Let’s begin with a confession: your desktop looks like a crime scene. There are files called “final_final2_FORREALthisone.jpg,” half-written campaign briefs buried in Google Docs purgatory, and your inbox has become a digital landfill of newsletters, calendar invites, and vaguely threatening “just following up” emails.
Welcome to the beautiful chaos of digital life as an ADHD marketer. Our minds may be full of brilliant, creative, award-worthy campaign ideas — but our digital workspaces? They look like someone shook a filing cabinet during an earthquake.
And yet, you wonder: Why do I feel overwhelmed before I’ve even opened my laptop?
Here’s the thing — digital clutter = mental clutter. And while you’ll never be Marie Kondo, a little virtual tidying can go a long way in clearing the mental fog and making space for that genius idea you’re going to pitch at 2 a.m. on a Google Doc no one else can find.
Let’s dive into the slightly painful but ultimately liberating world of digital decluttering for ADHD brains.
- Start with the Desktop (aka The Graveyard of Intentions)
Your desktop is not a mood board. It’s not a filing system. It’s not “just how you work.”
It’s a visual anxiety trigger, and it’s time to face it.
Step 1: Create a folder called “Stuff I Will Organise Later.”
Step 2: Put everything into that folder. Everything. Don’t overthink it.
Step 3: Bask in the sudden visual peace, even though you’ve solved nothing. It counts.
We’ll deal with that folder later. (Probably. Maybe.)
- The Tab Situation: It’s Time
Let’s be honest: your browser is less of a productivity tool and more of a choose-your-own-chaos adventure. If your tabs had a soundtrack, it would be circus music.
Use tools like OneTab or Toby to condense your chaos into manageable groups. Or go nuclear:
Bookmark the tabs you actually need.
Close everything else.
Mourn nothing.
Feel reborn.
(Yes, that tab from 2022 about “10 Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn Strategy” will be fine without you.)
- File Names That Don’t Sound Like You Were Drunk
If your naming convention is “I’ll remember what this is,” I have bad news: you won’t.
Start renaming things with actual context:
❌ “Untitled Presentation 13”
✅ “Q3 Social Ad Concepts_July”
This sounds simple, and it is. That’s what makes it revolutionary for an ADHD brain that otherwise needs six reminders to attend one Zoom call.
Pro tip: If renaming everything sounds exhausting, just rename what you touch next. One file at a time. Eventually, you’ll be a person with a system. Or at least an illusion of one.
- Inbox Zero? Absolutely Not. Inbox Manageable? Yes, Please
Inbox Zero is a myth created by productivity influencers who don’t receive 76 notifications an hour.
Instead, create ADHD-friendly folders:
“Action Needed” for anything that requires a response
“Waiting On” for things you’re avoiding
“File or Die” for attachments you’ll never download but feel bad deleting
“Nope” for all the newsletters you accidentally subscribed to while researching ad trends at midnight
Also: unsubscribe ruthlessly. You do not need daily emails from that one CRM platform you trialed in 2021.
- Organise as You Go, Not as a Grand Event
Your ADHD brain thrives on now — not every Friday at 4pm when I clean up digitally like a functioning adult. That’s adorable. But unrealistic.
Instead, build tiny clean-up moments into your flow:
After sending a deck, move it to a folder.
After downloading 5 images, delete the bad ones immediately.
When closing tabs, bookmark what matters then, not later.
Decluttering doesn’t need to be dramatic. It just needs to be frequent enough to stop the collapse.
- Embrace the Tools (But Don’t Turn It Into a Side Quest)
Yes, there are digital organisation tools. No, you do not need to spend three hours choosing between Notion, Trello, or ClickUp.
Pick one. Stick with it. Don’t let your productivity app obsession become the very reason you’re avoiding doing your actual job.
Repeat after me: you need a tool, not a lifestyle.
Final Thoughts: Done Is Better Than Perfect (Especially for ADHD Brains)
Digital decluttering isn’t about creating a minimalist utopia. It’s about creating a functioning space that doesn’t make you want to scream every time you try to find a file.
You don’t need to become a productivity robot. You just need to make it easier for your ADHD brain to find things, focus faster, and feel less like you’re drowning in digital static.
Start small. Rename one file. Close three tabs. Delete that 5MB cat meme from 2017.
Tiny wins, repeated often, are your path to digital sanity. And fewer existential crises triggered by Google Drive.
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