One of my big work/executive function challenges is learning to see projects as things to work on over time rather than things to do in one fell swoop.

There are advantages to cramming some projects all into one day – I am an expert at identifying the ‘1 day version’ of something – but it can also be a very frustrating way to work.

If left to its own devices, my brain sees a deadline as the only important date for a project. It thinks that the deadline is both for starting and finishing and it refuses to break the project into smaller parts to start earlier.

Medication and practice has helped me to have a more reasonable and less frustrating approach to my work but I still have to work hard to get things started earlier.

However, I would often start a project and do a few things, return to it in a low-key way now and then and then end up leaving the bulk of the project for the deadline date. It’s really hard to trust that the little pieces are anything but busywork, that they will add up to a completed project.

However, since starting to use Todoist last year, I have been having more success with breaking my projects down.

This is, in part, because I can assign a day to get started and, when that day arrives, I can assess whether the first task I have decided to do is actually something that I can finish in one day. If it isn’t, then I can create subtasks, schedule one of those for today, and reschedule the rest.

Technically, I can do the same on paper or in my calendar but something about the Todoist system makes it feel sensible and productive instead of like I messed up (again!)

And it is also due, in part, to the fact that my brain is starting to slowly believe that working on things gets them done. I know that sounds painfully obvious but, previous to the last few years, my brain would only recognize two states for a project – done or not done.

There was no room for ‘in progress.’

So, if I couldn’t move my project from ‘not done’ to ‘done’ today then there was no point in starting it at all. (My inability to see how much time a task will take is a big factor here!)

Even neurotypical people will recognize this kind of issue. Perhaps you don’t start to paint that room because you would only have time to paint one section and you would prefer to leave the setting up until you have time to do most of the room at once.

That’s a logical application of this approach – but I would do that for almost everything.

It’s good for projects like painting but it makes no sense for something like writing a report. You can do that it bits and pieces, no problem!

A few years ago, I started trying to work on things bit by bit, writing ‘work on project A’ on my list instead of ‘do project A‘ and it has been really helpful.

Ideally, I would have my project all broken down and be able to say ‘work on task 2 for project A’ but I have to work with my brain instead of against it. So if my brain won’t break the project down when I am making my schedule, I just go with the ‘work on project A’ version and I make changes and get more specific when the time for that task arrives.

It’s slow progress but it’s happening.