Stanford BeWell @Stanfordbewell
Too much to do and too little time to do it? Harvard's Dr. Edward Hallowell has some advice: https://bewell.stanford.edu/crazy-busy
Too much to do and too little time to do it? Harvard's Dr. Edward Hallowell has some advice: https://bewell.stanford.edu/crazy-busy
Dr. Edward Hallowell #Cogmed Conference 2014: "for people with ADHD, only 2 times exist -> Now & Not Now" pic.twitter.com/dYSEzPO1Rm
Dr. Edward Hallowell, climbing under chairs to mimic the actions of a young boy with ADHD, helps train doctors to... http://fb.me/6pklMnnUl
"ADHD is an itch that you just can't seem to scratch" - Dr. Edward Hallowell
“In order to do what really matters to you, you have to, first of all, know what really matters to you.”
- Dr. Ed Hallowell
"If you're busy doing what matters to you, then being busy is bliss."--Edward M. Hallowell
Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform
by Edward M. Hallowell
David drums his fingers on his desk as he scans the e-mail on his computer screen. At the same time, he’s talking on the phone to an executive halfway around the world. His knee bounces up and down like a jackhammer. He intermittently bites his lip and reaches for his constant companion, the coffee cup. He’s so deeply involved in multitasking that he has forgotten the appointment his Outlook calendar reminded him of 15 minutes ago.
Jane, a senior vice president, and Mike, her CEO, have adjoining offices so they can communicate quickly, yet communication never seems to happen. “Whenever I go into Mike’s office, his phone lights up, my cell phone goes off, someone knocks on the door, he suddenly turns to his screen and writes an e-mail, or he tells me about a new issue he wants me to address,” Jane complains. “We’re working flat out just to stay afloat, and we’re not getting anything important accomplished. It’s driving me crazy.”
David, Jane, and Mike are not crazy, but they’re certainly crazed. Their experience is becoming the norm for overworked managers who suffer—like many of your colleagues, and possibly like you—from a very real but unrecognized neurological phenomenon that I call attention deficit trait, or ADT. Caused by brain overload, ADT is now epidemic in organizations. The core symptoms are distractibility, inner frenzy, and impatience. People with ADT have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, and managing time. These symptoms can undermine the work of an otherwise gifted executive. If David, Jane, Mike, and the millions like them understood themselves in neurological terms, they could actively manage their lives instead of reacting to problems as they happen.
As a psychiatrist who has diagnosed and treated thousands of people over the past 25 years for a medical condition called attention deficit disorder, or ADD (now known clinically as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), I have observed firsthand how a rapidly growing segment of the adult population is developing this new, related condition. The number of people with ADT coming into my clinical practice has mushroomed by a factor of ten in the past decade. Unfortunately, most of the remedies for chronic overload proposed by time-management consultants and executive coaches do not address the underlying causes of ADT.
Unlike ADD, a neurological disorder that has a genetic component and can be aggravated by environmental and physical factors, ADT springs entirely from the environment. Like the traffic jam, ADT is an artifact of modern life. It is brought on by the demands on our time and attention that have exploded over the past two decades. As our minds fill with noise—feckless synaptic events signifying nothing—the brain gradually loses its capacity to attend fully and thoroughly to anything.
The symptoms of ADT come upon a person gradually. The sufferer doesn’t experience a single crisis but rather a series of minor emergencies while he or she tries harder and harder to keep up. Shouldering a responsibility to “suck it up” and not complain as the workload increases, executives with ADT do whatever they can to handle a load they simply cannot manage as well as they’d like. The ADT sufferer therefore feels a constant low level of panic and guilt. Facing a tidal wave of tasks, the executive becomes increasingly hurried, curt, peremptory, and unfocused, while pretending that everything is fine.
To control ADT, we first have to recognize it. And control it we must, if we as individuals and organizational leaders are to be effective. In the following pages, I’ll offer an analysis of the origins of ADT and provide some suggestions that may help you manage it.
Attention Deficit Cousins
To understand the nature and treatment of ADT, it’s useful to know something of its cousin, ADD.
