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Adults with ADD: An ADD-friendly Method for Clutter Busting

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Published: 27Mar2009
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An ADD-friendly Method for Clutter Busting

If you're like many adults with Attention Deficit Disorder, then you've got clutter problems! You've read books, watched TV shows, and tried numerous times to get rid of the clutter. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When it does work, the clutter seems to magically reappear within days. It's frustrating and stressful.

You're not alone. Many adults with ADD find themselves stressed out and frustrated by an inability to manage their physical spaces.

Don't blame yourself and don't beat yourself up. If it was really easy to manage your clutter, you would have done it a long time ago! That said, however, I've found that ADDers often make getting rid of their clutter a much more difficult task than it needs to be.

When it comes to tackling clutter, it's important to realize that a great deal of the clutter-clearing strategies out there just aren't ADD-friendly.

For starters, ADDers get bored easily. And let's face it - cleaning and organizing is usually not that interesting! You may feel highly motivated to get your clutter under control one day, and completely uninterested the next day.

Additionally, most of us find it difficult to be as neat and organized as our friends, family, and neighbors. The organizational systems that we need in order to function properly will almost always be different than those of our peers without ADD.

And ADDers have a great deal of difficulty maintaining organizational systems once the clutter is gone. Traditional organizing techniques don't take this into account, and therefore don't work long term for adults with ADD.

Most importantly, ADDers tend to get overwhelmed by large projects. If you jump into your organizing project knowing that you want to clean up your clutter, but not knowing how, when, or where to start, then there's a very good chance that you will become overwhelmed. This overwhelm can lead to procrastination, low motivation, a lack of follow-through, and burnout.

The good news is that there is an easier way for adults with Attention Deficit Disorder who want to get rid of clutter. And it all begins with a plan.

Here's the method that I teach in the ADD Clutter Busters Workgroup. Start with one small room or space, and take just a few minutes to work on clutter busting each day:

Step 1: Sort through all that stuff that has taken over. Purge as much as possible and categorize the rest. Don't try to put things away or create systems until this step is complete.

Step 2: Create organizational systems that work for you and with your ADD. Don't pay attention to other people's systems. Use what's worked for you in the past, and use your intuition and personal knowledge to fill in the gaps.

Step 3: Develop maintenance systems to keep the clutter away for good! Don't just say you'll never let your clutter build up again. Create an actual maintenance plan that ensures you'll maintain your new skills.

The key here is to develop a habit of consistently spending small amounts of time each day to tackle your clutter problem and keep it from returning. As you build this organizational time into your routine, you see your clutter disappear, and your stress melt away.

Jennifer Koretsky is the Founder of the ADD Management Group, LLC, author of Odd One Out: The Maverick's Guide to Adult ADD, and Co-Founder of the Virtual AD/HD Conference. Jennifer and her team work with ADD adults who are overwhelmed with everyday life in order to help them simplify, focus, and succeed. To learn more, visit http://www.ADDmanagement.com .

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