59. 7 ADHD Organization Tips for Students and Professionals

Episode 59

Creating and maintaining organizational systems can be difficult for people with ADHD. Complicated strategies, fancy tools and multi-step systems may seem interesting at first, but the ADHD brain requires something different.

In this episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I share 7 ADHD organization tips for students and professionals. The strategies are non-complex and based on solid principles of executive functions.

Tune in to find out 7 unique tips you can use to get organized at school, work and home — in a way that respects the ADHD brain.

🎙️Other Episodes + Resources Mentioned

• ⭐Episode 9: The 3 Most Important Areas to Organize

• ⭐Episode 28: Paper Organization Tips

• ⭐Episode 41: 100 Organization Tips Part 1 (Tips 1-50)

• ⭐Episode 42: 100 Organization Tips Part 2 (Tips 51-100)

✏️Enroll in SchoolHabits University (Curious? Check it out!)

• Get the Transcription

  The following transcript was autogenerated and may contain some interesting and silly errors. But in the name of efficiency and productivity, I am choosing not to spend my time fixing them 😉

  
  59 7 ADHD Organization Tips for Students and Professionals

  ===

  [00:00:00] So picture this: a pile of papers you meant to file. A to-do list somewhere that you can't find. And a sinking feeling that you are forgetting something really important. Sounds familiar? 

  Welcome to episode 59 of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast. If you are new here, I'm thrilled to have you. And if you've been around a while, welcome back. 

  It's great to have you too. 

  
  Today's episode is packed with practical organization tips, especially for those of you with ADHD. 

  But here's the thing: even if you don't have ADHD, this episode is going to give you some powerful strategies for improving your daily life in school work and home. 

  
  As a private executive function coach, I work with a wide range of clients. Many have ADHD, but you know, some don't. They simply struggle with executive dysfunction. The truth is the systems and the skills that help people with ADHD thrive are just as effective for a neuro-typical [00:01:00] person who just wants to get more organized and feel more in control. So, whether you are navigating ADHD or just looking for strategies to finally get a handle on the chaos, then this episode is for you. 

  Now, here is a roadmap of our episode today. Unless I decide to totally change anything on the fly, which I just might do if I feel like it. But we're going to talk about the connection between ADHD and skill development, which includes some mindset real talk. 

  Okay. There's no way to avoid that. 

  Next I'm going to unpack the ways that improving your organization can have a dramatic impact on your life. If I may be so bold to say that. This actually does explain the reason why I focus so much on organization in this podcast. 

  And then finally we are going to cover a whole bunch of practical tips that you can start now- like right when this episode is over- to feel more in control of your space and your things and your [00:02:00] mind and your life. You get it. 

  We've got our roadmap. Maybe you have a cup of coffee and a notebook. And we are ready. 

  Okay. So as promised, we're starting with some real talk about ADHD. 

  If you have ADHD or you know, somebody close to you with ADHD, you know that it can lead to very frustrating situations. There are very real biological and anatomical differences between the ADHD brain and a non ADHD brain and anybody who makes the claim that people with ADHD just need to focus harder or try [00:03:00] harder absolutely do not understand the neuro-biological origins of ADHD, and you're going to turn around and walk away. Okay. 

  But with that said, ADHD is absolutely not a free ride past go. It is not a free ride that excuses people from needing to develop skills and systems. In fact people with ADHD needs systems and skills explicitly taught to them more than anyone else does. 

  
  I can't tell you how many clients that I've worked with, who, when we began our work together had significant struggles in their school or their work life and were suffering as a result of their lack of executive functions. Mismanaged time, struggling to stay on task or even initiate tasks, struggling to estimate time, to plan, to organize their systems and tasks and materials. 

  And what they would tell me early in these sessions is that is just the way that they are. 

  I am a disorganized person. I'm not good at time management. I've never been able to focus. 

  
  I would hear this all the time. 

  And part of [00:04:00] those statements are true. Because it is the reality that someone with ADHD has a different set of neuro-transmitters, a different cocktail, so to speak, of those neurochemicals and that can directly impact someone's ability to focus and stay organized and manage their time and all their things. Again, that needs to be made so clear here. 

