Here’s a treat! A magical ADHD clutter clearing trick. It’s one of my favorites. You long-time ADHD Success readers may remember this one from 2011. But, it’s a goody and worth repeating.
First, some background. You know how I like you to understand the WHY behind the HOW. To me, understanding is the key to success.
What’s at the root of much of the ADHD clutter struggle? Lack of awareness. Or, what I call Clutter Blind. Our piles and stacks wear Invisibility Cloaks. We don’t see the clutter which means we have no motivation to do something about it.
Being Clutter Blind may save your sanity, but it increases your ADHD clutter struggles. You won’t take care of what you don’t see. Clutter awareness makes blasting away those annoying stacks and piles more likely!
One of my favorite ADHD clutter clearing tricks is Visualize Neat. It’s a key skill I teach in my book, Organized For Life, and in the ADHD Success Club.
But, there is another magical trick to help ADHD adults clear clutter that’s not in Organized for Life. It’s the one I’ll teach you today.
A Magical ADHD Clutter Clearing Trick
This is an easy trick to build clutter awareness. We call this ADHD clutter clearing trick The Spyglass.
Here’s all you do:
- Pick an area to do some clutter clearing. Keep the area small. Think a corner of your desk. One bit of your office floor. Your nightstand or the edge of the coffee table.
- Stand facing the area you’ve picked.
- Make a spyglass with your hands and hold it in front of one of your eyes. Pretend to channel your inner sea captain.
- Close your eyes and count to 10. Yell Ahoy Matey if you’re so moved.
- Now open your eyes and peer through your spyglass. What do you see? Some clutter?
- You’re not done yet! Dash over to the clutter you’re looking at and tidy it up. Don’t wait. Do it NOW!
That, my friend, is the magic of awareness.
Oh, and if you’re confused about what to get rid of you might consider my book Organized for Life. Step Four, Digging Out – Get Control of the Clutter will make you an expert at clutter clearing.
Increasing your awareness of the clutter isn’t comfortable. But, it’ll motivate you to do something about it. Using The Spyglass ADHD Clutter Clearing Trick is a simple way to start! I hope this makes a huge difference in your ability to stay organized.
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Thank you. The pandemic+ grief+betrayal+isolation+anxiety+PtS = increase clutter and migraines+ clutter and time blindness. Hope you book is on Nook! Thanks for the tip!
I don’t understand this trick. How does the spyglass help when I just see a slightly more limited view? Everything still looks the same to me.
The Spyglass helps you actually see what’s in the small area in the view so you can focus on clearing just that bit. It keeps the clutter from just disappearing into the rest of the mess.
I do this with my phone camera
Sometimes I’ll clean and then pull out my camera to take photos. Seeing it through the phone screen helps me see it differently. It’s like I’m not looking at MY mess, but someone else’s. But then I’m able to see what needs to be done better