.
Edward M. “Ned” Hallowell, MD, (ehallowell@aol.com) is a psychiatrist and the founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Sudbury, Massachusetts. He is the author of 12 books, including Driven to Distraction, and of the HBR article “The Human Moment at Work” (January–February 1999).
Link: http://hbr.org/2005/01/overloaded-circuits-why-smart-people-underperform/ar/1
ADT: Why Smart Executives Underperform
March 5, 2012 By Leonard Grace 0 Comments
ADT: Why Smart Executives Underperform
ADT: Why Smart Executives UnderperformThe term (Attention Deficit Trait) first coined by Dr. Ned Hallowell, Harvard graduate and adult-child psychiatrist in 2005 seems to be more relevant today than it was back then. The former Harvard Medical School faculty member began seeing smart executives, who would otherwise be expected to perform at peak levels, begin to exhibit symptoms of distraction, harried impatience, and quick decision making. Dr. Hallowell’s findings first appeared in the Harvard Business Review on Jan 1, 2005 titled (Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform)
“It’s sort of like the normal version of attention deficit disorder. But it’s a condition induced by modern life, in which you’ve become so busy attending to so many inputs and outputs that you become increasingly distracted, irritable, impulsive, restless and, over the long term, underachieving.”
Symptoms
Akin to ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), an inability to stay focused, Attention Deficit Trait is related to the high degree of technology devices which executives use and interact with in communicating on a daily basis. While many of these executives are perfectionists, wanting to handle serial communication requests simultaneously, from multiple devices like Smartphones, IPAD’s, Laptops, and Desk Top computers; doing so both day and night can lead to information overload and low performance.
This phenomenon affects many smart people, including executives, managers and engineers who are dependent on anytime communication to make decisions and interact with their counterparts, whether it is superiors, direct reports, peers, customers, family; the list goes on. Think about the intrinsic communication demands leveled on a daily basis that distract executives from making well thought-out decisions and how this can dumb-down critical thinking. See (Attention Deficit trait, work-induced ADD) from 2006
Questioning such technology innovation which broadband, mobile, wireless and telecom have leveled upon us in recent years and the limitations it has put on face-to-face communications, it is no wonder executives feel distracted to the point of confusion when it relates to priorities and sound decision making expected and valued by their peers.
How can executives cope?
It seems that an orderly distraction and prioritization is needed to combat Attention Deficit Trait that is, taking a break from electronic communication on a regular basis. I know this seems hard when business expects constant communication at any hour of the day, or night for that matter. If you receive 300 communication requests per day, how do you filter and prioritize them? It depends on how much expectation each individual has on being personally involved in communicating. The overload is not going away, but how it is handled can mean the difference in effectively being smart or dumb when it comes to performance.
We need human interaction on a regular basis. Taking a break to converse with others at different times during the day, every 4 to 6 hours may help ease the intense feeling of anxiety and distraction associated with Attention Deficit Trait. Tackle easy tasks first therefore giving more confidence in handling the harder ones later. Think positively, and know when you are most (on) during the day. Delegate tasks to employee strengths helping morale and take care of your health. These are all important aspects of keeping ADT under control while keeping your long-term smarts. See (This ‘Neurological Phenomenon’ Is Quietly Taking Over Americas Workforce)
Link: http://www.broadbandconvergent.com/business/adt-smart-executives-underperform/
Frenzied executives who fidget through meetings, lose track of their appointments, and jab at the "door close" button on the elevator aren't crazy--just crazed. They suffer from a newly recognized neurological phenomenon that the author, a psychiatrist, calls attention deficit trait, or ADT. It isn't an illness; it's purely a response to the hyperkinetic environment in which we live. But it has become epidemic in today's organizations. When a manager is desperately trying to deal with more input than he possibly can, the brain and body get locked into a reverberating circuit while the brain's frontal lobes lose their sophistication, as if vinegar were added to wine. The result is black-and-white thinking; perspective and shades of gray disappear. People with ADT have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, and managing time, and they feel a constant low level of panic and guilt. It is possible to control ADT by engineering one's environment and one's emotional and physical health. Make time every few hours for a "human moment"--a face-to-face exchange with a person you like. Get enough sleep, switch to a good diet, and get adequate exercise. Break down large tasks into smaller ones, and keep a section of your work space clear. Try keeping a portion of your day free of appointments and e-mail. The author recommends that companies invest in amenities that contribute to a positive atmosphere.
