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Hello and welcome back to Behind the Powder Podcast, me and Paulson Victoria. Today we are going to carry on reading How to Be You by Ellie Middleton. We're on chapter 6 Planning and Prioritization. As someone who is both autistic and ADHD, I feel like I oscillate between two extremes, having everything planned out months in advance right down to the tiniest details, or spontaneously jumping into things with no planning whatsoever. Sometimes I can find such joy in researching a trip, for example, and planning out all the travel details, timings, connection routes, accommodation locations, agendas, and itineraries right down to where I want to eat each day. And other times the thought of planning out how I'm going to complete a big project feels so overwhelming that it can bring me to tears. When tasked with a big project like writing this book, for example, the big picture end result feels incredibly exciting. But then trying to work out how to break it down into each step and plan out the structure and prioritize which information needs to go inside, and how much I should write about each topic, and which are the most important key points that I want to focus on, and how long it's going to take me to write, and when I'm going to fit the writing in between the other things I've got going on and on and on and on, feels incredibly overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. Like my brain is an ancient computer that's going to overheat and start smoking from the sides as it tries to solve a hundred different problems all at once. If you relate to any of the above, then it's likely that planning and prioritization is something that you have differences with too. And we'll explore ways to support ourselves later in the chapter. In this chapter, we will explore what is planning and prioritization, which systems have affected the way we think about planning and prioritization. How can we support ourselves with planning and prioritization? Five things to consider putting in place for your planning and prioritization. Often when people say that, quote, autistic people struggle with prioritization, what they actually mean is that we don't always prioritize the things that they want us to prioritize in the ways that they want us to prioritize them. Research has shown that autistic brains generate and process, on average, 42% more information at rest. And with all that extra information, it is no wonder that it can be trickier for us to filter through it in order to plan and prioritize. What is planning and prioritization? Planning and prioritization is defined as the ability to create a systematic approach to achieving goals, including breaking tasks into steps and determining their relative importance. Rather than being a single, standalone executive functioning skill, it actually also requires a whole range of other skills we've explored, such as working memory, keeping track of all the different steps of a task at once, and flexibility, considering different options for the different steps involved. Neurodivergent people, especially those who are autistic, ADHD, or dyslexic, tend to lean towards big picture thinking, which means that we can very easily imagine the end goal that we want to achieve, but the attention to detail and prioritization required to actually break that goal down into each small step that is required. And in which order those steps are required to take place can be tricky for us. One explanation for this in autistic people is something known as bottom-up processing or thinking, which is one of my very favourite parts of the autistic experience to speak, write, and learn about, and which I dug into in my first book, Unmasked. Bottom up processing comes from the theory that there are two distinct ways in which humans process information. Most neurotypical people tend to process information in what is known as a quote top-down way, which means that when they are faced with a situation, they will start from the top, seeing the situation or picture as a whole, and work downwards. They already have their previous experiences and understandings stored away in their mind, and they will use this context to help them build out this big picture. From there, they will work downwards and seek out any further pieces of information that they need as and when they need them. For example, if they were to walk into a restaurant, they would think, oh, okay, we're in a restaurant. I have been to many restaurants before, and so I understand the gist of the situation that I'm in. And then they would pick out pieces of information as they needed them, such as listening to the person sitting across the table from them, reading the section of the menu that they were interested in, or looking for the toilet sign when they needed to go. For the most part though, they'd be filtering out the majority of stuff going on in the room that wasn't necessarily for them. They'd be filtering out the conversations that other people were having on the tables around them, the smells of all the different dishes, and the bright lights coming from the ceiling. They start at the top, the context, and work downwards to fill in the details of the situation that they need. However, for those of us who are bottom-up processors, which is usually the case for autistic people, the opposite happens. If we were to walk into the same restaurant, we would process the information in a completely