#16 The PM Interview and Planning and Prioritization
Choosing to plan and prioritize big dreams with ADHD.
My planning and prioritization have led me to 2 weeks in a row of a late newsletter.
Part 6 of 13 of the Product Manager Interview and Executive Function (EF) Series. Scroll to the bottom to see the domains of EF I’ll be covering in no particular order.
Planning and Prioritization
The ability to plan and prioritize a sequence of tasks to reach a goal. Including the ability to differentiate between low and high-relevance details of tasks.
Takeaways
The kryptonite to planning and prioritization is ambiguity
Procrastination is a crap time-freezing machine
Admit that the tasks are hard
Grant yourself the kindness and courage to do big things
Check out 8 ADHD Insights for more
Introduction
The thought of planning and prioritizing for a job interview brings me anxiety and shame. The anxiety stems from not being sure if I can create a plan to get a job. And even if I create a plan, I might still fail at it. The shame comes from knowing there are lots of resources on how to prepare but I choose not to look at them. I choose to not create a plan and follow through with it. I plan and prioritize every day as a PM. Why can’t I do it for myself? Today you and I explore the kryptonite of planning and prioritizing with ADHD, ambiguity.
Ambiguity Fuels Procrastination
As I write this sentence, I’m already a day late in publishing a newsletter article. This is the second week in a row in case you’ve been counting. I’m trying to tell myself it’s because I’m prepping to deliver an hour-long talk on Saturday at 6 am for Growth School on productivity. Or maybe it’s because I feel overwhelmed and behind trying to launch 2 companies this year. Or is it because I’m still waiting to hear back from a job interview I had a week ago? Oh I know, I think it’s from the dread-inducing thought I’m about to hit 4 months of unemployment. The need to find a job and also create my own jobs has me on a manic-depressive swing.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
What the hell am I doing?
What do I need to be doing?
What’s my plan?
I am frozen by the ambiguity of what the future holds for me.
Time to procrastinate!
Avoiding Pain and Possibilities
Procrastination is my poor attempt at making a time-freezing machine. When I do it, I pretend that time stops. A recruiter can’t tell me I didn’t get a job if I don’t follow up. I can’t fail at answering an interview question if I don’t practice. I can’t let my partners down if I don’t get my piece done for the business. These beliefs are my way of trying to avoid the pain or uncomfortableness of failure and possibilities. I know my actions and beliefs are not productive. I know I shouldn’t feel shame but, I do. I run away.
Sometimes, I never come back to a task. I give up on it and add it to my Pokemon-sized collection of shame.
Other times, I come back, pick myself and get it done.
I often wish I could skip the journey of ADHD shame, self-doubt, and anxiety and get to the part where I get the job done. I would press a magic button that removes the numerous ways my ADHD tells me I’m going to fail and I never procrastinate again. That would be nice.
Then I remind myself, if I did that, I might not have anything to write about for my blog.
Admitting a Task is Hard, is Hard
ADHD makes it very hard for me to admit that something is hard. My planning and prioritization sense is compromised. I see other people do the same tasks with relative ease. I internalize the surface level comparison and it drives my rigidity to believe that I should be able to do the same things with ease.
I have a friend that has been interviewing consistently since they got laid off last month. Did they update their resume or LinkedIn? Hire a service? I don’t know, but whatever they did I think it was easy. It should be easy for me too right? Nope. I’ve had 2 interviews in 4 months. He had 5 interviews in a week. Never mind he works in a different role and experience level than I am. I choose to ignore the facts and say it’s because I suck. I spend energy every day reminding myself of how inadequate I am.
Or I Could Choose Kindness to Recognize Reality
The reality is as of 2/23/2023 395 tech companies have had layoffs of 108,986 employees in 2023. In 2022 1045 tech companies had layoffs of 160,997 employees. That’s a total of 269,983 people that we know of1. There are probably thousands more we don't know about and more happening every day.
I don’t know how many of those were product managers. I know when I look at LinkedIn I see over 200 applicants for most of the jobs I apply for. My only advantage is that I don’t need a work authorization visa which allows me to apply to a broader group of companies (I’ll talk about how messed up immigration is here another day). It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or who you are, getting a job right now in tech is very tough. I have to grant myself the kindness to recognize reality. There are more things I can do to increase my likelihood to get a job but the reality is, it’s F’ing tough right now.
My Reality
I am currently in the process of launching an ADHD coaching practice, another company I can’t disclose yet, finding a new job, writing a weekly newsletter, giving public talks on ADHD and product management, and raising a 4-year-old. The reality is that I’m doing a lot and most of it doesn’t come with an instruction manual (if you have one for a feisty 4-year-old, reach out). It’s OK I’m frazzled. It’s OK I get overwhelmed. I am doing big things. If it was easy, my ADHD would tell me it’s boring and I wouldn’t do it.
Conclusion
I choose to take a deep breath and trust in the wonderful partners, friends, and family that believe in me.
I choose to remind myself that I’m not doing it alone.
I choose to believe the impact I have on others is worth overcoming my fears.
I choose to plan and prioritize big dreams.
Next Week
Organization and why I can’t seem to get better at it.
https://layoffs.fyi/
Internet... forever.
https://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html
Thank you for writing this.