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[dysfunctionalstudying]

Recently accidentally discovered the best executive dysfunction hack I’ve ever found

Ok so we’ve all heard of tips involving lists, make a list of everything you need to do, cross it out when you’re done, etc.

Well recently next to each item on my list, I wrote down how to start that task. This can be as simple as “get out my notebook and the assignment” or a little more detailed like “open chemistry textbook to page 235 and review the section on gibbs free energy”

Basically, you do all the executive functioning all at once before you start your tasks! Now when you get to the task, your brain doesn’t need to access that executive functioning to figure out how to start, you’ve already done it. Even stupid stuff like “take the assignment out of your backpack” helps a weird amount when it’s written down. Like it helps more than you think it should. I was rolling my eyes up until the point where it worked

[dysfunctionalstudying]

If you guys have ADD/ADHD, autism, OCD, or something else that affects your ability to concentrate, I highly recommend the chrome extension Mercury Reader. You just open whatever link you're using, then click on the MR icon (it should look like a rocket) and it'll simplify the page so that it's in a focus-friendly layout. Instead of having random pictures and word boxes all over the screen, it'll be in a vertical format with nothing to distract you so you can focus on what's important. You can also adjust the text size (small, medium, large), font (serif, sans), and theme (light, dark). And the best part is, it's completely free! It's honestly one of the best things I've ever downloaded.

This is an article without the extension. See that messy format, and how the actual article content only takes up a fraction of the page? It's no wonder it took me 7 hours to write that paper.

The same article, this time with Mercury. The user-friendly settings are at the top, and the rest of the article is formatted vertically down the middle with no free-roaming pictures or words. How nice.

[dysfunctionalstudying]

tips for reading w/ ADHD

i’ve had a few conversations with fellow attention-deficit friends lately, about how to read + retain information. here are some tips that i have learned:

don’t be afraid to skim. skimming for information is not “fake reading.” you’re still getting the main idea. sometimes i find it takes skimming a page 3-4 times before i’m ready to either 1) actually slow down and read the page or 2) decide that whatever it is (maybe a detailed description of a wallpaper pattern, something not essential to understanding the text) has been retained enough and i can move on to the next page/section.

for non-fiction essays, medical and legal information, and theory: the main idea is at the beginning and the end. if you like it and/or understand it, then read the middle bits to learn more of the “how” and “why.”

don’t be afraid to only read something partway. you’re still getting new information. you’re still getting new information! even if you don’t read a book cover to cover! you can decide “you know what, i get the point” and then skim the rest. or just chuck the book behind the couch and never look at it again

don’t be afraid to look up wikipedia summaries, reviews and responses. i was always told that cliffnotes / wikipedia was “cheating” so i was afraid of looking those up, and would instead falter somewhere around page 10 of a book, and not get any information at all. look. it’s ok to “spoil” a book. (honestly, if it weren’t for detailed plot descriptions, i wouldn’t have been able to get all the way through jane eyre, or decide that i didn’t have to to finish the last 1/3 of 100 years of solitude.)

it’s OK to spoil anything! do you know how substantially my life got better after i realized i could look up the plot summary to ANY movie, tv show or documentary? allowing me to actually pay attention for the next 40-60 minutes so i could watch how the plot points happen??

don’t be afraid to read multiple things at once! i am queen of the “stack of books” / stack of magazines / many open tabs reading technique. if you get restless halfway through a paragraph, just bounce to something else. know that you will return. know that you will retain the info eventually.

if you doodle while reading or listening to something, or write down words / quotes that stick out to you, it can help you retain information! this is something i have been doing since i was in elementary school, and i used to get comments about it from teachers or classmates. but for me, retaining information is connected to a kinetic + visual understanding. so when i pair an action (moving pen on paper) with a visual (doodle / written-out keywords) then it clicks a lot more than if i had “just” read and/or listened to something.

another tip for kinetic learners: feel free to pace around the house, read upside down, read while cooking dinner, read while doing yoga poses. you don’t have to sit down to read!

