ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life
by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau
I am so-o not into labels and the alphabet soup ad nauseamofpsycho-babble … However, I am into solution-minded techniques. Thus, I first acquainted myself with this book by checking it out from my local library. After it sat on my desk (and became overdue — oh, the irony!) I started reading it; and decided that to gleen the most knowledge, I would have to purchase my own copy.
It is worth every penny! 
So, I shall compile notes from this book in the coming weeks (or however long it takes for me to read it! Again! )
The first thing about this book is the approach of the authors: Defining “ADD” (I don’t like labels — but if the shoe fits, buy it and remember what you like about it) as “a problem with self-regulation leading to impaired functioning in everyday life, in particular significant problems with planning, organization, and follow-through.” (In my case, I have mostly mastered planning and organization … It is the follow-through that gets me every time! 
Thus … I am able to assist other people with planning and organization and I have lots of schedules, project plans, etc. etc. of my own — if I could only find them and follow-through on a more consistent basis!)
In addition, it is the only book I have ever recommended and one of the very few I have ever purchased. It is about solutions (minus the psycho-babble explaining why some folks have this challenge, explaining “ADD,” take-this-drug, and various and sundry statistics telling you how many people face the same challenge).
It is a practical guide for anyone who is interested in living on-purpose and defying what is said about so-called conditions and limitations. It is about building upon one’s strengths and finding tools, methods and routines that work.
Quoting from the Preface: “Everywhere we turn, a decision must be made from among increasing choices. And he who hesitates is lost. Procrastination can result in being lost in mounting decisions, paper, clutter, and stress.” … “Stress is particularly high for women with ADD who are expected to have an organized home, organized children, and an organized life regardless of other demands on them.”
Lastly — but essential for this reader — it includes diagrams, photos and well-designed page layout! 
ADD-Friendly Organizing: A Different Organizing Approach
This issue of “getting organized” is not the issue for right-brain dominant thinkers. It does become the illusive goal amidst the best intentions, various planning systems, endless piles of clutter that “magically reappear only minutes after it has been cleared away” … and most approaches are of “the ‘just-do-it’ school of organizing.” The keys to success involve: Strategies, Support and Structure (pp. 2-4).
RBP Note: I am learning to employ sensory-kinesthetic cues and routines (same tastes, music, visuals (color 
) and comfy clothing that makes me feel “together”; tangible routines and tactual surroundings)
ADD-Friendly Strategies That Work With your ADD
- “Shoulds” and “oughts” rarely motivate adults with ADD in the logn run. To stay motivated, you need something that will focus your attention, engage your interest, and stimulate you.
- Working with your mood and ride is as effortlessly as some surfers catch a wave.
- Define what motivates you; your values
- Divide the dreadful into micro-moments
- Clear as soon as you’ve cluttered (a project left behind is clutter — my new motto! )
- Be a sprinter, not a long-distance runner (make the race short; keep it simple; divide and conquer)
- Choose just one, then get it done; micro-focus
- To combat your poor time sense; set your goal in terms of time periods instead of tasks
- Adding (things, tasks, people, hobbies) with subtracting …
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