ATD: a new disease for executives
I've just bought a new pair of boots. They are black, quite simple with chunky heels. They have got nice thick leather soles and were a great bargain. Today is my first day wearing them, and a couple of people in the office have admired them. I would like to say two further interesting things about these boots: first, in the time-honoured way of these things, they turn out to be rather less comfortable than they seemed in the shop - the left foot is rubbing over the instep, and the right foot is catching me just under the ankle. Second, they seem to have picked up a big white mark on one toe. Either I dropped some of my breakfast onto my foot this morning, or a bird shat on my foot without me noticing.
I realise that this column so far shows little sign of brain activity. This is intentional - I have just discovered that I am suffering from the very latest executive illness,ere is something wrong with my brain, and the foregoing is an exercise designed to help. This new illness, According to Harvard Busines Review, is called attention deficit trait. The reason I am banging on about my boots is that the magazine suggests little exercises in writing desrciptive paragraphs on non challenging sujects helps.
ADT is a bit like Attention Deficit Disorder, but is entirely condition created by the way we work. We are so distracted by our e mails, our blackberrys, mobile phones, by all the conflicting demands on us that disease of the modern age. The result is brain overload. It apparently is turning relatively competent people like me into frenzied underachievers.
According to the HBR this is a very serious condition indeed, responsible for ruining the careers of bright people and have greivous effects on corporate productivity. It is a “very real but unrecognised neurological phenomenon” that is ten times as common as it was a decade ago.
I might have doubted that I had this thing, but just before Christmas I wrote a column describing how irritating I was finding everything. Never have I written something less popular. I received an untold quantity of messages telling me to relax, and a couple telling me to “take a chill pill” which has now knocked “smile, it may never happen” off my number one slot of worlds most annoying cheer-up lines.
More alarmingly a couple of readers suggested that I went to see my doctor, suggestions which I dismissed. I dismissed it all - I am an irritable person and some times of year are more irritable than others.
But now it seems that I need some initials on my condition. If I don't have ADT, them I have HWS, which is Hurried Woman syndrome.
In truth, I don't have any syndrome. Life is busy, and I like it that way. I often get cross, and often find things very very annoying. But things are annoying.
there is another label for it, and it is called stress. There are good bits to it and bad bits. And I defy anyone to tell me that alcohol and the rolling stones are a worse survival strategy than a multivitimim pill.
As for writing about my boots - it may have cheered me up. Next time I feel an attack of such staggaring banality coming on, I'll try to keep it to myself. I would like to tell all these readers that I can't help it. There is a label for this, and I can't help it. By Lucy KellawayI've just bought a new pair of boots. They are black, quite simple with chunky heels. They have got nice thick leather soles and were a great bargain. Today is my first day wearing them, and a couple of people in the office have admired them. I would like to say two further interesting things about these boots: first, in the time-honoured way of these things, they turn out to be rather less comfortable than they seemed in the shop - the left foot is rubbing over the instep, and the right foot is catching me just under the ankle. Second, they seem to have picked up a big white mark on one toe. Either I dropped some of my breakfast onto my foot this morning, or a bird shat on my foot without me noticing.
I realise that this column so far shows little sign of brain activity. This is intentional - I have just discovered that I am suffering from the very latest executive illness,ere is something wrong with my brain, and the foregoing is an exercise designed to help. This new illness, According to Harvard Busines Review, is called attention deficit trait. The reason I am banging on about my boots is that the magazine suggests little exercises in writing desrciptive paragraphs on non challenging sujects helps.
ADT is a bit like Attention Deficit Disorder, but is entirely condition created by the way we work. We are so distracted by our e mails, our blackberrys, mobile phones, by all the conflicting demands on us that disease of the modern age. The result is brain overload. It apparently is turning relatively competent people like me into frenzied underachievers.
According to the HBR this is a very serious condition indeed, responsible for ruining the careers of bright people and have greivous effects on corporate productivity. It is a “very real but unrecognised neurological phenomenon” that is ten times as common as it was a decade ago.
I might have doubted that I had this thing, but just before Christmas I wrote a column describing how irritating I was finding everything. Never have I written something less popular. I received an untold quantity of messages telling me to relax, and a couple telling me to “take a chill pill” which has now knocked “smile, it may never happen” off my number one slot of worlds most annoying cheer-up lines.
More alarmingly a couple of readers suggested that I went to see my doctor, suggestions which I dismissed. I dismissed it all - I am an irritable person and some times of year are more irritable than others.
But now it seems that I need some initials on my condition. If I don't have ADT, them I have HWS, which is Hurried Woman syndrome.
In truth, I don't have any syndrome. Life is busy, and I like it that way. I often get cross, and often find things very very annoying. But things are annoying.
there is another label for it, and it is called stress. There are good bits to it and bad bits. And I defy anyone to tell me that alcohol and the rolling stones are a worse survival strategy than a multivitimim pill.
As for writing about my boots - it may have cheered me up. Next time I feel an attack of such staggaring banality coming on, I'll try to keep it to myself. I would like to tell all these readers that I can't help it. There is a label for this, and I can't help it.