related to those last two points: everyone has different kinds of learning styles. for me, and a lot of ADD and ADD-adjacent people i’ve talked to, we have issues with retaining purely auditory information. so the best way to cope with that is to always turn on captions, or to find transcripts for podcasts / documentaries when possible… or to take your own handwritten notes if you’re listening to a lecture where you really want to retain the info. or! maybe you’re someone who struggles with retaining info through strictly written/visual info. then you’d flip it around, and stop and read passages out loud to retain it more; or listen to podcasts, youtubes, radio shows, etc, that explain the information. for scientific concepts, i find it REALLY difficult to wrap my mind around if i’m just reading about it, and i often have to stop and look up videos on youtube to understand. and that’s OK! all of this is OK. none of it is “cheating.”

and if you don’t retain every bit of information that you set out to understand… it’s OK. it’s really, really OK. we are not androids. we cannot retain and understand every single thing. if you’re struggling with something and it’s causing you pain, you can just let it go, and move on to something else. maybe one day, you will return to the concept that you were struggling with, and it will suddenly click and make sense. (or maybe it won’t! someone out there understands it! it’ll be your task to understand & convey something else!)

–

for years and years after graduating college, i was in a rut. i found that my fear of not reading books “perfectly” or “correctly” or “neurotypically” kept me from reading books… for years. literally years. it’s so silly. it’s just a mind trap. 

release yourself from the idea that you have to read everything “word for word,” “cover to cover,” and you can read so much more. even reading one page is better than reading random ppl’s social media posts (for my eyesight + brain). social media is often too fractured, like endless channel flipping. a book or long article is more like a conversation, or meditation. and – most likely – the more that you swim in those waters the more it will help your attention deficit! build those muscles!

[dysfunctionalstudying]

chrome extensions for disabilities masterpost

I have seen a lot of posts on here talking about individual extensions for chrome to help people, but I haven’t seen a place where they’re compiled together. So here you are! font/text

no caps - Makes everything lower case

Open Dyslexic: changes the font to Open Dyslexic and makes it larger. Personal favourite.

Dyslexie: changes the font to dyslexie and allows change to font size and colour (blue). Can be turned off. (Doesn’t seem to work on facebook)

Font Changer: Allows you to change the font on specific website or on everything using a Google Font. I believe you can also upload your own, if there’s a specific font you need.

BeeLine Reader: Uses a gradient so your eye follows along one line to the next

overlays/colour change

Color Overlay - Irlen Filter for Chromebook: Puts a coloured overlay over the screen. can choose colour and opacity. 

Sunglasses: Tints the screen grey to reduce contrast

Desaturate: Removes all colour and makes everything a greyscale

High Contrast: Change contrast or invert colour scheme

Deluminate: Similar to High Contrast, but tries to keep photos in tact

G.lux: Makes the colour of the display change depending on the time of day (also cuts down on blue light so it’s easier to fall asleep)

reduce visual distraction

Readability: Can change things such as margins, colours, etc… as well as reduce visual business

Ad Block Plus: blocks ads. What more needs to be said?

FlashControl: Stops flash animations running by themselves

Hide GIFS: Allows you to keep GIFS from displaying

Text Mode: Loads pages in black/white, covers images, with text only.

audio

SpeakIt!: Reads small section of highlighted text aloud

Chrome Speak: Reads small section of highlighted text aloud

Announcify: Reads full web pages. Warning: may stop in the middle of text or not read for the full thing.

[dysfunctionalstudying]

FREE Webinar: Learn-at-Home Tips from Students with Learning Differences Making it Work

Apr 16, 2020 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

There will be a free webinar tomorrow with advice on how to manage online classes with learning differences.

If you register, you’ll get a link to a recording even if you can’t attend at that time.

https://benetech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_AyTBLmJMToqA9nlcWQ9SMw?timezone_id=America%2FChicago

[dysfunctionalstudying]

Here’s a clarification on how the first two in the previous reblog apply to dates, in case that’s useful to anyone.  I’ll demonstrate using two examples.

1) When did Napoleon cross the Delaware?

a) 1724

b) 1846

c) 1824

d) 1624

e) 1902

Applying tip 1, we see that answers a, c, and d are in the same format, but b and e are quite different.  That means that probably answers b and e can be ruled out.  So now even though you presumably have no idea what the actual answer is, you’ve now gone from a 20% chance of a right answer to a 60% chance.

2) When did humans make First Contact with Kashyyyk?

a) 3087

b) 3072

c) 3086

d) 3103

Applying tip 2, we see that answers a and c are within rounding error.  Your teacher is probably not enough of a dick to do that to you, so we can rule out a and c.  (And there are other reasons why this works on standardized tests despite them being, indeed, dicks.)  Now you can be pretty sure we make first contact with the Wookiees in either 3072 or 3103.

