Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome back to Behind Nevada Podcast with me Poulsen, victoria. Today we are carrying on with how To Be you by Ellie Middleton, chapter one technically sort of Working Memory. As an undiagnosed teenager, my all-time favourite quote was a line from Augustus Waters' final letter in the Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Augustus wants to write something special for his friend Hazel Grace, but is struggling to get his words to work in the way that he wants them to, something I'm sure many of us here can relate to, something I'm sure many of us here can relate to. So he attempts to enlist the help of her favorite author.

Speaker 1: 0:50

In his letter to the author, explaining his situation and asking for help, augustus writes my thoughts are stars. I can't fathom into constellations To undiagnose the chaotic all over the place, ellie. This idea rang truer than almost everything I've ever heard. It's a metaphor I still love to use it to this day. However, in addition to being stars, I can't fathom into constellations, my thoughts appear to be something else two balloons I can't seem to hold down. This second metaphor is one I've adopted since getting my ADHD diagnosis to explain just how difficult it can be to keep hold of all the many ideas floating around my brain. I feel as though each thought, idea, important piece of information, date, appointment, meeting and task in my brain is a helium balloon. It is desperate to float away into the sky unless I am consciously making the effort to hold it down, and I am aware that if I do ever lose my grip it will fly away, never to be seen again. However, holding all these balloons in my hands all the time can be tricky. It takes up a lot of energy and takes away from my capacity to do the other things that I need to do.

Speaker 1: 2:33

In this chapter we will explore what is working memory. Which systems have affected the way we think about working memory? How can we support ourselves with working memory? Five things to consider putting in place for your working memory. Learning to work with our brains rather than against them is all about finding the balance between letting go of the neuro-normative shoulds that don't serve us and finding ways to support ourselves in doing the things that do. If we can reduce the pressure we are under by trying to find environments in which we can safely unmask and generally get a wider range of our needs met and generally get a wider range of our needs met, we can free up some capacity and have a little bit more room to breathe.

Speaker 1: 3:36

What is working memory? Our first executive functioning skill? Working memory is explained as the ability to hold and manipulate information for short-term use. This includes tasks such as remembering a phone number, asking for directions and recalling them for the duration of our journey, and learning the name of someone new and being able to remember it throughout the conversation. Unlike long-term memories that are retained even when we're not thinking of them, working memory is more like a mental notepad or person holding balloons that keeps hold of all the information we currently need. There are different estimates about the quote normal capacity of someone's working memory. In a 1956 paper famously describing quote, the magical number seven plus or minus two, miller demonstrated that quote. One can repeat back a list of no more than about seven randomly ordered meaningful items or chunks, which could be letters, digits or words. Other research has suggested that young adults can recall only three or four longer verbal chunks, such as idioms or short sentences.

Speaker 1: 5:07

Everyone can struggle with working memory sometimes. I'm sure every single person in the world has come back from the supermarket and realised they've forgotten something important, walked into a room and forgotten what they came in for forgotten the name of a friend of a friend or lost track of what they were trying to say midway through a sentence. However, for ADHDers, autistic people and other neurodivergent people whose executive functioning skills work slightly differently, these occurrences are much more frequent. I often refer to my brain another metaphor I like I think this might be a theme throughout the book as being like a sieve, because the information seems to come into my mind and then pour straight out straight through. In a 2020 study into working memory and short-term memory deficits in ADHD we're not huge fans of the word deficits around here paper Koffler et al found that ADHD status was associated with very large magnitude impairments in central executive working memory, and these defects co-varied with ADHD in attentive and hyperactive slash impulsive system severity, based on both parent and teacher report. I'm not a fan of the way this is worded, as I prefer to refer to my experiences as quote differences or traits rather than symptoms, and severity isn't always the best way of measuring somebody's experience, because it doesn't account for what's going on internally or the level of masking that's occurring. That being said, I find Koffler's discovery that, no matter how much somebody's traits of hyperactivity or inattention present outwardly, it is likely that they will have a mark, a marked difference in their working memory. Incredibly interesting to consider.

