#executive function hacks

Try externalizing your working memory! (Working memory is kind of like a desktop in your brain... you can be aware of all the stuff spread out on the desk, but some people have very small desks to work on, and are constantly bumping the desk and knocking stuff into the dusty corners behind it.)

My new card holders just came in, and I'm in the process of redoing my Do Deck (cards that help me keep track of things, like my daily routine, my day-of-the-week routines, spring cleaning tasks, goals I want to make progress on, etc.).

The Do Deck is a customizable, portable, modular, infinitely rearrangeable, external memory system that doesn't need to be plugged in, charged, connected to the internet, or otherwise require anything more than cardstock cut to an appropriate size and writing implements. My first Do Deck was made from index cards that I had cut in half. Then I discovered blank playing-card-sized cards.

I use ink to color-code the more permanent categories of card (daily, day-of-week, end-of-month, middle-of-month, spring cleaning). I use pencil to make temporary cards that can be erased when completed, and to make temporary notes on the permanent cards.

Instead of trying to remember each and every thing that Past Me wanted to get done, I only have to remember to check and update my Do Deck hands. It's become part of my day in the mornings, looking at the day's hand, discarding any cards I don't feel like doing that day, arranging the remaining cards into an approximate order of events, etc.

This is what I'm talking about.

A low-tech, modular, customizable information storage and retrieval system, with multiple ways to be used at any given time.

This is one of the ways I've learned to externalize my working memory. (Working memory is like a desk in your brain. You're aware of whatever's spread out on the desk, but some people have very small desks, and lots of dusty corners to accidentally knock things off into.)

There's a thing I need to put effort and/or focus into, but not at this exact moment? Write it down on a card and tuck in into the right spot, for a future hand.

There's a thing I need to do every week? Make a card for it, color-code it to match the rest of the once-a-week cards, pencil in a preferred day of the week in the lower corner, and tuck it into the spot for that day's base hand.

There are things I want to work on soonish? Make a display of the cards for them and put it in the area where I put my Do Deck hand together each morning.

There's a thing I need to do, and I have the time and energy to do it today? Grab the card for it and put it into my hand for the day.

Instead of having to remember umpteen things across days and weeks and months, I only have to remember to check and update my Do Deck throughout each day.

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Notice. Pause. Identify. Work Toward.

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Notice: Scrolling and cycling between apps, getting my brain all anxious about all the bad things happening in the world, while struggling to get myself to start my day? Unproductive. But it happens. A lot. And there are other unproductive and actively harmful loops I can get stuck in.

So, when I notice that I'm getting locked in an unproductive loop, I try to pause.

(Rest is productful, though. I'm not against mindless scrolling when it's actually useful for me, such as for decompression.)

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Pause: I used to try to get myself to 'go do the thing' while I was still stuck in a loop, and that rarely worked. Asking myself to pause—usually entailing a looking up, a deep breath, a small stretch, and/or focusing my eyes on something at a different distance from me than the thing I'm stuck on—creates almost no demand and requires no preparation.

There's no commitment. It's just a breaking of concentration when I'm not happy with concentrating on the thing I'm stuck on.

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Identify: Once I've paused, I can think a little more clearly about the loops I'm stuck in and what things I may want/need to work toward to that require not being stuck in those loops. That's when I identify something to work toward (or a less stressful way to occupy idle time).

The currently identified thing is 'get out of the bedroom'. No specific plans after that, just generally start my day.

Sometimes it's a bigger thing, a project that I want to work on, but even then I try to identify the thing to work toward as the getting myself in the general proximity of the tools required. It allows me to regularly check in with myself and see what my capabilities at the moment are.

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Work Toward: Once I've identified something to work toward, I can start taking steps in that direction. Currently, I'm working toward leaving the bedroom by tidying up the bed that I've been sitting on. Which included putting away the laptop, with a minor tangent of writing this post.

Sometimes it means gathering supplies. Sometimes it means putting everything away. Sometimes it means going somewhere and pacing around and looking at things and thinking.

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Black Box Recordings, by InMyOwnWorld is an unscripted, unfocused, unedited, unmonetized podcast by me, InMyOwnWorld.

Think about your wants and priorities. Pick a thing. One thing that you know you're going to struggle to do, but that you really want to get done.

Now, think about what the very first step looks like. Maybe it's writing down a phone number, so it's there when you're ready to make the call. Maybe it's gathering the tools and materials needed for the project. Maybe it's calling a few friends and scheduling a time for them to come over and help. Maybe it's turning the mess of dishes into a neat stack of dishes.

What do you want to do that needs to be done, whether or not it's expected of you?

What do you not want to do but which needs to be done, and is expected of you?

What do you not want to do, which does not need to be done, but is being expected of you?

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