different way. Rather than starting with the context, we start from zero and take in all the sensory information around us to build up to the big picture. We'd start at the bottom and take in all the different sounds, the squeaky chairs, the clashing conversations, the pots and pans banging in the kitchen, and the music playing in the background, all the visual stimuli, the different dishes being carried around the tables, the specials board on the wall, the signs for the toilets, and the people on each of the tables. And the different smells from the different dishes on different tables and the cooking in the kitchen. We would piece together all these bits of information, working from the bottom upwards to eventually work out, ah, we are in a restaurant and I now know this individual restaurant very well. We start from the bottom, process the information brick by brick and piece it together to build the whole picture. Our brains need to collect all the information around us in order to process and piece together what is going on, which means that first, it is not prioritizing the information from the beginning, because it needs all of it to get started. Second, once all that information has come together, it becomes incredibly difficult to further prioritize from such a vast array of individual items. A bottom-up processor is like a huge lorry tipping and pouring out hundreds of books all around you and trying to work out which were the most interesting to you, as opposed to a top-down processor, walking into a library and easily locating the one book they wanted. As mentioned earlier, research has shown that autistic brains generate and process on average 42% more information at rest. And with all that extra information, like all the books from the lorry, it is no wonder that it can be trickier for us to filter through it in order to plan and prioritize. I would imagine that the same is also true for ADHDers. We have brains that are constantly seeking out and searching for our next source of stimulation and internal hyperactivity that is bouncing around hundreds of thoughts at any given moment, we must have much more information to filter through, plan and prioritize than our neurotypical peers. Which systems have affected the way we think about planning and prioritization? The ways that we are expected to plan and prioritize have, of course, been impacted by what is deemed normal and important within our society. I think the biggest example of this is that under capitalism, we are expected to prioritize productivity, work, and our careers above all else. For most people, their jobs, whether employed or self-employed, have to come before all else from 9 a.m. until 5 pm five days a week. Often where we decide to live, who we build relationships with, the hobbies that we are able to take part in, and the vast majority of the decisions that we make are influenced by doing what is best for our career, i.e., capitalism. Even in extreme circumstances like when a family have a new baby, or when we experience loss and grief. It is only for an incredibly short amount of time that we are expected to shift our priority away from work. Maybe you're only allowed a couple days of compassionate leave or a couple of weeks of parental leave, and after that you are expected to jump right back to your job, being your main priority for the majority of your day, no matter what else you have going on in your life. Although I know that I objectively have a hard time knowing which tasks are more important for me to start with, which information is most important for me to share, and what needs to be done for me to get where I want to be. I also believe that often when people say that autistic people struggle with prioritization, what they actually mean is that we don't always prioritize the things that they want us to prioritize in the ways that they want us to prioritize them. Since we often place less emphasis on social norms and hierarchies and are more likely to think independently than follow the things that society tells us we quote should do, we might also be more likely to prioritize what actually feels more important to us, rather than what we've been told we should prioritize. Yes, I can struggle to work out which information is the most important to relay, but also maybe I personally find it more important to info dump about something I love than talk about the weather. Yes, I can struggle to know which tasks are more important for me to complete first, but also maybe I just don't think that email should take priority over something that's going to make me feel good. Yes, I can struggle with planning out how to keep on top of my home around working full time. But also, maybe I just don't feel like humans were designed to do a job for 40 hours a week and then come home and complete all the labor that running a household requires? As individual, unique human beings, we will all naturally have different priorities, but the way that we currently work and live under capitalism forces us into a box where our main priority is making money. Not only that, comforting to this structure keeps the power in the hands of those who currently hold it. If things get in the way of our ability to be productive, aka make money, we are told that we have prioritized incorrectly. However, if we didn't live in such a capitalist society, there would be no right or wrong thing to prioritize. Just the priorities that mattered most to us. The same concept