The Low-Demand Day

This is an adult version of the low-demand approach often used with PDA kids — turned toward your own day. The idea is to protect your autonomy and build in genuine recovery, so the day asks less of your nervous system and gives more back.

Non-negotiables vs. what can flex or wait

Today's genuine non-negotiables (keep this short)

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What can flex, move, or wait without the world ending

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Swap 'have to' for 'get to' or 'could'

Reword a few of today's 'have to's. The task can stay the same — the framing changes how your body meets it.

Example: 'I have to answer those emails' → 'I could answer one or two if I've got it in me.'

My reworded list

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Build in slack

Two recovery windows I'll protect today

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The first thing I'll drop if the day gets heavy

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Reflection

What made today feel lighter?

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Low-demand isn't doing less for its own sake: It's removing the pressure that makes everything harder, so what you do do costs you less. Protecting your autonomy is maintenance, not avoidance.

Go deeper

Ready for more? These lessons pick up where this worksheet leaves off.

• Demand Avoidance and PDA, from The Neurodivergent Brain. Why demands register as threats in PDA, why it fires even for things you want, and the low-demand approaches that help.
• Demand, Autonomy & the PDA Profile, from The Autistic Woman. How a PDA profile works as a threat response to demands, why it's missed in women, and an autonomy-first approach that lowers the threat.
• Burnout, Capacity, and Energy Management, from The Neurodivergent Brain. Autistic and ADHD burnout and how to recover — why willpower can't fix an empty battery.