The good news is that everyone can create organizing systems that work for them. Don’t misunderstand me, it isn’t easy and it may take some outside help. It won’t even happen today, but can be done. The bad news is that organizing isn’t an end goal. It is a process…a lifelong process at that. I hate to break the news, but organizing is never done per se because there is constant maintenance. Stuff keeps entering our space! (And tasks keep entering our schedule, but we won’t address that right now.)

Some people are habit people and some are not. For instance, I don’t even think about how I process incoming snail mail. I have systems that work for me. For instance, if I only have a minute or two, I do pre-processing. If I have a little more time, I finish the first two steps of my paper processing system. If I have enough time, I will complete the whole entire routine. By having distinct steps, I am always able to do something so that the mail doesn’t pile up.

Did I lose you around the second sentence of the previous paragraph? In More Attention, Less Deficit: Success Strategies for Adults with ADHD, Ari Tuckman makes a point which is valid for many adults both with and without ADHD, “Success in life often requires the ability to complete all sorts of uninteresting tasks on a pretty regular basis. If this is hard for you, it can affect every area of your life: school, work, finances, family, and friends. Unfortunately, life rarely gives partial credit for things that are only partially done.” Are you nodding your head? More important than identifying the problem is putting measures in place to solve the dilemma.

So let’s look at a few options for making the “mail processing” task more doable.

• Delegate: hire someone else to process the mail and all subsequent tasks. Better yet, get someone in your home to do part or all of the “handling the mail” task.
• Exchange: barter with someone who enjoys paperwork but doesn’t like to do something that you can do.
• Determine: the best system for you; this may entail hiring an organizing professional to initially set the system in place.
• Discover: the right tools to go along with the system because the organizing devices that work for one person may not for another.
• Adjust: tools as needed; this may mean once a month purchasing different colored file folders, pens, or sticky notes. It seems like a small change, but it might be the difference between whether or not you continue to use the system.
• Decrease: the amount of mail coming in by removing yourself from mailing lists.

As mentioned, this is just one example. But in the smallest discoveries, you may be able to make the biggest progress. What do you need to do today to create functional organizing habits? If we can help, contact us and we’ll help you set up a system that is right for you.

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