Here’s my HSP story and some ADHD-friendly organizing approaches.
Discovering your neurodivergence can feel scary and exciting. You realize your brain works differently than most of the population, and a series of light bulbs light up. Oooh… that’s why… and I was always like… and everyone else seemed to… etc.
Whether you view your neurodivergence as a strength, a weakness, or a bit of both, as a neurodivergent person, you are part of the minority. Our culture is predominantly designed for neurotypical folks, and so you get the recurring message that you don’t fit in. Your strengths might be greatly appreciated while your needs seem like a terrible inconvenience, or at least largely misunderstood.
Before discovering the existence of your unique disposition, you likely had all kinds of struggles and secret worries about not being good enough. Maybe you still do. However, now there’s a map with research, clarity, and community. We have tools to make our lives better.
Working as a professional home organizer in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have strong empathy for my clients with neurodivergence because I’m a highly sensitive person (or HSP). High sensitivity is a type of neurodivergence that shows up in 15-20% of many species. Dr. Elaine Aron’s “The Highly Sensitive Person” book gave me a solid foundation to understand my history in a clearer light and to love and support myself more fully now.
Soon after my discovery a few years ago, I started seeing both ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) and HSP traits everywhere, as well as autism. People I had dated, family members, close friends, and more and more clients shared that they have (or suspect they have) ADHD or other neurodivergent traits.
Your temperament impacts so many areas of your life, including how to effectively organize and declutter your home. In addition to my game-changing discovery journey as an HSP, I’ve integrated the experience, research, and compassion to empower neurodivergent clients to have supportive, personalized, and sustainable home organizing results.
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Discovering My High Sensitivity
I startle easily. Authority figures told me I’m too sensitive and I care too much. I’m highly conscientious, and I’ve always been very organized, creative, and intelligent. I’ve also experienced addictive tendencies and numbed myself way too much over the years because life was just too much.
The saying, “Stillness reveals what hides in hurry,” really resonates. After years of vinyasa yoga and other intense fitness activities, I got hooked on yin and other restorative yoga practices during the COVID pandemic. One yoga teacher talked about HSPs and empaths, and I got curious enough to take simple quizzes.
- The Highly Sensitive Person Self-Test – Developed by Aron using empirical research
- Empath Self-Assessment Test – By Dr. Judith Orloff
More and more, these traits resonated, and Aron’s work felt like a religious textbook for a time. I talked about HSP stuff constantly. It was the biggest lens I was incorporating for nearly two years. My discovery impacted so many details of my daily existence.
I began trusting my intuition more about what I needed rather than trying to adapt to what other people seemed to need or not need. So many aspects of daily life affected me so strongly–foods, sleep, noises, music, and other humans. My nervous system is finely tuned and requires more energy and awareness to stay balanced.
Gradually, I redesigned my environment to better support me. I created space for my needs and channels for my strengths. Relationships and work were some of the biggest elements to shift. I needed to surround myself with affirming people and become even more insistent on creating a sustainable workflow–a big part of what inspired my Scorpio Clear business.
Mostly, I’ve learned to be more accepting. On good days, I feel gifted and special. On really bad days, I feel seriously limited. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. I’m different, and I’m valuable in my uniqueness. I’ve cultivated more loving boundaries and positive assertiveness. By embracing my neurodivergence, I get to create my most fulfilling life and offer my greatest contributions to the world.
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Becoming ADHD-Friendly
I often wonder if HSP and ADHD traits create a natural polarity, because the more I stopped numbing myself and leaned into my sensitivity, the more people with ADHD seemed to show up in my life.
In my experience, my clients with ADHD have shown high levels of creativity, curiosity, excitability, intelligence, and talent. I’ve had some of the most exciting and inspiring conversations with people who have ADHD; it can feel like speaking the same language. No wonder so many of them became close friends.
When I began organizing with clients, I met with more and more people with ADHD, and I began viewing “ADHD-friendly” or “neurodivergent-fluent” as one of my specialties. With my sensitive disposition, I can often sense what’s needed. I easily follow and embrace others’ individual needs with curiosity and flexibility. My neurodivergent journey motivates me to understand, empathize with, and support people who fall outside the neurotypical experience.
Over the years, I’ve seen recurring patterns and incorporated more supportive strategies. Though, much like the curb-cut effect, most ADHD-friendly tools seem like good ideas for everyone. Inclusivity is such a beautiful, expansive practice.
While I treat each person as unique, with their own special needs, there are a few strategies that tend to resonate more strongly for clients with ADHD:
Choose Visibility:
When possible, choose transparent storage systems. Clear containers make finding your items that much easier. See-through bins, drawers, or even Ziploc bags work great. One client was thrilled by the accessibility of a labeled Ziploc bag system for storing a wide variety of cables.
Set Priorities:
I do this at the beginning of sessions with every client now. For those with ADHD, it’s especially supportive to give yourself cues to stay on track. I serve as a sort of respectful, supportive guardrail, reminding you of session goals as needed. We can always shift gears if it really makes sense; we’ll do that with intention, though. “Body Doubling” can be similarly supportive to increase motivation and reduce distractions, though the topic deserves its own article.
Use Timers:
Since time management is a common ADHD struggle, try setting timers for organizing. The 25-minute Pomodoro method can be a helpful starting point to assess what helps you stay focused. I’m often surprised by how good even five minutes of tidying can feel.
