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By Kathleen Nadeau

Over the next several months, this column will highlight sections of the new book, ADD-friendly Ways to Organize Your Life, co-authored by myself and Judith Kolberg, professional organizer and founder of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization.

First, a little background on how this book came to be. In my clinical work with adults who struggled with ADD organizing issues, I had never found an organizing book that really addressed the unique organizing challenges that accompany ADD. I had thought of writing an ADD organizing book myself when the idea came to me that a much stronger book could be written in collaboration with a professional organizer. I had heard Judith’s name over several years as various women approached me at conferences urging me to suggest that Judith be invited to an ADD conference to offer a workshop on her organizng approaches. Judith had become familiar with my name through her organizng experience with her ADD clients. But we had never met when, in 1997, I decided to contact her to discuss co-authoring a book on organizing strategies for adults with AD/HD. Judith immediately agreed, and we ventured forth with little anticipation of what lay in store for us. We spoke by phone and roughed out a general plan - I would write vignettes describing organizing challenges faced by clients I had worked with, and Judith would write a responding organizing strategy from her experience in the organizing world. Simple enough, but that’s far from what evolved during our multi-year journey together.

The process was a learning experience for us both! Judith, a definitely not ADD organizer, and I, an ADD clinician with ADD herself, who had lived the ADD experience with siblings and children, as well as in my own life, found we had a lot to learn from each other. The dialogue that developed was unexpected, but fascinating. Although Judith had worked with many clients with ADD, there were times when I, from my ADD perspective, felt she "just didn’t get it" when I felt that a particular organizing solution wouldn’t work for someone with ADD. And I got a front seat view of a very organized non-ADD adult struggling to comprehend many of our ADD quirks.

Pulling the book together felt, at times, like wrestling with an alligator – we weren’t always sure we’d subdue the rascal and deliver a coherent message. But, two determined women that we are, we stuck with it through thick and thin - through two editors, through the buyout of our publishing company by another, and through endless emails arguing for the ADD-friendly layout and design that was ultimately agreed upon by the publisher. After nearly five years, both Judith and I can say with pleasure that the struggle was worth it! We hope that you agree with us.

We’d love your feedback on the excerpts that will be published in ADDvance Online over the next several months, as well as on the book as a whole, if you’ve had a chance to see it. Already in it second printing, only two months after publication, it’s already got me thinking about a revised edition a few years down the line. So, give us your feedback and share your organizing tips and tribulations with us. We’ll save them up for our next edition!

Chapter Two:

Our second chapter is chock-full of ADD-friendly organizing strategies. We’ll just hit the highlights here of working with your ADD to get organized. Following are some techniques to get "hooked" on ADD-friendly organizing:

If you want to get organized,
Get focused, engaged, and stimulated!

"Shoulds" and "oughts" rarely motivate adults with ADD in the long run. To stay motivated, you need something that will focus your attention, engage your interest, and stimulate you.

To get it done, make it fun!

Think it’s impossible to have fun while decluttering? Think again! Get the whole family involved. If you live alone, get a clutter-buddy involved. (She helps you, you help her.) Competition often makes things more interesting. For example, have a "five-minute challenge." Set a timer for five minutes. The game is for each player to spend five minutes in a defined decluttering activity: clearing clutter off a surface into three containers : 1) transport to another room, 2) trash, 3) give away. Whoever clears away the most items before the timer rings wins that round.

Catch the Mood

Adults with ADD can catch a mood and ride it as effortlessly as some surfers catch a wave. Working with your mood often works better for adults with ADD than trying to schedule a task. Being in the mood to organize may catch you by surprise. You may be looking in the back of the closet for your snow boots, and, before you know it, you’re madly tossing galoshes, mismatched gloves, and old winter jackets out into the hallway.

Divide the Dreadful into Micro-moments

If the activity is something you truly dread, divide the activity into micro-moments. For example, if you detest filing or processing papers, set a low limit for each filing exercise. Decide that each time you enter your office (at home or at work) you will process the first ten paper items that you happen to pick up. Some you may toss out, others you may file, and still others may require action. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your paper mountains will melt if you use this micro-moment approach to drudgery. Is ten too many? Then set a limit of five!

Think like a restaurant server

Many restaurant servers have ADD tendencies and are attracted to the work because it is active, social, and allows them to maintain their long-established night-owl tendencies. A busy restaurant can never allow the tables to remain cluttered. Dishes are quickly removed as soon as a menu item has been eaten. A server is constantly in the process of de-cluttering and reorganizing. A server learns that creating clutter (by serving diners) and removing clutter (by clearing plates away) is one integrated process. So, think like a restaurant server. Whenever you move across a room, or from one room to another, grab any out of place or no-longer-needed item and take it with you. If the item "lives" nearby, put it where it belongs. Just like a restaurant server, you don’t want to make inefficient trips, so you need to have a "bussing station" where you gather items that need to be carried from one floor to another. Then, just like a server, the next trip up or down the stairs, grab those items and take them with you.

There are lots more ADD-friendly approaches in Chapter Two. To order a copy of ADD-friendly Ways to Organize Your Life, click on "resources" at www.addvance.com.


Next: New ADHD Medication Strattera™ Effective in Girls >>
 


Vol. 1, #6,
December 2002

 

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