This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading.
Link: http://hbr.org/product/overloaded-circuits-why-smart-people-underperform/an/R0501E-PDF-ENG
Global Technology - April 2014 sharethis Economic Insights - May 2014
GUEST EditionSave 35% off cover price. Details here...Subscribe NOW
"Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform"by: Edward M. Hallowell
from: Harvard Business Review, January 2005
Published on Apr 12, 2014 in Issue 174 - April 2014
"Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform"ADD TO FAVORITES
America's businesses are filled with overworked managers who suffer from a very real but unrecognized neurological phenomenon called attention deficit trait (or ADT). Caused by brain overload, ADT is now epidemic in organizations.
The core symptoms are distractibility, inner frenzy, and impatience. People with ADT have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, and managing time. These symptoms can undermine the work of an otherwise gifted executive.
In "Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform,"in theJanuary 2005 Harvard Business Review, Edward M. Hallowell explains what ADT is and how you can gain control over it.
Hallowell is a psychiatrist, the founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health, and the author of 12 books, including Driven to Distraction.
The number of people with ADT coming into Hallowell's clinical practice has mushroomed by a factor of 10 in the past decade. Unfortunately, most of the remedies for chronic overload proposed by time-management consultants do not address the underlying causes of ADT.
Unlike attention deficit disorder (or ADD), which is a neurological disorder that has a genetic component, ADT springs entirely from the environment. It is brought on by the demands on our time and attention that have exploded over the past two decades. As our minds fill with noise, the brain gradually loses its capacity to attend fully to anything.
In fact, modern culture all but requires many of us to develop ADT. Never in history has the human brain been asked to track so many data points. Everywhere, people rely on their cell phones, e-mail, and digital assistants in the race to gather and transmit data, plans, and ideas faster and faster. As the human brain struggles to keep up, it falls into the world of ADT.
Studies have shown that as the human brain is asked to process dizzying amounts of data, its ability to solve problems flexibly and creatively declines and the number of mistakes increases. To find out why, let's go on a brief neurological journey.
The frontal lobes of the human brain govern what is called executive functioning (or EF). EF guides decision-making and planning; the organization and...
Link:
http://www.audiotech.com/business-briefings/overloaded-circuits-smart-people-underperform/
Why smart people under-perform
If you're a slave to your iPhone or BlackBerry, you may have ADT, or Attention Deficit Trait.
It's a lot like ADHD, but the difference is that ADT is purely environmental.
Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell wrote about the "new neurological phenomenon" in
Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform, for Harvard Business Review:
"Marked by distractibility, inner frenzy, and impatience, ADT prevents managers from clarifying priorities, making smart decisions and managing their time. This insidious condition turns otherwise talented performers into harried underachievers. And it's reaching epidemic proportions.
"The symptoms of ADT come upon gradually. The sufferer doesn't experience a single crisis but rather a series of minor emergencies while he or she tries harder and harder to keep up. Shouldering a responsibility to 'suck it up' and not complain as the workload increases, executives with ADT do whatever they can to handle a load they simply cannot manage as well as they'd like."
Although this report was first published in 2005, it's never been more relevant, since the condition is triggered by information overload. ADT sufferers need to regularly step back from the stress of the workplace and their dependence on technology, otherwise their brains will constantly go into "survival mode," which distorts the ability to think clearly and intelligently, writes Hallowell.
If you're a perfectionist, you're more likely to suffer from ADT. In an interview with TIME magazine, Hallowell said that "anybody who is conscientious is subject to this because they will try to get everything done, no matter what. So are people who crave high stimulation."
The good news is, since the condition is environmental, it can be controlled.
