Does anyone else have this problem?

[InfinityRose]

One thing I've noticed is that I have difficulty doing things quickly, especially if it's something I'm just starting to learn how to do. And I think this irritates people, because a lot of the time people will just volunteer to do tasks for me if I'm not doing something fast enough. I know just a few weeks ago my boss called me into his office and said he was worried that I wasn't catching on and was taking too much time to finish my tasks, and made it sound like he wanted to fire me. I should also mention that I have difficulties when it comes to motor skills, which what a lot of my job entails, and I was given little to no explicit training. For example, I just showed up at work one day and was told that I needed to drive a golf cart, despite never even being inside the thing before that point and having no driver's license. I get this feeling that over half the people I work with can't stand me, and being slow is the only reason I can think of as to why.

I don't really have a point to this post, I guess, but does anyone else have a problem with not being able to do things as quickly as other people, and them getting annoyed by it?

 

[Sherlock77]

I think the correct word to use is that Aspies tend to be methodical in their approach

And motor skills could be related to sports, something like hand-eye coordination, and I think most Aspies struggle with sports in general

I could be wrong, just what I think

 

[SusanLR]

Motor skills difficulties are one of the traits.
My movements were always slower than others and that proved a problem when I did some modeling.
I was like always the last one to get my clothing changed and hear "Hurry up!"
It has gotten worse now that I'm getting older.
I think it does for everyone as the body ages, but, add that to the ASD and it's twice as bad.

 

[Idahocalypse]

Reminds me of how my junior high school PE teacher threatened to fail me because I was always the last one to finish changing into my gym clothes. (Didn't help that I had only barely learned how to tie my shoes by that time...)

I also wanted to learn rollerskating and ice skating at various times when I was younger, but a poor sense of balance & weak ankles made those sports impossible for me.

I also learned the hard way that the saying "You never forget how to ride a bike" unfortunately does not literally apply to me.

 

[AutiGuy73]

Hi InfinityRose, I don't know if you may have the same thing I do, but I'm not able to do things fast either. A part of my aspergers is that I process things pretty slow, which in turn causes me to do things slow. Most the things I do however doesn't require me to be fast when doing them. I can relate to you in a little sense at least. I hope everything's going good for you? Take care and have a great weekend!

 

[InfinityRose]

Reminds me of how my junior high school PE teacher threatened to fail me because I was always the last one to finish changing into my gym clothes. (Didn't help that I had only barely learned how to tie my shoes by that time...)

I also wanted to learn rollerskating and ice skating at various times when I was younger, but a poor sense of balance & weak ankles made those sports impossible for me.

I also learned the hard way that the saying "You never forget how to ride a bike" unfortunately does not literally apply to me.

Aw man, that sucks! I had a really rough time in gym class too, especially in elementary school. My coach had this thing where if you were one of the slow kids (almost always the special needs kids), it was okay for the other, "normal" kids to pass you up when we were running laps, but not okay for them to pass up anyone else. What purpose that was supposed to serve other than to point out our disability, I have no idea.

 

[InfinityRose]

I think the correct word to use is that Aspies tend to be methodical in their approach

And motor skills could be related to sports, something like hand-eye coordination, and I think most Aspies struggle with sports in general

I could be wrong, just what I think

Yeah, I agree. I need specific instructions in order to do something right. I'm definitely not one of those people who can be thrown into any situation and figure it out (or at least, not quickly).

 

[Idahocalypse]

Aw man, that sucks! I had a really rough time in gym class too, especially in elementary school. My coach had this thing where if you were one of the slow kids (almost always the special needs kids), it was okay for the other, "normal" kids to pass you up when we were running laps, but not okay for them to pass up anyone else. What purpose that was supposed to serve other than to point out our disability, I have no idea.

Oh yeah, that reminds me of how I joined the track team in elementary school but got kicked off because I wasn't good enough. It was a shame because I had so much fun even though I wasn't a very good runner.

 

[InfinityRose]

Oh yeah, that reminds me of how I joined the track team in elementary school but got kicked off because I wasn't good enough. It was a shame because I had so much fun even though I wasn't a very good runner.

Yeah, sometimes I think people take sports way too seriously. It honestly made me really hate playing them, because I was afraid of the other kids getting mad at me if and when I screwed up.

 

[Streetwise]

Reminds me of how my junior high school PE teacher threatened to fail me because I was always the last one to finish changing into my gym clothes. (Didn't help that I had only barely learned how to tie my shoes by that time...)

