ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life

Judith Kolberg formed FileHeads Professional Organizers in 1989. She is the founder of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, the precursor to the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD), a popular international speaker, and is widely recognized as an industry-thought leader. Chronically disorganized people of many stripes have embraced her non-traditional organizing methods as described in her five books, which have sold nearly a half million copies worldwide. Her latest book, Getting Organized in the Era of Endless, addresses the complex area of digital disorganization. Judith has held several leadership positions in the National Association of Professional Organizer (NAPO) and has been awarded the organizing industry’s highest honors. Judith resides in Atlanta, where she takes care of her Mom, sees clients, writes, and blogs. Kathleen G. Nadeau, PhD is a clinical psychologist and director of the Chesapeake ADHD Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she continues to practice and provide supervision and training related to ADHD. She has been a leader in the field for the past 20 years, publishing over a dozen books on topics related to ADHD. In 1999, she received the CHADD Hall of Fame Award for her ground-breaking work on women and girls with ADHD. Dr. Nadeau is a frequent lecturer both nationally and internationally and is known for her solution-focused, integrative approach to treating ADHD. She has focused for many years on issues relating to organization, planning, and daily life management challenges faced by individuals with ADHD and first approached professional organizer Judith Kolberg in the late 1990s about the need for an organizing book that specifically addresses the particular challenges faced by adults with ADHD.

ADD-Friendly Ways To Organize Your Life was a godsend for me when it was first published in 2002, coming out as I had just begun to grapple with my own ADD challenges. It soon became one of the most referenced books in my library. With this new, even-friendlier edition, Kolberg and Nadeau have produced a book chock full of great ideas, but not just on organizing. They also speak to how the ADD brain is wired. That’s important, because without self-knowledge, all the organizing tips in the world won’t help for long. Of special note in this new book is the section on getting organized in the digital world. Those chapters alone are worth the price of the book! ~Paul O’Connor, Master Certified ADHD Coach, Secretary, The Professional Association Of ADHD Coaches ADD-Friend Ways to Organize Your Life is a must read for my organizing clients and anyone that faces daily ADHD challenges. This comprehensive, easy to read book is packed full of helpful organizing ideas and strategies. Readers can apply these life changing methods immediately, to fit their specific needs. The new chapters give readers updated real life solutions to financial and digital management issues. ~Randi Lyman, CPO-CD® and Owner of A Helping HandThis is the organizing book that ADDers should own; all other fall short to this jewel. It’s a treasure trove of tips, techniques, and strategies that are current, easy to read, quick to implement, and empowering in your life. The synergy of this dynamic duo is so powerful to the ADHD world; Nadeau is an amazing clinician and Kolberg is one of the foremost leaders in professional organizing. ~Denise Allan CPO, CPO-CD, Board Member of ADD ResourcesIf you have ADD and are reading an organizing book that's for non-ADDers, it's like taking an allergy pill for a sore knee: you won't find relief. Get solutions that work right away with ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life. The user-friendly design allows you to address issues individually. Trouble making decisions? Skip to that chapter. Need to tackle the paper pile? Go straight to that section. You'll find specific, practical advice to implement yourself and with support. This is the best book available on organizing with ADD. ~Kate Varness, CPO-CD, COC, MA, Editor of The ICD Guide to Challenging Disorganization: For Professional OrganizersWhen you notice yourself silently shouting, "Ah-ha!" and "Oh, yeah!" as the book unfolds, you know you've found yourself a winner. If you have ADD and want to get control of your life, prepare for lots of this kind of response to the insightful and practical writing of Kolberg and Nadeau. While reflecting their years of successfully helping ADD clients, they manage to make their up-to-date information not only useful but FUN. Thanks a bunch, you two. It's good to know somebody understands —and can help. This book does both. ~Sandra Felton The Organizer Lady®, Author of 5 Days to a Clutter Free House, and Founder of Messies AnonymousAs a professional organizer, I really appreciate the three levels presented in this book. It requires an active and optimistic approach from the client. The levels are like a navigation system, each level showing new roads and shortcuts, but the client is always responsible for the next step or the engagement of the next level. That’s what I love about this book most of all: there is no more "waiting to be rescued", no more excuses to sit back or give up. The simple and attainable strategies will boost our clients self-confidence and will help them prosper.~Hilde Verdijk, CPO-CD®, MRPO®, Yourganize Professional OrganizingIn this 2nd Edition of ADD Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life, authors Judith Kolberg & Kathleen Nadeau offer even more practical ADHD approaches. The book shares new case studies of different paper, digital and time management situations followed with three levels of possible solutions and strategies. The chapter on decision making offers especially valuable insights into ways to move into action. ~Ellen R. Delap, CPO®, Professional-Organizer.comJudith Kolberg has done it again. This pioneer in productivity still leads the vanguard as the landscape changes. Packed with practical solutions and illuminating anecdotes, this new edition of ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life is a must-read for those who have ADD and those who work with them. ~Casey Moore, CPO, ACC, The Productivity CoachThe new edition of ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Kolberg and Nadeau is simply wonderful and I will highly recommend it to all my clients! ~Sari Solden, MS, LMFT, Psychotherapist and Author of Women with Attention Deficit Disorder and Journeys Through ADDulthood

• Foreword by Ari Tuckman. Foreword by Sue West. Preface. Part I: Getting Started 1. ADD-Friendly Organizing: A Different Organizing Approach 2. ADD-Friendly Strategies That Work with Your ADD 3. Structure and Support: Creating the Framework for Success. Part II: Taking Charge of ADD 4. Streamline and Simplify: Counteracting Complications 5. ADD Decision Dilemmas 6. B-o-r-i-n-g: Managing Stimulation Hunger and Hyperfocus 7. First Things First: Learning to Prioritize 8. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Remembering to Remember. Part III: Organizing Things 9. Getting Over Clutter Overwhelm 10. Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome: When You Need to Seek ADD Treatment 11. Packrat Syndrome 12. David’s Garage – When You Need a PO. Part IV: Organizing Time 13. Time Out: Tracking, EEstimating and Scheduling Time 14. Overcoming Over-Commitment 15. Plenty-of-Time Thinking: Dealing with Procrastination 16. The State of Rushness. Part V: Organizing Information 17. Hung Up on Hardcopy 18. Backlog Blues. Part VI: Organizing Finances 19. ADD-Friendly Budgeting and Bill Paying 20. ADD-Friendly Long-term Financial Planning. Part VII: Getting Organized in the Digital World 21. Managing Digital Distractions 22. The Internet Black Hole. Part VIII: Conclusion 23. Putting Organizing Ideas into Action.