Ta-da!  You’ve gone from an estimated grade of 22.5% on this test up to a 55% - which isn’t that great, but now if you have any idea at all what the answers actually are you’re up to a passing grade.

Every single time I say the phrase “I was classically trained in the art of multiple choice tests” everyone in the room who’s not a millennial laughs at my joke while all the other millennials in the room immediately look like they just walked in on a funeral by accident.

[dysfunctionalstudying]

If it’s easier for you to read things in a larger font, that’s okay. Do it. Live your easy to read dreams.

People tend to associate small text with being “more academic” and big text with being “childish” and that’s complete nonsense.

If it’s easier for you to read big text, there’s a reason, whether it’s undiagnosed vision issues or because it’s easier on attention difficulties or because of dyslexia or what-the-heck-ever. You may not know why and it doesn’t matter. Because it is totally, completely fine. Whatever the reason is it is real and it’s worth it. No one is being hurt by you reading things bigger.

Turn up your text size, and I won’t judge you, I promise.

[dysfunctionalstudying]

this was a great read. “Laziness Does Not Exist” by Devon Price

[dysfunctionalstudying]

Kayla I'm sure someone has asked this but like... how the hell do you as a person with ADHD make yourself actually fucking write? because as someone who has AT LEAST some irritating executive dysfunction problems, I am Suffering. I know not every day or even every week can be a good creative time but I feel like I'm not even trying and it's seriously getting me down on myself

The entire concept of writing “regularly” like every day or every week is… just not realistic. 

So, instead, i just binge write! I can do like 20 pages in a day and then nothing for weeks. One week I had a deadline and I wrote 178 pages that week. It’s better to make long-term deadlines like “I will finish this book in 5 months.  I will write 100 pages of it this month” and then relish ur time laying around and binge like a bunch of pages in a sitting.

Also!! I put a lot of emphasis on “writing when inspiration strikes”. Like you know how sometimes you’re out in the world and you’re like “oh man i have a good idea. Like.. whip out your phone and do an outline and just jot down your thoughts in an organized way. That way when you next sit down to binge write, you have reference material to help you power through.  If your executive dysfunction isn’t super hardcore/you have the time, you can even write whole pages in the notes section.  I also like to write late at night. I only write in the daytime during deadlines. I get my best natural writing out at 1-3am and there is nothing anyone can do about that so its best to just find the time writing comes easiest to you and only (mostly) do it then!!I also like to create moods with other media. I watched the film Interstellar 8 times while writing The Weight of the Stars. I also create playlists that i listen to Before my writing. I find that listening to music at the same time is too much of a distraction so I force feed myself media (generally before a deadline when i can’t rely on inspiration writing and have to Force the words out) for a while, then sit in complete silence and write with whatever it was i was watching/listening to, echoing in my head. 

You should also figure out a writing style that comes easy to you. I literally just…can’t write regular chapters. I got so much shit from fellow people trying to get published on here when I was like “im just gonna submit this book in a series of posts”. Like more than 8 people were like “that style is unprofessional” and I was like “yeah thats the only style my ADHD will allow me to write in, so like, im going to do my best with it.” and at the end of the day, writing in a style that comes naturally to you works better than forcing yourself to write in styles that dont come as easilly to you (unless you’re trying to teach yourself new skills, in which case, persevere!!!)I also like to have my own passages read back to myself, just so I can hear the rhythm of my own words. I downloaded a text to speech app for my phone and sometimes when I’m settling in to write, I’ll make it read the last few pages back to me so I can quickly get into the headspace of the world I’m making.But the most important thing is not!! to get down on yourself!!! making art is supposed to make you happy. Just because you can’t do writing like neurotypical people do doesn't mean you can’t figure out a schedule that works better for your ADHD and wind up with the same amount of content at the end of the day. 

There is no shame in procrastinating for 3 months and then writing 200 pages in one month when u have a 4-month deadline. So many of my writing friends from my past used to ride my ass about not doing nanowrimo well and succeeding or writing 1,200 words a day or being able to brag that I hit wordcount but 4 years later im literally the only one of us with an agent and a book on shelves. So who is riding who now?  whO IS RIDING WHO NOW JENNIFER?

Put emphasis on Finishing than on anything else. AIts easier to edit than to write tbh. However you write, as long as you finish it, you’ll be fine.

