Practical Solutions for ADD Families

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Thanks to my amazing colleague, D. Allison Lee and her Organize to Revitalize blog.  Here are some practical ways to make a difference for your ADD family.

http://dallisonlee.com/blog/2011/10/13/add-families-and-organizing/

Kingwood/Humble/Atascocita ADDA-SR Group ~ ADD and Productivity

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Please join me at the October meeting of the Kingwood/Humble/Atascocita ADDA-SR Group for this presentation

 ADD and Productivity

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church

October 20 at 7pm

Room 211

At this session  you will learn

  • tools for time management including paper and digital calendars
  • ways to manage your paper flow
  • techniques for tasks and lists
  • contact management methods

For more information contact Susan McHugh at MrsQ123@aol.com

Organizing and Creativity

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organizing and creativity

 

 

Many times we think organizing and creativity do not work well together! Organizing is thought of as logical and sequential, lacking emotion, but big on function.  This is not always the case! Organizing and creativity work together in bringing out the best for promoting creativity.   Use your space best to promote your creativity in these ways.

  • Create easy access to the items you use most. If you are an artist, you want to have a space to accommodate the medium you love most, with secondary storage for less used mediums.  If you are a writer, you want access to your computer, laptop or ipad, with as little clutter as possible in the space it is used in. If you are a crafter, then think about using vertical space in your designated room.
  • Create time to enjoy your creativity. Often we don’t allow ourselves time to spend in what we love most.  Be sure to include a time each week set aside just for creativity. This may seem less than spontaneous. However, my artist clients find that having a time to paint gives them the opportunity rather than miss painting all together.  Also allow yourself a large block of time for your creativity.  It may take a few minutes to get started, but once started you want to have time to enjoy!
  • Create time to set up systems that work for you with your organizing.  If you prefer visually appealing spaces with lots of visually organized items, using wall space makes a difference. You can see “it”, whatever the tools or items may be, so you incorporate that into the work itself.  Take time to decide how you will use your items. Will they be stored in units by craft? Or will they all be used together?  It can be a work in progress as you use your items, but create an awareness so you can refine your systems later.
  • Create a space that will fill you with promise and fun!  Your space should be a color you love, with music to inspire, lots of light and great spaces to work on.  After this, think about rolling carts, rolling tables, rolling chairs and movement to assist with your creativity.  Use a picture to inspire you!

Organizing for your personality and your creativity will make the most of your time and space.

Want more to read on this topic? Pick up a copy of Organizing for the Creative Person, by Dorothy Lehmkuhl and Dolores Cotter Lamping

Staying on top of the paper tsunami!

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Getting on top of the incoming flood of paper takes getting a great plan and personalized routines into action!  Without a doubt, dealing with paper is one of the most overwhelming tasks. Attack it with gusto!

This Smead Stadium Sorter is just the tool it takes to combat paper.  It is 12 tiered pockets so that you can see all your categories simultaneously.  Labels are included, such as by month, or household subject, or you can make your own with your personal categories, including your kids, your partner, receipts, dinner menus, coupons and other common categories of paper. It is a small enough size to fit on the counter, right by your phone.  It is large enough to hold  up to 900 sheets of paper!

Let’s go step by step with this sorter. 

  • First decide what your categories should include for your family.  I recommend not only the names of your kids and partner, but also Action, File, and Pending.  Label the files with the labels included, your sharpie pen or your label maker. 
  • Now place this in the spot that you can see it daily, and set it up as a work zone for incoming mail and kids’ papers.
  • Every evening, sort into your sorter. If you miss an evening, try to sort at least twice a week.
  • Once a week, go back into your sorter and have your administrative time.  This is the time to review what is in the sorter, do your filing into your real files, toss out expired, and make a list of actions left to do.  Having this time weekly means you are up to date on your papers. 
  • Now the bonus! Give yourself a reward for your hard work!  That can include a walk, bubble bath, time at Starbucks or Jamba Juice, or  your choice.  Working with paper is not for sissies!

