Ready to outsmart 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' ?
Flip "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" on its head to make progress towards your big projects without getting lost in unattended clutter.
One of the aspects that scattered hackers usually struggle with more than neurotypicals is the ability to find momentum or rhythm on their most important goals/projects while working remotely. As someone who has been a remote knowledge worker since the pandemic, I’ve never been in an office setting or environment since 2020 and have personally struggled with this challenge.
We will talk about the Why & How we can find flow and proceed to deliver key results. I’m also listing down the techniques that have worked for me.
The Why: Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget coined the term “Object Permanence”, which is the mental ability to understand that things, people, or situations continue to exist even when they are not immediately visible to us. Deficit or Lack of Object Permanence i.e Object Impermanance is commonly termed as “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”.
In the context of ADHD & Object Impermanence, it’s not that individuals are unable to comprehend that something exists when it is out of view. Rather, individuals know that the object is there, but heavily struggle to maintain an active conscious representation of it if it’s not in front of them leading to losing track of priorities.
Example of Out Of Sight, Out of Mind: Imagine having a project deadline that one is feverishly working towards. During a break, they walk around and notice there is laundry to fold, dirty dishes to take out, piled up unopened mail etc. If I were that person, here is a little peek at how it used to play out earlier:
Just Breathe!
The How: My tricks for flipping this “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” upside down that have worked well for me so far are:
On my “Maker” days (Ref: Maker Vs Manager), I intentionally work from my nearest Panera Bread/ Starbucks/ Peets coffee shop
Reserve a Study Room in my nearest local library. Check if your local city library offers one.
Utilize free park access and free parking from my Eastbay Regional Parks membership to work amidst nature. Achieve both work and workouts, killing two birds with one stone!
Heavily use calendars on my devices for reminders and appointments. Specifically include appointments for cleaning routines (Remember “_Saturday Night is Laundry Night_” for Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory :-) )
Leverage Body doubling platforms to stay accountable.
What do you think of the above tricks & what tricks have you employed so far & have been working well for you??