ADD Holiday Survival Guide

With the holidays fast approaching, I want to share some useful information to help you through the holiday season.

To budget for all the wonderful gifts you plan to buy this holiday, here is a well known website where you can order your credit report. Log on to annualcreditreport.com. You’re entitled, by law, to a free credit report once a year from each of the major credit-reporting bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

Another useful bit of information is a wonderful survival guide offered by ADDITUDE magazine. Here are the first three tips. I will send out subsequent tips in the next few days.

1 REPLAY YOUR GREATEST HITS

Make a list of all the activities your family did last year—everything from attending a religious service to seeing local light displays. Have each family member rate them on a scale from 1 (very important) to 3 (unimportant). Do your best to fit in the 1s and some 2s, and forget about the 3s.

2 SAVE THE EARTH—AND YOUR WALLET

Set a date on your calendar to send out cards, and make the job fun and easy by using your computer to send cute, interactive e-mail cards.

3 STREAMLINE GIFT-GIVING

Keep shopping simple by buying everyone varieties of the same thing, such as books, gift certificates, or clothing from the same catalog or website. Stock up on decorative candles or bottles of wine to give out as hostess gifts, too.

These simple tips might save you some time and stress. Happy Holidays!

Power of Positive Thinking

Therapists and ADHD coaches tell ADDers to practice “self-talk.” There is great value in talking to ourselves, assuming that we speak as we would want others to speak to us. Unfortunately, that’s not what typically happens. In revisiting the various events of our lives, it is the 20 percent we did wrong -- not the 80 percent we did right -- that we remember and castigate ourselves about.

No Use Being Negative

The negative words we reserve only for ourselves are counterproductive. Did you know that the unconscious mind does not compute negation in language? That’s right -- the deepest recesses of the mind don’t process the word “no.” Therefore, when we say, “I will not fritter my time away on the computer today,” the words are read as, “I will fritter my time away on the computer.”

And we wonder how we manage to find ourselves, once more, firmly stuck in those black holes. We talk ourselves into them! No amount of “but I said...” changes the fact that we have commanded ourselves to do the very things we want to avoid. And we beat ourselves up over our transgression. What is this telling us about the path we must choose for our positive growth? we must head towards the positive.

The bottom line to all of this is that we are our thoughts. If we think negatively, we will be in a negative state. If we think positive and speak positive, we will be and do the positive. Our intentions are within our powers. Speak the positive and see what happens.

As an ADHD coach, I steer my clients to the positive. If you are interested in ADHD coaching, please contact me at www.ahelpinghandforyou.com.

(Portions of this wonderful article are excerpts from ADDITUDE magazine, Peggy Ramundo, Kate Kelly, Winter 2009.)

Thanksgiving In New Orleans

I am so glad to be spending a week in New Orleans with my husband, brother, brother's girlfriend, my niece and nephew. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving withg everyone. The other great thing is to be taking some time off from organizing. As much as I love my business and my clients, I really needed some time off. Fortunately, I have been very busy and working like a maniac. So, it is really good to be taking some time off and visiting the Cresent City.

We were supposed to go on a walking tour of the Garden District this morning. It was cancelled, so we will be taking that tour tomorrow morning. This morning, George and I took our dog Sammy for a walk in the French Quarter. We took a carriage ride and the carriage driver conducted a tour, which was quite good. I also love walking down Royal Street, checking out the wonderful antique shops, not that I want to buy anything. I love the crystal chandeliers and beautiful jewelry in the shops.

This afternoon we went to Cooter Browns (cooterbrowns.com) for oysters on the half shell. Boy were those oysters good. Cooters has at least four hundred different beers. George enjoys drinking Dixie Blackened Voodoo and Abita Turbo Dog.

This evening, we are going to the Mid-City Rock & Bowl (rockandbowl.com) to bowl and hear some really great Zydeco music. We will be rockin' at Mid-City. It's good to be on vacation...

