Friday, April 23, 2010

How Does an ADHDer Plan A Wedding?

Okay before I answer this question, I have to fully disclose that one of my jobs involves planning events for a living.

But the question still applies, how in the hell DOES an ADHDer plans events.

There are several parts to the answer:

1) I start WAY AHEAD OF TIME. WAAAAAAAAAY ahead of time...

2) Whether or not I have the luxury of starting WAAAY ahead of time, I aggressively pursue the boring details FIRST. The boring details are what give you the framework to hang the fun stuff on. If you do the boring shit at the beginning, when you are still super enthusiastic, it's easier to make phone calls about equipment rentals, solicit vendor quotes, and other tasks that become NOT interesting quickly.

3) Have a system for storing information that both works for you, AND cues you to complete tasks. I have different systems depending on the task...when I'm doing my "work", which involves organizing an at least 25 vendor marketplace on a weekly basis, I use my email box to cue me. Unread messages stay in the inbox until I read them...read emails get filed into clearly marked folders. Things I need to DO stay in the inbox or are printed out and taped to my desk/steering wheel/anywhere else I'll be sure to see it.

Sometimes I use notebooks with explicitly marked folders.

Post-It's are a must.

My iPhone is a lifesaver...it contains my calendar (NEVER wait until LATER to put something on your calendar) and I set ALARMS to remind me to do important things.

When I'm at the law office I have a file organizer that stands the files upright so I can SEE all of the name tags on the files, which reminds me to check out what's going on with certain cases. I also have a policy that I must go through everything in the pile on my desk EVERY DAY to make sure there's nothing important that I forgot. The pile is only for things that I know are coming up quickly.

And seriously, we just go through the files in the cabinet from time to time to look in them and make sure we didn't accidentally miss something. This is something you can put on a calendar or post-it to remind yourself to do.

4) Hire someone or find an intern to help you with the things you know you'll never do. I have a friend that I pay to do my bookkeeping periodically, because I will NEVER do my bookkeeping (though I AM good at keeping receipts and things...organizing myself to do that was enough of a chore, I didn't need the data entry on top of it!). I have an assistant...aka another friend who helps me with certain tasks for just 3 hours a week.

Personally, I think that event planning is super ADHD friendly, as long as you know your own limitations.

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