@batmanisagatewaydrug 

[dysfunctionalstudying]

alright don’t be mad but. i never read the great gatsby. i know i was supposed to. yes, it was assigned to us. i even know, more or less, what happens in the book. technically, i wrote an essay about it, i think, once or twice. 

at the time, i hadn’t read any book assigned to me. ever. it wasn’t that i didn’t like to read. i loved reading. but homework took place in a function of my brain that i couldn’t access. i would sit in libraries or at my desk and just. not do my homework. i spent hours like this, days like this, years like this. just not doing what was assigned to me, no matter the consequences, no matter how badly i wanted to be doing it. i just wouldn’t. and i wouldn’t go to class because i didn’t want to deal with the fact i didn’t do the homework. and then i wouldn’t get the homework. so i didn’t do it.

i remember realizing while i was doing college applications that i had actually, real-life fucked up. that it was permanent, what i had done. that i had a C- of an average and no future to look rosy at. and i still couldn’t make myself do things. i tried to submit applications only to realize i’d shoved off the date to the very last moment. and i was fucked.

it takes me three years and two transfers and three new starts before i am actually real-life trained how to study, how to read, how to enjoy being assigned things. 

and i watch parents of my students yell at students for being the same person i was six years ago: screaming at an A-, confused at skipped classes, punishing missed homework. and these students don’t have an answer. they just don’t do things. even if they want to. and they look at me, confused and defeated and without an answer for their parents. “i just can’t,” i hear a lot, and i understand.

parents don’t like “executive dysfunction” as a reason. “anxiety” and “depression” are often misdiagnosed as “procrastinating” and “lazy”. kids just learn they’re like this. that they’re always going to be. that it’s their fault, permanently. they are surrounded by books they didn’t read. and it doesn’t feel good. it feels like suffocating.

today i started “the great gatsby.” i promise. one day, it’ll feel easy.

[dysfunctionalstudying]

[dysfunctionalstudying]

“So, what you mean is…” Just a little spoonie student art.

[ Image description: Handwritten text in various colors of marker on white paper. In the center, much larger than the other text, is the sentence “We value and respect our disabled students.” Around that, in various colors, are the following sentences, each enclosed in quotes: - There is to be no eating or drinking during class. - Unexcused absences will be grounds for a grade penalty. - This is a 55 minute class. Restroom breaks will not be allowed. - Three instances of tardiness will count as an unexcused absence. -Missed exams will not be made up for any reason. - Text books are to be brought to every class meeting. - All students are required to actively participate in laboratory exercises. - No laptops or other electronic devices are allowed in class. - All students are expected to remain awake and alert at all times during class. - Absences will only be excused with a doctor’s note verifying illness on the day in question. - Our campus is historic, not inaccessible. - There will be a strict 10 point penalty for each day that an assignment is late. ]

[dysfunctionalstudying]

How to Stop Pulling All-Nighters

Somehow, every single time you have an assignment or exam due in the morning, you end up staying up until five AM, no matter how far ahead you knew about the assignment.  Here’s a way to try to fix that :)

Set an absolute bedtime for yourself.  Depending on how early you have to be up and how long it takes you to sleep, of course, this will vary. Never, ever go to sleep after this bedtime because of homework.

“But I haven’t finished my assignment,” you say.  “And I’ll fail this exam!”

Never fear.  You have more time: you’re going to get up earlier.  If you need another four hours to work, you’re going to get up four hours earlier.  If you were going to get up at eight, now you’re getting up at four.

“But then I’m still getting just as little sleep.  And I hate getting up early!”

Yep.  Exactly!  You hate getting up early.  Subconsciously, your brain figures it can handle going to sleep a little later, but it hates getting up earlier.  So, over time, you’ll find yourself starting your work earlier and earlier as your brain desperately tries to avoid getting up at four AM.  And going to bed at a regular time will encourage your body to want to go to sleep then, so it’ll reduce insomnia, and the sleep you do get - even if it’s still not a full night - will be better quality.

