You know you need to clean up that garage or extra bedroom. Your intentions are good. However, it hasn’t gotten done and your partner has had enough. You feel bad too because you fully intended to get get the job done.

Well, maybe the 15.4 million views on TikTok are on to something. Videos abound about a technique that can provide a strategy that might work for you.  It’s called “junebugging.” No, it is not a psychological term, but a colloquial term that might change your cleaning habits. While the name comes from an actual bug, the intervention comes from working with people with ADHD who often feel frustrated that they begin a task, get distracted and then don’t finish the task. This technique seems to help get one task done.

OK, so what is up with the bug part? The term, “junebugging “came from studying the habits of the actual June bug. This bug is noted for returning to the same site over and over no matter how much it flits around during the day. So, playing off of the behavior of the bug, junebugging involves coming back to the same task over and over until it is done. For example, let’s decide to clean that spare bedroom. Instead of looking at the entire room and feeling overwhelmed, you focus on one aspect of cleaning like maybe a shelf in the closet. That shelf becomes your anchor point or focus. Then, whatever you do during the day, you return to that spot and work on the shelf until it is clean. In other words, you pick one task or spot and keep returning to it throughout the day until it cleaned.

It goes like this: You start cleaning a few items off the shelf, get distracted with other things, but continue to wander back to the shelf (like the June bug) and eventually get that shelf cleaned. The idea isn’t to identify a step-by-step process to cleaning, rather pick a task and keep returning to the site.

This technique claims to remove the shame of not getting cleaning done. I would change that to guilt, not shame. The idea is to get your mind off tackling a big cleaning job and focus only on getting one task done, regardless of the length of time it takes you to do.

Now, if you are someone with ADHD, this practice can help. People with ADHD struggle with messiness due to working memory issues. Working memory has to do with short term tasks and forgetting. So, identifying one thing to focus on helps. Honestly, this technique works for anyone who is easily distracted. With this method, you embrace the distraction and keep going back to the original task.

Got it! Now give it a try and see if it works for you.