Dealing with Stuff

Stuff is everywhere. There are papers piled up on the desk, books next to the bed, and scraps of paper with "to do's" and reminder notes everywhere. But where are my keys?!!!

If this situation is something you can relate to, fear not, there is help.

Many people with attention deficit disorder (ADHD) are easily overwhelmed. They not only lose track of time, but lose things. A man, very successful in his industry, reported that he lost two cell phones in less than a month. His keys also seem to have legs since they never seem to be where he thinks he may have put them.

May have put them...that is the problem. When you have a permanent "home" for items, and you develop the habit of putting things in these designated locations, you should not be surprised to find that they remain there. You need your keys, and lo, there they are on the table by the door. Seems simple, huh? So why haven't you made this happen yet? The aforementioned man found that hanging a small bag on the closet doorknob was a great place to put all the things he'd need when leaving home.

As for those piles of this and that. There's a solution for those as well. The thing is, it's a process. And you have to be committed to the time and energy it will take to get and keep things organized. But, I promise you, that once you have permanent places for your papers, books, shoes, etc., you will feel a sense of relief. Maybe even calm, and certainly a feeling of achievement.

A good idea is to block time to tackle an area. People with ADHD are likely to have short attention spans unless hyper-focusing on something interesting. Make an appointment with yourself. Set a timer for, say, 30 minutes. Start on something that will give you visible results in that amount of time. Begin by sorting. Think of big categories. Make sure one of the categories is for things you want to get rid of.

The challenges are time and space. The solutions are also time and space. Blocking time in your calendar to do things and calling that time an appointment helps. If you have a short attention span, fine. It's better to do 15 minutes every day than nothing at all. Blocking space means identifying homes, be they file folders, shelves, or drawers. Then making sure that things go home after they've been out on the town, or wherever.

If you spend just a few minutes at the beginning and end of each day returning things to their designated places you'll be able to find things and be way less likely to have piles and stacks.