Focus Cards can be used by people with high level of distraction and bad short term memory to quickly regain focus when they get distracted.

The problem

Since I’m a person with a pretty bad short term memory (due to Asperger, I think), and are pretty good at getting distracted (mostly due to ADHD), I’ve found, part from my to-do-lists (in GTD-style), I need something to keep me focused while I am working on a task.

My problem is that if the phone ring, a colleague asks me a question or even just opening the program where I keep my “next task” on my computer, I risk getting distracted and losing track of what I am doing at the moment.

It isn’t uncommon for me to work on a programming task, remember I had to make an appointment with my dentist, open gmail – in order to get to my calendar – and find myself 15 minutes later writing a book review (because there was a mail asking me to do that).

Of course, having less things on your plate helps, but in my job (IT-consulting), I’m sometimes required to handle several tasks at once, each with something that needs to be done. GTD works well for this situation, but if I am unable to quickly return to the task at hand – from phone calls and questions – I waste time.

Focus Cards

So, I came up with the “Focus Cards”.

In short it consists of a number of index cards and post-it notes. I then put instructions for a “piece of work” on the index cards and a name of a project or part of a project on a post-it.

The index card is supposed to contain process specific information such as checklists, control questions or other instructions. It also works as a marker for the kind of task being performed for the project or project part.

You can get both the post-its and the index cards from a office equipment or paper store. You might also be helped by writing with lead pencil both on the index cards, at least until you’ve gotten the contents on the card down to your liking.

I’ve split the reminders into two parts since I found the process is pretty static while the tasks and projects always change. This way I can keep the memory notes short – with the right combination of post-its and cards you might only have to write the project name on the post-it and reuse the same few cards over and over.

Added bonus: Defining your process

This can also be a help to figure out the steps in your work. The next task you work with, write it down on a new card (use a lead pencil). As new tasks come up, reuse an old card (perhaps after having corrected the text some) or write a new card. After a few hours or days you take the cards, sort, categorize, split and merge – create new cards or reuse/correct the old ones.

Still using a lead pencil (and a rubber eraser, obviously) add check list items or control questions to the card if you realize you keep forgetting or have to check the same thing over and over. If the cards get cluttered, erase and rewrite, or write new cards as needed.

If you have a role definition for your work or some kind of work flow or checklist description this can help creating a base set of cards, but you will most likely still want to modify the cards according to the above process.

An example

As an example (from the IT-business where I am active), I have a focus card each for “Testing”, “Analysis/Error handling” and “Documentation”.

On the “Analysis/Error handling” card I’ve put a checklist with the following items (comments, not on the card, within parenthesis):

• what did the tester (person reporting the bug) do?
• what did they think should happen?
• what happened instead?
• Can I recreate the bug? (In our test system – if we can’t recreate it, we’re not going to be able to find it or fix it)
• who pays? (The manufacturer of the standard product where the error ocurred? The customer – for standard support etc? My company – because the bug occurred within the guarantee time? Etc etc)

On the post-its I will type the name of the project, and perhaps a sub part of that project or a bug/issue number from the bug tracking system in use.

For instance I might type “intranet, dev server” on the post-it and place it on the “Install/Configure” card. Then once that’s been done I can move the post-it to the “Testing” card to verify the install/config of my development server. (This is given that I don’t do too much in between – in which case I’ve found it’s best to keep your desk clean, throw away the post-it, after having updated the to-do list of course)

Pros and cons

I keep the index cards/post-its in front of me (on my otherwise relatively clean desk – you wont be able to do this if you have piles of papers and other junk on your desk!)

Whenever I get distracted, once I return focus to my desk all I have to do is look for the index card and the post-it.

Not having to move/maximize/minimize application windows on my computer helps keeping “interesting” e-mails and other junk away from me, and since I actually do most of my work on the computer, being able to remember what I was working with, and not having to move or reorganize my windows too much is also a huge help.

The only pit-fall I’ve seen so far with this system is that it has the tendency to turn into a to-do-list system in a pile on your desk. This is something I like to avoid, mostly since I have my to-do-list on the computer, where I can sort and filter it, but also because the “Focus” part of the whole thing gets lost if you have too many things on your desk.

