Do other Aspies work slowly physically?

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Another Aspie who tends to take a long time to get done with things; I can remember way back in 1979, we were helping my brother put together and stain some furniture and I had to hear all about how it took me so long to stain an end table compared to everyone else.

For me, I think the chain of dysfunction goes something like: I don't take criticism well, and I don't like having to go back and "fix" something I did wrong. So I tend to take my time and attend to every little detail because I don't have a good sense of what's important to somebody else. So either I take extra time to complete the task, or I hurry through it, and, like a lot of other posters, make mistakes. After 60 years, I have figured out the right speed for me, but, yeah, sometimes that doesn't live up to the boss's expectations.

One other thing that tends to slow me down "in the moment" is that I almost always have a wiki window open or a notebook with me and part of learning any new task is making notes. So that tends to slow me down in the short run, but it also proves valuable if I have to come back six months later and solve that same problem again... "oh, yeah, that's how this works..."

I don't seem to have this problem with school stuff (I've been taking a lot of classes for the past year). I think it's because I can establish a pretty good understanding of what things are required to get an "A" grade and which don't really matter, so I can be more efficient at each assignment. Plus all that journaling and note-taking has helped me get really good at writing (and comfortable with it) and I'm pretty good at the math stuff and the computer stuff, and those are the main skills you need to take classes.

I currently have an application in with a contract place for a position imaging laptops. I have no problem with the "boring routine" that they tell me it's going to be, but I'm a little bit concerned that if I'm doing five or six machines at a time and I don't have a checklist or something, I do have some trouble keeping track of six processes that are the same process but are running at different speeds, and that's one thing that slows me down sometimes, constantly having to figure out where I am in each process...

I would say "yes" - used to work with someone who was most likely a fellow undiagnosed aspie, and it took her longer to get things done because she would add "extra" steps which weren't necessary.

I work very very fast - it is my way of avoiding having to socialize, to keep really busy. It's also how I deal with the frustration of being at work, just pour all that energy into physical energy.

On my own I tend to work rather slowly.

This is like me. I'm a fast employee, but I require perfection. Everything needs to be neat and tidy, and clean my work area before I move onto the next project. I'm often the exception in these regards, but I still maintain equal or better efficiencies than most people. I also work nonstop, and sometimes work through breaks just because I don't like to stop in the middle of something. The complaint I always recieve from managers is I could get more done without the fluff, and coworkers call me a try-hard.

I'm a slow eater too, which means I don't need that much food to get through the day. I do other physical stuff slower too, but I just attribute that to my thoroughness. However, my analytical brain is super-evolved so works really fast and I can type pretty fast too. I take my breaks very seriously though.

I'm also naturally a slow eater, although I had to learn to eat faster as an adult (short lunch breaks, a husband who eats rapidly, etc.) But when I ate really slowly as a younger person I was always thin, which I'm not now, so I suspect that eating super-slow was a healthier pace for me.

I've all my life wondered so many times why everyone else is always in such a rush. Even when there's no good reason to hurry, everyone is in a hurry. Honestly, aside from emergencies and valid deadlines or holding someone else up, such as when driving, I quite often don't see the point. When my husband starts to rush me, and it seems there's no good reason, now I challenge him. WHY is this such an emergency? He usually can't come up with an answer. He's just in the habit of rushing.

I believe in slowing down, especially at those moments in life when things deserve to be savored. Good food, quiet moments, things I enjoy. I insist on being allowed the chance to slow down and enjoy them.

Interesting article about slowing down: The Slow Movement: Making a Connection

This makes a lot of sense to me as being about connection, and fits with what I know of Mexican culture, having grown up near the border and had friends and neighbors from that culture, how much emphasis there is in that culture on family and friends, connectedness, and also from my experience of traveling there and feeling the slower pace as so relaxing. There are aspects of the culture that I don't like, but the slowness appeals to me. There are similarities in some cultures in Europe, where a meal is savored for hours, and being together is encouraged. It's good to slow down and ask now and then, why hurry? Why are we killing ourselves with hurry and the stress it causes?

Slow is pretty much my middle name, especially when I was a kid.

I'm a very slow worker.

i'm both slower than average as well as less accurate than average. but i am loveable if you bother to get to know me.

I can relate to this! I am fairly accurate at my specialty - or I was when I was getting paid to do it. I'm not as obsessed a proofreader or technical grammarian as I was then. Nor as fast as when I did my job, with deadlines and daily practice that sped me up. But I reserve the right to not be perfectly logical, to not always choose the right word in conversation, and to sometimes not be the greatest cook. And lots of other things I don't feel any need or desire to be perfect at. I do my best, within reason.

I had the experience again yesterday, while shopping, of being RUSHED. I nearly had a meltdown in the middle of a store, and I understand now why I'm always reluctant to shop with my spouse. I'm a slow shopper.

Are there people who are the opposite of those of us in this thread, who feel the need to hurry no matter what, for no reason whatsoever? And can't stand anyone else being slow? I think I married one, and it may be our most glaring incompatibility.

Indeed. People always said I was slow at many things. In high school I failed typing class. I often think a little slower than other people, especially at basic math, which caused a lot of problems when I was in elementary school. No one could understand why, so my parents just yelled at me.

There are some things I am very slow at and some I am fast at.

I can type almost 50-70 works a minute, I am a volunteer emergency services worker so it is the height of fast paced work.

Ask me a math question, it's like they are cranking adding machines in my head.

ironically, i can't stand being stuck behind a slowpoke. it makes me feel clausterphobic. i am always in a hurry.

Same here! I don't like to have my time wasted by someone else.

I think what bothers me about DH insisting on speed when we shop is that he also insists we do this together, even though he knows we do it at different speeds. I find it impossible, in a store, to speed myself up that much. I'm in strange territory, with strange people, lots of noise, and I go into sensory overload very easily. On my home turf that's not such a problem. Out there, yikes. I feel as if I'm going to get run over, and someone rushing me makes my mind freeze up - makes me even slower and stupider. Sometimes I can't even answer a simple question. I try to get myself into the right frame of mind, but although more caffeine would probably help, it also sends me in search of the restroom everywhere we go. I'm best off if I can shop at my dawdle pace. I ENJOY shopping at my own pace. It's a nightmare though when I'm rushed.

I can be very slow. In time i do wrestling with friends i was very slow technically but i never have an real job so don't know but i learn slowly