Regular readers will know there are renovations taking place in our house. It is pretty chaotic and not conducive to working from home. Being flexible and not expecting too much of myself is, I’ve come to realise, the best way of getting through and not beating myself up for not being as productive as I’d like.
I really get this! I have a big desk but work squeezed onto a tiny fraction of it because of the huge teetering piles 🤣 ... despite being diagnosed with autism a couple of years ago my ADHD tendencies are only just being discovered and I hadn’t realised this was one of them.
This is so interesting 🤔 I long for a big wall for visual thinking, but I agree a desk just becomes invisible piles that make me feel overwhelmed. My desk is soo soooo soooooo messy.
Maybe? Yes probably ☺️ my solution is my supernote. Way less paper accumulates now I have it. The things that end up invisible on my desk are bills and kids stuff.
I think this makes a lot of sense actually. A wall is like a big sheet of paper to map things out visually. Things can spread out but not stack up. Where as a surface like a desk can only spread out so far, but it allows for things to easily become stacked up.
I think your big wall idea fits the contradiction of ADHD where we need infinite options but also structured limits
I swear living in a teeny tiny studio apartment was one of the most life-changing things I have ever accidentally done for my greater good.
I grew up with a “more is less” way of thinking. By that I mean more space, more dishes, more clothes, more THINGS all result (theoretically) in less cleaning, organizing, etc. More specialized gadgets, gizmos, and tools mean faster, easier and less work.
That teeny tiny studio forced me to keep things minimalist to the extreme and it was like I became a whole new person overnight (I’m only slightly, kind of exaggerating). I could clean! And cook! And put laundry away! And there were (almost) no piles!!
So yes! Get a smaller desk! Make a capsule wardrobe! Keep the bare minimum number of plates and dishes and silverware. Turns out, you only need ONE set of measuring cups. Astonishing 😆
I've heard similar stories from folk in the tiny homes movement. I think when you live with other people, it's tricky to deal with all their stuff too 🤔🤔
YES you totally need to be on the same page and establish some kind of “rules” for this work. Which is also part of the magic of small quarters: paring down on stuff isn’t an ideology, it’s a necessity.
As a fellow ADHD women with late diagnosis I TOTALLY feel this lool. I too have a studio orginzed the way I need. I use TV trays as desks and pin things to my "dream wall"
Heartfelt and insightful. I concur...to your suggestions for yourself and us ...and with your attempts to organize the writing life. Minimalism in visuals and minimalism in physical space helps creatives to be more focused on managing less.
I love your new desk setup. I can’t work (or live) with any excess stuff. I have to be mindful of what I bring into our home! I hope the renovations are going well. Exciting times! ☺️
Thanks for sharing this - I read it last week, thought about the doom piles on my own desks and woke up today with the absolute clear instinct that the entire desk isn't working for me and needs to go! I've spent a bit of time this morning clearing it out, and it's now on my local Whatsapp group to see if I can rehome it, if not it's getting dismantled later today. My partner is neurodivergent and has only put that together in the last year or so, so we've done a lot of thinking and tweaking how we do things at home to accomodate their needs and patterns, I hadn't really been focusing on my own. But this post made me realise how little I'm actually working at my desk these days because it's just become a dumping ground. So thank you for this, it's really catalysed me into creating some much-needed change!
Haven't got a replacement in mind yet so more mobile for now - I'm hoping that may also incentivise me to do more writing out of the house, which is something I always get so much from when I do it but often don't prioritise, so we'll see!
I am fascinated by this concept of a DOOM pile! I have piles everywhere, but I always chalked it up to allowing my perfectionist tendencies to have a little wiggle room.
I had no idea that my piles everywhere are yet another symptom of my ADHD 🤣
This past week I spent about 3 days trying to organize my paper clutter. I am using a Levenger Circa system. 2 notebooks, 5 tabs each. 1 is “projects” (books I want to write and 1 tab for house projects, another for temporary projects like upcoming travel) the other is everything else. (To do, ideas, JodiArts stuff (blog, social media ideas…), music (violin, viola, local orchestras, music I want to learn, music I want to play on social media …)
It feels so good to have found my way of organizing. My space at the kitchen table is uncluttered for the first time in … decades? This is MAJOR for me.