Speaker 1: 7:43

One explanation for this is that ADHDers or people who are otherwise neurodivergent, are already using more of their working memory at any given time just to be able to work, live, socialize and communicate in a world that was not built with our needs in mind. For example, as we can struggle with auditory processing, we are constantly having to work harder to listen to and process any information that is presented to us verbally, which takes away from our total working memory capacity. If we think of the earlier example of being able to juggle seven things or balls at any one time, one of these balls is already being taken up by auditory processing, and others might also be used for things like masking, and others might also be used for things like masking, forcing eye contact, suppressing stims and staying focused. This means that we have fewer available balls to actually hold and manipulate the information that we need to. Neurodivergent people constantly have to actively work to process information, mask, stay focused and be organized Things that tend to be quote simple for others or to be considered a quote given, and so naturally that takes away from our capacity to be spinning multiple plates all at the same time. Which systems have affected the way we think about working memory? As with all the executive functions, we will explore throughout the book.

Speaker 1: 9:39

Although the ability to hold and manipulate information is necessary to a certain extent, the ways in which we currently consider quote deficits in working memory are a social construct defined by neuro-normative standards. As Spief and Pearson explained in their research on neurodiversity and student well-being. Quote being able to hold a more limited amount of information in working memory is not disabling if one has access to tools like a dictaphone. Who said that we need to be able to remember seven things at any given time to be a functioning member of society? Who said that we had to be able to manipulate any and all information on the spot and couldn't write it down or take a bit of time to process it? Who said that we needed to be able to interpret verbal instructions and couldn't request information in a written or visual format?

Speaker 1: 10:46

Many of the ways that we are disabled by our differences in working memory are, in reality, just down to the way that our normative capitalist society has functioned up until this point. In the simplest terms, it's more efficient and therefore makes businesses more money if we can juggle multiple bits of information at any one time, but aside from that, it doesn't actually have any sort of moral or definitive superiority. Capitalism has hugely contributed to shaping the way that working memory is perceived and valued, because it emphasizes its importance for productivity, adaptability and competitive success in a constantly changing economic landscape. However, if we didn't define people's worth based on their ability to be productive, it wouldn't matter so much if they couldn't multitask or switch between tasks easily. They could instead just focus on one thing that brought them enjoyment and fulfillment or that they felt warranted their attention at that moment, rather than what made the most profit at a time.

Speaker 1: 12:12

Another of the ways that society defines what we quote should be able to manage with our working memory is individualism, outlined as one of Tima Akun's characteristics of white supremacy culture. Individualism shows up in the belief that each person demands to be seen or is told that they must be seen as a completely independent individual, without acknowledging the ways that they interact with the society and community around them. On the one hand, individualism explains the way that many people struggle to work as a team and want individual credit and recognition for their personal achievements, rather than being happy to play a part in the bigger picture. The other side of this means that individualism also reinforces the idea that we all must be able to exist completely independently, without support from the people around us. It values independence over interdependence over interdependence, and self-sufficiency over community and collaboration. This is particularly unhelpful for those who have differences in their executive functioning skills, such as neurodivergent and disabled people, as it makes us feel inadequate for being reliant on care or support from our families, friends, partners or the system, instead of realising that human beings need connection. Ever since our cave person days, we have always relied on a tribe of people around us, and that should not change now. And that should not change now.

Speaker 1: 14:08

Some examples of the ways individualism affects the way we see working, memory and executive functioning. Each person is expected to be able to quote, function and manage every single thing they encounter in life completely independently, which means that anybody who has any support needs is deemed to be quote disordered. We are seen as incompetent if we need to rely on support in remembering everything all at once or juggling multiple tasks or projects, whether this is from the people around us or by using tools like digital reminders or writing things down. In reality, there is no real problem with relying on these things. We are expected to be able to remember every step of a task without assistance, which puts a much greater strain on our working memory, and complete projects and tasks independently, which also puts a much greater strain on planning, prioritization and task initiation. Other executive functions that we'll come to in later chapters, also closely linked with individualism and typical of neuro-normative society, is another characteristic of white supremacy culture.

Speaker 1: 15:37

I'm the only one. This describes the belief many people hold that if they want something done right, they have to be the ones to do it themselves. Despite knowing that I am disabled, I am definitely guilty of holding this belief. I can really struggle to let things out of my control and feel as though I've got to do everything myself instead of realising that there are hundreds and thousands of people out there who are just as capable as I am and finding ways of delegating to someone else. This belief might cause all of us to feel that we need to micromanage, struggle with delegation and idolize quote leaders or public figures. Instead, we need to recognize that there is no moral value in taking everything on yourself and that no one is superior for doing so.

