Read on Twitter(Updated through 07/09)
What does “Back to Work” look like for a neurodivergent academic?
Context: I have “strong dyspraxia” also dyslexia, a moon in dyscalculia, and “mild” ADD. Also, very high functioning bipolar and anxiety
I enviably wake early. Today, it’s a natural wake up at 6:15. Because my brain knows no boundaries and I am also a recovering insomniac, I have to set them. So no work *ever* takes place before 7am and (if I want to sleep) I have to completely walk away from it by 7:30pm.
*enviably is actually “inevitably”. Waking early is a given for me.
FOR ME, not knowing what’s my inbox on a Monday-after-a-break causes me different stresses. So Sunday eve, I skim my inbox. I don’t “read” anything. But I have an idea of scale and priorities for Monday.
FOR ME, not knowing what’s my inbox on a Monday-after-a-break causes me different stresses. So Sunday eve, I skim my inbox. I don’t “read” anything. But I have an idea of scale and priorities for Monday.
If/when I wake early, I do one of three things:
1. If I am relaxed, I start with a decent walk like I would if I were going to the office
2. If I am baseline/manageably anxious, I do a visualisation of what I think I have to do [TODAY]
3. If I am Not Ok Really, emails at 7am
1. If I am relaxed, I start with a decent walk like I would if I were going to the office
2. If I am baseline/manageably anxious, I do a visualisation of what I think I have to do [TODAY]
3. If I am Not Ok Really, emails at 7am
A “visualisation” can mean many things. Today it’s about the different areas of activity so Module 1, Module 2, Summer Marking, Online Open Day, Black History Month, Research Students, etc.
Why bother?
1. Being prepared literally/mentally is helpful. This cuts down on inbox “surprises”
2. Seeing as much of what I need to do as I can helps with low short term memory and low attention span.
3. I’m already processing answers so replying/actioning is *much* quicker
1. Being prepared literally/mentally is helpful. This cuts down on inbox “surprises”
2. Seeing as much of what I need to do as I can helps with low short term memory and low attention span.
3. I’m already processing answers so replying/actioning is *much* quicker
As neurodivergent, I process these diagrams as visual items in my brain. The paper stage locks in two-three weeks of work so I’m seldom sat wondering “what’s next”.
This gives me very high efficiency but also, very poor control about breaks and healthy workload management.
This gives me very high efficiency but also, very poor control about breaks and healthy workload management.
In my office, I have a big whiteboard. I miss her 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😭" title="Laut schreiendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Laut schreiendes Gesicht">. That has an ongoing visualisation, communicated in five parts:
Urgent Tasks
Teaching To Do
Admin or Pastoral Tasks
Current Research Deadlines (Lol)
Research Plans*
*I have no sense of time so have a record of what’s coming
Urgent Tasks
Teaching To Do
Admin or Pastoral Tasks
Current Research Deadlines (Lol)
Research Plans*
*I have no sense of time so have a record of what’s coming
Woo!
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen"> Visualisation done.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🍾" title="Flasche mit knallendem Korken" aria-label="Emoji: Flasche mit knallendem Korken"> Water consumed.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤯" title="Explodierender Kopf" aria-label="Emoji: Explodierender Kopf"> 15 “Areas of Activity” to think about this week
Time to get ready for the day properly. Email purge day means low stimulation environment. Clothes I won’t fiddle with. Very specific music. More on this later.
Time to get ready for the day properly. Email purge day means low stimulation environment. Clothes I won’t fiddle with. Very specific music. More on this later.
Check-In: Ready for a sprint (90-120 mins) of work. I work more effectively in big blocks than little chunks so I honour that. I have a defuser so the study smells like a solero to address cloudy gloom. I have a candle to help if I need to breath + a blank page to make lists
75 emails to process (Not bad at all). Again, I have a system:
1. Can I read and reply in less than 15 mins? Do that
2. In-depth reading needed? Not urgent? Come back. Urgent: Sprint 2/this afternoon
3. Long response? Urgent? now/this afternoon. Not urgent? Add to week& #39;s To Do
1. Can I read and reply in less than 15 mins? Do that
2. In-depth reading needed? Not urgent? Come back. Urgent: Sprint 2/this afternoon
3. Long response? Urgent? now/this afternoon. Not urgent? Add to week& #39;s To Do
What does the mapping of tasks look like? As pictured, I have a blank lists for today, tomorrow, and for the month in general. I populate as I go so I have a failsafe for inbox doom. I will add things not prompted by email when I am on top of what is already in my inbox.
Check-in: I have processed my inbox + the 16 emails that have arrived since I started. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥳" title="Partying face" aria-label="Emoji: Partying face"> Hurray. This is a very intense system but it helps me to feel better about what lies ahead. The completed process leaves me:
- 8 items to do today
- 7 items on my "general" To Do list
- 8 items to do today
- 7 items on my "general" To Do list
This is where The Visualisation comes in v. useful. Earlier, I noted a couple of outstanding tasks (email related) that were not in my "Unread" emails. These could have got lost.
Next: audit Visualisation with what I have now actioned and update my To Do list.
Next: audit Visualisation with what I have now actioned and update my To Do list.
