Why 'Just Get Organized' Is Terrible Advice

Why 'Just Get Organized' Is Terrible Advice
And what actually works instead, especially for ADHD brains.

A few years ago, someone I love very much looked around my home during a particularly chaotic week and said, very gently, "You just need to get organized, Julie."

She meant well. She really did. But I remember standing there thinking, do you think I haven't thought of that? Do you think I haven't tried?

I had tried. I had read the books, watched the shows, bought the matching bins, followed the methods. I had gotten things looking beautiful for approximately three days before slowly, and sometimes not so slowly, everything drifted back to chaos. And every single time that happened, I told myself the same thing: something is wrong with me.

I want to spend some time today talking about why that conclusion is wrong, every time, and what actually helps instead.

Why "just get organized" misses the point entirely

Most organizing advice is built around a certain kind of brain. One that can focus for a long stretch of time, follow a multi-step system, remember where things go, and feel motivated at consistent intervals. And for people whose brains work that way, a lot of the popular methods work beautifully.

But for a lot of us, and honestly I think it's more of us than anyone realizes, those assumptions just aren't true. When I received my ADHD diagnosis, so much clicked into place. I wasn't disorganized because I was lazy or didn't care. I was disorganized because every system I had ever tried to use was designed for a brain that worked differently than mine.

Following a rigid organizing method felt like trying to write with my non-dominant hand. Technically possible, exhausting in practice, and prone to falling apart under any real pressure.

What permission-based organizing looks like

The approach I teach, which I call permission-based organizing, starts from a completely different place. Instead of telling you what to keep, where to put it, and how many of anything you're allowed to own, it starts with one simple question: what works for you?

Permission-based organizing says you can work for 10 minutes and stop. You can start in the middle of the room instead of category by category. You can leave a project unfinished and come back to it next week. You can organize by feel instead of by a chart someone posted on Pinterest.

It says you know your home and your brain better than any expert does. My job is to help you trust that.

Three gentle swaps to try this week

Instead of "organize the whole closet," try this: set a timer for 10 minutes and remove only what doesn't fit or hasn't been worn in a year. Stop when the timer goes off. That's the whole job today.

Instead of "sort the whole kitchen," try this: clear one counter completely. Just one. See how it feels to have that one surface clean and calm.

Instead of "go through all the paperwork," try this: sort today's mail into three piles. Action needed, to file, and recycling. That's it for today.

Small is not failure. Small is the method. And I promise you, small things done consistently will change your home far more than one big overwhelmed push ever will.

The women I work with are not disorganized because something is wrong with them. They're disorganized because nobody has ever shown them a system that fits how their brain actually works. That's what we're here to figure out together. 😊

If you'd love to talk about any of this with women who are navigating the same things, come join us in the free Creating Space with Julie Facebook community. A warm, honest, judgment-free space.

Join Us Here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/creatingspacewithcommunity

With love and encouragement,

Julie xo
P.S. What's one organizing rule you've been trying to follow that just isn't working for you? I'd genuinely love to know.