The O.H.I.O. Principle

For paperwork, "Only Handle it Once"

For people with ADHD, papers might as well be made of fog. I used to lose papers at school all the time. I shifted as much of my work away from paper-based as I could. Google Drive is searchable, and I use a meticulous folder system to manage the many documents I have to use throughout a school year.

Inevitably, though, I have to handle some paperwork. When this happens, I apply the OHIO principle, which I learned about through Ned Hallowell’s fantastic book, Driven to Distraction.¹

Only Handle It Once

O.H.I.O., or “Only Handle It Once” for paperwork means exactly what it says: deal with a piece of paper right away. Hallowell gives a few more guiding tenets:

1. DO NOT use “To Do” piles

   1. they “might just as well be called NEVER DONE piles. They serve as little menaces around one’s desk or room, silently building guilt, anxiety, and resentment, as well as taking up a lot of space,” he writes

2. Act Immediately

   1. Throw it out, unless it’s essential

   2. If it’s essential, file it, NOW

   3. If you need to fill it out, do that right away then immediately pass it off to where it needs to go next

Practical Examples

1. When my students finish doing lab work, they hand their data sheet directly to me. I await them, pen already in hand. I make a few quick notes and immediately pass it back to them. They file it in the “Lab Work” section of their binders.

2. When students use scratch paper for calculations, or if I do, they immediately go in the recycling when done.

3. I do not even touch the mail until I know I have the mental space to deal with any bills, checks or forms that have arrived. This might mean I take three or four days to pick up the mail, which collects in a heap in our front entryway.

4. Speaking of mail, coupon flyers, advertisements, credit card offers all go immediately into the recycling.

5. I do not print anything at work unless I am going to use it with my students that very day. While this sometimes leads to time management problems (i.e.: “hey Maddy, will you go down to the printer and get something I just printed please?”) I have learned that if I print something even the day before I’m going to use it, I’m all but guaranteed to leave it in a pile in some random place in my room until I eventually recycle it.

1. Hallowell, E. M., & Ratey, J. J. (2011). Sequence Ravelled Out of Sound. In Driven to distraction: Recognizing and coping with attention deficit disorder from childhood through adulthood. essay, Simon & Schuster.