Do you have piles of paper everywhere?  Do you trouble finding the right piece of paper when you need it?  Don’t worry, you aren’t alone.

Getting your paperwork organized can be an overwhelming task if you’ve procrastinated too long.  The key is getting caught up, then having a system in place so you don’t fall behind again.  Here’s one way that can help you get through the piles quickly - in just three days.

Start by setting aside three days to focus on your paperwork.  Friday, Saturday and Sunday are great times for getting organized.

Day 1:  Paperwork central

• Pick a place that you will keep all of your paper work on. This is your “Paperwork Central.” It can be a section of your desk, an out of the way place on the floor, or the dining room table.
• Go around the house and round up all your papers and bring it to your Paperwork Central.
• Don’t forget your backpack, purse or front seat of the car.
• Get all your paper - newspapers, bills, junk mail, assignments, magazines, homework, notes, letters, everything. About the only paper you don’t want in this pile is your books.

This step should take you about 15-30 minutes.  When you are done, congratulate yourself, you are getting organized!  Does the pile look overwhelming?  Don’t worry, we’ll get through it quickly on Day 2.

Did you find anything important when rounding everything up?  Choose one thing, and do it now!

Day 2:  Quick Sort

1. Go through every piece of paper and sort it into one of these piles:
   a.  urgent
   b.  bills
   c.  to do
   d.  save (filing)
   e.  reading
   f.  recycle
2. Do not spend time reading or thinking about each piece. It’s easy to get distracted here by thinking about each thing. Don’t! Just keep thinking, “All I’m doing is sorting stuff into piles. I have time to take care of this later.”
3. Set a timer; see how fast you can do it. Your job is to stay focused on sorting and do this step quickly. This step is about getting organized, not doing any work.
4. Don’t get distracted by the urgent pile. Your job right now is getting things sorted.
5. Take the recycling out right now. Doesn’t it feel great to get rid of that huge pile!
6. Put your reading pile somewhere you’ll look at it… in the bathroom, on the coffee table, by your bed.

This step may have taken you as little as an hour, or much longer if you’ve really let things go.  (Hope not!)  Take a break if you are getting stressed.  It’s important that you feel like you control your piles - they aren’t controlling you.  So take a break when you need to and come back later to do more.

When you are done with your sort, pick one urgent matter that you uncovered when doing this step, and take care of it now. 

Day 3:  To Do List

• Go through your “to do” pile and make a list of what is in it. This is your To Do list. It’s easier to look at a list than having to shuffle through the pile every day.
• Prioritize your list and put the most important items at the top of your page, the less important ones go towards the bottom.
• Post your list on your fridge or somewhere else you’ll see it.
• Look it every morning and pick the things you want to get done that day.
• Having trouble getting started? Start with the easy stuff. Again, you are in charge of your list, it isn’t in charge of you!

This step should take no more than a half hour.  All you are doing is writing down your to do list.  When you are all done, pick at least one high priority or urgent item and take care of it.

Be sure to cross stuff off your list when you do them.  And reward yourself when you’ve accomplished 10 or 15 of your items.  You’ll never have a finished to do list.  So it’s important that you celebrate keeping on top of it.

Congratulations!  You’ve got your paperwork under control.  And along the way, you’ve started taking care of your “To Do’s.”  Now it’s time to keep it that way.

CREATING A SORTING SYSTEM THAT WORKS

Now that you are organized, stay that way.  Every time you bring paper into the house, whether it is mail, or school work, or something else, bring it to your Paperwork Central location and sort it right away. 

• Don’t drop it on the dining room table if your Paperwork Central is in your bedroom.
• Do open all envelopes - especially for your bills, and recycle what you don’t need to keep.
• Do add items to you “to do” list as necessary and look at it each day to stay on top of it.
• You don’t need to buy fancy organizers for Paperwork Central, but you can if you’d like. The key is staying on top of it as is comes in.

