If you've been trying to "tackle" or "attack" your clutter and it never seems to end, the problem isn't your willpower. It's the language — and the stress hormone your brain releases the moment you use it.
Have you ever been late and stressed and someone asked you a question — and you weren't your best self when you responded? Especially if they needed your input on something?
Yeah. Because when you're stressed, it's not all peaches and butterflies.
For over 20 years I've been suggesting — even pleading with — clients to stop using violent words to mean "effectively deal with decisions I made in the past."
"Attack this pile." "Tackle these emails." "Obliterate this mess." (Not kidding. I have heard this one.)
I understand you want to be done with the clutter or the pile or the project once and for all. I understand that it's stressful and can feel overwhelming.
Dear reader: this is exactly why I implore you to leave behind these aggressive words.
For all humans, especially those with ADHD, putting yourself in battle mode spikes your cortisol — otherwise known as your stress hormone.
And guess what cortisol does?
It interferes with decision-making.
So while you may think you're hyping yourself up to go go go — and I'm not denying you may have had good results from time to time — it's not a healthy strategy. Overall, it's actually making your decluttering harder.
And that's when the self-judgment and self-flagellation kick in. And then…might as well forget the whole thing.
Cortisol is the stress hormone designed to help us in short bursts, like running from a tiger. The chronic stress associated with persistent clutter can lead to sustained high levels of cortisol, which can contribute to chronic disease — and in the short term, it makes the exact task you're trying to do harder
High cortisol levels impair your memory, reduce cognitive performance, and cloud your decision-making capabilities — making it harder to decide what to keep, what to toss, and what to put where.
Cortisol heightens emotional reactions, making you more likely to feel overwhelmed or paralyzed by the task. This is where procrastination and avoidance come in — not because you don't care, but because your nervous system has been told there's a tiger.
Chronic stress consumes the energy your brain could be using for organizing and decision-making. This is why you can feel exhausted before you've even started, and why "I'll do it tomorrow when I have more energy" rarely arrives — the cortisol cycle keeps draining the energy faster than you can recover it.
Instead of "tackling" your clutter — which implies a strenuous battle — consider a gentler approach that acknowledges and mitigates the cortisol effect.
Set yourself up to win by clearing a space that's easy and pleasurable to work at. Light, music, a drink you actually like. Your nervous system reads the room before you start, and a hostile environment sets cortisol high before you've made a single decision.
How do you eat an elephant? Sorry vegans — one bite at a time. Set smaller scopes that you actually accomplish, which raises dopamine, another feel-good hormone responsible for you making good decisions. Completing one small thing is neurologically more useful than half-completing one large thing.
Having someone there with you — in the room, on Zoom, or by phone waiting to be texted when you finish — helps tremendously. Not only does it lower cortisol to know you have support, it actually boosts serotonin, one of the big feel-good hormones. This is the principle underneath body doubling, and it's one of the most under-used decluttering tools for ADHD brains.
"I'm going to clear the desk" is very different from "I have to get rid of all this sh*t." The first sentence is a small commitment your brain can complete. The second is a moral indictment of your past self. Your nervous system can hear the difference.
Set yourself up to get rewarded after you complete tasks. ADHD brains run on dopamine, and dopamine responds to anticipated reward. Building in a small reward isn't indulgent — it's how the system is supposed to work.
Literally. If decluttering feels like punishment, your nervous system will avoid it the way you'd avoid any other punishment. If it feels like a game, a project, or a small adventure, your nervous system will lean toward it. This sounds soft. It's actually neurology.
This is the kind of structural, brain-aware approach we work on with members in House of Done — including live body doubling sessions specifically designed for this kind of work, so you have someone in the room with you while you actually do it.
The way you talk to yourself about the work is the work.
Change the language, change the cortisol, change what's actually possible.
❤️ Leah
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)