I Struggle With Executive Function — Here's How I Stay Organized & Productive

As adults, we use executive function skills constantly. They're critical for accomplishing daily tasks, achieving long-term goals, and operating as successful, functioning members of society. 

And I suck at them. No, really—I wish I were spinning an exaggerated tale here for the sake of hyperbole, but my subpar executive function skills maneuver an all-day, haphazard combat between me and my brain. 

From procrastination to time management, I have a seriously difficult time with executive function. But struggling with such a critical cognitive skill that affects my job, relationships, and personal goals has forced me to test out different strategies and techniques that help me stay focused, organized, and productive. 

Executive function is a set of cognitive skills that help us plan, prioritize, focus attention on, and successfully execute tasks. Essentially, executive function is the bridge between wanting to do something and actually getting it done. 

These highly important skills are mediated in the prefrontal cortex and regulated by key neurotransmitters1—including dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine. 

Have you ever actually thought about what time is? Honestly, it's very strange to me that we all schedule our lives by this human-made, abstract concept that doesn't actually exist. 

Days and nights I can wrap my head around: The sun comes up—it's day; the sun goes down, it's night. Simple. Seasons are clearly marked by changes in the weather, the temperature, etc.—that's a no-brainer. 

But seconds, minutes, and hours? Nope, cannot compute. Time simply doesn't make sense to me. As a result, I have no concept of how long something will take, ever.

Whether I'm trying to judge when I should leave for a doctor's appointment or how much time I should carve out to cook a recipe, I misjudge how many minutes or hours are required for tasks every single day. 

Oof. This is a big one. I often build up a task so much in my head that it becomes more and more difficult for me to even start on it. 

And once I finally stop procrastinating and just freaking start already, nine times out of 10 I'll discover it isn't nearly as challenging as I imagined it to be. 

Once I'm actually in the flow of a task, I'm locked in—hyperfocused, even. I get in a groove and feel unstoppable. 

But if something interrupts me or I need to suddenly switch to another task? Game over. All of that progress is lost, and I need to build up my focus on the new task now, which takes a lot of mental energy. 

As we've already established, I have a very loose grasp on the concept of time. As a result, my foresight isn't as strong as I'd like it to be. 

What does this mean? Well, since I can't fully understand the impact a task will have on my long-term goals, it's difficult for me to decide which one is most important right now. I tend to over-plan to try to get these concepts on paper—which is essential for remembering tasks I need to complete and keeping them organized but can become a bit of a time suck if I'm not careful. 

If you're thinking Holy shit, I'm amazed this woman gets anything done with all these daily obstacles, then first of all, same. Second, I'm guessing you don't struggle as much (or as often) with executive function. 

But if you've made it this far, it's safe to assume you also find some of these executive function skills challenging. It's easy to get caught up in a spiral of shame and frustration when executive function doesn't come easily (especially when Googling "executive function" brings you to child development articles and you're a fully grown 27-year-old), but the truth is that executive function isn't always simple or easy!

We all have unique brains that work differently, and if executive function is not your strength, I'm willing to bet you excel in other cognitive functions—like creativity, emotional intelligence, or divergent thinking (aka "thinking outside the box"). 

Struggling with executive function can make day-to-day life pretty challenging, but with some targeted tools and strategies, you can enhance your executive function skills and bolster cognitive task performance. 

For a simple and effective daily tool that promotes mental clarity, task performance, attention, and concentration, I seriously cannot recommend mbg's focus+ enough.*