Tasks to improve mental flexibility?

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I wonder if you have stories to tell about things - activities, situations, challenges - that improved your mental flexibility.

I have problems with coming up with mental blueprints for situations that involve too many unknown factors. Put like this, it is true for everyone, isn't it?
With me being not dx'ed, and if anything, borderline Aspie, my 'unknown factors' might not be too surprising for many other people.
(I remember the anxiety attack I had the first time I tried to get a ticket from a ticket machine in a foreign city, because I couldn't picture the steps needed in order to get said ticket, therefor didn't know if I would succeed, and didn't know if I would be confronted with waiting people who either were annoyed, or, worse, would offer me help)
Currently I am working as au pair in a foreign country. Somehow, I adapted, and both my general flexibility and the speed at which I adapt increased. When one situation is known, and I can change little bits of it at a time, I can learn enough about it that I can deal with previously unknown variants of the situation. But I can't just transfer this knowledge to situations even though I see parallels to experiences I already made before. Humans still are the Big Unknown in my mental calculations. And I still am too inflexible and because of that too avoidant to function out in the real world - and I want to go back to school and then find a job, so that I can provide for myself.

What are your experiences regarding your own 'mental flexibility' and its changes over time? Do you have any ingenious idea what I could try out to cope better, or maybe even become more functional?

Last edited by zombiecide on 14 Mar 2010, 6:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.

No, it is not true for everyone - neurotypical people do this sort of thing without impairment every day. This is what is known as Dysfunction of the Executive capacity of the brain. Executuve Dysfunction is very common in Aspies - this part of our brains tends to stop developing somewhere between the ages of 12 and 25 years of age. Its why we're (generally speaking) not so good at handling complex finances or planning for retirement. Probably also has a lot to do (along with social impairment) with our frequent difficulties fitting into a common office work environment and behaving just like the drones.

Tests for Executive impairment are also one of the first tests used to determine whether a person may be suffering from age-related dementia or Alzheimer's Disease.

Willard, I meant:
When I formulate it like that 'with too many unknown factors', it most likely is true for everybody, what varies is the definition of what is perceived as unknown factor, and what is perceived as an overabundance of it. I think if you go and force some NT's to make decisions about something they don't have the slightest clue about (and when they can't delude themselves into having said clue), they also will have trouble coping.
I do have trouble with executive functions, yes. Probably.

Well, sure, anybody will become overwhelmed by too much input at some level. But I know exactly what you mean about being made even more panicky by having too many unfamiliar options to choose from and feeling immense pressure from other people standing in line. Anytime someone's waiting or watching me do something I become all thumbs and just start screwing up everything I touch.

Same here. I get so stressed out about the possibility that someone is being made to wait whilst I complete a task or something that I stuff up what I am doing and get extremely anxious.

I also find that I need to plan out every little thing I am doing. I do things in an extremely methodical fashion like I am following some step by step instruction - probably because I am following a step by step instruction in my brain. if I don't know what something is going to be like or how I am expected to behave in an certain situation, I get overly anxious.

Not sure if this is an anxiety thing or an AS thing.

This is also why I cannot answer many questions.
Such as some Local Coherence questions.
Where I was asked if someone knew something, I could not answer.
Also when asked to imagine something, I say that no answer is possible because of too many variables.
It is like when someone is asked to solve the equation y*x=3*x-g+(f'''(g)) which contains many variables and even a third derivative.

The best training I had so far regarding that was having to cook for a whole family and having to look after an attention needing 5 year old at the same time. After a couple of months I actually am capable of cooking, not hurting myself, keeping her entertained and out of danger at the same time. It's exhausting, but I never imagined I could develop such a skill. And this experience made me believe that there actually might be more room for me to improve, I just don't know *how* ... yet?
I also hadn't thought of executive functions when the urge to find our more about 'mental blueprints' popped up in my mind today, and the search results either showed highly suspicious self development sites, or sites related to autism/Asperger's. I read the latter and ended up thinking 'oh, yes, I know that situation!' but also 'oh, I used to have similar problems but huh how did they go away?', and I realized that a big part of my avoidance patterns are caused by this ...



Well, that equation might even be easier to solve than many questions involving judgement, you never know.
I can imagine things, but I can't base my judgement on such mind games, because I know I have too little information, and I somehow seem to lack some basic prejudices that are needed to give the expected answer. And ... I am almost normal, I think.

I lack spontanaiety. I need to have some idea of what to expect for things so that I can prepare a response. If this doesn't happen, my most likely reaction to the unexpected is to freeze and not be able to give any response. Normal people don't seem to have such a problem; they can process and respond to things far more easily even if they've had no chance to prepare.

I can respond immediately even if I never thought about a topic before, but it doesn't make sense to anyone else because that response is just a verbalizition of my thought process. (And yes, it seems that my thought processes are confusing to those who were confronted with them.) I have to fathom my own understanding of a subject first, and only later I can think about the other person, go through a mental checklist of what I know s/he knows (from my experience) or is likely to know (inferred from experience with others who correlate in personality/age/background/interests) and then shape my ideas so that they are somewhat likely to be understood by that person.
I think other people might be able to double-check their own thought processes with cultural stereotypes in real time, and so might be able to produce a comprehensible reply with just a short delay. Maybe.

I think through social situations, conversations, and planned events of any kind even months in advance. Anything spontaneous and ill either be completely absentminded or awkward depending of weather-or-not I'm anxious about it. Sometimes I just settle into the absentmindedness though, it keeps me comfortable.

zombiecide posted (in part): I wonder if you have stories to tell about things - activities, situations, challenges - that improved your mental flexibility. I have problems with coming up with mental blueprints for situations that involve too many unknown factors. Put like this, it is true for everyone, isn't it?...

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Make a written list with two solutions.
Tomorrow, try to add a third written solution.
Then, the next day a fourth written solution.
Then, the next day a fifth written solution.

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There's more than one way to skin a cat.

(- Proverb)

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Repetition sooner or later tends to cause a person to ask if a small change can be made which would make things easier or speed things up.

Mental flexibility

Bowling ball vs Tennis ball
Rigidity vs Flexibility

Using the imagination

Before - During - After pictures

Before vs After pictures

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_art_and_play

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Preparation

Planning

Practice
Mental rehearsal
Rehearsal
Dress rehearsal

Trial and error
Trial and success