Latest / JOY LOVING HOME - SAHM, Productivity, Home Organization, Declutter, ADHD Mom, ADHD SAHM, ADHD Brain / 248: Try This Fast Hack to Jumpstart Your Day for ADHD Brains

Transcript

248: Try This Fast Hack to Jumpstart Your Day for ADHD Brains · JOY LOVING HOME - SAHM, Productivity, Home Organization, Declutter, ADHD Mom, ADHD SAHM, ADHD Brain

• 0:00
  All right, I'm going to attempt to keep this one quick today because I want us to get going.
• 0:04
  And I say us because I tend to do podcasts about things that I am struggling
• 0:11
  with because I'm more and more confident that I'm not alone the longer I've been podcasting.
• 0:16
  And I'm getting to know the folks in my groups and I'm getting emails from you
• 0:21
  all that you are connecting with the things I'm saying, which means we both
• 0:26
  struggle in the same way.
• 0:28
  And I have been struggling to get going, even with the excitement of the holidays
• 0:32
  going, even with the pressure of deadlines booming.
• 0:35
  And I know a little bit of it is overwhelm. And so when I get moments like that,
• 0:40
  I know I have to do something to just get moving.
• 0:44
  So today is going to be a fast, I will even call it a hack to just jumpstart your action.
• 0:52
  I just, that is the whole goal today. So if you are finding yourself sort of
• 0:57
  doing a little more doom scrolling than you would like and feeling a little
• 1:01
  more paralyzed because you know there's so much to do, then I'm.
• 1:06
  Challenge you to get up and get moving with me.
• 1:12
  So if you are listening to this in a car and you are on a walk and you can't yet,
• 1:17
  promise me that you will try and do it as soon as you can get back to your house
• 1:24
  and just hit record or hit play all over again and just sort of do this with me.
• 1:29
  So if you are actively like, yep, I'll stand up right now, Joy,
• 1:33
  and I will do this as I listen in this first time.
• 1:36
  We just need very few supplies. I want you to grab any empty bin,
• 1:40
  basket, box, laundry basket, whatever.
• 1:43
  Just grab something that is empty and grab a like a dust rag and some all-purpose
• 1:50
  spray so that it'll sort of cover any surface that we're about to hit.
• 1:54
  And like meet me back after this intro and we'll get started.
• 1:59
  A wise person once said, Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its
• 2:05
  ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it's stupid.
• 2:09
  Well, Fish, quit trying to climb trees while getting advice from well-intentioned monkeys.
• 2:15
  It's time to jump in the water and learn how to swim with the current of your life.
• 2:19
  I'm Joy, a professional organizer, mom of four, and fellow Fishbrain.
• 2:24
  If you're looking for a place to get understanding, encouragement,
• 2:28
  and ideas for your home that actually fit how your brain thinks,
• 2:32
  then I'm glad you're here.
• 2:34
  Let's ditch the type A advice and embrace what makes our brains and our homes unique.
• 2:40
  Together, we could have a joy-loving home.
• 2:46
  Okay, hopefully you have all your supplies. So I want you to start by grabbing
• 2:51
  your phone and I want you to set a 15-minute timer and open the stopwatch feature
• 2:58
  and be ready to hit start.
• 3:01
  The reason we're going to have both running at the same time is 15 minutes is
• 3:06
  the maximum amount that I want
• 3:08
  you to do this step, but I want us to see exactly how long it does take,
• 3:13
  which is why the timer is there counting up. So one is counting up, one is counting down.
• 3:18
  So we're going to see the minimum and maximum amount of time that you could
• 3:22
  be spending doing this step.
• 3:25
  It is a four step process. All of them start with the letter S just because
• 3:30
  I love alliteration and it's a quick and easy way for my brain to remember things.
• 3:33
  So step one is actually going to be called scoop.
• 3:38
  I have a feeling you know exactly what's about to happen. So hit your start
• 3:44
  button and literally grab your bin.
• 3:47
  And I'm going to call this sort of scoop and straighten.
• 3:50
  So for the purpose of an example, I'm going into my living room.
• 3:53
  You can do this in any room of the house. But if you want to do this,
• 3:56
  same one with me, walk into your living room.
• 3:58
  I want you to scoop into that box anything that is out of place.
• 4:03
  And the reason I'm calling it scoop and straighten is maybe you don't want to
• 4:08
  throw the couch pillows that are tossed all over the place into this box when
• 4:12
  it is just as easy to place them where they actually belong or to fold that
• 4:18
  blanket while we're scooping and get it put away.
• 4:22
  You are going to maybe if there are dishes you want to run those into the kitchen
• 4:27
  versus dumping them into a box the chance that they're going to get broken or
• 4:31
  if they're dirty, particularly, and you don't want to throw kids toys on top of dirty dishes.
• 4:36
  Use your judgment. We all have it.
• 4:39
  But for the most part, your goal is to start scooping things in.
• 4:44
  Just anything that's out of place, get it scooped into that spot.
