Have you met clever people who seem to fidget through meetings, lose track of their appointments and just seem "dumb"? Before you tell me that they are probably not organised (perhaps some aren't. In which case, please use Trello, Google Keep, and Calendly), I just want to say that perhaps these smart people are suffering from ADT (Attention deficit trait). It's not an illness per se but a response to the hyper-busy environment in which some executives live. And indeed it has become an epidemic in today's organisations.
I still remember how it was for me a decade ago working for 2 bosses and then as I showed competence, got loaded up to 7 matrix structure bosses whilst my counterparts only had 2. No wonder I became increasingly frazzled. When a manager is desperately trying to deal with more input than he possibly can, the brain and body get sucked into a ricocheting circuit while the brain's frontal lobe loses its higher executive functions. Work suffers. And it doesn't help that the employee doesn't realise that this is happening because of overload.
This ADT can be managed by engineering a better environment and emotional and physical health. A simple thing like having a 'human moment', a 'face-to-face' encounter with a person you like (hopefully you have a nice colleague you trust- we FinAIMS are very blessed to have each other and also our business partners Principal Malaysia), enough sleep, move more, create a portion of the day free of appointments and email. Of course, companies play a role here too.
In a similar way, our lives can be chockablock with activities and work and we lose the ability to manage our finances. And losing our grip on our finances can have detrimental effects on our financial health too. I recommend a 15 mins daily uninterrupted time to deal with bills, cash flow decisions, think about big financial decisions or engage a reliable financial planner to help with the big ones. Always allow a buffer of money that is left over at the end of the month so you breathe easy. Of course, companies can always engage FinAIMS to help out in this area to assist employees to make better financial decisions for more cognitive ability to concentrate on work.
Our inability to manage ADT is a real threat to all of us. If we do not manage it, it will take over all aspects of our lives.
We welcome questions. Talk to us.