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Are You Using Visual Clutter As A Task List?

Do you have piles of clutter in your entryway or on tables around the house that you keep meaning to put away?

cluttered desk top with boxes, pens and folders

If your answer is yes, then consider the possibility that you may be using the piles as visual to-do lists.

Many people I know that have ADHD brains forget something exists unless they can easily see it. It is "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" for them. While this can be very useful for hiding cookies or ice cream from yourself 😆, keeping things out can also be useful for remembering what you need to do.

Lists Can Help You Prioritize

The problems that sometimes happen with To-Do lists:

Written to-do lists are easily misplaced
Putting everything on them would be overwhelming
Not completing them can feel like failing again
Visual reminders work better than lists for some

While keeping items out reminds us that we need to action on it, there are drawbacks to doing so.

One is that we have to look at the evidence of undone tasks all the time.

This might get to be a huge energy and emotional drain.

In fact, when we see how much there is to do, we may decide to do anything else but attack that clutter.

Another possible drawback is that, unlike some written lists, clutter itself is poor at indicating the relative urgency or importance of the different tasks.

And finally, some items may physically hide others underneath them, so that you still forget what you need to do.

Photo of a striped sock, red over the ear headphones and tambourine on a bright yellow background

Sometimes Clutter Represents Decisions

Take the example of a single sock on a table.

At its simplest, it may be that the sock needs to be put where it belongs, which may take about a minute.

Consider, however, that the sock may be representing an action that you need to take. Some possibilities might include:

You need to find its mate before doing anything with it
You need to give it to the person it belongs to (because it's not yours and doesn't even belong in your house)
It's there to remind you that you want to buy that brand again
You need to make sure you never buy that brand again!

In these cases, that single sock is a reminder to you of actions to take, and they can take from a few minutes to an entire afternoon.

Some Closing Thoughts

If you discover that you have been using clutter as a task list, please remember to be kind to yourself when you, yet again, fail to get rid of it.

Because "just" trying to clear the table might not be about clearing the table.

It might be about getting everything done.

How about you? Have you found yourself using clutter to remind yourself of what you need to do?

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