applies to gender norms that are imposed upon women to prioritize starting a family, and heteronormative monogamous relationship expectations, which assume we will pick one partner or person that we prioritize over the rest. If these societal norms and expectations weren't seen as the only right way to do things, there would be no issue with our decision to prioritize different things. Additionally, under white supremacy culture, Tima Okun describes the way that we have prioritized certain ways of communicating. In what she describes as worship of the written word. In white supremacy culture, we value things that are written down over any other form of communication. As an example which will be relatable for many of us, let's consider trying to access a medical diagnosis of autism or ADHD. In order to access any support, we have to fill out endless forms and communicate our needs and experiences in a written format. For our experiences to quote matter or exist, they must be written or printed in black and white on a sheet of paper. Paper trails and written words are seen as the only or most legitimate source of information. And we don't account for the way that many cultures have passed on vulnerable knowledge and stories verbally for thousands of years, and that those stories or pieces of information are just as valid as others that happened to be written down. I also find that this shows up in our own instance that the only way to become an expert is via academia. Those who are university educated and have both studied the written word and shared their own research via the written word are seen as more legitimate or qualified than, for example, somebody who has lived experience or has learned by seeking and listening to a certain community or person, or by picking skills up from the people around them. I am also definitely seen as more legitimate or professional now that I am a published author than when I was just a content creator. Even though the information and thoughts that I was sharing in the videos I was creating came from the exact same person and had the exact same value and often exact same content as what was in the book. See also how when sharing some new information with a friend or colleague, you might feel you have to tell them that you read an article about it recently when actually you learned it from a video on TikTok, because an article, written word, is valued much more highly even when the same information is being shared. Facts are facts, whether they are communicated verbally or in a written article, they still hold the same value and importance. How worship of the written word affects the way we see planning, prioritization, and executive functioning. In our current academic and education systems, there is a disproportionate amount of value placed on the written word and therefore our ability to read, write and study effectively. These traditional methods of studying, revising or researching using written materials might require more of our executive functioning capabilities than if we just had to remember information communicated to us verbally, for example. If we valued other forms of communicating information as just as valid as the written word, the academic world would be more accessible to the neurodivergent community. Those who struggle with executive functioning may find tasks that heavily rely on written expression or documentation more difficult, which might lead to their competence being misinterpreted or underestimated. Their challenges in organizing thoughts, planning or prioritizing ideas in writing could be mistaken for a lack of intelligence or ability. Maybe it is not that you struggle to plan, but just that you find it best to do so internally or in a more abstract way, rather than writing out a to-do list. And maybe it's not that you find it difficult to prioritize information, but just that you would rather share it verbally or in a non-linear way, rather than write a report or story from start to finish. Our society and systems frequently rely on written forms being completed and things being written down, which means that anyone who struggles with those things misses out on many opportunities. For example, during the job application process, whether you are actually able to do the job is irrelevant. If you are unable to complete the written form to apply, How can we support ourselves with planning and prioritization? When it comes to planning and prioritization, although there are things that we can do to support ourselves with any struggles that we have, a lot of it comes down to the fact that our brains simply work in a different way. And so we require more information and support from the people around us. With bottom-up processing, our brains are literally processing information in a completely different way than the other people around us. And then the way the world has been designed to accommodate. We cannot change our innate ways of thinking and processing, and perhaps we just need the world around us to instead adapt to suit our needs better. We are disabled, and under the social model of disability, we know that that means that we are disabled by the world around us. Planning and prioritization in work and in life generally would be much less difficult if we weren't expected to read between the lines and follow unwritten rules, and instead were given clear and specific instructions as to what we needed to do, what order we needed to do it in, when we needed to do it