ADD & Organized?

Organization for ADDers is NOT Pipe Dream

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
In support of The Challenges Inventory ™ Series

Yes, even YOU can learn to be organized —
JUST AS SOON AS YOU UNDERSTAND
the REASONS why you’ve been stopped in the past.  

Here’s the kicker: it’s a different mix of stoppers for every single one of us.  

If you don’t understand how YOU work, you’ll never be able to determine what YOU need to do to to keep from spending half your life looking for things that were “right here a minute ago.”

So much for helpful hints and tidy lists!  

That said, what follows is an Organizing Overview summarizing concepts that need to be embraced and understood if you want to have a shot at working out what YOU need to do for YOU to be organized.

In a series of articles to follow, I will “unpack” the list and explain the concepts.  FOR NOW, reflect on the list itself, and stay tuned for articles to follow.

Organizing Overview

 1. There is more than one way to accomplish everything.

 2. Any system is better than no system.

 3. Some ways are better than others, but not enough better to agonize over.

 4. All activities are composed of a combination of distinct tasks

 5. With just a little bit of thought, we can break any activity into 10 distinct parts.

 6. It matters what we do first and in what order we proceed,
  —  but not as much as we fear it does.

 7. Deciding is the most difficult task.

 8. The farther away from the task a decision can be made,
the smoother the task will go when we begin it.

 9. Each distinct task has a beginning, middle and end

10. There are numerous small transitions in every single activity.

11. Each transition has two phases, separated by a gap:

• Transitioning into  — initiation
• Transitioning out of — completion

 Overlap and the gap are what get ADDers into trouble

Related articles on ADDandSoMuchMore

• Organization and Task Completion
• Trouble with Transitions
• Stuff and Nonsense
• Domino Problems
• ADD Overview II: Identifying Traits
• NINE Challenges to Effective Functioning
• Nine Challenges: What Are They?
• ABOUT Activation