Staying Organized With ADHD: The Mail Center
If you are a highly dysfunctional ADDer you may have reached the
point of giving up organizing, but let's give it another try.
Start by considering what "organizing" means. We tend to think
that "getting organized" is the task we want to achieve, but the
real problem is "staying organized". Forget about "getting
organized" and take a look at what you need to "stay organized".
To stay organized you need to manage new stuff which comes in
the mail or is brought in by you or others and old stuff which
has a place in the filing system but which has been pulled out
for some reason and not put back. All this stuff arrives and
settles in hot spots like the kitchen table, your desk or the
living room sofa. To stay organized you need a routine. Yes,
yes, I know, routines are boring, but they really do work if,
like brushing teeth, they are simple, automatic and don't
require too much thinking. Try this: create a mail center. It
works for me; it will work for you too.
The mail center should be at or near the door where it arrives;
it should not require a detour to place the incoming mail in the
Mail Center.
To stock your mail center, you will need:
* a letter opener which feels good and works efficiently,
* a colored envelope for bills (decorate it for fun),
* a waste basket (decorate this too),
* different colored plastic folders.You need one color for each
large category of mail which you receive. Don't get complex. I
use green for active projects, blue for personal correspondence,
red for To-Do stuff and one yellow folder forstuff to-be-filed.
* a To-Do list which won't get lost, * decorative post-its to
label the individual folders * a container for the plastic
folders. I use a wooden bucket with a piece of cardboard to
support the plastic folders so they stand up. I can easily grab
the folder I want or drop it in when I'm finished for the moment.
* a place for magazines and newspapers to be read.
Here's the process. It shouldn't take more than a few
minutes. If it takes longer you are too involved.
* Open the mail every day or at least every two days.
* Bills go into the decorated envelope.
* Advertisements and empty envelopes go into the waste basket. *
Magazines and newspapers go in the designated spot.
* Letters, or papers go in a folder of the appropriate color
which you then drop in your bucket.
* The what-do-I-do-about-this category requires a bit more
attention. Ask yourself why you want to look at it again? Do you
have to make a decision (aye, aye, with ADD, that's a big
undertaking)? Look for a date by which whatever has to happen.
If you still have to deal with it, write it into the To-Do list
now with a date to-do by and file it with To-Do stuff. * Last of
all take the yellow folder and file the stuff where it belongs.
(You could do this once a week or once a month depending on how
fast the yellow folder fills up.)
Now here's the icing on the cake: apply this same process to all
the lose papers on your desk or wherever and you'll have your
place in apple pie order - surprise.
When you are ready to work, take out one folder. When you are
finished put all the papers in the folder and drop it back in
the bucket. Celebrate!
Points:
1. Remember that this is a sorting process, not a doing process.
2. Keep it simple.
3. Spend no more than 5 (maximum 10) minutes a day.
4. Letter opener, plastic folders adn other material should be
at your fingertips.