I think the key to making this system work is keeping the number of post-its down. If they grow, prioritize and select the thing you have to do first. Put the rest in a to do list.

Another tip is using a lead pencil, which makes it easy to add and remove notes on the post-it (although you can always throw the post-it away and use a new one).

One advantage with the index cards is that you have your checklist/memory-help (on the index card) stuck to the task at hand. I actually started this system by just making a checklist, or process description of my work, then I cut it up in sizable chunks.

If you are an Aspie you probably have a lot of things. Old stuff you cannot throw away.

Perhaps you collect things? I’ve heard examples of anything and everything from model airplanes, to plastic buckets, to rubber boots, to pictures of horses. Aspies seems to have the collector gene in spades!

As a consequence you probably have a rather messy home. I know I used to. I had piles of things covering the floor, only leaving small “paths” snaking through the mess and connecting my bed, my computer, the kitchen and the hallway.

Given that an Aspie can get rather stressed out by a too cluttered surrounding or by not being able to find stuff, this is usually a problem that needs to be solved.

My solution consisted of the following activities:

• Throw away and give away things I don’t need or want
• Organize the things I decided to keep

Throw away / Give away

This can be painful, frustrating or something you just don’t want to do. However, I recommend you go through your things and divide them up into three piles:

1. Throw away
2. Give away
3. Keep

You can give a lot of things to charity. I know where I live there’s containers from the Red Cross and similar organizations where you can put clothes and some other things. Check with those organizations, or if you know where they have collection points, check with them what you can leave and how.

Giving things away keeps you from worrying about wasting something that someone might need.

You can always go through the give away and throw away piles an extra time before you act on them. You can also do this several times. Perhaps once a year or so.

Just accept that you probably have to get rid of something.

I don’t know about your case, but I had stuff that was just garbage. I hadn’t been able to get it out the door. For instance, clothes from the 80ies – a pink and lilac training overall – I’d rather shoot myself than wearing that thing. However I gave it away to charity – poor bastards! 😀 Once I had the piles it was easier to just pick something from the throwaway pile on my way out. I didn’t had to think about it.

In fact, I still place my garbage bags by the door when they need to get thrown out. It doesn’t matter if it’s the day before and the bag will be sitting there until I leave the next day. Once I leave I get the bag with me out, and that is a vast improvement from having it pile up someplace indoors.

Getting Organized

Once you have decided what things to keep you need to get organized. In principle this means deciding a set location for everything you own, from car keys to collected plastic buckets to old photos.

Here’s the key to success:

You won’t be able to do this unless you have furniture, drawers, and boxes where you can place your things.

Here’s a list to get your inspiration going (also see the images at the bottom of this post):

• Boxes, from matchbox-small to meter/yard sized and every size in between
• Binders
• Shelves
• Chests of drawers
• Suspension files

You can get boxes from stores like IKEA. How about keeping old shoe boxes?

I have a bunch of shoe boxes with computer parts on top of my shelves. It may not look perfect but it is so much better than having stuff lying all over the place. I’ve also written on the boxes what they contain.

When I get messy, for instance fixing my computer, I can pull down the boxes, spread the contents allover the apartment. I then have a mess, but because I know where each piece of “mess” belongs I can get the things back into the boxes and the boxes back on the shelves in about ten minutes. I’ve done it several times.

The cool thing about being an Aspie is that you can usually create a system and remember it. This is your strength and you should use it.

Organizing things haphazardly is most likely not playing to your strengths and even though it may take some time to get organized in the first place, once you’ve got the system down, it’s way faster than playing it by ear.

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Some persons with Asperger Syndrome has problems mentalizing (although it not being part of any diagnose criteria as more than “impaired” skills in social interaction and communication – I’ll add a source if I find one!)

I’m one of them, but before I get into my personal experience of it lets define mentalization:

“Thinking is thinking. Mentalising is thinking about thinking and feeling, our own and other people’s.” – http://www.organiclemon.org/id7.html

“To understand the behavior of others as a product of their mental state” – http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mentalize

“Mentalizing – the ability to understand oneself and others by inferring the mental states that lie behind overt behavior” – http://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychoanalysis/unit-staff/mentalization_bpd.htm

You may also find this article on Wikipedia helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentalization

Sometimes I’ve heard Aspies are supposed to have problems with empathy (which is totally wrong in my case – I empathize). I think Aspies probably have trouble with the mentalization (among other things – some people are actually too shy to talk much even when it is obvious the other person needs it – that, however, is not me! :))

If you are unable to, or having a hard time to imagine the other person’s feelings and thoughts correctly, you’ll also have a hard time figuring out the correct emotional response. And when you laugh or look serious in the wrong situation people will start wondering about your empathic abilities.

