One thing every business owner can benefit from...

If there is one thing that would benefit any business owner, it would be having a well organized work space. Whether it's a store, workshop, or office, the last thing you need is to be wasting time looking for that invoice you know is due or an important work tool or the contact information of a client that is waiting for you to get back to them. If you are a business owner with ADHD that frustration level can feel even higher.

Those of us with ADHD can have multiple thoughts and ideas swimming around in our brains all at once. It can be great when you're trying to come up with a new project at work, but frustrating when your trying to get day to day stuff done and need to stay on task. When there is clutter in any area of the office, or you can't remember where you put something away, that distraction will pull you away from what you meant to get accomplished and will increase your probability of becoming overwhelmed.

On the other hand, when you walk into work in the morning with a clean desk, without yesterdays work left behind, your brain will be able to relax and address whatever it is you choose to get done for the day.

Knowing and doing are two different things.

Even though getting and staying organized can be the best line of defense for mastery over your business, it can also be one of the hardest things to accomplish as an ADHD business owner. We often have so many other concerns and so many things that have to be done in order to run the business effectively that we don't have time or mental energy to bother with organization.

Decide that the results on your emotional health will be worth the effort.

If your starting from chaos, and you've been putting off getting organized for too long, congratulations. You will feel the greatest sense of achievement of all. You are going to love the results of your efforts.

Start out by scheduling a time when you are free from distractions. Decide if you want help or if you want to tackle the project on your own. You may want to schedule several short periods of time, or take a full day or weekend and just knock it all out at once. Either way, put it into your schedule and hold yourself accountable for this time.

It will looks worse before it gets better.

My organizing project had to do with a pile of papers that I've been collecting for a year and a half. I took meticulous notes from trainings and research and left it all in a pile. Every time I looked in the pile for something in particular, I just got stressed out and gave up. This paperwork needed to be organized.

I knew I wanted to start by making piles as I sorted. I didn't know beforehand what each pile would be, but I knew I needed to start somewhere. I used these sticky notes to create the categories as I came up with them. I picked sticky notes that were a little girly and fun, to keep the process light.

Once I had the papers sorted into categories, I was ready to find them a permanent home. These papers are pretty important to me, and I want to be able to refer to them regularly. The best way for me to enjoy actually putting them away and the process of getting organized at all, requires something fun & novel.

I bought new file folders with pretty designs and colors, along with a new calendar book. Each of the colors will represent a different category and the pages in each category can be divided down further into smaller related sections. My ADHD brain loves to spend small moments looking at pretty things. If those pretty things are part of my business, then I'm more likely to use them and feel accomplished at the end of the day.

If you would like some help getting unstuck from your organizational struggles or motivational woes, schedule a free consultation and let's design a plan that is just right for you.

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