  
  Okay. ADHD brains are different. But the clients who have the most success over our time together are the ones who are open to learning ways to implement systems that work for them. They want to get better. They have a growth mindset that it is possible to improve the way they are doing things because nobody is going to do it for them. Okay. 

  They can say, okay, I am a disorganized person because I haven't yet found an organization system that works for me. 

  
  I've never been able to focus because I haven't yet to learn tools that work for my brain. 

  I am not good at time management because I have never [00:05:00] been taught yet what time management even means, let alone how to do it in a way that works for me, and heck I have never been taught how to evaluate what works for me in the first place. We're actually going to talk about that in a bit. 

  So, if you're listening to this state and you have ADHD and you have thought to yourself, this is just the way I am. I am always going to be like this. There is nothing that can help. 

  I've tried at all. Challenge accepted. No, you have not tried at all. Okay. Then this is your number one job. Okay. My number one ask of you is to listen to this episode with an open mind. 

  
  I have worked with thousands of people, and as I said, a giant chunk of those people have ADHD. 

  I have a master's degree in special education. And my specialty is ADHD. I am not a physician and so I do not provide medical advice or medical interventions. But take my word for it and all of the words of all of the people who've been through my programs, that ADHD is not a death [00:06:00] sentence and it is 100% on you to change the way you operate and you can do that. It's hard. It can take time. 

  It will take time. There is a ton of trial and effort in effort and effor?. There's a ton of trial and effort involved which means you need to show up with a whole suitcase of resilience. But you can do this. You've got this and we are going to start with organization. 

  Now, of all the executive functions that I could have started with, why am I starting with organization? Great question. Organization is an area that can provide immediate positive feedback and yield immediate improvement, which can lead to an opening of the mind about other areas. 

  In other words, organization, once it's locked in, can have an immediate impact on your daily operations. 

  And then this builds momentum. 

  I also think it's important to understand how essential organization is to our daily operations, whether that is at home or school or at [00:07:00] work. So many different parts of our lives and our various roles are negatively impacted without organizational systems. 

  We lose things. 

  We forget things because as we all know out of sight, out of mind. 

  We become undependable. We can develop a reputation for forgetfulness and chaos. It can lead to our own inner shame and that's exacerbated by the judgment that we perceive from others. 

  In school, disorganization can lead to missed assignments, misplaced resources, mixing up schedules and not being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there. Missing important information that came via email and getting confused whether that super important thing you saw was on a piece of paper or in a text message or maybe in your school portal or in an email or shared verbally in class. 

  Inside SchoolHabits University my online course for students, I dedicate an entire module to multiple organization lessons and systems because it is that important. 

  At work disorganization can lead to miss deadlines, not being prepared for meetings and [00:08:00] presentations, asking the same questions over and over again, which gives the impression that we're not resourceful. And that is certainly not the impression that we want to give at work. 

  It can lead to making projects and initiatives so much more stressful than they need to be, because we can't keep track of all the moving parts. 

  So being organized is more than having all your things in neatly labeled containers. 

  In fact, I make the argument that that's not the approach at all. We're going to talk about that later in the episode. 

  Also episodes 41 and 42 are a two part series in which I share 100 organization tips for school and work. It's kind of a quick hit episode. Like the first episode I go through 50 tips in the second episode, 42, I go through another 50 tips. 

  If you like the tips I share today and want to get even more granular, check those out. The links will be below in all the places. 

  Okay. So I realize that starting the episode this way makes dis organization very doomsday ish and dramatic. But the reality [00:09:00] is that being disorganized at work or school or at home can actually have consequences that go far beyond just losing the thing that we're looking for. 

  Being disorganized can directly impact our credibility and our academic or career success. 

  And then from there it can shatter our confidence and mindset. 

  Okay. I think I've, at this point, made my point . 

  So let's talk about some key organization tips that people with ADHD often find very helpful. 

  Tip number one, aim for one location to store things. 