When Hoarders Make Life Miserable

I read a Wall Street Journal article that was good on one hand and slammed professional organizers and the therapeutic community on the other hand. From the point of view of a child of a hoarder, they are tired of having the hoarder get all of the consideration while the children are ignored. This might be a common scenario for the child of a hoarder. They might have been ignored by the hoarding parent or parents and are still being ignored by their parent/s. That article can be found at: file:///Users/admin/Desktop/When%20Hoarders%20Make%20Life%20Miserable%20for%20Others%20-%20WSJ.com.webarchive

The person that made many good comments was Elizabeth Nelson, who is the spokesperson for the website "Children of Hoarders" http://www.childrenofhoarders.com.

She makes the point that the hoarder is portrayed as the victim in most situations, and all those involved in the life of the hoarder tiptoe around the hoarder. She advocates action against the worse cases of hoarding to protect the hoarder. There has to be a middle ground, and that is what I am exploring. Please weigh in on this issue.

Life of your dreams

"The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams." This was a quote from Oprah Winfrey. What is the life of your dreams? It is a fascinating question and one that I would like to spend a day or a week or a year going around and asking all that I meet "What would it mean to you to live the life of your dreams?"

For me, I've always dreamed of traveling around the world. Having the time and money to do such a thing is a dream of mine, as far off as it might seem. I can't imagine having the freedom and/or the money to just take off with George and travel the world. Where would I want to start that journey? Maybe I'd start with Australia, or maybe Italy, since I have not been to either of these locations.

I can imagine traveling to many exotic locations. I would have a wonderful time sightseeing and trying to discover the out of the way places that would give me a true sense of what it was like to live in the location I was visiting. I do look forward to a time when I can afford to do that kind of traveling. Right now, it seems like a very far off dream.

I think of this traveling around the world as living a dream, but in my current reality, I am too busy running my business and learning new ways of helping my clients live a simpler, less chaotic life, filled with joy. I live a joyous life and I get great pleasure in doing meaningful work with my wonderful clients. That to me right now is living my dream. I can wait for the traveling at a later time.

If you are interested in world travel, there are some really good travel sites such as: http://www.iexplore.com Check it out.

Can I get kicked off my own blog page?

O.K., the last time I posted it was in October. I know that I might need to blog more for this blog to have any meaning other then my own blog diary. I also need to read and respond to others blogs. I hardly do that, therefore, no other bloggers know that this site exists, with the exception of a few wonderful people that check this out from my website. Thank you to them!

Here is the million dollar question "Where do I get the free time to do this?" I am a professional organizer and there is a myth that professional organizers are "Super Heros." Please share where that myth came from and I will "kill the messenger" of that myth. We humans have to understand where our priorities lie, and mine have not been blogging, obviously. If anyone is reading this blog, feel free to respond to the questions posed within this text.

On to a bit of information for all those that find hoarding information very important, interesting and useful. Check out 65 Ways To Start the Conversation About Hoarding by Catherine MacDonald @ HowToHelpAHoarder.com

That is all the time I have for this blog. Good night.

We have come to know that parents who are involved in their children's education, play a huge role in their child's success at school and throughout their child's lifetime of successes. If you receive a request or a recommendation that your child might benefit from an ADHD assessment, this can be treated like any other recommendation - ask a lot of questions until you are satisfied that this path suits your child. Keep in mind that although there are still mistakes or abuses in the labeling of ADHD kids, the more important problem is under-diagnosing. A child with undiagnosed ADHD faces a lifetime of challenges that can be mitigated by their parents early intervention. For the latest research, go to www.chadd.org, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The CHADD site is a superior resource for parents and children with ADHD. In addition to CHADD, the National Association of Professional Organizers' (NAPO) New York chapter is hosting Sari Solden, who is an ADD psychotherapist and a pioneer on ADD and women. Join Sari Solden on November 7th as she presents "Understanding the Secret World of Women with AD/HD. For more information visit NAPO-NY's site at www.napo-ny.net.

