Why Professional Organizers Are Essential Partners for People with ADHD
Professional organizers work with people who have ADHD to help them not only get organized but to identify systems and practices that work for the individual to stay organized. And make no mistake – organizing is a highly personal thing. One person’s clutter is another person’s happy, lived-in home.
A Partner in Organizing for People with ADHD
People with ADHD often struggle with executive function, and that’s the part of the brain responsible for planning and organizing. By enlisting a partner to help with finding routines, practices, and patterns that can help you stay organized, you can reduce your stress and anxiety. Many people with ADHD put a lot of pressure on themselves to be perfect, and it makes it impossible to take steps in the right direction.
How a Professional Organizer Helps
A professional organizer who has been trained and certified to work with people who have executive function disorders understands how to push through all of the barriers that stand in the way of being organized. The truth is, how people organize their lives can vary significantly. For some people, a stack of mail on the dining room table is organized; for others, seeing the pile of papers can be a stress trigger. So it’s not just a matter of getting organized but working with someone who can listen to your needs and help you organize in a way that will work for you.
The right professional organizer can:
Help you prioritize what needs to be organized the most
How to keep create habits that will keep you more organized
How to let go of the idea of perfectionism
How to schedule tasks that help you stay more organized
How to make organizing less overwhelming and more fun
Tackling Clutter
One of the things that happens to people – whether they struggle with ADHD-related executive function issues, have stressful lives, or have experienced some kind of life changing event – is clutter. Clutter occurs most often when you struggle with organization or can’t decide what you should keep and what you shouldn’t. But clutter is, itself, a huge issue for many people. Seeing clutter can trigger anxiety attacks and depression. Clutter can make you feel so overwhelmed that it becomes like a barrier to taking action and has a domino effect on your ability to get organized.
Steps You Can Take Before (and After) You Call Us
Working with a professional organizer can help you overcome some of your specific challenges, but if you aren’t ready to call yet, here are some things you can do right now to get stared:
Throw away the trash. So much of our clutter is really just trash waiting for us to move on from “what if?” So throw out the catalogs and magazines you’ve been meaning to look through but haven’t yet. And throw out the junk mail that has piled up. You can even throw away the clothes that have stains or holes.
Take a quick tour of your space. Walk through your home with a laundry basket and just gather up the items that don’t belong in each room. Even if all you do is sit that basket aside for another moment when you have the energy to deal with it, removing clutter from every room can help you see it in a new light.
Have fun! Whether you set aside ten minutes or two hours, make it fun. Crank the music, make a cup of tea, and dance your way through organizing something.
Skip perfection and aim for practicality. You may never be the person whose closet is organized according to color, but you can easily be someone whose bed is always made, and clothes are hung up because those two things alone can be magical for decluttering the bedroom.
Embrace the buddy system. Do you have a friend who also struggles with organizing? Pair up and tackle each other’s homes together. Pick specific projects that are easier to do with helping hands, set a time limit, and reward yourselves with lunch out afterward.
Organizing & Coaching for ADHD and Executive Dysfunction
At Organizing Maniacs, we understand that staying organized can be a challenge when living with ADHD, OCD, and other forms of executive dysfunction. Conditions and triggers are unique, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when tasks start to accumulate. Sometimes it takes a professional to help; that’s where we come in. From helping you understand how to use your ADHD to your advantage (hyper-focusing can be a good thing!) to helping you find easy ways to minimize clutter, we can help you live your most organized life.