by, what the most important outcomes were, and why we needed to do it. If somebody gives you a vague instruction to complete XYZ project and you aren't clear on what they want, it is not your responsibility to decipher their expectations and priorities in order to plan how to approach it. It is also perfectly acceptable to go back and ask them to clarify questions in order to work out how you will move forward. A lot of the time when I feel lost, overwhelmed, and unsure where to start with a project, it is simply down to the fact that I have not been given enough information. And so my brain is working overtime to try and fill in the gaps it needs to be able to make the decisions it needs in order to move forward. I imagine it is being like a maze where one of the pathways is missing. And so the bits of information inside are going round and round in circles, trying to find the correct path. But there is no path there to follow. However, if the information that is needed to be able to plan and prioritize was simply given to me, that pathway in the maze would become clear, and the information would be able to progress through the circuit. Essentially, what I'm trying to get across here is that yes, you can do things to adapt and support yourself with planning and prioritization. But that it is not solely on you. It's also on your managers to give clearer direction. Your family to be specific with their requests, and your partners to support you in working out where your priorities lie. A list of things that are absolutely fine. Prioritizing the things that matter to you even if they don't align with the things that other people think are the most important. Info dumping about your special interest because that feels like a more important thing to speak about than making small talk about the weather. Planning things out ahead of time to create a detailed schedule or itinerary if that eases your anxiety. Needing to speak things through with somebody verbally and get their outside input to work out how to plan and prioritize them. Asking for clarification of what should be prioritized when working on a task or project. Using AIs such as Timo or ChatGPT to break down big tasks into smaller chunks to help you plan and prioritize which order you do them in. Doing things in a different order than what other people might think is logical because that is the order that works best for you. Needing clear and specific instructions for each part of a task or project rather than being told the final output and being expected to work out each step yourself. Needing to reassess your plans and goals on a regular basis because you find it tricky to think about things that are a long way off. Focusing on one step of a project at a time rather than having the whole thing planned out right from the start. Adapting your priorities based on the circumstances. Tip 26 Big Brain Dump. If I wake up in the morning without my day planned out, it can quickly descend into chaos. With no set time to get up and out of the house, I can spend hours lost in my tiny WME machine rectangle, otherwise known as my phone. And without knowing exactly what I need to do, I can become quickly overwhelmed. If my day is left wide open, both decision freeze, more on this in tip 23, winning with waiting mode, page 224, and autistic intertier, struggling to transition from a rest state to a go state. More on this in tip 24, interior insight, intertier insight, page 229, can take over. One way that I combat this is by planning out my to-do list in advance. I call this my Sunday big brain dump. On a Sunday afternoon, I will sit down with a big A-free piece of paper and dump everything that needs to get done the following week out of my brain and onto the page. I'll include any appointments I have, any tasks I need to complete, how many gym sessions I'd like to squeeze in, and if I have any plans with friends. If it needs to get done, it's going on the paper. Then, once I have a clear view of everything that is in store for the entire week, I can pull out the tasks that I'll be able to get done the following day, Monday. I can plan out my day with rough timings, clumping together similar tasks and working out which order it makes the most sense to do things in. I obviously have a bit more flexibility than most people as someone who is self-employed and lives alone. But even if you have your 9 to 5 already blocked out, you can use this to manage which actual tasks you'll get done each day and what you want to do with your free time in the morning or evening. I'll circle them on my big brain dump and then move them over to my to-do list for Monday. Then on Monday evening, once I've got the tasks for that day ticked off, I can come back to my big brain dump. First, I'll go through the tasks that I'd circled for Monday and cross them off the master list so I know that they've been done. Then I can start the process again for the following day. I'll pick out the tasks for Tuesday, circle them, move them over to my Tuesday to-do list, and work out the order and timings of getting them done. I can repeat this process every night, always coming back to my big brain dump and using this to schedule the following day's to-do list. Doing this means I'm making sure that all the week's tasks are getting done and that I have my day planned out ahead of time to prevent not knowing where to get started. It also has the added benefit of meaning that I know what's going on before I go to bed. So