I have a bunch of examples from my past, like the girlfriend I was feeling was sliding away – and when she had her birthday without inviting me I call her to ask why, and finally breaks up with her… just to realize I did this on her birthday… but by then it was too late. Foot firmly inserted in mouth. What I’m saying here is, breaking up might have been the right thing to do, but not on her birthday… or over the phone for that matter. Sure I had an idea about what was going on, and what I should do, but I never stopped to think about how she would feel about my behavior.

Having problems mentalizing also makes you an easy target for anyone wanting to con or take advantage of you (I stopped counting the amount of money and time I’ve thrown out the window on idiots I didn’t figure for idiots until too late). If you don’t get a feel for the other person’s thoughts, needs etc, you use yourself as a reference instead, and I happen to be a pretty nice and honest person (too damn honest – but that’s another post). So when the signal doesn’t get through you start by saying – hey they have honest intentions, right? And then when you get burned and the signal still doesn’t get through, you start saying – hey this (completely different person) is probably going to do just the same thing (as the other, completely psychopathic person did)… right?

Another consequence is that you might seem selfish or self absorbed. You’re having a hard time getting the feel for what’s going on in the head of other people so you start using yourself as the yardstick. And this in turn makes talking about everything from your perspective an important part in understanding everyone else.

Lacking in mentalization also means an Aspie might say, “hey I don’t want to talk about that, it’s boring…” Which isn’t the best of conversation starters, but because you’re not so much in tune with what’s going on in the head of the other person you miss the fact that talking about what you want all day might actually be boring to them.

However, there’s some hope. First of all, like anyone else, I’ve also grown up. And as you get older things starts falling into place. I might feel a conversation is boring, but try to steer it into something else, something both parties might actually find interesting. Not just say: “boooring” right out. And since I have rather narrow interests (another Aspie thing) I’ve become an expert on not just seeming interested, but finding interesting things in what people tell me (like when they go on about painting the boat or orchids – the orchids conversation actually got me thinking about getting more flowers to my apartment… see?)

Another thing is, most people actually aren’t as complicated as you might think. They have a few things going through their heads, different fears (of not fitting in, or lacking in some way, or that someone near or dear will get hurt, or won’t like us – fear is a huge part of what goes through people’s heads on a daily basis) and needs (love, safety, self worth… well basically Maslow’s hierarchy of needs), and so on. It takes years to figure it out, but even after a short while you start understanding – on a logical level – what’s most likely going on in the head of the people around you.

I’ve found books on body language and facial expressions helps a lot (think “Lie to Me” but less fantastic and more scientific). My favorite book (which unfortunately doesn’t exist in English) is called “The art of Reading Minds” (translation of “Konsten att läsa tankar” by Henrik Fexeus, there’s also a German translation, but I have a hard time thinking there wouldn’t be equivalent texts in English or other languages.)

What I like about this book is that it’s scientific (in spite of the title), it does not claim to contain any truth or only way to do things, and it’s pragmatic. Instead of tons of theories on rapport (to mention one of it’s subjects) you get; try to speak and breathe in the same pace as the other person, and you’ll start creating rapport, and when your body is on the same level of alertness as the other person, it might be pretty easy to figure out what they feel and think – simply by looking at your own thoughts and feelings, which is more often than we’d like influenced by our breathing, alertness level and other purely corporeal factors.

So, by analyzing behavior, it is possible to do what most people does by instinct, even though it takes longer to get there, and you may sometimes come off as a bit self-centered or too analytical. The core of the problem, however, was nicely described to me by a friend from many years ago. We were having a rather philosophical conversation and she said, “you know, I can ask if you understand, and you might say, sure I do, but I’ll never be able to know for sure that you really do.”

And that’s the human condition for you 😉