I have found, contrary to what many ADD'ers have said, that jobs with a lot of structure leave me bored, disassociated, and ultimately don't work.

Before I was diagnosed with ADD (I am 40, diagnosed a few years ago), I had discovered that the only type of job I could keep was one where there was constant adreneline. I always dreamed of dangerous jobs (policeman, firefighter, race car driver) but since I had 150K of college and law school debt, those really were not options. I did alright with trial work, but the 2+ years between trials was mind-numbingly boring. After several bad starts in law, I finally found an area of practice where almost everything is an emergency, and there are crisis moments every week if not every day. I have done very well in this environment (not without struggles - law is a very difficult field for any ADD'er due to the amount of detail that must be absorbed and the fact that it is a professional service business where returning phone calls and following up are important). The attraction to chaos in my job is a competitive advantage here. I am labelled an "adreneline junky" rather than lazy and disorganized, which is a huge improvement over prior jobs.

I do have to have associates that work for me to manage a lot of the detail work, and I am not sure I could have done what they do.

I also worry about the long term health effects of high stress situations that.

I am curious whether others have had similar positive experiences with chaotic jobs and how they have worked out (or not).

Yes I've had several high adrenaline jobs, some have worked out others not. The main factor in the ones not working out has been supervisors and managers trying to micromanage me in a way that may have worked for typical employees in a non-chaotic situation....

Put an insecure bureaucratic heirarchical administrator in charge of a complex mulitstranded project with tight deadlines.....ooooooh painful personality clashes.

Best is when the objectives are clear and prioritised, the deadline set, and the budget is reasonable with a known contingency...then let me run and don't get in my way.

kilt

I'm not too surprised by your experience. Anecdotally I know that in some ways it's easier for me to get things done when the boss, client, or someone else needs a deliverable immediately or reports a crisis that demands my focus.

I would only suggest that this isn't necessarily mutually exclusive with a jobs "with a lot of structure." In fact, not having a precise reference to "what many ADD'ers have said," I would imagine that this type of structure that's considered beneficial is also likely to produce an adrenaline rush. For example, if someone needs a deliverable from me every Friday at 4:45, that could certainly be considered structure. But if it's a real deliverable, something of benefit to the company, then this requirement could also be something very motivating. (If it's just a "paper" deliverable, then it could still be motivating in the short-term but is likely to build an overwhelming cynicism in the long term.)

Even with a precise schedule for deliverables, a project where the goals are clearly defined could be considered more "structured" than one where everyone's just supposed to do their job with no real performance criteria.

I dunno, I'm just speculating, but that's sorta my experience at least.