ADD Organization Tips

Deals On Organization Tools for ADD ADHD

I usually don’t do a lot with deals or online coupons here on ADDessories. There are a lot of deal websites and coupon websites out there that do it better, mostly because they do it 24/7. However, this time I am making an exception, because there are Target stores everywhere, and because the planning and organizing tools that they have right now are so cheap that they are a good way to test out what kind of ADD tools and ADHD organization resources might work best for you.

I’m making a big assumption here that most Targets, or at least most Super Targets have a similar layout and structure to the ones here in Denver, Colorado. If not, you might have to look around the aisles a little bit or see if they have the same deals online or maybe if there are some Target coupon codes online that you can use to get the same kind of value.

Near the entrance of our Target stores, there is a dollar area. The items in this little section are rotated in and out fairly regularly and typically cost $1 or $2.50 depending upon the item. Either way, that is a good deal for a little white board, cork board tiles, or notebooks. Don’t get me wrong this is not high quality office supply store type stuff. These are cheapo, made in China, the cheapest way possible items. However, they will work for a little while and that gives ADDers an opportunity to try them out.

Have you ever wondered if a good ADD organization tip would be to put a white board in every room of your house, or if it would be a great way for people with ADHD to remember things to have a little corkboard tile section by the front door, backdoor, and the door to your bedroom and office? It can be an expensive experiment to see if that works for you if you are shelling out $15 per whiteboard. But, with these cheap whiteboards and dry erase calendars at Target, you could put one in every room of a 10 bedroom house for less than $30. That’s a good way to try out some ideas.

Check out your local Target or pop over to Target.com and see if you can get rock bottom priced dry erase boards, dry-erase calendars, and more to help improve your organization skills and manage your ADD better without new medications or anything chemical for a change.

- Everyone have a nice– “Hey, is that something interesting over there?”

ADHD Time Management Tips Microsoft Outlook

When it comes to managing the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD or ADD, nothing is quite as frustrating as doing everything right and putting the effort into using all of the organizational tools, electronic organizers, and ADHD planners available to you only to have them not work for your ADD mind for some reason.

One of the most useful computer tools for ADHD available in most office environments without having to go through the trouble of getting new software or utilities installed on your work computer is Microsoft Outlook. Using Outlook can be one of the good ADHD tips.

In some way, MS Outlook is an ADDer’s worst nightmare. There are so many buttons, icons, and features, not to mention tons of functionality from other programs just a few clicks away, that one can easily get distracted and end up spending 45 minutes configuring your Google Gmail email account to synchronize with your Microsoft Outlook email client when you should be working on that presentation that is due in two hours.

On the other hand, all of those planners, calendars, task managers, and to-do lists can be wonderful for the adult with ADHD when used properly. In order to make these computerized organization tools work for ADHD you have to know how to get the most out of each of the different settings and functions. For example, tasks are great, but if you never click the tasks section, you will never see the list. Furthermore, if you don’t always input your tasks on the task list, then important tasks will slip by unnoticed.

I’ll be covering some of the great ways to use Outlook to organize your schedule and tasks more efficiently for ADD people. However, for today, I just wanted to convey one very important ADHD trick for people who use Outlook to help them stay organized.

Use Outlook Pop-Up Reminders To Improve ADHD Scheduling

The number one problem with any planner, calendar, or organizer used by adults with ADHD, or teens or kids with ADD for that matter, is remembering to actually use it and look at it. Too many of us have written everything down somewhere only to forget to ever look at what we wrote down. The reminder feature of MS Outlook helps prevent this problem.

By setting a reminder on your scheduled events, you get a right in your face, can’t ignore it, pop-up when your event is coming up. The default reminder goes off 15 minutes before the event starts. You ADDers already know where this is going. You read the reminder, and that is good. Then you click the Dismiss button and go back to what you were doing for “just a few more minutes.” Next thing you know, you are twenty minutes late for that meeting that you just got the reminder for.

To avoid this problem, don’t click dismiss. Click Snooze. That way, the reminder will come up again in five minutes. Do this even if you are planning to start the new even right away. There is no harm in a reminder window popping up and staying open on your computer screen while you are away working on your new task. You can just click Dismiss when you return. On the other hand, there can be a lot of harm if what you meant to happen when you clicked the Dismiss button didn’t actually end up happening as is so often the case.

Try it. Spend a week clicking Snooze and not clicking Dismiss until it pops back up and interrupts you working on your new task. You’ll be surprised at just how much this improves your time organization.

