Find a therapist to help with ADHD

A useful house map follows how you and your family naturally move through your space.

The goal is reducing the amount of work your brain has to do.

House mapping should include a team approach so as not to overwhelm one person.

Less friction and less decision-making can mean less mental fatigue.

People believe that homes are supposed to look a certain way. Our counters, closets, desks, and dining tables all have to have a certain order; otherwise, it is chaos.

This is simply not true.

Instead of trying to shape your home to fit a perfect picture of what you think a space should look like, house mapping—which means intentionally following the way you live when you design your home—follows your natural rhythms as a family and individual. The goal is to reduce the amount of work your brain must do.

Where do you put things when you are not thinking about it? Why do you put them there? How do you move around your space? When working well, the house map acts as an executive function by reducing demands rather than continually forcing you to override your natural behavior. Less decision-making means less mental fatigue.

As an ADHD specialist and creator of the W-CAT Model—a women-centered ADHD treatment—I once spoke with a woman who was frustrated because her family kept leaving their shoes scattered near the entry doorway. They were partially onto something, as they put their shoes in the right location, but they lacked the contextual cue of the rack, which, surprisingly, was hidden right behind the door they opened to enter.

That is the thing with house mapping: Most of us are not far off from systems that could actually work for our families. Instead of doing what looks best, is most expected, or is most socially acceptable, we can shift toward moving throughout our homes to curb the chaos without putting more pressure on our family. Something as simple as moving the shoe rack two feet to where everyone already took off their shoes worked for that woman. Their floor is now mostly shoe-free, but on days the shoes do not make it onto the rack she practices compassion, because reshaping habits—and even gendered expectations for housekeeping—takes time and adaptation.

Five Principles of ADHD-Friendly House Mapping

1. Nervous system first. Your home should help lower activation rather than........

© Psychology Today