I also wanted to learn rollerskating and ice skating at various times when I was younger, but a poor sense of balance & weak ankles made those sports impossible for me.

I also learned the hard way that the saying "You never forget how to ride a bike" unfortunately does not literally apply to me.

Got to say the American system that only rewards speed and strength is nuts in my opinion .
The British education system is crap for autism but at least they don't fail you for lack of speed.

 

[Katleya]

I also learned the hard way that the saying "You never forget how to ride a bike" unfortunately does not literally apply to me.

Had to learn to ride a bike twice, and having not ridden one in nearly 20 years, I'm not convinced I would do it well. But on the other hand, I could still do somersaults because that movement is printed in my muscles.
Also had to learn to swim twice. Nobody ever believes me. PE at school included swimming sessions, I somehow spent 8 consecutive years grouped with the good swimmers... nowadays, I can only do a very bad breast stroke, and a vaguely efficient back thing. You'd think I had a twin sister or something.
I wasn't bad at sports, though.

Fine motricity, on the other hand... putting a letter in an envelope is a struggle. Turning pages in a book? Hate it. Separating sheets of paper? I'm going to miss a good third of the pages. Putting staples in a stapler. Typing on my phone. I can see a piece of clothing, figure out how it's made, draw the entire pattern and saw it well enough for the piece to look like a regular piece of clothing, yet I can't put the thread in the sewing machine's needle. I avoid glasses made of actual glass, because I drop them (it was a running gag at work that at every office party I could be expected to break at least one glass, and boy did I deliver on that expectation).
It's a long list of little things like that. Sometimes I feel like my hands and feet have a life of their own, and totally ignore my brain's command.

As for slowness, I need some time to turn something I learned into an automatism, and I'll be slower during that time of assimilation, but once the know-how is engraved, I tend to be faster, even while being meticulous. I think I just need to process every single step and gesture, rather than just wing it and do something approximative. I strongly dislike doing something without any form of instructions, too.

 

[Crossbreed]

@InfinityRose , I tended to work slower than others at new jobs, too. If I stayed long enough to get an understanding of what I was supposed to be doing, I would develop high-efficiency "hacks" in an attempt to compensate for my slowness. Often, my hacks would improve my performance times over more experienced peers, even while I remained comparatively slower than others. (It evoked jealousy in others.)
It was the whole "Work Smarter, not Harder..." mindset.

 

[xudo]

I also have difficulty doing new things quickly, or following instructions on new things. Then I get frustrated and worked up if someone gets frustrated with me and usually lose my temper.

Having said that, if I'm good at something and someone wants me to show them/teach them then I'm also terrible at that. I don't really know how to teach people to do things and I get frustrated that they don't just get it, even though I haven't really explained it.

 

[dragoncat16]

Everybody learns how to do new things at a different pace. If someone is putting in the effort, I don't see the point in criticising them for the speed at which they learn. I doubt that a boss would be keeping close enough track of their employees in general to know which are doing which tasks at which pace, unless they are payng particular attention to certain employees. I don't want to make anyone paranoid by saying that, but sometimes it's good to be a little paranoid. If I still had a job and my boss were criticising me for something like that, I would be pretty suspicious (given my own experience and 20/20 hindsight).

 

[pjcnet]

Yes, when given new physical tasks I'd always be the last one to finish, or I'd be the one to perform the least many new repetitive tasks within a certain time. It did used to bother me and I have been in similar situations in the workplace, although if I was given time I could improve. I also have issues in situations like the supermarket where I feel pressured to pack my bags quickly and pay, often I can panic and it then takes even longer as I mess up while I feel everyone in the queue is cursing me, I really hate that and often try to get my friend to come with me to pack. I don't like using self service either, I am normally good with technology, but I can't learn when I feel that everyone is watching me, wanting me to move quickly so they can get their turn, so I've avoided it so far.

 

[Bolletje]

I'm a little slow when I start a new task because I work meticulously. But once I know what's expected of me and I know what I'm doing and am comfortable with the task, I'm one of the fastest and most accurate workers around.

 

[OkRad]

One thing I've noticed is that I have difficulty doing things quickly, especially if it's something I'm just starting to learn how to do. And I think this irritates people, because a lot of the time people will just volunteer to do tasks for me if I'm not doing something fast enough. I know just a few weeks ago my boss called me into his office and said he was worried that I wasn't catching on and was taking too much time to finish my tasks, and made it sound like he wanted to fire me. I should also mention that I have difficulties when it comes to motor skills, which what a lot of my job entails, and I was given little to no explicit training. For example, I just showed up at work one day and was told that I needed to drive a golf cart, despite never even being inside the thing before that point and having no driver's license. I get this feeling that over half the people I work with can't stand me, and being slow is the only reason I can think of as to why.

