Organising yourself at WORK? How? I have ADHD pls help!

[AmIGoneMadFromItAll]

Can anyone share what works for them, what helps, what systems that really make a difference?

I'm talking even very tiny things that might appear basic to others. For example, a non-related work thing I do is make sure that things like keys always live in a particular place. That's become a strong habit built into my life now so I don't lose crucial items like the keys anymore. It means a part of my brain can relax and stop worrying about where the fuck are the keys.

So I'm not exactly sure what might be comparable in terms of work organisation but open to anything people have found helpful?

I did wonder for example if I should get several large notebooks to divide all the separate areas of my job into different lists, instead of one list?

One overall list that contains tasks from different areas really stresses me out, is that pathetic?

I find I do best if things are separated into different groupings like - and I'm not even joking, I'm actually this crap - if my clothes in my wardrobe aren't arranged in order of similar items, dresses, tops, cardigans etc, I get really stressed even trying to see what I have and overwhelmed and anxious.

Again, not sure what the obvious things are in a work environment that I could change to help with this sense of order so any ideas would be great?

Sometimes I get really panicky I'm actually developing early onset dementia because I just get so overwhelmed by stuff, especially as I mention when things aren't separated into groups, it's like my brain shuts down completely and can't start to see what the steps are to begin accomplishing the task

Every time I have created an email folder I have immediately forgotten it existed.

@JammyThing

Lol I use it for note taking in meetings mostly. It saves automatically and has an inbuilt version history so you won't lose anything unless you deliberately delete it.

I think of it like a ring binder with a series of folder dividers (one tab = one divider). You can group tabs, and make a tab a sub-tab to another. So in my mind, these are the pages between each file divider in my folder. One page per meeting.

Each main tab (file divider) I assign to one project with its sub tabs (or child pages if you like) making up the content and titled with thr date of each meeting.

But it's effectively an electronic notebook so you an use it anyway you like and for anything you like. Think you can also use it for handwriting electronic notes etc too.

@JammyThing

I'm not diagnosed but suspect I have ADD. I just downloaded OneNote on the recommendation of this thread and then stared at it blankly. Can someone explain what they use it for, specifically. With actual examples. I always look at these kinds of apps blankly because I don't get how to get all the random things in my brain into OneNote (or similar) in any kind of organised fashion.

(Does anyone else have this problem?)

Think of One note as either a filing cabinet, or an A4 folder.

On the left you create your book (say I was using it for tracking orders I would call the book/filing cabinet drawer on the left "orders"

Then in the middle of the screen are what are essentially your dividers. You rename them and click the + sign to create as many dividers as you want.

Then on the right are your pages within your divided sections.

So going back to the sales example, I might sell 5 products. I would have 'dividers' called "product 1" "product 2" etc

Then I would use the pages on the right to perhaps track each customer order, or organise monthly orders.

You can put tick boxes, tables and all sorts onto the page.

When in an email you can click the "one note" button and send it to one note as a page automatically (just choose the section it needs to go in). You can also drag and drop a document onto a one note page and click "enter printout" and it pastes the file into the one note.

There are probably YouTube tutorials in case that helps

Haha me too

Some days I forget to look at my to do list

I have just bought an old fashioned dictaphone type thing to try and help me. I have fibro and struggle to remember things or focus.
So now,if the Boss says eg. Will you contact Nick and ask about X? I say into the machine" contact Nick and ask about X". Then i check the machine regularly for any actions and make sure they are all done by the end of the day.

Instead of a long list to-do list I use the Eisenhower method.

In the morning or beginning of a week I divide a piece of A4 into 4 sections.
Each section is labelled either do, schedule, delegate or ignore.
Everything that has to be done that day goes in the 'do' section, anything I can do later in the week goes in the 'schedule' section with the date, anything I can pass off to other people, even if it's shopping or house work if it's a busy work week goes in the 'delegate' section and anything that really isn't relevant to me can go in the 'delete/ignore' section.

List's are your friend.

Keep noting and marking off each task.

Prepare everything the evening before work down to socks and keys.

With a lot of work you'll benefit and it'll become second nature.

Trello, and noise cancelling headphones.