Let go and look back: The biggest harm in spending time looking for things is not the waste of time, but the frustration – “Things disappear without a trace. Whenever I need something, I can’t find it!” Being angry with yourself every day, coupled with often criticism you get for being irresponsible and unreliable. Being yelled at by yourself and others, over time, the accumulated damage to your self-image is huge. Therefore, it is very important to solve the problem of frequent disappearance of items. The key to why something disappears lies in the moment when the object leaves your hand. The bad habit of many people is to use the shortest possible time to put down objects and then rush to do another thing without leaving any space for their brains to remember where the objects are. From today on, try to always “look back” after putting down an object, so that the brain can remember the position of the object (looking back, not turning your head because the movement of turning your head is too big and not elegant enough; looking back, just one look is enough).
Organize and categorize: finally time for gym class, finally time to play sports after school. Being able to get out of the classroom for some exercise. This is originally a happy thing. But many times the most disappointing thing is when you realize you left something right after you changed your clothes and prepared to enter the field. For example, forgetting the shin guards, so you can’t play football on the field; forgetting volleyball pants, so you can only be a cheerleader in the audience. Before going to school, despite your best efforts to pack your sports bag, there is always one or two things missing. How do you solve this? It’s to “categorize”. When storing items that are being used together, you should always “categorize” them by grouping them. After football, the shin guards should be placed in the shoe bag before leaving the court. After the shoes and socks are washed and dried the next morning, they should be immediately put back into the shoe bag. The three items that are worn on the feet should always be placed together and placed in a shoe bag. Do this every week when you go play football.
Store and locate: Everyone, whether they are working adults or school children, uses at least dozens of items every day. It does take a lot of brain power to remember where each object, such as keys, counters, books, and water bottles, is placed. Daily-used objects should have the same location. Compared with placing it casually, it seems to take more time and is not to mention very annoying. For example, English books should always be placed in the upper grid and Chinese textbooks should always be placed in the lower grid. The books shouldn’t be piled haphazardly on the shelf. Always put things in the same place, so that when you need to use them, you don’t have to think about their location. This way you save the time you would use to look for things, so you can easily leave home for school on time and get on the school bus on time (No need to take a taxi). You can also go to bed early at night.
Written by: Dr. William Chui
Originally posted on: Hong Kong Association For AD/HD FB
Translated by: Cheuk Long Chan
