Are You Organizing the Same Things Over and Over?

And if so, why?

The short answer is probably because you have ADHD.

In theory, you organize something and you do it once. You shouldn’t have to organize it over and over.

And yet, that’s what we end up doing.

So what does our ADHD have to do with it?

organizing the same things over and over
Why are you organizing the same things over and over? Could your ADHD be part of it?

Oh, pretty much everything.

ADHD and Organizing (Over and Over)

A reader asked The Organizing Coach at Additude Magazine why she seemed to be reinventing the wheel, so to speak, when it came to organizing her home.

While what the coach said was correct, I think she sidestepped the real problem completely.

She said that you need a home for everything and enough space to store what you have. She also suggested having furniture pieces that provide storage in addition to their primary function; sort of like my coffee table with multiple drawers and shelves.

Those are great ideas, but they still don’t address the real problem: if we already organized it, why are we doing it again?

Let’s think about your ADHD symptoms for a minute:

How Do Our ADHD Symptoms Contribute to Our Organizing Problem?

So how does that particular list of symptoms lead to organizing the same stuff over and over?

Let’s take a look:

This makes us sound like we’re pretty goofy and dumb, but the reality is that we have busy complex lives, and for those of us with ADHD, even a simple life is more complicated for us than it is for others.

So How Can We Do This Once and For All?

The truth is that there will always be some things that you will have to organize, and yes, some of them will be things you have already organized in the past.

If you’re a voracious reader, you’re going to have a lot of books, and as you collect more, you will need to readjust how you store and organize them.

The same is true for anything that you’re interested in.

Sometimes you may set up a system that just doesn’t work. In that case, you’ll need to keep trying different things until it does.

My best advice?

And at some point, maybe you can learn to let it go and just shut the door when people are over.

In the meantime, you might want to check this out.

Tell me what you think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.