Preserve your energy with these learning strategies

How’s the just-passed back-to-school thing going at your house? As a parent and educator, this month is… well… 🤯. The emotional labour! The space-holding! The transition as a learner! How are you all doing?

I’m going to keep it particularly short (to mind cognitive bandwidth) and sweet (keeping in line with this Halloween month). Given how demanding this new-school-year energy is for all involved, I want to share two strategies to help preserve that bandwidth and conserve that energy.

a person's hand washing a single, silver fork under a stream of running tap water.

Strategy #1: OHIO

Only
Handle
It
Once
 

This little phrase packs a wallop. What is it getting at?

With emails: if you’re going to open it, make sure you have time to process or action it (otherwise leave it unread until you do).

With home-life: if you’re handling something (a piece of clothing, a dish, a pillow), take it to its full conclusion: hang it up, put it in the dishwasher, place it back on the sofa.

It works with anything on your to-do list, whether it’s professional or personal.

OHIO is born out of the creative brilliance of ADHD strategising. To mitigate starting and stopping, opening but then forgetting, it invites us to — where possible — see through the thing we’ve picked up.

Of course, some tasks need days, months, even years to complete. It’s not actually about doing just one project until you finish it. But it is about doing one small portion of it, and only that, while you’re doing that one thing. It’s a balm to multi-tasking, and a way to make small, manageable movement on task lists.

Give the ‘Only Handle It Once’ principle a try and let me know what you think!

a stack of smooth, grey stones stacked carefully on top of one another sits before a waterfall surrounded by lush hills and a pebble beach

Strategy #2: What’s important?

Part of what can make our lives so compressed, challenging, and even overwhelming is that prioritisation is seldom a taught skill. It’s like we’re all supposed to just know how to do it. Like we pick it up, osmotically. But that’s so unhelpful! For most people learning how to prioritize is a game-changer!

Why is prioritization so important? Because it’s fundamentally about “what’s important.” If something has a deadline in two days, we might assume that it’s important. But how do we hold this due date in the context of: a best friend’s birthday, a parent request, a part-time work shift, a cherished movement class, an invitation to a crafting session, a community meet-up, a neighbourhood call to action, a dentist or therapy appointment… I could go on. It’s all important.

There are several prominent models that teach how to prioritise: some are based on urgency (how soon something is coming due), and some are based on value (how much “worth” something has). But all models that I’ve encountered lack any inclusion of meaningfulness. And none support balance, sustainability, or humanity in getting stuff done.


So, here’s what I want to propose: the Priority Wheel.

The Priority Wheel

a drawing of five small circles placed evenly apart in a circular fashion. Between each small circle is an arrow illustrating a cycle. In the centre: "me today"

The main idea is that we start at any spot and do one of each ‘type’ of thing / task / activity in the wheel.

  • Something we HAVE to do (like a work task)

  • Something we SHOULD do (like begin research towards a project on the horizon)

  • Something we WANT to do (like bake, fool around on the ukulele, play with our dog)

  • Something that FEELS GOOD to do (like getting some fresh air)

  • Something we are AIMing to do (like steps or seed-planting towards a longer-term personal project)

Then: repeat the cycle. They don’t have to be done in this or any particular order. There’s full freedom and agency here. The gist is that we can actively practise honouring all of what’s important to us and experience more aliveness and balance and integration in our lives. (For those reading along, that’s in chapter 7 in my book Feel Good Learning!)

a blonde woman wearing glasses is smiling and holding a book called "feel good learning". She sits in front of a pink brick wall, wearing a striped shirt that is black and gold.

I so totally adore you. Thank you for being here.

Wishing you kind learning,

Deena

Previous
Previous

October 2023 Updates

Next
Next

September 2023 Updates