Hallowell suggests taking these measures to combat ADT:
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/executive-style/management/why-smart-people-underperform-20120308-1um2d.html#ixzz20BoowvOt
Why smart people underperform by
"If you're busy doing what matters to you, then being busy is bliss."--Edward M. Hallowell
Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform
by Edward M. Hallowell
David drums his fingers on his desk as he scans the e-mail on his computer screen. At the same time, he’s talking on the phone to an executive halfway around the world. His knee bounces up and down like a jackhammer. He intermittently bites his lip and reaches for his constant companion, the coffee cup. He’s so deeply involved in multitasking that he has forgotten the appointment his Outlook calendar reminded him of 15 minutes ago.
Jane, a senior vice president, and Mike, her CEO, have adjoining offices so they can communicate quickly, yet communication never seems to happen. “Whenever I go into Mike’s office, his phone lights up, my cell phone goes off, someone knocks on the door, he suddenly turns to his screen and writes an e-mail, or he tells me about a new issue he wants me to address,” Jane complains. “We’re working flat out just to stay afloat, and we’re not getting anything important accomplished. It’s driving me crazy.”
David, Jane, and Mike are not crazy, but they’re certainly crazed. Their experience is becoming the norm for overworked managers who suffer—like many of your colleagues, and possibly like you—from a very real but unrecognized neurological phenomenon that I call attention deficit trait, or ADT. Caused by brain overload, ADT is now epidemic in organizations. The core symptoms are distractibility, inner frenzy, and impatience. People with ADT have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, and managing time. These symptoms can undermine the work of an otherwise gifted executive. If David, Jane, Mike, and the millions like them understood themselves in neurological terms, they could actively manage their lives instead of reacting to problems as they happen.
As a psychiatrist who has diagnosed and treated thousands of people over the past 25 years for a medical condition called attention deficit disorder, or ADD (now known clinically as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), I have observed firsthand how a rapidly growing segment of the adult population is developing this new, related condition. The number of people with ADT coming into my clinical practice has mushroomed by a factor of ten in the past decade. Unfortunately, most of the remedies for chronic overload proposed by time-management consultants and executive coaches do not address the underlying causes of ADT.
Unlike ADD, a neurological disorder that has a genetic component and can be aggravated by environmental and physical factors, ADT springs entirely from the environment. Like the traffic jam, ADT is an artifact of modern life. It is brought on by the demands on our time and attention that have exploded over the past two decades. As our minds fill with noise—feckless synaptic events signifying nothing—the brain gradually loses its capacity to attend fully and thoroughly to anything.
The symptoms of ADT come upon a person gradually. The sufferer doesn’t experience a single crisis but rather a series of minor emergencies while he or she tries harder and harder to keep up. Shouldering a responsibility to “suck it up” and not complain as the workload increases, executives with ADT do whatever they can to handle a load they simply cannot manage as well as they’d like. The ADT sufferer therefore feels a constant low level of panic and guilt. Facing a tidal wave of tasks, the executive becomes increasingly hurried, curt, peremptory, and unfocused, while pretending that everything is fine.
To control ADT, we first have to recognize it. And control it we must, if we as individuals and organizational leaders are to be effective. In the following pages, I’ll offer an analysis of the origins of ADT and provide some suggestions that may help you manage it.
Attention Deficit Cousins
To understand the nature and treatment of ADT, it’s useful to know something of its cousin, ADD.
.
Edward M. “Ned” Hallowell, MD, (ehallowell@aol.com) is a psychiatrist and the founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Sudbury, Massachusetts. He is the author of 12 books, including Driven to Distraction, and of the HBR article “The Human Moment at Work” (January–February 1999).
