3 ADHD Characteristics that Affect Home Organization

I went looking for my keys, found them in the fridge and made it out of the driveway in time to realize the lower half of my body was only covered with underwear.

Pants. I need pants.

I would lose my head if it wasn’t attached.

Any of this sound familiar? Too familiar. You’re wondering why I know the thoughts in your head?

Maybe because I also struggle with organization too, and it affects every single area of my life, all the way down to wearing pants.

It might seem like an odd detail to share given the fact that my chosen profession is professional home organization, but this is part of my story. The part of who I am that led me to understand organization, diving deep into the depths of organization to really understand it for myself.

There are many different reasons why someone could be chronically disorganized. In this post I’m focused on three characteristics of ADHD that you can point to that might explain disorganization.

Looking to learn more about ADHD with valuable educational resources? I’ve compiled 39 resources on ADHD to help jumpstart your learning. Included are resources on books, podcasts, self-assessments and social accounts to follow that post about ADHD.

ADHD Characteristic #1: Procrastination

Whether you have ADHD or not, chances are you’ve fallen once or twice into the pit of procrastination. I call it a pit because once you fall into it, it’s difficult to climb your way out.

Procrastination looks like delaying routine tasks that you might find mind-numbing at best and pure torture at its worst.

Routine tasks tend to be the ones that we love to delay like folding laundry, washing dirty dishes, and vacuuming the floors, unless you’re an outlier who happens to enjoy these everyday maintenance tasks.

The problem is that delaying the action to tackle the task doesn’t make the problem go away.

It actually makes the problem grow, getting bigger and bigger with each delay until the once small manageable task now becomes an overwhelming mountain towering over you like a big dark cloud.

An individual with ADHD might procrastinate because the maintenance task is boring. Although the name ADHD would suggest otherwise, the attention deficit occurs from things that ADHD’ers don’t find interesting.

The ADHD brain is wired for interest and getting an ADHD brain to start and finish a boring task, while not impossible, is a big ask.

Tips for Procrastination

There isn’t a one size fits all solution, but these tips can help to avoid the trip into the pit of procrastination:

Pair the boring task with something enjoyable. If folding laundry is not your jam, pair it with your favorite Netflix show. And to prevent the pile up of clothes, give yourself a rule that says you can’t watch your favorite show UNLESS you’re doing the undesirable task. In order to enjoy the show you must tackle the task. If you can pair the two successfully together you stand to win at procrastination.
Gamify the task. Hack your brain into thinking the boring task is fun by adding a challenge or game element into the mix. You could challenge your spouse in a friendly fold-off to see who can get through the pile of clothes faster.
Create a streak. Making checkmarks next to your name is a simple way to feel a thrill of dopamine. It’s in the small reward or accomplishment that ADHD brains get into positive emotion. Each day that you mark a check, you start to build up a positive streak that gives you the motivation to continue otherwise face the consequence of ruining the streak and starting at zero.

ADHD Characteristic #2: Impulsivity

Getting organized is quickly derailed due to the common ADHD characteristic of impulsivity.

Impulsivity causes those with ADHD to find it difficult to plan and organization does require a bit of planning ahead of time. Failure to organize is the failure to plan.

Mornings are particularly hectic in many households as everyone is getting themselves ready to get out the door. The tasks that we face each morning are routine in nature, but some planning is required.

By planning the night before we anticipate the tasks of the day and our mornings consequently run smoother with fewer hiccups.

For example, planning out your outfit a day earlier or having an idea about what breakfast you will prepare helps keep you organized in the morning. Alternately, going about your day impulsively introduces chaos and disorganization.

Impulsivity also makes it difficult to prioritize and execute on a task. An impulsive brain might lead one in one direction based on emotions rather than priorities, moving us farther away from the main goal.

Tips for Impulsivity

To counter the impulsivity of an ADHD brain, dedicate time to make a plan.

The plan doesn’t have to be set in stone, but it can be a loosely set parameter to work within so that you have some structure allowing for organization.

Take a moment to pause. Reacting in the moment might be impulsive, but taking a small pause to think about all the action can set you up for more organization.

ADHD Characteristic #3: Distractibility

An ADHD mind is often a distracted mind.

Young girls tend to fly under the radar of ADHD diagnosis because instead of displaying hyperactive cartwheels on the lawn, they look like forgetful daydreamers, quietly distracted by their own thoughts and imaginations.

Even if an ADHD brain gets into action to start a task (which is no small feat), completing the task is altogether another challenge due to distractibility.

While in the middle of a task, a distracted mind can quickly drift to another task and derail the original task from completion.

As an adult living with ADHD it might look something like this.

Sitting down to fold a pile of laundry and coming across a piece of clothing that requires mending. You might get up to find a sewing kit which is on the second floor of your home in the craft room, which leads you to start sorting through an unmarked box in the corner that caught your eye.

Before you know it,

45 minutes have passed,
you forgot why you were ever in the craft room to begin with,
and you find yourself searching on the internet for the best key lime pie recipe because it’s your friend’s favorite and their birthday is coming up.

It’s not a surprise that with this level of distractibility the original boring task of folding laundry is still not done and you took on other tasks that felt more of a priority even though they didn’t fit into your plan at all.

Tips for distractibility

One tip to ward off distractibility is to tackle one task at a time until completion. Remove all distractions such as phones and devices. Let’s say the task you must complete is to write out a blog post for the week. Turn off all notifications on your computer so that you’re only working on a word processor or a document in Google drive.

Set a timer. If you think that laundry folding will take 15 minutes, set a 15 minute timer. On the chance that you did get distracted the timer going off will help you get on track once again.

Conclusion

Getting organized with ADHD is a challenge, but it’s not impossible to make progress towards your home organization goals. Like a habit you build over time, organization skills can also be built upon over time.

This post is about awareness, but also about being open to trying a new tip for an age old problem. There isn’t one solution that will work with all ADHD brains. There are too many nuances of the brain to ever begin to scratch the surface.

It’s also important to understand that organizing your home and life is not a one-time event, but rather an ongoing process that requires patience and consistency. By learning to manage the symptoms of ADHD, and incorporating effective strategies for organization, you can improve your ability to get organized and enjoy a more peaceful and orderly life.

Remember that everyone’s experience with ADHD is different and what works for one person may not work for another. Finding what works for you is important.

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Southern California based Professional Organizer, Sandy Park, owner and founder of Tidy with SPARK shares her joy of organization with her clients.

She serves clients in Orange County as well as the hundreds of thousands of followers on her combined social media platforms.

Connect with Sandy through her website or by connecting through her social channels.