Time to go tackle my desk. It’s all piles and piles. So is the chair and the floor around the desk !!!
Yikes!!
Loved your post here. I look forward to reading more from you!
Hi Jodi! I've never heard of that system. I know there are quite a few out there. I seem to have created my own version because I tend to have two notebooks also, but a paper diary/organiser too. It used to be many more notebooks, but I could never recall where I'd written a particular thing down, then I'd find it again months later. 🤣😅
You sound just like me. “I know it’s on a paper around here somewhere! “
I modified my organization into these 2 notebooks for most of yesterday. It’s so restful to have spots to put all the things.
I also have an accordion file for bills & taxes (it’s basically holding things if I need to reference them) … I’ve had to pull a few of the bills out as reference, too, because companies can’t get their act together! …. And I also have a plain old file folder for another topic that’s important to me, (SSDI), but I don’t need to access it daily. That may upgrade to a binder at some point, once I find all the other places I have stashed those important papers! !!
I love the Levenger Circa System. It was the first. Staples ARC came after, and then Martha Stewart did her own brand of it at Staples. It finally turned in to what people now call “The Happy Planner.” There are other sellers, too, like Jane’s Agenda.
I had to upgrade the size of the rings for my binder this week too. Once I started using it, I realized I needed to add more paper & file folders! It was great to just replace the rings and add more folders and keep on going.
Nice to connect with you! I feel like your last name is familiar to me from a family I once knew in Maryland.
I really get this! I have a big desk but work squeezed onto a tiny fraction of it because of the huge teetering piles 🤣 ... despite being diagnosed with autism a couple of years ago my ADHD tendencies are only just being discovered and I hadn’t realised this was one of them.
I can picture it, Lexi! The organisation and memory thing is so tricky. Great to see you here on Substack x
This is so interesting 🤔 I long for a big wall for visual thinking, but I agree a desk just becomes invisible piles that make me feel overwhelmed. My desk is soo soooo soooooo messy.
Invisible piles, this exact thing. Do you have a large desk?
Maybe? Yes probably ☺️ my solution is my supernote. Way less paper accumulates now I have it. The things that end up invisible on my desk are bills and kids stuff.
I think this makes a lot of sense actually. A wall is like a big sheet of paper to map things out visually. Things can spread out but not stack up. Where as a surface like a desk can only spread out so far, but it allows for things to easily become stacked up.
I think your big wall idea fits the contradiction of ADHD where we need infinite options but also structured limits
That's a great way of looking at it. I do see it as an extension of my brain and what I'm working on.
I swear living in a teeny tiny studio apartment was one of the most life-changing things I have ever accidentally done for my greater good.
I grew up with a “more is less” way of thinking. By that I mean more space, more dishes, more clothes, more THINGS all result (theoretically) in less cleaning, organizing, etc. More specialized gadgets, gizmos, and tools mean faster, easier and less work.
That teeny tiny studio forced me to keep things minimalist to the extreme and it was like I became a whole new person overnight (I’m only slightly, kind of exaggerating). I could clean! And cook! And put laundry away! And there were (almost) no piles!!
So yes! Get a smaller desk! Make a capsule wardrobe! Keep the bare minimum number of plates and dishes and silverware. Turns out, you only need ONE set of measuring cups. Astonishing 😆
Except for pens. You can never have enough pens 🧐
I'm so with you on the pens!!
I've heard similar stories from folk in the tiny homes movement. I think when you live with other people, it's tricky to deal with all their stuff too 🤔🤔
YES you totally need to be on the same page and establish some kind of “rules” for this work. Which is also part of the magic of small quarters: paring down on stuff isn’t an ideology, it’s a necessity.
As a fellow ADHD women with late diagnosis I TOTALLY feel this lool. I too have a studio orginzed the way I need. I use TV trays as desks and pin things to my "dream wall"
I love the phrase *dream wall* thanks!
Heartfelt and insightful. I concur...to your suggestions for yourself and us ...and with your attempts to organize the writing life. Minimalism in visuals and minimalism in physical space helps creatives to be more focused on managing less.
