A pocket-sized, portable, modular, customizable, fully-manual, externalized working-memory system.
Elsewhere on the internet, someone in an executive dysfunction hacks group asked others to share one purchase they made that has helped them stay on task and organized. I posted a few of these photos, and said "blank cards".
I wrote a lot, in response to a few questions about them, so I may as well share it here, too. And add a bit more.
I struggle to use technology for scheduling and reminders.
I'm great at using technology... just not for that. I need something in my hands that can't turn into a multi-function distraction device. And alarms and alerts require me to be near the device, hear them, and not just ignore them or repeatedly hit snooze.
I struggle to build and maintain routines. I hate having to rewrite lists whenever something changes. I need to have things laid out in front of me so I can see them all. I need to be able to hide things, so I only see the important thing....
So, having a modular, portable, customizable, hand-sized, completely manual system to organize my tasks and responsibilities and goals has been very helpful.
I call it my Do Deck, and I build a hand of cards every morning, from the 'daily' cards, the day-of-the-week cards, and whatever other cards are needed. My routine is 'whenever I'm not sure what to do, I check the Do Deck, and make decisions'.
Sometimes, I lay out the cards on a flat surface, in small piles, for things I plan to do around the same time of day. Sometimes, I just put the cards into an order I like and put them in my pocket and look at the top card until it's finished and goes into the discard pile, leaving a new top card to look at.
If I decide I want to do things in a different order, I can just move a single card... no erasing and re-writing items on a list needed. If I need to add a note to a permanent card, I can write lightly in pencil. If I need a card for a one-time thing, I can just write out the whole card in pencil, to be erased later.
It started as index cards, cut in half, and I was using them to plan the next 24-48 hours. Eventually, things got stabilized enough that I had cards for a weekly routine of caring for myself and doing stuff around the house. It's been about 5 or 6 years now, and has expanded to include a monthly 'ides' period, for getting important monthly things done (like bills and changing filters and such), as well as a shorter monthly 'changeover' period, at the end/beginning of a month, for checking the calendar and thinking about plans, and making temporary cards for the new month goals.
I write out the task names in black ink, then use colored felt tips to add the line to either side of the task name, and to color top edge of the card and a little down the sides.
The various categories each get their own color, which is mostly useful when it comes to separating cards and re-filing them at the end of the day.
The main two categories are the daily cards (things I want to do every day, like brushing teeth, changing underwear, cat meds and litter and food, etc.), and the day-of-week cards (things I want to do on the same day each week, like laundry, making a shopping list, doing my nails, etc.).
"Ides" is a period of time in the middle of the month, when I try to do the monthly things (paying rent, washing bed linens, vacuuming, changing the filters in the air and water filters, etc.). The name was taken from Julius Caesar / William Shakespeare ('beware the Ides of March...'), because it was stuff I dreaded having to deal with. It's centered on the 15th, and goes five days to either side, for 11 days each month that I try to get the important monthly stuff done, far in advance of any due dates. Around the beginning of Ides, I go through my Ides cards and file them in with the daily cards, under the tab for the specific day I intend to work on each.
"Changeover" is a period of time when one month changes to the next. Centered on the 1st, and goes two days to either side, for a total of 5 days. The Changeover cards are about self-care, wrapping up stuff that's mostly done, and planning for new things / the upcoming month. (Toenails, household inventory, writing new cards for monthly goals, etc.)
"Temp" cards are written in pencil, so I can erase and re-use the cards. Anything that's a one-time task, or comes up so irregularly that there's no real reason to have a permanent card (designing a business card for my housemate, getting my tires rotated, returning a call after someone leaves me a message, etc.)
"Occasional" are things that happen often enough that I might want a card for, but which don't fit into a recurring weekly or monthly schedule. Unfortunately, this means that I often forget to look through the stack and remember what's in it. I try to look through every now and then and pull some cards to put into my 'to potentially add to the hand for some upcoming day' display.
