Print
Slide 2
of 5
ADDitude MagazineMessy and Organized
The guiding principle shouldn’t be what others say, but how you feel about clutter and how you function with it. If you're an ADHD adult who can perform well with clutter all around -- at home or at work -- who cares if someone calls you a slob (unless it’s your boss).
Some of the messiest people I know can find the document they’re looking for from a tall stack of papers without missing a beat. That’s what I call organized, messy or not. Living up to your own expectations is more rewarding than forcing yourself to conform to standards set by those to whom sorting comes naturally.
Family, friends, and co-workers may make judgments about our clutter and berate us for it. Neatniks assume that we are lazy or disorganized, when neither is necessarily true. If you are in control of your mess, and your mess isn’t controlling you, let the criticism roll off your back. How do you know whether you are in control? Ask yourself, “Am I wasting time looking for what I need?” and “Am I being pulled off task -- and accomplishing little -- because of clutter?” If you answer no, you have a mess you can live with.
When I wrote my thesis for my master’s degree, my desk and floor reflected my “messy” mind. Spreading out my ideas and sources -- papers and open books -- allowed me to survey all of my ideas and put them in together in original ways. No one visiting my office could have seen the method in my mad array of papers, but the seeming chaos helped me develop a thesis that received rave reviews from my professor.
Next: Messy and Dysfunctional
Slide 2
of 5