It may not be an immediate fix, but over time you’ll find yourself getting more and more sleep before assignments and exams.  Good luck :)

[dysfunctionalstudying]

Study Podcast: A New Way of Studying for the Neurodivergent Among Us

If you are having trouble studying in the traditional way, with flashcards, or reading from the textbook and taking notes, etc. I have a suggestion for you:

I am autistic, and while I can focus on a single thing for a very long period of time, studying takes a lot out of me. It costs a lot of spoons. And that is just studying for one class. This semester I tried a new approach, inspired by my love of podcasts. Instead of reading and re-reading the textbook, or my notes, and or spending hours on making and studying flashcards, I decided to make little “podcasts” for each topic I needed to study for my classes. Here is how it works:

Skim the chapter/reading for the upcoming lecture

Go to the lecture and take notes–put stars next to things that were mentioned both in the textbook and by the professor

If you have time, skim through your notes right after class, just to solidify the ideas in your head

During your study time, use your notes to create a study podcast on the lecture topic. I usually just use the voice memo app on my iphone. If you do not have a smartphone, then you should be able to record on your computer. If you don’t have a computer, your school library should definitely have a computer with free recording software. If you only have use of a library computer, make sure to email the study podcast to yourself, and save the email. Then just open it up on whatever device you have access to and use it to study. 

When recording the podcast, if you can, make your notes more like a story that flows, instead of just one fact after another. It will help you to remember better and learn faster. 

Now, during your study time, just listen to the podcast over again instead of using a lot of time and energy reading and making flashcards and all of that. 

Some issues with the method may be auditory sensory issues. I used to have trouble listening to podcasts in general, and especially listening to a recording of my own voice. I have gotten use to listening to podcasts, and even really enjoy it, though it did take a while. I still have a little trouble with hearing my own voice in a recording, but I am slowly introducing myself to more and more of it, and that seems to help. Also, if you have a good friend or family member who is willing to record the study podcast for you, that could be helpful. You could also type it out on a computer and have the computer read it, and record that. 

I find that the study podcast method takes up a lot less spoons, and is actually a better study tool than the traditional method. I find myself remembering many more of the little facts that other students tend to forget. I also find myself putting ideas together faster and easier from one lecture to the next. It makes test-taking, which is a difficulty in and of itself, much easier. 

Just a suggestion I want to share with the rest of the neurodivergent community. Hope it helps :)

[dysfunctionalstudying]

How to Handle Having TOO MUCH To Do

So let’s say you’re in the same boat I am (this is a running theme, have you noticed?) and you’ve just got, like, SO MUCH STUFF that HAS to get done YESTERDAY or you will DIE (or fail/get fired/mope). Everything needs to be done yesterday, you’re sick, and for whatever reason you are focusing on the least important stuff first. What to do!

Take a deep breath, because this is a boot camp in prioritization.

Make a 3 by 4 grid. Make it pretty big. The line above your top row goes like this: Due YESTERDAY - due TOMORROW - due LATER. Along the side, write: Takes 5 min - Takes 30 min - Takes hours - Takes DAYS.

Divide ALL your tasks into one of these squares, based on how much work you still have to do. A thank you note for a present you received two weeks ago? That takes 5 minutes and was due YESTERDAY. Put it in that square. A five page paper that’s due tomorrow? That takes an hour/hours, place it appropriately. Tomorrow’s speech you just need to rehearse? Half an hour, due TOMORROW. Do the same for ALL of your tasks

Your priority goes like this:

5 minutes due YESTERDAY

5 minutes due TOMORROW

Half-hour due YESTERDAY

Half-hour due TOMORROW

Hours due YESTERDAY

Hours due TOMORROW

5 minutes due LATER

Half-hour due LATER

Hours due LATER

DAYS due YESTERDAY

DAYS due TOMORROW

DAYS due LATER

At this point you just go down the list in each section. If something feels especially urgent, for whatever reason - a certain professor is hounding you, you’re especially worried about that speech, whatever - you can bump that up to the top of the entire list. However, going through the list like this is what I find most efficient.

Some people do like to save the 5 minute tasks for kind of a break between longer-running tasks. If that’s what you want to try, go for it! You’re the one studying here.

So that’s how to prioritize. Now, how to actually do shit? That’s where the 20/10 method comes in. It’s simple: do stuff like a stuff-doing FIEND for 20 minutes, then take a ten minute break and do whatever you want. Repeat ad infinitum. It’s how I’ve gotten through my to do list, concussed and everything.

You’ve got this. Get a drink and start - we can do our stuff together!

