Being quite the little neat freak, organization is very important to me. In fact, if my office or home is messy, I literally cannot function until I get it all straightened and organized. I’m pretty sure there is a diagnosis for this (i.e. OCD) but I must admit that my self diagnosed ‘OCD tendencies’ have helped me excel in life far more than they have hindered me. Conversely, individuals with AD/HD often find it very difficult to get organized. In this entry, I will impart some organization skills designed to help those with AD/HD overcome the madness to finally get organized.
My first point is very basic; determine what needs to be organized. If you’re like many people with AD/HD, this could include your entire house, office, car, etc. etc. This is where you start categorizing. Let’s take the house for example. The whole place is a wreck; you can’t find anything when you need it and, when you do finally locate it, you don’t need it anymore. Start by making a list of all the areas that need organizing. You can rank these areas from least to most involved. Start with one of the smaller, easier projects and work on that area only. When you finish the first easy project, move on to the next until you finally reach the more difficulty areas at the end of your list. Starting with relatively simple projects will ease you into the process of organizing and help you find a system that works before tackling the more in-depth organizational tasks.
Next, Make sure to set a schedule and stick to it. If your goal is to clean your bedroom, you may want to allow yourself two or three days, depending on the size of the room and the extent of the disorganization. If you’re only organizing a small closet or drawer, you might only allow yourself a half day. Either way, make sure to work on a consistent schedule so you finish the project by the ‘due date’; otherwise, you’re likely to be left with an even bigger and more disorganized mess.
Plan a way to reward yourself with each area you complete. Rewards could include treating yourself to dinner at a nice restaurant, buying an item you’ve wanted for a while or engaging in an activity you enjoy but don’t get to do very often. The reward should be appropriate to the task. For a small task, only give yourself a small reward, but allow bigger rewards for more involved tasks. Make sure you only give yourself the reward AFTER you have finished organizing the area – don’t reward yourself for something you didn’t do.
Now, gather everything needed to do the job. This could include boxes, plastic storage containers, garbage bags, masking tape, markers, pencil and paper, cleaning supplies, labels, etc. Start with three boxes and a trash bag. Label the boxes "Keep here," "Take Elsewhere," or "Undecided." Put everything except trash into one of those three boxes; put the items that need to stay in the area you are organizing in the "Keep Here" box; if the item is still needed and useful but doesn’t belong in the area you’re organizing, put it in the "Take Elsewhere" box. If you cannot decide whether or not you should keep or discard the item, place it in the "Undecided" box. Do this until all the items are sorted. When you’re done, put all the items in the "Take Elsewhere" box wherever they belong, even if the places they should go are not yet organized – you can deal with these areas after finishing the task at hand. Close and seal the “Undecided” box with masking tape. With a marker, write a future date a few (e.g. three to six) months away on the outside of the box. This is the date when you will re-open the box and review the contents. Mark the re-open date on a calendar or in your day planner (see “The Daily Planner” entry) to remind yourself when it is time to open the box. Place the box in a storage area. When you review the items on the designated day, make one of the following choices: 1.) If you have not looked for the item during the three to six month storage time, then you don't need it. Put it in the trash or donate it. 2.) If you have looked for the item or have decided to keep it, put it in the appropriate place. Neatly organize the items in the “Keep Here” box in the area you just cleaned out.
Put all trash in the trash bag. Since you’ve probably accumulated a lot of clutter over the years, throw away or donate everything you don’t absolutely need. Try to consolidate the things that you do still need, but don’t use on a regular basis. For example, I have kept every single paper and every single class note I’ve written since high school (it’s part of the OCD thing). I still occasionally use these things for references or the basis for other papers or blogs such as the one I’m writing now; however, I don’t use them regularly. So what should I do with this huge pile of material? The answer, of course, is to organize! I have everything organized by subject matter (e.g. history, psychology, English, previous papers, etc.) They are all stored in a three-ring binder labeled on the outside, and placed on a shelf. This way, I still have the things I need, they’re just organized and out of my way.
You will likely need regular breaks during your organizing session; however, make sure to set a time limit (e.g. no more than five or ten minutes for a half-day project). If necessary, set a timer to remind you when your time is up. When your break is over, go right back to organizing.
Make sure you don’t stop at just the one room, closet, drawer, etc. Keep repeating these steps until every area on your list is organized.
Information taken from www.help4adhd.org
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