Addessories

Some tips and techniques to help adults with ADHD-ADD or kids with ADHD-ADD are complicated.  Others are little tricks that are so easy that they might seem like they couldn’t possibly help, but they do.

One trick that many people with ADHD-ADD find helpful is to add color to standard organization tools.

Customizing ADHD-ADD Planners

If you have a planner you use as your ADD planner, try adding some color to it and see how the planner’s organizational effectiveness increases.

There are some requirements.

First, the colors must be mutable, that is they must change from page to page, weekly, monthly, or whatever.  Having a colored block or area pre-printed on your planner won’t help, because your mind will eventually block it out.

Essentially, the ADHD-ADD mind begins to ignore things it perceives as common, boring, or rote.  The first time it encounters a colorful page in your planner, it will gleefully pay attention to all of the colors (perhaps at the same time). 

But, as each page goes on, the brain becomes more used to the colors and perceives them not as new and novel, but as the same old thing.  As such, the ADHD mind will not divert its attention from whatever else is occupying it to make anything other than a cursory note of those colors.

Instead of getting pre-colored pages or sheets, use highlighters or markers to add your own dynamic colors.

For example, highlight your most critical task in the to-do list in yellow.  Highlight that critical can’t miss meeting in orange.  Highlight your spouse’s birthday in blue.  Write that important website to check out in purple ink.

Be sure to not overdo the color.  Too many colors becomes just so much noise to any brain, especially the ADHD-ADD brain.  Try and have just four or five colors (not including your usual black or blue ink) and use them sparingly.

Lastly, do not highlight the same things the same way each time.  Again, the key is to make the page look new and different, not to always have a 9:00am staff meeting highlighted in orange.

Change the color used to highlight your critical to-do item with the color you used to highlight your critical meeting.  Also, experiment with thick highlighting, think highlighting, highlighting a whole line and highlighting just a few key words.

You’ll find that there are two major benefits.

One benefit is that you have to actually go through that list you only half-read anymore in order to find the items that you want to highlight which means you will get more exposure to your whole list.

The second benefit is that your mind’s eye will constantly pop to each colored item because they are constantly in different locations and different colors which means you might actually not ignore that super-critical-top-of-the-list item that somehow normally just seems to blend in with things so instead you end up focusing on something like setting the Tivo to record So You Think You Can Dance.

How to tell if you have ADHD is second only to what is it like to have ADHD among the questions that rattle around the brain of those with ADHD.  Unfortunately, the most common answers are either to check with a doctor or mental health professional because only they can make an actual diagnosis of ADHD, or to take a simplified, overly general, test.  The test questions are often so broad and inane that they simply perpetuate the myth that the symptoms of ADHD are the same as things that happen to everyone.  Ironically, both answers show a fundamental misunderstanding of the ADD/ADHD mentality.

Do I Have ADD or ADHD? Just Answer the Question!

People with ADHD, particularly adults with ADHD, are not prone to react well to either of the common answers to the query of whether or not they have ADD.  Typically, a person with ADHD does not reach the conclusion that they do potentially have ADD after sitting in quiet reflection about their daily life.  Rather, they are likely to have the thought pop into their head in the middle of doing something else. 

One of the most common times to wonder if you have ADHD/ADD is when beating yourself up for a recent failure or shortcoming.  “Maybe I have ADD,” is the kind of thought that many ADDers have right after thinking something like, “Why can’t you just get it together long enough to…” or maybe, “Why can’t you stay organized?”

For most adults with ADHD, the next stop is Google and a search for ADD.  Ironically, such a search will likely be futile since ADD and the word ‘add’ are the same thing when typed into a search box.  A search for ‘attention deficit disorder’ likely follows, and then perhaps after noticing another acronym, a search for ADHD which will yield better results.

Regardless, while the ADDer will read a dozen sites in a row – and indeed may enjoy doing so – to get the answer to their questions, they are not likely to stop and take a boring test, and are even less likely to call and schedule an appointment with a doctor or therapist.  Thus, the most helpful scenario for someone with ADHD is to provide a real answer, and not a bunch of legally approved boilerplate language about getting an answer from someone else.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell if you have ADD/ADHD since I am sitting behind a keyboard, and quite possibly am nowhere near it while you are reading this, not that it matters because even if I were sitting at my computer, it’s not like I can see you through the Internet or anything.

