What's the deal with 
Disorganization
 and ADHD?

Disorganization refers to difficulties in arranging thoughts, tasks, time, and physical spaces in a structured and efficient manner. In the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, organization challenges fall under the inattention symptom umbrella. Organization is an incredibly complex  process involving several key executive functions (mental skills).

“When we focus on function, organization becomes easier. Someone once asked me, 'How did you get so organized?' To which I replied, 'Once I realized I did not have to be tidy to be organized, the second half of my life began!' Organization means having a place for everything in your home and having a system for getting it there.” —KC Davis, How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing

What it looks like:

Disorganization in ADHD can manifest in various ways:

  • Cluttered living or working spaces
  • Difficulty finding important items when needed
  • Struggles with time management and meeting deadlines
  • Challenges in prioritizing tasks and activities
  • Tendency to lose or misplace belongings
  • Difficulty maintaining organized systems for paperwork or digital files
  • Struggles with planning and executing multi-step projects
  • Challenges in organizing thoughts and ideas coherently
  • Frequent lateness or missed appointments
  • Difficulty following through on tasks or commitments
  • Overwhelm when faced with complex or long-term projects
  • Inconsistent organizational habits

The science:

The challenges with organization in ADHD are closely linked to the neurological differences associated with the condition:

  1. Brain processing differences: As discussed in impulsivity and working memory, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the brain region responsible for the executive functions (mental skills) we need to function in daily life. Since the PFC is underactive in ADHD, these mental skills are impaired. Some of the most detrimental to our ability to organize include:
    • Working memory: Since working memory holds information temporarily, when it’s overloaded or weak, important details can get lost. This can lead to forgetting appointments, misplacing important items, or losing track of to-do lists.
    • Prioritization: ADHD brains struggle to decide what’s most important, so everything can feel urgent—or nothing does. This can cause paralysis, procrastination, or jumping between tasks without finishing anything.
    • Time blindness: ADHD affects time perception, making it difficult to estimate how long tasks will take or remember deadlines until they’re urgent. This can lead to missed deadlines, rushed work, or feeling constantly behind.
  2. Dopamine imbalance: Dopamine is a brain chemical that plays a key role in motivation and reward. In ADHD, there is often too little dopamine in the brain. This can cause reduced reward sensitivity and low motivation, making it much harder to initiate and maintain the habits and routines we need in order to create and maintain organizational systems.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5729117/#R8

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7485505/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3848056/

https://chadd.org/adhd-news/adhd-news-adults/adhd-in-high-achieving-individuals/

https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/how-to-get-organized-with-adhd

What you can do:

  • Establish routines: Creating a daily routine can help provide structure and predictability and help your body move to autopilot rather than constantly having to process what needs to happen next.
  • Designate spaces: Find spaces near the items you frequently use - always need the stamps when you fill out cards in the kitchen, but keep them in office? Move them to where it is easily accessible and you are most likely to look.
  • Use Organizational Tools: Calendars, planners, and to-do lists help you move ideas from in your brain to somewhere external that can be referenced again. You can also create a document to write where certain items are located for quick reference.
  • Use visual organizational systems: Color-coding, labels, and clear containers can make organization more intuitive.
  • Use locators: For essential items that seem to be misplaced despite having designated locations, add a tracker to them to make it quicker to find. You may want to put a tracker in your wallet, on your keys, etc.
  • Practice the "one in, one out" rule: When acquiring new items, remove an equivalent item to prevent clutter buildup.
  • Break tasks into smaller, manageable steps: This can make large projects feel less overwhelming.
  • Keeping items minimal: The less you have to organize the better. Reflect on how often you use an item and the purpose it serves.
  • Keeping duplicate items: This might seem like the opposite of the recommendation above, but if there’s an item you constantly are searching for because you always need it in different places- consider investing in two! Need bathroom cleaning products upstairs and downstairs- having two bottles in both locations can save you time and headaches.

Go deeper:

How to Break Down Projects Into Tasks

ADHD coaching

You don't have to go it alone!

Feel like ADHD is a getting in the way of you living your best life?  You're not alone. Many brilliant minds just like yours wrestle with distractions, procrastination, and staying organized. At Shimmer, we see ADHD differently—not as a deficit, but as a unique way of interacting with the world that requires unique tools. Let’s unlock those tools together.