Overfocusing at work: bug or feature?

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Hi! I've got my yearly self-assessment coming up, and I'm going over an honest list of my strengths and weakness. I've discovered that many of my weaknesses (such as rigidity) tend to come from overfocusing -- which I hadn't realized was such a problem.

The latest issue has been this: we have this machine, and when we're done with the machine we're supposed to take what we were using off the machine or it will mess up some overnight work. I intellectually know that I should take it off the machine, yet inevitably I get the machine at the end of the day, put my thing on the machine, and I get so focused on what I doing that I inevitably forget to take the thing off the machine! People are stunned -- how I can't remember that?

I was thinking about it and realized this. They see strong focus as a bug. I see it as a feature.

No one else seems to have my ability to focus. However, they're telling to loosen up and use more common sense. Yet I'm fairly convinced that one of the reasons they've kept me is because I DO think differently from everyone else (we've had TONS of layoffs).

How do I explain this to my manager? I haven't told him I have AS (or am self-diagnosed at least), though he told me that he has some suspicions as to what I have -- he didn't tell me what. And of course I immediately pounced on that: if you think you know what I have, why put me in positions where I tend to have trouble? Why do you expect the same behavior from me as from everyone else? His response -- I'm the manager, and I have enough people reporting to me that taking people's limitations and quirks into account would be too much work for me. It's better I expected the same from everybody...

ACG

If you are overfocusing on your job I think that is a bad thing because your mind has to be able to switch off to recover from the daily stess of life. I would say bug.

No wonder you're dwelling on this. Your boss is so vile that he does not even seem to acknowledge that he may be bound by law to take peoples limitations into consideration once they are known.

And since he wants to play doctor and "diagnose you" and make an assumption, he is clearly ignorant and wishes to stay that way.

He also wants you to know you are expendable by saying “ I have enough people reporting to me that taking people's limitations and quirks into account would be too much work for me” He sounds like he is trying to inspire fear and intimidate you into keeping your mouth shut.

“It's better I expected the same from everybody... " He is telling you right there that he doesn't want to know because then he would have to comply with EMPLOYMENT LAW is my guess!

I'm not out -- he doesn't officially know I have AS. I'm concerned that if I were to come out, he would assume that there is some kind of cap on my abilities and throw me out on the spot ("if you can't overcome this obstacle, out you go"). Granted, that's paranoid. But keep in mind that the federal ruling does not involve work -- it involves school.

I've never been able to tell if I actually have AS (in which case there is a cap) or I've several AS symptoms which makes it harder for me to overcome things -- but there is no limit. I'm self-diagnosed, and I'm concerned about getting a diagnosis exactly for that reason.

The ability to concentrate on a task completely is clearly a feature. It's just that in your case it's not fully optimized yet. Like any new feature, it needs some usability tweaks and such. In your case, it sounds like you need some way to record tasks and remind yourself to do them when required. Just be honest to your boss. You have great focus which allows you to do the type of work you do and see things from a different perspective than anyone else, but it comes at a price. Outline what you plan to do to minimize the downsides. You didn't choose this hyperfocus and as such you cannot choose to stop it. Embrace it and demonstrate that you're trying hard to make it work.

I firmly believe that what managers want most from their employees is to not be bothered by them. Figure out what you're doing that bothers him and expend some effort to keep that from happening. If you can accomplish this you'll be surprised how much leeway you get to do things your own way.

I made it through many rounds of layoffs at my last job but got bit by the last one because of similar issues. Luckily, it happened at a time when the job market was up and after I had gained 7 years of valuable experience, so it wound up being a good thing.