[dysfunctionalstudying]

STUDY MONDAY #4: Low Energy Study Hacks

I’m a student and I’m a spoonie. In spoon theory of disability and chronic illness, a person who is disabled and/or chronically ill has limited energy, or spoons, to get through the day. It can be caused by symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, and so on, experiences like sensory overload or a panic attack, or even by the requirement to modify your behavior (for autistic people - having to pass as neurotypical).

As a result, things that may seem simple, like brushing your teeth, making your bed and cooking a breakfast, can require a lot of energy. Most spoonies can only do a limited amount of things in a day and then we get so exhausted, we have to rest or even wait for the next day to get more spoons. And as you can imagine, studying when your energy sources are limited is quite tricky. This is my list of tips and tricks that might make your spoonie student life a bit easier.

1. Get some sleep

I’m putting this first because in my opinion this is the most important advice I can give you. I feel like my energy levels are very dependent on sleep quality. If I am sleep deprived, I barely have any spoons. And I’d guess it is like that for many people. So getting enough sleep should be your number one priority.

I know it might sound like “just don’t be depressed!”. I understand. I have delayed sleep phase disorder and I’ve had it all my life. Melatonin pills are the only treatment that helps me. For you it might be something simple, like turning down blue light on your smartphone and drinking calming herbal tea, or something more complex, like meds and a strict sleep schedule. Not everyone will find their solution, but many will, so don’t give up.

You should be getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep every day. Some people need less, some need much more. If you sleep for more than nine hours and still wake up feeling groggy and tired, you might need to adjust your schedule to not wake up during the REM phase (the one where you dream the most). Experiment with alarm clock time, and find a balance that allows you to wake up without sleep inertia.

And some generic advice: don’t consume caffeine six hours or less before bedtime (yes that includes black/green tea and dark chocolate!), don’t nap for longer than half an hour, keep your bedroom cool (almost cold) and clean and don’t eat a big meal an hour before bedtime.

2. Prioritize

Prioritizing is sometimes the only thing you can do when you have ten important tasks and enough energy to do just five. It starts with being honest about your abilities, as well as responsibilities, and making a realistic plan. In your to do list, the tasks should be arranged from the most important and urgent to the least important and urgent. If something can wait, it can wait - do the assignment that is due in two days.

It might also mean “neglecting” things people feel are essential. You don’t actually need to make your bed in the morning - it only helps the dust mites to breed. You don’t actually need to take a shower every single day - once every 48 hours, or even three times a week, is enough. You won’t get malnutrition if you have frozen pizza for dinner once a week - your body can manage. You can wear the same shirt for an entire week - as long as it’s clean, it’s unlikely people will judge you for it. And so on.

I’m not saying “live like a filthy animal”, but sometimes you have to cut down the amount of tasks in your daily to do list, and it’s better to choose wisely. Sometimes you have to admit you will never be an A only student, and set a goal of learning as much as possible. If you need a certain average grade, calculate how many good grades you actually need and don’t worry about others (as long as you pass). For example last semester I had two “I don’t give a damn” subjects which I barely passed, and my average was still 4.2 out of 5. Pick easy subjects when possible! It’s allowed. Get your As and Bs where you can, but don’t forget to rest and take care of yourself.

3. Make compromises

You will have some days when you will be able to do very little. You will have many such days. On those days, the most important thing is to do /something/. Just a little bit. Just one small thing you can manage. If you can only read ten pages of a book, do it! Ten less pages to read tomorrow. If you can only write two paragraphs of an essay, do it! Two paragraphs less to write tomorrow. Every tiny thing you will manage is an achievement, and it’s progress. Don’t fool yourself into thinking “that’s not enough, so I won’t do it at all”. A tiny bit of work is still work.

You will also have days when you won’t be able to study at all. If you realize that nothing you try is working, it’s okay to stop and take a break. Use such “useless” days to take care of yourself. Watch five episodes of your favorite show. Eat junk food. Stay in the shower for an hour. Talk to your friend (or maybe even to your cat). Listen to some good music. Relax! If you know you can’t do anything today, you can either be miserable about it or enjoy a tiny holiday. I know what I would choose.

4. Waste some time

When you have a lot to do, instead of panicking about it and rushing your work, slow down! Sleep an extra half an hour. Go through your morning routine as usual. Calmly examine your to do list. Prepare your study place. Take a deep breath in. Yes you just “wasted” an hour, or even more. But, you hopefully got into a calm, determined mood, and will be able to deal with stress and do your work much more effectively. Believe me, it is worth it.

