Planning before doing

[Lovinit]

I watched on of the how to Adhd videos by Jessica Mc something and it was about cleaning the house and what steps to take to accomplish it. Step one go in each room and write down what needs to get done. What I do instead is jump right in with no plan. That’s how I feel like I do everything. Is there someone reading this that is good at planning ahead making lists and then following it though? I feel like if I found some systems for things I need to get do it would help me

[SpringsMarty]

I find that I need to plan almost everything before I do it. If jumping right in works for you, then stay with it. For me, I feel overwhelmed, not sure what to do first, and I become paralyzed.

[78rpm]

Everybody's ADHD manifests itself differently. So a given hack that might work for some or even most ADHDers might not work for you or for me. You have to tweak until you find something that works for you.

I have the exact opposite problem than you do. Going into a room and writing down what needs to be done is easy for me. And I can come up with WONDERFUL and sometimes BRILLIANT plans for things. What is hard for me is jumping in and just DOING it.

Here's the best housekeeping hack that I found that works for me. And it sounds like it might work for you based on your inclination to just "jump in." Basically, the approach is to jump in using a very easy methodology and plan as you go.

The first step is to have four appropriately sized containers plus an appropriately sized trash can/garbage bag. I like to use the foldable pop-up laundry hampers that I can get for $1 each at Dollar Tree or at 99 Cents or Less.

One of the containers is Keep & Move To Different Room. This is for things you find that you need to keep but belong in a different room. For example, drinking glasses that somehow made their way into the bedroom. You know what room they belong in - it is just not in that room.

The second container is Keep But Does Not Have A Home. This is for things that you need to keep and does not belong in that particular room. But one of the reasons such items becomes clutter (and perhaps frequently get lost) so easily is they never were given a specific home.

The third container is Get Rid Of. This is for anything that you need to get rid of but which doesn't make sense to put in the trash. For example, expired prescriptions or chemicals that need specialized disposal or still usable clothing that you would like to donate to a thrift store.

The fourth containers is Maybe. This is for stuff that you can't decide whether it needs to be thrown out or not. It is also stuff that you know probably needs to be thrown out but you find emotionally difficult to throw out - perhaps it is something that you have a strong sentimental attachment to.

The second step is to go through the room and simply look for all items that can be thrown in the trash can. If there are items that just stand out as Get Rid Of items, gather those up as well and put them in their dedicated container. But, at this stage, don't make any special effort to sort through things or go into drawers or closets to find more Get Rid Of Items. Only remove the things that just stand out as obvious.

The third step is to do a quick scan of the room and see if there are remaining items immediately stand out as obviously not belonging in that particular room - then place them in either the Keep & Move To A Different Room or the Keep But Does Not Have A Home containers. Here, too, don't sort through anything in a special effort to find such items - just look for anything that is immediately obvious.

In many cases, doing just these three steps will result in your room being significantly less cluttered and less overwhelming in a fairly short period of time.

The fourth step is to then select a bite-sized portion of the room that is visible (i.e., not things like drawers or closets) such as corners or the tops of desktops, night stands etc. and go through those areas one at a time placing things in their appropriate container. Place anything that belongs in the room in its appropriate place.

Things such as drawers and closets can sometimes be very time consuming. If so, you might want to set those aside as a future stand-alone project. When doing so, make sure that you use the same types of containers and same methodology.

By this time, the room should be significantly cluttered. That will make the actual cleaning part - the vacuuming, moping, dusting, etc., much easier.

The next step is to take the Keep & Move To A Different Room container and return each item in it to their appropriate room. If the other room is a mess, you might need to just find a temporary home in that room to place the items until you can get to that room as well.

The step after that is to look at the items in the Keep But Does Not Have A Home container and see if you can quickly and easily find a place where they should reside from now on. If so, move them there. If you can't - then find a temporary home for that container, which you can also use when you go through other rooms. That container will be the temporary home for those items - but you will need to set aside blocks of time in the future to brainstorm ideas on where such things out to go.

