Organized Chaos
Have you ever heard anyone use the phrase, “organized chaos”? Well that is how I used to refer to the clutter on my home office desk. But, really, if I am honest, it was disorganized chaos and it drove me crazy!
I’ll explain, but first…
A great ride!
On saturday I went for a relaxing drive, it felt fantastic. My car seemed to drive better, smoother and dare I say it even smelled better! I really enjoyed being out on the road, sailing the streets and listening to rock and roll music. My mind filled with ideas I might write about. Ideas I could grab, hold on to and use.
My creativity was flowing right along with the speed of my car down the highway.
It’s the same car I have had for the last 5 years, but something was different.
For some unknown reason I woke up one day last week with an unrelenting urge to clean it. So I went and did what I’ve always avoided. I cleaned my car inside and out, polished it – the works!
No, I didn’t have a fever!
Have you experienced cleaning your car and then feel like you’re driving a better one? It’s this difference that I want to talk about today.
Clutter creates feelings of anxiety and distraction.
A couple years ago I got tired of all the clutter on my writing desk and cleaned it like never before – and I do mean, NEVER before! I followed the advice I read in a book by taking before and after pictures. Those photos are now posted on my board to remind me why I keep my desk mess free.
The difference between a clutter free environment and one that is a total mess can only be described as miraculous. Ultimately, the best way to describe it is that it feels better. A hell of a lot better!
I feel less anxious and less distracted. I no longer have to flip through piles of god knows what to find what I am looking for and I don’t have to stare at dust bunnies wishing they would just hop away. Oh, and believe me I would stare at them, yet do nothing about those low down dirty pesky rascals. I thought about naming them, but there were too many.
Effective Creativity
I am free! From clutter!
And it is this freedom that allows me to not only have more creative ideas, but also to be more effective with my creativity. The distraction, anxiety and general uncomfortable feeling that a mess creates is far too overlooked in my opinion. It’s too demanding to think clearly, much less use any thoughts or ideas when surrounded by disorder.
Why in the world did I not realize this sooner?
All too often I hear people with ADHD saying that they have thousands of ideas floating around in their heads, but can’t seem to capture and use any of them. I believe part of the problem is our surroundings; at least it was for me.
My ideas used to be like the clutter of piles I had all over the place. I knew something I needed was somewhere in one of those piles, but where? With my area clean and organized I can find things quickly and use them right away.
I tell you, it was like parting the red sea. (Can you see me raising my duster?)
Who has the will to clean up that mess?
I discovered that incentive and reward is very helpful for my ADHD brain.
- It’s important for me to understand why I need to do something (incentive).
- When I fully appreciate the resulting benefit to me (the reward) I am more likely to act and accomplish what I want or need to.
Not always, but I am getting better.
I know if I keep my desk clear of clutter I will be more effective and actually write. My before photo reminds me of what it was like when I wrote less, when I was more prone to writer’s block and when I would just sit at my desk clicking any shiny webpage.
I was doing anything but actually writing.
Clutter free I have become prolific, my creativity flows, I no longer sit here dismayed and distracted by a mess. If I am not writing a blog post, I might be writing a free eBook I’ll give away on our ADDer World ADHD Social Network or perhaps writing a longer book I’ll sell or maybe I am writing a sweet love letter to my wife (she likes those a lot).
Regardless of what I am writing, at least I am writing!
Incentive, reward and understanding.
However, don’t be too impressed. I didn’t ‘get it’ until the ripe age of 38. Here are some incentive ideas that may help others realize the power of a clutter free environment:
1) Clutter creates a generally ‘uncomfortable’ feeling that sometimes doesn’t even seem to be associated with the mess. Clutter can bring on feelings of anxiety, distress and even depression. As you can imagine it is difficult to write stuff that matters (or do most anything) in such conditions.
2) A clean, organized environment helps me have clearer thinking, a more comfortable feeling and helps reduce general anxiety. In this way my creativity can flow. It’s easier to go into hyper-focus.
3) For me incentive means to understand why, the reward is what will result from doing it and finally understanding the full concept. However, imagine telling a young person why he or she must do well in school. Not easy, hence realization dawned on me much later in life.
How to clean up for good.
1) Take a before photo of the mess. Keep it somewhere so you can always reference it.
2) Clean it all in one, single day and throw everything away that you do not need. I highly recommend asking a friend or hiring someone to help you organize everything and decide what to keep and what to throw away. Here’s a link to a book and another book I found very helpful.
3) Take an after picture and set the before / after photos side by side so that you can see the magic of your effort. Hopefully, you will feel elation and satisfaction, cherish these feelings, relish and log them firmly in your memory.
