Organizational Tips for Adults With ADD

ADD does not have to be a debilitating diagnosis when it comes to maintaining order in your life. You can lead a healthy, functional life by integrating small, systematic practices. Your goal is to become a creature of habit.

Understand Your Symptoms

• Your comprehension of yourself will better enable you to create a game plan that is tailored to your personal well being. ADD symptoms include, but are not limited to, distractability, difficulty maintaining attention, struggling with task completion, poor retention, impulsiveness and a lack of attention to detail.

Get Plenty of Rest

• Paramount to any activity is adequate rest, and managing ADD is no different. With rest comes the energy to be more alert and focused on tasks.

Keep A Structured Schedule

• Keeping a structured schedule reduces the opportunity to become distracted. Schedule every facet of life, including work-related tasks, family time and personal time. An organizer with a calendar that breaks down the day into segments of time is an excellent tool to help with this. Helpguide.org suggests using timers and alarms to keep yourself on track.

Simplify Tasks

• Often when a task is complex, the methodology in completing it can seem overwhelming because there are so many moving parts. This can result in a reluctance to get started or being quick to quit before the task is over. If you is able to break it down into smaller steps, you can continue to work toward your goal and even measure your progress, which can boost your confidence in your abilities.

  Example Task: Write a research paper on diabetes

  Small tasks:

  Research information related to diabetes

  Based on the information available, list possible thesis statements

  Create an outline

  Write the paper

  Proofread for errors