Back in the 1960s, people were concerned that because of all the modern conveniences we'd have, we would have to learn to do something in our "leisure" time. In 21st century, most of us wonder, What's that? We're working harder and going faster than ever before. And because the world is so busy, we often put off tasks that we hate to do. It's that old ADD procrastination, the approach-avoidance factor, that kicks in and leaves some things unattended to.
Of course, this happens at times for everyone, but ADD people are particularly good with procrastination which is a polite word for, "Well, we want it to be done, but we don't want to do it." So, how can you tackle a job that needs doing and make short work of it?
The very first thing you should do is decide if it's a task that needs to be done or just something that you've been wanting to do for a long time. Brain dump it. Keep a notepad nearby and write your brilliant ideas down. That way, you won't have them nagging you at the back of your brain because they're out on the paper. Or, is this something that the people in your social circle think you "should" do. Those things are probably not that important. Let's take house clutter, for instance. Society says you should have a neat, clean house. And you may say, "Well, I just won't invite people over. Then, I won't have to worry about it." But if you can't find your contact lenses for three days in a row, you have a problem.
"Should" you have a clean house? Sure. It's nice and open and ADD people really like that, when it comes right down to it. But if your stuff keeps going missing, you need to take care of it, if for nothing else than to allow you to find your stuff.
The easiest ADD solution is to hire someone to take care of the mess for you--a housekeeper. But if it's too nasty, they won't want to handle it, either. You may have to call in an efficiency expert first to get things under control and then, a housekeeper to keep them that way, even when you mess them up.
Then again, you may not be able to hire people because hired help just doesn't fit into your budget. You need to do these things for yourself. But you have no clue where to start, right?
Well, don't look at the big picture and try to do it all at once. Take just 5 minutes a day to make your world livable again. You'll be very surprised at how much you can get accomplished in that short a time, if you stay focused and anyone can focus for 5 minutes. For example, let's say your underwear drawer is overflowing. You aren't sure how all that underwear got into the drawer to begin with, but you have to do something! Take five minutes to sort the drawer in to three piles: keep, giveaway, throw away. I think you get the idea. At the end of the 5 minutes stop. Don't do another thing. If you still have underwear to sort, stop and do 5 more minutes the following day. This way, you won't get bored.
The five minute clutter kill routine can help anyone because most people can focus for just 5 minutes. Plus, your mind won't be nagging you about doing something you hate instead of something you like because it won't take that much time out of your day. Fit this 5-minute routine into your schedule every single day at the same time, like when you wake up in the morning. Do it when you're at high energy. When you've finished cleaning out the pantry, the move to the living room, and clean out the CD cabinet, the bathroom medicine chest, and so on. If you take 5 minutes to do these things daily, you'll soon run out of things to do, and hopefully, you won't need to start over.
To keep it that way, make things as ADD user-friendly as you can. For instance, have a specific place to put your car keys when you come in the front door. Hang them on a hook, put them into a basket, or another place that's easy to get to. If you like to just throw things, have a bowl or basket you can just toss the keys into when you get home. Or, keep a big mug or other container on your desktop where all your pens and pencils will fit. When you're finished using the instrument, stick it into the container and keep it handy.
Anything you can do to make things easier for yourself, you should do. Most ADD people just don't like complications when it comes to unimportant things, like hanging up clothes. You will always need to hang some, so be sure you have plenty of hangars and that your closet isn't overstuffed. And think "open." Tossing things is easier than opening a drawer, folding, and closing the drawer again. To some people, that's simple stuff, but to people with ADD it can be a hassle. So, find yourself some bins that you can put non-wrinkle stuff into like baskets and bins. All of these methods will help.
But we're human and can easily fall back into our old habits of disorganization. If that happens, or the minute you suspect it's happening, go back to the 5-miute-a-day routine, and get it back under control. You'll be glad you did. You won't be running around screaming,"Where's my stuff?" again.
Tellman Knudson, CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc., is a certified hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner, who has coached many ADD clients to greater happiness. Learn more of his practical solutions to ADD issues when you visit Instant ADD Success at www.instantaddsuccess.com/
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