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How do I know this?
Because being an entrepreneur involves many moving pieces. You have emails to respond to, chats to reply to, and papers to sort through.
When you combine all these moving pieces with the unique challenges of ADHD, you usually get clutter in some form or another (physical, mental, emotional, etc.).
And unfortunately, clutter can really hurt your entrepreneurial efforts.
But there’s good news. You can beat the clutter that often comes with ADHD and crush it as an entrepreneur.
Let’s talk about how.
ADHD can be a superpower, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship. You’re creative and can think outside the box. You always have a sense of urgency and want to do things right away. You’re not happy sitting still and are always moving toward action. These things can help you build and grow a business.
However, your strengths are accompanied by some areas of weakness. One of those weaknesses is clutter of all sorts. Not just physical clutter, although that’s definitely part of it. I’m also talking about mental and emotional clutter. Clutter definitely is space and stuff, but it’s also emotions, time, money, and relationships.
Oftentimes, clutter is both a physical thing and a feeling. It’s a feeling of being blocked and stuck and unable to move forward. Clutter is decisions delayed, things left undone, and mental chaos.
Clutter becomes a problem when it’s blocking you from doing important stuff. Americans spend an average of 2.5 days per year looking for misplaced stuff. Do you think that might be keeping us from getting important stuff done?
This is the most obvious type of clutter because it’s out in the open for everyone, including you, to see. It’s those piles of paper scattered around. It’s that overflowing kitchen sink where your dishes are “soaking” (right, sure). It’s that email inbox with 10,343 unread emails. It’s that closet that you’ve been meaning to organize for the last five years but just haven’t gotten around to it.
Clutter reminds you of all the stuff you haven’t done yet. Yes, it’s distracting, but it’s more than that. It makes you feel guilt, anxiety and shame as well. The piles of stuff that surround you make you feel bad about yourself. They cause you to lose your self-trust and to have an identity crisis of sorts. You start to question who you are and why you’re not doing better.
If you feel anxiety about clutter, you’re not alone. Over 80% of people deal with anxiety in some form or another related to their cluttered living space.
And here’s the kicker: clutter creates a vicious cycle for ADHDish entrepreneurs. You feel overwhelmed which makes it harder to declutter which makes you feel overwhelmed, and on and on.
And then there’s mental clutter, which may not be as obvious but is just as damaging. ADHD often leads to your brain racing, with one idea followed by another followed by another. It’s tough to focus on one task at a time as your mind careens from thing to thing. This makes it really difficult to get things done and often leads you to procrastinate.
Mental clutter and physical clutter go hand-in-hand, with one often leading to another. Physical clutter can lead to mental clutter as your brain struggles to process all the stuff around you. This makes it tough for you to concentrate and get work done. Physical clutter can even mess with your sleep. Sound Sleep With ADHD: Overcoming Your Inner Rebel and Getting Rest
It’s that whole vicious cycle thing again. Physical clutter leads to mental clutter which then makes it harder to focus, and then stuff gets even more physically cluttered. Unfinished tasks start piling up around you, and then the shame and guilt kick in.
And to complete the clutter trifecta, we have emotional clutter. We’ve touched on this already but it’s worth going a little deeper. Constant clutter can cause a lot of negative emotional weight. You’ve got all that shame from your unfinished projects. You feel embarrassed because your workspace looks like a construction zone. And there’s that consistent frustration that comes with losing and misplacing things.
The pile of negative emotional clutter can do some serious damage to your self-identity. You don’t want to be seen as someone who can’t stay organized. You don’t want to be known as the person who can never find their keys.
Having ADHD can feel like you’re harboring some sort of dark secret. You don’t want people to know that you struggle with focusing and staying organized.
Decluttering is about much more than creating a neat and tidy workspace. It’s about creating an entire environment that supports you, helps you be more productive, and boosts your self-esteem.
Here are some of the key benefits of decluttering:
As we’ve mentioned, ADHD often causes a sense of shame and eats away at your self-image. You look at all the clutter and think How did things get this way? What kind of person allows things to get this out of control? And then, self-impalement on everything that’s “wrong” about you.
Decluttering is a form of confronting your shame and becoming shameless. You’re taking control of your environment and showing yourself that you can get things done. You can create a space that is organized and functional for you. Letting go of the shame associated with clutter can be incredibly liberating.
Decluttering allows you to sort through all the extraneous stuff and figure out what you really need to do. It gives you the clarity to see what’s important and then prioritize those things.
When you’re surrounded by clutter, everything demands your attention. When you start to declutter your environment, you begin to see the things that really matter and that you should focus on.
