Little Treat Theory ™️ 🤝 how to get things done for autistic + ADHD freelancers
when time, space, and client deadlines are not enough
Hello hotties! The world seems to have the ‘tism on their lips in a way that I hate. During a gossip sesh with some other self employee bbs (s/o
🫶) we chatted about our least fav things the girl bosses seam to be up to…commodifying ✨neurodivergence ✨ as just a fun silly way to be coockalini and run a business. Mega barf!It feels weird, it feels vintage (like I thought we all talked about saying “I’m so OCD” when you’re describing you’re preference for how you want your cuter sly drawer to be organized, is generally offensive) honestly it’s just straight up weird to be talking about something you have 0 experience or intimacy with, and tbh, rude. But this isn’t a take down of the girl bosses commodifying yet ANOTHER thing for likes, views, clear skin and fame (yet). But instead, an actually factual real ass guide on how I, an actual factual Autistic freelance hot lady, operates with my brain (being hot isn’t important, but I like to paint a picture for the reader.)
The TLDR; I’m not self employed because I have a super power, I am self employed because I needed accommodations.
enter.
Little Treat Theory ™️
Simply put.
External Motivator + Internal Motivator = Little Treat Theory
I know I am not the first lady with big glasses on the internet to suggest you go get yourself a little treat after doing a hard thing. In fact I bet it’s something you’re doing to justify your penchant for a pain au chocolat (me, it’s me with the penchant for a good pain au chocolat.)
But to be an effective tool ye olde belt, Little Treat Theory needs to be deployed with surgical precision. And that surgical precision, being an understanding of your internal and external environments. Because despite wanting to go to a cafe and eat an pain au chocloat right now (the treat I promised myself for doing a hard thing), I have found myself writing this essay at my kitchen table when I meant to be somewhere else doing something else. It’s not enough to want a Little Treat when we’re quite literally stuck in place.
Its not procrastination, it’s not laziness, its a secret third thing! (executive disfunction!) Rewards need to actually be framed in our minds eye in a way that makes sense to our neurology.
The world is built by and for neurotypical and allistic (non-autisitc) brains. It’s not enough for us to just say “give yourself a treat after you do a hard thing”. Because if that worked we’d have folded piles of laundry, client work sent well before a deadline and taxes filed on time.
Because that requires thinking ahead to the future of a time and place we’re not in and the mental gymnastics of figuring out said little treat. So if course we’re gonna feel ass awful and like we aren’t “good enough” or bizarrely “too much” when we miss whatever bar for success the world has placed for us.
Planning = systems = rewards ✨
Let’s start with my favourite question.
What do you want? Right now? In life? From this project? Fame? Money? Success? A final word count? This is our external thing, the things that pull in in the direction, the fuel in our engine.
and then…
How do you want to feel? How do you want to feel creating? How do you want to feel. If I was a marketing bro (I have too much hair to be a marketing bro) I might call this your “why”. The compass. The thing that orients you in!
This is why “just get a little treat” after, or time, or space, or money is not enough to motivate ourselves into action. It needs to be anchored into our bodies and brains that makes sense. Our reward system needs to be folded into the process. Or, hey, show up earlier in the process for it to make sense.
So instead we try folding the external (want) into the internal (feels!). Maybe that means we set the scene, light a good smelling candle to sit down at our desk, turn on a Parisian themed pomodoro timer, pull out the pan au chocolate while you write. Little Treat Theory isn’t just fun or cute or a bonus, it is here to move you into action, ease the freeze, and allow you to (finally) have your magnum opus in the world. Making more while doing less and actually having fun.
Let’s get rockin 🎸
Welcome to Idea Camp, where LITTLE TREAT THEORY IS IN EFFECT!
We need a little more than pure raw doggin’ your desires and emotions to compel your beautiful mind to… do stuff!
ACTIVITIES ZONE 🛶😎✂️:
Kick off call // July 6th 12pm EST
Bi- Weekly zoom sessions for co-working + creative advising with P + J.
Weekly assignments delivered in your inbox tailored to your medium to actually move the needles!
Chat community (here on substack!) to create surrounded by a bunch of brilliant weirdo artists and multi-hyphen hotties.
Feedback portal to submit weekly assignments AND get feedback from P+ J!
During Idea Camp we have fun, games, gold stars and cash money to nudge that internal motivation (your ideas!!) with an external reward (the joy of getting paid to write!).
When you turn in your work at the end of idea camp (no matter what state of “done” it is) we will buy you and a friend a coffee, on us!
xx
P+J
P.S got any questions? hop in the comments below! Or hit “reply” on this email we’d 🫶 to hear from you
Yes to all of this, and also I need you to find another business partner named B so y’all can be P B & J please and thank you 😂😂