• 4:48
  This is a time that it might only take,
• 4:51
  five, ten minutes if your space is not completely out of control.
• 4:56
  And if you're like, nice one, Joy, my place is completely out of control.
• 5:00
  There's no way even 15 minutes is going to make a dent.
• 5:03
  That's okay. Still spend the 15 minutes doing it.
• 5:06
  But if you're like, oh, I didn't realize I could throw everything in this entire
• 5:11
  space into a bin in under seven minutes.
• 5:15
  All of a sudden I have this leftover time.
• 5:18
  One of two things, really stop, look around and go, oh, you know what?
• 5:24
  The stack of magazines is on the end table where it always sits and that's not
• 5:29
  really out of place, but they have been stacking up and I probably have things
• 5:33
  in there that I could get rid of. Go and scoop them up and throw them in the box.
• 5:37
  Have I gotten blind to the fact that there's a pile of things that always sits
• 5:42
  in that corner, but it doesn't really sit in that corner.
• 5:45
  It doesn't really belong in that corner. And would the space look way better
• 5:47
  if that wasn't in that corner?
• 5:50
  Quit being blind to it. Grab it. Throw it in the banner box.
• 5:53
  You are literally trying to see that space with brand new eyes of what all has
• 6:00
  just migrated to this space that does not belong here.
• 6:03
  I don't have to make decisions on it. I'm just scooping it up and getting it in this box.
• 6:08
  Whenever that happens to be done, stop your timer, really take note,
• 6:13
  did I have any time left in the 15 minutes?
• 6:15
  If you worked right up until that 15 minute bell went off, stop.
• 6:19
  It's okay. Stop there. It was still an incredible amount of progress.
• 6:24
  So we're going to take it as the win.
• 6:25
  And the next thing you're going to do, step two, is we are actually going to
• 6:31
  do what I'm calling scrub.
• 6:32
  All right. I'm not looking for deep cleaning scrubbing, but I'm calling it scrub
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  because it's nice S and we're going to roll with it.
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  So restart your timers, your timer and your stopwatch and get busy actually dusting.
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  Go ahead and pick up the lamp and wipe under it. Wipe down the lamp.
• 6:51
  Straighten those magazines if you didn't scoop them into the bin and you know,
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  See if in that moment you want to grab a few out that you knew were just,
• 7:00
  oh, I was going to look at this, whatever. I'm just going to go and throw it in the recycle bin now.
• 7:05
  Get the vacuum out. I know I didn't say it as a beforehand, but if you have
• 7:09
  a moment, the floor is empty right now. Let's go and vacuum across it.
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  Do where you picked up the picture frame and dust it under it and dust around it.
• 7:18
  You're doing a little bit more than a quick cursory, well, as long as I scoop,
• 7:22
  I don't have to clean. Like, this is your 15 minutes to clean.
• 7:25
  Actually use it. You might even discover you're going to walk over and spritz
• 7:29
  that light switch and wipe down the fingerprints off the plate.
• 7:34
  You may discover that you have a second to dust across the baseboard.
• 7:38
  I don't know. I don't know when the last time we hit baseboards was.
• 7:42
  But you could do that now. So take those 15 minutes and really...
• 7:49
  Try and clean the space up, like really scrub at it. So let's say you,
• 7:54
  a miracle of miracles didn't actually even take the 15 minutes and you're like,
• 7:58
  this is, this is as good as I need it.
• 8:00
  I actually feel okay about how everything looks in here.
• 8:03
  Then stop the timer and take a mental note of if there was any time left.
• 8:08
  If you worked right up until that 15 minutes, stop.
• 8:11
  We're ready to move on to three. And three is probably the most important part
• 8:15
  so that I don't leave you worse than you started.
• 8:17
  Then step three, we are calling sort.
• 8:21
  This is where you grab those bins or bin that you just dumped everything into.
• 8:25
  And I want you to just look inside.
• 8:28
  What is the first thing you notice that you know has a home?
• 8:31
  You're ready to take it there.
• 8:34
  Grab it if you want to carry the bin with you, but you're going to grab the
• 8:38
  item that you're like, oh, there are shoes in here.
• 8:41
  Shoes go in the mudroom or shoes go at the entrance or shoes go in the garage
• 8:44
  or shoes go in that kid's bedroom.
• 8:46
  Wherever those shoes go, look in that box. Is there anything else you can take
• 8:51
  with you that goes in the same direction at the same basic place at the same time?
• 8:55
  Or as you're carrying the bin with you, plop it down, put the shoes away,
• 8:59
  and dig through the bin and see if there's anything else that goes in this area.
• 9:02
  Keep at it. This one may take you the full 15 minutes for sure.
• 9:09
  And that's okay. The whole goal here is that box has to be empty at the end of those 15 minutes.
• 9:15
  And if you're like, there's no way that I can get all this put away in 15 minutes.
• 9:19
  Don't give up yet. Like actually try. See how close you're getting and try and
• 9:25
  get those things put away at the very, very minimum.
• 9:29
  Get them to the spaces where they do belong, even if they're not all the way away.