Speaker 1: 16:42

How I'm the only one affects the way we see working memory and executive functioning. Since we struggle to delegate, we end up with an enormous amount of work to complete independently. If this work was distributed between several people, it wouldn't matter if one person struggled with planning, for example, as somebody else would be able to fill in the gaps in this area. This idea of feeling like we are the quote only one might translate to thinking we are the only person experiencing things the way we do, or struggling the way we do, or struggling the way we are, which means we might not understand that the people around us also face similar struggles. Individuals may believe that their challenges are unique and that no one else will understand them or be able to support them. This means that they are less likely to seek support from people around them.

Speaker 1: 17:52

It's important to remember all of this as we explore the following tips and strategies for supporting our working memory, as the last thing that we want to be doing is putting unnecessary pressure on ourselves to remember every single detail all of the time. These tips are designed to help you to do and remember the things that you need to, but it's equally important that we work out which things we actually need to do or remember. Learning to work with our brains rather than against them is all about finding the balance between letting go of the neuro-normative shoulds that don't serve us and finding ways to support ourselves in doing the things that do. How can we support ourselves with working memory? When considering the things that we can do to support ourselves with these working memory struggles or differences, it is helpful to consider all the extra things that we are constantly juggling, like masking and auditory processing, that we touched on earlier in the chapter. If we can reduce the pressure we are under by trying to find environments in which we can safely unmask, access information in written rather than verbal formats and generally get a wider range of our needs met, we can free up some of this capacity for our working memory to have a little bit more room to breathe, for example, in the context of a workplace setting, of a workplace setting. If employees are constantly using up brain space and energy by monitoring and adapting the ways that they work and behave to conform to a culture that doesn't suit them, this takes away from the brain space and energy that they have available to actually get the job done. Further to this, not only are we using up our capacity on things like auditory processing and masking, but because of these things, we might also be using up even more of our capacity on something else.

Speaker 1: 20:20

Anxiety, in the words of professor john emachi obe he him, new york times best-selling author of the promises of giants, quote we each have a finitive, finite amount of energy to spend each day. Holding on to feelings of anxiety, when we feel we have to hide our true selves, uses up some of that limited energy. When we feel real inclusion, our anxiety levels reduce again. And if that energy is not being used on anxiety, it can be dedicated to progress. Anxiety it can be dedicated to progress when we are supported and accommodated by the people around us or when we learn to better accommodate ourselves. We can take away some of that anxiety, freeing up some more of our working memory capacity.

Speaker 1: 21:22

If we also think back to the quote helium balloon metaphor that I like to use for the things in our brain which constantly feel as though they're going to fly away, we can use this idea to help us consider some of the things that we can do to help with our working memory. If someone was struggling to hold on to so many balloons all at once. We have a couple of options that might help. First, we could tie some of those balloons to a stand, make a note of them somewhere or have some way of keeping them in place in our minds. Equally, we could pass the balloons to somebody else to hold onto for a while, by delegating certain tasks or reminders either to the people around us or to technology like our phones and laptops. The people around us or to technology like our phones and laptops.

Speaker 1: 22:28

Before we get into the meteor, into the meteor strategies, tips and tricks, I want to quickly set the scene by reminding you of a list of things that are absolutely fine and might help with your working memory. And might help with your working memory. So many of the things that would take so much weight off our shoulders are teeny, tiny adjustments that we are well within our rights to do or ask for. We've just been conditioned, because of those pesky socialite societal norms, to think that we shouldn't. However, as you know, the aim is to let go of those shoulds, so you can find ways that you can. A list of things that are absolutely fine.

Speaker 1: 23:18

Asking for instructions, deadlines and tasks to be confirmed in a written rather than verbal format. Asking for an email with a summary of notes and actions to be sent to follow up a call or meeting. Asking for a verbal debriefing or list of instructions after a call or meeting. Verbal debriefing or list of instructions after a call or meeting. Asking for all communication to be streamlined to one medium or format, eg one singular email chain, so you can go back and check details using a dictaphone, notepad or the notes app on your phone to keep track of information as and when you receive it, rather than trying to juggle it all, mentally relying on alarms or notifications to remind you of important tasks like when to take your medication, appointments or meetings, telling your friends, family and colleagues, to quote. Feel free to nudge me if I haven't done this slash. Follow up about this slash got back to you within a certain amount of time.