If that sentence sounds like something you say, or something you write, or have to stop yourself from writing, then signs point to yes.  If you read that sentence and started considering the possibility of video phones or video conferencing or some sort of online video conference, like Skype, then signs point even more so to yes.  If you didn’t get to this paragraph despite it being in italics before opening a new window or tab in your browser to lookup something about video conferencing or other tool or method, then the signs really point to yes.

Test To Find Out If You Have ADHD / ADD

The official tests used to determine if you have ADD or ADHD aren’t much better than the ones that you find online.  For the most part, they ask you to rank from 1 to 5 (Never through Always) if certain things happen to you.

As you take the test you’ll find yourself saying, “maybe” or “sort of” a lot.  In those cases, I would encourage you to choose 4 or 5.

That aside, I’ve developed some of my own ADHD quizzes to help determine if someone has ADHD.  These ADHD tests are not generic, are not boring, and are not official.  They won’t give you anything more than a real answer to your question.  THEN you can schedule an appointment with a professional or family doctor.

And that, is how the ADHD mind works.

Next Step —> ADHD Tests  (In my next post coming as soon as I get it formatted.)

One of the most interesting things about ADD is the defense mechanisms that develop in the people who have it.  Add to the fact that there are many different types of ADD/ADHD and differing levels of severity to the different experiences everyone has depending on friends, family, environment, socio-economic standing, and so on, and you get a million different ways to handle the little inconveniences that crop up due to ADD.

However, despite the unique nature of how people cope with the curve balls life throws at them, there are some themes that emerge as common actions or reactions for certain groups of people.  One of those common defenses is keeping everything just in case something is important.

Packrat Defense Syndrome

Having been burned one time too many by not having the right piece of paperwork or having accidentally thrown away something that was actually important, many ADDers respond by keeping virtually EVERYTHING, just in case.  I like to call this Packrat Defense Syndrome.  (I like to name my own things

Packrat Defense Syndrome, or PDS, works because IF the need ever arises, then the person will undoubtedly still have whatever scrap of paper, receipt, contract, box, packaging material, or whatever.  There is usually a question of just where the necessary item resides, but for a big enough issue, it is worth digging through a very big pile.  The trouble is, that PDS leads, by necessity to either very complicated organization or conversely, disorganization.

The average household generates an amazing amount of records that either can be important, or seem important each and every month.  From form-letter type notices sent by companies, to cancelled checks, to bills, to insurance statements, bank statements, brokerage statements, and all manner of receipts, it all quickly adds up to a large amount of stuff.  So much, that it can quickly overwhelm a filing cabinet and numerous file boxes.  The only solution is to start organizing the organization. 

Boxes with serial numbers consisting of month-day-year and then a 01, 02, 03, etc. to designate months with more than one box, all stacked vertically in storage by year, is just one example I’ve seen.  Some resort to electronic systems, scanning nearly every piece of paper to cross their desk.  Again, complicated spreadsheets or databases or tagging systems are necessary to keep track of it all.

In other cases, closets stuffed to the ceiling with piles and boxes of papers and other records virtually define pack rat.  Finding something in there requires time and effort to dig it out.  Generally, the amount of time and effort required must correspond favorably to the nature of the need, or the ADDer decides it isn’t worth it and just takes the hit like they didn’t have whatever is needed instead.

The Expiration Solution

One solution that has worked wonders for those with PDS is to stage your organization with expiration dates.

Whether very organized or not organized at all, a large amount of any paperwork or records lose their potential to be important over time.  For example, receipts and packaging kept just in case it was necessary to return something lose their value after the window to return it expires.  Leases, rental agreements, and even contracts stop being valuable after their termination date. 

Unfortunately, with PDS, there is no purging of records and thus, even though the system has become overwhelmed, it must continuously expand rapidly.

Expiration dates can make a huge difference.  Try taking a single filing box and marking it with a date 90 days from when it gets filled and you put the lid on it.  For non-organized types, any box with or without a lid will do.  Just throw something on top of the box so nothing else gets added once you write the date on the box. 

When that date arrives, pull the box out and go through it piece by piece.  As you do, you will come across things that you no longer need.  In fact, you might even wonder why you saved it to begin with.  Things like ATM receipts, directions to a party that you’ve already been to, and so on can all be shredded or recycled.  Other things will still need to be kept.  Just make 3 piles, Keep It, Shred It, Recycle/Toss It. 

When you are finished, put the Keep It pile back in the box and cross out the date.  Write in the date 180 days from the current date.  After another six months, even more of that pile will have lost all purpose and you can further winnow the stock.  Repeat the process.  Anything remains after this second sorting can enter your permanent organization system, whether it’s the closet or the numbered filing cabinets.  Either way, you’ll find that your system grows at a much slower rate and your organization will be that much better.