Holiday Giving

I can not believe that it is almost the end of October? Where the heck did the time go? It will be Halloween in a few days and then we’ll start thinking about Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s and so forth. It’s all coming at us so very fast and furious. The recession may have changed the way we will be buying this holiday season.

There are many people that don’t have jobs right now and they may be our friends, our neighbors or former colleagues. Those that do have jobs , many of them have had to take pay cuts to keep their jobs. You can bet there are changes that we are all making in our personal lives that will impact how we celebrate the upcoming holidays.

For way too long, the holidays have been about stuff–the stuff we get and the food we stuff down our throats. The upcoming holidays are supposed to be about family and friends, thanksgiving and compassion, redemption and forgiveness, new beginnings and old traditions, love and sacred beliefs. Too often, the focus shifts to finding batteries for the barrage of toys to come, wrapping paper, and shopping deals. Take a moment or two this year to think about those who are still struggling. Have your children (nieces and nephews) buy a few gifts for those children that will not have anything this holiday season. Think about giving money or food to your local food banks for those who are hungry. You can send a box to a U.S. soldier through www.AnySoldier.com for those brave men and women that will not be with their family for the holidays.

Please think about giving of yourself and/or your time and helping those who could use your help this holiday season. You will feel better for helping another less fortunate than you. Pass on that lesson to your children, who will also feel better about the simple and selfless act of giving. God bless you and your family this holiday season!

Doing It With Intent-Where are my credit cards???

Well, I have been thinking a lot about the advice I gave my client today regarding "doing things with intent." I know I have discussed intent before, but this time I just want to brush up against the idea of doing something with intent. This will definitely not be the last time I talk about intent either, so get over that!

I go to the store, buy items, get to the cash register and pull out my wallet to pay for the items I just bought. There are a couple of things that could happen here. I could get distracted, drop my wallet, everything spills out, the line gets long, I start worrying about whether I picked up all of my credit cards, money and rolling coins or worry about what all these strangers on this line think of me.

Rule #1, who cares what strangers think? I don't. Rule #2, stop, see where all my money, credit cards and coins just went and retrieve them. Solicit the help of kind strangers to help pick up the rolling coins, #Rule #3, thank everyone for their help, pay bill, leave store with all items safely tucked in wallet and complete and total dignity intact.

Who cares what strangers think, we care about what we think. What does this have to do with intent you ask? Good question. The point is knowing what is in my hand when I whip out the wallet, making sure that I do not rush myself and therefore not pick up my money, etc., not care about the good opinions of others and stop, take a breath, pay my bill, place the wallet and all contents back inside, not rushing and losing more stuff, not caring that the check-out line has to wait an extra minute or two for me to compose myself, stash the cash and happily take my purchase out with me.

Knowing what I have in my hand at all times is about intent. It's about not just moving through life without being plugged into that life. It is about living in the now, really. It's about enjoying the heck out of this NOW!!! It is also being in control of what is in my hand and taking responsibility for where that item goes next.

Good Colleagues

This entry is about my two friends and colleagues that are very special to me. They are Heidi Schulz who resides in Santa Barbara, CA., and Kristin Bergfeld, who resides in NYC. Like me, they work with folks with special needs. Also like me, they work very hard to understand and assist their clients with compassion and respect. All three of us have the opportunity to help people realize that there is hope for them when they feel hopeless.

We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with our clients that have tremendous challenges such as hoarding. We work with these truly wonderful clients to help them achieve something that they once thought was only a distant dream, long-term clutter management. You might be asking yourself how this is managed. Well, it is a long road of continual work built around our client's motivation, desire and need for change.

There are others' that play a key role in the work that we do with our clients. These key players are psychiatrists, therapists, social workers, family members and any other support person that wants to be a part of the organizing process (at our client's request). Our hoarding clients can't do the work alone. They need a collaborative team to help and support them throughout their lives, especially when working on long-term clutter management.

I respect and honor these two women for the fine work that they do. I am fortunate to have them in my life! We are cut from the same cloth and are truly digging what we do for a living! How many people can say that they are living their passion? I know that I can!!!

