The final keynote speaker of the SF Chapter of NAPO 19th Annual Conference (my original post here) was Judith Kolberg, whose book (co-authored with Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D.), ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life has been on my shelf for at least 2 years. She founded of The National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization. As soon as she opened her mouth, she proved to be the kind of speaker you want to kick back and listen to for an hour or two. A wonderful story-teller, she had me on the brink of tears laughing at one point.

I know it’s not so funny hearing that she was funny. Hmm, well, imagine walking into someone’s home as a newbie organizer, to find stalagmite of paper pushing up from the floor and stalactite dropping down from the ceiling. (My apologies if this is your actual situation. If it is, and you want to do something about it, give her a call–that is, if you want to clear it out. Call a photographer if you’d like to submit a photo to the Guinness World Records.)

As a specialist in working with people with ADD, she has a particular sensitivity for the client’s perspective. Helping our clients understand what they can expect of the experience can be calming information. For example, she reminded us to explain to our clients how their office would get worse in the organizing process before it gets better. This can serve to pop any glorification bubble that may exist (everything will be easy and perfect now that the organizer is here!)

She graciously ended her talk saying she was “honored and thrilled to have been your keynote speaker.”

I’ll end this post by saying that I was honored and thrilled to have been in the audience.