Good Evening,

I just got back from a week long "Teambuilding" exercise with my office and it brought to light/reminded me of some questions I have Re: ADD and its "gifts".

Some background:
I was diagnosed when I was 6, put on Ritalin when I was 7, then taken off the Ritalin (cold turkey) when I was 18 (12 years ago). For the most part, my family is used to my way of being and I haven't had to really think about my ADD and how it makes my behavior different than that of others for many years... it just never was an issue.

Now I am in the leader role and I just totally alienated my entire team during this teambuilding exercise.

A couple of pieces of feedback:
1. They don't understand how I can go non-stop for a week with only a couple hours of sleep. -> I take it this isn't the norm for people? Most people can't just put off sleep if they are working on something? I can just push myself and get by on a couple hours of sleep, and then I hibernate (sleep really deeply) for 8-12 hours once it is over and I am good to go.

2. They say I pick up on things really fast and adapt more quickly to changing circumstances and that it isn't fair I expect the same of them. From my viewpoint I am slow and a dunce most of the time. I see the adaptation skills as "thinking on your feet" and expect them to have the same skills, if not better, as they have been in the field of study longer than myself.

I need an "ouside view" before I lose my team totally. Are the things I am doing/expecting of them "gifts" from my ADD? For the better part of the last 10 years, I have just lived life and not really tried to harness the ADD... just lived with the frustrations and did things my way. Now that I have people answering to me, I am starting to see I need to figure out what is "normal" and what is "ADD-linked" so I don't have unrealistic expectations of others.

I appreciate anyones/everyone's insight.