Speaker 1: 24:41

Ordering your supermarket, shopping online, rather than having to remember everything while you're in store. Repeating instructions back to somebody to make sure that you've processed or remembered them correctly. Jotting down notes or underlining or highlighting text while reading. Talking out loud about something that you're reading to process it verbally and cement it in your mind. Relying on multiple senses to process information, eg. Following captions while you listen to a TV show or listening to an audiobook, while also reading it on the page.

Speaker 1: 25:26

Fun fact one thing that society has tweaked to suit our working memory in some parts of the world is the way that we write or recite long strings of numbers like phone numbers or national insurance slash, social security numbers. In the US they use hyphens to separate the phone numbers into smaller groups, and in the UK we usually use the framework of. This is a tricky one to explain in black and white, so bear with me. 07123456789. This is because it's easier to remember a few small groups of numbers A group of 5, a group of 3 and a group of 3. Then it is to remember one long string of numbers. Pretty cool, huh. This could also help to explain why it can be so difficult for us to compute when somebody reads our number back to us using a different structure or framework. We don't store the phone number in our brain as one whole thing, number in our brain as one whole thing. We store it as three disconnected groups of numbers. Tip one A big part of learning to work with your working memory rather than against it is finding ways to transfer some of the busyness and spinning plates out of your brain and onto or into some sort of tangible storage solution.

Speaker 1: 27:05

Think of the idea of tying some of those helium balloons onto a balloon stand rather than trying to hold on to them all at once. This not only makes sure that important pieces of information are stored somewhere and are therefore at less risk of floating away or being forgotten about, but also helps to relieve some of the overwhelm of having hundreds of thoughts, ideas and things to remember constantly buzzing around in your brain. I've often seen ADHDers refer to having quote bees in their brains, which I can definitely relate to, and if we use that metaphor, we're removing some of the swarm from the hive and separating them into different compartments where they all have a bit more space to relax. The most traditional way that people tend to go about this is by using a to-do list, and in this rare case I surprisingly agree with their quote norm. I think just it needs a little bit of tweaking to better suit the way that our brains tend to actually work.

Speaker 1: 28:26

The traditional to-do list has a few main faults that I'd like to address. First, it doesn't help with prioritization. We'll touch on that more in chapter six, planning and prioritization. It is just one long list of tasks that, although helping to get all the different tasks out of our brains can feel pretty overwhelming, linked to this is often not very visually appealing A long list of words, maybe with a tick box if you're lucky, and that's about it. There is very little color organization or visual structure involved.

Speaker 1: 29:09

We've also got really good, thanks to you, you guessed it those pesky societal expectations at tying a lot of shame to our to-do lists. We'll pile every single thing we think we quote should do on there, which ends up being a monumental list of things that would be physically impossible to get through, and then feel like we've quote failed if we haven't managed to tick everything off. At the end of the day, this might lead to us actually avoiding writing things down because we don't want to be confronted with all that stuff we're quote supposed to try and most likely fail to get through. If you struggle with object impermanence, object consistency, like many ADHDers in particular do, only remembering something exists when it is directly in front of you and forget it exists completely when it's out of sight, out of mind and we'll touch out and we'll touch on more in this chapter it's likely you'll write things on a list somewhere, put that list down and then forget that the list itself actually helps.