A QUICK WORD ON FILING:

Does anyone like filing?  NO!  The key for filing is only keeping things you really need.  Obviously financial stuff like tax records need to be filed.  And you’ll probably want to keep school work for the quarter.  But beyond that, try not to save very much stuff.  The less paper you save, the less filing you have.  Some people like to file things right away (like doing the dishes).  Other people like to let it pile up and do it all in a quick hour or so.  Figure out what works for you.  Just be sure to keep your long-tem files separate from your bills, urgent and “to do” piles!

Top Ideas for Staying Organized:

• Paperwork Central: set aside a place for all your paperwork
• Quick sort: sort things into piles as you get them
• To Do List: keep a to do list to make it easy to see what’s on your agenda
• Take care of the easy stuff first. You’ll feel less overwhelmed when you have less to do.
• Don’t get overwhelmed. With just a little work every day, you can stay in control.

What tricks do you use to keep on top of your paper piles?  If you’ve got a system that works, we’d love to hear from you.

Editor’s Note:  Our last blog talked about how ADHD has impacted Nolan Wesselink in school.  This one explores how coaching has made a difference in his life.  For more information about how an Edge ADHD Coach can help you visit Edge Foundation’s Coaching Page.]

Written by guest blogger: Shaina Humphries, University of Illinios- Urbana/Champaign

Aside from his medication and special accommodations, Wesselink makes use of an academic “coach”. Coaches are commonly used in ADHD treatment, and are the main focus of Neil Peterson’s EDGE Foundation.

Peterson founded the EDGE Foundation, so he could help other kids suffering from ADHD, in the same way he was able to help his own two children, who have ADHD and Dyslexia.

“Medications do not work for everybody. They are not ‘the’ answer,” said Peterson. “Medications do not teach skills, but coaches do.”

Coaches like Wesselink’s and those from EDGE work by helping a person with ADHD to organize their life on their own, rather than telling them what to do. The coach meets with a student once or twice per week, and helps him or her with prioritizing, focusing, confidence, etc.

For example, Peterson’s daughter calls her coach for 30 minutes every Monday. She and her coach talk about how everything in her life is going.

“Then she’ll tell him she’s got a big paper due next week, and later she’ll tell him how her friends are coming to visit her that weekend,” Peterson said. “He’ll ask if that will affect her paper. Then she’ll say ‘I should probably write the first part of that paper this week before they visit.’”

What’s important about coaching, Peterson stresses, is that the person with ADHD is doing the thinking, coming to the conclusions on their own, and that’s how they learn the skills needed in life.

Treatment plans for ADHD that include medication, special accommodations and coaching, can be very beneficial to a student with ADHD, and can help the student function normally in and out of college.

Regardless, ADHD is a difficult disorder to deal with, especially in college, and certainly when a student with ADHD has not been diagnosed with the disorder. But, according to Wesselink, with the right treatment, being a college student with ADHD is manageable.

“Since I was diagnosed, I’m always learning more ways to deal with it,” said Wesselink. “I have no doubt that I’ll graduate and have a “normal” job afterwards as an engineer.”

Read more testimonials on how Edge ADHD Coaching changes lives.

[Note: This is part one of a two part story written by guest blogger, Shaina Humphries, University of Illinios- Urbana/Champaign — Editor]

Nolan Wesselink is an average college student. He’s an engineering major at the University of Illinois, lives in a dorm room, goes to class during the week and goes to parties on the weekend. But there’s one thing about Nolan’s college experience that sets it apart from most others. He has ADHD.

                Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, or ADHD, is a neurobehavioral developmental disorder that can be especially debilitating to college students. College students who suffer from ADHD are more likely to drop out of college than students without the disorder.

According to Neil Peterson, the founder of the EDGE Foundation, and father of two kids with ADHD, “Students with ADHD are 33 percent less likely to graduate from college.”

