Awhile back, I took care of my next-door neighbors’ dogs and chickens while they were away. This couple doesn’t have a drop of ADHD. They are not disorganized people.
They’re very normal and while their house isn’t incredibly tidy, it’s not incredibly messy either. They could probably get the whole place cleaned up and ready for company in about 30 minutes. That’s pretty good, since this is my Litmus test for organizing.
There are however some basic organizing rules they just aren’t aware of…
Easy Steps for Practical Organization
First, their dogs get fed on the deck, yet the dog food is kept two flights of stairs down in the basement. That means that twice a day when it’s time to feed the dogs, you’ve got to go to the basement to get the dog food, walk all the way up two flights of stairs outside onto the deck to feed the dogs, and then make sure you go all the way back downstairs two flights of stairs to the basement to put the food scoops back. Simply writing that makes me exhausted. Imagine following those steps twice a day?!
This entire process would be so much easier if they followed this essential Secret Habit of Organized People: Keep things where you use them. Especially the things you use the most.
Making a secure home for the dog food up on the deck would save lots of time and effort every single day.
Second, I noticed their dog water dish is way too small. I had to refill the water dish four times a day to make sure the dogs had enough fresh water. It wasn’t an inordinately warm time of year, it’s just that the water dish was too small for the amount of water that the dogs drink.
A Secret Habit of Organized People: Having the right size container for the job would sure help. Just a larger water dish would mean maybe filling it twice a day.
Organizing Systems Saves Time
Following simple organizing rules when you create organizing systems will make your whole life and managing ADHD so much simpler. When you save steps, you save time. You’ll have less chance of creating clutter and getting distracted. You’ll have more time to do other things you’d much rather spend your time doing.
You will learn these Secret Habits of Organized People and a lot of other tips in my book Organized for Life. It’s available as an eBook and I am seriously thinking about getting a paperback copy from Amazon to give to my neighbors. Seriously.
You don’t have to be very disorganized to benefit from learning easier ways of staying organized. Sometimes it’s not until you use someone else’s system that you realize the things that need to be changed.
Tired of struggling with ADHD? You’re in the right place. ADHD Success is loaded with free, practical tips to help you get organized, manage your time, and live more easily with Adult ADHD. Like what you read? Sign up for the newsletter now! No Spam. I promise!
0 Comments