Speaker 1: 30:38

Finally, especially if you're an ADHDer like me, it can be tricky to keep track of every to-do all in one place. You might have post-it notes, a desk planner, a list in your phone notes app, a shopping list on the fridge, an online list like Notion or Monday, an app like Timo and a couple of different notebooks all on the go all at once. This feels a lot like the popular spider-man meme that you might have seen online, but all the different, identical spider-men are pointing at each other, except it's just me and my silly little brain being confronted with the fact that I still often actually have all these lists in progress at once and then wonder why I struggle with feeling overwhelmed. Essentially, like with all the tips I'll share throughout the book, it's about finding what works for you, but there are a few different things I'd like to share with you to consider when mastering your to-do. One framework I particularly like and that I've been workshopping recently is splitting your to-do list into the following sections. Sections must do things that need like, actually need to get done, could do things that it would be good if you got done, but the world won't end if you don't to dump or delegate things that even need doing but don't need to be done by you specifically and therefore can be passed to someone else, or things that can be crossed off the list completely To do later, those balloons that you need to tie down somewhere to be dealt with or remembered for later, but that don't need to be thought about today. I find the quote to do later section particularly helpful because it allows me to take all those different bits and bobs I'm clinging onto and put them down somewhere, but without overwhelming myself by having them all added on to the end of my working to-do list, which makes it seem like they're all things currently on my plate at this very moment. You can try this framework using the template on the following page, and we've also created a notepad that uses this design that you can find at weareunmaskedcom.

Speaker 1: 33:25

Another framework that grace beverly she, her founder of teller shreddy and the productivity method shares in her book working hard, hardly working and uses in her productivity planners separates things out in a slightly different way. She suggests using quick ticks, things that can be done in under five minutes, tasks, things that will take between five and 30 minutes projects, things that will take over 30 minutes. This perhaps helps more with prioritization and planning, which we'll explore more in chapter six, but is still a nifty way of getting all of that busyness out of your brain and onto paper. Sometimes that is very important for those of us who struggle with objective impermanence or quote out of sight, out of mind is having our to-do list in a very obvious and easily locatable place. Two options I like for this are using a notepad over a desk planner, as you can carry it around with you in your bag and therefore have it with you at all times. Or, if you prefer, using an app or digital to-go list rather than paper, using widgets on your smartphone. These widgets pin your to-do list to your home screen so that every time you pick up and unlock your phone in which, let's face it, for the most of us with busy brains is many, many times a day the list will be right there staring back at you. As well as keeping your to-do list front of mind, these methods also make sure that your lists are easy to access, meaning that all of those balloons are tied somewhere safe, but equally somewhere that you can access them whenever you need to Tip two share the cement.

Speaker 1: 35:43

Research shows that one of the best ways to cement something that you've learned in your brain is to teach that information to somebody else. In two experiments, two groups of participants were asked to study some material. The first group was told that they would then teach that material to another student before being tested, and the second group were told that they would only be tested. The result the group of students who were told that they would need to teach the information to somebody else had better free recall of the material and also correctly answered more questions about the material and also correctly answered more questions about the material, according to the researchers quote when teachers prepare to teach, they tend to seek out key points and organize information into a coherent structure. Our results suggest that students also turn to these types of effective learning strategies when they expect to teach learning strategies when they expect to teach. Similarly, in a recent experiment, people were taught about the doppelganger effect, the phenomenon that causes the siren on the police car to be high-pitched as it approaches you and lower-pitched as it passes you.

Speaker 1: 37:00

At the end of the study, the participants all had to deliver a lesson on the material, but half of them were allowed to use notes and half of them had to deliver the lesson without notes. A week later, they all came back and had to take a surprise test on the information that they had learned. The study found that the people who had taught the lesson without notes did better than those who were allowed to use notes to support them. Having to explain what they had learned in their own words meant that the information better stuck in their brain. As Adam Grant he him organisational psychologist and best-selling author, explains in an article for the new york times quote the best way to learn something truly is to teach it, not just because explaining it helps you understand it, but also because retrieving it helps you remember it.

Speaker 1: 38:03

So what does that mean for those of us who struggle with working memory? Well, we can find different ways of teaching or sharing information with somebody else in order to make it stick in our brains. What structures could I put in place to help share to cement? Could I put in place to help share to cement? Here are some ideas to get you started. I could find a study partner to meet up with and share what I've been working on or learning. I could share my to-do list with an accountability partner every morning to help cement it in my brain. This added accountability has the doable effect of making you more likely to get things you've shared done. Two, since you want to uphold a good impression to this person, I could tell my partner or housemates what I've done or learned throughout the day over dinner to help cement those things in my mind. Tip 3. Showroom chick. As we touched on in tip 1, mastering your to-do.