4) Every day allow yourself to take in and enjoy how much more comfortable your surroundings are and remind yourself why you keep it that way.
Procrastination
Procrastination has been the bane of my existence, but I find it less powerful when I understand the rewards and benefits. I know that if I want to accomplish something, feel better about myself and do something that matters then I need a clutter free environment. Easier said than done, I know, but it’s still a good idea to realize the effect. Don’t you think?
I know how complex and difficult this is for us, so consider those two books I linked to above, they helped me. Here they are again:
If nothing else, I hope this post provides you with a spark and sometimes a spark is all it takes to get started.
Well, that’s me. What about you? Share in the comments.
Not that I want to create any confusion, but I am not totally against distractions, just not the kind from a mess. I love some kinds of distractions, especially the kind that stirs me deep inside and gets my creative juices flowing, but that’s for another post coming soon!
Bryan
(The links above go to the affiliate links to the Amazon ADD ADHD bookstore I created. If you browse around and have a book suggestion, please let me know.)
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! What a great article! Thank you so much!
I struggle daily with the clutter and mess in my house. I find it completely overwhelming and upsetting. I once read a cute explanation of the word chaos as it relates to a messy home; they called it “can’t have anyone over syndrome – c.h.a.o.s.” I am a single mother and have a 12 year old and a 15 year old and I feel so disappointed in myself that I am raising them in this clutter. It’s time to finally do something about it, but I know it’s not going to be easy. Between procrastination and the “need” to keep everything because I may use it one day, or because it can be used by someone else, or who knows what else, I find getting started emotionally overwhelming. I look at the piles and think how nice it would be if they were gone, but yet I don’t do anything about it. In an ideal world I should separate the mess into trash, consignment, donation, organized storage, and keep, but that seems like a lot of work. I have tried to put clothes in garbage bags for donation and consignment before, but then the bags sit in a corner and I never follow through with figuring out where to bring them. Today I am going to take before pictures and vow to pick up/ put away/ clean up 5 things. If I am able to do more then I will feel great, but if I reach my goal of 5 things it will be a start and an accomplishment. I owe it to myself and my children.
Thank you again for the article. Your words reached me and (I hope) will give me the motivation to get started and maintain order. It’s time to stop looking at the mess and feeling defeated and hurt. Hopefully one day I can watch “Hoarders” on TV and still relate to the emotions they uncover, but will be able to say that USED to be me… Thankfully my “hoard” isn’t so bad it needs a shovel and a dumpster to clean it up!
Jennifer
Don’t get down on yourself, I’ve been there. I’ve had apartments, especially when I was single that were a health hazard to enter. Seriously. Then one day, and I do mean one day, that changed. I got so fed up, but not down on myself, and started doing what I had not done before and for whatever reason I didn’t turn back. It was a spark that lighted a fire. Sort of like when I was first diagnosed with ADHD, that also provided a spark to learn, to write and to be something more, whatever that more would be.
Keep me posted, I’d love to hear how you progress.
Bryan
Hi bryan, hope you are feeling better soon. Wow, Wow, Wow…….This is a fab article this is just me to a T. Ooh Sorry i don’t think i’ve told you. On Friday last week i finally got my Diagnosis……Wait for it yep you guessed i have got ADHD. Im 41 and since Friday i feel like my world has just fallen in to place. Far from feeling bad i am on top of the world, finally i understand where i fit in and have so much excitement for the new life i can have now. Its been really important to me to get a diagnosis but now i have i hope the Sky is the Limit. (Cally”cathy”Warriner)x
A little bit better, but that could be because of the high doses of ibuprofen! ha! Take that, pain!
Indeed, diagnoses will give you direction and more importantly, understanding to all the confusion that led you to this moment. I wish you the best and hope you keep me up to date!
Bryan
Thanks for the article and great reply! I am also a single mother of a 12 and 15 year old. They prefer their dad’s house because mine is uncomfortable. You’d think that would be more than enough to end my procrastination, but it just makes me sad and feel defeated. I just don’t know where to put the stuff I have and I don’t want to be another wasteful American and just throw it away.
Hmmm, I get where you are coming from, perhaps consider that it could be more wasteful to not throw away. I live in Europe and they throwaway just as much stuff as Americans do, maybe even more.
Bryan
I struggle with organization and can’t afford to hire somebody to help. I will at least try to clear my desk and my floor. If you don’t want to throw stuff away, consider donating stuff to some charity or recycle it.
Sarah
Good idea, Sarah!