To find out more about the work these two women do, please check out http://www.heidischulz.com and http://www.bergfelds.com

Amazing Grace

I know this has nothing to do with nothing, but I found this video very beautiful. Once in a while, it is nice to just enjoy and really dig "beautiful." http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1785324681?bclid=1338935106&bctid=1913313052

Check it out and I hope you enjoy it too!

NSGCD Conference

I really enjoyed the five days that I spent in Los Angeles, CA. I didn't see much of the city, but had a great time in the Omni Hotel on Olive St. ) (http://www.omnihotels.com).

My great friend Heidi Schulz (http://www.heidischulz.com) and I did get to eat our 1st pre-conference dinner at a great Mexican restaurant on the Omni's property. The food was Mexican topas. It was so good that we could have stayed there eating our way into oblivion all evening, but we did have restraint and I am proud of that.

I experienced a real treat at this conference, and that was getting a chance to spend some time with my dear sweet colleague Terry Prince (http://www.terryprince.com). I hope she has a great time on her dad's 85th birthday cruise. It was a great conference.

NSGCD Conference

The National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization is holding their annual conference from Oct. 1-3 in Los Angeles. I am flying out there this morning. I am a board member, Publications Director, so I need to get there a little earlier. This year's theme is Transitions, Changes in the way we live, work and think.

Our featured speaker is Dr. Daniel G. Amen, an award winning physician, psychiatrist, best-selling author, international speaker, and brain enhancement expert. He is the author of 23 books, including the New York Times best-seller, “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life”. He is at the forefront of applying brain science to improve everyday life.

This years conference will be another wonderful learning opportunity, listening and learning from presenters that work in a number of mental health and related fields, that directly impact the challenges of my chronically disorganized client base.

Sharing time with my colleagues from all over the nation and world is the best part of conference. More on this later.

The Power of a Mom's Love

Michael Phelps was recently in the news again breaking another swimming world record, in the butterfly.

His story has a powerful message that all parents who have children with ADHD need to take wind of and integrate into their families. It is the power of love and belief in others. It is the power of one person, his Mom, to see only the good in her son. When everyone else saw problems, it was the power of one mother to see possibilities. This was the result of a parent's belief, love and confidence her son could do something well, even when other people in the academic world were telling him what he didn't do well.

It was the power of one Mom persevering relentlessly and always saying to her child: "You can and you will if you want to. Don't let what you can't do get in the way of what you already, brilliantly can. Just because you struggled in school does not make you a loser. Just because the teachers didn't understand how you are wired does not make you stupid. I know how you are wired and your brain has trillions of different ways of processing the world around you. If you can find something you love then I will also love it. I will always let you know about your love for swimming as long as it ignites both your head and your heart."

Michael Phelps has a mom who has always believed in his ability to do something well; not everything, but at least one thing. She never gave up letting him know that he won't get satisfaction from trying to making his academic weaknesses stronger. Michael's mom knew you make the most out of life by doing what you love, especially when you already do it well. Think of all the swimmers, musicians, artists, writers, web designers, who may have ADHD and do something well but are directed to spend their focus, time & energy on tasks that play to their weaknesses. Their brains are not getting the nourishment they need. When you have ADHD, you don't gain any kind of momentum, or positive self-esteem by focusing, on what you don't do well. You get ahead in life by focusing on what you already do well and fin ding ways to do it better.

Through the power of his Mom's love and Michael's unrelenting, hyper focus and determination, he transformed his natural swimming talents, into super-human strengths. We were all given the gift of witnessing the greatest swimmer in Olympic history. Thanks Mom!!!!!
(Written by David Giwerc, MCC, ADDCA Founder)

Me & the Flu

My last blog was about the H1N1 flu epidemic. I gave important and helpful information, which I took off of the CDC's website. The main reason I am so buggy about the flu is simple. A number of years ago I had the flu and I unfortunately ended up with viral encephalitis from that flu virus. The virus went to my brain and caused me to go into a coma and end up in intensive care at the hospital.

