Three Ways Intentional Space Design Impacts ADHD Individuals
By Stephanie Scheller | Founder, Grow Disrupt
How Neurodivergent Individuals Are Impacted by Space Design
I didn’t start studying the neuroscience of space design because of my ADHD. Until 2021, I didn’t even realize that much of what I was studying and exploring was to help manage the ADHD that had unconsciously run huge portions of my life since childhood.
I simply wanted to produce an event where the event was the product.
I didn’t want my guests to pay to attend the event, then feel like they had to buy five-figures in coaching and consulting to implement what they learned. But when I started producing “how to grow your business” events, I was repeatedly advised that the business model didn’t work without upsells. The logic being: no one implements something just from attending an event, and events alone aren’t profitable enough to support a whole company.
I’ve always been obstinate and ready to prove people wrong when they tell me I can’t do something. So, here came Steph planning to prove everyone wrong on both counts. And that led me to study how space design impacts our ability to focus so we can retain information better. Then I realized there are things we can do that help with that retention, not just with focus. And down the rabbit hole I fell.
A couple years ago, I realized I was using these same concepts in my home office and had noticed a drastic increase in productivity. Now I get questioned weekly about how I’ve laid out my space for my ADHD. There are three primary categories that my space-management for day-to-day application falls into: Set Up, Lighting, and Scents.
1. Set Up:
Oddly, this was one of the last things I researched when I was learning how to produce a better event. When I finally investigated the studies behind it, I realized I’d been leaning on these things inherently just by looking for “what works best for me.” I’ve always obsessed about where the tables are set up in the room so that they draw the eye towards the stage. Since 2020 I have sat in every single chair in every room at our events to ensure they have a clear line of sight to the stage. I am fanatical about clutter. Everything from wires to trash drives me nuts. Starting in 2021, I began paying attention to natural lighting and ceiling height too.
In 2022 I discovered a study completed in 2007 by Joan Meyers-Levy. a professor at the University of Minnesota, that discovered that individuals in a room with higher ceiling lean towards more creative thinking. Suddenly it made sense why I always wanted high ceilings for an event that was supposed to help cultivate creativity and lower ceilings for the break-out rooms where our guests are focused on implementation.
I also learned about something called Change Blindness. The basic premise being that, because we are getting so many stimuli every single day, our brain literally stops consciously recognizing those excess stimuli. Consciously. But not unconsciously. In fact, our brains are still expending calories and energy to recognize clutter and excess stimuli. It’s simply not alerting us to it. By eliminating the clutter at our events and ensuring lines of sight were clean and drawing the eye forward, I eliminated one extra energy-suck for our guests, so that they could focus on the content.
So, how do I use this in my home office to help manage my ADHD?
I have a sitting/standing desk so I can move closer to the ceiling or further away, depending on what I need to focus on. When I really need to focus, I use glasses or a ball-cap to artificially ‘lower’ the ceiling, much like blinders on old-fashioned carriage horses. I have also been known to literally build pillow forts out of the couch in my office when I really need to focus. Don’t laugh. It works!
I also have a “clutter basket” under my desk. Once a week all the clutter gets cleared off my desk and into the basket. I typically go through the basket once every other month to sort and toss the items I haven’t thought about in a while. This way I can keep my desk clear so I’m not wearing myself out subconsciously every day. I also learned to bring in an organizer once a year to help put things back in order because, let’s face it, it’s not my greatest strength. I can keep up whatever system she puts in place for a while, but eventually it starts fraying and I need her back to set me straight! It’s some of the best money I spend yearly.
2. Lighting:
There are a handful of considerations when it comes to lighting to support focus and productivity: the type of lighting, the colors, and the direction they guide my eye.
When it comes to lighting, there are two main types I take into consideration at our events and in my office: synthetic and natural. Natural lighting is best for keeping the brain alert. There’s are a lot of reasons we don’t use hotel ballrooms for our venues, but this is a big one. When was the last time you walked into a hotel ballroom and had natural lighting? It doesn’t happen because they want to be able to control the lights for their large conferences. That’s great in one sense, but it doesn’t help the ADHD brain.
Likewise, in my office, I’ve made sure that I chose a room with a window seat. It allows my office to primarily be bathed in natural light to help keep my brain alert during working hours. Synthetic lighting, both at events and at home, is set up not just directionally, but also to mimic natural lighting as much as possible (brighter, clearer, avoiding fluorescents, avoiding pure white). If I must use synthetic lighting, I try to use lights that allow me to shift between more natural-light bright white and warm yellow so I can control the mood of the room throughout the day. In my office, this is as simple as installing a light with multiple modes!
What about colors?
I was experimenting with colors in lighting long before I realized the impact that colors have on the brain. I used them in terms of branding but quickly found out that some colors will calm the brain, others fire it up. We use upshot lighting at our events that allows us to change the colors throughout the event to help pull our guests from one mode to the next as needed. In my office, I bought myself some of the same upshot lights (albeit, smaller versions). I’ve personally found that purples, warm yellows and a teal based color seem to do the best consistent job soothing my brain and supporting energy and focus in my own office.
Lastly, the direction the lighting comes from makes a big difference. In the office, I avoid overhead lights for the same reason I do at our events: they cast shadows that subtly strain the eye. If we have to use overhead lights, we angle support lights to mitigate the shadows. In my office, I bounce lighting off the walls behind me rather than sending it directly at myself. This diffuses shadows, and helps pull the eye forward automatically, decreasing eye strain and increasing processing capacity.
3. Scents:
This is potentially the weirdest, and most effective, of my space-design tools and I originally fell into it by accident. I have always known that scents are closely tied to memory. In 2022 I retained an aromachologist to develop a custom scent for our events. Not only did I want something that would help our guests remember what they learned at the event, but I wanted to leverage several of the studies that have shown how different scents impact the brain’s ability to focus and energize. We crafted an invigorating and grounding scent to support our guests that was unique enough to trigger event memories too.
Then one of our speakers, a noted European neuroscientist, came to me after one of our events and shared that, by crafting a truly custom scent, and piping it into the room while I was carefully curating our guests’ dopamine production, I ‘pavloved’ our guests. Turns out, you can train your brain that certain scents mean certain things. In this case, I trained them that this particular scent produced dopamine and an urge to work on their businesses.
I began using this everywhere. I use citrus and herb-focused scents in my office. Woody and floral scents when I want to work on my fictional writing. I even have specific perfumes that are specifically for speaking engagements, and another for date nights!
And it’s not hard to do either. Be intentional about picking a candle or diffuser scent that you want to associate with “it’s time to work” mindsets. Then use it consistently. Now, whenever I start to ‘drift’ in the afternoons, all I have to do is flip the diffuser on and I always get a boost of focused energy again.
Wrap Up:
There is a lot that we can do to set ourselves up for success. The great thing about intentional space design is that once it’s done, it supports you consistently and subconsciously. I don’t have to re-choose my colors or scents or how the lighting is set up in my office. It’s there, working in the background to support what I need to do and eliminating distractions.
It does take work.
It’s worth it.
Stephanie Scheller has an ongoing hyperfixation on psychology. She first applied it for small business growth then discovered that she could use it in event design too. She has now spent a decade obsessed with creating an event that supports focus, as well as information retention and application. She is a TED speaker, a three-time best-selling author, an award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of Grow Disrupt, a company that designs and produces retreats and conferences for ADHD entrepreneurs! In her downtime, you’ll find Stephanie playing on the violin or scribbling away at her fantasy books.
