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Aug 22, 2017

Students today have more demands, distractions, and busier schedules than ever. Professional organizers Michelle Cooper and Michelle Grey recommend strategies and resources and outline organizational systems that make sense to the ADHD brain.


Jeffrey W Sanborn
six and a half years ago

Excellent episode. Here are a few comments about ADHD work-arounds that you might find helpful:
1) I struggled with leaving my front door with everything I needed. Written checklists did not help as they became too detailed (and I often have mismanaged my time and the first time-consuming activity to get discarded is the checklist). Finally, it dawned on me to make a mental checklist that I memorized. Now that it is in my head, I can utilize it more easily (without having to find where I put it). I made it more fun and easy to memorize it by putting the words into an already-existing song (like a parody).
2) I do poorly with written lists, but I have found that I do well when managing a word-processing document. I can keep important details (such as phone numbers and deadlines) on this list, but other to-do items get deleted and added along the way. I print it out because I need a paper document to write on, but I add and subtract to it in writing and then later I can make the changes on the computer before printing out a clean version. Caveat: If too many things are in writing before I misplace the paper (which is often), it can be discouraging as too much information is lost; therefore, I need to make regular updates to the document. Then, when I lose the document, I won't fret that much; most of the information can simply be reprinted.
3) I once got 3 parking tickets in 2 days because I forgot to feed the meter (and I've gotten away with many more violations). I have a clock/alarm app on my cell phone. Now, EVERY TIME I park my car at a meter, I set the alarm... even if it is for 5 minutes (because the surely-I-won't-forget-to-move-my-car-in-the-next-5-minutes idea does not apply to me).
I hope this is helpful.