The long term effects of viral encephalitis on my life was a brain injury and long-term damage. I was very fortunate and a lot of the damage has since been reversed, but there is still some lifetime damage and long-term memory loss that is gone forever. This kind of a brain injury is called an ABI (Acquired Brain Injury).

There is wonderful information out there about brain injuries and the effects of different kinds of brain injuries on people and their families, which can be found on the website for the Brain Injury Association of Texas at: http://www.biatx.org. If you are interested in information on brain injuries, current research and help of any kind, check out this wonderful site.

Since I am in the population of those with compromised systems, I get a flu shot as soon as they are available. So, my main message here is to be careful, wash your hands frequently, sneeze into your clothing and not in the air, and try to avoid touching your face, mouth or eyes after you have touched something, until you can wash your hands. You will spread the germ fast and furiously if you do not take precautions. Teach your children (young & old) these healthy habits too.

To find out where flu shots are available in your town, check out: http://www.healthline.com. Stay healthy this year for yourself and for your loved ones!

H1N1 Update from the CDC

Prevention & Treatment

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?
There is no vaccine available right now to protect against 2009 H1N1 virus. However, a 2009 H1N1 vaccine is currently in production and may be ready for the public in the fall. As always, a vaccine will be available to protect againstseasonal influenza
There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza.

Take these everyday steps to protect your health:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners*are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you are sick with flu-like illness, CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.) Keep away from others as much as possible to keep from making others sick.

Other important actions that you can take are:

• Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other social distancing measures.
• Be prepared in case you get sick and need to stay home for a week or so; a supply of over-the-counter medicines,alcohol-based hand rubs,* tissues and other related items might could be useful and help avoid the need to make trips out in public while you are sick and contagious

What is the best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing?
If you are sick with flu-like illness, CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)
Keep away from others as much as possible. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Put your used tissue in the waste basket. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.

Hoarding on A & E / My Collaborative Team

There is a new show on A & E called "Hoarding." It is a reality show that shows the challenging side of hoarding. There have been three episodes so far, and the first one where there was an intervention by a professional organizer and a therapist, alongside the hoarder made the most sense for the helpfulness of the process, when it comes to working in a collaborative setting. '

Many of my hoarding clients are calling me up with excitement about the "Hoarders" show. They are so happy to see other people on T.V. that are also going through similar struggles. They seem to think this series is not as sensational as others they have seen on T.V.

With the experience that I have had as a professional organizer working with hoarders, I prefer to work collaboratively with as many people on my clients team as we can get. Currently, I am working with a hoarding client that lives alone in a four bedroom home that is almost filled to capacity. This client suffers from bipolar disorder, ADD, depression and COPD. She doesn't have family that lives close by, but does have a neighbor that checks in on her often. The woman's therapist contacted me. I went and assessed the client's situation while the therapist was there, and decided with the client where we would start the process . We agreed that we would all work collaboratively, the therapist, the client and a social worker that is also involved in this case. The woman's daughter is also involved in the process from a distance.

I feel good about our working arrangement of having a team to discuss the work with. They are here to offer my client and I support for the work that we'll be doing in the house. I will be reporting the process and progress in the house to the mental health team. The mental health team will also be working with the hoarder in their offices, continuing to discuss and support the on going therapy that is in place, along with conversations about strategies and systems that my client and I will be creating in the home. My client is excited about the process and looking forward to moving ahead. I am excited by her motivation and drive.

Here is the link to check out the new show on A & E: http://www.aetv.com

Happy Marriage

I'm celebrating my 17th wedding anniversary today with my darling husband George. He is one of the dearest men I have ever known. He is the kind of man that one feels really safe with and loved by. He has never been fake, he is a truly "real" person.

