I'm rubbish at work

LegacyUser

So, to start, I’m not really sure what my problem is, or if anyone can help me – but all advise/suggestions appreciated.

I’ve been working now for about 15 years or so. I’ve jumped around a good bit in jobs and there’s a few reasons for that. Some were just short term roles but in other jobs I get bored and want to do something different after just 18months or so….
Now, the thing is, I’m just an average worker. I never tend to perform particularly well and in all my 15 years have never progressed to supervisor role!!

I just can’t properly motivate myself. I get lazy in work and VERY distracted by the internet. I’m also slow doing things. Takes me a lot longer than it should do or would take others. I watch colleagues and former colleagues do things so quickly and easily and I’m in awe, but thinking, why can’t I do that?!?! Why is it that I take so much longer??

Why is my brain so slow at processing?? Can I do things to improve my concentration or speed up my work. Why can’t I motivate myself to work harder??

Overall I do fine in jobs. I mostly worked in one particular line of work and do grand at that – again, not supervisor level as yet. I changed to a different line of work for a bit and it was just a disaster. Waaaay too demanding of me. I struggled a lot and made lots of errors. Again, slow paced and kept forgetting things….

I think basically I want to maybe retrain my brain and motivate myself…. I’ve come to the conclusion that office work just isn’t for me so I’m currently retraining to embark on a whole different career but in the mean time I need to get on with the work I do.
I want to keep focused more, stop browsing the net in work, stop forgetting to do things or follow up on things, stop making stupid mistakes.

I’ve had a few dents to my work confidence and I literally sit in work all day everyday thinking “I’m **** at this. They all know I’m **** at this. I’m going to get fired any day now.”


I've been wondering if a life coach or career counsellor or something like that might be able to help me - or is it just some kind of actual normal counselling I need to deal with some deep rooted issue I might have!!?
Part of me thinks there might be a genetic thing - my father worked for over 40 years in the same organisation and never progressed to supervisor/manager. He also can be a bit slow doing things. He's super intelligent, but just slow at getting through things and lacking the motivation to work hard and be successful.

rustopher

maybe you should try a career counsellor. This would of been my next step as I like u have also kept changing jobs, some as a result of been less committed and others where they were just too stressful and people complained about me. I have had some tough times with bosses and I never want to be in those situations again. I knew of a boss who wanted to get rid of me but I just kept going knowing this and realised she was pulling me up on things that were not my fault. Still I became paranoid but I fought her all the way finding strength with citizens advice and sent her an email to let her know my I knew what she was doing. She soon changed her tune but I left anyway.

So not to go too far off the subject, u should find out what it is you enjoy and with the help of advise u might just find it. Otherwise u could end up engrained with thoughts of being useless, worthless and these are issues that I was left with even after I left those jobs, it can damage you self esteem!!

Musefan

Hi. Sounds like your really having a tough time. One option that you may not have considered is meeting with an educational psychologist or a clinical psychologist who can perform a cognitive assessment and measure your processing speed. Sometimes individuals have a slower than average processing speed which can cause huge frustration. It also sounds like you might have some difficulties with attention and a good educational or clinical psychologist could perform an assessment & recommend some strategies for you. It would also give a clear picture of your cognitive strengths and weaknesses & help you identify why you may have some of the difficulties you describe.

ElizaT33

Musefan wrote: »

Hi. Sounds like your really having a tough time. One option that you may not have considered is meeting with an educational psychologist or a clinical psychologist who can perform a cognitive assessment and measure your processing speed. Sometimes individuals have a slower than average processing speed which can cause huge frustration. It also sounds like you might have some difficulties with attention and a good educational or clinical psychologist could perform an assessment & recommend some strategies for you. It would also give a clear picture of your cognitive strengths and weaknesses & help you identify why you may have some of the difficulties you describe.

Excellent advice from Musefan above OP - don't be so hard on yourself - the very fact that you are acknowledging your frustration is a sign that you want to achieve and are experiencing an obstacle! Get to the source of the problem - best of luck

LegacyUser

That sounds like really good advise Musefan, thank you.
Maybe I'll look into that. I def think there might be a cognitive issue. My concentration and memory is just brutal.

Even today, I was out of the office but got a mail from my boss highlighting some important stuff I forgot to do (he's def not happy!!). It's not difficult stuff and I'm not snowed under with work - I just get distracted with something else and then totally forget the original task.

Maybe I've spent too long plodding along without a challenge that parts of my brain have gotten lazy....

I do really want to fix it as I'm getting closer and closer to getting fired from this job due to my many stupid mistakes and forgotten tasks..... There's no need for these mistakes. I'm an intelligent, experienced person! I don't want to get fired!
Dreading facing my boss now tomorrow.

beauf

So you use lists or have some way of organizing your work?
I get easily side tracked but I have my email and write lists in such a way to remind myself.