Being a neurodivergent writer is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, you see how much of the world wasn’t made for you in mind because what you thought were your standard work habits were really coping mechanisms to power through your high-stress, high-paced environments. On the other hand, you see exactly how much of the world wasn’t made for you in mind, and with the right amount of support, you can replace those aforementioned coping mechanism with things that do work with your brain.
In case you didn’t know by now, I’m level 1 on the autism spectrum, and you can read more about it (or listen to it) in my previous blog called “The Deepening”.
What this means is that my preference for mono-tasking—as I talk about in my other Substack post on the subject—isn’t just some preference that I have like how I prefer my clothes rolled over folded.
Rather, my brain is neurologically wired to do deep, thoughtful work for long stretches rather than switching between many things at one time. (I’m actually starting to think that mono-tasking is the norm and that capitalism exacerbated multi-tasking, but that’s a topic for another time—one that definitely requires more research and not parenthetical comments like this one.)
Anyway, the point that I’m making here is that in order to get anything done, I need to be pretty organized with my time and my tasks. Disciplined? Sure. Organized? Most definitely.
And for me, there’s nothing that beats a good-old fashioned to-do list.
Except, it can’t just be any to-do list. I can’t just do one task after another, nor can I simply list one task after another. I could theoretically work on my novel, eat breakfast, call my friend, write a blog post, and do my laundry in that order if I absolutely had to. Over the years, I’ve done exactly that kind of task triage because I had to do so in that moment or because that’s how I thought things were done. They were just done in the moment without question, without thought, without any clapback.
Yet now that I’m actually listening to my brain and understanding what it needs to do the best work it can do, I categorize each task that comes my way. For example, “Write a chapter of my novel” goes on the Author to-do list. “Refine the Quill and Ink Program” goes on my Book Coach list. And for the long-time readers and listeners out there, you might recognize that these two categories are what I talk about in Karen’s Letters each month.
But, to that end, I do this until I have maybe three or four to-do lists that act sort of like buckets for all the things I want to get done. What’s really good about this method, too, is that those lists become their own sort of to-do list items on the master to-do list in my head, and I can tackle those tasks in the best order possible. Writing is something I do best in the early morning, whereas working on my book coaching ventures might be a late morning or afternoon task.
Of course, life happens, and I occasionally have to do things that aren’t on my list in the moment. I might, indeed, have to call that friend of mine because I forgot to do so the day before, or I might have to set the novel aside if I get stuck. Being in the groove feels nice, though, and I think anybody would be able to attest to that.
And what helps me stay in the groove is a little app known as Microsoft To-Do.
And, no. Before you say anything, this post is not sponsored by Microsoft. They’re not paying me to talk about this app, and they shouldn’t because it’s free. They’re not making any money off it as far as I know, and I don’t have any clout with them. I also don’t think I’ll have any clout with them in the future when I talk about another kind of software of theirs that I don’t care for too much while writing, so be on the lookout for that.
Anyway, what I like about Microsoft To-Do for just general task management is that I can create my own lists, set reminders and deadlines, choose the colors for the items, add hashtags to make things searchable, and sync it all across my phone and my desktop computer. No more frantically making to-do lists on paper. No more opening and closing my iPad’s Notes app to see what I’m supposed to be doing. No more opening Google Calendar to see the subtasks under the Tasks app. It’s all there whenever and wherever I need to access it, and it just makes things so much easier for me.
Of course, I need to actually do the things on the list and not procrastinate, but at least I’ve won half the battle, as they say. And half the battle is a lot more than one might think it is.
That being said, if you think you’re neurodivergent or are wondering why things are little harder for you to do than they are for other people you know, start getting curious. Don’t just power through the next thing you have to do if you can help it. Really take the time to sit with your mind and figure out what it wants and needs.
Because I can promise you that the joy that will come from it is worth it.
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