ADHD is characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity. The disorder, also commonly called ADD, can be present in three different ways. According to the USA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone can either have the predominantly inattentive type of ADHD, the predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type, or the combined type.

People with the predominantly inattentive type of ADHD often do not pay close attention to details, are very forgetful and have a noticeably short attention span. While many people can attest to exhibiting at least one if not all of these symptoms from time to time, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have ADHD.

Peterson has a favorite analogy that he uses to distinguish people with ADHD and those without.

“Sometimes people will walk up the stairs, and when they finally get there, they can’t remember why they walked up in the first place,” Peterson said. “Plenty of people have had this experience before, but the difference is this: people who have ADHD experience this in a chronic fashion, rather than every once in a while.”

The case of the stairs is a perfect example of predominantly inattentive ADHD, but not necessarily the other types. A person with predominantly hyperactive-impulsive ADHD is usually very fidgety, has trouble waiting for his or her turn, blurts out answers to questions that have not been finished, and finally, talks excessively.

“Sometimes I’ll just talk, and not shut up, for like 10 minutes straight, and I don’t even really notice it,” said Wesselink. “I just keep talking, and whoever I’m talking to obviously notices it, and probably gets offended, but I won’t even notice that I’ve been talking that long until after the fact.”

Wesselink has the combined type of ADHD. This means he experiences various symptoms from both categories, inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive. However, like many people with ADHD, Wesselink was diagnosed late in life. He was diagnosed just a year ago, during his freshman year of college.

Since many of the symptoms are thought to be simply bad behavior, extra energy, or just a part of a personality, many of the people in the U.S. with ADHD do not even know that they have it. According to Peterson, 50 percent of people with ADHD have never been diagnosed.

“I had a friend who had it [ADHD], and he was telling me about the things he was going through, and I thought ‘Hey, that sounds exactly like me,’” said Wesselink. “So I went to McKinley to get screened. After what ended up being a three-month-long process of tests and doctor visits, I was diagnosed.”

Wesselink also said the biggest problem for college students probably isn’t the disorder itself, but the fact that so many people are unaware they have it. With all the academic demands, increased independence, and distracting environment, untreated ADHD students are likely to fail.

“If I wasn’t getting treatment , I can basically guarantee that I would have failed out by now,” Wesselink said.

In fact, Wesselink almost dropped out of school as recently as last semester. After being diagnosed, different medications were tested on him, but many of them had unbearable side effects.

Aside from depression and a strong urge to give up on school, Wesselink said, “I had severe mood swings, one made me lose my appetite entirely, and one made me very angry and short-tempered. One even made me sweat.”

Even dorm life is greatly affected by Wesselink’s ADHD. Anthony Perez, his roommate and close friend, said Wesselink’s ADHD affects his life, too.

“A lot of times there will be tension in the room. He’ll have mood swings,” said Perez. “If he’s studying and I do something that distracts him, he’s completely screwed. He can’t just go right back to studying like most people. That leads to problems.”

Perez also said that the side effects from Wesselink’s medications would cause fights and uncomfortable living conditions, so he was glad when Wesselink eventually found the best one and stopped switching medications.

However, medicine is definitely not the only method Wesselink uses to treat his ADHD. He receives treatment and special accommodations from U of I’s Disability Resources and Educational Services, or DRES.

With DRES, he is able to take his class exams in an environment conducive to people with ADHD. He takes his exams in a plain cubical with minimal noise and distractions. In this space, Wesselink is able to concentrate, or “hyperfocus” as he calls it, on his exam, so he doesn’t make nervous mistakes that he would make in a normal classroom environment, filled with distractions and a time limit.

Next week:  How an ADHD Coach changed everything

Recently I was waiting with three young boys for a table at a busy restaurant. The crowd had spilled outside during the long wait, and the boys inevitably got in trouble by throwing berries at the windows of the restaurant.  When confronted by their mother, they each had a different excuse for their behavior:  “I only did it once,”  “He made me,” and “I didn’t do it.”

