this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2026
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Autism
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Having a physical planner and writing in it using only pencil helps me a lot to budget energy. I plan out all energy consuming activities ahead for each week. I plan to do 5 stressful tasks each day, but what counts as stressful changes constantly, which is why I write in pencil. If I don't have the energy for something on one day I will erase and reschedule it and write something less demanding as a task, otherwise I always have to do what's on the list. I am not allowed to do more than 5 stressful things even on a good day, because then I usually overwork myself, and I have to plan in recovery time after an especially demanding day. Also, I break down big tasks beforehand, so I can be as specific as possible with my task setting (Goblintools can help with that). I use a physical planner because it gets me off of my phone and because I can remember stuff better when I write it down by hand, and I use pencil so I don't have to cross out unfinished tasks and be reminded of "failing" when looking back.
So yeah, TLDR: an analog planner with strict rules on how to budget energy and some flexibility to acommodate fluctuating energy levels
I second the physical planner. The way I use it has changed over decades to meet my needs at the time. But I really enjoy that I can look back on the record and reflect. It helps me know what's working, what's not, understand my current feelings sometimes -- (like oh yeah, I'm exhausted because I was sick then had to travel and its only been 3 days of home). Helps me be a little kinder to myself, and sometimes im really proud of what I've accomplished. That pride could easily been lost in the noise of life if I didn't have that longer term physical record.
Right now, I like a weekly agenda that gives me enough room to track a few things each day and a memo section next to it for a weekly to do list or whatever notes about what comes up. My point here is just that for anyone interested in such a habit, you dont need to allocate a lot of time to make it useful to you.
Ohh how do you tell if a task is going to be stressful or not?
Mainly through experience. I also keep a diary where I mainly track my mood and energy levels and what I did each day. That way I can look back on it and see trends. By now I know for example that doctor's appointments are comparatively stressful for me, because I often crash afterwards. Then I adjust the expected stress level by how I feel each day (the most difficult part is figuring that out, but I'm also trying to get better at that) to anticipate how much energy it will cost me, than change my plans if neccessary.
Ah man that sounds awesome, but the executive function necessary to run all of that has the ADHD of my auDHD self curling up into a ball