The same realization hit me several months ago— that is, that the clutter all around me feeds the depression and confusion and absent-mindedness that I feel every day. I asked a friend to visit and help me throw things away and organize. He’s real good at stuff like that. He came and stayed about 3 days and helped me a LOT. His mantra is “LIKE THINGS TOGETHER,” meaning put similar items together. You know, like put all the screwdrivers, pliers, and wrenches I’ve bought or inherited over the years in the same place rather than having some in this room and some in that room, etc. This is probably the obvious thing to do for most people, but I’m not “most people. All the bed linens/blankets/pillows are in ONE closet; all bath linens are in another closet. All the cleaning supplies are in ONE place. I love what we did to my “office,” which is where I kept records and paid bills, etc. when only having a desktop computer confined me to one room. (Now that all I use is a laptop, and I’ve gone mostly paperless, I don’t even need an office– just a couple of file drawers for hard copies of important papers.) So, we turned the office into a hobby/work room, and moved my sewing machine & supplies, my photography stuff, my jewelry making supplies, and my kites (I love making and flying kites) in there. Anything I own pertaining to those hobbies are kept in that room. NOW I KNOW WHERE TO FIND THINGS! YEA!!! Unfortunately, I needed him to stay another week or so!!! There’s still so much more to do in each particular area, but at least a rough pattern has been established, and it has done sooo much for my mood and it just makes me feel more positive. Do you know what I mean?
By the way, I don’t know about the rest of you, but the reason my kitchen counters and other horizontal surfaces in my home are so cluttered with JUNK is because I don’t put things where they belong after I use them. To this day I can still hear my mom saying, “PLEASE don’t leave the cereal box out. Put it back where you found it.” Eventually all the stuff that I haven’t put away gets buried by other stuff I’m not putting away. I usually just set something down and completely forget about it, but I have to admit that at other times I see it lying there, and I think, “Nah, I’ll put it away some other time.”
Why do I create so much work for myself?
That’s a great idea what your friend showed you, Skyblue! And it makes such an incredible difference doesn’t it? Oh, and about leaving boxes of cereal out – I can one up you, I put empty boxes back in the cabinets instead of throwing them away. Oops. That would have driven an ex of mine crazy, but Joan just laughs when she finds them. Good thing we eat different cereals.
I have one large room I use as an office, and for art journaling, scrapbooking, selling and swapping books, listing and preparing items for auction on Listia, keeping my files, art supplies, art books for decoupage and art journaling, storing unsorted photos by the hundreds, and writing among other uses. You can’t see the floor in here. Yesterday I fell over some stuff and couldn’t get up because there was no free area to pull myself up in. Long story short: I used to type 90 wpm and now because my desk is so covered in junk and I sit in a pile of junk I can’t get to keyboard properly and only type with one finger. What’s worse is that I have read hundreds of books on ADD and organization and clutter control, and many, many more on all aspects of coping with clutter with everything from feng shui, the Fly Lady, Sandra Felton’s Messie Manuals, etc. I have also read lots on beating procrastination. I cannot effectively write, create art, etc. I feel like giving up, as usual, but will start today by taking pics. Thanks. Is there any hope for me?
I think there is hope for you, Maryellen. But let me impart a very important secret: I asked for help. If you know someone who is willing to help you get it all together and clean, then please do that, but more importantly watch what they do, pay very close attention to everything he or she does to get the area in order. I truly believe in osmosis and I used to watch hours upon hours of professionals playing billiards and that helped my game tremendously. The same worked for watching someone organize and clean. Give it a shot, I promise it won’t hurt.
Bests,
Bryan
Thank you for this article. I stumbled upon it when I searched for “clutter and anxiety” because I am certain that is the cause of it at nearly 55 years old and has been for many years. I am nearly a hoarder, though I don’t keep “dirty” trash. I do keep way too much “stuff”. Much of it is sentimental, drawings my 30 year-old children made as toddlers, not just a few, boxes and boxes of them. I’ve tried photographing and throwing out the originals, just can’t bring myself to do that. I’ve got their stuffed toys and even my own. I’m an artist and have a studio inside my home I can’t even walk in because the floor is covered with potential art materials I’ve collected for paintings and assemblages. A home renovation begun almost 4 years ago still has much of our belongings in cardboard boxes in almost every room of the house. Though the renovation ended the boxes are still packed and a couple of rooms and two closets are unusable they are so stuffed with boxes. I could go on and on but it’s the kind of thing I need to tell a therapist. Every day I tell myself I will get something done and it doesn’t happen. I like the idea of taking before and after pictures. One New Years Resolution I carried through with was to clean out my closet and I gave away a lot of clothes and handbags to a women’s shelter, plus I rearranged my closet to make it easier to see and access my clothes. Rather strange and peaceful feeling that: if I could make this small space clean and organized maybe there is hope I can bring it to the rest of my home.
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