  Now disorganization often stems from having your things in too many places. More options for you to store something or look for something when you need it. The more spots you use, the more cognitive energy it takes for you to remember where everything is. 

  That's why aiming for one singular place for each category of items at school, work or home can simplify your things and help you stay organized. 

  Now everything is [00:10:00] better with examples. So I'm going to go through a few examples here so you can understand how this tip actually works in real life. 

  So let's talk school materials. 

  Okay. Instead of having multiple binders or notebooks for different subjects, try using a single three ring binder with dividers, or a single five subject notebook with sections for all of your notes. This keeps everything in one spot so you're not scrambling to find the right one when you need it. 

  I have a student who is currently a senior in high school. 

  We started working together when he was just entering. Sixth grade. So he was like fifth grade. Um, and for years now he has been using the same notebook system. I mean, he gets a new notebook every year and sometimes like halfway through the year, but anyway, it's the same note taking system. 

  And I have absolutely no doubt that he's going to carry it with him into college. We figured out years ago that he benefited, benefited from having only one singular notebook. [00:11:00] Not a five subject notebook with dividers or anything like that, but a single very fat to notebook that he would use to take. All of his notes for all of his classes. Okay. 

  There's a catch to this though. Whenever he would need to take notes, he would just flip to the next page, no matter what class it was. He'd write the date at the top. And he would take his notes for whatever class he was in. And then he would go to another class. He would just flip the page and then take notes for that class. Even if it was a completely different class, he's not flipping to another section. 

  And that works beautifully for him. It might not work for everyone, but this student never once had to wonder where he put his notes. All right. 

  Another area to consider reducing to one location is male and incoming papers. You can designate one paper tray or inbox for all incoming papers, like bills or assignments, kids work, mail, things like that, depending on what stage in your life you're at. 

  Alright. Process it regularly. But that [00:12:00] always starts with having one spot, probably kitchen counter, or a dorm room surface. Right. Again, depends on what you know, status in life you're at. 

  I have a whole episode on paper organization. I can't remember the episode number off the top of my head. Oh, shoot. I should've done my research before I reported that I will leave the link. Uh, in the description box below and of course, learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/59 is where you can find all these links. 

  All right, keys and out the door essentials, choose one tray bowl or hook near the door to leave your keys, your wallet, and your other daily essentials that you typically grab when you leave the house. Or when you leave the dorm. If there are multiple people in your household, you can still try out a single basket where everybody throws in all over there things. 

  Okay. And we're going to talk more about that in a bit, but I don't recommend a basket with a lid or a cover. Okay you want to make this as simple as possible. Um, hooks can work very well [00:13:00] for some people. It depends what these out of the door essentials are. If you're hanging up a coat, a backpack and like a door key that's on a lanyard. A hook can be awesome, but if you're, you know, have like a chunky wallet and your keys are not on a lanyard then a hook wouldn't work for you. 

  Okay. Laundry stick with one hamper, even if it's in a unique spot, like under your desk or in the middle of the hallway. The goal here is to make it easy to use consistently. You know, I'm not saying that everybody needs to go have one hamper. Okay. I'm just giving these examples so that you can, um, visualize what I mean when I say have one place where you store things. 

  Okay. Speaking of laundry, would it actually be the end of the world if everybody's laundry got thrown in together? every person in your household need a separate laundry bin? Maybe. But, maybe not. Are you one of the people who has a laundry basket in the bedroom, as well as one in the laundry room? Do you need both? [00:14:00] Or is one in the bedroom the most sensible? Again, these are just questions. Okay. Uh, actually we're actually going to come back to laundry. 

  Cause I thought of another example that I'm going to use for a future tip, but you're like, you didn't know, you showed up today for laundry advice, but, um, charging stations. Okay. Can you have one place for all your devices get charged? 

  Whether it's a desk, uh, Uh, nightstand, a kitchen counter, doesn't matter. Keep all the chargers and cables there to reduce the chaos. Between cell phones, tablets, headphones, RC toys, Kindles, I feel like everyone in my own home is constantly charging a thousand different things. Um, I don't even consider my family a device family, cause my teenagers don't even have their own iPads or laptops or anything. 