Link: http://hbr.org/2005/01/overloaded-circuits-why-smart-people-underperform/ar/1
ADT: Why Smart Executives Underperform
March 5, 2012 By Leonard Grace 0 Comments
ADT: Why Smart Executives Underperform
ADT: Why Smart Executives UnderperformThe term (Attention Deficit Trait) first coined by Dr. Ned Hallowell, Harvard graduate and adult-child psychiatrist in 2005 seems to be more relevant today than it was back then. The former Harvard Medical School faculty member began seeing smart executives, who would otherwise be expected to perform at peak levels, begin to exhibit symptoms of distraction, harried impatience, and quick decision making. Dr. Hallowell’s findings first appeared in the Harvard Business Review on Jan 1, 2005 titled (Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform)
“It’s sort of like the normal version of attention deficit disorder. But it’s a condition induced by modern life, in which you’ve become so busy attending to so many inputs and outputs that you become increasingly distracted, irritable, impulsive, restless and, over the long term, underachieving.”
Symptoms
Akin to ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), an inability to stay focused, Attention Deficit Trait is related to the high degree of technology devices which executives use and interact with in communicating on a daily basis. While many of these executives are perfectionists, wanting to handle serial communication requests simultaneously, from multiple devices like Smartphones, IPAD’s, Laptops, and Desk Top computers; doing so both day and night can lead to information overload and low performance.
This phenomenon affects many smart people, including executives, managers and engineers who are dependent on anytime communication to make decisions and interact with their counterparts, whether it is superiors, direct reports, peers, customers, family; the list goes on. Think about the intrinsic communication demands leveled on a daily basis that distract executives from making well thought-out decisions and how this can dumb-down critical thinking. See (Attention Deficit trait, work-induced ADD) from 2006
Questioning such technology innovation which broadband, mobile, wireless and telecom have leveled upon us in recent years and the limitations it has put on face-to-face communications, it is no wonder executives feel distracted to the point of confusion when it relates to priorities and sound decision making expected and valued by their peers.
How can executives cope?
It seems that an orderly distraction and prioritization is needed to combat Attention Deficit Trait that is, taking a break from electronic communication on a regular basis. I know this seems hard when business expects constant communication at any hour of the day, or night for that matter. If you receive 300 communication requests per day, how do you filter and prioritize them? It depends on how much expectation each individual has on being personally involved in communicating. The overload is not going away, but how it is handled can mean the difference in effectively being smart or dumb when it comes to performance.
We need human interaction on a regular basis. Taking a break to converse with others at different times during the day, every 4 to 6 hours may help ease the intense feeling of anxiety and distraction associated with Attention Deficit Trait. Tackle easy tasks first therefore giving more confidence in handling the harder ones later. Think positively, and know when you are most (on) during the day. Delegate tasks to employee strengths helping morale and take care of your health. These are all important aspects of keeping ADT under control while keeping your long-term smarts. See (This ‘Neurological Phenomenon’ Is Quietly Taking Over Americas Workforce)
Link: http://www.broadbandconvergent.com/business/adt-smart-executives-underperform/
Frenzied executives who fidget through meetings, lose track of their appointments, and jab at the "door close" button on the elevator aren't crazy--just crazed. They suffer from a newly recognized neurological phenomenon that the author, a psychiatrist, calls attention deficit trait, or ADT. It isn't an illness; it's purely a response to the hyperkinetic environment in which we live. But it has become epidemic in today's organizations. When a manager is desperately trying to deal with more input than he possibly can, the brain and body get locked into a reverberating circuit while the brain's frontal lobes lose their sophistication, as if vinegar were added to wine. The result is black-and-white thinking; perspective and shades of gray disappear. People with ADT have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, and managing time, and they feel a constant low level of panic and guilt. It is possible to control ADT by engineering one's environment and one's emotional and physical health. Make time every few hours for a "human moment"--a face-to-face exchange with a person you like. Get enough sleep, switch to a good diet, and get adequate exercise. Break down large tasks into smaller ones, and keep a section of your work space clear. Try keeping a portion of your day free of appointments and e-mail. The author recommends that companies invest in amenities that contribute to a positive atmosphere.
This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading.
Link: http://hbr.org/product/overloaded-circuits-why-smart-people-underperform/an/R0501E-PDF-ENG
Global Technology - April 2014 sharethis Economic Insights - May 2014
GUEST EditionSave 35% off cover price. Details here...Subscribe NOW
"Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform"by: Edward M. Hallowell
from: Harvard Business Review, January 2005
Published on Apr 12, 2014 in Issue 174 - April 2014
"Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform"ADD TO FAVORITES
America's businesses are filled with overworked managers who suffer from a very real but unrecognized neurological phenomenon called attention deficit trait (or ADT). Caused by brain overload, ADT is now epidemic in organizations.