I'm not tossing and turning while my busy brain thinks about what I need to do in the morning. It's already been decided. Tip 27. Visual aids. One of the most common ways that parents and carers of autistic children are advised to accommodate them is by using visual schedules to let them know what to expect. Research has found that autistic people may be more responsive when information is presented visually in a step-by-step manner than when it is presented in an auditory manner. My mum was a primary school teacher when I was younger, and when we were first exploring my suspected autism, something that she mentioned to me was the accommodations that were put in place for a high support needs autistic boy who had been in one of her classes. She mentioned that having a visual schedule for his classes and activities for the day was really important to him. So he knew what to expect and could visually process each task that was coming up. This way he wasn't being caught off guard or having to deal with unexpected changes because it had all been laid out for him ahead of time. I thought about this a lot and how as autistic adults who were undiagnosed or unsupported throughout our childhood, our parents, carers, and teachers never had these insights into how they could support us and ease our anxiety. Additionally, for those of us who were diagnosed later in life, even though we might not have the same brains and the same needs as those who have been diagnosed younger, we were never told any of these tips, tricks or strategies. Which is why I set out to write this book in the first place. We might not have had parents or teachers making us visual schedules to help relax our nervous systems. But those things will still help to ease our anxiety at any stage in life, and so we can do them for ourselves. A visual schedule could be a sequence of photographs, videos, line drawings, symbols, text, or other visual formats that are used to show the person using it what they are expected to do, such as the example on the opposite page. The series of visually presented tasks are arranged in the schedule in the order they are to be completed. This might look like sticking up photos of activities you're going to do that week to prepare, sticking up photos of friends you're seeing, having symbols or drawings for each activity you need to do. Using a visual wall planner so you can see your schedule for the week. I have a visual week planner that sticks to the wall and has a whiteboard coating so I can write on there and rub it off each week. Every Sunday when I'm completing my big brain dump, see tip 26 page 251, I can fill out the big pre-arranged meetings or activities for the week on the planner. For me, words are enough. Just being able to visually see ahead of time what I will be doing is enough to ease my anxiety. But you can also buy flashcards or drawings that show common activities on them if this would help you further. Bonus tip. If you particularly struggle with a specific part of your schedule, like your morning or night routine, using the same idea of a visual schedule can be helpful can be a helpful way to make sure you remember each task. Tip 28 Bear Minimum Monday by Marissa Joe Mays. ADHD founder of Spacetime Productivity. In the height of my AUDHD burnout, I used to begin each day with about 10 things on my to-do list, but my functioning levels were so low that I would constantly complete only about two of them. Unless it had an immediate strong consequence like attending a meeting, replying to a client, or posting on a contractual piece of content. My brain simply found it impossible. I'd yet to develop a self-compassionate lens through which to view myself. So I took this to mean any number of things about myself, depending on the day. I'm lazy, I'm bad at self-employment, I don't have the discipline it takes to be successful. This became a cycle. I used to stay up incredibly late every Sunday evening in an attempt to delay Monday as long as possible, knowing that a huge to-do list awaited me in the morning. On Monday, I'd sleep in until the last minute. The pressure to have a productive day and therefore weak, rendering me completely frozen. The only thing that could force me into action was an approaching deadline, so I'd procrastinate everything until that point, which made the stress even worse. After a few months of this, I woke up one Monday morning, looked at the list of ten things I thought ideal me should be able to accomplish, and in my gut knew I would only do two of those things by the end of the day. I knew it. I thought to myself, what would happen if I just let this be acceptable? And I declared to my TikTok audience, this is your permission to do the absolute bare minimum today, which was actually just permission I was extending to myself. On that first bare minimum Monday, I decided that instead of calling myself a horrible person for only being able to complete 20% of my to-do list, I would lower the bar and make that 20% my entire goal. I would only hold myself accountable to do the tasks that absolutely needed to be done that day. And anything I did beyond that would be icing on the cake. The weight off those eight other obligations having been lifted, I actually got the two done quickly. When my work was done, I went on a bike ride, cleaned my apartment, and even had enough momentum going to check off a couple more tasks. At the end of the day, I celebrated completing 200% of my goal, four tasks