Order from Chaos: The Everyday Grind of Staying Organized with Adult ADHD

I have to be honest - I was not expecting much from this book. My life is generally in order. Although no one would call me normal, I have never been diagnosed with ADHD, and aside from the occasional social media / Youtube trap I have never had any major issues with focusing my attention where I need it to be. I've read several organization strategies in the past and never really gotten much from them, but I've read Jaclyn's writing before and enjoyed it, so I thought I might as well make the purchase. I quickly realized my initial expectations were entirely wrong and that this was going to be a truly excellent and possibly life changing read.Most books describe organizational systems in general, but this goes deeper and explains how / why different systems work well for different people and offers multiple suggestions for how to make things work for different people. She does an incredible job of presenting real-life examples throughout the book that help to bring the ideas and techniques to life. Multiple times I would have to stop reading to relate a story or tip from the book to my wife, and discuss about how we can integrate it into our own houshold.I've taken away a whole new set of organizational tools; some of which I have heard before but never really saw how they could work in a real life setting, some totally new. More importantly, I've come away with several revelations about how / why I have never been able to get organized in certain ways and several fresh alternatives to try. Overall this has been a really great read, and I would truly recommend it to anyone.

The author did a great job relating research to real life. She provides a great deal of practical advice to help you implement her ideas.

I found the advice in Order From Chaos very easy to understand and implement. As someone obsessed with the self-help genre, I thought Jaclyn Paul did a good job applying organizational techniques to an ADHD life. Some of it is rehashing other self-help books--Getting Things Done is mentioned a lot--but she still adds her own information.I would recommend reading this book if you want tools you can put to use right away.

500 billion stars. I've read tons of books about organization and creating new habits/routines, trying to solve the problem of why I can never achieve long-term results and lasting change. But those books are not written with the ADHD brain in mind. This book IS, and that has made all the difference.I don't yet have an official diagnosis, but I have suspected for years that I've had inattentive ADHD for basically my entire life. (Ironically, the condition itself is why I have such a hard time scheduling appointments to get help in the first place, and I always seem to land with a person who cannot help me in the specific way I need.) But up until now, it hadn't occurred to me to approach my issues in life from an ADHD perspective -- I've only ever tried to fit my demonstrably square peg into all the same round holes. What an eye opening experience this book was.I grabbed my pack of little colored sticky arrows so I could mark all the passages that really stuck out to me. I felt like I was actually reading about my own brain for the first time. Other times, my mind was blown from the insights about problems I've had but never knew to consider from a different perspective. For instance, the reason why certain items on my To Do list never seem to get done? Because they're actually not single items. They are merely nebulous suggestions of a series of other undefined tasks, none of which my brain can actually process without clearly outlined steps. Writing "get new license plate" after moving to a new state, over and over and over again, has yielded no results after half a year... because I don't actually know how to get started. So my brain just ignores it in favor of more achievable (or pleasurable) tasks. This might seem painfully obvious, but this had literally NEVER occurred to me before.I love how the author provides very specific examples for lots of different scenarios, and details the way our brains try to take shortcuts or avoid responsibilities. It's not only helpful to learn about systems for organization and task management, but to hear about potential obstacles and how to set ourselves up for the best chance of success instead.The writing is very clear and to the point, but still casual and conversational enough to avoid being dry or stuffy. I can sometimes have trouble with non-fiction, self-help type books, but I completely devoured this one. I think I actually hyperfocused on finishing it because I was so motivated by learning more about how I can try to address the issues that have plagued me for my entire existence.The author is also apparently a bit of a nerd, and I loved the moments when that shined through. The bit about having to give up World of Warcraft particularly hit really close to home. I was an avid WoW player myself for years, and have played several other MMOs since. Recently I've been addicted to Genshin Impact, a Gacha style game that is essentially a dopamine slot machine not unlike actual gambling. I've maintained self control as far as money is concerned, but not with my time. I know how hard it is to let go of something you really enjoy, especially when it feels like a part of your identity. I've always wondered how I can lose hours and hours to a single video game, but not take five minutes to fold my socks and underwear. Or do anything I allegedly *want* to do, like painting or drawing. Or doing nice things for my friends and family, like the bare minimum gesture of remembering a birthday. The book provides reasons why this happens, and why it is not actually a personal failure or a reflection of our character (even when it absolutely feels like it is). To paraphrase from another passage that resonated with me: when your car breaks down, you don't get mad and insist that your car just power through and get better at being a car. You identify the problem and fix it so it will work for you again.This book is not therapy, and it is not the end-all be-all. But I think this book will always be valuable to me as a reference for how to set up a system of organization that might actually work for me, and as a reminder of why my brain is the way it is and that I should continue exploring this and seek out the appropriate therapy and medication. I cannot thank the human who wrote this enough. I can only imagine how huge of an undertaking it is to write an entire book -- and it gives me hope that maybe even someone like me can one day actually do some of the bigger things I dream of, instead of watching all the plates I have spinning eventually crash to the ground.

I have marked this book up. I appreciate that the author has ADHD. The examples are totally relatable. I refer to the book constantly to review the suggestions. One of them is to clear out the inbox to 0 every few days. That is a challenge! I also have placed note taking devices around the house so that every thought and idea can be written down right away.

I’m an artist, an bubbly introvert, a work from home house wife who rolls fitted sheets in balls and stuffs them in the closet. I can walk past the same pile of lint 100 times before I think to sweep it. I love a clean home, and low clutter, but keep buying things to decorate the second a room is organized and never do it. I’m a mystery to myself. Oh, and I have add - the hypoactive kind.I own more than one copy of every organizational book. Every time I force myself to follow advice I instantly rebel. I also was raised to believe I was lazy & selfish & rude & abnormal & different. I’m 50 and still need to remind myself that I don’t have to fit into anyone else’s bin to get my stuff together.Thank you to the author

Not exaggerating when I say it is the most helpful book I have read for Adult ADHD.I love that this book is extremely practical and provides information that is ACTUALLY helpful. The information is presented in an easily digestible way that made sense for my ADHD brain and made finishing the book a reality.I also loved the author’s notes written to neurotypical individuals who live with or love a neurodivergent individual. Again, incredibly helpful.

Great effort and great insight into a couple who has adhd. It was also eye-opening for me to know that symptoms of everyone is different and one treatment fits all doesn't work for everyone. Go glad I bought this book.

Even though after many years I'd developed some of these strategies naturally (with no idea it could be due to adhd) there was plenty more to find. Even more so you are offered a route through the endless looping internal monologues about what and how to choose, and the impact it will have on you.

For me it was/ is a journey of not only getting and staying organized but also of self-discovery.Very easy to read, very helpful!

The start comes across with an emotional and releasing way of confronting problems and ideas and doesn’t jump straight into advice. It uses some key ideas about accepting reality your way and what works for you and upon that foundation shares great ideas about funneling and containing all the things incoming and how to manage them in a way that acknowledges all their subparts instead of making a small list that reflects a much larger list. Great, some things I personally do differently which the author encourages. Great read on adult organisation.

Got this book after it was recommended to me by a psychologist. And it is going right back where it came from. Right at the start she says she wouldn't be able to do what she's doing without medication. I feel like if you need to take medication to make yourself be organised, you aren't exactly the authority on getting organised with ADHD and you should definitely not be writing a book about it. Plus she goes on these completely irrelevant tangents.. on page 19 she's teaching us how to drive a stick shift? And boy does she love talking about herself and her life.