Tackling your to-do list with neurodivergence

Life

Apr 6

If you’ve been on TikTok lately, you’ve probably heard the term “neurodivergence.” And if you’re anywhere near mentally ill TikTok, you’ve probably heard people talking about how their personal brand of neurodivergence impacts their ability to function in professional environments and get through tasks.

What is neurodivergence? Neurodivergence is used to describe people whose brains process, learn or behave differently than “typical” people. Neurodivergence does not require a diagnosis of a behavioral or learning disability, though neurodivergence is most commonly discussed in that context.

When talking about tackling your to-do list or functioning in a professional environment with neurodivergence, what we’re really talking about is professional environments being designed for neurotypical brains. This can make succeeding and feeling comfortable in these environments difficult for people whose brains process information differently.

While I hope that as millennials and Gen Zers step into leadership roles we are seeing a shift in workplace practices and expectations around professionalism and neurodivergence, here are some tips for managing your tasks and energy with neurodivergence whether at work or at home.

1. Set realistic expectations

It’s important to have realistic expectations for how much you can get done. This is true with or without neurodivergence. Specifically, if you have an executive function disorder, your standard for how much you can get done in a day, week or month is going to be different than someone without an executive function disorder.

When people picture executive function disorders like ADHD, they tend to generalize and think that people who struggle with executive function can’t focus on tasks, which is why they struggle to get through their to-do lists. This

can be true, but what is more accurate is that people with executive function disorders expend more energy doing simple tasks than people who don’t struggle with executive function. For example, cooking dinner is one task for someone who is neurotypical. But for someone with neurodivergence, cooking dinner is each step from buying the groceries to preparing the ingredients to cooking the meal to putting it away to cleaning the dishes. Someone who struggles with executive function will expend more energy on each of those individual steps than someone who doesn’t.

I am neurodivergent but don’t struggle with executive function while my wife does. So for me, I see cooking dinner as each of those component parts but each of those steps won’t drain me (as long as I’m not depressed). And I actually take a lot of enjoyment in cooking and can find it rejuvenating. For my wife, cooking is always a chore, even if she’s cooking something she enjoys. To make cooking meals more manageable for her, she’ll buy pre-chopped vegetables or frozen ingredients that she can just toss into the recipe that don’t require as much prep on her part.

2. Organize your to-do list

It’s also true that people with executive function disorders struggle to remember tasks that aren’t immediately in front of them. If this is something you struggle with, keeping your to-do lists in one place that you’ll be forced to look at can help. Keeping your work to-do lists visible on your desk versus on an application you might forget to look at. Posting them on a piece of paper on your fridge or near your door depending on when you expect to need to be reminded of them. I keep a to-do list on the notes app on my phone but I keep my routine and reminders of what I need to do daily to feel healthy posted near my bed or desk.

3. Mind your energy

People tend to look at energy like a battery that recharges every day. That’s inaccurate. Your energy battery is more like you get one battery for every week to two weeks or even month depending on your personal energy cadence.

If you live with depression, your energy and concentration will be lower when you are depressed. I like to be prepared for these times by keeping a piece of paper on my wall for what the skeleton of my routine looks like when I’m depressed. What are the things I need to get done, and what things that can wait or can be done incrementally? I focus on those and remind myself that my energy ebbs and flows, it’s OK for my energy bar to look different day to day or month to month.

Many people with neurodivergence learn to mask their symptoms in order to not just blend in among neurotypicals but to feel like they’re functioning properly. This can lead to a distorted view of how much we should be doing versus what we can actually manage healthily. Remember that your job and to-do list will never love you. Your health and well-being are worth immeasurably more than crossing some things off a to-do list. While you can’t toss your to-do list or responsibilities out the window, I hope these tips will help bring some perspective to tackling your responsibilities.

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