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Went Hot: March 25, 2008 - 1:32 pm
Posted By: bhartzer 47 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://searchenginewatch.com)
Category: Search Marketing
17 Comments
Went Hot: March 25, 2008 - 1:32 pm
Posted By: bhartzer 47 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://searchenginewatch.com)
Category: Search Marketing
17 Comments
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Comments
Wow, this article was really.... anyone wanna go play soccer?
Seriously, I've never looked at it like that before. Now that I'm starting to analyze how I handle projects, I may very well have a form of ADD. Alas, if this means I can be grouped with "successful CEOs," then I'm OK with this idea.
You're right, seofactor...if you start to look at the factors then many SEOs will find that they in fact might have ADD.
I have what I like to call Work ADD. To many projects going at once and not enough focus. Google has Company ADD.
though I'm inclined to believe the premise, this article is a little light on facts. The "ADD test" strikes me as pretty useless.
How does ADD make SEO's like search engines, exactly? I may be easily distracted, but that doesn't make me Commander Data.
@seofactor - i really did laugh out loud (being a former soccer player)
@incrediblehelp - Google definitely has company ADD & it works for 'em
@DarkMatter - sounds like a good follow-up blog post - are SEOs becoming more like SEs?
40mg Adderall per Day=How I survive.
And yes, it's prescribed.
Well I took the test and it said I was... ooh look, shiny!
I guess at least it's reassuring to know that I possess the same attributes as so many successful SEOs, so I'm in good company. Now I just need to fight to keep my attention focussed long enough to actually learn how to do this stuff properly.
*** Commander Data ***
Holy crap. One of my clients called me that when I was installing Mozilla, some extensions, Safari, Flash Player, Xenu, Spybot, Adaware, AVG, Apache, PHP, Core FTP, Adobe AIR with GAS, and running a windows update, while showing him the stats for his site, explaining why the way stuff was currently coded was bad, running a backup of the old site, and talking to his wife about the content she will be writing for the new version of the site.
Err, umm, mumble mumble...
@g1smd LOL @KenJones you're in great company @slightlyshady Scrip-styles of the Rich & Famous SEOs? :-)
@g1smd
are you also confused by this strange human emotion called "love", and do you have a cat named Spot? ;)
@g1smd - Sounds like multi-tasking to me, not ADD.
Actually, having seeing a co-worker with ADD get fired years ago, I got to see how truly miserable their condition can be. No amount of meds helped him. He couldn't complete any task and all of us couldn't keep covering for him. Even his girlfriend got fed up and broke up with him. I felt really badly for him.
I don't see ADD in SEO as much as I see the ability to do several things at once. Many pros have several computers doing several activities at once. Why? To get done so they can sleep once in awhile :)
I have ADD/ADHD, and like SlightlyShadySEO, the (prescribed) adderall really helps. The hard part is finding the proper amount to work efficiently, but still be socialable.
I think being a SEO with ADHD has its positives and negatives. I found that the high turnover rate, and the unique challenges for each project is great to keep my attention on new challenges. I have also found that when clients are slow to implement recommendations I tend to lose focus, get frustrated and move on to another projects.
I find I am much happier and more successful when I surround myself with people who are flexible and forgiving. Luckily at work, we have Account Managers who help manage the projects, and they are nice enough to remind me of (and sometimes adjust) important due dates if I get swamped, forget or get distracted.
I notice I have "good days" and "ok days". When I am having a good day everything falls into place and I can accomplish just about everything. I try to take advantage of good days by staying late and getting as much work done as possible to get ahead. On ok days my brain (and ability to concentrate) just shuts down. At that point I go home (if it is the end of the day), or I take a break (go get lunch, take a quick walk, or check out something online I find interesting).
If you have adult ADD/ADHD do not feel alone, there are more of us out there than you think. I recently recommended this article to a co-worker (another SEO with ADD) and he said it helped him as well:
http://www.addresources.org/article_50_adhd_tips_adult_hallowell_ratey.php
Another good book to read on ADHD that helped me (and my girlfriend) understand my ADHD is: Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder
@chrisphillips: Wow. Absolutely right. It gives us the ability to super-focus in some situations. I've had friends joke if they didn't drag me out sometimes, I would be perfectly content with cigarettes, red bull, clam chowder and a laptop for days on end. And quite frankly, they're right in many cases. I'm social, but only after the effects are starting to wear off(night time)
PS: Irony. When I typed out my first comment, I got distracted and forgot to sphinn this. FIXED! haha.
@SlightlyShadySEO: good to know I am not alone. 30mg Adderall ADHD+OCD, I think that's why I am good at paid search. Everything must be organized and in the right place!
Guilty as charged - and clinically diagnosed. I won't supress (i.e. medicate) the creative energy it gives me however.
I cringe whenever I see a mental illness used as a metaphor. Whether we're saying that the weather's been bipolar, an organization is acting schizophrenic, or a work style is the same as having attention deficit disorder, the end result is the same: We lose perspective of what it *really* means to have the disease, and the person living with the real illness is more likely to feel shamed, stigmatized.
I know there are plenty of folks posting in this thread who are forthcoming about their own diagnoses and treatment, and that's nothing but great. I have a spouse with significant mental illness (bipolar *plus* PTSD), and we've been through the wringer multiple times over the past decade. So for myself, whenever I'm tempted to use a brain disease as a metaphor, I ask myself, "Hmm... Would I ever say that such-and-such a behavior is 'diabetic'? That some phenomenon is 'arthritic'? That a person has gone all 'heart diseased' on me?" The answer's always no.