‍Rehabilitation Doesn’t Happen amidst Chaos

In the late 1980s, Australian educational psychologist John Sweller introduced Cognitive Load Theory - a theory that reshaped how we understand learning and decision-making. His insight was simple: our brains have a limited working memory capacity, and when it’s overwhelmed—by too much information, too fast - we don’t just fail to learn - we disengage entirely.

Sweller’s research focused on instructional design. But its implications extend far beyond classrooms - for clients and patients undergoing rehabilitation programs, especially those rehabilitating across multiple therapy modes simultaneously, cognitive overload is typical.

Sweller showed us is that if we want people to think deeply, learn effectively, or act consistently, we must design systems that reduce friction, simplify complexity, and guide focus. This doesn’t mean dumbing things down but clearing the mental runway so real skills transformation can take off.

Taskey tackles Cognitive Overload through repetitive micro-coaching moments, and contextual nudges.

‍

‍Taskey’s Take: Three Core Design Truths

We didn’t just pull features out of thin air. The core mechanics of Taskey were reverse-engineered from research on attention, decision fatigue, and cognitive processing.
Here are three key principles that show up across the platform:

1. Real life as the prompt - with Taskey, personalised video instructions are available to reference, jog memory, strengthen neurological pathways.  

2. Push notifications - phone-based notifications guide, reactivate and motivate.

3. All in one place - the client accesses tasks from multiple therapists in one place; no searching for hard copies, emails or messages – it’s all there in the one app.  

‍

‍What Are We Really Solving For?

At the heart of it, Taskey is trying to solve a very human problem: people want to grow, change, and perform, but their mental bandwidth is limited. Our responsibility as rehabilitation coaches is to make that growth easier by removing the obstacles.