photography, design, didn't finish, found the work piled up and I couldn't cope. I worked as a teacher, got told I was too unorganised. Then I thought horticulture - got a job in one the best gardens in the UK, thought, nice to be outside, chilled, don't have to be so fast, I like nature etc. Then I start to get agitated, became slow, loose all interest and focus.....but still stuck it out. Have tried my hardest to keep at things but just as you wrote it happens time and time again.

I loose my phone all the time, I loose everything all the time, I am **** with money, **** at prioritising. I am so unorganised and I really do try my hardest not to be. When I was younger I was clever and could get away with being pretty and working in events and bar work whilst at uni studying Arts (failing) - but of course when I hit mid twenties and wanted to crack on, learn, progress, be proud of myself and my work I tried my hardest and have had set back after set back. I wont even go into the stories and the amount of things that have happened.....

Basically I am pretty much at my wits end. When I try to talk to my friends they just laugh and say how 'scatty' I am - but they don't see that everyday life and career is a struggle. I have so many dreams and ambitions and thats what makes it worse. I just sometimes look at my behaviour and think, you idiot! This has also led me to go from being a really confident person to pretty anxious.

I suppose this post doesn't make much sense but I just found this forum and I would like to chat to others... I don't think I can handle starting something new - I know what will happen.

[pixiewithdocs]

Hey guys, I know this is an old thread but I relate to a lot of the stuff you're both saying- if you're still active drop a line here and maybe we can carry on the discussion