indeed of two. Instead of internally berating myself for only completing four things, this change felt so good that I knew I'd try it again the following week. Six days later, the Sunday panic never set in. Instead, I felt relief. Since that day in early 2022, every single week has begun with a bare minimum Monday, and sometimes even bare minimum other days of the week, and I urge you to try it too. Tip 29, prioritizing for you. As I have mentioned earlier in this chapter, it is my belief that when people say that neurodivergent folk struggle with prioritization, they perhaps actually mean that we just don't prioritize the things that they think we should prioritize in the way that they think we should prioritize them. Let me explain. They might say that we're struggling to prioritize our careers, when in reality, we just don't want to make work our number one priority. They might say that we're struggling to prioritize relationships, when in reality, we just don't put that specific relationship ahead of our own happiness and well-being. They might say that we're struggling to prioritize the tasks that matter. When in reality those tasks just don't matter as much to us. Autistic people, especially, tend not to place as much importance on societal norms, expectations, and hierarchies as neurotypical people do. As a result, they may be less likely to prioritize the things that society expects them, to all the things that other people consider of high importance. In our capitalist society, this might look like not prioritizing our career, as we explored earlier in the chapter, or not valuing finding a heteronormative, monogamous relationship as the most important source of happiness. Prioritization is all a matter of perspective, and so the most important step is prioritizing what is most important to you. Don't get me wrong, this can be a tricky thing to do in a society that expects us all to work in the same way, behave in the same way, want the same things, and live the same lives. However, here are a few ways that you can get started. Word of the month as an alternative to setting a new year's resolution at the start of January, you could choose a word or theme to prioritize at the beginning of each month. This word will then guide your decisions and behavior throughout the month ahead. Some months this might look like exercise or health. Others it could look like balance or rest, and others it might look like connections or relationships. It's impossible to balance and prioritize every single thing all the time. So picking one priority for each month means that you can shift and change where your focus lies over time. Five years, one year, three months, one month. A technique used for goal setting within ADHD coaching is working out your goals based on different things you'd like to achieve over a longer period of time. If you start by thinking of where you'd like to be, what you'd like to achieve, or what you'd like your life to look like in five years' time, you can then start to strip this back and work out what you need to prioritize in the short term to get you to the end point. For example, if in five years' time you'd like to be a Sunday Times bestselling author, in one year you might want to have a book deal secured. To do this, you might want to have a book proposal finished in the next three months. And so over the next month, you need to prioritize researching how to structure a book proposal and braindumping your key themes and points for the book. Splitting it down in this way can help you to know what to prioritize in the short term rather than procrastinating or getting overwhelmed by the big goal. Working out your non-negotiables, spending the time to figure out what you need to feel your best means you know that you need to prioritize those things no matter what else might be going on in your life. For example, I know that reading and getting at least 10,000 steps per day are two things that are really important to keep me feeling good. Reading is one of the only things that keeps my brain. Fully zoned into one thing at a time. And going for a long walk both clears my head and makes sure that I'm tired enough to fall asleep at night. However, last year, when my first book, Unmasked, was published and life got very busy, both of those things got pushed aside. I felt like I should be prioritizing the work. And these were things that didn't matter too much. If they got pushed aside in the end, that left me frazzled, burnt out, and not feeling great. So now I've made them non-negotiable things that I will prioritize no matter what. If that means I have to turn down a meeting because it's the only time I can get my steps in that day, then so be it. The world might tell me that I should prioritize work, but actually prioritizing getting out for a walk is prioritizing my career in the long run because it prevents me from getting burn out and needing to take time off. Tip 30 Start with the end By Path Evera Day them queer neurodivergent Papuan Australian storyteller Over the last year I've curated an art show, created a magazine, hosted a two-day virtual conference and spun up a community in solidarity with Palestine, all while being a full-time creator. Each of these projects had a ton of moving parts. And while hyperfocus can be a game changer, organization and project management don't come naturally to my chaotic ADHD brain. This is why I use two guiding principles for every project. Find the why and start