ADHD and Clutter: What's Behind the Scenes

Jeff Copper (digcoaching.com) is an ADHD coach and host of Attention Talk Video which is part of the Attention Talk Network, attentiontalknetwork.com.
Do you have lots of clutter? Do you struggle to clear out your office, house, or garage? Why is it such a challenge for those with ADHD? In this video, ADHD coach Jeff Copper (digcoaching.com) takes a look at this simple challenge of clutter from an engineering perspective-specifically, his new intervention, Cognitive Ergonomics From the Inside Out™, to help share how ADHD is an executive function impairment and how this is actually getting in your way. Learn about a lens that will help you move forward. If you struggle with clutter, you might find this video of value.
More great interviews can be found at sister channel Attention Talk Radio (attentiontalkradio.com), or subscribe to Attention Talk News at attentiontalknews.com.
Attention Talk Video (attentiontalkvideo.com) is a part of the Attention Talk Network, which includes Attention Talk Radio... Your ADHD Information Station! (attentiontalkradio.com), Attention Talk News... Your ADHD News Source! (attentiontalknews.com), and Attention Talk Video... Your ADHD Talk Show Station (attentiontalkvideo.com) Follow us on Facebook at / attentiontalkradio .
Attention Talk Video is the leading video resource providing educational information and support for those with or impacted by Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Educational information is intended to help our targeted audience made up of adults and children to manage their symptoms to enable them to function at work, in school, at home, or in relationships. If you are frustrated, overwhelmed, or stuck or if you procrastinate, are not organized, or struggle with time management, consider subscribing to Attention Talk Video at www.attentiontalkvideo.com.
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[@michaelangelo1417]

Ask for help folks! It really works. My house used to resemble a troll pit. Then, my girlfriend moved in. She has OCD but she manages it with meds. I was dumbfounded by the amount of useless objects we threw. She found it satisfying while I was getting distracted by all the stuff I forgot I owned. I ended up looking at old photos and my school grades while she was having fun getting rid of stuff.

[@AttentionTalkVideo]

BOOYA! That's what i'm talking about.

[@brigitpimm8488]

Yes this is absolutely correct each and every object has to be thought about and a decision made and THEN you have to decide how to get rid of it and then you have to spend time doing it! It can be difficult trying to find someone to help though. One thing I found that helps declutter is giving priority to getting rid of the bigger things because they take up more space but require less thinking than the equivalent volume of small things.

[@AttentionTalkVideo]

Well stated. Interesting concept on getting rid of the bigger things. Thanks for tuning in.

[@DaveE99]

Bigger or more frequent things like you just need a strategy for dealing with frequent as well as big clutter across both space (big) and the frequency of (time)

[@brigitpimm8488]

@@DaveE99 frequency in what way?

[@DaveE99]

@@brigitpimm8488 repetative things like mail trash or other issues. Solve things that frequently happen in your space

[@gweno9901]

@@brigitpimm8488 I wonder if he means things that regularly, or frequently, come into our homes, like junk mail or magazines we subscribe to? So, opening the mail next to the recycling bin or whatever. And having a one in one out rule for magazines? I am just surmising!! 🙂

[@sovereign_soul_starseed]

Totally agree. i'm actually in the thick of it right now, needing to declutter my horror of an office that has for years also been the dump zone. I have recruited the help of my daughter to help me go through everything, or if nothing else, body double for me while I endeavor to complete this mountain of a task. I've found body doubling very helpful too, yet, in each of these situations where i clearly need assistance, it's the asking others for help that's nearly the hardest part of all. My ingrained dread of being a burden to others by requesting their time and energy (when they are already loaded down with their own burdens in this life) is nearly paralyzing and downright debilitating.

[@AttentionTalkVideo]

GREAT POST! ADHD is an execuative functioning impairment. Impairments need accomodations. Your post illustrates it perfectly. That said, getting body doubles and talking out loud is a form of an accomodation (like my eye glasses). Many resist accepting ADHD as an impairment and getting the accomodatoins needed becase of the emotions. Here is the deal... it is hard to do it without accomodations (notice how nothing gets done)... and for many it is hard to ask for the accomodations (note when you have them things get done). The trick is focus on facts. The accomodations work. The be creative... barter... they help you.. you help them in some way... you can hire others or find others with ADHD. This might take effort but if you solve it things get done!

[@djallalnamri1]

we need extra effort to be like neurotypicals, to synchronize with them: I am so temporally blind that I forget the time that passes, I also forget that it does not pass in the same way for others until they pointed out to me how slow I was when I was just following the different steps of a task. in reality, no one sees the passage of time but just the movement of the hands of a watch or a clock or the flow of sand from an hourglass. if the remark sounds like a reproach, it will only complicate things because for me the task in its various stages has indeed been accomplished so I ask myself the question: should I shorten the task by deleting this or that stage with the risk ultimately that the task itself is no longer ultimately... the task or limit tasks involving other people?

[@AttentionTalkVideo]

@@djallalnamri1 you wrote "extra effort to be like neurotypicals"... that is the prevailing mindset... which makes sense on the surface. I'm encourage people to look at ADHD through Dr. Barkley's model. ADHD is a execuative function impairment. Impairments need accomodation not just extra effort. Think of it like this. My eye sight is impaired... it takes lots of effort to read as things are blury. If i wear glasses (the accomodation) and can achieve my potential. I'm encouraging a new mindset. Get accomodations to achieve your potential... not just try harder. Thanks for posting!

[@djallalnamri1]

never finishing what we started, for example buying shoes that we will never wear or just once or twice because buying them was compulsive or took too long between decision to buy and the act of buying as if in the meantime time has ceased to exist and its continuity fragmented, would this not be the origin of the clutter which transforms our space into an attic full of new objects because they are rarely or never used? we had desired these objects at a certain time but that moment ceased to exist in time blindness. these objects are there but no longer their desire. If you buy shoes next time, don't lose sight of them and maybe you will always remember when you see them why you bought them. This goes for shoes as it does for anything else.

[@AttentionTalkVideo]

ADHD is far more a thinking impairment than most realize. Time is about using visual working memory to see the future. Given there are multiple dynamics and at times ambiguity the exercise is effortful (uncomfortable) and thus those with ADHD escape to focus on other things. What appears to be time blindness... is an escape from thinking. Thinking through the purchase of shoes isn't much different. Often projects are started but they end... or stop moving forward in the face of ambituity... removing ambiguity again requires effortful thinking. The point of the video was to emphasis the underlying root cause to many behavioral symptoms is a thinking impairment. Focus shouldn't be on trying harder but rather making the thinking easier. As always thanks for posting.

[@gweno9901]

@@AttentionTalkVideo Wow. That is an amazing and helpful explanation of time blindness. I will show this to my husband as he will find it helpful too (38 years of living with my time blindness)

[@AttentionTalkVideo]

@@gweno9901 Love it when my work helps others. thanks!

[@irene_f.]

Impulsive shopping. I try to slow fown.

[@irene_f.]

Is emotional attachment to things a part of ADHD ? I'm very literal & visual so I need easy access and view. Its overwnelming & have started Spring Cleaning.

[@AttentionTalkVideo]

Scientifically i'm not qualified to say. Based on my experience and studying ADHD via Dr Barkley model in general no. Emotional attachment can happen when something represents a symbol or a memory etc. Decluttering is more of simplification and removing mental clutter to feel more in control and more at peace. Again just my opinion.

[@irene_f.]

@@AttentionTalkVideo Thank you.