56. A System to Keep Your Office Tidy

In this episode, I'm diving into a new system to keep your workspace tidy and productive, especially if you have ADHD. I'm sharing practical steps for task initiation and tips for keeping your work area clear to maximize your productivity. And don't miss a special announcement at the end of today's episode!

Today's Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome and New Podcast Format

00:47 Introduction to Office Tidiness Systems

02:29 Personal Story: Struggles with Clutter

04:59 The Simple System for Task Initiation and Decluttering

08:15 Customizing the System for Your Needs

09:49 Announcement: Lunch and Learn BONUS

11:49 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Learn more about Theresa Harp Coaching here.

Transcript

Hey SLPs, PTs, OTs, welcome to the podcast. I'm actually  doing something a little bit different this week. Those of you who are listening will have no idea that anything is different, I don't think, but I thought it was fitting and wanted to share it with all of you because I've changed up my personal system that I use for podcasting, and this is the first time I'm doing them on Zoom.

I'm thinking about ways that I can get both video and audio content out to people and ways that I can, you know, repurpose content, if you will, or create more content without having to create more content, if that makes sense. So, yeah, this is something new that I'm trying. I don't know if I'm going to be sticking with it. We'll see, see how it goes, but I share that with you because today's episode is about systems. And specifically, I'm going to be talking to you about how to create a system to help you keep your office or your workspace tidy. Okay, whatever tidy means to you, your definition of tidy, which you have to get very clear on.

We'll talk about that in a minute, right? But how many times have you found yourself where you go to sit down, you know, you've got a bunch of session notes that you need to write. You've got about 15 minutes until your next session, right? "Great break, this is awesome...." And you sit down and you notice there's stuff everywhere, right?

You start messing around with the things, you're trying to clear yourself some space, and you're getting distracted, and you're going through, you know, papers that have nothing to do with anything that you had intended to spend your time on. You are going down a rabbit hole, right? And next thing you know, your 15 minutes is up, your next patient or client is here, and you haven't gotten anything done. 

That's me. And in a nutshell, that's often used to be me. So in this episode, I'm going to walk you through a very simple system that you can use to help keep your office tidy and help yourself to get your work done, initiate and complete your work more efficiently so that you can make the most of your time.

Right, and make sure you listen to the end of the episode because I actually have an announcement, um, that I want to share with you about something that's happening later on this month. So make sure you stay here for that. 

Okay. So let me just share a personal story about how this has shown up recently, many times for me, but in fact, today, this very day, which is why I'm recording this episode today. Okay.  I came downstairs, my husband was with the kids, I came downstairs and I was going to start work, right? I was sort of like, okay, I've got to get this podcast episode out. My day did not go as planned.  So I need to, you know, I need this devoted time to get my work done.  I get down here and this is after, you know, a day of work earlier, and then some time with the kids after that. Camp and piano lessons and dinner and lunches and, you know, all the things, right?  So now I get downstairs to record an episode and I sit down and I'm messing around with everything around me, right? I'm just I'm looking around I'm moving things. I'm you know picking something up and then moving it or I'm walking away like picking something up walking away and then sort of coming back and be like, what was I doing? 

So I realized that I could not focus because of all the visual clutter, right? And for many of you, especially for those of you who have ADHD, you know that task initiation can be very challenging, right? It can be really, really difficult to begin whatever task, even if you know that it's something that's not that hard or you know, it's a familiar task.

It's maybe something that's, that you've done before. Sometimes for whatever reason, for those who are neurodivergent, it is a challenge to get it going. Okay. So this is how I tackled this. This is what I, this is what I have done. Right. And I used to do, this is a system that I used to have in place that I used and, admittedly started sort of like, just, falling away from or getting away from using it. And those of you who have ADHD, I'm sure can relate to that, right? Where you  sort of have that shiny object syndrome, you start this great system or this great idea, and then it just sort of fizzles out after. day or two or how, you know, a little while. Okay.  That's me. So I needed to get back to that system. And that is what I'm going to share with you today. I did it actually tonight before I recorded this episode and it worked. Okay. So here's what I do. It's super simple. It's not rocket science, but I will share it with you. Okay.  So I have, I basically created a playlist and, um, you know, you can create a If you want to create an audio or a playlist like this, you can create whatever sort of audio files or sounds or music will be, will work for your brain.

