Published on 12, July, 2020
I hope that this makes sense to at least someone else here. I'm trying to get support to deal with some difficult things that I need to do, especially around employment. This means emails, phone calls and so on. But I am struggling at the moment with my mental health (unfortunately made worse by my employment difficulties) and the really hard thing is that my 'inner secretary' is not working very well. Communicating, co-ordinating, remembering things that have to be done, working out what an appropriate timescale for reply is (and to expect replies from my emails/messages), remembering who knows what already - all of these are causing me additional stress.
My only strategy for dealing with this is to make a list but that's not really working (and making me feel more overwhelmed).
I think the official name for this is probably something like 'difficulties with executive function'. Has anyone else experienced this?
I experience this too. I also had to simplify my to-do lists (my record was spending 3 hours on a colour-coded, categorised list that took so long to create, I didn't end up achieving any of the tasks on it).
Have you had a look at the different types of planners you can get in stationery shops? Some of them help you to prioritise better (e.g. "Tasks I need to do today", "Tasks for tomorrow") etc. I also find it helpful setting alarms on my phone to remind me to do things (e.g. if I know I need to call somebody, I'll set an alarm for when I'm likely to have time to ring them). There are probably apps to help you get organised too.
I get daunted if I see all of my tasks on a long list, so I bought myself a notepad that says "My brain has too many tabs open" on the front, which seemed apt! It's an A4 project notebook, split into sections, so I can have a section for home tasks, another for finances etc. and make mini to-do lists there. They don't look quite as scary now.
You could also try a whiteboard or blackboard in your bedroom - this works quite nicely for me. You can use them for little reminders and just rub tasks off as soon as they're done, making the list look a little less daunting.