My Planner System Advice for Neurodivergent Spoonies
If you're neurodivergent and struggling to find the right planning system to help you get organized and manage your time, this video is for you. I'm going to teach you a mindset shift that will put the power back in your hands, so you'll no longer be at the mercy of systems that simply don't work for your brain.
Watch the video below or read on for the full transcript.
If you're a neurospicy or a spoonies and are looking to master yourself and your time in a compassionate way, this is the place for you to be. Subscribe to my channel and hit the bell to be notified when I post a new video every other Tuesday.
Helping my clients develop personalized planning systems is one of my favorite parts of my job. Now it's your turn to experience some of my... Supreme Nerdiness. Today's nerdiness is brought to you by one of my favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson, who just so happens to be an excellent writing teacher as well. His cook versus chef metaphor for writing is so profound, I teach it to every one of my clients, and planning systems happen to be a great example of where to apply it.
But what on earth does it mean?
If we think of the difference between an untrained home cook and a highly trained professional chef, a cook needs a recipe with detailed instructions, whereas a chef can just walk into a well-stocked kitchen and create whatever they want. A cook needs a clearly defined structure in order to effectively use the ingredients and tools at their disposal. Whereas a chef is so familiar with all ingredients and tools that--based on what they're trying to cook--they can make things up as they go.
Everyone has areas of their life where they're more like a cook and yet other areas where they're more like a chef, and planning systems are a great place for neurodivergent spoonies to become more like chefs. We'll be talking about how, next.
I'm curious. What's an area of your life, where you're already a chef? Let me know down in the comments. I want to get to know you. And if you're curious, one of mine is that I'm also a West Coast Swing dancer and instructor who specializes in both leading and following. Yay hobbies.
In the land of planner systems, done-for-you planners such as the Passion Planner, Clever Fox planner, Hero's Journal, or digital solutions like Asana and Todoist all fall under the cook category because they provide structure for you.
Systems like the bullet journal method or using Notion on the other hand, those fall under the chef category because you ultimately need to create that structure for yourself.
Neither approach is necessarily better than the other, because no solution is one-size-fits-all. So the question then becomes: what solution will work best for you and your needs?
Minor tangent. There are done-for-you planners that are designed specifically for neurodivergent brains, such as the Imperfect Inspiration planners -- not sponsored, by the way; I just love their work.
But regardless of what system you choose, it is first and foremost important to understand your needs and how your brain works. Tangent over.
Like I talked about in my How To Build A Morning Routine video, it all starts with understanding why you want or need a system. How will you know your system is working properly? What will having a functioning system do for you? What will it help you accomplish?
In my signature course, The Action Navigator, here's the answer I give to those questions. Your system should have just enough structure to help you do the doing, not so much structure that you're experiencing diminishing returns from your system. You want to create a safe place outside your brain for storing important and/or meaningful information, because the brain is a terrible place for storing information, and is instead a powerful tool for manipulating information. It needs to be structured in a way that ensures your information is easily accessible where--and when--you need it, and you need to set yourself up for the doing. For taking action instead of endlessly organizing and planning.
Always remember that any and all time, task, and project management tools are just that: tools. There's a time and a place for each tool. And every tool will eventually reach a point of diminishing returns. If you put too much time and effort into using a tool, it will stop helping and instead start hurting. Discovering where that line falls for you with each tool will empower you to spend your time wisely and maximize your productivity while maintaining balance.
Now that you understand the why behind planning systems, the next two things you need to consider is what type of information you'll store in your system. And perhaps more importantly, how your system will present that information to you. This is where the cook versus chef metaphor really shines.
What format are you more likely to use and keep updated? Analog, digital, or some combination of the two? What types of information do you need your system to store and why? What types of information do you need your system to show you, and in what combinations, and why?
I find this is the planning system skill that gets left out the most. When you design your system to present your information to you in a helpful way, it facilitates better and easier decision-making so you can focus on doing the doing instead of endlessly planning.
And finally, what are the absolute bare necessities you need to get started? How can you set yourself up for success, for doing the doing right from the start instead of building out a bloated system from the beginning that only weighs you down and confuses you?
You can always add complexity later, but understanding your most basic needs right now will set you up for inevitable success. This is what being a chef instead of a cook is all about. First, understanding yourself and your needs. Then understanding the ingredients and tools at a masterful level so you can strategically pick and choose what you need in order to build a planner system that actually works for you.
Earlier I mentioned my signature course, The Action Navigator. It's packed to the brim with tools and techniques for mastering your time, getting organized and offering yourself radical compassion as a neurospicy spoonie. And if you liked this video in particular, this is only the tip of the iceberg of the build-your-system information I present in module three of the course.
If all of that sounds like exactly what you've been looking for, use this link to book a Zoom call with me to learn more. I can't wait to meet you.
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I'll be back in two weeks with another video. See you then. Bye!