It’s easy to come up with excuses for letting your impulses get in your way.  Everyone uses excuses to get out of a jam now and then.  But you can end up fooling yourself into believing your own story.  “I only did it once.” Doesn’t sound so bad does it?  But sometimes only one time is all it takes to make an irreparable mistake.  Consider drinking and driving.  You might get away with it once.  But on the other hand, you could end up killing someone.

 “He made me.”  It’s easy to fool ourselves into believing that someone else is responsible for our actions.  But, short of having someone holding a gun to your head, the only person who makes you do something is yourself.  Sure it might have been the first boy’s idea to throw the berries in the first place, but the second child threw that berry all by himself.  Does, “he made me,” stand up as a defense for shoplifting?

Which brings us to “I didn’t do it.”  Standing around and not acting when other people are doing the wrong thing, is doing the wrong thing.  Each of us has the responsibility to take a stand and say stop.  We call people heroes when they step in to help someone who is being victimized in a crime.  “I didn’t do it” stands hand-in-hand with “it’s not my fault.”  Taking personal responsibility is looking at ourselves honestly and owning our actions.  If you know that a crime is going to occur and you do nothing about it, you can be held accountable in a court of law.

Everyone makes mistakes.Sure it’s hard to stand up to an angry mother and say, “It was my idea,” or “I felt embarrassed to say ‘no’.”  It’s even harder to stand up to our friends and say, “I don’t want to do this; I’m outta here.”  Thankfully, most of life your mother won’t be there to make excuses to.  The only one you need to fess up to if yourself.  Some days with ADHD can feel like a series of impulsive disasters.  You don’t make them better by shoving mistakes under the carpet with lame excuses.  The key to successfully living with ADHD is facing your mistakes and working to avoid them in the future.

What kind of mistakes do you use white lies to cover up for?  Lateness?  Forgetting to pay a bill?  Missing appointments?  Getting homework in on time?  Most of the time the only person fooled by your excuses is yourself.  Consider your friend who is always late.  You know they just can’t get it together, regardless of their story.

If you’re in the habit of making excuses, it can be hard to change.  Be easy on yourself, and pick one thing to practice being honest about.  Next time you are late say, “I intended to be here on time, but I scheduled my appointments too close together.”  Or, “I cut it too close when I left home this morning and didn’t allow for traffic.”   When you start giving honest explanations for your behavior instead of excuses, you give yourself the information you need to avoid that problem in the future.  Who’s more likely to be on time?  The person who says, “I got stuck in traffic.”  Or the person who says, “I didn’t allow time for traffic.”

You don’t have to make excuses for ADHD.  You just need to be honest with yourself and work to keep on track.  When you make mistakes, fess up, forgive yourself and move on.  It’s what everyone else does, and you can too.  

We’re pleased to announce About.com has posted an interview with the Edge Foundation. The article explores how coaching can help high school and college students with ADHD reach their full potential.

ADHD Coaching for High School and College Students

About.com is a part of the New York Times Company. The ADHD ADD section is written by Keath Low. Low is a psychologist and holds a Clinical Scientist appointment with the Center for Development and Learning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical School. Low is also an expert panelist and contributing writer for iParenting.

Edge Foundation board member, Nancy Ratey, publishes a new book: The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your AD/HD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents (St Martins Press April ‘08)

“This is a book about possibility,” says Ratey “It’s both a practical guide to taking control of the symptoms with which individuals with ADHD struggle, and an inspirational summons to believe that living a rich and balanced life – a life you love – is possible.”

The book addresses the common issues confronted by the ADHD adult:
“Where did the time go?”
“I’ll do it later, I always work better under pressure anyway.”
“I’ll just check my e-mail one more time before the meeting…”
“I’ll pay the bills tomorrow – that will give me time to find them.”