The core symptoms are distractibility, inner frenzy, and impatience. People with ADT have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, and managing time. These symptoms can undermine the work of an otherwise gifted executive.
In "Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform,"in theJanuary 2005 Harvard Business Review, Edward M. Hallowell explains what ADT is and how you can gain control over it.
Hallowell is a psychiatrist, the founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health, and the author of 12 books, including Driven to Distraction.
The number of people with ADT coming into Hallowell's clinical practice has mushroomed by a factor of 10 in the past decade. Unfortunately, most of the remedies for chronic overload proposed by time-management consultants do not address the underlying causes of ADT.
Unlike attention deficit disorder (or ADD), which is a neurological disorder that has a genetic component, ADT springs entirely from the environment. It is brought on by the demands on our time and attention that have exploded over the past two decades. As our minds fill with noise, the brain gradually loses its capacity to attend fully to anything.
In fact, modern culture all but requires many of us to develop ADT. Never in history has the human brain been asked to track so many data points. Everywhere, people rely on their cell phones, e-mail, and digital assistants in the race to gather and transmit data, plans, and ideas faster and faster. As the human brain struggles to keep up, it falls into the world of ADT.
Studies have shown that as the human brain is asked to process dizzying amounts of data, its ability to solve problems flexibly and creatively declines and the number of mistakes increases. To find out why, let's go on a brief neurological journey.
The frontal lobes of the human brain govern what is called executive functioning (or EF). EF guides decision-making and planning; the organization and...
Link:
http://www.audiotech.com/business-briefings/overloaded-circuits-smart-people-underperform/
Why smart people under-perform
Executives with ADT do whatever they can to handle a load they simply cannot manage as well as they'd like. Photo: Rob Homer
If you're a slave to your iPhone or BlackBerry, you may have ADT, or Attention Deficit Trait.
It's a lot like ADHD, but the difference is that ADT is purely environmental.
Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell wrote about the "new neurological phenomenon" in
Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform, for Harvard Business Review:
"Marked by distractibility, inner frenzy, and impatience, ADT prevents managers from clarifying priorities, making smart decisions and managing their time. This insidious condition turns otherwise talented performers into harried underachievers. And it's reaching epidemic proportions.
Although this report was first published in 2005, it's never been more relevant, since the condition is triggered by information overload. ADT sufferers need to regularly step back from the stress of the workplace and their dependence on technology, otherwise their brains will constantly go into "survival mode," which distorts the ability to think clearly and intelligently, writes Hallowell.
If you're a perfectionist, you're more likely to suffer from ADT. In an interview with TIME magazine, Hallowell said that "anybody who is conscientious is subject to this because they will try to get everything done, no matter what. So are people who crave high stimulation."
The good news is, since the condition is environmental, it can be controlled.
Hallowell suggests taking these measures to combat ADT:
- Think positively. It seems simple, but if your mind is clouded by negative emotion and fear, you'll underperform.
- Interact with a person you like every 4 to 6 hours. People who work in isolation are more likely to suffer from ADT. "By connecting comfortably with colleagues, you'll help your brain's 'executive centre' (responsible for decision-making, planning, and information prioritising) perform at its best."
- When you feel overwhelmed, do easy tasks first. That way, you feel more competent to conquer bigger, more complex tasks. There's a reason why standardised tests like the SAT start with the easy questions first.
- Know when you are most "on" during the day. Plan to accomplish your most difficult tasks then.
- If you're a manager, have your employees focus on their strengths. This boosts morale and efficiency within an organisation. Delegating effectively will also improve your performance.
- Take care of yourself. Get enough sleep, eat healthfully, and exercise. This will keep your brain in its best condition.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/executive-style/management/why-smart-people-underperform-20120308-1um2d.html#ixzz20BoowvOt
Why smart people underperform by