What if you left all your dirty dishes in the sink for 3 weeks? Or let your laundry pile up for 2 months? How motivated would you feel to tackle it? Once your pile gets past a certain size, you’ll feel less and 
less like taking it on as it continues to mushroom. You can keep moving piles off your desk and onto the floor, or a chair, or a shelf, but you know they’re not going away.
less like taking it on as it continues to mushroom. You can keep moving piles off your desk and onto the floor, or a chair, or a shelf, but you know they’re not going away.I find that one of the hardest things for people to come to terms with about managing their stuff, whether it’s dishes or stacks of paper, is that it’s a never-ending job. The second hardest thing is that if you haven’t been managing your stuff for a while (or ever), it’s going to take a significant time investment to get it under control so that you can manage it day to day.
The third hardest thing is that each new piece of “inventory” has to be processed and that also takes time. That means even when you have a snappy system in place, you have to run each item through it, so greater quantity of items means greater quantity of time.
The best shortcut to a clear desk is not letting stuff get on there in the first place. Don’t set things down promising to get to them later. Spend a few seconds thinking about each new arrival. If your thoughts run to “I should do something about this,” “I ought to look at this” and “this looks kind of interesting,” consider cutting to the chase and recycling them now, rather than next month.
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Claire,
I've been recently diagnosed as an adult with ADHD or more accurately ADD-Inattentive Type.
Have you worked with adults with ADD? Do you find that they have to work differently to achieve the same results?
Take a look at www.addforums.com/forums.
Lots of people looking for guidance on getting organize both in their personal and professional lives.
Andy
Posted by: Andy H | January 8, 2007 6:20 PM | Permalink to Comment