He travels a lot for business, and when he is gone, I miss him dearly. I am very proud of all of his accomplishments, as he is proud of all of mine. He is the kind of person that you can truly be yourself around. I am blessed to be taking this life's journey with him. We are walking hand-in-hand down the road of life, one step at a time. This is a great moment in my life and I will always remember its specialness.

Trusting and Strengthening Your Intuition

Whether you call your intuition a hunch, sense, notion or instinct, do you trust it? When you are in a situation where you must either listen to your intuition or not, which choice do you make? How did you know what choice to make? Here are some simple ideas to help you strengthen your intuitive mind.

We all have an intuitive mind and a logical mind. We more often use our logical mind without taking advantage of our intuitive abilities. One of the reasons might be that our hectic, cluttered or overwhelming life stops us from our ability to connect with our intuitive mind. Trusting and strengthening your intuition starts by trusting yourself and taking the time to listen to your inner wisdom.

To do this, its most helpful to find a quiet place where you can relax, control your breathing and slowly clear your mind of thought. Once you are in a state of peacefulness, as yourself any question that you have been struggling with in your logical mind. Stay quiet and let the answer to the question come to you instinctively, from within. Trust that intuitive voice by taking action. Once you've taken action, you can start an "intuition log" to monitor the outcome, to see how your intuition served you.

Another way to strengthen your intuition is to tune into your internal energy and the energy that surrounds you. Are you a positive or negative person? The power of positive thinking creates positive energy. This energy helps you to feel strong, loving and encouraging. Negative energy depletes your spirit and can make you mean. Your intuition can only blossom and grow around your positive energy. Are the people in your life positive or negative? Don't you feel so much better when you surround yourself with positive, happy people who honor your relationship and add to your happy spirit? I bet you said "yes" to this question. Let your intuition be your guide to help you weed through and decide who adds to your positive energy and who doesn't.

These two suggestions are beginning ideas to strengthen your intuition. What suggestions do you have for trusting and strengthening your intuition? How has your intuition helped you?

Keeping the Faith

When we get on a plane we have the FAITH that it is going to fly!

When we go to bed we have FAITH that we will awake in the morning. When we leave our house we have FAITH that it will be there when we return.

The majority of our daily activities are solely based on our faith and belief. If we had no faith, we wouldn't even be able to get out of bed in the morning.

Faith fuels our very being. Our faith is tested when things get hard, when we are afraid, and when our perfectly laid plans aren't so perfect. True faith is continued belief in the face of adversity. True faith is when you have every single reason in the world to have NO faith.

So, here is how you hold on and keep your faith:

1. Be clear about what you want. Faith wavers when it is uncertain what to claim. Claim what you want.

2. Stop looking for the results. This is not your job. Your job is to keep the faith, keep the action going and keep repeating these steps.

3. Know that our faith will be constantly tested. You pass the test when you continue to believe.

No meaningful life was ever built on uncertainty and no leader appeared out of doubt. Believe in yourself, your faith and your abilities. Good will come from this.

Your Buried Treasure

You have experienced successful, fulfilling events in your life that brought you great joy and strengthened your self-confidence. You know these experiences exist, but you have not visited them for a long time. Unfortunately, they are buried in the depths of your subconscious memory.

Unbeknownst to you, these buried knowings are your personal treasure. They can provide you with a powerful reference, knowledge and experience you can recreate. Knowing that there is a source of success, available to you, will provide you with a stronger sense of confidence and encourage you to take action when entering unknown territory.

Once you have discovered your successful knowings and can excavate them out of the depths of your subconscious, you will find an empowering resource that reveals your strengths, successful systems and strategies that can be incorporated in your life. Your knowings also include the values that motivated you to pursue important objectives. How many experiences do you know of that can give you the confidence to take action and ignite the special sparks in your heart? Discovering and revisiting your buried treasure will empower you to act on important goals that will reveal precious clues aligned with your passion.

Your knowings remind you past success can be recreated; maybe even with better results. What good will your buried knowings do if they remain hidden and concealed?

