The ADHD Success Club is my year long group ADHD coaching program designed to improve the way ADHD adults are organized, productive and live with attention deficit. Maya, a school teacher, is our Success Club blogger. Here are her observations about Module #24 – Creating Command Centers. This is a key concept I teach to help people with ADHD organize work areas.

Today I’m blogging at my kitchen table using the mobile desk/office command center that Dana encouraged me to set up using my rolling briefcase. Because I tend to do schoolwork in various places (home, work, coffee shop), Dana suggested I organized a mobile work area using my rolling briefcase. The goal in creating and maintaining command centers is to be more efficient in performing regular tasks by having everything I need. (Much like a pilot in a cockpit with all controls at arm’s reach). Blogging, as I reflect on last week’s module, will help me put my mobile office command center to the test.

Putting all my mobile desk materials together is common sense and will help me while I’m grading, blogging, planning, writing, bill-paying. By organizing needed materials for my common office tasks, I have set up a command center.

During the ADHD Success Club Action Call last week, I walked around my house and shared with Dana how my school materials were cluttering every room of my house. To organize my work area, Dana and I discussed various modules and issues related to clutter and organization. Trying to help me streamline my focus to command centers I need for school,

Dana asked me to gather all my school stuff I brought home at the end of the year in a central location and ask myself the following:

1.  How am I going to use ____?

2.  Where does ____ need to be?  

   • Home?

   • School?

   • Both (rolling briefcase)

3.  What are the various command centers needed to complete my tasks?

As we talked through my issues, Dana helped me see how my rolling briefcase should be central to school-related tasks and equipped as a mobile command center serving as the task organizer/desk space for me whether I am in a meeting room, at my kitchen table, or at the local coffee shop. I told Dana that I wanted to be mobily productive, instead of chaotic and cluttered, when I am grading and planning. By asking a few key questions, Dana prepared me to set up my briefcase as a mobile command center.

Here’s what I need to know…what do I need to have to be productive when mobile, and how can I keep it simple? I made a list and packed the office/school materials in my briefcase. As I did this, I simplified by realizing that I don’t need every office supply I might use when not mobile (e.g. paper clips instead of a stapler). In the end, my mobile command center was set up with the following general supplies: pens, pencils, highlighters, Post-It notes, paperclips, binder clips, scotch tape, white out, laptop and charger, everything book.

As I worked at my mobile desk/office command center today, I didn’t need to get up for supplies because I have created a command center with everything I need within arm’s reach to perform office and school tasks. As a veteran teacher, I have seen how an organized backpack, calendar, and notebook can be critical to students’ success. Ironically, until now, I’ve never fully fathomed or translated the importance of this to my own success. Six months ago I couldn’t have wrapped my mind around how the way I pack my briefcase can help me streamline my focus and set me up for success.

My plan now is to look at my school and home tasks and organization in new ways as I ask myself:

1.  Do I have a place and space to comfortably perform this task?

2.  How can I easily store and access items needed for this task?

3.  How can I simplify this task (i.e. see what clutter and chaos I can remove)?

Asking these simple questions will help my ADHD organize my work area and prioritize as I move forward on my journey to ADHD success.

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