The most difficult part of organization for an adult with ADHD is staying organized. Trying to stay organized requires a daily, monthly maintenance. The reason being you will accumulate more paperwork, junk mail; your clothes will get dirty, among other things. Here are some tips to help you stay organized.
Observe your behavior and try to indentify the actions that may contribute to you being disorganized & commit to changing those particular behaviors– Some of the common behaviors could be being a couch potato before taken care of business, to procrastinating.
Indentify specific tie in your schedule for daily organizing – Create a routine around work and school to organize tasks. For instance, if there is a small window in the morning before leaving for the day that could be used for loading the dishwasher, putting a load of laundry or cleaning up the breakfast dishes. If there is time during the evening when you get home from work, this is when you can go through the mail, voice mail checked ect. It is very important to consciously commit specific times for getting in the routine to get home chores done.
Incorporate the most significant organizing tasks into routines – Routinescreate a structure in which specific things that can happen. When you repeat routines over and over again it will make it easier to do the daily tasks. For instance, a morning routine may include waking up, taken a shower, getting dressed and eating breakfast, leaving for work or school. An evening routine may include putting the groceries away, making dinner, or helping the kids with their homework.
Reward yourself for changed behavior – Entrust yourself to the new organizing behavior for 21 days, but beware you may or may not become resistant to the new behavior. However, you may have to start over if you find yourself slipping back into old organizing behavior. When you get to the 21stday reward yourself with something you enjoy.
Making organizing a family commitment – Encourage your family members to help with the process of staying organized. If you are married, start off with him/her. It can be easier to encourage your children to help out if you and your husband/wife are making organizing a priority. Organizing should be introduced as a normal part of life as soon as you can. Be sure to reward your children with praise for their efforts. Remember that they will be watching what you do, and you are their role models for behaviors for cleaning up after themselves.