The following questions can support you in the process of discovering your buried treasure of "knowings":

What experiences in your personal, academic, family, professional or business life have:

• Made you feel good;

• Given you a strong sense of accomplishment;

• Been fulfilling;

• Brought you instant joy

What is the first step you can take to look for your buried treasure?

When is the last time you paid attention to these knowings?

What would happen if you paid more attention to your knowings of success?

Once you discover your inner knowings, you need to identify reminders you can use: a visual, a quote, a word, a song, to remember to focus on your own treasure of knowings.

If you don't pay attention to your buried treasure, it will remain concealed and become your biggest barrier to success. Don't deny yourself your own inner treasure! You have the antidote to stagnation and procrastination, sitting in your mind waiting to be rediscovered and set free!

Managing Emails

My clients are always asking me for strategies on managing emails. This info is from a new article in ADDITUDE magazine and is a simple guideline:

Limit Messages

The fewer email messages that come in, the fewer you have to deal with.

• Set e-mail software filters for messages you want to receive, but don’t need to read right away. They will automatically be archived or moved to a folder you designate. To set up a filter in Outlook, choose “Rules and Alerts” from the Tools menu; in Gmail, click “settings” (at the upper right of your screen), then the “filters” tab.

• Mark unwanted e-mails as spam. Future messages from the sender will go to your junk-mail folder.

• Use an e-mail-filtering program to limit access to your inbox. These programs, such as ChoiceMail, automatically approve e-mails from only the senders you know and trust. Unapproved senders will be blocked.

Manage The Messages You Receive

• Resist opening e-mails first thing in the morning.

• Don’t allow others to set your agenda. Set a schedule to attend to e-mail -- a half-hour before lunch and a half-hour before you leave for the day.

• Turn off the e-mail notification function. Having attention called to each new message is a distraction that ADD adults don’t need.

• Limit follow-up e-mails. Create a subject line that lets the recipient know exactly what your message is about.

• Respond to any e-mail that requires a brief response as soon as you open it. Don't put it off to re-read later.

• Mark e-mails that require an action. You’ll be able to quickly find the action items later on.

• Empty your inbox every day. Old e-mails that require no immediate action distract you from more important e-mails that require your attention.

A Clock That Sticks Anywhere–To Keep You on Track

This is a helpful idea–a clock with a suction cup that you can stick anywhere a suction cup sticks to, especially on your shower door. The Bath Clock is one way to improve your morning routine by supporting your need to keep track of time.

Once you add a new item like a clock to your environment, it's important to create the habit of looking at that clock to help you gauge how long each segment of a task is taking you.

Regularly checking your time as you work through your morning routine will help you manage your time more effectively. It is important to know how much time is needed for each task you do before walking out the door. Let's look at how your morning routine breaks down into measurable segments:

A. What time do you wake up? B. How long to shower and fix your hair? C. How long to get dressed? D. If you are a woman, how long does it take to apply your makeup? E. How long does it take for you to eat breakfast? F. Are there any other people in the house that you are responsible for getting up and out the door in the morning? If so, how long does that process take? Break those steps down too and add up the needed time.

What often gets us off track is our inability to manage our time better–5 minutes in the shower can often turn into 15 minutes or more. With the Bath Clock stuck to your shower wall, you'll stay on track so that you no longer get stuck in the shower, lost in your own thoughts. Here is where you can buy it: http://www.stacksandstacks.com/bath-clock-suction

ADHD Sleep: Sweet Dreams or a Nightmare?