  Spare me the, spare me the comments on that. Okay. They have the rest of their lives to have an iPad. But recently we bought a charging station thingy to keep in our kitchen. And there are plug-in things for all kinds of chargers, the USBC, the [00:15:00] USB A the USB-B. DB the ABC and the Def I literally don't know. 

  I think you could like launch or charge your rocket ship from this charger thingy device. If you guys were to go to Amazon and try to find the thing that I'm looking for. And you're like charger thinking with USB-Bs 

  probably not going to find it if you, if you search for it like that. But now nobody is wondering what outlet some random device is charging at. 

  It's all in this one messy corner of my kitchen, but it's least I don't have, you know, rogue cords coming out of every outlet in the entire house. 

  Okay. Your backpack or your work bag. Using one main bag for school or work or daily errands can help with organization. Now let's talk about work bags to start. Do you need a work bag, a pocket book, a lunch bag, and a gym bag? Again, these are just questions. Or can you get one [00:16:00] big bag that has a wallet compartment, that can fit your lunch, that can store your sneakers for your spin class after work? Right. Do you get my point? These are just a few examples and I'm sure that you can think of so many more, but let's talk about why this, this approach works. 

  Having one spot to go for each category eliminates decision fatigue and cuts down on the frustration of misplaced items. It's especially helpful for people with ADHD who may struggle to remember where they put things or to follow overly complex organization systems. No more, where are my keys? 

  They're in the basket. Like they always are. Okay. And the basket is in the easiest spot in the world for you to access. 

  Now the key is to choose spots that are convenient and easy to maintain. If you're one singular place that you've chosen, you find that it's not working over time, don't be afraid to adjust it until it fits your natural habits. 

  Now another [00:17:00] strategy I like to share with my private clients... And I'm pretty sure I've shared it here too on the podcast, perhaps in episode nine, that is one that I remember off the top of my head that was called the three most important areas to organize- that is to store items no more than two touch points away. 

  So essentially this is tip two store things two or fewer touch points away. Every time we need to open a door and remove a folder or remove the lid from a storage container, we are creating friction and friction destroys organization. Friction and ADHD are arch enemies. Right? If you have a particular category of things that you use often, like certain school or office supplies or even makeup, if we're talking about our home space, try to actually count how many touches you have to do in order to access that item. 

  If there's more than two, see, if you can remove a touch point. Can you store items in open containers with no lids? Maybe you don't need to store [00:18:00] things in a folder in a file cabinet that's tucked inside an office closet. I'm doing the math here real quick, but I think that's three touchpoints. 

  Keeping things to two or fewer touch points. Not only helps you access what you need when you need it, but it also increases the chances that you're going to put it back when you're done with it. 

  If you took something out of a box that was inside a closet, those are the bottom of a pile, that would be so super annoying to put it back with when you're done. 

  So of course, you're going to leave it on the counter. Also storing things too far deep out of our sight just validates the theory of out of sight out of mind. If you have ADHD, you know that you often have to see something in order to remember that it exists. Right? 

  All right, moving on to organization, tip three, which is to store items vertically. This is opposed to storing items horizontally. Vertical storage provides natural [00:19:00] limits. Whereas horizontal storage essentially has no limits. The limitation of a growing pile of papers on your desk is just essentially the ceiling. Right? So anything that can be stored vertically, I suggest doing so. So books, music, papers, magazines. 

  Vertical magazine files are an excellent solution here because they provide a natural limit. If you have more things that can fit into that vertical magazine container, then that's your sign that you have too many things. 

  Vertical storage also makes items accessible and easy to put away because you're not dealing with items that are stacked on top of each other again, which creates too much friction if you want to put something away because you don't want to topple the pile. You know? 

  All right. Tip number four, limit things to three categories. So this is the example I was thinking about for laundry. I said we're coming back to laundry. So for laundry, maybe no more than three [00:20:00] categories. Color-coding things cool. Pick three colors or fewer. Email inboxes and tags? Three or fewer, actually, I want to come back to email too. 

