ADD: Office Organization In A Nutshell

Is your office no longer recognizable? Is the clutter so bad that it engulfs every surface? Is seeing the computer screen getting harder and harder because there's so much dust on it? If you answered yes to these questions, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that you have ADD.

Attention deficit causes these things to happen, and what's worse, though everyone around you notices, you probably don't. Yet, if you're in a structured office environment, your boss may look at the mess and rule out any potential promotions because you can't keep things together. Or, if you work out of your home, how uncomfortable is it making the other people who live with you? Look around and think about what you see.

Finding that perfect mess isn't reason for falling into depression, throwing up your hands and saying, "Oh well, it's my ADD." Though that's true, it's no excuse for not at least trying to keep things straightened. You can do it in ways that are easier for your ADD brain, if you think of cleaning the mess in "chunks."

First, choose a small spot, like a desk drawer. Take everything out and pile it in front of you. If it's something you haven't looked at in 7 days and it's unimportant, pitch it into the trash. For the things you don't need immediately, but can't throw away, set up an ADD-friendly filing system in one of your desk drawers, if you can. Buy a set of colored hanging folders, and then label them. Maybe make red for urgent, blue for reference, or whatever. After using them a while, you'll automatically know what the colors mean and it will be much easier to toss something into them.

Things you use all the time should be readily at hand. Get yourself a 3-inch loose leaf binder and a set of sheet protectors. Put everything into those, including disks, papers, booklets, etc. Then, set it somewhere that you can grab it easily.

After you've cleaned out that one drawer, stop for the day. Take another space and do the same thing with it the following day and the day after that, clean another. Keep this system moving, until your entire office is cleared up. But you'll need to stop yourself from the ADD-clutter during this process, too.

Set aside a large space where you can just toss things during the day. It might be a desk drawer, a file bin or whatever. Just be sure it's large enough to handle the stuff that comes flying at your throughout the day, and toss everything that you don't know what to do with into it.

Then, at the beginning or at the end of every day, take 5 minutes and go through your "everything" space. File things into the folders in your desk drawer or into the binder, or throw things away that you know you'll never read. If you keep this ADD-friendly system going, the clutter that comes from attention deficit will no longer be an issue.

Systems like this one that your ADD can get behind are often the best kinds of systems. Stick with this one for a while, and see if it can't work for you.

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