5. Find low energy study methods

The best form of studying for me is making study/revision notes using many different sources of information, then reciting them. I can’t do it every day though. On some days my executive dysfunction is bad and I don’t have energy to write study notes. That’s when I use my low energy study methods.

My favorite is YouTube. Crash Course is rather brief, but good when you are unfamiliar with the subject and need an introduction and a great explanation of the basics. Khan Academy is more detailed and has lectures for many different subjects. Just searching YouTube for good videos also works sometimes. For me this is an amazing study method because it is engaging enough but passive - all I need to do is watch and listen. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than doing nothing.

Find a low energy study method that works for you and use it. It will make a huge difference on “low on spoons” days.

6. Feed your brain

Your brains favorite fuel is a simple sugar: glucose. And it needs a lot of it. Human brain consumes around 20% of all calories the body needs, and it weighs less than 10% of the total body mass. When you eat carbohydrates, your body can extract sugar directly from it. When you eat fats or proteins, your body needs to metabolize them to produce sugar. Your diet should contain all kinds of foods, and you shouldn’t eat too much carbs, especially simple carbs. HOWEVER.

When you feel tired and can’t concentrate, sometimes it’s because your glucose levels are low. If you don’t have metabolic issues like diabetes, a sugary snack can help get you back into working mode. Chocolate, fruits and sweet drinks like tea, coffee or juice are all great for giving you a quick sugar boost. Some people say even the taste of sweet in their mouth helps them concentrate and study, and chewing gum with an artificial sweetener is enough for that. So if you do this in moderation, a sugar boost is great for low energy studying. Just don’t abuse it. It loses the effect if overused.

7. Be compassionate to yourself

No matter how hard your try, sometimes life is just difficult. It’s okay. It’s okay to fail a test or an exam, it’s always a learning opportunity. It’s okay to not get the grades you wanted, it can be a totally random thing. It’s okay to miss class sometimes, everyone does it. It’s okay to take breaks, you earned them. It’s okay to ask for help, you deserve it. Measure your success by how hard you tried, not the result you got. And be kind to yourself. If you did your best (which definitely doesn’t mean exhausting yourself to a point of mental breakdown), it’s enough.

That’s all I have to share. Hope it helps. What are your low energy tips and tricks? Share them in the replies!

[dysfunctionalstudying]

How to Replace Your Planner: For Attention/Executive Issues

So this is the grand total of my planner.  For people with executive issues, massive, detailed planners can be worse than none - it takes a lot of time to flip through all those pages figuring out what’s next, it takes time to meticulously over-schedule your day, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by and ignore, it’s easy to miss things.  It’s stressful and time-consuming and doesn’t let you see what’s actually important.  But there is a solution!

Your primary goal here is minimalism.  You want to strip your planner down to the absolute basics.  The less you have to see, the easier it is to decide what you need to do.

Open up a textedit or notepad file, or use Google Docs.

Start with each of your classes.  Make a section for each.  A “section” here means just type an abbreviation and then two enter/returns.

Go through your syllabus for each class.  Mark down the exams and major assignments.  (Research papers, that sort of thing.)  Make a quick note for each of them in that class’s section with the due date, in order, like “research paper Sep. 3″ “exam Nov. 3″.

Go through the next few weeks on the syllabus and mark down the small, weekly assignments and put them in, in order - no more than three or four.  Write these assignments with the due date at the end of the line.  Write a ... in the file to indicate the end of where you’re marking down minor assignments in your planner.

Make a new section for General.  This covers everything outside of classes - doctor’s appointments, e-mails you need to send, etc.  Put stuff in there in order by date.

Make a new section for Readings.  Make one line for each of your classes.  Write the reading only for the next day/overdue.

You’re done!

When you complete something, delete it.  After class, write down the next reading.  When you get to a ..., fill in the next few weekly assignments.  

When a professor gives a new assignment that’s not on the syllabus, or changes a due date, adjust your planning file immediately.

Now you can see all the assignments you need to worry about at once - and only the assignments you need to worry about.  You can see major assignments way ahead, minor assignments a couple weeks ahead, and readings one class ahead.  And they’re all in order!  So you can just run down the list and see which due dates are really close, or look at what the more major assignments are.

Never struggle with a planner again.  Cut it down to only what you need, and watch as you actually meet those deadlines instead of remembering about them a day too late.  Have fun!  :)