One of the most organized workspaces I’ve ever had. Lifespan: about three minutes.

How to Keep Chaotic Clutter from the Trap of Horizontal Surfaces.

Tables, desks, counters — they are magnets for the detritus of life. This is how you fight back.

You can read a free version of this article at ADHDopen.space!

Look at your desk. Or your dining room table. Or the end table next to the couch you’re sitting in.

Here, I’ll show you mine:

The book is “the Battle Drum” by Saara El-Arifi, the second in a trilogy and it is SO GOOD.

Pretty cluttered, right? And it is not as bad as it could have been — I removed a personal item from the collection before taking the picture. If the horizontal surfaces in your life resemble this, then you’re in the right article.

If not…well, gee, it must be nice to be you.

I’m not actually certain that it’s a quality of ADHD, but there is something about a plane set parallel to the ground that makes me want to fill it. It might be decorating it in a tasteful minimalist accent, or making it “useful” by putting things on it that I’m convinced I’ll use. At first it seems fine — but at some point I’ll walk in the door with my hands full, and I’ll put something down on it, fully intending to “put it…