Got some interesting email recently from the ADD/ADHD is not a disorder and is not something to be “fixed” crowd.

I have read many ADD/ADHD books including Thom Hartmann’s Attention Deficit Disorder : A Different Perception which as far as I know sort of started the whole, the problem is with the schools / world, not with me movement.  I have also read many other resources that subscribe to the same worldview and view of ADD, so I am not unaware of this paradigm.  If you read through the various postings here, you will notice that I am careful to not suggest that ADHD is a disease nor something that needs to be “fixed.”  Rather, I simply not the challenges that it can and does present and potential solutions to those challenges.

I have ADD myself.  I take enough Adderall (generic) each day to make a small rhino nervous, and frankly, I’d like to try a bit more, but no doctor I’ve encountered is willing to go higher, so I may have topped out.  I do not believe that there is anything wrong with me.  And, from this perspective, I am very supportive of the train of thought that suggests that people with ADD/ADHD are not defective.  However, this is where my concurrence ends.

Welcome to Real Life

It may be that the schools are properly designed.  It may be that our society and its workplaces may not be properly constructed.  If you believe that, then by all means work for the changes you want to see in the world.  I applaud such efforts.  But, never forget, that in the meantime, you are living your life in the reality of today, and so are your children.

Harman contents that it is offensive to suggest that people, like his son, with ADD/ADHD be treated with medication, or try and find ways to handle the high frequency that their minds run on.  Instead, he says that schools should change and that people with ADD should choose better careers that their minds are better suited for.

Frankly, I find that offensive.  Replace the phrase, “people with ADD” with “women” or “Jews” or “Hispanics” and you’ll see just how offensive it is.  I content that this is the “wrong” approach to ADD/ADHD and the one that is limiting to its adherents.  Instead, I say that anyone, whether they have ADD or not, can do anything they want to if they are willing to do what it takes.  So, if you have ADD and want to do a “non-ADD” suited job, then figure out what, if anything, you need to accomplish your goal, and go do it.  Don’t let your brain hold you back.

Whether you have ADD or not, you can do anything you choose in this life if you have the right tools.

As I read Hartman’s book, I couldn’t help but thing it came off as a little naive.

For example, the suggestion that a person with ADD should choose different careers better suited to their “hunter” mentality like being a policeman was particularly uninformed.  Ask any cop how much time he spends running through the streets chasing down criminals versus how much time he spends doing paperwork and you’ll find that this may not be the fast paced stimulating job it looks like on TV.  In fact, virtually every job that Harman cites as good for ADDers comes with a very large non-hunter element.  There just are no pure hunters anymore.  (Even soldiers spend hours doing non-stimulating tasks every single day.)

Like Being Left-Handed – Different But Not Wrong

I find the best analogy for looking at ADHD and ADD is being left-handed.  There is nothing wrong with being left-handed.  It is not a defect.  It is not a flaw.  It is not a  problem.  But, you don’t just pretend that you are not left handed.  You find and use the tools and accessories that work better for lefties.  You don’t sit back and complain that the world has to be more left hand friendly.

Consider a child in school, we’ll call him Lucas.

Let’s say that Lucas is left-handed.  Let’s say that his handwriting is not up to par.  Let’s say that Lucas’ parents realize that the metal spirals on the left side of the standard notebook is to blame?  Should they insist that the notebook industry change? Perhaps.  Should they let Lucas fail subjects, lose self esteem, and be considered poor student while they wait for the notebook industry to change?  NO!

There are numerous tools that Lucas can use that will help alleviate the various issues that he faces from being left-handed.  Using these tools does not make Lucas untrue to who he is, rather they enable him to BE who he truly is, a smart, confident, student, who can write just fine when there isn’t a piece of metal in his way.  All it takes is a notebook with the spiral on the top instead of on the side.

What if Lucas has ADD instead?

Everyone, ADD or not, can benefit from learning, knowledge, and having the right tools.

The same things apply.  Lucas is not defective; there is nothing wrong with him.  But, to sit back and ignore the fact that he might need something that other students don’t need it stupid and cruel, and will do nothing but injure Lucas.

If a timer or special notebook or watch or whatever will help Lucas, then for the love of all that is good, get it for him and let him thrive.  Don’t sulk about what other people think, or about how our society is constructed.  Instead, give him the tools he needs to succeed at whatever he wants to do, and if at the same time, you or he wish to work for a better world, do it.  Just don’t throw away the opportunities he has today in the current world.

