One of the great things about writing my blog is that it is forcing me to identify what stands in the way of writing my blog posts. I have learned in Rehabilitation that the first step to resolving a problem is to be able to identify the problem is that is challenging for me. Then I can work to come up with compensatory strategies to resolve the issue (work around it) or I can ask others for help to figure out a compensatory strategy to help me get around the problem.
I want to point out that last week, I had to come up with a compensatory strategy sort of at the last moment and I did! Looking back, I am pleased with myself about that. I so wanted to finish the post I had planned and get it out. Instead I came up with a strategy when things did not work out as I planned. I realized I just had to explain what I had tried to do and wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day and be satisfied with that.
Last week was a short week for us because we were leaving early for the Memorial Day Weekend and we were traveling (which, in short, means a lot of extra preparation and cognitive steps for me.) I had looked ahead and made plans to get my blog post done early so that I could post it. I had started writing my on Tuesday, as far as I recall anyway. And I had scheduled time into my calendar on the Wednesday in order to finish my draft before we left on Thursday morning. All was going well so far.
To explain this further, I am going to step back a moment and say that what I have learned in rehab is that planning and figuring out how to meet a deadline are all “executive-functioning” skills. I have had to relearn executive functioning skills as part of my speech and language therapy and I was lucky to have some very good therapists who have helped me. And before I could even begin working on executive functioning, I had to do a lot of work on attention and concentration with my speech and language therapists. What I did not know before my rehabilitation was that attention and concentration are important skills underlying executive functioning skills. My vision therapy has also helped me with these skills. While I still cannot describe how, I know that they have.
My executive functioning skills are much better then they were because of my rehabilitation. Some of these skills are more automatic now. When I say they are more automatic, it means I do not have to think about them and line them up consciously, they happen by themselves (again). Like when I used to get in my car and drive before my accident, I didn’t have to think about the steps of driving my car. I did not have to think first I put the keys in the ignition, then I put the car into gear, then I adjust the mirror, then I back out of the driveway. I just did all of those without thinking. That is what I mean when I say that they were “automatic” before my accident.
Suffice it to say that how my brain worked was not automatic after my accident. I had to relearn many steps that most adults do without thinking.
Back to my last Wednesday and trying to meet my deadline of posting my blog with the skills I currently have.
It used to be that when I was not quite done with a deadline, my brain could figure out how to resolve a problem in a limited time and resolve it without me having to consciously think about it. I still remember the brain that could do that. Because of rehabilitation and a lot of practice since rehabilitation, I have to consciously remember that as much as I would like to be the person that could automatically resolve deadline issues, I am not that person anymore. That means that I have to find a way to resolve the deadline issue that incorporates my current abilities around deadlines.
So I was pleased with myself last Wednesday when I realized that I needed to just wish everyone Happy Memorial Day! as a solution to not quite having the executive functioning skills I needed to finish my post and get the other things I needed to get done that day.
What compensatory strategies do you use with deadlines?
