By: Kamal Hylton

Where could I create the most impact?

That’s the first question I ask myself when joining the Abilities Hub team. The answer spoke to me loud and clear, helping those with learning differences (or LD) navigate professional environments. Although the world has become more educated and accommodating to people with disabilities, some aspects are still daunting for those with learning differences. Due to it not being easily detectable in the high functioning, LD has often been referred to as the ” hidden disability “.

NOTE: I use the term Learning Differences over Learning Disabilities because I feel the word “disability” has a negative connotation associated with it in this context. In my opinion, having LD doesn’t mean you’re not able to learn, it just means you have to find a different way to learn the same material.

How can I best help those with LD?

This is where the idea for my article series “LD Hacks” comes into play. The purpose of LD Hacks is to be a roadmap full of resources and advice to make work-life less stressful and more enjoyable. This first series focuses on productivity, specifically on meeting looming deadlines. In the mind of someone with LD, I’ve deconstructed how to meet deadlines in three different categories. These categories are Creating Rituals, Automation, and Apps/Scheduling.

So let’s look at the first category in more detail:

Identifying Positive Work Habits

The first aspect that goes into creating a long-lasting ritual is identifying positive work habits. The best way for someone with LD to accomplish this is through repetition of what works well and elimination of everything else; allowing for a feeling of control to be regained through positive reinforcement. Whether it be something as simple as answering emails or a more stressful task such as submitting crucial reports, having a process in place with step-by-step instructions is a huge aid in the areas of time management, organization and workflow.
A quality resource I’ve recently read that has explained this in really great detail is the book Free To Focus by leadership mentor Michael Hyatt. Although it was written more for high achievers in the business world, I feel many of his principles jump off the page for those with learning differences. Among the many tips, he does a great job in explaining how he sets up his life around foundational rituals and then challenges you to find similar ways to do so in yours.

It boils down to this, any positive habit being introduced into work life needs to answer one question:

Is there a more efficient way to approach this?

If the answer is yes, next steps can be explored. If that answer is no however, it should be eliminated before it even gets off the ground.

Commit To The Task

With all the unnecessary tasks and wasted time now pruned away, what remains is a simplified and natural rhythm that perfectly fits the way you work. Now it’s time for the real work to begin, to put a mandatory commitment to these rituals in order for them to become cemented to the foundation and lead to the desired result. Along with commitment, it will also take patience for your new work rituals to take shape and become second nature.

A quick example of this in my own life is how I developed my writing process (more on this in Part 3 ). I start with the low-tech option of a good old fashioned notebook and pen. Any idea I have throughout the day, no matter how small, is written down in my notebook I have with me at all times. I take the best ideas from that notebook and create a flowchart on a legal pad, organizing them into different boxes to get a better idea of if and how they fit together. Finally, I switch to the high-tech option of voice-to-text software. Being able to talk and have the text type as I go helps the work get done faster and with better quality.

Condition Others To Respect Your Rituals

You have identified what your positive work habits are and have committed yourself to them. Now it’s time for everyone else to get familiar with the new way you work through conditioning. It doesn’t matter if it’s your boss, coworkers or clients, you’ll hear them say they don’t really care how the job gets done as long as it gets done efficiently and on time. However, this isn’t always the case with those that like to micromanage or provide constant interruption by phrasing all correspondence as urgent.

To curb this from happening a few things can be done. You can sit down for a discussion about your new approach and provide anyone who needs it with details for a clearer understanding. This would be an ideal opportunity to establish your boundaries. To go along with this, schedule all meeting during less productive times of the day. If you are a morning person that performs best from 9AM to 12PM, save time-consuming activities like answering emails, phone calls etc. for later on. When those who need your time start to see your mornings are occupied, they will subtly get a clearer idea your time is just as valuable as theirs and adjust to the new normal.

Resources Mentioned:

Free To Focus: https://freetofocus.com/