I won’t discuss medication here.  That is a very personal issue. 

I will say that many of us with ADD don’t give a flying leap about whether or not society is not optimally setup for us.  We like it here just fine.  All we want is a fair shake to do what we know we can do.

The above criticisms aside, Harman’s book does offer some food for thought, especially if you or your child has been recently diagnosed with ADD-ADHD.  And, I always feel that people should make their own decisions. You can use the link below to get the book from Amazon, or it is in most book stores under “Psychology”.  Also, many library systems carry the book as well, since it was fairly popular during its time.

ADDessories = Empowerment Through Tools and Knowledge

The goal of ADDessories is not to change the world, nor the place of those with ADD in it, nor does it seek to change those with ADD/ADHD into different people.  Everyone, ADD or not, can benefit from learning and knowledge and tools.

The goal is to empower people with those tools and knowledge that allows them to achieve what they want with a little bit less friction and resistance.  If we are successful, they might even help you change the world.

People with ADD/ADHD are no different than other people when it comes to paperwork. A never ending flow of documents arrives into our lives via mail, email, printers, copiers, and of course, paperwork that is simply handed to us. In this blizzard of documents is everything from receipts, to bills, to warranties, to contracts, to instructions, and the list goes on and on and on.

To deal with this avalanche of important papers, many people, including many ADDers create an “important” pile in which they place those pieces of paper that flow into their lives that are meaningful for one reason or another. For some people, this results in some form of organization because at least when they remember the important reason they needed that paperwork, they know right where it will be.

Unfortunately, the same method of organization spells nothing but trouble for many people with ADD. The key element to making the important pile work is remembering what is in it, and then doing something about it. For plenty of men and women with ADHD, the important pile becomes too much like Las Vegas. What’s in the important pile stays in the important pile.

Organization Tip For People With ADD-ADHD

The first step in better organization is understanding where the faults lie in organizing efforts you have made before.

When it comes to the important file, the flaw for many with ADD/ADHD is that the pile encompasses too many things.  Receipts are important, so are instruction manuals, children’s immunization records, and bills.  But, some of the things in the important pile are important simply because they should not be lost, while other things are important because something needs to be done with them.  Mixing the two together spells trouble for those with ADD trying to get organized.

People with ADD are likely to remember again and again that their credit card bill is sitting in the important pile.  Unfortunately, most of those times, they will not be in a place where they can do anything about it.  Remembering in a restaurant or at a movie theater doesn’t help.  Even when they do remember when they are standing right by it, they might be in the middle of doing something else, and just plan on doing it in “just a minute.”  Next thing you know, something else is running around the brain, and the credit card bill has been forgotten again.

A technique that can help is to create two important pile.  One important pile is for paperwork that has to be kept, either of a specific reason, or “just in case.”  The other important pile is for papers that something has to happen with.  This includes things like bills, offers, things that require a response, and so on.

Once you’ve created two important piles, it becomes less critical to remember specific elements of the pile.  You don’t have to remember your credit card bill is due, all you have to remember is that you have a important to-do pile.

Why It Works for ADD/ADHD People

People with ADD-ADHD are perfectly capable of paying bills, filling out forms, and returning messages and emails. It’s just that other things keep coming up.  Those things lead to a response to do it later that gets forgotten about.

However, everyone, whether they have ADD or not, has those times when paying bills or doing paperwork doesn’t sound too bad.  In fact, there may be some times when you actually want to do those activities.  But, if you walk over to a huge pile of everything important, you might change your mind.  Or, worse, you might get half way through, pat yourself on the back for how much paperwork you just took care of, and then not notice that the really important thing  that is due in a day or two is two more pieces of paper down.  By the time you get back to the stack, it is too late.

Even more treacherous, is going through old paperwork that needs to be filed, has a tendency to create is own distractions.  “Oh yeah, I keep meaning to alphabetize these things.”  “I can’t do this until I get a new paper shredder.  Maybe I should do some research online really quickly.”

But, if you have an important to do something with pile, the dynamic changes.  First, the pile will be smaller.  Second, such a pile is less likely to distract someone.  A Visa bill offers little compelling entertainment.  Third, if you do get distracted, at least everything you have done up to that point is something that needed to be done right away, instead of having spent 60% of your time filing.

Try making yourself two important piles and dividing them out.  You might just find that you are less prone to miss important deadlines and due dates with things like mail and forms and bills.

ADD/ADHD, ADD, ADHD, ADD Organization, Organization Tips, ADD Tips