What to expect when working with a Professional Organizer when you have ADHD

adhd

 

Starting in the early 2000, I noticed my clients having similar challenges. It was usually a love hate relationship with time, paper and stuff.   That’s when I learned about ADHD.  Since that time, I have been working with clients with ADHD and helping make the changes they want in their lives.   Because of our work together, these clients have started living the life they have imagined.  What is it like for us to work together?

 

What to expect before we meet

My clients reach out through email or phone, bravely taking a first step.  It’s courageous because they have finally recognized how asking for help can make a difference. That courage comes from a deep longing to create systems and routines that have been unnatural for them.

 

When we initially talk or meet, my role is a listener. I am hearing what are the challenges.  I am not judging.  Because our work is non-judgmental, we are from the start creating a trust relationship.

 

It’s common that my clients can feel anxious about our first meeting. Perhaps it is about whether there is “hope” for a solution, or whether there will be judgement, or another feeling.  After we meet, that all changes.

 

What to expect when we meet

Our meetings begin with an assessment. It’s further talk and review of goals, expectations, and ho we will work best together.  There is a lot of verbal processing going on! My clients are talkers, who as they talk, ideas become clear.   We review the process of decluttering, organizing, and maintaining that we will work on together.

 

My clients and I establish a rhythm to our work for decluttering.  Our work always begins with “what to keep and what to let go.”  It’s a conversation at times and it’s a quick sort at times.   If my client gets stuck, at times we put something aside to talk further and at times we keep it for a while. My clients often don’t know what to let go of because it is not clear how much of an item they own.  We gather items together while we are decluttering.  In the end, I bring items to donate to facilitate decluttering.

 

As we organize, my clients and I determine categories together.  There’s grouping, there’s placing, and then there’s products to help.  Many of my clients have lots of products to help us organize. We can place these more effectively together.

 

What to expect after we meet

Organizing is a journey.  It’s not over after our series of meetings.  We discuss what maintenance looks like, how to create routines to maintain and what a maintenance visit together looks like.  These new perspectives on organizing help my clients keep organized. We talk about when we might meet again as needed.

 

What to expect

My clients have recently decided that they want to make a big change.  They have hit a point where the time has come to invest in that change on many levels.

The core of our work together is trust, education, support, and communication.  Knowing how my clients work best and sharing basic knowledge about ADHD are underpinnings of our work together.  My support and establishing a team to support my clients are part of our work together.  Communication, verbal processing, and non-judgemental discussions are elements that move our work together forward.

 

Curious about ADHD and getting organized?  Let’s connect!

 

 

Successful Team Building for your Micro or Small Business

 

successful team building for your business

 

Solopreneurs and small business owners are challenged with getting everything and anything done.  Their productivity hinges on their strengths. We can’t be good at everything!  Having a team approach to productivity makes for success.

 

  • It’s a big daunting how to start building your team.  What’s most critical is defining what your team member(s) will do.  It’s a range of possibilities.  Start with what’s not being done or what you hate to do.  Flush out a system with your new team member to create a process that works.

 

  • There are levels of delegation that make this transition easier.  Start with specific, direct actions and raise the bar to collaborating on decisions.

 

Here are some sample models that have worked for my clients. I have listed the challenges faced and how a team member made the challenge happen.

 

Calling back clients

Client leads were piling up for a small business owner.  She did not have time to return calls, discuss opportunities, or make appointments.  She was in search of a team player who could help her. Where she found help was in a recently graduated long time friend. Together they set up a process for intake.  They practiced this system for a week and added in an online calendaring system.  It was a combination of the human touch and technology that made for a successful team.

 

Reconciling and creating expense reports

All those little receipts that are needed for reconciling and creating expense reports can be overwhelming and disorganized.  Getting help with routine administrative and financial tasks can help your business thrive.  After tasking this job with several different team members, a small business entrepreneur found a single outsource option. By taking a photo, she was able to send receipts to the outsource person.  After that, the business owner met weekly for a check in about the expense report.  Reports were turned in timely and the business owner was thrilled.

 

 

Billing clients

Another small business owner created a successful strategy for billing clients with technology and a team member. Using FreshBooks, the owner tasked only billing to her team member.  With automation, the client could pay online which also eliminated extra steps with banking.  A small addition of technology can pave the way.

 

Setting up a structure for teams

It’s not intuitive for small business owners to set up a structure for team work or communication.  When he started with a new company, the small business owner turned to his trusted entrepreneur guide to help him. This guide established a weekly meeting for the team, created working hours for each team member, and set up a collaborative document for them to share work.  Having a trust guide to delegate to, the small business owner could focus on his most important big picture work.

 

A highly organized business person turned her calendar over to her virtual assistant.  They collaborated through a series of google docs, email, and online calendar.  The calendar was also shared with another team member.  Having a process in place created a team calendar that worked well for getting all the details completed.

