The Container and Contents Week Designer
Paired worksheet. Routine AND Novelty: Structuring an AuDHD Work Week So Both Brains Win
1Which three to five anchors will never move?
Name the fixed points your autistic side can trust. These are the when and the shape, not the what.
2What is the one mode for each work day?
Give each day a loose theme (a category of work) so your brain pays the Switch Cost once and then stays in that mode.
3Where does novelty live on your calendar?
Pick the standing flex slot where your ADHD side is sanctioned to chase the new thing without blowing up the container.
4What real dopamine are you feeding, and what junk is it replacing?
List the novel, interesting work that actually fuels you, and the scroll-or-sugar hits it is meant to crowd out.
5Where do shiny ideas land so they stop hijacking your day?
Set up one parking lot list and describe how a new idea gets caught right away without getting worked right now.
Your next moves
- Pick one anchor and protect it, same time and same way, every day for the next seven days.
- Assign one loose theme to each work day so you stop deciding from scratch every morning.
- Block one standing flex slot and leave it gloriously empty for whatever has heat that week.
- Start a single parking lot list and drop every new idea into it the moment it shows up.
- Run the Dopamine Inventory once this week to check whether your novelty is real fuel or junk.
What surfaced for you?
The last time your week had a steady shape, did the structure feel like a cage, or did it quietly free you up to do the work that had heat inside it?
You are not bad at structure. You are not undisciplined. You were handed a week built for one brain and asked to run it on two. Build the shelves that stay, feed the side that needs novelty on purpose, and let both parts of you win in the same week.