Liz can't sleep at night. She tosses and turns and she isn't alone in her battle to sleep. For many ADHD adults, sleep is a battleground between your overactive mind and your exhausted body. Research shows that people who sleep fewer than seven-and-a-half hours a night are at greater risk for diabetes, obesity and heart disease, and lack of sleep can mimic ADHD symptoms, doubling the ADHD effect for people. ADHD treatment can cause insomnia. Stimulant medications make you alert during the day but keep you awake at bedtime. Doctors often suggest avoiding stimulants late in the day to reduce residual effects, although some doctors prescribe an additional dose of stimulant medication before bedtime to help your ADHD brain focus on the immediate goal: falling asleep. So how can you consistently achieve that "good night's sleep?" An evening ritual can help you transition between activity and rest. Take a warm bath, read a few pages of a boring novel or enjoy some herbal tea. Your sleep environment must be inviting. If a lumpy 20-year-old mattress is keeping you from going to bed, quality bedding will be an investment in better sleep and better health. When your ADHD brain won't shut down, try a "brain dump." Quickly write down all the ideas and worries that are spinning in your head - write fast and furiously for five minutes only. Capturing the ideas on paper frees your mind so you can drift off. Keep the pencil and paper beside your bed to dump any middle-of-the-night brainstorms. If you fall asleep only to wake up an hour or two later, try calm, deep breaths, focusing on the exchange of air, similar to meditation. If you're still awake after 20 minutes, stop the torture. Get out of bed! Listen to soothing music, have a glass of cocoa (warm milk really does help!) or read a magazine until you are drowsy again. Do NOT watch TV or surf the Internet! These electronic devices emit light your brain interprets as "dawn's early light," which signals you to wake up. If you must work on the computer or watch TV in the evening, try blue light blocker screen filters, which cast a warmish, sunset kind of light over the screen. Despite the obstacles, ADHD adults can achieve a good night's sleep. Talk to your doctor to ensure your sleep issues aren't the byproduct of a physical ailment such as sleep apnea. Then try some of the ADHD-friendly suggestions in this article. I hope you can enjoy a good nights sleep!

Make the Wrong Stimuli Less Sticky

In this day of stimulation overload, all of us need to work harder to stay on track. Therefore, those of us who have a harder time filtering out tempting stimuli will stand out from the crowd. Those with ADHD will run into more trouble than most. Their distractibility, disorganization, forgetfulness and impulsivity will be more obvious since their the demands are so much greater.

So how do you get yourself unstuck from all those "wrong" stimuli? There are two basic ways:

Make the Wrong Stimuli Less Sticky

It's easier to be less distracted if there is less distracting you. So get rid of those distractions before they get you. Here are some examples:

• Turn off your phone and email alert when you really need to focus in and get some stuff done.
• Get rid of the clutter where you tend to lose more important things.
• When you have limited time, don't even start those activities that you tend to get lost in.
• Unsubscribe from those email alerts and newsletters that waste your time.

Make the Right Stimuli More Sticky

You're more likely to notice the right thing at the right time if you can make it stand out more. For example:

• Set an alarm to remind you of upcoming appointments or when it's time to start getting ready.
• Use bright colors to draw your eye to the things that you're supposed to pay attention to.
• Put important things in designated places (like right next to the door) to make it easier to see them and more likely that you will bring them with you.

Try to keep these two simple concepts in mind as you go through your day. We're not looking for perfection, just for a way to change the odds to make you more likely to do the right thing at the right time. When you find that you wandered off, take a second to reflect back on what happened. What can you learn from that experience? Is there anything you can do differently next time? Look for those lessons from past failures in order to create more successes in the future!

Creating Your Family Launch Pad

Create a "launch pad" in your home. This is the place (hook, cubby hole, container or decorative basket on top of a piece of furniture) by the door that holds our important out-the-door items. This area is maintained on a daily basis; not a drop zone for just anything coming in the door. This area is for items that must be staged for leaving with us each morning or put away as we walk in the door each evening. This is not a drop zone, but an active area.

If you need additional visual support; directions about what to take out the door or bring in with you upon entering, use a 4 x 6 brightly colored Post-It^® to list the five or six important items going out each morning and coming in each evening. You can also list where your put away items need to be stored until you have successfully created your put-away habit.

All family members are responsible for keeping their "launch pad" area organized and ready for use. Smaller children always need their parents help with this process. But by creating this out-the-door routine, family members can be assured that they will walk out the door with what they need and not have to run all over the house collecting items that need to leave with them each morning.