  For example, I had a student who for every single subject, had folder for homework or things that he completed and had to turn back into class. He had one for handouts. So, you know, worksheets or whatever. And one, for things that he got returned, like tests and quizzes. And then there was one more, which I can't remember right now, maybe it was his notes. I forget, but he had four folders. Every time he got back a piece of it, and this is for every class. 

  So every single time he got back a piece of paper, he needed to make a decision about where is this going? And every time he needed to retrieve a piece of paper, he needed to go through the cognitive effort of thinking okay which folder is it? Like, is this handed back thing a handout or does it go with my tests and quizzes? 

  It was like, too much, far, too much friction. And I do never do never, I don't ever [00:21:00] recommend a system like that. In fact, I recommend only single folder for academic subjects. Now it can be a folder with two flaps so it's naturally divided. You can have, you know, handouts on one side and maybe things you need to submit like homework on another side, and then take your notes in a notebook somewhere else. Um, I had a working professional client who, as this is the email example I wanted to talk about. 

  Um, so this is a professional client who as part of our work together, we were developing an email management system. I talk a lot about email management in episode 15. In fact, that entire episode is dedicated to email management. If you do want to deep dive, I do highly recommend that episode and I will link it below. 

  But before we dove into our email system creation process, we obviously assessed what she was doing. And she had all of these beautifully labeled email inboxes that she designated for particular kinds of emails, emails that came from this person, emails that came from [00:22:00] that person, emails that pertains to this project, emails that related to that project. 

  Hey. She had really, really good intentions and thought that this was a way to stay organized. But again, all it did was create more friction and more choices every single time she went into her email system. And of course, this means she abandoned the system. Right? 

  So what we did is we reduced it to only two categories, her primary inbox. 

  Okay. And then there was one category that we created a separate inbox. And I can't remember if we labeled it resources or reference, but it was one of those. And that's where she would drag any emails that contained information that she felt she would need to reference at some point. Okay. It didn't have dates. 

  It didn't have urgent tasks. That stuff was in her calendar or her task management system. But maybe it was emails that contained, you know, company policies or things like that, stuff that needed that she might need to look at at some point in the [00:23:00] future, or just semi occasionally, but not regularly. 

  I had a client who came to me for executive function coaching for his career, but many of us, you know, our career blends into home and our private lives. 

  And we ended up talking about his mail processing system, not email like actual snail mail. And every time he got the mail from the mailbox, he would sort it into multiple piles. There'd be a pile for his wife's mail, a pile of bills and kind of like urgent things he needed to pay, and then a pile from mail that needed to be filed away. Now you may have just done the mental math and said, okay, well that was three categories. 

  So that doesn't, that fit the criteria for a good organization system? Well fair question, but no, not in this case. Three piles in this case was too much friction. It was too much decision-making. And it led to an accumulation of multiple piles that all ended up bleeding into one another and it became so overwhelming that he just never processed the piles. So we reduced those three piles into two. [00:24:00] Urgent. Non-urgent and of course the junk mail, the obvious junk mail, never made its way into the house in the first place. 

  Right. And then part of this email management system was addressing these piles on Sundays. He did not like to go through the mail every day. It was too stressful. It didn't fit his routine. Sometimes there were things he needed to talk to his wife about. Right. They didn't cross paths at convenient times to do it together. 

  The whole story, everyone has their own situation. But they made a deal that whoever got the mail would put it into these two piles urgent and non-urgent. And on Sundays, they would go through it. This worked for them yet. Even the urgent stuff, they would still handle once a week. All right. Cause if something were like that urgent that it needed attention, like right away, you're going to get a phone call. You know what I mean? 

  Alright, ADHD organization tip number five is to keep your task management system simple. I talk all about task management in episode five and while I designed all of those tips for people with A-. In fact, you know what I designed all of my tips, my, my, [00:25:00] my SchoolHabits University, my blog, my. YouTube. 

