FINAL REMINDER: Last chance to sign up for this year's ADD Clutter Busters Workgroup! It begins tomorrow night!
The Key to Keeping that Clutter Away
Hi There,
 For the last month, I've been talking about getting rid of clutter and getting organized.
This topic has been on my mind for 2 reasons:
1. I lead the ADD Clutter Busters Workgroup at this time of year. (It begins tomorrow!)
2. When Spring rolls in, I get bitten by the Spring cleaning bug! This is the only time of year that I get excited about decluttering, organizing, and yes, even cleaning!
So for the last month I've been talking about my ADD-friendly method for getting rid of clutter. It involves 3 steps:
- Sorting your stuff. <-- Once you get started, it's a piece of cake!
- Creating systems that will work specifically for you. <-- A little harder, but absolutely doable!
- Planning the follow through. <-- A big problem for ADDers!
Today I'd like to focus on the third step, which is about maintenance. This is the step that proves to be the most troublesome for many people.
If you're anything like most ADDers, then you know what it's like to do an awesome job decluttering a room or a closet or a desk, only to watch your hard work disappear before your eyes as the clutter returns in a matter of days. It makes you feel like a failure. It makes you think that you're lazy, or broken, or even stupid. And it pisses you off!
You're able to do the actual decluttering and organizing, but maintaining your success proves troublesome. The truth is that this is where most ADDers lose focus, get bored, or become frustrated, and the project falls apart.
The missing piece is follow-through, and in my opinion it's the most important step. After all, what good is busting your butt to get rid of your clutter if it's just going to come back in a few weeks?
The good news is that there really is a better way. Adults with ADD have to learn to approach the clutter problem differently. Although it would be great to develop a habit of putting things away as soon as you're done with them, that's just not a practical solution for many of us.
So here's a maverick idea: What if you were to allow for some clutter buildup, and also allow for clutter cleanup?
You see, the problem is not that the clothes, papers, and other objects build up throughout the day, or even the week. This is pretty normal for ADDers. It's actually pretty normal for a lot of non-ADDers, too!
The real problem occurs when the clutter is allowed to build up indefinitely. At first, it's not so bad. But pretty quickly there will come a tipping point when the clutter once again seems unmanageable, overwhelming, and disheartening.
So even though you may think that the only way to manage your clutter is never to let it accumulate in the first place, I would have to disagree. Forcing yourself into a habit that doesn’t suit you won’t work, and won’t stick.
What's more practical is to allow yourself some freedom to let things go a little, and then schedule a regular time to get your space back in order. This means a quick cleanup session each day, each week, or maybe even each month.
That's actually pretty simple, huh? Well, a lot of things in life become more simple when you stop working against your ADD and start working with it!
Not only does this system of "scheduled maintenance" take the pressure off, but it ensures that your space will never reach that clutter tipping point in which it becomes unmanageable. And that means that you won't get stuck spending weeks or months re-doing all that initial hard work.
Having a maintenance plan is like having an insurance policy that protects all that hard work you did decluttering and organizing in the first place. So as you start your Spring cleaning, decluttering, and organizing this season, do take out an "insurance policy" on your work by making that follow-through a major priority!
It's really quite doable when you work with your ADD and practice some maverick maintenance strategies.
Now, if you need a little more help than what I've given you in the newsletters over the last month, then I suggest joining us for the ADD Clutter Busters Workgroup. It begins tomorrow night at 8pm Eastern! (That's Wednesday May 5th.)
The ADD Clutter Busters Workgroup is a 3-week, virtual coaching program. It includes 3 live teleseminars, teleseminar recordings, class notes, worksheets, personal coaching help, and community support. The best part is that you don't even need to join us live on the teleseminars to participate! You can be just as successful listening to the class recordings if you can't make the live sessions.
 I’ll be leading the group through every step of the decluttering and organizing process. You'll get lots of information, resources, motivation, and inspiration, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you see results just by doing the small homework assignments. It's easier than you might think. That's why we have so many success stories!
If you're on the fence about joining us for the Workgroup, then head on over to the Workgroup website, where you can find this testimonial from Barbara Bradford, who is "no longer a slave to ADD and disorganization" as a result of the ADD Clutter Busters Workgroup. She completely decluttered and organized her office during the 3-week workgroup! I think you'll find her story amazingly inspiring.
Well, that's it for me today! I wish you all a Happy Spring, and Happy Spring Cleaning! :)
P.S. This is the FINAL REMINDER for The ADD Clutter Busters Workgroup!
We begin tomorrow. Join us at http://addmanagement.com/coaching/clutterbusters.html!
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