Schedules - what works?

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I think part of my autistic burnout came from lack of schedule. Part of my breakdown led to dropping out of university (temporarily). I have absolutely nothing to do with my days. I've been lying in bed all day stimming by listening to the same song 50 times. So I've attempted to make myself a schedule for tomorrow that mixes work (previous school work like composing and writing) and pleasure (like watching movies and listening to music.)

From 9 am until 10 pm I'm scheduled for everything. See you guys around 11 am.


How do other people schedule? Does it work for them? I'm hoping I can recover skills I lost from the burnout. I've never strictly scheduled my time before, I had other institutions and other people to do it for me.

I think that structure is a good idear, like knowing what you want to work on the next morning, but I don't know about a strict hour-to-hour schedule. For me, violating the schedule would fark me up for the day, so I avoid using strict schedules.

I'm the opposite - just knowing I wanted to work on the next day, I'd get everything but that done. Or, as I've been doing lately, revert to lying in bed repetitively listening to a single song.

I think I need this strict schedule right now to get me back on track. Maybe it will give me purpose. I actually relish the thought of trying this. As a kid I always did better when I had to be certain places at certain hours. I loved schedules. But I know what you mean, oh boy, if the schedule gets messed up, no good, no good at all.

Not to knock down your way, btbnnyr. We're all different. If anyone else has tried forms of structure I'd love to hear about them.

Scheduals can real turn your life around...

I schedule on an hourly basis, as I have a structured day, I really do get things done. I have a 12PM-4AM day... every single hour is a planned task, some as simple as remembering to eat or bathe or sleep...

It come in handy during my degree, with a written schedule, I also time-frame larger tasks into separate chunks mentally... like hour here and there in a structured pattern within the little free time I had. time managing like that actually got work done early and effectively enough.

I also structure free time and plan activities like playing my games in a certain order, in the same order weekly until the game is complete, games last longer that way... keeping to a schedule can be fun, I may also use this system for financial tracking since Ive got into the habit of keeping track of money to the very last penny

I agree with btbnnyr. Schedules are good but if it is too strict I get off and hide for a day or two. However I say try it ans report back on how it goes.

So far it's going great. I realize little mistakes along the way like I forgot to schedule shower time. I cut the hour of reading in half and showered first. I feel calmer, I feel more motivated.

I'll report more later.

I am also working on this at the moment. To try to get around the distress of the plan being broken I am trying to set up "markers" in my day. So if my plan gets derailed I can resume it as soon as possible without losing an entire day to being unsettled. I'm trying to think of some small things that I can do wherever I am- such as listening to the same song at 11:00am every day no matter what. Something that will help me feel like everything is ok even if the greater plan is temporarily disrupted.

It's tough because I am also torn by balancing the calmness that a good plan will bring me, versus the potential intensified distress of it being broken. I figure for the 80% of the time that things will go to plan, it is worth the risk.

^^^^^

I have fairly strict routines I follow, but not to the point of doing everything at exactly the same time every day. When things do not go as they are supposed to, however, it tends to "fark me up for the day" as btbnnyr so eloquently put it.

I used to try to get work and get into college to give myself a comfortable, predictable routine. I tend to function better when I have one, and fall apart more when I do not. Unfortunately, I can't maintain those routines for very long and I fall apart anyway.

One thing I am pretty good about currently is dealing with my drivers to therapy being late either taking me to or picking me up from the appointment. I can deal with getting in ~10 minutes late if I know what's going on and why, whereas 2011-2012 I would get fairly frantic.

The schedule fell apart, I had to interrupt it to go shovel snow and then everything was off. I couldn't get back on in.

So you're right, rigid schedules can be too rigid. I do NEED a schedule though because my self care is off, I need physical reminders to get dressed, shower, brush my teeth. Also without a schedule I just lie in bed all day repetitively listening to one song.

Tomorrow I actually have to be somewhere at 2, so I'm going to work on my morning planning getting me ready for that. But not hourly because that didn't work. Maybe I rigidly schedule things like shower, brush teeth, get dressed, and then around that write suggestions for things I could do instead of lying in bed repetitively listening to one song.

I really don't know what to do.

Maybe have a less rigid schedule like get up between certain hours but not at a specific number. Then have a certain order that you do the boring stuff like brushing teeth and taking shower, but not have any specific numbers attached to those either. Then have blocks of time in the morning, afternoon, and evening to do what you want to do in a flexible way within those blocks.

Ok... I'll try something like that tomorrow. Thanks. I don't know why, there's just something in me really drawn towards rigid schedules.

the same thing happened to me, although im not diagnosed, but i had illness that caused me to be off for 2 months, and i had some kind of breakdown, i was having panic attacks everyday and night, it was awful, i did not know you could stim through music, could you also do it through TV programmes, while i was off i must have stayed up all night watching the same things over and over again. I am better now though, when i got back to college the anxiety went.

what about making a meal list, like what your going to have for breakfast lunch and dinner everyday, or have meals at the same time everyday, that always makes me feel better.