1w ago

What are your mental hacks and shortcuts for living with autism?

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A slew of organisational tools to help me keep track of things and prevent overwhelm:
ClickUp is really good for big projects. I can break them down into smaller pieces, set dependencies and priorities, etc. so that only the next relevant steps are shown and I don't get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work involved in a large project.
Trello I find really handy for day-to-day stuff. I have a weekly template card with a checklist for each day and the regular activities on it. This reduces the amount of bandwidth I need to plan my day or week, as I already have a rough structure in place to build upon.
Google Calendar (although really any calendar app should do). Use repeating events and take advantage of the email reminder options. If it's something important that I need to prepare for, I can set a reminder email a day or two (or even a week) in advance so that it doesn't sneak up on me.
Beyond that, I find it very important to keep my space organised, neat and tidy. Too much visual clutter is overwhelming. Making sure everything has its own place and is readily accessible takes a lot of hassle out of anything I have to do, whether it be day-to-day stuff or one-off tasks.
- I've tried numerous times to use tools like these, and found having to set up everything for every day quite tedious. I'm not sure if that was the actual reason but I could never keep up with scheduling, or creating new routines that I set out for myself.
  I like the idea of having recurring checklists for each day with regular activities on a Trello board to save time in making a plan. How specific do you get with the board and specific activities? Do you maybe have tips to stay consistent?
  
  At the core, my Trello system works like this:
  I have a template Trello card for a generic week. This has a checklist for each day with the tasks that I don't do by default (e.g. in my case eating breakfast/lunch/dinner isn't on it because my sense of hunger and thirst works really well!). It's typically things like doing my exercises (which I will often forget if I am busy), checking whether the cat litter tray needs cleaning before bed (at the end of the day I am tired and can miss things that should be done, so this serves as a useful reminder) or regular things that don't happen every day (like watering my indoor plants on Tuesdays and Fridays).
  I also have a Task Pool card where I note down all the things I need/should/want/would like to do. I'm currently working with an OT to help improve how I prioritise and select what to work on (this is where energy accounting comes in if you use it), but the idea so far (which mostly works) is that on Friday evening (when my wife and I discuss the weekend and the following week), I create the next week's card from the weekly template and grab any items I need/want to do that week from the Task Pool.
  For more irregular activities, like holidays/trips, I also have a template card. It makes it much easier to prepare for a trip; I have checklists on that template card for:
  Things I need to do before leaving
  Things I need to take that aren't regular packing
  Normal packing list (e.g. clothes, medication, toiletries, etc.)
  When I know a trip is coming up, I then create a card from the template specific to that trip and start adding things as I think of them. For example, I might be planning to visit family for a birthday or other event, so "birthday present" would go on the non-regular packing list.
  
  Thanks for taking the time to respond in detail! In the meantime since posting my comment, I have been looking for an open source alternative to Trello, and I think I will be settling with Logseq and using its Kanban plugin to create boards similar to those in Trello. I'll take your system as a template, it seems like it's simple enough to keep up with on a regular basis!! Thanks again :)
  
  You're welcome! I hope it helps.

21 comments