ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life

It has two authors, and this pairing is what makes the book valuable.

Judith Kolberg is a professional organizer. She founded her own organizing company in 1989. In 1992 she started a working group focused on people living with chronic disorganization; that group continues today as the Institute for Challenging Disorganization. She is also credited as the person who coined the concept of "chronic disorganization."

Kathleen Nadeau is a clinical psychologist. She is the founder and clinical director of the Chesapeake ADHD Center in Maryland. She has worked on the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD for more than thirty years, has many books in this field, and is one of the people who have been working since early on for the recognition of ADHD in women.

The first edition of the book was published in 2002 by Brunner-Routledge. The second edition came from Routledge in 2016 and added new chapters on digital information organization, distractions, money management and the time-eating side of the internet.

I could not find a verified Turkish edition; I am writing it under its English name.

An organizer and a clinician

Most of the organizing books on the ADHD shelf come either from a psychologist or from an organizer.

The book written by a psychologist explains very well why you are struggling but does not know how to set up the inside of a closet. The book written by an organizer sets up the closet very well but does not understand why you messed it up again three weeks later.

In this book the two are on the same page. Kolberg comes from the field, from people's homes and stacks of paper. Nadeau knows the effect of ADHD on attention, time perception and decision making. The methods are built where these two kinds of knowledge intersect.

The spine of the book

The second edition consists of eight parts:

1. Getting started
2. Taking control of ADHD
3. Organizing things
4. Organizing time
5. Organizing information
6. Organizing money
7. Order in the digital world
8. Closing

The three chapters of the first part give the whole logic of the book. The first explains that ADHD-friendly organizing is a different approach. The second explains strategies that work with your ADHD. The third explains structure and support, which form the frame of success.

Strategy, structure, support. The rest of the book is the application of these three concepts to different areas.

Three levels of support

This is one of the most useful ideas in the book, and I have hardly ever come across it in general organizing advice.

For every strategy, three levels of support are suggested:

First level: on your own. Timers, reminders, visible cues, small systems you set up yourself.

Second level: non-professional support. Family, friends, a partner. Doing something together, or having someone be next to you.

Third level: professional support. A professional organizer, an ADHD coach, a therapist, an accountant.

Let me give a concrete example. There is a pile of envelopes that have not been opened for months.

At the first level, you put a timer next to the pile and for fifteen minutes you just open the envelopes and sort them into three boxes: throw away, take action, keep.

At the second level, you call a friend who is good with paperwork. The book calls this a "paper partner." The partner does not make the decisions; they sit next to you while you decide, ask questions, and bring you back when you scatter.

At the third level, if the pile has grown that large and has taxes, debts and official letters in it, you get help from an expert.

This structure does two things. First, it takes asking for help out of the category of failure and makes it an ordinary part of the system. Second, when the first level does not work, it teaches the reader to say "I need to move up a level" instead of "so I can't do it."

Out of sight, out of mind

Another important concept in the book is the idea of "out of sight, out of mind," abbreviated by its initials in English as OOSOM.

For many people with ADHD, what is put away in a drawer no longer exists. Supplies put in a cupboard are forgotten, papers in a box with a lid are never remembered, and then the same thing is bought again.

Classic organizing advice says exactly the opposite: clear the surfaces, put everything in closed cabinets, leave nothing in view.

The book recommends visible organization for this type of person. Boxes without lids, clear containers, open shelves, hooks, wall boards. Things are in order but in sight.

When I first read it, I was surprised that such a simple idea had not occurred to me for so long. For years I had fought with closed cabinets and always found the fault in myself.

I turned this idea into my own practice in the article on the visible place system.

The clutter companion

There is a counterpart of the paper partner for objects: the "clutter companion."

This person stands next to you while you sort through piles. They do not throw things away for you, and they do not organize for you. By their presence they help you stay focused on the task and notice your decisions to postpone.

This idea is very close to the method that is widespread today under the name "body doubling," or "companion work." Kolberg had used the companion idea earlier too, in her 1998 book on chronic disorganization; the term itself is generally attributed to the ADHD coach Linda Anderson. In the article on body doubling I explained why this method works.

Short sprints instead of a marathon

The book does not see organizing as a long, one-off reckoning.