What is your best tip for staying on top of paper?

TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More

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family team work

 

Why not make organizing more fun? Why not build a team of people with different strengths to get the job gone?  Gather your team together to make a difference.  It’s teamwork that works! Simple ways to gather your team include:

  • Gather your family for the family meeting. Share with them a project you have in mind.  Ask how each can contribute to the project using what they do best.
  • Gather your friends together to support a cause.  Ask each of them to bring a friend to the meeting.
  • Gather your co-workers and find ways to support each other in having power periods.  Find a way that each team member can have an undistracted time to get their heavy duty work one.
  • Gather your faith family together to support those in need around you with child care or healthy meals.
  • Gather your grandkids and have a no technology day, learning how to use a yo yo or play jacks.  Your grandkids learn and connect with you regularly, creating an extended support for them.
  • Gather your family together for a power hour to get house cleaning knocked out.

Who can you gather together to get more done and have more fun?

Technology Tweaks with Big Organizing Payoffs

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Even the smallest tweak and tip with technology can make a difference.

  • Need to create your grocery list or other list by store? Try the app ziplist for your smart phone. It helps you create a checklist by store. 
  • Use click ‘n ship at www.usps.com.   Get postage online and print it on  your computer! All you have to do is drop it off!
  • Getting lost? Print out your map from google and keep it on the car seat next to you. 
  • Use Evernote www.evernote.com or Dropbox www.dropbox.com to keep up with your ideas and notes. 
  • Use Send Out Cards to send cards and gifts to family, friends and clients.  I joined Send Out Cards because I am passionate about making mail more fun!  Just click on this to send a smile, a congratulations or celebrate an event!  https://www.sendoutcards.com/storefront/ellendelap/
  • Love to try new recipes or looking for old favorites? Try www.allrecipes.com.
  • Keep all your important phone numbers in your phone for easy dialing.

What is your favorite technology tweak?

Getting Your New Business Organized

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I am honored to post again on D. Allison Lee’s blog, Organize to Revitalize.

If you have just started your new business, getting organized is vital to long term success! Check out this post to learn the critical organizing success factors!

http://dallisonlee.com/blog/2011/07/14/get-your-new-business-started-right-get-organized/

Unplug this Summer

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Summer is our time to kick back, enjoy some time for family and vacations, and relax.  In our 24/7 world, this is hard.  We are tethered to our work with our technology. There are good reasons to take a break.  NASA researchers recently found that vacationers experienced an 82% increase in job performance post-trip.  Performance expert Tony Schwartz says, in addition to being rejuvenating, relaxing helps your brain take in new information more easily and enhances your creativity.  Summer gives us the opportunity to deeply connect to our family in a less structured environment.  With more time to talk and be together, relationships take on new meaning.  We all do our best when we have the opportunity to rejuvenate and reconnect. 

Setting boundaries for your technology
It’s a choice to answer the phone, check your email, and step away from the computer.  Head out with your head in the holiday game!  Look forward to the time you are resting, relaxing, being adventurous and being away from every day.   Set yourself up for success by leaving processes in place for those around you in the office with procedures to follow. 

If you are the type that can’t leave home without it being spotless, give yourself time to get your home ready. Get the laundry done, your mail sorted and your home in tip top shape the week before.  Clear your plate as much as you can at home and work. 

 Unplug for a day: For You

  • Take a day during the middle of the week to take off.  Plan a “field trip” for yourself to a local museum, Farmer’s Market, or destination you have wanted to visit, but never have the time.
  •  Plan a day camp for your kids at a local community college or YMCA, then head home and sit in the quiet.  Read a book or magazines you have been waiting to read for a while.  
  •  Set a boundary to check your email only in the morning on Saturday.  Spend the day doing and connecting with your family or on your own. 