You know that ADHD makes it tough to focus. Well, clutter makes it even harder, and the more you declutter the more you’ll be able to focus. You’ll have fewer distractions vying for your attention. You won’t spend so much time searching for things. You’ll be able to concentrate on the task at hand and actually get it done.
When you’re dealing with an overwhelming amount of stuff, it’s really hard to make decisions. Your brain gets overloaded, goes into shutdown mode, and you can’t see the big picture. When you declutter, you cut down on the number of decisions you have to make and you can be more thoughtful with your decision making.
Remember how we said that clutter is often a feeling of being blocked? When you declutter, you remove those blockages and think much more clearly.
Declutter one item or take action on one task. As you get in the habit of following through, you’ll start to see and think more clearly. As you build momentum, clarity will start to come through more and more, amplifying your ability to set yourself up to win.
It’s often for ADHDish people to make good decisions, not only from an executive functioning perspective, but from a history of low/degraded self-trust. As you choose micro-decisions to declutter and move forward, your self-trust will immediately begin to rebuild, making it easier to make bigger, better decisions in the future.
It’s hard to be productive when you’re surrounded by clutter, whether that’s physical, mental, or emotional. When you can’t find something and have to go buy a new one, you can’t be productive. When your brain is racing from one idea to the next with no stopping, you can’t get much done.
Decluttering clears your workspace, focuses your brain, and helps you feel better about yourself. And when these three things occur, you’re going to be more productive- as a human in all areas- which gives you a sense of relief and makes you feel better.
Clutter creates chaos, chaos leads to feeling overwhelmed, and feeling overwhelmed usually leads to stress and anxiety. Decluttering can restore a sense of control and being on top of things. Your stress levels decrease and your anxiety quiets down. When you’re not stressed, you can be much more productive, efficient, and present with the people who matter in your life.
As an ADHDish entrepreneur, creativity is one of your strengths. But clutter can be a major hindrance to being creative. When you’re overwhelmed by clutter, you don’t have the ability to think freely and creatively.
By decluttering, you open your mind to new ideas and ways of thinking. You’re able to focus on one task at a time and fully immerse yourself in it, allowing for more creative solutions and ideas to come to the surface.
You know the why of decluttering. Now let’s talk about the how. Let’s talk about specific strategies for decluttering your spaces.
Big things have small beginnings, and that includes decluttering. Don’t look at everything at one time and think about the enormity of it all. Start in one corner of a room or in a single desk drawer You’ll be amazed at how far that takes you. You’ll find yourself organizing many things because of organizing that one corner or desk drawer.
Decluttering these small sections will give you a sense of accomplishment and momentum. You’ll feel like you can tackle larger and larger decluttering projects.
Decluttering is not just about throwing things away. It’s also about creating efficient systems for organization. For example, keep a designated area for incoming mail or create a filing system for important documents. By having these systems in place, it will be easier to keep your spaces clutter-free in the future.
Your systems should be simple and sustainable. If a system is too difficult or complex, you won’t keep it up. Your systems should work for you and for the way you think and act.
Have you heard of Evernote? How about Notion, Asana or Workflowy? These are all apps that can help you with the decluttering process, but honestly they’re too complicated for me. If it works for you, don’t hesitate to leverage the latest technology to help you with your decluttering process. Combine technology with organizational systems to keep your life (physical and digital) on track.
Otherwise, a simple Google Doc (what I use in my work) or analog pen and paper or whiteboard will do the trick. The key is to DO what you’ve identified needs to be done. Taking action neutrally without judging how “bad” it is will make it a lot easier to focus and move forward.
It can be really hard to declutter, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. Sometimes what you need is someone to support you along the way and push you when things get tough. Maybe you join my signature programs, Clutter-Free Creative or Clutter-Free CEO. Maybe you enlist the support of a coach. Or maybe all you need is a supportive family member or accountability partner or pod. Having support on your decluttering journey can make a huge difference.
Clutter doesn’t have to derail you as an entrepreneur. You can free yourself from clutter, leverage your ADHD, and unlock your full potential as an entrepreneur.
Don’t get me wrong – decluttering your life takes a lot of work. But it’s good, worthy work. And it’s necessary. As you declutter, not only will your physical spaces become more organized, but your mind will also become clearer and more focused. You’ll experience increased productivity, creativity, and success as an entrepreneur.
Bonus: In most cases you’ll find actual money- uncashed checks or cash, or ways to save or make money that you couldn’t stomach until now. There is almost always money waiting for you at the end of the decluttering rainbow, so to speak.
Remember, start small with your decluttering efforts. Slowly expand outward and watch your life be transformed. You’ll be amazed at the results. I’ve done it, and so have hundreds of clients over the years.
I believe in you.
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Helping ADHDish entrepreneurs & creatives declutter, focus and grow.
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