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27
May 10

ADHD Organization Tips From Freelancers

MC900434929[1] I’m not really sure if I have ever mentioned it here or not, but I’m a freelance writer. I specialize in several different areas (sort of a oxymoron, I know) including being a freelance financial writer and freelance technology writer. One of the websites I read from time to time is called Freelance Switch. Originally, I believe, it was conceived as a website to help people make the switch from regular day jobs to becoming full-time freelancers. Over time, it has morphed into more of a generalized resource for various freelance entrepreneurs, especially those work at home small business owners. It isn’t focused on freelance writers, per se. In fact, I feel like its focus is more on designers and developers, but much of what is good for freelance design work is also good for freelance writing business, so I try and drop by the site or catch up on the latest freelancing tips via the RSS Feed. Incidentally, if anyone is interested, you can “follow” my shared Google Reader items if you like. Be aware that they are both very self-serving (I share all of my own posts) and not at all targeted to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADD in any way.

I bring the subject up because time management and organization skills for ADHD are often just more intense or specialized advice that comes from standard organization tips and best practices. In particular, the crazy, hectic, self-managed, be-your-own-boss, lifestyle that is being a freelancer requires high-power time management techniques and organizational tricks to keep up on the many tasks that a small business owner must do to be successful.

A recent posting brought up the concept of a not-do list. The not-do list is a powerful companion to the more ubiquitous to-do list.

Not-Do List ADHD Trick Advice

Here’s how it works.

In addition to your usual ADHD trick of maintaining a calendar, adhd planner or organizer with your important to-do list, you also keep a list of things to not be doing.

Now, this isn’t what you might think. A Not-Do list is not for those abstract ADHD traits that you want to manage by avoiding them. For example, do not procrastinate, might be a worthwhile goal, but it is not what goes on the organizing Not-Do list. Rather, the not do list is for items that have been deliberately and rationally dropped from your to-do list for whatever reason.

Generally, the end result of prioritizing your tasks is that some lower-priority items, or tasks with future due dates, are either dropped from your to-do list, or moved to the bottom of the list. One really good organizational tip when it comes to time management is to keep shorter-term to-do lists because they are more manageable. For example, if it is May and you need to register for classes in July, but the schedule isn’t released until June, that to-do item is just cluttering up your list for a month or more. If there is one thing people who are easily distracted do not need, it is extra clutter to focus on.

Which leads back to the not-do list. Unlike the to-do list, which you should look at to help determine what you should work on next, the not-do list is a reminder of the tasks that might draw your attention away from the more important tasks and pressing needs currently at hand, like writing posts for your ADHD blog. (Ahem!)

It’s an age old story among the world of ADDers about people with ADD going off and suddenly doing long-standing projects with laser focus for a period of hours when what they should really be doing is filling out those forms that have to be delivered in one hour. In other words, the not-do list is used to remind yourself of those important, but not pressing needs that might be particularly distracting for that day or week.

Try putting that necessary, but long-term project on your not-do list for this week as a way of maintain focus on those things that must be accomplished this week instead.

Let me know how it works out for you. I’ll be trying it myself.

ADD Organization Tips — 5 Comments
23
Nov 09

ADD Tips Organization Help for ADHD Calendars and Planner Software

add-adhd-organization-planner-software-graphic Anyone that has been diagnosed with ADD-ADHD has tried numerous organizational strategies already. Many of those ideas are based around the ability to schedule and keep appointments. Often, these organization tips come from sources unrelated to ADD and, thus, unfortunately, often end up ultimately failing to provide any better organization for ADHD individuals. However, that doesn’t mean that all organizing methods are doomed to fail for people with ADD.

Examples of ADHD-ADD Organizational Issues and Strategies

Consider a guy named Jeff. Jeff has ADD. Jeff was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and initially found great relief in finally having a name for the chronic problems he always seemed to be dealing with. As most newly diagnosed people with ADD do, Jeff went through several phases of ADHD once he had been diagnosed. First, he was relieved. Then, he wondered what he could do. Next, he went into research mode. Finally, he moved on to acceptance. (Hopefully, he did not continue onto reluctance, self-pity, or hopelessness.)

Somewhere in the what-to-do phase and research phase, Jeff turned, as many ADDers do at one time or another, to electronic time management gadgets. Electronic organizers, or Personal Information Mangers, also known as PIM, like Palm Pilots or Blackberrys have long seemed like the perfect solution to difficulties with organization and planning, for both adults with ADD and for people without ADHD alike. Since Jeff works in an office environment, he also turned to task manager and planning software installed on his computer, such as Microsoft Outlook.

While, everyone with ADHD responds differently to specific organizational tactics and strategies, there is a frequent hiccup for people with ADD trying to use electronic solutions to organization and planning. That issue is that successfully using organizational software for ADHD or using a PDA to help with ADD involves several different steps, each of which must be completed successfully for improving organizational skills. Students with ADD and adults with ADD typically have difficulty initiating or completing one of these critical time management steps.

