| Is your office no longer recognizable? Is the clutter so | | | | mean and it will be much easier to toss something into |
| bad that it engulfs every surface? Is seeing the | | | | them. |
| computer screen getting harder and harder because | | | | Things you use all the time should be readily at hand. |
| there's so much dust on it? If you answered yes to | | | | Get yourself a 3-inch loose leaf binder and a set of |
| these questions, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that | | | | sheet protectors. Put everything into those, including |
| you have ADD. | | | | disks, papers, booklets, etc. Then, set it somewhere |
| Attention deficit causes these things to happen, and | | | | that you can grab it easily. |
| what's worse, though everyone around you notices, | | | | After you've cleaned out that one drawer, stop for the |
| you probably don't. Yet, if you're in a structured office | | | | day. Take another space and do the same thing with it |
| environment, your boss may look at the mess and rule | | | | the following day and the day after that, clean another. |
| out any potential promotions because you can't keep | | | | Keep this system moving, until your entire office is |
| things together. Or, if you work out of your home, how | | | | cleared up. But you'll need to stop yourself from the |
| uncomfortable is it making the other people who live | | | | ADD-clutter during this process, too. |
| with you? Look around and think about what you see. | | | | Set aside a large space where you can just toss |
| Finding that perfect mess isn't reason for falling into | | | | things during the day. It might be a desk drawer, a file |
| depression, throwing up your hands and saying, "Oh | | | | bin or whatever. Just be sure it's large enough to |
| well, it's my ADD." Though that's true, it's no excuse for | | | | handle the stuff that comes flying at your throughout |
| not at least trying to keep things straightened. You can | | | | the day, and toss everything that you don't know what |
| do it in ways that are easier for your ADD brain, if you | | | | to do with into it. |
| think of cleaning the mess in "chunks." | | | | Then, at the beginning or at the end of every day, take |
| First, choose a small spot, like a desk drawer. Take | | | | 5 minutes and go through your "everything" space. File |
| everything out and pile it in front of you. If it's something | | | | things into the folders in your desk drawer or into the |
| you haven't looked at in 7 days and it's unimportant, | | | | binder, or throw things away that you know you'll |
| pitch it into the trash. For the things you don't need | | | | never read. If you keep this ADD-friendly system |
| immediately, but can't throw away, set up an | | | | going, the clutter that comes from attention deficit will |
| ADD-friendly filing system in one of your desk | | | | no longer be an issue. |
| drawers, if you can. Buy a set of colored hanging | | | | Systems like this one that your ADD can get behind |
| folders, and then label them. Maybe make red for | | | | are often the best kinds of systems. Stick with this |
| urgent, blue for reference, or whatever. After using | | | | one for a while, and see if it can't work for you. |
| them a while, you'll automatically know what the colors | | | | |