How To Build A Second Brain? (Autism and Executive Functioning Hacks)

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My Mother used to be my second brain and I am really struggling now that she has passed. Not only was she immensely wise but between us we made good decisions!!

"I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter." -Blaise Pascal

I use an old-fashioned exercise book. I sit in a comfortable place and hand-write. I start a fresh page for each topic I need to process. Often, an imaginary person asks questions like, 'What could you do about that?' or 'What would that be like?' I write these comments down too, off-setting them a bit. It's amazing how often I form a plan that I can commit to. It stops all that buzzing in my head which doesn't really go anywhere.

I actually pretty recently started implementing this idea to my life. I have about 8 pinned notes in my notes app that help me keep track of laundry, the coffee I make and when to get more, daily tasks, my bedtimes, grocery list, any daily learns I have, and so on. It’s been a HUGE relief on my working memory by writing stuff down so I don’t have to actively remember it all. Plus it saves from the stress and anxiety caused from forgetting something important. Reminds me of a quote by Albert Einstein that said something about writing things down to remember things, so you allow your brain to just worry about thinking EDIT: “Paper is to write things down that we need to remember. Our brains are used to think.”

OMG! You described me so well! I'm so creative and so interested in so many things but I just collect and never get to any of it because of the overwhelm and just procrastinating at that point. I think it's a big part of what cripples my ability to start my own business successfully because I honestly get paralyzed by the details of how or what I need to be doing. Or get hyper focused on details like how to finance even starting my business. So exhausting and has wasted YEARS of my life and now I can put a name to it.

I recently found that bullet journaling is the only form of task organization that I can actually stick with! It's important to have a table of contents, otherwise it's impossible to find stuff again. And a pre numbered journal because I won't keep up with numbering pages. But I can put all the things in. I can keep it perfectly symmetrical thanks to the dots. I can doodle - and it's actually encouraged! And I have several ribbons for bookmarks - one for the last page I wrote in, and a few spares as a quick reference for pages I'm still actively working on. Also - colored gel pens make everything better!

No matter how you implement it, I think there’s a lot of value in having a system to help process incoming information. There’s a role for this in work environments called the project manager. Ultimately, it boils down to: 1. Gather info: make an unordered list so you can step through each item without missing any 2. Categorize and identify tasks (if any) per item 3. Estimate time required per task - give yourself a comfortable margin, especially if you’re not sure 4. Prioritize tasks based on due dates, difficulty, and time estimates 5. Sort tasks by highest priority and filter by category

How do i get a first brain?

I can so relate! I spend 3-4 months preparing for a convention and then the night before it is a desperate fight with my anxiety not to cancel at the last minute.

I've recently discovered The Sunday Basket System and it's pretty similar to what you say about being able to hold your pieces of paper in one hand. The RELIEF this brings is immense! I have a small pile of index cards by my side right now and i don't get overwhelmed looking at it or going through it. It's easy to bring forward what i need to focus on today. The pile is for the week. I am no longer unrealistic about what I can achieve - I know what a big pile might look like but i don't know what a short list is - it's always far too long 😅

Before I got my autism diagnosis I spent a decade going through all sorts of self help books and wondering why few of the ideas worked for me

Yes, there is such a lot of information...The most important is to prioritize

I read that book. I have it. I'm so much slower than the average person in reading, comprehending & 'getting' the point. So, would be nice if found solution to that. Because often feel too dumb even though I know I'm not. Constantly feeling lost 'in translation'. On the other hand, I'm much faster at some other things than the average person, so in that case I feel impatient when waiting for others to catch up. I have more ideas than it's possible for me to capture in notes, etc. However, I adore systematizing & organizing pretty much everything, especially information and data. I run my own household as a warehouse with spreadsheets for everything plus bunch of them for my daily and personal life. I also help my co-workers with organizing their cubicles and creating templates and spreadsheets when they need to organize themselves, so I am go to person for that at work, which I enjoy so much. Also, I keep detailed calendars for life & work. I like minimalism & not much fluff, so regular spreadsheets work just fine. I don't like fancy apps as I find them sensory overwhelming. I have all this in place and then I still fail to guess what day it is & what's going on with me and around me. Then I realize I made it through yet another day in spite of myself.

This sounds like how my brain already works. and for the life of me it's a social nightmare to 'function' like this. I would love to have an external brain to hold non important stuff for me

The 2nd brain concept and their example folders actually remind me a lot of the Bullet Journal system, which makes a lot of sense!

As someone with both autism and dyspraxia this sounds hugely helpful to me!!

I log my tasks through different formats which helps with prioritizing. Important dates go on my physical calendar, but I have a digital planner for my weekly academic tasks, handwritten lists for the most important tasks of the next 1-2 days, and also a comprehensive list of things that aren’t immediately important but need to get done. And thanks to this channel, I started writing down what the most important 1-2 tasks are for my day. (My brain tends to assign every task as equally important without considering how immediately important it is.) Logging my tasks in different places allows my brain to see the relative/contextual importance of those tasks.

Ello 😀 i have always used a clipboard and sticky notes. No messing, pick it up and everything is clear at a glance . Very cheap on batteries too. 😊👍

I find I naturally make a lot of connections with information I'm learning. I think it's part of why I have excellent memory - for facts and abstract concepts at least. I have notebooks full of notes and working things out, they tend to be themed but sometimes ideas cross over. One of my main executive function challenges is inertia and in the past I'd find it hard to start a task and hard to stop once I'd started. So I use scheduling, mixed activities and alarms to help with that. I do live better with more task switching but I can't say it feels like a natural fit. If I know I'm going to be doing one thing for an hour I let myself focus all the way in so I get that monotropic satisfaction. My other main challenge is dysregulation and for me there hasn't been a quick fix for that. Usually it's a trauma association and so it takes time, strategy and support to start feeling safe and confident enough to approach certain things. Some I have mastered and others are still early in the process.