You have attention deficit disorder or someone close to you does, or you probably wouldn’t be reading this article, right? Let’s talk a bit about organization, ADD, and how you can avoid the dreaded “stuff everywhere” syndrome.

The most notorious place for attention deficit induced clutter is in your bedroom. Clothes are probably scattered over most of it, shoes may be piled sky-high, and what’s a laundry hamper? Right? We know how this feels, and had the same kind of problems, but we learned that if you can create an ADD-friendly system to handle the clutter, life will be much smoother for you and for your loved ones.

If your bedroom is large enough, buy three big trash cans, about the 30 gallon size. If you can buy them in different colors, that would be ideal, but in lieu of that, what if you just spray one white; one a dark color, like navy blue or black; and one red?

Every day when you take off your clothes, decide whether they should go into the bin for white clothes, the bin for dark clothes, or the bin for colored clothes and then, just throw your stuff into the appropriate bin. How cool is that? They’ll already be separated when it comes time to wash them. Plus, there’s the added benefit of not walking into your bedroom and tripping over a pair of underpants.

For shoes, you can do the same kind of thing. Buy open-ended (veggie-type) bins so the shoes are easier to see, maybe one black, one brown, one colored, or just one, period. (It depends on how many shoes you have, but we ADD people are always collecting.) Here, it’s the same principle. You’ll be able to just toss your shoes into the bins, instead of leaving them all around.

Let’s move to our ADD-littered office. What’s everywhere, even on the floor? Books? Papers? Are there sticky notes all over the computer monitor or the hutch above your desk? How do you help your attention deficit brain remember your appointments?

Books need bookshelves, and people with ADD need plenty of space in them to store their books. Have one as close to your desk as possible and be sure not to overload the shelves. If a book won’t fit, get rid of another so that it will and don’t let your attention deficit get in the way. ADD people tend to the pack rat syndrome, too. If you haven’t used the book about the joys of cooking blowfish in 6 months, you probably won’t. Get rid of it, or get another bookcase.

Then, tackle those sticky papers. Get a small notebook that will fit on your desk beside you. You can buy inexpensive books or whatever you like. If you really like the book, your ADD brain will use it. But any note that you have to make during the day should go into that book–everything. Telephone numbers, quick notes to yourself, addresses. So make sure it can open flat and that pages can be turned back. Your attention deficit may drive you to that purple suede journal, but if it’s like a hardback book, it won’t work well. Get something that’s more ADD convenient.

Then, either at the end of the day or the next morning–whatever works, but make it a routine–transfer what needs to go into your address book to your address book. Use a desk calendar, too. Write all of your appointments into the calendar and keep it directly in front of you every day. You can’t make any mistakes that way, and all of your notes will be in one place if you need to refer to them later on. No more ADD panic over where you put that important phone number!

As for the papers. Gather all of them, and you’ll have to take time to sort them into piles: important, not quite as important, and throw away. Because your attention deficit won’t do well with the boredom this will create, get yourself a timer. Set it for 5 minutes. Go through your papers for 5 minutes every morning, then stop. Don’t go one minute over. Take 5 minutes a day to file your papers in hanging files in a file cabinet or box. You’ll be amazed at how much you get done in that short time. Before you know it, your paper stack will be gone.

But you’ll be adding to the piles every day. Get three file bins for papers and just toss papers into one of the bins as they’re received. After a while doing this, it will take less than 5 minutes to clear things up each day. How great will that be?

People with attention deficit really don’t like clutter, they just have trouble dealing with boring things like filing, hanging, and putting away. Give yourself an ADD-friendly system and follow an ADD-simple routine. You’ll be a much happier person for it, and your non-ADD family members will love you.

Prioritization is one of the things that’s totally abhorred by people with ADD. Logical, linear-thinking people have no problem when they sit down to write out the steps to a project—the first thing you do is step one, then two, then three. And linear thinking people have no problem with that. ADD people, on the other hand, have a horrible time thinking one, two, three. Because we say A, D, 27, 17, 0. And it all makes sense to us.

Add people see the big picture, but even more… the universal picture, about how things fit together. Because of that, randomness seems perfectly normal to us. It makes sense, where linear-thinking people just don’t get it.

Except, what happens because of this is that ADD people trying to prioritize a huge project get overwhelmed. That makes it extremely hard to get their ADD mind around the project.

The skill ADD people need to learn is “chunking,” which is basically breaking a huge project down into chunks.

So let’s take for example something really, really simple like clean your room, okay? And let’s say that you’ve spent the last, I don’t know, 3.5 weeks just walking in and out of your room and just dumping things everywhere. You know what I’m talking about, if you have ADD. I mean you got piles on the dresser, you got piles on the desk, you got piles on the table, you got clothes on the floor, half eaten sandwiches somewhere.