Speaker 1: 39:18

Adhders especially can be prone to experiencing a serious case of quote out of sight, out of mind. This is because we experience differences in object permanence, also referred to as object constancy. Object permanence means having the understanding that items and people still exist even when you can't see or hear them. This concept was coined by child psychologist Jean Piget and is an important milestone in a baby's brain development, as I explained in Unmasked. If you're playing peekaboo with a one-year-old, they are endlessly entertained because to them, when you're hidden behind something, you cease to exist. Then peekaboo you spontaneously reappear. How exciting. But if you were playing that same game with a four-year-old, it doesn't have the same appeal because their object permanence has developed. They know that you're just hiding and that even when they can't see you, you still exist.

Speaker 1: 40:31

In a similar phenomenon, adhders can struggle with object constancy, meaning that if something is in our immediate view, we forget that it exists. For me me, this often looks like putting something in a safe place, forgetting that it exists for a while, forgetting where that safe place is once I need the thing and then getting very agitated when I can't find it. My mum often makes the observation that I look like a cartoon character, ripping everything out of a suitcase and launching it behind them when I am looking for something being quote tidy. Keeping things hidden away in cupboards just doesn't work for the way that our brains work. We need to rip up the idea that for your house to be quote presentable, everything needs to be stored out of sight, leaving no visible evidence that somebody actually lives in the space, and replace it with a system that better reminds our brains of the things we need, the things we want to get done and the things we have. One way to do this is start treating your home like a personal showroom less minimalized, more showroom chic.

Speaker 1: 41:59

To work around my struggles with object constancy, I now keep the things I need in obvious places. My keys live on a hook right next to the front door rather than in a drawer. Any ongoing paperwork or post lives in a tray on top of the fridge, so each time I go to the fridge I'm reminded that it needs to be dealt with. My gym and work bags live on hooks in the corridor. Rather than me having to remember to pack them and pick them up every time I leave the house, my daily medication is kept on the kitchen counter to prompt me to take it when I'm making my breakfast. Keeping things on show helps to regularly prompt your brain of their existence and importance, rather than constantly using up energy when thinking. Quote I must remember to take my medication in the morning. Or, quote I must remember to pick up my gym bag when I leave for work. Bonus points for having it visible and in a convenient place for the task it ties to, like my example of keeping my ADHD meds next to the toaster, so I remember to have them with breakfast.

Speaker 1: 43:21

You can use the template below to brainstorm some of the things you could put on show to make life a little easier for yourself. So there's a template which says important things and then beside it it says where I could put it on show, and it goes down in a line. There will be a visual on YouTube of this Tip four master directory. In tip three, showroom chic, we thought about how we could keep some of the things we need to remember on show in our homes to give our brains a little nudge that they exist or need dealing with or need picking up before we leave the house.

Speaker 1: 44:09

However, for some important things, this doesn't work as easily. As an example how many times have we all laid awake at night wondering where the heck is my passport? Or when did I last see my birth certificate? If you're anything like me, then the answer is probably many. However, in these cases, leaving things on display isn't the best solution to the problem. We can hardly keep our most important and confidential documents pinned up along our walls, or maybe we could. Who am I? Who am I to start imposing new shouldn'ts and couldn'ts? For smaller, more important things like these? I like to use the idea of a master directory. This could be a spreadsheet saved on your computer, a note saved on your phone, or a list kept in a notepad, stored somewhere you won't forget, that records the whereabouts of each of these important things. This might look like on one side important things like birth certificate, passport, spare car key, and on the other side it says where it's stored. So passport in the top drawer of my bedside table. Birth certificate in the blue folder on the shelf in the spare room. Spare car key in the pink box in the cutlery drawer in the pink box in the cutlery drawer.

Speaker 1: 45:45

As much as we like to think that we don't need this list and that this time we absolutely definitely positively, will remember exactly where we've put the thing, the reality is that having a written log of these lists is going to be a much better solution for keeping track than relaying on our busy brains. It also frees up some brain space. Remember the seven things concept from the start of the chapter, so that the energy that was previously being used in remembering where each of the important things was being kept can be freed up and used for something more useful. The more specific you can be with your answers, the better, and the fewer different places you have to store important bits and bobs, the easier it will be to keep track of. You can fill out your own list on the template below. You can either copy this out into your diary or notebook or remember to keep this book somewhere. You'll be able to find it later.