I agree, it's tricky when your brain is a maximalist!
Such a great read, Susan. I feel calm just looking at your desk set-up. Glad it's working well for you so far.
There is so much I relate to in this!
D.O.O.M pile...OMG...
I've definitely found having less stuff helps. I've still got a way to go but I've been thinning out my stuff over the past couple of years.
Moving house definitely helps you thin out your belongings.
Have a great Monday!
I love your new desk setup. I can’t work (or live) with any excess stuff. I have to be mindful of what I bring into our home! I hope the renovations are going well. Exciting times! ☺️
Thanks Natasha. Fingers crossed we are on the home strait now.
Thanks for sharing this - I read it last week, thought about the doom piles on my own desks and woke up today with the absolute clear instinct that the entire desk isn't working for me and needs to go! I've spent a bit of time this morning clearing it out, and it's now on my local Whatsapp group to see if I can rehome it, if not it's getting dismantled later today. My partner is neurodivergent and has only put that together in the last year or so, so we've done a lot of thinking and tweaking how we do things at home to accomodate their needs and patterns, I hadn't really been focusing on my own. But this post made me realise how little I'm actually working at my desk these days because it's just become a dumping ground. So thank you for this, it's really catalysed me into creating some much-needed change!
I'm so glad you found this helpful, it's amazing what we get used to isn't it? Like those piles almost become part of the desk.
Will you get something else or are you enjoying being mobile?
Haven't got a replacement in mind yet so more mobile for now - I'm hoping that may also incentivise me to do more writing out of the house, which is something I always get so much from when I do it but often don't prioritise, so we'll see!
Good luck!
I am fascinated by this concept of a DOOM pile! I have piles everywhere, but I always chalked it up to allowing my perfectionist tendencies to have a little wiggle room.
I'm a recovering perfectionist. It can be another trait tbh!
Huh … well, I guess I know what I’ll be googling today!
Enjoy the rabbit hole!
Great post! I recently just organized my desk also so I definitely needed this post to remind me not to start piling things up.
It's so easy to slip back into doing that. Don't beat yourself up if you do, just start again!
I had no idea that my piles everywhere are yet another symptom of my ADHD 🤣
This past week I spent about 3 days trying to organize my paper clutter. I am using a Levenger Circa system. 2 notebooks, 5 tabs each. 1 is “projects” (books I want to write and 1 tab for house projects, another for temporary projects like upcoming travel) the other is everything else. (To do, ideas, JodiArts stuff (blog, social media ideas…), music (violin, viola, local orchestras, music I want to learn, music I want to play on social media …)
It feels so good to have found my way of organizing. My space at the kitchen table is uncluttered for the first time in … decades? This is MAJOR for me.
Time to go tackle my desk. It’s all piles and piles. So is the chair and the floor around the desk !!!
Yikes!!
Loved your post here. I look forward to reading more from you!
Hi Jodi! I've never heard of that system. I know there are quite a few out there. I seem to have created my own version because I tend to have two notebooks also, but a paper diary/organiser too. It used to be many more notebooks, but I could never recall where I'd written a particular thing down, then I'd find it again months later. 🤣😅
You sound just like me. “I know it’s on a paper around here somewhere! “
I modified my organization into these 2 notebooks for most of yesterday. It’s so restful to have spots to put all the things.
I also have an accordion file for bills & taxes (it’s basically holding things if I need to reference them) … I’ve had to pull a few of the bills out as reference, too, because companies can’t get their act together! …. And I also have a plain old file folder for another topic that’s important to me, (SSDI), but I don’t need to access it daily. That may upgrade to a binder at some point, once I find all the other places I have stashed those important papers! !!
I love the Levenger Circa System. It was the first. Staples ARC came after, and then Martha Stewart did her own brand of it at Staples. It finally turned in to what people now call “The Happy Planner.” There are other sellers, too, like Jane’s Agenda.
I had to upgrade the size of the rings for my binder this week too. Once I started using it, I realized I needed to add more paper & file folders! It was great to just replace the rings and add more folders and keep on going.
Nice to connect with you! I feel like your last name is familiar to me from a family I once knew in Maryland.
I'm goggling these methods RN