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I feel like needing structured environments has been increasingly stigmatized as hustle culture and entrepreneurship is increasingly popularized. It's not neces

I feel like needing structured environments has been increasingly stigmatized as hustle culture and entrepreneurship is increasingly popularized. It's not necessarily wrong but is it the best fit for everyone? Of course if you are looking at a startup, needing the structured environment is viewed as a weakness, but the successful startup hub itself is a testament to how long a little structure can go. I am someone who thrives in structure. For example, in academia, I'm not in need of resources, passion for learning, or direction. I simply need an instructor who expects things from me with hard deadlines. For someone like me who reaches out for advice, all these self improvement methods of hustle and driving your own goals are really non-starters. I know I cannot consistently engage in them. From that lens I will always be a failure, although my work under various organizations is highly valued and well compensated. The best way for me is to find the best existing structure who goals are aligned with mine, working within it to achieve maximum mutual value, and reassessing whether this structure is still the best for me, or looking elsewhere.

EricE 6y ago
Learn to find structure elsewhere. As someone who struggles with ADHD one of the best things I stumbled across are accountability groups. I have no problem with focus, structure and deadlines when it's something I'm really into - but for everything else it can be a real struggle! Some groups are just like minded people who get together, in my experience the better ones are formalized as part of a paid program. Probably because a bunch of people that don't do well with unstructured systems probably shouldn't be trying to run structured systems :) So we pay people who are good at organizing to do it. I set my tasks and deadlines (and the group can help with that if I get stuck), and I have partners in the group that provide that deadline accountability and also the structure of checkins for regular progress. Something I scoffed at first but find to be valuable is just being on a zoom meeting with someone else while working on a task. Not necessarily interacting with them, but just knowing someone else is there helps with focus, tends to keep distractions/procrastination in check, etc. Probably sounds crazy to most reading this but for those who are wired a bit differently strategies like this can make all the difference.

EricE 6y ago

Learn to find structure elsewhere. As someone who struggles with ADHD one of the best things I stumbled across are accountability groups. I have no problem with focus, structure and deadlines when it's something I'm really into - but for everything else it can be a real struggle! Some groups are just like minded people who get together, in my experience the better ones are formalized as part of a paid program. Probably because a bunch of people that don't do well with unstructured systems probably shouldn't be trying to run structured systems :) So we pay people who are good at organizing to do it. I set my tasks and deadlines (and the group can help with that if I get stuck), and I have partners in the group that provide that deadline accountability and also the structure of checkins for regular progress. Something I scoffed at first but find to be valuable is just being on a zoom meeting with someone else while working on a task. Not necessarily interacting with them, but just knowing someone else is there helps with focus, tends to keep distractions/procrastination in check, etc. Probably sounds crazy to most reading this but for those who are wired a bit differently strategies like this can make all the difference.