12 Ways to Organize Your Life for ADHD Adults Infographic

Organizing Life for ADHD Adults Infographic

If you ask anyone with adult ADHD to name their top challenges, chances are high that “organizing life” will appear on many lists. Organizing your life may be more difficult for those with ADHD but it’s far from impossible. This Organizing Life for ADHD Adults Infographic shares 12 ways to effectively create an organized life.

Unlock the Secret to Organizing your time and space with this 12 Ways to Organize Your Life for ADHD Adults Infographic:

1. Work on one area at a time.

Break things up into manageable chunks. Work on one drawer, shelf, or surface area at a time. Getting organized can seem overwhelming, and when the ADHD brain gets overwhelmed, it tends to shut down. Break things up into manageable chunks. Work on one drawer, shelf, or surface area at a time. Then celebrate each completed task!

2. Use the five-box method.

Keep five boxes handy and label them:

Keep
Donate (sell, or give away)
Recycle (or trash)
Belongs Elsewhere
Check in XX Months – (only for stuff you are still unsure about – give yourself a date to recheck and then decide.)

As you’re cutting through the clutter, keep 5 boxes handy and deal with the first 4 boxes accordingly. If, after a month, you haven’t needed or used an item in the fifth box, it’s probably safe enough to get rid of it.

3. Make daily, weekly, and monthly checklists for infrequent maintenance chores.

Write down everything you do and then make checklists based on these things. Checklists makes it easy to keep track of simple tasks like running the dishwasher, changing the bedsheets, and cleaning out the garage.

4. Ditch the perfectionist mentality.

“Perfect” is an unattainable goal. Instead, train yourself to focus on “good enough”. All too often, people with ADHD don’t start a task because they don’t have the time, energy, or knowledge necessary to make it perfect. Focusing on “good enough” can ease the pressure you’re under and allow you to make some incremental progress.

5. Process paperwork and emails immediately.

It’s important to create a habit stack (routine) to help you deal with incoming paperwork and email. “I’ll deal with this later” is a dangerous phrase for an adult with ADHD to utter. Take Action NOW: sort it , delete it, reply to it, or put it in the proper folder now. Things can’t build up if you don’t give them a chance.

6. Set reminders for recurring tasks.

Create links to your daily life by using use ‘reminders’ in Google Calendar. Another way to create daily changes is to use ‘reminders’ in Google Calendar for those recurring tasks that make life easier (a.k.a.chores!)

7. Organize to support your personality preferences.

This will help you to stop wasting time and start getting organized. Each of us has natural preferences for how we like to get and stay organized. The Time and Space Style Inventory (TSSI) can help you analyze your organizing troubles from the inside out.

8. Keep ONE master calendar.

Neurodivergent brains crave consistency and reminders. Keeping (and constantly updating) a master calendar means that forgotten meetings, late payment fees, and missed birthdays and anniversaries are a thing of the past.

9. Track your time and tasks.

By tracking your time and tasks, you can see exactly where your minutes and hours go. Have you ever truly tracked your time? Doing so might surprise you. Tracked data helps you see trends and determine exactly where your minutes are really going, identify ways to be more efficient, and find ways to eliminate common distractions.

10. Set time limits.

Because of the ADHD brain’s tendency to hyperfocus, time limits create helpful constraints so you don’t get lost in a task or activity. Developing a relationship with ‘healthy constraints’ will help motivate you to take action. In order to get things done and better manage your time, decide how long you want to spend on whatever you’re doing and set a timer.

11. Be mindful of the time you give away to others.

Start with NO! Instead of leaving your needs last on the list, put them first, and let others ‘earn’ your yes. People with ADHD can often be people-pleasers. Practice saying ‘NO‘. It will help you learn to stop making commitments that will interfere with your own goals and desires.

12. Make things easy for “future you.”

What would make things easier next week or next month? Consider how to be successful tomorrow before you give into an impulsive moment. Incorporating ‘future you’ into in-the-moment decisions will help set you up for success tomorrow. Try prepping lunch, setting out your outfit, or double-checking that your keys are where they should be before you go to bed. Do things to wrap up your day to make tomorrow go more smoothly.