Using Blackberry, Palm Pilots, iPhones, and Computer Software to Help With ADHD-ADD

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to see where the step-by-step organization or steps of time management break down. That leads to frustration. All to often, that frustration ends up causing the entire process to be considered unsuccessful, when in fact, there may be just a single step that needs more focused attention to make the entire process more efficient.

Let’s say that our ADHD worker, Jeff, gets a Blackberry through his company. Most ADDers love trying out new things and Jeff is no exception. Jeff is also a technology buff and good with things like electronics and computers, so he is particularly excited about his new PDA phone. He spends hours setting up his Blackberry and connecting it to the company network and email systems. Ironically, he ends up neglecting other more important, but less interesting tasks. Jeff tells himself that it is all fine, because once he has the Blackberry setup, he will be so much more efficient, that it will be worth any delay caused in getting to important items on his to-do list.

For a few days after Jeff gets his Blackberry programmed with everything he needs to overcome ADHD traits or ADD issues that have plagued him in the past, the Blackberry does as promised. He is more organized, using his time better, and planning and scheduling better. Events are on his calendar and he can see at a glance what he needs to do each day. In short, Jeff feels like he has made a huge stride forward.

Unfortunately, Jeff, like many ADHD-ADD students and adults, has been here before. Often when something is new and novel, the ADD mind pays great attention to it, sometimes too much attention. However, as the newness wears off and the novelty of the new organization tips goes away, something happens. Jeff reverts to old patterns and the Blackberry, new ADD planner, computer software, notebook, note cards, journal, or whatever else is being tried out, fades into the background noise like so many items before it. Soon, Jeff’s Blackberry isn’t helping at all and he decides that the Blackberry is not helping his ADD-ADHD traits. He returns to his old methods, or he seeks out a new "better" way to help manage his time.

Steps For Time Management, Organization, and Planning Success With ADD-ADHD or Not

In order for a time management system, scheduling gadget, or calendar utility to actually help keep Jeff on track for more than a short period of time, he needs to break down the individual steps that go into using the device or program. Then, he can concentrate on which one of the steps is breaking down. Only, then, can he figure out what the real issue is and work on fixing it.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Using ADHD Planners or ADHD Software for Time Management (coming Wednesday…)

Otherwise, Jeff will be back in his bosses office, office supply store, or department store, in six months looking to buy something to help with ADD-ADHD again. And, chances are, if he buys something new, he will use if for a week and it will stop being helpful.

(I’m going to have to re-write this article to sound like the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. That would be fun. – I’m so proud of myself for not doing it right now instead of moving on to the next critical items on my task list!)

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2
Aug 09

Beware the 'Special Place' Organization Temptation

For people with ADD, organization is a constant challenge. Nowhere is that more true than with something that they KNOW will be needed later. Unfortunately, for most people with ADHD, the importance of an item has no bearing on its ability to be stored and retrieved again later. That leads to special place organization.

Special place organization is when someone, whether and adult with ADD/ADHD, a teenager with ADD or ADHD, or a child with ADD-ADHD, deliberately put something important in a special place. Inevitably, the special place is chosen for being both safe, someplace unlikely to suffer an accidental throw away, and for being different than the standard location important and semi-important items are put.

When the day comes that the item is needed, it cannot be found. Sometimes, the person with ADHD won’t even remember that they put it someplace special. Even more often, the person with ADD will remember that they put it someplace special, but they won’t remember where the special place was!

What follows is a frantic top to bottom search of the house or bedroom, including all of the "usual" places objects are kept. If the ADDer is lucky, they will stumble upon the item’s special location (and THEN remember that they put it there.) If not, the object becomes yet another lost item which cannot be found when needed.

The best bet it to avoid the "special" place all together. Instead, find a way to protect the item and then put it in one of the "usual" spots. For example, put an important document inside of a page protector, or a receipt inside of a cardboard mailer. This will make sure that nothing bad happens to the important piece of paper, but when the time comes to find it, it will be easy because it will be right where you always look.

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9
Jul 09

ADHD ADD Planner Take 2

It’s not uncommon for everyone, whether they have ADHD or not to start the new year with a resolution to be more organized. At the heart of that endeavor is often a new planner or organizer. For people with ADD-ADHD planners have a special meaning often characterized by a love / hate relationship.

By mid-year, it has probably become very clear whether or not the planner you have is the right planner for ADD-ADHD symptoms of yours. If not, this time of year is like New Years all over again for buying organizers, planners, and calendars.

Calendar and planner makers can’t live by selling their organizers just once a year. So, they use a variety of strategies to boost sales. There are 18-month planners that run from July to December of the following year. That’s July 2009 to December 2010 this year. Then there are Academic planners, back to school planners, teacher’s planners and all other types of calendars and organizers filling the shelves at your local Target, Office Depot, Staples, Wal-mart, or other favorite store.

So, if your planner can’t handle your ADD-ADHD needs, head out and take another look at planners now. Keep in mind what ways your current planner has not worked out for you.