Unplug for a day: Your Kids

  •  Set aside a day to play cards, board games or family charades.
  •  Go fishing with your kids for a day at a lake or in Galveston.
  •  Establish screen time boundaries for daily living in your home, such as technology at dinner. 

Unplug for a week: a big leap!

  • Take your cell phone for just emergency, but take off from your email, leaving behind an auto-responder directing people to connect with those at work who can assist them.
  •  Take a stay-cation at home for a week, just to enjoy area destinations you and your family have not visited. No packing required, but staying on the vacation mindset is.  Connect with your family and establish tech-free times.  Play games, go to the pool, and ride bikes as ways to connect without your technology. 
  •  Take a vacation and plan your day’s activities.  Use the internet for coupons and sightseeing, but not for email.  Leave all the technology at the hotel, safely stored. 
  • Give yourself an extra day to get back into the groove at home and work. Return home early or take Monday off to get this extra time.  No meetings or appointments on this day! If your laundry is overwhelming, take it to the Laundromat for the “fluff and fold” treatment.  Be brutal about paper and mail and cull only what must be kept and acted on. 
  • Break away from being overwhelmed by making a list and prioritizing what needs to be done. 

 In the end, it is all about taking the opportunity for intentional and mindful technology use.  Truly we feel our best and do our best work because of relationships and renewal! You will be very glad you did!

ADD and Productivity

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ADD and Productivity

 

Slow to start, hard to complete, lose interest, can’t get it perfect? These are some of the stresses of productivity and ADD.  Having some tools to work through these challenges can help.

  • Know your strengths and work from your strengths.  Have the best possible match for your work.  Creativity, being in the moment, and being a people person are often strengths for people with ADD.  Also an intense curiosity and love of information are common. Tedious, every day tasks are usually not.  Whatever your strengths, capitalize on them in your work.
  • Create partnerships that work for you.  It can include an administrative assistant, a colleague, or technology.   The interaction with your partner will help you get started and the accountability will help you finish.  Be sure to ask for help in addition if you need this from a professional organizer, an ADD coach or a productivity consultant.
  • Set a timeline that is compelling. Your brain clicks, clicks, clicks with a deadline.  Set a series of baby steps with faux deadlines to get projects completed on time.
  • Use a planner that works for you.  For technology your smart phone is always with you and can remind you.  For paper think about the planner pad with its lists, week at a glance and month at a glance features.  Focus on using the week at a glance features to help you “see” what you are doing each day.
  • Capture tasks on paper or with technology.  Always have a way to have a brain dump, then prioritize your 3 Most Important Tasks (MITs) for the day.   You can’t get it all done, but you can get the most important done!
  • Establish routines in your day and your week.  Have a power period each morning and afternoon, with interruption and distraction free times.  Assign certain tasks to certain days, such a Money Monday or Financial Friday.  Routines ensure that you are on top of the most important tasks.
  • Delegate what you don’t do well.  Continuing to struggle can be demoralizing and distracting.
  • Know what good enough is.  Perfectionism can strangle your work.  Reflect on what a minimum standard and a good enough standard are and come to a compromise.

What is your best go to idea for struggling with productivity?

Cell Phones for Soldiers Drive during June and July 2011

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Cell Phones for Soldiers Drive Hosted by PostNet Kingwood and Professional-Organizer.com

Your old cell phone can help a soldier stay in touch with family. Cell Phones for Soldiers wants to turn your old cell phones into more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas. To do so, Cell Phones for Soldiers wants to collect 50,000 cell phones each month through a network of more than 3,000 collection sites across the country.  PostNet Kingwood and Professional-Organizer.com are partnering to host a drop off site in Kingwood from June 1 – July 31.  PostNet Kingwood is located at 4321 Kingwood Drive in the HEB Shopping Center in Kingwood.  Drop off your used cell phones and make a difference!

 To learn more about Cell Phones for Soldiers visit

www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com

To learn more about PostNet Kingwood, including store hours, visit

http://www.postnet.com/kingwood-tx194/  or call (713) 589-2151