The beauty of humanity is that each of us is different. We exist as unique people, with unique brains that function differently. When it comes to productivity, everyone needs different advice for different situations. This is especially true for those who are Neurodivergent, or people with ADHD or autism. See, those of us with neurodivergent brains have a hard time following traditional productivity advice. So, today I want to share some of the tips that work best for me, and hopefully they can help you too! I’m not a medical professional, these are just strategies that help me personally.
First is interleaving, a fancy word for switching things up every now and again. When one subject gets boring, move on to the next one. In Gilmore Girls Season 3 Episode 21, Rory says “when I hit Bolshevik revolution overload, I move over and hello, Anne Boleyn is going down, and when that gets too depressing, it’s straight into calculus! ” Even us mere mortals can emulate her in our studying by switching topics every now and again. This seems to produce better results for her and honestly, it helps me a lot too. Personally, I like to switch subjects after each task is completed. So let’s say I start with a reading for English, then I would move on to a homework for Precalculus, then a problem set for Chemistry. You get the idea!
Second is chunking, which is fancy for breaking a big task into a bunch of tiny ones. This helps my brain to not procrastinate. Often I procrastinate because the task seems too overwhelming. With chunking, I just have to do the first tiny step, then the next one, and so on. This makes the task seem smaller and, therefore, easier to complete. It shuts my procrastination brain right down. Let’s use an example: you have to write a paper. First, you pick a topic and a stance on the topic. Then, you open the document and write out a bare bones outline. Then, you do a little research. Then a little more, and on and on until the paper is done.
Third is bribery, also known as rewards. For me, I need some dopamine to make a task worth it. The fun part? You get to pick your reward. That can be chocolate, reading a favorite book, or talking to a friend. My personal favorites are doing absolutely nothing, staring at a wall, and listening to some nice music. My rewards won’t always work for you, and yours won’t always work for me, but as long as it works for you, go for it!
Overall, neurodivergent brains can work differently than neurotypical brains do, so if you need some different strategies: interleaving, chunking, and rewards are some of the simpler ways to stay productive even when it feels like your brain works against you. Tackling life is hard, especially in college, so I hope this was helpful and make sure to try at least one of these the next time you study.