By Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG – September 28, 2026
What if one of the biggest obstacles to thriving with ADHD is trying so hard to manage it the “right” way? Many of those with ADHD spend years trying to make themselves fit systems that simply don’t work for them. They put things away because that’s what an organized person is supposed to do. They try to keep their spaces looking a certain way. They follow organizational advice that works beautifully for someone else but falls apart for them. Then they blame themselves when it doesn’t work. There may be another way.
In this article, I explore what it means to “own your ADHD.” Drawing from conversations with Dr. Russell Barkley, many people struggle because they spend so much energy fighting their ADHD rather than accepting it and working with it.
In one of my conversations with Dr. Russell Barkley about ADHD and motivation, one important idea emerged: Those with ADHD need to accept and own their ADHD. That doesn’t mean giving up. It doesn’t mean saying, “This is just the way I am, so there’s nothing I can do.” Quite the opposite.
Owning ADHD means taking it seriously, respecting how it affects you, and being willing to use strategies that may look unconventional. One example involves working memory and visibility. If something is put away in a drawer or closet, it may effectively disappear because there is no visual cue to trigger recall.
I also share a viewer’s creative solution, keeping belongings visible, organized, and attractive using decorative containers, baskets, and other organizational tools. She even labels her shelves and keeps an index so she can quickly locate items. Rather than forcing herself to use a conventional organizational system, she has designed her environment around how her brain works. She recognized something important about herself: if something is hidden away in a drawer or closet, she may forget it exists. So instead of fighting that reality, she designed her environment around it. She’s creating an environment that provides the visual cues her brain needs while still maintaining order.
The larger message is that accepting ADHD can open the door to creativity. Instead of constantly trying to conform to systems designed for people without ADHD, you can identify what works for your brain and build your environment accordingly.
Part of understanding this strategy involves understanding working memory. Working memory is the ability to hold information in your mind and manipulate or use it. For many people with ADHD, recalling something without a cue can be difficult. Sometimes you don’t need another reminder. You need something that helps you remember in the first place. A visible object can serve as that cue. When you see it, you remember it.
When you put it behind a closed door, it may effectively disappear from your mental landscape.
I can relate this to my own garage, where everything is accessible without having to move multiple things to get to what I need. Creating accessibility and reducing friction makes it much more likely that I will use and maintain the system.
So, the conventional advice to “just put everything away” may actually create a problem. For some people with ADHD, visibility is not disorganization. Visibility is the system. If you have to pull everything out to get to the one thing you need, then put everything back afterward, that’s a lot of friction. And when there’s a lot of friction, sometimes the task simply doesn’t get done.
This is where owning your ADHD can become surprisingly empowering. Once you stop insisting that you have to organize, remember, or function exactly like everyone else, you can start asking a better question: “What does my brain need?” Maybe you need things visible. Maybe you need labels. Maybe you need a particular arrangement. Maybe you need fewer steps between deciding to do something and actually doing it. Maybe you need to make an organizational system attractive enough that you actually want to use it.
These aren’t failures. They’re accommodations. And sometimes the most effective ADHD strategies are the ones you create yourself. So, stop fighting your brain. There’s a difference between accepting ADHD and accepting defeat. Acceptance says: “This is how my brain works. Now, what can I do with that information?” Fighting says: “I should be able to do this the way everyone else does.”
That second approach can consume an enormous amount of energy. When you own your ADHD, you can redirect that energy toward designing your environment. Instead of asking, “Why can’t I keep things put away?” you might ask: “How can I organize things so I can see and access them?” Instead of asking, “Why do I keep forgetting what’s in that closet?”
you might ask: “What visual cue would help me remember?” Instead of asking, “Why can’t I use this organizational system?” you might ask: “What would make a system work for me?” Those are very different questions.
Your ADHD doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s. Some of the most successful people in the ADHD community have reached a similar point of acceptance. They have stopped trying to hide, deny, or fight their ADHD and have learned to work with it. The goal isn’t to make ADHD disappear. The goal is to understand it well enough so that you can build a life that accommodates the way you actually function.
Your solution may look unconventional. It may even look strange to someone else. But if it helps you remember, function, and move forward, that’s what matters.
So, don’t be afraid to think differently. Leave something out where you can see it. Put labels on your shelves. Use decorative baskets. Create an index. Design your garage so you can actually get what you need. Use whatever works. Remember…. “If it’s in a drawer, it might as well be in the trash.”
