Learn Hardcore Russian: Иногда мне достаточно навести небольшой порядок на столе, чтобы успокоиться. - Sometimes it is enough for me to tidy up the desk a little in order to calm down.

Russian often uses the dative case with impersonal expressions about feelings, states, or quantities.
Мне достаточно literally means “to me, it is enough”, rather than “I am enough”.

So:

Мне достаточно навести… = It’s enough for me to tidy…
Similar patterns: мне холодно (I am cold), мне скучно (I am bored), мне нужно (I need).

Using я достаточно here would be ungrammatical, because достаточно in this sense needs a “recipient” in the dative, not a nominative subject.

What exactly is достаточно here? Is there a missing verb like есть?

Here достаточно is a predicative adverb meaning “enough / sufficient”.
In the present tense, Russian usually drops есть (“to be”), so instead of saying мне есть достаточно, you just say мне достаточно.

So the structure is:

Иногда мне достаточно … = Sometimes (for me) it is enough …

There is no missing word in actual Russian; the linking verb is simply omitted as usual in the present tense.

Why is the verb навести, not наводить?

Навести is the perfective form; наводить is imperfective.

навести порядок (perfective) = to put things in order once, to get it done, to have it tidied (result, completion)
наводить порядок (imperfective) = to be tidying up, to tidy regularly, to be in the process

In this sentence, the focus is on a single act that leads to a result: doing a bit of tidying and then feeling calmer. That’s why the perfective навести is used.

What does the phrase навести порядок actually mean?

Literally, навести порядок is “to bring order” or “to put order”.
As an idiom, it’s the common way to say “to tidy up / to put things in order” (physically or even metaphorically, like “put things in order in your life/organization”).

Examples:

навести порядок в комнате – to tidy up the room
навести порядок в документах – to organize the documents

Why небольшой порядок? Can you really say “a small order” in Russian?

Yes, небольшой порядок is possible and sounds natural here.
It suggests “a bit of order / a small amount of tidying” rather than a full, thorough cleaning.

You could think of it as:

навести небольшой порядок = to straighten things up a little, not to make everything perfectly neat.

You can also say simply навести порядок; adding небольшой just softens it: “a little tidying is enough.”

Why is it на столе and not на стол?

The difference is between location and movement:

на столе (prepositional case) = on the table (where something is, location)
на стол (accusative) = onto the table (direction, movement to a surface)

In this sentence, you are bringing order on the table as a place, not moving something onto the table. That’s why the static form на столе is used.

What does чтобы успокоиться mean grammatically? Why чтобы + infinitive?

Чтобы introduces a clause of purpose (“in order to / so that”).
When the subject of both actions is the same (the same person tidies the table and calms down), Russian often uses чтобы + infinitive:

навести порядок…, чтобы успокоиться = …to calm down / in order to calm down.

If the subjects were different, you would usually have a finite verb:

Я убрался, чтобы мама успокоилась. – I cleaned up so that my mother would calm down.

Why does успокоиться have -ся at the end? What’s the difference between успокоиться and успокоить?

The -ся ending makes the verb reflexive.

успокоить (кого?) = to calm someone (transitive)
- успокоить ребёнка – to calm a child
успокоиться = to calm down oneself, to become calm (intransitive / reflexive)
- мне нужно успокоиться – I need to calm down

In your sentence, you are calming yourself, so the reflexive form успокоиться is required.

Can the word order be different, like Иногда достаточно мне навести…?

You can move the words around, but some orders sound more natural than others.

Most natural options include:

Иногда мне достаточно навести небольшой порядок на столе, чтобы успокоиться. (original – very natural)
Иногда, чтобы успокоиться, мне достаточно навести небольшой порядок на столе. (focus on the purpose first)

Иногда достаточно мне навести… is possible, but it sounds a bit marked/stylized; everyday speech strongly prefers мне достаточно to stay together.

Why is there a comma before чтобы?

Чтобы introduces a subordinate clause of purpose, so Russian punctuation rules require a comma before it.

Structure:

Main part: Иногда мне достаточно навести небольшой порядок на столе
Subordinate (purpose) clause: чтобы успокоиться

Whenever чтобы introduces such a clause, you normally separate it with a comma.