 

Finding a productive environment

A small business person struggled with how to be productive in her office. It seemed a little too noisy at the same time.  She invited her assistant to work with her on a routine basis, weekly, while she worked on a project. They worked as a body double, paralleling their work on separate projects. Having a second person in the room helped her be accountable to her own work.

 

Each of these examples of successful team building worked from resourceful, creative and committed collaborations.  Creating an effective process by everyone bringing their best efforts, strengths and skills make successful teams possible.

 

Activate Your Organizing when You have ADHD

Activate your adhd

 

Those with ADHD often feel that they know what to do, it’s more a matter of getting started.  That’s the tricky part with executive function challenges.  It’s about activating.  When you learn there are professional organizers and productivity consultants, you open up a new world to get stuff done.  With ADHD,  you feel there are ways to be more productive and create order in your world.   Here’s a list of why you can activate your organizing when you have ADHD.

 

Non judgmental partnering

Feeling a positive energy without shame is a first step in getting started. Working with a professional, you are creating a trust relationship that leaves judgement behind.  Your professional is your partner in keeping your work moving without remorse of what you are letting go.

 

Being mindful and staying on task

A professional helps you stay in the moment and on the task. Getting distracted by both internal thoughts and external actions can derail organizing for clients with ADHD.  Working together you are focused on the tasks. If you get off track, your professional is guiding you back to your work.

 

Holding the time and keeping you accountable to your goals

Setting a time to work and keeping track of time can be an executive function challenge. Executive function challenges often relate to time distortion, like how long a task can take.  It might feel like it would take forever and your professional can guide you in creating manageable chunks of work time.  By setting a date to work with your professional, you are committing and keeping accountable.

 

Helping make decisions

Getting stuck in making decisions is common for clients with ADHD.  There are many decisions back to back in organizing and it can feel overwhelming.  With your professional, when you are stuck, your professional helps you move forward with gentle questioning.

 

Calming your mind on the organizing journey

Many clients have an overlap with anxiety as well as ADHD.  It’s that feeling that professionals can help the most.  Your professional is reassuring you that you are taking the next steps, making good decisions, and moving forward with your goals.

 

These 5 reasons to get started make for great reasons to contact a professional!

Learning about ADHD, Organizing and Productivity

 

Learning about adhd

October is ADHD Awareness Month.  It’s a time to learn more about neurodiversity, that being that brains work in many different ways.

 

Every story with ADHD is a different story

I work with creative, resourceful, smart people with ADHD. They uses their strengths in different ways given their executive function weaknesses. My clients have created frameworks that help them live purposeful and productive lives. With time, paper, and stuff challenges, they look to what works for them to create solutions. These solutions often include innovative routines and habits incorporated into their days.

 

Support and team work are essential elements

Support is essential for ADHD. That can look like many different things, from professional support to help at home, from every day tasks to those that are big picture. Creating a team engages and enhances productivity. These are well established elements for ADHD success.

 

Keep learning, keep looking for solutions, keep curious

Knowing more about ADHD is important. It’s all about learning. Learning by podcast with Faster than Normal, reading books like ADD Friendly Ways to Organize, or attending the International Conference on ADHD. The more you, your family, your colleagues and teachers know, the more success in living the life you imagine.

 

A new diagnosis of ADHD brings with it the opportunity to learn about neurodiversity, organizing and productivity.  How will this new learning bring new perspectives and new options to you?  Are there ideas to share with your family on ADHD and school this year?  There’s so many ways to learn about organizing and productivity.  Here are some of my favorites!

 

Podcasts

One of my most favorite learning tools is learning by podcast. It’s bite size learning, while listening and doing.  Here are some of my favorites.

Faster than Normal

Getting to Good Enough

ADDitude adhd experts

The Complex

 

Books

Here’s a range of books to read about ADHD. Many are also available in audiobook.

ADD Friendly Ways to Organize

Faster than Normal (yes, it’s a book too!)

ADHD Effect on Marriage

Driven to Distraction

 

Webinars and online

Easy access and always available, webinars and online resources make learning easy.

ADDitudemag.com

ADD.org

CHADD.org

 

Associations

Support looks like many different things.  In each association there are numerous ways to find support for yourself and those around you.

CHADD.org offers support groups as well as online support

ADDA-SR.org offers regional support groups, a variety of seminars and state wide conferences.

International ADHD Conference is hosted by CHADD, ADDA and ADD coaching associations. It’s a once a year ADHD event that brings together experts, research, resources and those with ADHD.

 

Whatever route you take to learn, now is the best time to investigate and invest in resources that support you. Whether you are an adult with ADHD, supporting someone with ADHD, or learning about possibilities for your child, take the leap into learning.