  Everything I create is for people with ADHD and executive dysfunction in mind, because I know that anything for someone with ADHD and executive dysfunction is also going to work for someone who's neuro-typical and doesn't have executive dysfunction. It doesn't work the other way around. You know what I mean? 

  But anyway, some of the strategies that I explain in that episode, episode five may be a little bit less ADHD friendly than the ones that I explained here, which is why I kind of want to go dive a little bit deeper into task management, task management for people with ADHD now, but please know this. You're allowed to experiment. It's not that I need to give you permission. 

  You don't need my permission. You can do what you want, but I encourage you to experiment and figure out what works for you. In fact, I'm going to talk about that in tip six, actually, but back to task management. There are some absolutely. Gorgeous planners and calendars and luxurious digital templates and all [00:26:00] of the things that you can spend money on and can work as a task management system. But hear me loud and clear. People with ADHD often find so much more success in systems that are simple. In systems that are foundationally non-complex. You can add flare and flourishes and personality tweaks to your system over time, but the core of your task management system should be the absolute simplest possible. So, what is that? 

  Well, for many people, it would be a simple list. Okay. Obviously, if you are a project manager for a large company, you're going to need something more robust than a lists to manage your projects and tasks. So you can skip this tip. Okay. But if you have an average amount of tasks to handle, or you're a student with a regular amount of assignments coming out to each coming, coming out each week. Or you're managing a household, right. 

  Or you're doing a combination of those, you can often get by with a simple running [00:27:00] list of all the things that you need to do. 

  I suggest using a notebook for this and not random pieces of paper, which can get misplaced in the piles. 

  But just a regular notebook. Uh, you find it at Walmart at target at TJ Maxx. If you live in an area where there's like a TJ Maxx, you can get a notebook for $5 or less sometimes. So we're not talking anything extreme. 

  Now as tasks arise, as people ask you to do things as emails come in with to do action items, as you get assignments, as you just remember that you're supposed to do this thing, you add it to your list. And as you complete the items on your list, you cross them off. And then once he fill up an entire page, you turn the page and you rewrite any of the items that you did not complete. I think this step is very important because before you know it, you could be five pages deep and lose track of some of the tasks from like five pages back that never got completed. 

  So any time, so just add to your [00:28:00] list. We're not talking necessarily about prioritizing, just adding them to the list. Complete it, cross it off. And then when you fill up that page with tasks and you need to turn the page before you do so, or as you do so go back to the previous page in any that weren't completed, you would rewrite them on the fresh page. 

  Now, this tip is also related to tip number one. If you think about it, that tip was to have only one place to store things. If you only have one notebook where you write down absolutely every possible that task that you're responsible for, you are never going to have to wonder where you wrote that thing down. 

  It's going to be in your trusty notebook. As I said, you can always add some flare to the system. If you want some level of prioritization, you can use a colored highlighter to highlight the urgent tasks with closer deadlines. You can start actually adding the deadlines. In episode five, the task management system, I do make a big stink about making sure that your task management system has an element of, um, Uh, functionality where you [00:29:00] can track deadlines and you know, when things are due, but if the tasks that you're managing don't have these strict, strict deadlines, they're just things that have to get done, then maybe you can just get by with writing the tasks down. If they do have deadlines, remember big deadlines, go in calendars. But you could just split your notebook page in half and write the task on the left and you can add the date that it's due or that your goal to get it done by on the right hand side. 

  But the golden rule is to keep the core system simple. 

  All right. 

  Tip number six, function over flare. Now, whenever I talk about organization in any context at all, you're going to hear me say how important it is to focus on somethings functionality over how beautiful it is. The system has to work for you before it looks pretty. A system has to perform for you before it matches what you see on social media. 

  A system has to [00:30:00] make your life easier before it rivals what you see on a Pinterest board. And for people with ADHD function often looks very different than function looks for someone who's neuro-typical. As I said earlier, in one of my tips, you might find that storing your laundry basket in the middle of the hall is the perfect place for you because you don't like to walk all the way down the hall to the laundry room. 