Start a “Transit” Box:
When you’re organizing in one room and discover items that live somewhere else, place those items in a labeled transit box to reduce unnecessary distractions. It’s much easier to stay focused when you’re not getting up and down constantly to put things away. Once the task is finished, you can carry the box from room to room, putting things away. If you run out of energy, the box can also serve as an easy tidying “win” for later.
Reduce Friction:
As a sensitive person, I’m highly attuned to the effort required for each task. If your daily supplements are stashed on a high shelf, you’re much less likely to take them. Add in a scrambled box of medicines, and you’re way less likely. Together, I work with clients to create systems that make important routines as easy as possible, matching high-use items with high-access spots.
Find Clear “Wins”:
Motivation and momentum are huge when you’re doing a big home reset. The process requires many small decisions and focus sessions. We want each step, especially early on, to be as visible and impactful as possible. Maybe reclaiming your kitchen table as a calm, clear space can be a starting milestone.
Make Labels:
I’ve become a bit obsessed with my label maker because it provides so much value. After all the thoughtfulness around what you own, what’s still present, what it lives with, and where that grouping lives, I love sealing in that hard-earned clarity. Even if it seems obvious now, when you’re tired and it’s been months, that label will really help you find things.
Manage Commitments:
One client described an area in their home as a “graveyard of buried hobbies and projects.” That visual cue of incompletion really weighs you down. Instead, let’s honor your authentic capacity and current interests to create more space to enjoy the activities that feel most aligned. Make a conscious effort to commit more slowly and mindfully to keep yourself balanced.
Support Your Patterns:
Rather than criticizing or forcing behavior changes, we’ll work with your natural patterns to make your space setup more intuitive. That’s a key part of the organizing process for grouping items and choosing a storage location. When you’re really low energy, we want your systems to still make sense.
These are just a few of the many ADHD-friendly organizing tips and approaches to explore. You might also use a “pending” box for potential donations, empty your bags daily, simplify your wardrobe with clear outfits, or create a spot for “out-the-door” items. I recommend picking one or two of these strategies at a time to experiment with and assess your results.
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Creating an “Anchor Surface”
I’ll share one of my favorite organizing strategies that I didn’t include in my list so I can write about it in greater depth. It’s one of my most used practices for clients, especially new clients who need a gentler pace. Creating an anchor surface works well for anyone who wants to be more organized and feel better in their space.
I came up with this on my own and later found others describe similar practices.
To explore this concept, let’s imagine your home is stuffed full. Most or all of your surfaces are covered and overflowing. Your clutter has infringed upon your floor space, and you’re overwhelmed. So you mentally block things out. Numb to the increasing noise, you know it bothers you, but it seems tolerable. Until it doesn’t.
Many of my clients have to work extra hard to accomplish daily responsibilities because their brains have to work to block out that noise. Clutter often makes us feel confused, hazy, and scattered.
Creating an anchor surface is a gentle way to start moving the needle towards more calm and clarity. We’re activating your attention to your space and working with a single focal point to increase mindfulness–much like focusing on your breath for meditation.
You choose a surface that matters to you–maybe your desk, kitchen table, nightstand, etc. Then, you remove everything that doesn’t belong on that surface until you’ve shaped a “default” that feels good. You’ll remove clutter and maybe add something beautiful.
Ideally, we’ll also look for homes for whatever has “landed” on that surface.
In that process, we’ll often discover other issues. Items land on that surface because they don’t have clear homes, or their ideal home is overflowing or blocked, so naturally putting that item away felt like more effort than it was worth.
Whatever you have removed from that surface serves as a great priority task list, because we want to keep that surface at its new default–a state that feels good, inspiring, and productive (or whatever you’d like to feel there).
The anchor surface practice is not about perfection but noticing. What lands there again, and why? Can you get that surface back to its ideal state at least once a week? Daily? If not, what gets in the way?
Decluttering is about feeling great about and empowered by your relationship to your things. So let’s increase your mindfulness and get clearer about how your space can support you.
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Regardless of your neurotype, organizing and decluttering can make your daily life so much better and easier. Many people find they learn more about what they enjoy, value, and care about spending energy on.
Speaking of decisions, working with an organizing and decluttering expert like me is all about having a smoother, more efficient, more supported, and more transformative journey. When you’re feeling stuck, asking for professional support can be a serious game-changer.
I’ve helped so many clients go from “overwhelming and impossible” to “manageable and possible.” As clients clear their clutter and embrace more effective organizing systems, their daily lives feel easier. We reduce decision-making fatigue and increase clarity.
Once you create an ideal surface or awesome organizing system for one category, you can do that again and again until you have a home where you can find what you need without a hunt. Yes, you really can live with that much clarity and flow. You can even add those stylish embellishments that make your systems feel fun and your space feel like you.
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If you’re at all considering working with a professional home organizer, I hope I’ve motivated you to take your next best step!
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and resonate with my content, I’d love to hear from you. If you’re ready to feel lighter and more at peace in your space, feel free to book your free intro call. We’ll talk about your space, what feels stuck, and what kind of support might be most helpful for you.
For now, take care and happy clearing!
Photo Credit: Unsplash, Cabri Caldwell