The strategies for managing time, staying on task, and accomplishing your goals are simple, and they work:

• The Parking Lot – Distracted by something you need to do later? Get it out of your mind by writing it down on your ‘parking lot’ note pad, where it will be safely stored for later.

• Beat the Clock – Have a deadline on a report? Take your laptop to the park, pop in the battery, and get going. Watch the power drain as your report gets done. Hit save before the battery runs out!

• Appoint a “Watch Dog”—Saying or doing things you regret? Enlist a trusted friend to watch over you and your actions. Give him permission to be very honest and to confront you if you are about to do something you might be sorry for, like calling an old flame or walking off your job.

Nancy A. Ratey, EdM., MCC is a strategic life coach specializing in coaching professionals with ADHD and an internationally recognized expert on the subject of ADHD coaching. Her work has been featured in The NY Times, Newsday, Wired, and Vogue, and has appeared on ABC, CBS and NPR. Click here for more on the book.

 You may have noticed that there are a lot of web sites out there that mention ADHD.  Here at the Edge Foundation, we like to think we have some of the best information about ADHD to be found on the web.  But of course we know there are other great sites out there as well. Here are our current top 5 favorite ADHD web sites (listed alphabetically).

1.      ADDitude Magazine
This magazine offers tons of on-line resources for families and people with ADHD.  They offer an on-line newsletter as well as a well written and content rich periodical.

2.      Attention Deficit Disorder Resources
A non-profit organization dedicated to providing everything you might want to know about ADHD including articles, links, a national directory, teleclasses, podcasts, e-news, and more.

3.      Bryan L. Hutchinson Blog
Bryan has recently gained media attention for publishing his memoire, One Boy’s Struggle: A Memoire:  Surviving Life with Undiagnosed ADD.  The book has been described as providing new insight into what it’s like to live with ADHD.  The blog is aimed at promoting his book, but does give you a glimpse into Bryan’s perspective and current concerns.

4.      CHADD Leadership Blog
This must-read blog is written by E. Clark Ross, the CEO of CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.)  You’ve probably already heard of CHADD’s amazing work to educate the nation, and Congress, about the special needs of people with ADHD.  But you probably haven’t run across this blog.  It’s a great source for up-to-the minute, scientific facts about ADHD.  It also includes moving personal stories by the people who are spearheading the ADHD movement.

5.      National Resource Center on AD/HD
An invaluable program of CHADD, The National Resource Center on AD/HD is the nation’s clearinghouse for science-based information about all aspects of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).  Funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the NRC provides information on this disorder which affects how millions of children and adults function on a daily basis. Don’t see your favorite listed here?  Post a comment and let others know about it.

Do you always seem to be running out of money? Are you one of the reasons banks can afford to give away free checking?  (You bounce a lot of checks!)  Do you often leave the house with great intentions, but get swept away in the moment and spend more than you had planned?  There are simple things you can do to get your spending under control.  A budget helps you think about what you want to spend when you are in the space to use your best judgment.  Then there are things you can do to help keep your impulses under control and stick with your plan.You don’t have to make a complicated budget to get started.  Here’s a simple way to create an budget for your “fun” money.