Do you need more room for notes? Do you need longer days? Do you need a Daily ADD Planner instead of a Weekly ADD planner? Do you need better visibility for weekend days instead of them being tucked away in a corner?

Or, stop trying to make something not made specifically for those with ADHD and ADD and keep your eyes peeled to ADDessories for our upcoming customized ADD Planners and ADHD Organizers which should be ready soon!

ADD Organization Tips / ADHD-ADD Tips — 1 Comment
2
Jul 09

ADHD ADD Organization Tip

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.

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28
May 09

Improve Your ADD/ADHD Organizational System With Expiration Dates

add-filing-sytem-picture 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.

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14
May 09

ADD ADHD and the Failure of the Important Pile

Important Papers 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

ADD Organization Tips — 6 Comments
10
Mar 09

ADD Planner 2X

For many people with ADD / ADHD a planner, organizer, calendar, or day timer is the first recommendation they receive. Ironically, it is probably also one of the things they have already tried a million times before.

You see, people with ADD are not dumb. Far from it. Most ADDers are actually quite intelligent, and even more are very self-aware. It doesn’t take long after you notice that you are different from everyone else before you start trying to figure out how you are different, and eventually why you are different.

For students to professionals with ADD one of the first things they’ll notice is that they are disorganized. ADHD can be manifested in many different ways, but one of the most common traits is a lack of organization, whether it is losing important papers, or just your car keys, or whether its forgetting important meetings, or forgetting to eat lunch. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come up with the notion that if you could just get organized and keep track of all those important things better, that might change how things go down for you.

The irony is that for most ADD / ADHD adults, just remembering to actually pull out the planner and look at it is half the challenge. That is if you’ve already mastered the part about actually remembering to do the mundane easily forgotten task of writing down those important things in your planner in the first place.

Twice the Planners or Planner 2X

The frustration of having, starting, and using so many calendars or planners only to fall into the same old pattern of forgetting not just the meeting, but also to write the meeting down in the planner in the first place is one that drives some ADD / ADHD people to periodically throw their hand up in the air and just give up on the whole planner thing. Interestingly, the answer might be to take the opposite course.

Of course, everyone is different, but for ADD businesspeople who spend a majority of their workday at a desk, the solution to the organization dilemma may lie in a simple ADD trick for organization.

The first part is the same one that every ADD coach, every ADD book, and every ADD group suggests: Get a good planner that you like and is small enough that you will actually carry it around with you.

The second part is where the magic happens.

Get a big monthly calendar to put on top of your desk. This is your 2X calendar.

The desk blotter style works great if you can handle it covering that much of your desk, but if not, a smaller calendar works just as well. The key is that it must sit on your desk in the main work area, whether that is under / in front of your keyboard, or under your mouse, or where you fill in forms. Something like this work just fine.

Do not use a calendar on the wall, a calendar across the room, or put a calendar on a table or section of desk that you don’t always use every day. This is supposed to be in your face on your main workspace.

The best calendars are plain without any pictures to take up extra room. You want a calendar that is as big as you can stand having on your desk all day every day. For me, I threw away my mouse pad and use my 2X calendar for my mouse.

The point is that you now have a paper calendar that is virtually begging to be written on, front and center on your primary work area. This will distract you.

That is right, the calendar will distract you. You have just turned your ADD traits into a strength to help you.

Imagine, you are talking on the phone. It is a long boring conversation. You look down at your blank calendar. You might as well write something on it. How about the Tuesday Morning staff meeting. It doesn’t really need to be written down since you have it every week (and are late to 1/3 of the time anyway because your forget what day of the week it is), but you will write it down because you have been distracted by the calendar.

Later, you might get distracted by the fact that you don’t have any blue on the calendar and you’ll write something else down.

When your boss calls in the middle of a detailed project and tells you about the client meeting on the 13th, you would normally go back to your task after hanging up the phone because you were in the middle of something and didn’t want to lose your thoughts by finding your new day timer (is it still in your bag that your brought from home?).

Of course, by the time you get to a stopping place, you have forgotten to write it down, and your organizer sits unused in the bottom of your drawer. But, with your 2X calendar sitting right there on top of your desk, you can just grab your pen and scribble something down really fast without having to find and pull out your planner while you are still on the phone. Then, when you finish what you were doing your wandering eyes will scan across the date, see what you scribbled and that is when you will grab your little Filofax calendar that you bought especially to get more organized and jot it down.

The 2X calendar won’t help you remember to check your little Franklin Covey planner each morning, but since it is sitting on top of your desk, IT might be what reminds you of all those important little events instead. And, if in doing so, it gets you used to checking and adding things to your real day planner more often, then so much the better.

ADD ADHD AddessoriesADDessories, accessories for ADD ADHD