The takeaway? Own your ADHD. Respect how your brain works. Get creative. Then design your environment to help you thrive. If you’re interested, please check out my video on this topic: ADHD, Acceptance, Creativity, and a Lived Experience.
Video Transcript
Welcome, everybody, to this edition of Attention Talk Video. I’m your host ADHD and attention coach Jeff Copper. Today I’m here to talk to you about owning your ADHD.
I did an interview, lots of interviews, with Dr. Russell Barkley, but one of them on my podcast, Attention Talk Radio, we were talking about ADHD and motivation. And one of the interesting items that came out of that particular interview was the need to accept and own your ADHD. So often, people with ADHD struggle because they’re fighting it and they’re not really working with it. And in that moment when you own your ADHD, you actually, as I say, you take it seriously and you step up and you treat it with respect. You do the things that you really need to do.
As quirky as they might be, in order to help you move forward. And today, I really, actually… let me kind of pause. I read a book years ago, and the title of it is I Am What I Am, Because I’m Popeye the Sailor Man. And you are who you are and the inspiration is be who you are. So, one of the things I’m so grateful from our viewers are those who leave comments.
And today I really want to share a lived experience. And forgive me, I’m going to want to do a little bit of reading just so I get this kind of accurate. But there’s an individual who commented that and we’ve talked about working memory. Working memory is the ability to juggle thoughts in your mind and manipulating and sometimes recalling or using visual imagery. So, if you think I need something, it’s often difficult for that to pop out of thin air. It’s usually helpful if there’s what we call cued recall, like you see something as a reminder.
So, this individual kind of accepts the fact that basically, if it’s in a drawer, it might as well be in the trashcan and wrote. I keep everything on display as organized, as neat as I can. Drawers and closets may as well be trashcans for things, which is really kind of funny. And when she keeps it organized and neat as possible, she uses it decorative-type things really to make it look like it’s supposed to be there, almost like using, as she says, homemade earthenware vessels and bowls to organize things with leather stuff.
In other words, there’s stuff all over the place, but she realizes this and she needs this. So, she does it in a decorative way, uses creativity, if you will, in order to make it look like it’s there because she owns and accepts her ADD. Also, the notion, if I put it in a drawer or in a closet, it might as well go into the trashcan is really, again, owning what’s going on and really managing it.
Other quotes… this is actually kind of cool. I even have all my desk and bookcase units lettered on the shelf number, et cetera. So there’s like an index list apparently that she has so that, if she’s looking for an item, she can look up on it and I’m not so sure this is right, but illustratively it’s in bookcase number four, shelve number three, so that it’s out and visible, but also she can get and access it easily and quickly, which I have to tell you, I’m in my fifth and I’m so proud of my garage right now.
It took me several decades to do it, but I have a two-car garage. I got a jet ski and a WaveRunner, and a car. All that, still, I can walk into my garage and I can walk up and grab anything I need instantaneously without having to move something to get to it. Oh, it’s so beautiful. I don’t know about you, but Christmas decorations that are like under a cubby where you got to pull all the Halloween and Easter stuff and then put the… that’s too much friction. It doesn’t get done, but I’m so proud of my garage because everything’s easily accessible.
And this person, basically they’ve designed their house around that. My point is this, if you’ve got ADHD, it’s best to accept it and really own it. And when you do that, that’s when you thrive. Again, I talked to Dr. Russell Barkley, it’s key. You take a look at other people, Alan Brown of ADD Crusher, Linda Roggli of ADDiva, Jessica McCabe of How to ADD, Rick Green of Totally ADD. These are all peers and counterparts of mine who have accepted they have ADHD and they flourish.
I hope this inspires you to own your ADHD, use that creativity and stop really kind of fighting against it. And I thank our individuals for sharing their lived experience. I hope this inspires you. Please subscribe to our channel if you’re new and leave your thoughts and comments. What do you think of this? And do you have your own lived experiences that you’d like to share? We’d like to showcase this for you. For the people out there who sometimes struggle with what it really looks like, using decorative earthenware and leather baskets and stuff and leaving it all out, but make it look like it’s supposed to be there is a really good ADHD strategy.
So with that, I hope this has inspired you. I hope it’s given you some insight. I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Attention Talk video. Thanks. Take care.