People with ADD can be clutter-happy people. Rather than putting things in their proper places, some ADD people just drop things and allow them to lay. That's great when you're living alone and never invite company over, but what about when there are other people living with you? They may not enjoy your haphazard style of dealing with your stuff and it's sometimes hard to make them understand ADD. But there are things you can do to make life easier for everyone.
For instance, do you get a lot of magazines? If you like to read lots of different kinds of things and love information, you probably do. What ends up happening with many ADD people, is that they read a magazine or book and then pitch it on a table somewhere, or leave it on the couch or whatever.
Sooner or later, you'll pick up that same magazine and go, �Oh, this is great! I�ve never read this!� Then halfway through, you'll realize that you're reading the same thing again. What a time waster!
And think about it... Doesn't your my brain get cluttered when you walk into a room and see a mess? Most ADD people really do like clean.
So, what are you doing naturally? If you naturally put your magazine on the table or lay it in one particular place, decide how to make what you're doing automatic. This is a two-fold process.
Number one, you need a visual indicator to tell yourself that you're done with a magazine and that it should be thrown away, but you know you won't throw it in the garbage can when you're finished reading, like most non-ADD people would.
The second question is how can I stop leaving magazines all over the place? Go out and buy a magazine rack and place it in the exact location where you would normally throw things. Then, when you throw them, they'll hit the magazine rack and you'll love it.
But that works best for visually oriented people. An ADD person who is not a visually-oriented may flip the magazine over onto its face, and not really pay attention to whether the magazine is facing up or down when they go to grab it again.
What if you're an ADD person who's kinesthetic, or�and this is going to stretch your imagination�even an audio-based person. What might be some different types of indicators that you could figure out how to use to let you know whether or not you�ve read that magazine?
The first thing you can do is to rip the cover off, and make the magazine feel different. Or, rip the cover in half and stick the torn part in the middle. When you pick it up, you can literally feel with your hand that it�s not smooth, and that tactile cue will trigger your ADD brain to say, "I've read this before."
And if you're audially oriented, really pay attention to the sound of that rip while you�re looking at that magazine and get your cue from audio-visual and kinesthetic all at the same time.
instantaddsuccess.com" target="_blank Systems to help ADD people are great, but if you don't live alone, you have to let the other non-ADD people in your world in on what's happening, especially if there is someone who is naturally clean, neat, and organized. They�ll probably be happy to comply if your system is helping to make the household more clean, neat, and organized.
Just explain that you need these systems to help your ADD cope with the mundane tasks, and usually because they make such a positive difference, your family or roommates will understand, like the results, and help you to keep the system going.
Tellman Knudson, certified Hypnotherapist, has ADHD himself, and is CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc. Stephanie Frank, also diagnosed ADD, is an internationally known speaker, entrepreneur, and author of "The Accidental Millionaire." instantaddsuccess.comTake the ADD test at InstantADDSuccess.com.