with the end. Find the why. Why? A question that you might relate to a curious toddler. As their left brain develops in a spirit, causing them to try and figure out how the world works, it's also a question that's always top of mind for me as a neurodivergent person. Why? Why are we doing this? Why are we doing it in this way? Often followed by questions like, what are the objectives? What does success look like? Clarifying questions are typically how I start any task, project or brief. As before I dive into anything, I want to know as much context as possible. This helps me make sure whatever I put together is aligned with what they want to see. This is especially relevant when working with a client or third party by asking clarifying questions. I can typically mitigate miscommunications and misunderstandings, which are pretty commonplace when as an autistic person you might miss the underlying social cues and assumptions. After I've gathered as much context as possible, I move on to the second principle. Start with the end rather than thinking of what tasks I need to complete next. I like to project myself forward to the very end of the project. I know the why, and this process helps me visualize exactly what that end product experience deliverable needs to look like. Using that final goal and deadline, I can then work backwards and map out the milestones I need to hit to reach that. Using a magazine launch as an example, to hit the final deadline, I need to have a printed magazine, a website ready for launch, and marketing content. For me to have the marketing collateral, I need to have the printed magazine. So that has to be created first. I also know there is a two-week printing turnabout for the magazine, so I need to allow for that time frame in my plans too. I keep working backwards until I get to the start, which helps me to ensure no essential tasks are missing along the way. Naturally, you might enjoy plugging this into a project management board, ideally something visual, to stay organized. Plus, get that sweet, sweet dopamine for each task completed. With any project, there will of course be stumbling blocks, hurdles, or additional tasks that pop up that you hadn't foreseen. But by then, starting with the end, you always have an eye on your final vision, goal, and objective, which can help you prioritize and focus. Two things that are essential for neurodivergent brains that are easily distracted. Planning and prioritization recap. Planning and prioritization is the executive functioning skill that gives us the ability to create a systematic approach to achieving goals, including breaking tasks into steps and determining their relative importance. It's what allows us to take a big end goal and work backwards to figure out what we need to do to get there. The map that gives us the route we need to get to the finish line. The way that neurodivergent brains work means that we are often taking in and processing a much greater amount of information. Which means there are a lot more things to sift through, making prioritization more difficult for us. Additionally, we are often missing the context that neurotypical people naturally glean. So we may need to ask more clarifying questions in order to gather all the information. We need to be able to know how to plan, prioritize, and move forward. In this chapter we have explored what planning and prioritization is, the systems which have affected the way we think about planning and prioritization, some ways we can support ourselves with planning and prioritization. Five things to consider putting in place for your planning and prioritization. Your takeaway box. Autistic people generally process information in a bottom-up way, which is the opposite of how most neurotypical autistic people process. This means that we are constantly taking in a lot of sensory input in order to build the picture of what's around us. Not only is this tiring, but it also means that there is a lot more information that we need to sift through in order to prioritize compared to neurotypical people, and we might need to ask more clarifying questions. Often when people suggest that others are bad at prioritizing, they might instead mean that the person hasn't prioritized the things that they think they should, in the way that they think they should prioritize them. We are all individual and unique human beings, which means that we will all value and prioritize different things, and that is okay. Planning and prioritization are all based on context. The circumstances and context of a situation are what determine what pieces are what determine which pieces of information or tasks are the most important to do. So creating what context for yourself with rules like your word of mouth or your non-negotiables, or asking other people for clarification of that context can be good ways to help you move forward. Now, that was chapter six. We're going to be moving on to chapter seven, task initiation, next week. So I really hope you enjoyed this episode of Behind the Paddle podcast, How to Be You. And I shall catch you next week. We do have an Instagram, we do have a Twitter, um, I'm on all of social media, so I'm a little bit behind, but uh this book is very um true, let's say that. But yeah, thank you so much for listening. And if you enjoyed this episode, please do remember to give a review just overall for Behind about the podcast on whatever platform you are listening to. Thank you very much, and bye.