"Equinox" cards are pulled out twice a year, during the months of the Spring and Fall equinoxes (when the days and nights are the same length). Basically, 'spring cleaning' and 'changing of the seasons' type of stuff.
The "food prep" cards don't get used, but the idea was that I could review them and make decisions about what foods to make. A different 'menu item' that I was comfortable making / enjoy eating / felt was easy and nutritious, on each card. But that ended up not being needed / not working with how I approach food and cooking.
The two most important tips I can give, regarding making your own Do Deck, would be to 1) constantly experiment with how you use it, how you organize it, how you display it, how you interact with it…... it is for you, and it should reflect your needs and the ways that it works best for you, and 2) have someone that you talk with about it, regularly, so that you have a recurring time to focus on it, and someone to bounce your thoughts about it off of.
Here's a couple of Discord posts, three years apart, showing the difference in how I've been making and using my Do Deck.
The blue plastic card-holding things were a purchase I made earlier this year. I don't use them as much as I had been expecting to, but they're nice to have available.
I'm actually far more interested in the two drawers from my housemate's no-longer-wanted coffee pod organizer. Less chance of bumping a table and having cards topple, the tilt makes it easier to see when looking down at them, there's space for stacks of cards (like the discard pile, in this pic, or a stack of things to do in a certain order, or things to do in the same room or with the same tools), and it just feels less busy to look at.
On the topic of change and experimentation, here's something that doesn't seem to be working for me, but might be useful for someone else — with a holepunch and a binder ring, you can secure a stack of cards together into whatever order you want. I tried it to get me to do my physical therapy, and it's useful for telling me what the exercises are, but hasn't been helpful in getting me to do them. Probably, in part, because it doesn't ever get put into my hand of Do Deck cards, due to the ring. (Maybe I need to add 'foot PT' to my daily Body Care card.)
And, finally, remember that part where I said there were two main tips, and the first is to constantly experiment with the cards and how you use them, so that they meet your specific and changing needs? (Also, the combination of novelty and familiarity is essential, for AuDHD me at least.) The second tip is having someone to talk with, regularly, about the Do Deck. And I don't think I could have maintained and grown this concept without that help.
Pictured below is a card layout for part of a day. One stack is for general stuff I was trying to do, and one stack (the one with the "Call Card" as the topmost card) was for my twice-a-week hour-long phone call with the person who listens to me talk about my plans, takes notes, reminds me of things I asked to be reminded about, and acts as a second brain while I go through my hand for the day, make and file cards for the days ahead, and otherwise focus on myself, my needs and priorities, and the systems I use to attempt to meet them. They've been doing that for five years, and it's been the most self-productive five years of my life (doing the things I decide should be done, not just the things I have to do or am expected to do).
If you feel as though something along these lines might be helpful to you, I recommend thinking about your 'working memory' like a desk. (Working memory is basically the stuff going on in your brain to help you keep things in mind... what you're about to write down, the next thing you intend to work on, the next steps of the thing you're actively working on, the locations of things you just put down, etc.)
Some people's working memories are very large desks with built-in filing cabinets, in the penthouse of an executive suite with massive windows. They can spread out a vast array of things on that desk, and keep them all in sight, well-lit, at the same time, while having a meeting with other people.
Some people's working memories are tiny, rickety old desks without any drawers, in the dark and dusty windowless corner office. You struggle to see what's on your desk, it's hard to fit much on it, and it can't bear any heavy loads. Bumping the desk means things fall off behind it, and you have to crawl under the desk, in the dust and gloom, to find them, doing your best not to bump your head on the underside of the desk and lose even more stuff. Although you may find that thing you lost three months ago while you're down there.
Externalizing your working memory (writing things down, putting stuff places you'll be forced to see it, or otherwise making sure that Future You has a record of what Past You wanted them to know, and possibly act upon) is like artificially making your metaphorical desk larger, an essential skill for those whose desks are too small, in offices that are too dark, and who struggle to get things done because of it.
Anyway, that's my Do Deck — a pocket-sized, portable, modular, customizable, fully-manual, externalized working-memory system.