You look at that and say, “Good grief. When I’m done here, there’s the kitchen, and the bathroom, and the living room, and the garage is a mess, too! How can I get this all done?

Here’s the key–chunk it down. That’s totally important, and here’s what it looks like:

OK, start with the top of the dresser. Clean that. If you think of one area at a time, it works better for people with ADD. It will work for your kids with ADD, too. Tell them, “Clean the top of your night stand. Pick up your clothes from the floor. Dust your furniture.” If you do this, one thing at a time, it will work. Give yourself or your kids one area a day.

Chunking things down is the big price. Some people have trouble with chunking things down, though. Some people can do this, and if you can do it, you got things nailed. If you can chunk down things down yourself then you’re going to save yourself an immense amount of time. And there are a lot of folks with ADD that have enough attention to detail to be able to do this.

Some ADD people just can’t do it because they can’t maintain focus. Trying to chunk things down and make lists like that will drive them insane. Ultimately, they’re distracted 15 times while they’re trying to chunk a project down.

There are two answers, if you have this type of ADD. If you do, you can get someone to do the chunking down process for you. He or she can iron out the details for you and when they report what they are, they need to be laser specific. They need to put a project into a simple list of tasks, and they have to be very clear on what it is that you need to do.

But if you don’t have the money to hire an assistant, or you don’t have anyone else who can do this for you, what can you do?

Well, one of the things you can do is to write things down, like on a to-do list for example, you can use a system that will allow you to crank through these things. Number one there’s never ever ever, under any circumstances, write down an idea. Only write down a task. Okay. In many cases, an idea can also quickly translate into a project.

Once you get the chunks figured out, then set your ADD-friendly system. One category will be for things that can be done or that need to be done quickly. Another category will be for intermediate tasks, things that can wait, but need to be done in the next phase. And finally, categorize those things that need to be done, but can wait for a while.

After you’re done with the first category, move to the second, and do the same thing. Do the same for the third category, too. Then, you’ll have the whole thing done before you know it.

Maybe this system seems too simple for you, but when you have ADD, it’s just an easy way to get projects completed, no matter what they are. Big projects can overwhelm people with ADD, but they may be very important to you. So, think in chunks, one bite at a time, just like the man eating the elephant.

Being healthy isn’t easy, and if you have adult ADD, you may be skipping over this part entirely. You probably forget to eat meals and just grab whatever candy bar or fast food snack is at hand. You need to remember one thing, though. If you don’t eat, you die. Its’ as simple as that. So, even if you have to be led to the banquet table, you have to remember that healthy meals are not an option.

It’s not that hard to eat things that are good for you, even if you have adult ADD. Forget that bagel and egg and cheese and bacon sandwich every morning. Yuck! All bad for you. Instead, buy some granola bars, some breakfast cookies, or anything that you can just grab on your way out the door. Or, if you have some time to spend eating, try some yogurt or fresh fruit on a bowl of cereal. Oatmeal with cinnamon is even good for your heart, and it’s very easy to fix in the microwave these days. Spend time in easy food preparation instead of sitting in line at the drive-through restaurant.

You have to remember to eat lunch, too. If you frequently skip it, you’re not doing such a hot job. Set at timer or even one in electronic organizing software like Outlook. That way, you’ll be sure to remember to take a break. Stack your desk with some non-spoiling goodies, too. As with breakfast, granola bars work, as do sunflower seeds, nuts, and even try some of the “just add hot water” soups that you can get in many different varieties. Even these lunches shouldn’t be too boring for an adult ADD person to get together.

Be sure to keep your freezer stocked with healthy alternatives for dinner, too. Fresh cooking is always best, but if you live alone, you probably won’t do it on any kind of regular basis. So, buy some pre-cooked foods at your local supermarket. Many now have full meals that you can just pop into the oven in a wide variety. Or, get some of the healthier frozen dinners and keep them on hand. It’s not that difficult to toss something in the microwave, and it won’t be terribly boring and have you adult ADD-shying away from doing it. Some people just hate to cook, and these shortcuts can be a perfect alternative.

But never forget that fresh cooked meals are still your best bet. So, buy some stuffed cabbages at the deli counter and warm them in the microwave. There’s always the catering option, too. You may be surprised at how inexpensive it is to have food brought in, after consideration of the price of food and the preparation time that you lose. These are all great ways for adult ADD people to take care of their evening meals.

Health isn’t a gift, it’s something that we have to maintain, and think of the alternative. Finding creative ways to ensure that your adult ADD brain remembers to eat may also be a condition of never having the right good food. Train yourself to get to the supermarket at least once a week and to stock your cupboards and refrigerator with healthy foods. Your body will love you for it.