Do you frequently lose track of your keys, wallet, or cell phone? Do you struggle to leave the house on time? Do you have difficulty starting and finishing projects? If so, you may be experiencing Executive Function Disorder (EFD). Executive Function Disorder can look very similar to ADHD, however, unlike AD there is no official diagnosis for EFD in the DSM-V.
Executive Function Skills are a set of skills that we use every day to help us manage our lives. They help us focus our attention, manage time, switch focus easily, plan and organize our lives, remember details, and multi-task. When one has difficulty with Executive Function (EF), it is hard to focus, follow directions, or even regulate your emotions. It can create problems in all areas of your life. Most of us are pulled in so many different directions these days, with multiple responsibilities competing for our time. If you add in the distractions of social media, and news consumption, it adds up to fragmented attention, leading to difficulty in managing your life with ease.
Some of the common signs of EFD in adults include:
- Difficulty in beginning a multi-step project or starting multiple projects but not finishing them.
- Forgetting the last steps in a multi-step task
- Difficulty in keeping track of personal items such as cell phones, car keys, wallet, etc.
- Trouble following conversations
- Frequently losing your train of thought
- Difficulty with multi-tasking
- Difficulty remembering names, or acronyms and abbreviations
- Forgetting to complete important tasks such as bill paying or filling out forms
- Trouble with leaving the house on time, and frequently running late
- Difficulty meeting deadlines
- Difficulty in keeping important papers organized
- Poor emotional control
- Trouble with prioritizing tasks
- Poor follow through with plans
- Easily frustrated
If you recognize yourself in any of the above, do not lose heart. EF skills can be strengthened with commitment and practice. Here are some small steps that you can take to improve your Executive Function Skills, and in the process improve the way you live.
Reduce Distractions!
First, and foremost, it is imperative to reduce the number of distractions in your life. This means being intentional about decreasing the amount of time scrolling through social media (does social media ever make you feel better about your life? I didn’t think so), and reducing the amount of time you are consuming news and other content on the internet. Immersing yourself in constant news consumption only serves to keep yourself in a state of agitation, which is not helpful to anyone, but especially those who struggle with EFD. Take alerts off your phone, remove social media apps that allow for contant scrolling, and set limits on how and when you will consume social media. Turn your phone off for increasing amounts of time, but especially during family time and during meals. Avoid your screen before bed so that you can go to sleep with a calm state of mind.
Use a Paper Planner or Calendar
I know, I know. You use your phone for everything, and simply cannot go back to the Dark Ages. But hear me out on this. The simple act of writing something down can help you to remember it more than putting it into an electric device. Writing it down sends a message to the brain and looking at what you have written down several times throughout the day helps with memory and retention. I use a good old-fashioned paper calendar planner for my client appointments as well as my personal appointments, both in the same place. I look at it several times per day, and have yet to forget or miss a client appointment.
Use One Notebook for All To-Do’s
This has probably been one of the most helpful tips I was ever given. It came by way of my friend, Cara Bradley, who was the creator and owner of Verge Yoga, where I taught yoga for several years. Cara is the most organized person I have ever met and one day, during one of our meetings, she whipped out a small notebook and wrote down tasks that she committed to doing during our meeting. I was impressed and she told me “yep, all of my to do’s are in one place, and a new page every day.” Wow. I was even more impressed when the next day, all that we had discussed was completed. Ever since that day, I have kept one small notebook with my everyday tasks in one place, and it has been enormously helpful to me to stay on top of my to do list.
Set Up Calendar Reminders on Phone
Wait-didn’t I just encourage you to write things down instead of putting them in your phone? Yes, I did, and I stand by that. However, since most of us are tied to our phones 24/7, it is helpful to have reminders for important tasks that are in the future, and have a high potential to be forgotten. This became painfully clear to me in my own life, when I realized that I had forgotten to give my beloved dogs their heartworm medication for several months. Now, I simply have a recurring reminder on my phone on the 8th of each month, and the pooches are heartworm free.
Use Apps to Help Stay Organized
As you might have guessed, I am not the most tech savvy person. I use a paper calendar, and a book for my daily to do lists. However, several years ago, I succumbed to pressure from my husband to try E-Wallet and Evernote, and they have been game changers for me. E-Wallet keeps all of my bank account numbers, credit card numbers, along with their passwords organized in one convenient place. The app is on my phone so that access to the information I need is in one place with a simple unlock of my phone. Evernote helps with filing various documents that I want to read later in one simple place. No advertising here-as an avowed non-techi, these apps have made organization much easier for me.
Set Up AutoPay for Bills
No explanation needed here.
Set Up a Filing System to Keep Track of Mail and Other Papers
This is a biggie for most people whether they struggle with EFD or not. Have a specific place to put mail when it comes into the house before you open it. How many times have you walked in the house and placed the mail on a counter top, or table, leading to clutter and disarray? Yep, I thought so. Ours is placed in a beautiful decorative wall file right when you walk into the mudroom. Two or three times per week, I clean out the box, immediately recycling the junk, and tending to the pieces of mail that require action on my part.
This works for other areas with a high potential for disorganization-namely, your keys! Designate one spot in your house where you put your keys each day, preferably right near the door you use to get to your car.
See It Deal With It
if a task can be completed very easily in less than 2 or 3 minutes, do it immediately, rather than writing it down. Toilet paper need to be replenished? Paper need to be filed? See it, deal with it.
Project Management
Projects that require multiple steps can be especially challenging for someone who struggles with EFD. For this I recommend a project notebook which can be purchased at Office Max, Staples, or any other office supply chain. Each project is given a page, and is broken down into steps. For example, say you are planning a graduation party. The first step on the list might be “choose a date”. The second might be “choose a caterer”. When you break a project down into all of the pieces, no matter how small, it will be less likely that you will forget a step, or fail to finish the project. Crossing off the steps as you complete them gives you a sense of control over your time, and more importantly, a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
Develop a Meditation Practice
One of the key aspects of EFD is difficulty with self-regulation. The practice of meditation can help you learn to tolerate difficult emotions more easily, and calm yourself down more quickly when activated. It can be daunting to think about adding something to an already busy schedule, but if you begin with just 5 minutes of simple quiet breathing, it can really add up to feeling a deeper sense of peace, and thus a feeling of being more in control of your life.
Finally, there has been ample research that clearly shows a correlation between complex trauma and EFD and ADHD. When a child grows up in an environment that includes chaos, neglect (emotional or physical) or violence, it impacts the development of executive functioning skills. If you recognize yourself in this statement, you may want to reach out to a therapist who can help you process your experiences and to heal any unresolved trauma. In my own work with clients, my work is twofold. First, we attend to the pain that has caused a person to come in for treatment. Secondly, we simultaneously work at creating steps in the here and now that the client can take on their own behalf to live a more vibrant and happy life.