• 9:34
  If you are looking down in the box and you're left with what I call homeless
• 9:39
  items because these are things that never had a home you need to think about
• 9:43
  okay where would I this is a Dana K.
• 9:45
  White thing where would I think that this place would be for this would where would I look first,
• 9:50
  if I wanted one of these items that's left in this box where would I look for
• 9:54
  these things go get them as close as you can to those spaces maybe those are
• 10:00
  things to look down and go huh I wouldn't even think that I needed these things or had these things.
• 10:07
  Do I really want to still keep them as part of my inventory in my home,
• 10:10
  or do I need to go drop them in a donation box?
• 10:14
  Maybe that's a great chance to do. We weren't planning on decluttering in all
• 10:19
  of this, but maybe decluttering sort of reveals itself during this little 15-minute window.
• 10:25
  If you had a few items left and your timer went off, and you know you didn't
• 10:31
  use all of the first 15 minutes or all of the second 15 minutes,
• 10:35
  set your timer for those excess minutes that you had and see if you can finish.
• 10:41
  This step three is going to be the difference in you not feeling like,
• 10:45
  great, all I did was stuff shift for this time with you, Joy.
• 10:50
  I didn't want to stuff shift.
• 10:51
  This is where we're not stuff shifting. We're actually trying to get things away.
• 10:55
  We're not going to leave you with a doom basket, okay? When that timer goes
• 10:59
  off or when you've emptied that box, this step four is this really important part.
• 11:06
  And step four I'm calling saber. I want you to walk back into that space and
• 11:11
  you need to have a conversation with your brain.
• 11:14
  You need to make sure your brain registers correctly.
• 11:19
  This feels better. This looks better. This might even smell better because you
• 11:25
  use some really lovely all-purpose spray that had a nice scent.
• 11:30
  And you need to tell your brain, I didn't spend more than 15 minutes on any
• 11:37
  single step to get to this point.
• 11:40
  This moment is at the most 45 minutes from when you started.
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  At the most, it's probably less.
• 11:48
  And I want you to really catalog that in your brain.
• 11:53
  Take a photo of your house, that room, that spot looking this good.
• 11:58
  Save it into an album called 4S's.
• 12:03
  Next time you feel like doom scrolling because you're like, I only have 15 minutes.
• 12:08
  There's nothing I can accomplish in 15 minutes. I might as well sit here and
• 12:12
  keep scrolling. open that album and look at what your house can look at like
• 12:18
  in less than 15 minute intervals.
• 12:21
  We have to get our brains to understand it isn't an all or nothing.
• 12:26
  That we can do something in a quick hit in 15 minutes and make it look that much better.
• 12:34
  And if we keep repeating this for the next two weeks, we are going to feel so
• 12:40
  much better rolling into the holidays. So grab that phone again and set yourself an alarm.
• 12:48
  They have a little spot where you can write labels.
• 12:51
  Find a time that you know gets a little bit quieter later today,
• 12:55
  even if it's 30 minutes from now, and set yourself an alarm and label it 4S time.
• 13:03
  And remind yourself to get up and try this again in another space and keep cataloging
• 13:10
  these moments so that the next time you want to stare at somebody's house that
• 13:15
  looks so much better than yours and it makes you spiral into I'll never have
• 13:19
  a house that looks like that.
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  Look at your house when it looks nice.
• 13:24
  It's amazing when you think about these houses that you stare at.
• 13:29
  Probably what you're craving is that it's picked up.
• 13:32
  You're craving that it's
• 13:35
  looking less cluttered than yours sure there
• 13:39
  are beautiful homes out there sure there are designs that most of us will never
• 13:43
  be able to have but the key common indicator in all of these spaces that are
• 13:49
  curated for our brains to look at online is that they are clean and that they are uncluttered.
• 13:57
  Nobody is blowing up on a bunch of messy spaces unless they're the before pictures
• 14:03
  and those aren't the ones they put at the front of the carousel.
• 14:06
  They always put the afters at the front of the carousel when you're sliding
• 14:09
  around to see what a before and after looked like.
• 14:13
  Goal here is to do what our brain needs to keep it moving, to get it moving,
• 14:21
  to retrain the all or nothing, to rewire the fact that in our heads,
• 14:28
  the time, we do not associate this level of,
• 14:34
  wow, I pulled that together with something that took 15 minute intervals of activity.
• 14:40
  And we both we all know like we know the hardest part is the getting up and
• 14:46
  getting going so while you're already up and this feels good stop your savoring.
• 14:53
  And start over do another for us step over to the kitchen go into a bathroom
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  run into your bedroom start with making the bed during that first scoop session
• 15:06
  so just as a real quick recap In case you're like,
• 15:10
  yeah, I do want to keep moving and I'm ready to restart my timers,
• 15:13
  but I don't want to re-listen to the podcast. So what were those four S's again?
• 15:18
  Scoop and straighten, scrub, sort away, and then savor that moment.
• 15:24
  You've got this. And continue to choose joy.