If you’re a client or have heard me speak you that I’ve never paid a bill and filed it right away in my life. I don’t think I’ve ever used a recipe and then put it back in the appropriate recipe folder right away. I don’t put packing slips, my kids cards, medical paperwork, or take out menus away in the folders where they belong. But that doesn’t mean my office/desk is a mess. On the contrary. It is always clean. How?  I have what I call “transitional areas.” I have an “in box” that is my “to be filed” place. I usually go through it every month or two, or when it threatens to fall over. So, I eliminate the tedious, every day, grind of following through with the boring task of filing stuff away “in the moment.” Instead it is a 20 minutes project that seems more efficient and can be undertaken at the time of my choosing when I feel like handling it.  I guess I should have done a post just on that strategy. But, I’m posting today to both extoll the virtues of this strategy and talk about how it can be a trap is not followed up on. The attached picture is what my “in box” looked like until last Thursday. Turns out it had been about 5 months since I went through it. Yikes! It has been a brutal winter with all the snow, my wife working a lot, all of us getting sick multiple times, a now six-year-old, a just-turned-one-year-old, and major renovation project where the contractor really let me down. In other words… LIFE happened. The best thing I can say about this transitional space system is that we want all of our systems to continue to work even when the worst case scenario…

So… every two years I go to an ADHD conference through MGH. I’m currently waiting for the evening session to begin. “Assessment and Management of ADHD in College Students.” I can’t wait to share everything I’m learning. I’m sure there will be a series of entries on a variety of topics. Since I only have 5 minutes right now, I will share my strategies for surviving the conference itself as an ADHD adult.  If I’m not interested in a particular presentation, I don’t guilt myself into staying for it.  I spend all day sitting against the back wall, pacing, moving around, leaning against the wall etc. Today I was actually in the back with two moms, one of a 3 month old and one 10 month old. I guess it’s me and the infants who can’t be contained by a chair. But I’m okay with that. I always find a gym near by and scam a trial membership. I got an amazing shoulder/core workout in before dinner tonight. Bottom line: these are the things I need to do to survive 12 hours of sitting still… even for a subject that interests me.

After just one meeting with Dad, one meeting with the whole family, and one meeting with a new high school sophomore I got this email from Dad: “Thank you very much. I have this very strong feeling that you are going to make a difference for [name] when no else has been able to.” That is why I do this.  Usually it takes a little longer to get such a positive response in writing. (See the “success stories” page.) But the truth is that for many kids (and adults) I can make a difference. I LOVE that! 

My children had, at one point, had 7 out of 12 days off from school due to snow. And… next week is February vacation. Hoooray! Funny how your perspective changes when you are a parent. Anyway, I’ll give you one short post for now, but hopefully March will settle down and I’ll get back to posting regularly.

I finally started the other blog that I’ve been planning for almost a year. If you are interested in gardening and/or cooking, check it out.

Please check out The “BSP” Extra on Cognitive Dissonance. I had trouble finding a link to it. It isn’t a numbered episode but is available on iTunes.  I think it will teach you tons about how we view the world.

I don’t think I’ve posted about this before… A client hipped me to a podcast a few years ago called “The Brain Science Podcast.” It is pretty intense and is often at a pretty high scientific level. I will admit that not all episodes are up my alley. Some are over my head. Some are boring. But the episodes that are in my “wheelhouse” are exceptional.  The newest 20 episodes are free. The older ones will cost you a buck. I’m working through some older episodes right now, so I may recommend ones that not free anymore. Sorry I’m behind. Not all of my Brain Science Podcast recommendations will be strictly about ADHD. But, they may be about topics that I think will effect everyone of us for one reason or another. I encourage you to give them a try. Even if you aren’t into the first one, please try a few. I think you’ll find at least one that has information that could change how you look at your life and your brain.  I suggest starting with Exercise and the Brain (BSP 33) I think it might change your thinking!

As part of my involvement with the New England Chapter of the National Assoc. of Professional Organizers. I’ll be a featured speaker at our Go Month organizational expo this Saturday.  Click here for details!

As of tonight, I am officially a member of the MGH Patients and Families Advisor Council. I’m super excited to be on this council and help make policy for one the best hospitals in the world. Apparently, there is much strategic planning and HIPA related stuff. So I may not be able to share too much, but I will do my best to keep everyone updated on what I can share.

I recently had a grandparent post on our CHADD website about… let’s say overwhelming stress while managing her ADHD grandchild. I’m sure many parents/ care givers end up in a similar place. I wanted to pass along two resources I’ve become aware of. If you are worried about losing control with your kids… Parental Stress line: 800-632-8188   or   www.parentshelpingparents.org And, if you are worried about you… Samaritans: 877-870-4673 The courageous thing to do is ask for help.

So, I can’t give all my secrets away on my blog, but…  There are three things we need to manage to be successful human beings. As ADHDers we may struggle with all three. They are Tasks, Time & Stuff. I’ll speak to managing task for a minute now. The best way I have found to manage tasks for us to a “simple” To Do List. However that list is not so simple. By my count there are 10 specific aspect to a really great and useful TDL. I’ll talk a little about one today.  The idea is to have one master list for things to get done in your personal life and one master list of things to get done at work I usually talk to clients for about 10 minutes about this aspect of the List and explore it pretty good depth. However, today I’m going to talk about the exception to the rule.  When we have one huge project with many moving parts or many sub-tasks it is usually better to create a side list. (The is the advanced lesson for most, once they TDL basics are mostly mastered.) I thought to mention this today, because I have a big project in my house. Since our second was born in April, the basement has been a $#!% storm of old baby stuff, new baby stuff, hand me downs, donations, etc. Not to mention my tools… As a professional organizer, it is the one place in my life, I’d be afraid to let a client see. And it really bugs me because the ease of finding what I need has decreased radically.  I went down the other day to game plan. I will admit I was overwhelmed. So, I picked one small aspect of the room and tackled that, then another small…

If you or your child takes a generic type of Concerta you need to read this: FDA generic Concerta update If you don’t know what generics are, please check out two posts ago for the basics.