I'm 40, I think I would have probably been diagnosed with ADHD back when I was a kid but it was a new diagnosis and people just thought I was "lazy" or whatever. I've struggled with procrastination my whole life, and my attention span, and conversations, like you. I'd like to say I've solved it all but I haven't really. What has happened, is that I'm aware of it, and my behaviour, and that awareness has modified my behaviour. So see how it goes I think you might find just being aware you might be drifting, may keep you closer to the topic. In a professional setting, I've become quite strict in my conversations. If I have a meeting, I state the things I wish to discuss up front, what the goals are of the meeting or whatever, and keep it to 2 or 3 topics. Once a topic has been agreed on, I move immediately to the next and so on until done. I don't do free meetings where we can zip all over the place as I find it a waste of time and I love wasting time talking about nothing.
I believe being aware of it has helped me too. But sometimes it's hard to even be focused enough to even realize that you should be aware of it, you know? What you said about meetings is helpful though, thanks. I'm not a project manager or anything but when we have meetings at the company I'm interning at I do have to usually say what I'm working on, if I'm having any problems, etc. Doing that in person might be easier for me but all of our meetings are over a conference line, and I'm not very good on the phone. Any tips on talking over the phone?
I'm on conference calls all the time. Keep the number of points you want to convey to a minimum and mentally keep yourself on the clock. 30 seconds max per point. Ask at the end if there needs to be more clarification on any of it. If not asked for clarification, don't offer it, or you'll ramble. I catch myself rambling ... :-) Learning to be concise is hard. Even on here and on reddit, I cut out large amounts of what I write simply because I realise after spending a significant amount of time writing a reply, that a large chunk isn't directly relevant, and I'm just rambling. It's extremely important, more than in meetings and con-calls, to be concise in your emails. Most people won't read long emails. Some will, carefully, but most skim and try to pull out the salient points. If you can be concise and make the salient points obvious, then you will be a much more effective communicator at work. Again, keeping the number of points down to two or three, is key. Keeping the length of sentences and paragraphs short, is key. One point per paragraph. Sacrifice less important pieces of information in order to make sure the more important information is delivered and understood.