i'm only 29 but i do know that i have about a 2 1/2 year mark for maximum length at a particular job..thats the longest i've stayed..when working as a waitress you're considered a vet by that point and you can leave comfortably and the restaurant business is such that i could walk into any restaurant ( i had a great restaurant resume, which, if you're not familiar w/ that-included very highly respected companies which always put my foot in the door) so i felt safe leaving. i would just burn and boil and fester for a few months thinking yes: take this job and shove it.
its very much like the scene in 'office space' (thats a movie) when jennifer aniston says"HERE'S YOUR FLAIR!" and gives her manager the bird..i felt like that a lot. as i'm sure most of us have..
now i work in a call center and i make damn good money. i'm also 'number 1'..LOL
thats the one thing..i always manage to get into a job and commit 150% into it..i'll always be on the top of any staff by virtue of working hard and smart..i feel so insecure b/c i always feel like a fake, i always feel like i'm about to be fired no matter if this is reality or not. last year i practically got an ulcer when it was job performance time..and my bosses told me i had the biggest raise in the whole department and that i qualified to go the company meeting in maui. i was kind of happy. why not completely happy? b/c i always fear the other shoe dropping. i spend so much time trying to perform at top levels that i burn out..i feel totally disenchanted and i know that i'm going to lapse into total half *** land with my job. but i cannot stand to be less than what i can be!!! i work in sales. so that means i must sell more than anyone else. and i do it. i can't just do 100 % quota..even 125% quota is not enough for me. i must be at 150%!!!
if anyone beats me on the monthly, i start calculating how to raise my yearly percentage and how much overage i need to get ahead. its ridiculous.
usually i keep track of every sale i complete. this month i decided to let it go. but now i feel like i'm skating on thin ice. i feel desperate b/c i don't know EXACTLY where i stand-like what if i'm 100k below my goal and i don't even know? my bosses don't even come close to haranguing us about the whole sell or be fired bit. i would never let it get to that anyway b/c i just cannot hack having my boss tell me that i've failed. if i have an issue being late (which i have sometimes) then i'll make sure i'm there 20-30 minutes early.. i just can't keep on doing this though b/c it takes everything out of me. by the end of the day i just don't want to talk to anyone b/c i've been talking my head off all day explaining stuff to my clients..and i don't want to make dinner or do my homework for school and i'm just whipped.
i have planned to quit working by the end of next year. i know that this is a luxury. but i don't know how i can keep working at this job. its sooooo boring. i'm over it. once i can do it i want to move on. give me something meaty! i want to THINK at my job- not say the same thing day in and day out..
so yes i feel guilty for even feeling this way b/c i know i'm lucky
i make more money than my husband..and it will be a serious paycut for us if i quit
i want to quit yesterday.
i always have this urge to QUIT and never go back.
its to the point where i'm starting to consider decorating my desk with pics of my last vacation and thinking like a mantra " only 14 months only 14 months only 14 months til i can quit..only a few more months til my vacation ' and so on.
i'm sorry guys!
i just had to vent. i feel so much pressure b/c i actually make money...whereas in the past it was negligable.i could just job hop with no serious consequence and i feel like an indentured servant to my mortgage.
i sit at work fuming about how much time i'm wasting when i could be going to school.

anyone?
feel similiarly?

anyone?
feel similiarly?

Yep. I've grown to hate every single job I've ever had. Not counting a part-time job I had in high school and through part of college, the longest I've stayed at any one job is 2 years.

Unlike you, though, I'm terrible at sales. :D I've already done an undergrad degree, but next year I will be attending graduate school for my PhD in math. I get that "wasting time" feeling every time I think about it-- someone I went to college with teaches biochemistry at UCLA, for God's sake, and I'm delivering pizzas right now.

Hey, you probably would enjoy reading Sari Solden's 'Women with ADD'. She talks a lot about this burning out trying to hold it together. She says it's harder for ADDers to maintain a job & family & to hold it all together & appear 'normal' we work super hard & burn out. The way out of this is to realize your real abilities and limitations & work with those, ending up in a better position doing what you love, using your creativity and intelligence in a more executive position instead of struggling to get by doing menial tasks that you hate. It's about going with the flow!

