If you’re vexed by chronic organizing woes, always behind the eight-ball, far too many things to do, no idea how or where to ever start, you could be dealing with the Rube Goldberg Effect. What’s the Rube Goldberg Effect? The late Rube Goldberg, engineer, inventor, cartoonist, author was known for his mind-boggling complex contraptions designed to accomplish inherently simple tasks. Think about Hasbro’s classic game “Mousetrap” reportedly inspired by Rube’s designs. One action triggers another which leads to another in a seemingly unending chain reaction. All actions are dependent upon the execution of the prior action. Make a wrong calculation, you’ll land in a trap. Encounter a design flaw, things fall apart. Progress is delayed or lost completely.
What Does Mousetrap Look Like in Everyday Life?
As you play the game, it’s critical to assemble the pieces in sequential order. Fortunately, most household actions don’t require those levels of specificity. Sometimes they do. And each step requires previous step completion. Here’s a common example.
You’re eager to knock out an easy-peasy to-do list item. Score a quick win. You choose to pay your credit card bill. That won’t take long. Just log into your electronic device. But the boot up is delayed by an unplanned security update. That pesky circle goes round and round. You feel tension rising. Shoulders tighten, neck stiffens, stomach muscles begin to clench. Arggh. This was supposed to be quick. You finally get in. What were you logging on to do? Oh yeah, pay your credit card bill. A clear-cut task that winds up deep down multiple rabbit holes. Ready? Here we go down, down, down.
And Voila. Done. I think?
Voila. Done. Finally. Roughly 29 steps. And I likely overlooked something. Rather ludicrous that the rabbit hole was dug so deep in order to accomplish 1 straightforward thing on your list. No wonder we tend to underestimate time requirements and procrastinate.
Computers promised to make our lives easier. Obviously, that’s not always the case. For those deemed within the neuro typical realm of the spectrum, the Rube Goldberg effect is time-consuming, and down-right annoying. For those residing beyond the neuro spectrum mid-range, determining and tracking the sheer number of steps can be paralyzingly disastrous. Delay and avoidance tactics are the balm for self-preservation.
Where Did I Goof Now?
By the time you finish, your brain’s so fuzzy. Prone to careless errors? Yes, I’m raising my hand. Before you walk away, you’re wondering did I do everything? What did I forget this time? Did I enter the correct amount? Did I transpose numbers? Should I go back and double check? More time and energy required. More loathing for next time.
You underestimated the time it would take. You thought it would take mere seconds. No such luck. 15-20 minutes elapsed. Now you’re late getting out the door or onto the next thing. Please don’t feel bad if you perceive that you continually underestimate task completion time. Tech, traffic jams, awaiting other people, and so on, inevitably slow us down. And seriously, just look how many steps were involved to complete just one thing. In essence you were duped. Yielding to annoying or tempting distractions along the way will add minutes perhaps hours to your few-minute project. Don’t fall prey to those irresistible impulses quite yet.
Pencil in a TLC Moment
One completion check mark on your list left you drained. Where will you get the energy for whatever comes next? You’ve reached your caffeine max for the day. Jitters will inhibit concentration and dexterity. Insomnia will make tomorrow harder. Your bed is looking far too tempting. What to do?
If you can take a time out for a quick catnap, set a wake-up alarm. Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
Even the Easiest Things Seem So Hard
Many home chores encompass a complex puzzle of “I can’t do this until I do that.” The number of puzzle pieces and the degree of bafflement magnifies for those with ADHD who commonly find it difficult to keep on top of any household tasks. The higher the piles, the deeper we find ourselves in a stupifying maze.
Many home chores encompass a complex puzzle of “I can’t do this until I do that.” The number of puzzle pieces and the degree of bafflement magnifies for those with ADHD who commonly find it difficult to keep on top of any household tasks. Image by Hans from Pixabay.
Tech complexities are one irritating Rube Goldberg example. Other typical circumstances involve clearing out space somewhere else to put away the things right here. This inevitably leads to high levels of stress, frustration, overwhelming anxiousness, and guilt for allowing the situation to get to this point in either location, and a host of other unhelpful emotions. Some clients consequently move on to something else entirely different or shut down completely. If it looks more enjoyable, who can resist the temptation?Choosing to do nothing at all means the situation worsens. Procrastination is temporary relief.
Nowhere and Everywhere All At Once
Let’s say, you’re determined to drive forward. Where’s a logical location to begin? Nowhere and everywhere make sense to start. Tackling multiple locations at once yield a maelstrom of activity and piles; subsequently, confusing the brain even more. I’ll get to some suggestions in a bit for how to proceed when you encounter this type of Gordian Knot experience. A typical example involves dishes, but it could be laundry, papers, or any other household items.
Used dishes, pots, pans, implements have nowhere to go because the sink is already overflowing. The dishwasher is full, needing to be run. The countertops are lined with an assortment of dirty dishes awaiting the next load. There’s no place to prep for the next meal. Call for take-out again? Might as well. The fridge is barren. Groceries were another pending to-do that you didn’t get to this week. So what do you do? Where do you start? How do you prevent this from happening again and again?
Home Organizing Begins Upstream
If you’re familiar with the environmental sustainability term “upstream”, let’s apply it to managing home organization. Upstream, for those not acquainted, essentially means addressing the issue at its roots, prospectively before it becomes a problem. In terms of the environment, rather than facing the challenges of what to do with endless trash as landfilling, incinerating, recycling all come with their own forms of pollution and environmental consequences; waste reduction and preferably prevention means not having to rectify the fallout downstream. How do we prevent or at least reduce downstream chaos at home? We fish around to find the upstream roots, then tackle the problem before it grows. But I’m getting ahead of myself because…
Making Our Way Upstream When The Path is Blocked
Before making our way upstream, we’ll need to trudge our way through the weeds removing blockages along the way. So let’s extract the weeds. Weeds are complications. Complications slow us down, cause emotional upheavals, delay accomplishments, inhibit motivation. I hear you, I hate weeding too. Sometimes our only recourse is to put on our big people pants and forge on. Let’s conquer our first weed patch.
Clothes are scattered about. They need laundering before putting them away. The laundry baskets are overflowing. The washer has wet, now musty, clothes that have remained in there far too long. The dryer is filled to the max. The tops of the machines are cluttered with wrinkled clothing awaiting ironing. Where does that leave you? Likely with more clothes dropped throughout the house.
I invite you to map out your weeding process in a way that feels, sounds, looks right to you and fits your schedule. Here’s what I’d do. Build off it, modify, or throw it out completely.
1. Re-add washer detergent and possibly enzymes to ameliorate mustiness. Run the washing machine.
2. Simultaneously run the dryer. If those clothes are overly musty too, you may have to rewash.
3. Gather all errant dirty clothes throughout the house, and bring them to the laundry room.
4. Sort the clothes according to your own procedures while the current loads run.
5. Set up the ironing board. Select a favorite podcast, or tune into a mindless TV show, or phone a friend using the speaker function or a headset. If you have a willing, non-judgmental buddy, invite them over to keep you company while you work or to assist. Stay on track.
6. Start ironing.
7. Take breaks as needed. Keep breaks short. Set a timer if you’re prone to distraction. Stay away from temptations such as email, social media, anything that will inhibit progress.
Again, this is my process. You design your own. If you find that’s more than you can handle, please reach out for a free chat to see how we might be able to assemble the puzzle pieces together via online coached organizing.
Once we gain a modicum of control around what is, we can start to fish around for disorganization roots and tackle them upstream. How? I will cover that in next month’s blog. Stay tuned.