我没得综合症，只是压力大
我刚刚新买了双靴子，黑色的，靴筒及膝，鞋跟粗厚。靴底的皮革质地很好，也很厚实，的确买得很划算。今天是我第一天穿这双靴子，办公室有几位同事都说这靴子看起来不错。
关于这双靴子还有两个有意思的地方值得说说：首先，靴子穿了一段时间后，我发觉似乎不如在商店试穿时那样舒服――左脚的靴子有些磨脚背，而右脚的靴子脚踝又太紧；还有，其中一只靴子的脚尖部分好像沾上了一个大白点儿。可能是今天吃早饭时不小心把食物掉到靴子上了，要不就是上班的路上没留神落了鸟粪。
我知道自己在写上面这些文字时基本没用脑子。这是有原因的，那就是我现在患上了一种新出现的高管职业病，叫做 “注意力缺乏症候”(Attention Deficit Trait)，治疗这种疾病的处方之一，就是找一些不太有挑战性的题目写一些轻松的小段子。
有关这种新出现的办公室流行病的详细情况刊登在《哈佛商业评论》上。《哈佛商业评论》说，“注意力缺乏症候”和“注意力不足紊乱症”(Attention Deficit Disorder)”有点类似，但与“注意力不足紊乱症”不同的是，“注意力缺乏症候”不是一种基因病症，而是由我们的工作方式导致的。电子邮件、黑莓信息(Blackberries)、移动电话以及管理人员面对的各种互相冲突的要求分散了我们的精力，使我们不胜其扰，处理起来手足无措，从而导致大脑负担过重。
“注意力缺乏症候”使得能干的人抓狂，难以发挥潜力，令他们的工作效率平平。按照《哈佛商业评论》的说法，这是一种“确实存在、但人们尚未认识到的神经学现象”，其发生率已经是十年前的10倍。
这篇文章的作者Ned Hallowell先生是一名精神病学家，他详细解释了“注意力缺乏症候”患者大脑内部的发生机理。我们大脑中的额叶和前额叶部分决定了我们的行为模式，帮助我们成为文明、高效的办公族。当大脑中的这两部分负担过重时，大脑深层控制情绪的那部分就会发出不安信号，令大脑额叶陷于瘫痪状态，使我们无法适当和有效的安抚自己的情绪。“注意力缺乏症候”患者就开始表现出愤怒、烦躁和焦虑等症状。
唉，这真是给我敲响一记不小的警钟。圣诞节前我写的整个专栏就就在描述我对一切都感到烦闷的心情。有些读者说我是个被宠坏没长大的小孩，应该去伊拉克度假。还有很多人告诉我要放松放松，一对夫妇甚至建议我“吃点镇静药”，这样说话真是气人，只要看到这句话就会对我大脑的前额叶造成永久伤害。
我想对所有对我感到不悦的读者说，请给我一个放松和休息的机会。我患有“注意力缺乏症候”,所以值得他们同情。
按照Hallowell博士的建议，最好的疗法就是营造一种“积极、宽松的情感氛围”。事实证明，要做到这一点很难，但我一直以来都在努力消化他的忠告。以下就重复一些他的忠告，并附带我的说明。
1.每隔4到6个小时和你喜欢的人交谈一段时间。这个建议妙极了，我严格照办，但似乎对缓解我的“注意力缺乏症候”症状没什么效果。
2.始终保持工作区的一部分整洁干净。我在办公时，办公桌会乱得一团糟。如果清理出一部分空间，我的心情反而会更糟。
3.待做完其它事后再处理电子邮件。我发现清晨处理电子邮件能起到热身的效果，所以先处理邮件恐怕没什么不好。
4. 保证充足的睡眠。这一点我完全同意，只是要做到这一点谈何容易。
5. 尽量少吃糖，少饮酒。这我可不能接受，能够享受美食，生活才有意义。
6. 多四处活动，也就是要多轻快的走动。这是个极好主意，我已在身体力行。
7. 做一些不费脑子的机械性工作，如写些有关自己的房子或鞋子的小段文字。也就是我开篇写到的那些文字。
8. 吃一颗复合维生素药丸。这条建议我不大认同，所以也不知道该如何应对。我一直就无法理解一个理性和健康的人为什么需要吃复合维生素药片。事实上，我对数百万吃这种药片的人印象不佳。(有关这一点请读者们不要给我写信发表看法，我的电子邮箱不够大。) 《哈佛商业评论》中有关摄入复合维生素药片有助缓解“注意力缺乏症候”症状的那个郑重其事的建议，使我非常怀疑这个所谓的“注意力缺乏症候”根本就是虚构的，而他们所建议的治疗方法自然也是子虚乌有。
如果我患的不是“注意力缺乏症候”，那还有一种可能。上周我收到一篇新闻稿，内容是有关美国德克萨斯的一些医生诊断出的另外一种病症，叫做“忙碌女性综合症”（Hurried Woman syndrome）。这似乎也是一种极为令人担心的病症，影响到全美6000万妇女。这种病的症状除了体重增加和失眠外，和“注意力缺乏症候”非常类似。治疗方法就是练习列清单、睡觉和锻炼。
我当然是个非常忙碌的女人，通常对这一点还引以为豪。但正如我没患上“注意力缺乏症候”一样，我也不可能患上“忙碌女性综合症”。事实上，我根本没患上任何综合症。生活固然忙碌，但我喜欢忙碌的生活。我会经常发火，会感到非常烦躁。我的问题还可以归于压力过大。压力有时有好处，有时也不好，这要看每个人不同的应对方式。如果哪个人告诉我整理办公桌和服用复合维生素会比美酒和巧克力更能使人感到轻松，我是决不会同意的。
这一周时间里，我通过研究得出的治疗结论就是写一段有关我靴子的文字，我很喜欢这样。如果有读者对这样的文字兴趣索然，我只能向读者抱歉。为了对《哈佛商业评论》公平起见，我得明确的说，这种练习应该只是私下进行的，而不是公开发表在全球发行的报纸上。
