Let’s Talk: Managing Life with Cerebral Palsy

I feel as though in the last four years or so, we’ve seen a huge increase on the internet of the “get things done” (GTD) productivity culture. This has exploded in a number of ways from various authors and bloggers sharing their work ethics and tips, to having apps, computer programs, and web browser add-ons. The list goes on and on about how to be more productive in your life.

Today, I’m talking about the various ways for you to tackle your to-do list. For years I read books, articles, and blogs on the topic of productivity. I bought apps like Omnifocus, I watched a ton of GTD videos on YouTube. I am all about saving time and making things easier for myself. As a person with cerebral palsy, saving energy, stress and worry on the little things means that I can accomplish more of the big things I need to get done in my day.

One of my favorite ways of doing this lately is the planner craze, which I’ve talked about before in this column. Here is a page from my planner. I will make a video all about my planning processes next week, but I can break a few things down for you now.

So, this is a full spread of my planner for the week of Feb. 13-19. (I took the pictures this way so that you could see a close up of my layouts.) On a Sunday night I’ll look down and plan out my week. What I always do first is mark off all of the important things that need to get done during the week. For myself, I mark things like therapy and doctor’s appointments, hair washing days, and days that my columns are due, for example. These are my big-ticket items, which usually take a lot of energy.

From there, honestly, I use my planner as a scrapbook and kind of like a bullet journal all in one. You can see that every day of the week I have a pain scale marker at the top. I use this to track my daily pain and you can see that I am also recording symptoms. During this time I was struggling with bed-wetting, so I have some milestones written down, such as on Thursday, where I noted, “no bedwetting for two days! :)”

I personally love to keep and make books like these and my specialists love to see all of the things that I get done some weeks, as well as the struggles and down time that can come with other weeks. How much put into this book is what you get out of it, and it is so rewarding to look back and see all the things you’ve done, and it gives you and your medical team great insight on your experience.

Currently, I am expanding this process by working with something called “time blocking” so that I can ensure that I get everything done for the day that I need to, despite cerebral palsy, by blocking it off —but in my planner and my calendar. I can’t wait to lay out that process for you next week!

Note: Cerebral Palsy News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Cerebral Palsy News Today, or its parent company, BioNews Services, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to cerebral palsy.