This year, I’ve worked from home more often than not. The lack of structure can be a productivity suck for people with ADHD, making it even more important to organize my time and space. I’ve developed a few tricks over the years to make this easier. The basic principles involved might be familiar to those who regularly read tips on how to organize:

• Minimize visual clutter.
  
• Label everything possible.
  
• Have a specific place for everything and keep everything in its place.
  
• Make it fast and easy to put things back where they belong; otherwise you’ll never do it. 
  
• Have places to store ongoing projects so they don’t cover every available surface.
  
• Use visual reminders.
  
• Keep what you need most where you’ll use it. Make sure what you use most regularly is easiest to reach.
  
• Keep similar things together. (For example, if you still send snail mail, keep your envelopes and stamps close together).
  

These principles are easy to understand, but can be hard to apply. So, here’s a tour of my workspace. As with all things organizational, your mileage may vary.

My biggest source of surface clutter has always been papers from projects in progress. The worst is when I have a writing project, an ongoing issue with health insurance, and a couple other tasks going at once. My solution is shown above: two file boxes sitting on a desk. A yellow one is labeled “In Progress Work” and a purple one labeled “In Progress Life.” Each is full of folders of various colors–one folder per project. The purple Life folder also includes a black bound notebook and adult coloring book (which are normally there) and extra-large folded paper to be hung on the wall (which is only there temporarily).

Note that there are few folders in either box. My medical, financial, and other long-term papers are in a crate sitting on the floor next to my desk (not shown). Only immediately active projects live on my desk.

My most-frequently-used small office supplies sit on a shelf directly above the desk, and my most-frequently-used art supplies on the shelf just above that:

The office supply shelf contains a long yellow rectangular box, open side facing out, with multicolored labeled compartments containing various office supplies. Two drawers, a yellow one labeled “Small paper clips” with a bad paper clip drawing and a blue one labeled “Small rubber bands” with an oval representing a rubber band, are hanging open. Other closed drawers are labeled “Stamps,” “Reusable Color Tabs,” “Post-it Clear Colored Tape Flags,” “Large Paper Clips,” “Rubber Bands,” “Safety Pins,” “Chalk,” and “Tacks.” All these labels include a picture of the contents. The colors are arbitrary, but the left-to-right order is not. The left side, which is relatively hard to see from my seat at the desk, contains the less-often-used supplies, while the right side (with the two open drawers) contains the most frequently used ones. Sitting on the office supply container is a whiteboard marker and a hole punch. In front of the office supply container, sitting uncontained on the shelf are, from left to right: a bottle of white-out, a glue stick, a tape dispenser, a blue eraser, and a clear plastic container of tacks that didn’t fit in the tack drawer. To the right of the office supply container, leading against it, are from left to right, colored post-it flags, colored labels, file folder labels, and envelopes. The envelopes are in an open envelope box labeled “ENVELOPES” in black permanent marker, to make them easy to find.

The art supply shelf contains: on the left,  pink Mudd shoe box with miscellaneous art supplies inside (not yet labeled). Boxes of Warm Gray and Cool Gray Prismacolor markers are stacked on top of it. Next to it, 2 stacked opaque containers (not yet labeled), both containing Prismacolors. One contains warm colors (yellows/reds/oranges), the other cool colors (blues/greens/purples). A box of crayons, lid facing out, sits atop these containers. Immediately to the right are a clear plastic bag full of thin, less-fancy markers, with an opaque blue pencil case sitting on top (containing gel pens). To the right of that, a transparent blue box with more markers. On the far right, a box of sculpting clay.

 Not perfectly labeled, and I’d like to replace the opaque with transparent containers, but the basic organizational principle is clear, and it’s easy enough to find what I use regularly.

Above: Another shelf contains labeled binders, file folders and notebooks that I use reasonably often and don’t fit into the file folder crate where I keep similar items. Binders are labeled “RECIPES,” “HOW-TO INFO,” “COMMUNICATION,” “Active Medical Records-Bring to Appts”, and “Managing Medical Conditions.” An aqua-green file contains business cards. This is a messy-looking shelf. There’s an empty sheet protector sticking out at an angle. There aren’t enough binders and notebooks to fill the shelf, so a box from a pencil sharpener is used as a bookend. This is clearly the shelf of someone with ADHD, but it gets the job done.

Above: on the surface of my desk are the essentials for my morning routine: a wide cup containing pencils, pens, and highlighters; a sun box (with two worry stones, hair ties, gum, and a nail clipper sitting on it), and a box full of things to keep my hands busy. (Squeezable balls, Cat’s Cradle, red and blue resistance bands, a tennis ball, pink putty, etc.) You can also see a key part of my morning routine, a cup of coffee, sitting in front of these (not on the coaster sitting right next to it). A straw acting as a stirrer is sticking out of the mug. 

In the morning, I also take most of my medications. the large vitamin bottles act as a visual reminder to take them. (Orange pill bottles can be seen in an open clear plastic drawer behind the pill bottles. There’s another transparent aqua container on top of that; contents aren’t visible.

Of course, my organizational system isn’t perfect. See, for example, the final resting place for miscellaneous papers and magazines, an overflowing wire tray above my printer (below):

My workspace is always a work in progress, so it may change over the coming year. But for now, it works. It’s easy to find what I need, and easy to de-clutter.

How do you organize your desk?