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Adults with ADD: Get in the Box!

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Published: 29Feb2008
Word count: 421
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Last year, Erin and I met with a business consultant to discuss plans for the ADD Management Group. During the meeting, the consultant mentioned something about my "out of the box" ideas, and Erin stopped her.

"Everyone always talks about 'out of the box' ideas!" Erin exclaimed. "Where is this box that everyone talks about? I've never understood what 'out of the box' means."

The consultant smiled very sweetly at Erin and simply replied, "That's because you ARE the box, Erin."

Boxes Are Our Friends

I've said it many times - Adults with ADD are creative, big picture thinkers. It's easy for us to be creative. It's easy to float from one interesting thing to the next.

It's actually much harder to harness that creative energy and turn it into productivity. Producing results requires putting a lid on your creativity long enough to let the ideas come to life. It means getting in the box and containing the ideas before they get too big to manage or--worse yet--before they float away.

This is what Erin does for the ADD Management Group. I offer the ideas, and she puts them in the box. She grounds things just enough to ensure that the good ideas get pushed into action. It works.

Of course, this is a business example, and our personal lives are slightly different. As adults with ADD, you and I are responsible for creating our own structure and containment.

This means that in order to benefit from our creative ideas, we've got to:

Be realistic about which ideas are worth pursuing, which ones are worth ditching, and which ones are worth saving for a rainy day.

Plan to follow through on those really good ideas. It's not enough to think about how great something could be. An action plan is essential.

Remember when your high school English teacher taught you to answer the questions 'Who, what, where, when, why, and how' in your essays? Answering these six little questions is an excellent way to devise a plan.

Structure our time to produce results. This means making time to act on the good ideas while still managing day-to-day life. It means setting deadlines and finding ways to remain accountable.

You've heard that saying, 'There's a time and place for everything,' right? It applies here. There's a time to be creative, and there's a time to be productive.

Your creative brain can be an incredible asset in life...provided that you get in the box once a while and contain it.

Jennifer Koretsky is the Founder of the ADD Management Group, Inc. and the author of Odd One Out: The Maverick's Guide to Adult ADD. Jennifer and her team work with ADD adults who are overwhelmed with everyday life in order to help them simplify, focus, and succeed. For free resources and information on adult ADD, visit http://www.ADDmanagement.com .

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