October 11, 2022

Helping Those Who Struggle with Organization

Some interesting stats from surveys on how much Americans spend per year on the organization of their stuff.

The average American spends multiple days per year searching for missing items. On average, we lose up to nine items per day, which equals looking for 198,743 items over an average lifetime.
U.S. households collectively spend a whopping $2.7 billion annually replacing items we have lost or misplaced.
Americans spend more than $4.36 billion annually on home storage and organization products.

Now think about the struggles for those with ADHD or learning difficulties, especially when they have executive function issues. More often than not, the frustrating part is not that we have permanently lost them but that we have spent a lot of time looking for them. Then we suffer late fees, missed deadlines, or embarrassment.

What is organization?

It’s a system for keeping track of information and stuff, especially those you need daily to function. And in that system, you have to know where the “home” for that stuff goes so you can put it back in place to easily find it the next time you need it. Organizational issues can involve objects like chargers, information such as emails or websites, or organizing thoughts and ideas.

For example, a person with a weak executive skill in Organization might have problems with these items:

Losing electronic information such as not having a central place to store them or forgetting where the information is stored or what name it’s filed under.
Misplacing important papers.
Having a cluttered and disorganized desk area.
Failure to bring the right materials or equipment.
Not knowing how to create an organizational system that works well with their brain wiring.

The ability to organize adequately results in less frustration and creates a sense of control and efficiency for the individual. And having an organized environment will lead to less visual clutter, which often overwhelms us and interferes with our focus and productivity.

Tips and solutions to strengthen our organization skills:

Outsource to note organizer apps such as Evernote, Notion, or OneNote
Use a password manager such as LastPass or 1Pass to keep track of your electronic data
Find a central location for storing important objects such as keys, phones, or wallets. Come up with a location that makes sense to you and use it continuously until it is routine.
Be mindful of where you are laying things down instead of allowing yourself to move around while your brain thinks of other things. Keep your mind and body connected so you can picture where you laid that item down. Or say out loud that you are putting these items on the shelf, so you will remember what you said.
Use smart tech options like the tiles you can attach to important items and locate them using a Wi-Fi connection to a smartphone or computer.
Use file storage that is horizontal to make it easy to see each file or paper.
Understand the concept of “out of sight is out of mind” and use clear storage where you can easily see the items inside.
Spend just a few minutes every evening putting things back in their “home” so the next day will start off faster and with a little less frustration.
Make organization routines a team effort. We tend to work better together so use the help of others to keep moving forward and finishing the task.

Executive functioning skills like organization require practice and continue to develop into adulthood, so strengthening this skill will not happen overnight. But don't give up because just getting a little better in small steps will pay off big dividends over time.

Katherine Jahnke
ADHD Coach | Center For Living Well with ADHD, LLC

More about Katherine

Cool Resource

Try this voice note-taking app called Voiceliner and watch it boost your productivity. Pretty simple to use and each voice note will be transcribed as text as well as available to play as audio playing. Use it to braindump ideas while having a structure that makes it easy to capture your notes in a hierarchical format. Available on Android and iPhone.

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Lots of fun. Lots of free support. Even prizes!

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