You could have an auditory processing disability. My daughter has that; she cannot do well with remembering what she hears. Giving her multi-step directions verbally is a recipe for disaster. If I were to tell her “take the clothes out of the dryer, sort out the socks and match them, the fold the t-shirts, and put everyone’s clothes on their beds,” it would result in her bringing me the laundry basket of clothes and saying, “what was I supposed to do?”
It resulted in her being diagnosed as both ADHD and with an auditory processing problem. She was given a 504 Plan, which covers her under the Americans with Disabilities act. Accommodations include seating in the front of the class, being provided with a written outline of any lecture or notes, being able to record class lectures, and extra time to take tests, if she feels she needs it. She used this in high school and in college, and has enough adaptive behavior that it becomes less of an issue. It takes her longer to do everything, because she always checks her work, she works off of lists, and asks lots of questions.
Once she was able to get past “This is somehow my fault” to “I can’t help this, and must learn to manage it,” things improved dramatically. She’s had a really decent GPA, has a job, and is doing well.