Okay. Right. Not everyone is,  not everyone can sort of focus and tune in, um, in depending upon what kind of audio they're listening to. Right. Like for me, for example, I can listen to words, I can listen to songs without words while I'm working, but if I'm listening to music where there are lyrics, it's very hard for my brain to focus on what I'm doing.

So  I have a five minute sort of like, it's sort of like a guided meditation and I put that on and it's the perfect amount of time because it gives me five minutes. It's really all I need to get  The, you know, the, the house, the, the office tidy enough to a place where I can focus. Okay. So I play that playlist.

I start that playlist. And while that five minutes is going right. Ron listening to that audio track, I'm organizing and cleaning and, uh, As I'm doing that, I'm visualizing and thinking about, picturing and thinking through, what am I going to be working on when this song ends, right? When this track is over, I'm going to sit down and what am I going to be doing? 

And not only am I thinking, "What am I going to be working on?" I sort of, it's like peeling layers of onions, right? So now I'm starting to think about, okay, well, what are the materials I will need and where do I find those materials? And, you know, I'm talking about, for example, files, right? Electronic files or websites or something.

Most of this is digital. So I'm thinking, okay,  where is that file or what's, what is the file that I need or the information that I need? Where do I access it?  And then what do I have to do with it? Because  this may sound  Maybe obvious to some people, I don't know, but it was never obvious to me until I sort of just discovered it was a strategy I could use that would help me.

So I would, I would visualize it, I would sort of talk it through or think it through. And then once that set that track ended and the new song, the next song began, which is like my kind of productivity type music that I'll listen to. It's like my brain realizes, okay, now we are sitting down to work and it helps me get into that sort of work mode or workflow  that much quicker.

Okay. Now,  so that's it. That's the system. It's really, really simple. Um, Obviously, I could go into a lot more detail about different ways that I,  you know, strategies that I use for when I'm in that work mode, but this is really this episode in this system is really about the system of the initiation. It is like how to get the task started. 

So the other thing that I wanted to offer with this strategy is that you need to think about, what is going to work or how can you modify this in a way that will work for you and for your brain? So, for example,  maybe five minutes is not enough time. Maybe you need to, um, limit yourself to a certain section or a certain like simple steps, like surface level steps of a tidy, because if you don't, then you will just procrastinate and do like what I was talking about earlier at the beginning of this episode, where I was talking about I was sharing how I would just kind of go down the rabbit hole of cleaning and get nothing done. 

So you get to decide what that looks like for your brain, but you have to be honest with yourself and you have to sort of really clue in and, and, and tap into your self awareness and ask yourself, am I avoiding something or am I following this system and just doing What is needed in order for me to start my work.

Okay, so that's sort of the way that I would approach it. And this is something that I walk through with clients will individualize systems based on what their unique needs are, right, depending upon your unique circumstances with how your brain works, what your position is, what your work position is, what kind of work you do, so on and so forth. 

So I hope that that was helpful. I mentioned that I have an announcement to make. And so many of you may have heard at the beginning of this episode, there was a, an invitation to join me for the free Lunch and Learn that I'm hosting next week. Thursday. It's Thursday, July 25th at 12 Eastern. It's a free lunch and learn.

And I'm going to be talking about other strategies like this one to help individuals with ADHD get work done. So we're going to be talking through time management strategies that are geared towards individuals who are neurodivergent. So this is, this is the stuff that is really uniquely designed for a neurodivergent brain.

And I think it's so important that you join me live for two reasons. Number one: I'm sharing sort of the myths of the time management strategies that a lot of people think about and recommend and that we hear very often that are actually holding you back from managing your time. They're actually getting in the way because they're not designed for the way that you need them, the way that your brain thinks. Okay. And number two, for anyone who joins the lunch and learn live, you will be entered into a raffle drawing for a free planning session. Um, with Myself and it's a one on one session where we sort of help create what you want your schedule to look like as you transition from summer to fall.

So with timing, um, changes in terms of whether I'm not rushing summer. By the way, I am not rushing summer, so we're looking way ahead, but um, that tends to be a time that's really challenging. I don't know about you, it's very challenging for me, um, and I've learned some ways to approach that over time, you know, over the past several years, and I think it would be really helpful for you to learn those as well.

Alright, that's all I have for today's episode. Make sure you register for the free Lunch Learn. The link is in the show notes. I hope to see you there, and I will talk to you all next week.