As for the items in the Maybe container - if you are the kind of person who has many items in the Maybe container, this can be an emotional process. But my having a process and giving yourself time can help take a lot of the stress out of it. First, after you finish the room, take a quick look though the Maybe container and see if anything now stands out to you as an obvious Trash/Get Rid Of item - and, if so, dispose of it accordingly. Then, after you have used that container for other rooms in your house or it fills up, whichever comes first, find some out-of-the-way place to store it. A location out of sight such as garage or closet, if available, is best. Attach a sticky note to the container with the current date. Then set a task and reminder for yourself to go through the Maybe container in three months.

When the time comes to go back through the container, remind yourself that you have managed to go three months without those items. In many cases, it will suddenly be easy for you to make the decision to throw certain items away. Other items will still seem difficult. If so, place them back in the container with an updated sticky note with the current date and set a task/reminder to go through it again in six months.

Repeat the process again six months later.

If after yet another six months and something is still in the Maybe bin you need to have a thinking session asking WHY you are having difficulty throwing it out as there is clearly some sort of value conflict going on. Once you have identified exactly what that conflict is you will have more clarity.

In some cases, by understanding what is going on, you will be able to comfortably throw the item out. In some cases, you will come to a conclusion that its value significant is such that you SHOULD keep it - in which case, you will need to find a home for it. Maybe that useless broken cup was part of a special period in your life or was given to you by a special person you are no longer friends with. If it is important to you - who cares what others think? It is perfectly fine to keep something like this so long as you find a dedicated home for it and so long as you don't have so many such things that they begin to interfere with the quality of your life.

If you are still on the fence - put it back in the Maybe container and set a future follow-up date for future review and reflection.

If a forever full Maybe or perpetually having multiple Maybe containers is a problem for you, that is a big warning sign that you have some significant value conflicts that are likely impacting other areas of your life was well. If so, you owe it to yourself to seek out either a coach or a therapist as soon as you are in a position to do so as they can help you make sense of such conflicts so that you can resolve them in a way that improves your quality of life while being true to your authentic personality and values.

Here is why this approach works for me: By first removing any trash and putting anything that stands out as obvious into one of the containers, it results in an immediate improvement in the room's appearance. This sort of visible progress is a huge morale booster for an ADHD brain. It provides a wonderful dopamine hit that gives energy and motivation to move forward. It also reduces the sense of overwhelm that one might feel when getting started. And having a quick win boosts confidence.

The other thing the methodology does is helps one work more efficiently and keeps one on task. For example, the container for Keep But Move Elsewhere saves the time and energy of making multiple trips to return items do different rooms. It spares one from any sorts of distractions that might have popped up if one had gone into to those different rooms - for example, it removes the temptation to start cleaning the other room as well before one has finished up the room one is currently working on.

The Keep But Does Not Have A Home container keeps one on task and prevents one's progress from being slowed down by having to make decisions about any given item. In some cases, the correct decision might actually involve doing some sort of stand-alone project. For example, maybe the answer to finding a good home for certain items might involve putting up a small shelf in a different room. That is something that will need separate time blocks to think about and do. Thinking about that now will only stand in the way of one's current task of cleaning up that room

The Maybe container is, at least for me, a HUGE benefit in terms of saving time and keeping me on task. A struggle over whether or not to keep an item is distracting, time consuming and can quickly drain one's energy and stamina to complete the task at hand. By placing the item in the Maybe container, one is able to make progress on the room by getting the item out of the way and postponing the decision of what to do about such items to a dedicated time block where one can give the matter the full focused attention it deserves.

If you stop and think about it - what this approach does is lets one jump in and do the planning as one goes. Some of the planning is extremely easy and quick - it is simply a matter of knowing what basket to put something in.

Other parts of the planning really can't been done in advance. There may be some items in the Keep But Does Not Have A Home container that will require one to clean up some other room or buy some storage containers before their new home will even exist. In the meanwhile, those items will have a temporary home in that container and be out of your way.

And the Maybe container sets aside the items that would make any sort of advance planning and adhering to those plans extremely difficult. For some people, having a very strong emotional attachment to "things" is what makes their homes cluttered and messy in the first place - which can make housekeeping extremely challenging if that person has ADHD as well. The stress of knowing one might need to consider getting rid of certain items only adds to the feelings of overwhelm that many people with ADHD experience with regard to house cleaning. What this approach does is separates the two issues so that they both get the dedicated attention that they need.

Anyhow - I hope some of the tips here are helpful. They are tips that I read about online and tweaked a bit to better serve my circumstances.