• Figure out how much money you spend each week on things like eating out, gas, coffee, concerts, downloads, and more.  It might look something like this:  lunch $50, gas $40, coffee $30, Friday/Saturday night out $50, incidentals $30.  Total:  $200.  This is your “Spending Money Budget.”
•  Make a commitment to yourself to stick with your budget.  Ask yourself honestly:  Do I have this much money to spend each week?  Does it cover everything I like to spend money on?  Does this leave me enough money for essentials like rent, cell phone, cable, and groceries?  Am I able to set any money aside for something unexpected, like a forgotten birthday or a flat tire repair?  If you can answer “yes” to these questions, go to the next step.  If not, go back and adjust your Spending Money Budget accordingly.  (Remember, no one has enough money to buy everything they want, all the time!)
• Withdraw your spending money for the week from your bank.  Make just one withdrawal for the total amount, to last the entire week.  Withdraw the same amount each week on the same day.  Don’t let yourself make any more withdrawals until the next week.  Don’t use a credit card if you fall short.  And don’t borrow any money from friends to cover your expenses!
• Stick to your plan.  You might decide you want to carry only a couple of day’s cash with you at a time.  That way, you are less likely to spend it on an impulse.  Or keep it all you’re your wallet, but put some aside in a different pocket for later in the week.  Don’t pay for downloads with your debit or credit card.  Instead, buy a download gift certificate from a store like Safeway.  Think ahead about what you are planning for the weekend, so you’ll have enough money.  If you start to run short, you might need to change your plans.
• Make a spending list before you leave the house:  Think about what you might spend money on and make a list of the things you need.  Make another list of things you’ll be tempted to spend money on as an impulse.  Figure out what are you going to do when you are tempted to make an unplanned purchase.  And stick to your list!

Wrap up your ATM card!  Leave your card in your wallet, but wrap it up and write a note to yourself that you are sticking to your plan.
Ask your friends to help you.
Rubber band your wallet with another note that says “do I really need this?”
Be creative and come up with your own ideas

• Evaluate how you did and make small adjustments to your budget.  Were you able to stick with your budget?  Did you run out of money early?  Did you underestimate how much money you really needed for something like gas?  Is there something you can cut that you don’t really need?  Think about how you did and adjust your budget if you need to.  The point is not to have an inflexible plan, instead get one that works for you!This blog entry showed you an easy way to make a budget and gave you some ideas of how to stick with it.  If you have other creative ideas of what you do to keep your spending under control, please share them with others as a comment on this page. 

For many people, medication is a powerful aid in helping alleviate the symptoms of ADHD. But before you take it, it’s difficult to stay focused, and when you aren’t focused it’s hard to remember to take it! Developing a morning routine can make it easy for you to get your medicine on board every day. And there are lots of simple tricks you can add to your morning routine to make sure you don’t forget. Below are five simple ideas you can try.

If you don’t see an idea you like, make up your own! When you find one that works, stick to it! Do it every day. You’ll have a new routine in place, and be sure to have your medicine working for you. Five Simple Ideas – choose the one that works for you!

1. Set an alarm.
   Most people use an alarm clock to wake up every day, why not use one to remind you to take your medication? Most cell phones come with built in alarms. Set yours to go off every day at the same time. Then take your pill as soon as you shut off the alarm.
2. Post a to-do list.
   Lots of people with ADHD have a to-do list that they put on their front door to help them remember the things they need to take with them when they leave the house. Add “medicine” to the list you’re already using and you’re on your way.
3. Put it in your shoes!
   Do you wear the same pair of shoes every day? Put your pill bottle in your shoe. You’ll have to take it out to put them on. When you take the bottle out, take out a pill right then and you’ve got your medication on board for the day.
4. Ask your friend or family to help.
   Does it seem like mom is always nagging you about something? Give her permission to nag you about your pill! This doesn’t mean you can count on her to remember for you, but it does help ensure that you have one more reminder in place to take it.
5. Keep an emergency back up on hand.
   Do you sometimes remember you forgot to take your meds after you left the house? Keep one back-up pill hidden in your wallet, desk or locker so you have it at hand when you forget it at home. Don’t over rely on this to work every day, because you’ll need to add a step to remember to replace the pill you used. Much easier to remember to take it before you leave home!

Now that you have a few tricks at hand, make a plan and stick to it. Hint! You might get bored with your system after a few weeks or months, but don’t change it if it’s working. A routine is by nature boring because you do it over and over. But because you do it over and over, it’s also the reason it works. Do you already have a failsafe system to remember to take your medication? We’d love to hear about it. Post it as a comment and share your success with other Edge Foundation readers.

We are excited and pleased that our website is live! We’re looking for your feedback about it and ways to improve it.

Best wishes,

Neil Peterson