Tips from an Attention-Deficit Minister

I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the first grade.  I was on Ritalin in the 70's before Ritalin was cool.  My mother decided that the side-effects were worse than the behavior issues and so we discontinued it after about the 3rd grade.  I was told then, and repeatedly after that, that I would simply have to work harder to meet the standard of acceptable behavior and academic productivity.  I don't know if what I suffer from now is ADD or simply too much input running up against my incompetence but, I feel most disorganized most of the time.  I have discovered a few things that if I practice them consistently make my life a little easier.

1.  When visiting the hospital park in clergy parking. (a) it reminds you why you are there; (b) it shows that the hospital takes you seriously; (c) you’ll remember where you parked.

2.  Keep a call log.  Use a different colored spiral notebook so you can find it on your cluttered desk.  Write down phone number you called and notes.  (a) keeps your mind focused on the call while on the call; (b) when you don’t get an answer it keeps the name and number of people you need to call back close by and your brain can quit reminding you constantly that you need to call them back; (c) it saves time tracking down numbers again. 

3.  Create notebooks of areas of ministry.  Do not try to annualize your notebooks as the ministry areas follow different calendars (i.e., worship Advent-Advent; Stewardship—January-January; Property 24/7 365 for infinity).  Clearly label the spines with a labeler.  Do not hand write the tabs of files or the labels on notebooks ever again.  Put the notebooks in front of you rather than behind you.  They remind you that you’ve created them and that you should use them. Put in notebooks:
    —Papers for open projects (bids and contacts for repairs)
    —Schedules of worship leadership, preaching texts
    —Resources
    —Care lists
    Make the notebooks open for others to look at in your office.  Do not put confidential information in them.

4.  Develop a consistent way of naming computer files so that you find them again soon.  Put the year at the front of file names (i.e., 2014 Preaching Texts; 2013 June Habitat for Humanity Work). 

5.  Get a second monitor for your lap top and extend your desktop across two of them (taken from Randy Pausch's lecture on time management.  Suggestion 5.1--Watch Randy Pausch's lecture on time management).  

6.  Keep everything on one calendar. Keep in the calendar a directory of the membership. Keep the calendar close at hand. 

7.  Use Norton's Identity Safe Vault for logins. 

6.  Get multiple cards from people you trust and would refer others to (mainly it's counselors for me).  Keep the cards in a place where you can find them quickly.  Keep other cards in an available, albeit less organized way.You may not want to put them in your contacts but you'll need their name and numbers at some point.