I don't really have a point to this post, I guess, but does anyone else have a problem with not being able to do things as quickly as other people, and them getting annoyed by it?

This is very important post! I agree so much! We take our time because we have to because we CANNOT do half butted job. We really can't. I notice people don't use grammar correctly, forget commas, etc.

I make grammar mistakes, but they are MISTAKES, they are not me just being lazy and excluding the rules of grammar because I have to check FB status. Sometimes on here , I get lazy. But not if I am tasked to do something.

The thing I am falling into it "WHY?" "Why am I going to add that comma? I know it belongs, but no one else cares. No one will even see that it is missing, so why do it?" or THey will just think I am stuck up and arrogant and overly intense because I try to do my best on everything.

So, yes, I do take a lot longer.

The OTHER reason I take a lot longer is because my ASpieism is most certainly of a neurological nature. Maybe not everyone's is. But mine has defects in seeing things and being able to organize things. It takes me a long, lone time to get things done that confuse me, like eating. But on the other hand, things that do not confuse me? LIGHTENING SPEED.

 

[Nightingale121]

I think the correct word to use is that Aspies tend to be methodical in their approach

This applies to me.
In addition to this I am also rather perfectionistic. This slows me down as well. I am methodical and try to perfect the method.
This takes a lot of time, especially if a task is new for me. Then I'm still in the process to find the best methodical approach and at the same time I'm dealing with my perfectionism.

After a while it gets better though and more like what @Katleya described:

As for slowness, I need some time to turn something I learned into an automatism, and I'll be slower during that time of assimilation, but once the know-how is engraved, I tend to be faster, even while being meticulous. I think I just need to process every single step and gesture, rather than just wing it and do something approximative.

Once I have found my method and got used to applying it in a task, it is a routine I can do quickly and meticulously.
It only takes the while to figure out all the steps of a specific process or task.
I think of processes rather detailed and specific. This slows down the automation process, I guess. I need to process every single of the detailed steps I see within a task, then remember them and make them into a routine that will eventually be done more quickly while still being meticulously.
At the end, working meticulously is more important than being quick for me though, even if it's a task I have automated rather successfully.

I cannot deal with too vague instructions either. I want to make sure to understand every step of the task. It's not one single concept/task for me, all the details are important and since I see them all, I tend to ask about all of them.
On the other hand, depending on the task, I'm happier if I am just left alone without any instructions at all (at least not by a person who tries to explain the task to me), so I can figure the best method to do a task for me on my own. This also takes a while of course, but then I can do it my way and learn about it in my own pace and adapt the task, so that I can do it.
In these cases I rather work with my own research. So I get a task and am told to do my own research or read a book on it to help myself etc.
It's good if there is someone to ask when in doubt though because sometimes there can be misunderstandings when working this way without feedback from someone about how I am doing and if I'm on the right track with my approach.

 

[Ambi]

One thing I've noticed is that I have difficulty doing things quickly, especially if it's something I'm just starting to learn how to do. And I think this irritates people, because a lot of the time people will just volunteer to do tasks for me if I'm not doing something fast enough. I know just a few weeks ago my boss called me into his office and said he was worried that I wasn't catching on and was taking too much time to finish my tasks, and made it sound like he wanted to fire me. I should also mention that I have difficulties when it comes to motor skills, which what a lot of my job entails, and I was given little to no explicit training. For example, I just showed up at work one day and was told that I needed to drive a golf cart, despite never even being inside the thing before that point and having no driver's license. I get this feeling that over half the people I work with can't stand me, and being slow is the only reason I can think of as to why.

I don't really have a point to this post, I guess, but does anyone else have a problem with not being able to do things as quickly as other people, and them getting annoyed by it?

ABSOLUTELY. I have just accepted that I can be quite slow, and this is not uncommon for Aspies.

 

[Gracey]

Once I get the hang of a new task; if it's repetitive, and practice it often enough I am lightning quick.

Driving a golf cart for the first time, for me, would be exciting. I'd be far too curious to learn it's capabilities to be worried about whether or not I was driving it like others.
(But I have a fascination with driving)

I may not pick up some techniques or skills as quickly as others. I presume it's because of how my understanding works. I like to see a bigger picture and where this skill fits in to it.