Setting aside a whole weekend to tidy the house usually ends badly for someone with ADHD. In the first two hours energy is high, then attention scatters, the job is left half done, and the house looks messier than it did at the start. On top of that comes the feeling of "I couldn't finish again."

The book's suggestion is short sprints with definite limits. Fifteen minutes, a single drawer, a shelf, a pile. When it's done, stop. This both lowers the threshold for starting and reduces the risk of leaving the work half finished.

There is also the idea that a system has to "feel right" to the person. No matter how logical an organizing method is, if it feels wrong to the person using it, it does not live long. For this reason the book does not recommend a single right system; it wants the reader to notice their own preferences.

Money and the digital world

Two parts set the second edition apart from the first, and I think both are the places in the book that are most needed.

Money. In ADHD, money management is one of the areas least talked about and most life-affecting. Forgotten bills, late fees, impulsive spending, unopened bank letters. The book treats money as a matter of organization, like things and time. This frame made me ask these questions: where does the information arrive, who follows it, when is it looked at? The three levels of support work here too; getting help from an accountant or from a family member who is good with money is a natural part of the second or third level.

The digital world. Digital distractions and the side of the internet that the book calls a "black hole." A browser opened to look something up closes an hour later on an unrelated page. This part deals with organizing digital information and coping with distractions.

These two areas were absent or very limited in the first edition of the book. That is why reading the second edition matters.

A risk of second-level support

There is a point that is not much emphasized in the book but that I want to dwell on.

Second-level support often comes from a partner or a family member. This support is very valuable, but it has a trap: over time, the person giving the support can slip into a parent role. They become the person who reminds, supervises and finally does the work themselves.

This slide both wears down the relationship and prevents the person with ADHD from building their own system. The nice thing about the paper partner or clutter companion idea is that the limits of the support are clear: they sit next to you and leave the decision to you. Protecting this boundary is, I think, essential for the structure the book recommends to work.

Where it departs from general organizing advice

I want to write this all together, because this is where the book's real contribution lies.

Visibility. General advice recommends hiding everything; the book recommends keeping it visible.

Duration. General advice recommends a big cleaning day; the book recommends short sprints.

Loneliness. General advice presents organization as a matter of individual discipline. The book places support inside the system.

One system. General advice often offers a single right method. The book recommends finding the system that suits the person.

Why. General advice does not ask why you are struggling. The book ties each method to the effect of ADHD on attention, time and decision making.

Where it has aged, where it is lacking

The digital part has started to age again. The first edition was written before smartphones. The second edition added chapters on digital organization and the internet. But since 2016 apps, notifications and phone use have changed a great deal. The principles in these chapters are still valid; the concrete tool recommendations have aged.

The success stories are formulaic. Most of the cases in the book follow a straight line from disorder to order. As one review also put it, setbacks and failed attempts are told very little. Yet in ADHD a system collapsing and being rebuilt is more the ordinary case than the exception.

Third-level support is not open to everyone. Professional organizer and coaching services cost money. In Turkey it is also not easy to find a professional organizer experienced with ADHD.

The evidence base is field experience. Most of the methods rest on Kolberg's experience in the field and Nadeau's in the clinic. This experience is long and reliable, but the methods have not been tested as a program.

Acronyms and catchy names. The book likes to give concepts catchy names. This works, but at times it comes out a little too cute.

And one positive note: as a review also pointed out, the book stands in a balanced place on medication and describes medication as a supporting element. A book that knows the decision is made with a doctor.

For whom, and at what stage

For those who keep starting over with the order of home, paper and time. Especially for those who have tried the classic organizing books and think they have failed at all of them.

For those who live with someone who has ADHD. It is also very useful for partners and family members; it explains how to give second-level support.

For those who struggle to ask for help. The three-level idea makes this easier.

Whom I would not recommend it to: someone interested in the emotional side of ADHD, in shame, or in the period after diagnosis; this book hardly goes into those subjects. Nor to someone looking for up-to-date digital tool recommendations.

How to read it

Read the first part from start to finish. It is short and gives the logic of the book.

Then jump to the area you struggle with most: things, time, information, money or digital. The chapters are largely independent of one another.

Pick a single method from each chapter and try it at the first level. If it does not work, do not give up; move up to the second level.

The second edition is around two hundred and fifty pages. It is very suitable for sitting on the shelf as a reference book; that is how I use it too.