I too have a job stability limit. 1 year 1 month. I was estatic. Got fired for inability to follow proper protocol after repeated warning to correct behavior, quote for quote. the only reason i stayed so long is that we switched directors so i got a clean slate, temporarily. I messed up that one too. Never told anyone except for a close friend about my adhd. Supervisor told director she thought I was on drughs because she would tell me something and I would forget it a second later, because I did'nt listen, because I would ramble about anything and everything, and because I could'nt sit still if you shot me with a tazer (ok, maybe not that), but she said I acted like I was on speed. My other supervisor was my friend so he told me about it. I always have been embarrased about this disorder, so I've never told my supervisors, therfore I deserved to get fired, one becaused I screwed up so much, and two because I failed to disclose my condition which may have garnered sympathy. But I have always said I would'nt dump my garbage on someone else, and it has cost me alot of pain, financially, emotionally and physically (I hit myself with my brush in frustration, and the brissles cut my face, it has left a scar that has'nt gone away yet).

ihavewhatnow, wow that's some story! Hit yourself witha a brush! sorry, but that made me laugh...why did you do that, just curious? I like the rest of you have terrible job stability...the older you get, the more your self esteem gets F-up! for the first time I have decided to take some medication(I have know i Have had ADD for 7 years or more) and maybe even some ADD coaching...

Good luck to you all!

thanks paul for suggesting that book! its like my worst nightmare practically sitting here thinking about how to get out of here. the good news is i just checked out my vacation hr stats and i have 2 weeks and 3 hrs available til the end of the year! my pda got wiped out and i freaked b/c i felt that i probably only had a day or two for the rest of the year.
i'm planning on strategically taking days off for the next few months.
i cannot even really manage to think of the 'future' i know i'll be out of this job within 14 months (i think i can i think i can i think i can) and i will probably be pregnant next year and then i will stay at home with my baby..
but other than that?
i have no clue.

I can totally relate to the "once I can do it, I want to move on..." That's been every job I've ever had. At the end of the month, I'll have been in my current job for two years, by far the longest I've had any job. And I've wanted out for the last year and a half!

For so long I had the same attitude of having to give at least 100% if not more to any job. But then I noticed that everyone I was working with was doing so much less and, as I was usually just a temp, getting paid more along with benefits and vacation time, I started to let things slide... And my current boss still keeps telling me I'm doing an excellent job, even though there's this little voice in the back of my head sometimes that reminds me how much more I could get done if I didn't surf the web so much at work. But I don't get that feeling as much as I did, and when I do I just remind myself that there's nothing else to do! So it is possible to get past the skating-on-thin-ice feeling, at least a little bit. I've found it also helps a lot to have a person at work who's in a similar, but not competitive, position to rant to. I have one friend at work who always puts the guilty, I'm-not-doing-enough feeling in a more realistic perspective.

ive been a chef for over twenty years.the past six months ive been off my game and all my passion has gone.i wish i did something completely different.this used to be a career for me,but now its just a job.all my creativity has been extinguished by self righteous a-holes who presume to know my job.the more i try the less im appreciated.i want to swear my head off,but i dont want to get banned from this forum!!!!
and my memory gets worse and worse every day.ive reached an age when my adhd is more like dementia.

3 years but they gave me a raise every time I quit making it harder to walk away, and I am 49. I can never go back to a job, I am back in uni now.

This initial post so describes me. my longest position was about a year and a half. Can relate to the "take this job and shove it" part for sure! i think for me, boredom plays a part, as well as anger and impulsivity. I'm in healthcare and years ago it was always very easy to find another job (often times, same day or at least within a week!). Not so much the older you get, once you hit 40's that job history kinda has a way of catching up with you!! (sucks) In this economy, it's harder for the job hoppers to find employment. This last time, it took me over a month. Though it did work out, I found a job making $4.50 More an hour! :)

Yep. I've grown to hate every single job I've ever had. Not counting a part-time job I had in high school and through part of college, the longest I've stayed at any one job is 2 years.

Unlike you, though, I'm terrible at sales. :D I've already done an undergrad degree, but next year I will be attending graduate school for my PhD in math. I get that "wasting time" feeling every time I think about it-- someone I went to college with teaches biochemistry at UCLA, for God's sake, and I'm delivering pizzas right now.

I met one of my old high school friends last week (hadn't seen her for nearly 10 years) and she's doing a Phd while I haven't even gotten my bachelors yet :(. also I have a cousin who has a masters and a Phd and is working for a renewable energy company (i always wanted to work for something environmental someday). but that cousin is 9 years older than me so who knows what the future might bring(i highly doubt it though).