Our Short Story
Once upon a time, we were a couple of siblings growing up together, more or less in chaos.
We got through it together, and managed to hobble through quite a few decades before we started talking to each other about why everything about daily life was so dang hard for both of us.
Eventually, we stumbled into understanding more about neurodiversity and trauma. As it turns out, our younger sister has similar challenges, too.
Zassatask was built to help other people like us, learning to tackle adulthood!
We are proud of ourselves for taking the hundreds of tiny steps to bring these tools to you, and we hope that our work will inspire you to move forward in your own life, one little bit at a time.
If we can do it, so can you.
All of it!
Zassy and Alfie
The Long Story
Why did we start this company? Because adulting is hard.
Simple survival requires a huge set of skills. Over and over again, we face laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, pet care, grocery shopping, bill paying, and parenting. And then, after all that, we are expected to go to work?!
We weren't born ready to tackle all these demands. Plus, knowing what we are supposed to do in order to accomplish all these allegedly simple chores is only half the battle.
How to summon the will to get it all done is the real mystery. Often, even getting started on an allegedly easy task is incredibly challenging, no matter how much we want (or need) to get it done. As a matter of fact, sometimes REALLY wanting to do something is a surefire way to get stuck!
Life can feel impossible
Sometimes, because of neurodiversity, trauma, or simply a lack of role-modeling, these mundane, daily routines can even feel completely paralyzing, especially when we face them alone. We understand how difficult daily living can be, because we have struggled, too.
That lifelong frustration with executive functioning is exactly why we started Zassatask. Inspired by a lifehacking concept called body doubling, we figured out that everything is easier with a little company.
Body doubling means working alongside someone else, which works a bit of motivation magic on our brains, to get us going on a task. That is great, but not always practical. We needed some helpers to be available 24/7, so we created them!
Why not make it fun?
Our solution is rather wacky and wild, intentionally! After all, for the interest driven brain, a big part of the trouble with these "routine" activities is the very fact that they are so repetitive and therefore, boring to do. Adding an element of whimsy and creativity to accomplishing daily life is the mission of Zassatask.
Each adorable, handcrafted wooden block has a friendly face, to gently nudge you all the way through to finishing that particular challenging chore. With simple step-by-step prompts, and encouraging praise, we help you tackle this crazy thing we call life, one block at a time.
Once we started meeting our characters, a whole storybook world unfolded around them. Their universe is quirky and charming, we hope you will stop by for a visit!
Just one more thing.
If you have any kids around and about, you might have noticed that they have some similar troubles in tackling daily life. We have obviously noticed some patterns of troubles in our own family! Of course, we are all doing our best to handle most of the big stuff for them, but we can't do it all.
Children also have unique obstacles to face. So we created a very special collection called My Tato Blocks, just for them. Each new cute little Tato arrives as a supportive friend, to help your kids through their schoolwork and much more.