In some respects, adult ADD can present more serious problems than childhood ADD. For example, one thing we often forget to do is pay bills. This could mean losing your car, not to mention your credit rating. Or, you might forget to buy groceries and have nothing in the house to eat when you get home late from work and are too exhausted to go back out. But the worst thing might be forgetting one of your children's birthdays. None of us what to hurt our kids. So, what's the deal? How can you make sure that you remember important things?

If you're at a desk all day, get some computer software to help you. I use a program called Time & Chaos, which works really well for me. Microsoft Outlook works well, too, and each program has alarms that you can set to remind you when things need to happen. But if you feel that you just have to write things down, get yourself a desk pad calendar. It's hard to miss things that are right in front of you. Yet, you may still have to set alarms to remind you to do things. It all depends on your personal bran of ADD.

Of course, those systems won't work if you aren't at a desk all day. In that case, get yourself a big white board calendar that you can write on and erase. Use it to set up recurring and important tasks, like going to the dry cleaners, taking medication, or even dusting. Be sure to go to your white board first thing every single morning, after brushing your teeth, so that you can see what the day holds in store for you. Make it a routine, just as is combing your hair and putting your clothes on. Then, go back to the white board in the evening, after dinner, and be sure that you've completed your tasks for that day. If not, and there's still time, finish them, or move them into the next day. Just don't reschedule things too often, or you'll find yourself trying to get too much done at the end of the month where all the tasks moved forward will accumulate.

This system will only work, if you don't try to do too much in one day. Try to plan things in advance so that you're not putting out fires, but taking care of things in ways that seem smooth and in balance. Setting up too much for yourself that you won't accomplish will only lead to feeling bad about yourself because of the system's failure, and who needs that?

Try to schedule only one or two tasks per day, if possible. That way you won't look at the white board or calendar, be overwhelmed, and get nothing accomplished. Doing a little every day works much better for ADD people than trying to do a lot. Remember that ADD can be conquered, if you put systems in place to ease the burden. Let ADD systems like these put you on the right track. They can be the difference between success and failure.