  Awesome. Then keep the darn laundry basket in the hall even if your inner critic says that's weird. Okay. If you're the kind of person who loves sticky notes and they truly truly work for you, it is perfectly fine to use a sticky note task management system where your entire computer screen and work surface is covered with sticky notes. Might someone look at that and think that it looks cluttered and non-functional. Maybe. But who the heck cares? Like nobody cares. 

  You shouldn't care. If it works for you, if it truly benefits you and it makes your life easier, then that means it is a terrific system for you. [00:31:00] 

  I told you earlier about my student who uses only one singular notebook for all of his notes. And he doesn't even divide the notebook into different classes. Uh, by many, many standards, that would be the definition of disorganization, but it works for him. If you have to carry a ginormous bag around with you everywhere, one that fits your lunch and your computer and your sneakers and your change of clothes and your notebook, and literally everything because if you don't do that, you're afraid you might forget something, then do it. Go get the biggest darn bag you possibly can. 

  Now someone else might consider that bag disorganized or over-packed, but again, if it makes your life easier than that is a great organization system for you. 

  Have you heard me several times now say the phrase, if that works for you. If that makes your life easier. That is the key here. Any organization system at all can be terrific no matter what it looks like okay no matter what shape it is, color, whatever. If it works for you. [00:32:00] But the superpower is knowing how to know if something is working for you. 

  I have an episode called are your productivity systems broken? That is episode number 12. And in that episode, I share some strategies for figuring out if what you're doing is truly working or not. 

  And I bring that up because oftentimes people with ADHD or executive dysfunction also struggle to assess if what they're doing is working. 

  All right. And then one final note here. I don't know if I'm going to call this tip. Tip seven or for bonus tip, whatever. But when you determine that your system isn't working that great, or maybe you're even getting bored with it, which happens, it's my advice to always try to tweak your system before you throw it away all together. 

  Take what you're currently using, do it for several weeks to work out the kinks and let the novelty fade. And then start noticing the areas of resistance. When are the moments that your system's not working? At what point is your email becoming overwhelming? At what point is your [00:33:00] kitchen counter becoming a total mess. At what point and why is your backpack overly flooded with papers. 

  And why are you not putting them in the folders that you bought? The answers to these questions, give you insight into how to adjust your system. 

  So, for example, if you've got yourself some really, really nice folders for your school papers and you only use them, let's say for two weeks before your backpack explodes again. 

  And, and, and maybe, maybe they were the wrong folders. And maybe your backpack was too crowded with other things that it made the folders hard to access when you needed to put something away. So therefore you just crammed it in the bag. You see what I'm saying? 

  You have to commit to a system for certain amount of time in order for the points of resistance to show themselves. And you got to be on the lookout for that. 

  When you find yourself not reaching for your task management system or your agenda or your homework planner or not taking that piece of mail that's in your hand and putting it in the right pile, [00:34:00] when you find yourself not putting your dirty clothes in the hamper, why? Can you move the hamper closer? Does it need to be in another spot? Right. 

  These are the questions you need to ask yourself. 

  All right. My friends, I am ready to land the plane and wrap up this episode here, but I do want to remind you that a transcript of the episode is available learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/59. 

  That's also where you can find all of the links that I mentioned today. I'm going to do a super quick recap of the strategies we went over just to refresh your memory because I have been talking for a while. Tip one was to aim for one location to store each category of things. 

  Tip two was to store things two or fewer touch points away. 

  Tip three store items vertically if possible. 

  Tip four, limit your things to three categories. 

  Tip five. Keep your task management system. 

  Simple tip six, choose [00:35:00] function over flare. 

  And a bonus tip tweak before throwing away your whole system. 

  Before you go, I'd like to ask you for a small favor. 

  If you're watching this on YouTube and you haven't yet subscribed, could you please do so? That helps put my show in front of more people who might find it helpful, or if you're listening in a podcast app, I would absolutely love if you could share the show with somebody that you think would like it to. Thank you so much for listening and remember never stop [00:36:00] learning.