Saving energy with autism: ten percent less
Small shifts that don't feel like a new project.
Does this sound familiar?
Large change plans take so much energy that you are exhausted before you have started.
After this part, you can
- make a costly pattern smaller without rebuilding everything
- formulate an achievable micro-shift
- decide in advance how you will know whether it helps
Slightly less expensive. That's enough.
Once you finally see where your energy leaks, the reflex often comes immediately: okay, then I have to do everything differently. And then insight becomes a new project. That's exactly where many people get stuck.
This module is deliberately small. It's not about 'the perfect solution'. It's about one or two places where you can lower the cost by 10%. Not because you're done then, but because you'll feel space again.
Why 'small' works (especially here)
- Small changes are achievable without your whole system going into stress.
- You don't have to prove anything. You don't have to do it 'right'.
- You learn faster what works for you, because the experiment is small.
- Often the win is not in doing more, but in leaving out or simplifying something.
Where the cost is often hidden
Not just in the activity itself, but in everything around it: preparation, switching, social noise, uncertainty, 'keeping it neat', the aftermath. If you make one of those links slightly lighter, the whole cost often drops.
- Before: anticipating, planning, 'getting yourself ready'.
- During: adjusting, monitoring, keeping pace, pushing away stimuli.
- After: unloading, empty, mental noise, poor sleep, ruminating.
A good 10% shift feels... not heroic
A good micro-shift is usually boring. Not grand, not inspiring. More in the category: slightly shorter, slightly simpler, slightly clearer, slightly less 'nice'. It's actually good if it doesn't feel like an achievement.
You don't have to 'implement' this. See it as an option to set aside. When you're pulling hard again later, you have something simple to fall back on.
Choose one place. It doesn't have to be the biggest.
Which situation has been most 'expensive' for you lately?
Where is the biggest friction: before, during, or after?
If you're honest: what are you mainly trying to prevent there?
From insight to your situation
Choose no more than two shifts. Make them small enough to carry out on an average-to-difficult day.
- Choose one recent situation.
- Enter what you actually noticed, not what you think you should feel.
- Finish with one small next step.
Your answers will feed your summary later.
It doesn't have to be different. But sometimes it helps to make one place slightly less expensive. Not much. Just 10%.
Not as a goal, but as an 'if-then' option.
Which micro-shift feels achievable without struggle?
What can you leave out or simplify instead of adding?
What would you like to let yourself 'is this good enough too'?
Take this with you
A small adjustment you repeat is more valuable than a perfect plan that becomes a new source of load.