Speaker 1: 46:51

Tip 5. Prep your launch pad. One of the ways that my working memory catches me out the most is the fact that I pretty much always forget something that I need when leaving the house, whether it's my purse, my notepad, my camera, my gym bag, my deodorant, a parcel I needed to drop off at the post office or, most frequently as my brother Lewis will know and often likes to remind me my phone charger. If we think back to the idea that people can remember seven different things at once, then it's no wonder remembering each of these things every time we leave the house doesn't go particularly well, especially for those of us who have differences in our working memory capabilities, like autistic people or ADHDers.

Speaker 1: 47:45

One way to work around this is to set yourself up with a launchpad. Instead of having to remember each individual item every time you leave the house, you have one bag that is always packed with everything you need. If you were on TikTok in the summer of 2023, you might have seen the hype about the Uniqlo cross body bag, a small but deceivingly spacious handbag that people were amazed at and loved to show off just how much they could fit inside. Having a bag like this, with all your must-haves safely stored inside, that's ready to pick up and sling over your shoulder every time you head out, whether that's to work, to meet friends on a night out or to the gym takes the pressure off your working memory to keep track of everything you need. Having extras of these, eg a phone charger that always stays in your bag, rather than having one phone charger that you have to remember to unplug and take with you every morning, means that it's one less thing to worry about. You might want to include a phone charger, a fidget or stim toy, your purse, mini toiletries like deodorant or lip balm, some earplugs or headphones. By doing this, you can ensure that, no matter where you're heading and no matter how late you might be running, you just have to pick up the launch pad and go and you don't have to worry about any of these important things being left behind. No more rummaging through drawers when you should have left the house 10 minutes ago, and no more getting to your destination and face palming as you realize you've left something you really need at home. You can just check in at the launch pad and get ready for takeoff things that could live in my launch pad and then bullet points. Bonus tip if you're a frequent traveler, whether that's with holidays or overnight trips with work, you can apply the same principle for your overnight bag having a spare toothbrush razor, pack of makeup wipes and a phone charger that always live in your travel bag so that you don't have to remember to pop them in every single time.

Speaker 1: 50:10

So working memory recap Our first executive function. Working memory is defined as the ability to hold and manipulate information for short-term use. It's a necessary tool to be able to keep track of different bits of information and reminder all the things we need to do. However, as we've explored, there are definitely ways we can reframe what we quote should be able to manage on our own and put things in place to make things that little bit easier for our brains to keep on top of. In this chapter we have explored what working memory is, the systems which have affected the way we think about working memory, which have affected the way we think about working memory, some ways we can support ourselves with working memory, five things to consider putting in place for your working memory your takeaway box, the idea that you need to be able to remember every single piece of information possible without external support from the people around you.

Speaker 1: 51:22

Technology or an environment that is better designed to suit your needs is incorrect. It has been shaped by systems of oppression such as white supremacy as well as capitalist society, as well as our capitalist society, and we need to replace it with a new understanding that supporting ourselves and the people around us is not only absolutely okay, but absolutely necessary. The more of our brain's capacity we're using up on things like masking, auditory processing and reminding ourselves of all the different things we need to keep track of, the less capacity we have left to actually work on, keep track of and remember the things we really need to. If we can find environments where we're safe to unmask and we're better accommodated and supported, our working memory will not feel as impacted or disabling. Getting some of the things we're trying to store in our brains down on paper rather than having them buzzing around in our heads every moment of every day, whether that's ideas to do's or the whereabouts of certain objects, can help to reduce some of the strain we put in our working memory.

Speaker 1: 52:55

Well, that was officially like chapter one. Next we will be talking about self-monitoring. And yeah, oh my gosh, that was so many pages. I'm so happy and, yeah, this is, as you can tell, gonna be a long episode. Thank you so much for listening to me read how to be you by ellie middleton. This has been behind the pad podcast, me, paulson victoria. If you have enjoyed listening, then please leave some stars. A review on spotify apple, wherever, um, if you want me to read another book after this, then please go ahead. If you would like to be a guest on the podcast, just email in um, recently I have had a good few emails thanking me about my episodes and I really, really appreciate that. And, yeah, I'll see you guys Monday. Bye.