5 Tips to Improve Executive Functioning

Creative work requires strong executive functioning muscles: planning, strategizing, focusing, following through on long-term goals. But most of us struggle to some degree with these basic “pre-skills.”

I learned this personally when my husband was diagnosed with adult ADHD last summer. As I researched his condition, I began to recognize some of the same deficits in myself. Although I don’t meet the criteria for full-blown ADD/ADHD, I often struggle with planning, scheduling, and follow-through. Common-sense strategies like to-do lists or using a calendar are often sabotaged because my abilities to plan and follow-through are under-developed.

Luckily there’s hope: we can strengthen our executive functioning skills! These five strategies have had the biggest and fastest impact on my own life in the last six months.