Aspie Time Management

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Joined: 6 May 2006
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22 May 2006, 10:28 am

I have a week off and I have some things I want to get accomplished (Including preparing for a certification exam for my work) but I also want to indulge in some quality "fun" time (which for me might be just surfing the net on my laptop). There should be time enough for both.

The problem is I'm a terrible procrastinator and in the past I have put off doing what needed to be done and indulged in my "fun" but only with a great deal of guilt. The net result is that I never really enjoyed my fun time nor did I get my tasks completed.

I was wondering if anybody had developed any typically Aspergian methods of time management, perhaps something that takes advantage of our wiring and apparent fondness for structure?

Thanks

Raph522
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22 May 2006, 10:59 am

try making time boxes. days on top, times down side and put what you have to do inside the boxes... it may not work if you are easily distracted
.........M...........T..........
8am.Trash......dishes...
.........out....................
..................................
9am.Clean.....wash......
........room.....car.........
..................................

Elanivalae
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22 May 2006, 11:01 am

Oh, yes. I turn tasks into overly complicated games.

For instance, if I have to clean up the house on my day off, I create rules like, "Every time I leave the room to walk to the kitchen, I have to take x amount of items with me, but in order to leave the room, I have to have put away three things." Or if I'm having to do laundry, I challenge myself ot see how much I can get done between putting the laundry in the washer and having to put it in the dryer. It might be kind of stupid, but it helps me get things done a lot faster and avoid procrastination. I also have very structured ways I complete chores.

For me, the key has always been breaking time up into little chunks and not being forced to do any one thing for very long, because the prospect of four hours of boredom is going to make me put things off a lot more than ten minutes of boredom.

spacemonkey
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22 May 2006, 11:18 am

Here I am reading this, while I have in my hand, a list of things I am supposed to get done today.

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alexa232
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22 May 2006, 12:19 pm

HappyPaul wrote:

The problem is I'm a terrible procrastinator and in the past I have put off doing what needed to be done and indulged in my "fun" but only with a great deal of guilt. The net result is that I never really enjoyed my fun time nor did I get my tasks completed.

Know the feeling.

HappyPaul wrote:

I was wondering if anybody had developed any typically Aspergian methods of time management, perhaps something that takes advantage of our wiring and apparent fondness for structure?

Thanks

Planning your day in detail might help:

08.00: get up.
08.15: shower
08.45: breakfast

and so on

or maybe it might be helpful rewarding yourself after completing a task:

After washing the windows: I get to surf the net for about 15 minutes. (this, however, usually makes one loose track of time)

or it might help making a game out of your tasks:

How quickly can I wash these windows.

and then try to beat you own time the next time you have to wash the windows.

(most of the ideas here have allready been posted. Sorry everyone)

phoenixjsu
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22 May 2006, 2:40 pm

Schedules don't usually work for me. It's not that I procrastinate or anything, but when I'm going to do something, I notice something and start working on it (or I get otherwise entrapped by it) and I'll stay focused on it until I'm finished. Hours later, I'm like, "Dude, what happened to the day?" I HATE leaving things unfinished once I've started. It's not completely debilitating, and I can break off if I have to do something important (which is good, because I like having a job), but it does often gobble up my spare time.

It doesn't help that my roommate is extremely ADHD and has a lot of my same interests. We get to talking and the way he bounces from topic to topic, I lock in on whatever we talk about and the next thing I know we've blown several hours talking about everything. Our friends refer to our place as "the house that eats time".

emp
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23 May 2006, 3:37 am

Search amazon.com for books on procrastination. There are a few. They offer tips and techniques to help.

MindOfOrderedChaos
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23 May 2006, 3:59 am

Im surpost to be studying now for a test I have tomorrow. But im here instead.

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Aeturnus
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23 May 2006, 4:37 pm

Raph522 wrote:

That's very confusing, with those dots thrown around in there. Some schedules I would use may follow this sort of pattern:

Monday Tuesday

8:00 AM Trash Dishes

9:00 AM Clean Wash
Room Car

- Ray M -

Aeturnus
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23 May 2006, 4:44 pm

phoenixjsu wrote:

That's sort of how I work. I make lists of some things that have a lot of information and that I possibly may end up forgetting, though I don't schedule out my entire day. I pretty much know what I am going to do during the day the evening before, so I generally just go through with it that way. I do, however, try to make time for things, and I find out I don't have enough time in the day to do them all. That sort of irritates me. I can't say that I get bored that easily.

I am a procrastinator, too. I tend to put many things off to the last minute, and those are tasks that I usually don't want to do in the first place. I can get very engrossed in what appeals to me.

- Ray M -

phoenixjsu
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23 May 2006, 5:08 pm

Aeturnus wrote:

I find out I don't have enough time in the day to do them all. That sort of irritates me. I can't say that I get bored that easily.

Now, sometimes I will make a "to do" list if I have a lot of stuff to do and that helps, because I try ravenously to get them all done as I sort of see them collectively as one task at that point.

Raph522
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23 May 2006, 7:19 pm

Aeturnus wrote:

sorry about the dots. spaces do not work

dgd1788
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25 May 2006, 11:48 am

Lets just say that I am like a drug addict when it comes to conserving time :lol:

Space
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26 May 2006, 1:39 am

putting pressure on myself is how I make sure stuff gets done.

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