I cried because my friend's mom did it wrong.
When I was 6 or 7, Mrs. Myers really messed up.
My friend was playing at our house, and she took the blocks out of my closet to play with them.
I was horrified. They went in a specific way. Outraged, I went to the kitchen to lodge a complaint. Her mother, sweet Mrs. Myers, unsuspectingly thought it'd be an easy fix.
She tried her best to put them back "correctly," but there was NO WAY she could guess my system.
I cried hard because my masterpiece was ruined...but really because the truth was — there was no way I could guess my system, either.
Can you relate?
My family got home at 2am this morning from Colombia. My neurotypical husband spent a quick 45 mins zhuzhing things while I put the kids and myself to bed.
Today, while unpacking and putting the house in order after 2.5 weeks away, I observed myself doing the easy things and leaving the harder things to the side. It reminded me of my own rule:
"If it's not easy to put away, your system is too complicated and no one can help you. Make it simple."
I can still remember those hot tears from decades ago — my frustration, devastation and confusion that this could happen — all caused by my own overly complex (ADHD) system.
Packing and unpacking are notoriously difficult for ADHDers. It's a common thing we avoid or leave till the last minute. Most likely, we're not setting ourselves up to win by breaking the rule above: it's not simple enough.
"I go by weight, not by color." — Steven Wright, referring to his socks
Me too.
I used to try to get fancy and pair socks — my mother even uses a safety pin to keep them together, if you can imagine!
But many years ago I realized I couldn't bear to even do my laundry because the thought of pinning the socks afterward was pure h*ll.
So I outrageously began throwing them all in the drawer once they were dry. This simplified the laundry system and removed the block to doing laundry in the first place.
Plus, mismatched socks are now in fashion!
If it's too hard to understand or to put into practice, no one can help you — and you'll eventually hate sitting in your closet stacking your blocks alone, so to speak.
I know it's not our natural way, but: care less about the exact way, and more about getting it done so you can do what really matters.
So the game is figuring out what's the right system for you. ADHD productivity is a customized, unique experience for your brain, for your nervous system. Trying to employ the general ADHD productivity system for entrepreneurs that's being marketed as the cure-all fix-all is not the thing.
It's about understanding what works for you and gamifying that so you boil it down to the minimum aspects you need — and can actually show others how to help you with.
Ask yourself:
What am I making too hard?
How can I make it way easier — to the point that someone else could do it?
Whether it's doing laundry or fleshing out an SOP, ease of use is the whole point. Because the goal isn't a Virgo-perfect system — it's to close the tabs of unfinished tasks, have people around you who can help, and free yourself up to do the work that actually moves your business forward.
Leah Fisch is the Founder of CEO Rise and philanthropist co-founder of Cultivar Cartagena — otherwise known as the Jewish Mother Dominatrix.
A self-described messy kid with "lots of potential" she never seemed to live up to, Leah spent her first decade in business as a Professional Organizer specializing in hoarders threatened with eviction in New York City. She learned, very tangibly, how to help people cut what they don't need, get clear on what they do, and make change that actually lasts — even for the people everyone else had given up on.
Today she brings that same framework to ADHDish entrepreneurs — helping them build businesses that work in their weird and wild way.
.svg)
Helping ADHDish entrepreneurs & creatives declutter, focus and grow.
.svg)