Rather than fighting your brain's limitations, you can treat AI as a genuine external memory prosthetic—a place where important information lives reliably outside your own neurology. This shifts the problem from "Why can't I remember?" to "How do I structure my tools so memory isn't my bottleneck?"
Imagine your brain's memory like a desk with limited space. Neurotypical people have a bigger desk. People with ADHD, dyslexia, or processing differences have a smaller one. When you try to hold everything in your head—your to-do list, what you were just thinking about, the thing you need to remember later—the desk gets too full and things start falling off.
Memory externalization is the practice of dumping everything from that crowded desk into an external storage system: AI, notes, databases. You're not trying to remember better; you're removing the load so your brain can actually think.
Here's how it works: Instead of trying to remember that you need to renew your car insurance, call your mom, and research that conference, you tell an AI chatbot (or type into AI-powered notes like Notion AI): "Remember: car insurance renewal due Sept 15, call mom Thursday, want to research AI conference 2025." The AI stores it. Now your working memory is free. When you need that information, you ask the AI to remind you.
This is especially powerful for people with executive function challenges because it solves a real problem: you forget things not because you're disorganized, but because your brain is processing differently. Externalizing isn't admitting defeat—it's working with your actual neurology.
The second benefit: your AI becomes a searchable memory. You can ask it, "What did we decide about the project timeline?" and it can recall a conversation from three weeks ago. Your human memory might not, but the AI's does. This is huge for people whose memory is scattered or inconsistent.
The key: you have to actually use it. The best external brain system is the one you'll actually put information into, so pick something simple and accessible.
Try this: For one week, every time you think of something you need to remember, tell ChatGPT or Claude instead of trying to hold it in your head. Ask it weekly: "What are all the things I've asked you to remember?" You'll immediately feel the relief.
Peri can explain this concept, give practical examples, help you decide whether it applies to your situation, or recommend a journey if appropriate.
Explore related journeys or tell Peri what you're working through.