Declining work quality - overstaying usefulness

[target2019]

There are definitely more memory lapses these days. But I was always forgetful, and missing important details. I'm more of an ideas person.

 

[Car-Guy]

I don't understand the purpose of the table? Do those issues relate to a particular condition?

I understood the table (sort of) but I can recall experiencing about half of these "issues" in my 20's. (Never could remember names very well but I can remember things like phone numbers very quickly and for years longer than I need them) Not much seems to have changed in the past 50 years.

 

[clfdallas]

My husband had the same sort of memory problems the OP posted about 2 years ago. Turned out to be the statins he was taking. Stopped the statins, memory problems gone.

 

[Carpediem]

As for overstaying my usefulness, in the waning years of my long career, there was a gradual transition from using my programs written on mainframe computer systems in the 1990s and early 2000s to using newer PC-based programs designed by others to accomplish many of those same tasks. While my mainframe programming skills were still very useful to my division, I could see the writing on the wall that they were being phased out over time. My "big fish in the small pond" status was on the decline.

I can definitely relate. I LOVED my COBOL programming days on a mainframe and loved it even more when I moved to coding in Micro Focus COBOL on a PC. But then, C, Java, and VB came along and I tried my best to learn them but just wasn't able to make the transition. It was rather sad actually. I then started the long descent into megacorp h*ll as I moved into project management and staff management. Fortunately, a job elimination 15 years ago brought me back into the world of 'individual performer', not doing much of anything. And that's where I sit as I ride out the end of this career.

 

[Amethyst]

I re-read your post and was wondering: When you forgot where you were driving, was it "I used to know how to get here; now I'm confused" or more absent-minded "Dang! I was supposed to take that exit and now I have to circle back..."

The first would concern me. The second...happens more than I'd like to admit, and always has done

I have never been good with names, so little things like that don't bother me. Appointments used to be locked in my brain, but now I use my iPhone calendar to keep things straight. Twice I've forgotten where I was while driving...that was scary, but thank God for GPS. I'm concerned but not yet ready to tell my doctor that memory failures are a problem. When DW tells me, I just hope to remember to listen to her.

 

[Midpack]

Someone in the "Sunday anxiety" thread made a comment about overstaying your usefulness at w*rk and that got me thinking about something I've noticed with myself lately. Now that I've reached the ripe old age of 58, I seem to make more small mistakes at w*rk. For example, using the person's wrong name in the greeting (Hi Dave instead of Hi Chris) when replying to an email because I was thinking about something else. Plus, it's getting harder for me to remember steps in a new procedure or process so I sometimes forget to do a particular step.

Sounds familiar.

It's absolutely normal that our utility will peak and then decline as we age, but it may not happen during your working years. Some folks begin to show signs of decline in their 40's, where others still seem sharp well into old age, we all fall somewhere in the continuum. We each have to decide when we cross the line, it depends on the individual and the exact nature of the work. Unfortunately some folks have to let $ accumulation rule their decision, we've all known people who have chosen to stay long after their job effectiveness has peaked. Sometimes it's money, sometimes it's I don't know what I'd do with myself if I wasn't working.

What I was talking about is another aspect, essentially boredom. When you've done a job for a long time, and you can do it in your sleep, it's hard to do your best - to remain as useful as you once were. And when you've seen every office politics gamut play out over and over, it gets to be old hat, even tiresome.

 

[Chuckanut]

Yes. But failing that, one can just attempt to appear useful. This has worked for many.

Or one can take the approach of Wally (the character in Dilbert) whose long term career goal is "to find a position where I have no effect on anything".

Wally rocks!

 

[Carpediem]

What I was talking about is another aspect, essentially boredom. When you've done a job for a long time, and you can do it in your sleep, it's hard to do your best - to remain as useful as you once were. And when you've seen every office politics gamut play out over and over, it gets to be old hat, even tiresome.

Boredom definitely hits home in my particular situation because for the past 8-10 years I've basically been doing a job that I'd consider below my capabilities. Why? Because the really ugly office politics that I witnessed and experienced in the early 2000s soured me to the point of not caring about corp america jobs any longer. Since then I've been coasting until I reach 'my number'.

 

[CaptTom]

I've always had a lousy memory, so I can relate to that.

As for the last couple of years at w*ork, I felt like I was more valuable to the company than ever.

Granted, I spent a lot of time goofing off (planning retirement, for one thing) but when I took on a task, I'd finish it in a fraction of the time the less experienced folks would. I'd also answer questions or make suggestions that would save them (and hence the company) tons of time and money. Sometimes one phone call would save enough to easily pay my salary for a month.

 

[Redbugdave]

The chart makes a lot of sense. I have just the normal age related memory loss. I am 59 now and noticed the flat spots about 2 or 3 years ago. It is frustrating. If I don't think about it too hard, I can recall what I was trying to remember. I think that with all of our experiences and learning year after year any computer would get slow and humans don't have a program in their head that defragments all the stuff we have stored up there. Younger people don't have as much data stored so it is easier to access it. That's the way I see it.