Quick Post Summarization:
Your brain works to limit distractions around you to maintain your focus on what is important. However, stimulation overload can and does occur sometimes, so it’s important to know when you feel overwhelmed and what to do in those moments. Self-control is critical to success and communication; how you carry yourself and mitigate distractions or frustrations will impact success. Support exists, and you should make use of it!
Executive functioning is part of life - master it!
Why is it so important? In short, executive functioning is the cognitive skills and abilities needed to achieve short and long-term goals and to manage tasks successfully. In other words, the mental processes you use on a daily basis to get stuff done.
Real-life scenario:
Let’s say you have an essay due for a class that is due in a week. This essay is to be four typewritten pages, double-spaced and must contain a central thesis along with additional research to support your points.
However, despite these clear instructions, you have a small pit in your stomach. This isn’t the only assignment you have due; another essay for another class AND an exam is coming up… Notwithstanding, you also have obligations in your personal life – chores, a job, a social life, family, and more. The anxiety is starting to build.
A few days pass, and while fishing through your backpack, you discover the assignment sheet and gasp to yourself. This essay is now due a few days sooner, and you had forgotten about/hadn’t planned it into your schedule! Frantically, you start re-reading the requirements while worrying that you won’t have enough time to complete the essay. Perhaps at this moment, you are becoming increasingly more upset or frustrated; it is getting harder to concentrate on any task because there now seems to be a mountain of work that was previously overlooked.
Flustered, you begin to research ideas for your thesis quickly but find that nothing seems to fit with your thesis; overwhelmed by this, you give up. The night before the essay is due, you stay up all night finishing your assignment and turn it in, hoping it warrants enough credit to pass. You’re relieved it’s done but guilty that you didn’t show your best efforts.
How much of this scenario sounds familiar?
Essentially, this (and many others) scenario represents some of the struggles a person with executive functioning difficulties may experience in varying degrees. Prioritizing, planning, and organizing tasks by importance and time sensitivity are fundamental skills for future success. Taking the time to map out what is due and when and evaluating by importance what tasks need to be completed first. These include all non-academic responsibilities as well!
The nuts & bolts of processing.
Let’s look at some of the systems at play that help make up executive functioning as a whole: working (short-term) memory, inhibition control, and cognitive flexibility. These facets boost higher-level functions like planning and organizing, decision-making, problem-solving, and time management.
Working memory is your active thinking process, taking in sensory data and managing conscious thoughts in the moment.
This memory system is short-lived, at around 15-30 seconds, where chunks of data are processed.
A phone number or name is given, recalling a password or a sentence spoken by a teacher during a lecture.
Our brain tries to hold onto these bits of information while actively filing away what is most important. Consider how we relay phone numbers – XXX-XXX-XXXX; it’s a trained way to relay a full number into smaller chunks to help the other person retain that information.
The more efficiently we hold onto and store information, the better we are able to recall it later!
Inhibition control allows us to direct our focus onto important stimuli, prevent us from acting inappropriately, and self-regulate our emotions to prevent negative outcomes.
Suppose you find yourself in a classroom with a
Noisy air conditioning unit running in the background, bright fluorescent lighting, and waves of noise in the hallway.
In that case, you may be distracted at some point.
This class may be important to you, so you intend to be focused for each class.
You want to perform well, and these additional distractions are causing you grief.
Inhibition control would include shutting out distractions (attentional) and maintaining your focus on the teacher/topic. However, you might find yourself wanting to shush the people outside, but that would be inappropriate, so you fester within at the perceived rudeness of others. You take a deep breath and try to refocus yourself or excuse yourself from the class for a quick bathroom break. Sometimes, you can move your seat away from the noted distractions before the next class starts.
In doing so, you are exercising self-control of your actions and feelings and redirecting your focus to your goals (doing well/listening).
You are actively trying to avoid an outburst in class.
Don’t forget that you can always ask the teacher to repeat something important or elaborate on their point for clarification!
Cognitive flexibility identifies when strategies may be ineffective or a new approach is required. Rigidity in one’s thinking or planning may ultimately bring about more problems to solve in the future; seeking help at the start often results in better prioritization of task sequencing.
Repeatedly hitting a roadblock does not mean circling back to hit that same roadblock; it’s time to reassess and find a different avenue toward completing your task.
Taking a break IS a useful tool when applied appropriately!
Difficulties with cognitive flexibility also tie into how a person is able to switch between tasks (multitasking) while maintaining focus on that task.
Essentially, your brain works to limit distractions around you to maintain your focus on what is important. However, stimulation overload can and does occur sometimes, so it’s important to know when you feel overwhelmed and what to do in those moments. Self-control is critical to success and communication; how you carry yourself and mitigate distractions or frustrations will impact success.
How do you function during dysfunction?
The goal here is to recognize when dysfunctioning is occurring, identifying signs and symptoms of when you are feeling out of whack. Treating the difficulties when they occur can cause additional cognitive fatigue; you spend more mental resources to address these problems, which only further exasperates how you feel.
Schedule and Routine.
The better you schedule yourself, the less likely you will encounter these difficulties. I understand that scheduling and setting routes may be a challenge in and of itself; however, predictability in your day will prevent setbacks. You can also schedule downtime and breaks!
Plan daily to check in with yourself, your feelings, and your thoughts.
Plan time to plan – the major tasks (classes/work/medication/HW) and the smaller ones (eating/hygiene).
As you have probably seen, consistency in your planning is key!
A planner, Google calendar, alarms – whatever will help keep you accountable!
You choose how you will structure the day you interact with anyway; why not stack the odds of success in your favor?
The day can be stressful - even in a good way! - as much as it can be productive. A biology major may be stressed by their workload of studying and completing labs, but these are productive challenges!
Do not rely solely on your brain to keep you organized and productive!
Use your phone, a notebook, a calendar, and whatever else to keep you organized. There’s a reason why waitstaff write down orders: they don’t want to forget anything!
Telling yourself, “I’ll remind myself later,” will likely not work; set a reminder in your phone for a specific day/time!
Communicate your assignments to another person. Discuss with someone what is coming up to help you plan your time.
The example at the start of this post outlines an instance of a person who did not take the time to structure their time in order to complete an assignment and the negative feelings/outcomes that follow. Little choices such as stuffing the assignment into their backpack, not setting a reminder on their phone, leaving little time for organization or research, or communicating the assignment to another person had increased stress and frustration.
Reframing your Challenges.
“I have to do x” or “I get to do x” may profoundly impact your thinking and productivity just by how you frame it. If you approach a task as an obligation, yes, you will resent doing it and possibly do it half-assed.
“I have to bag up and take out of the garbage” – mundane, gross task.
“I get the chance to clean up my space/house and help others and myself by taking out the trash” – supportive family member!
What is your end goal? Sometimes, when we fail to motivate ourselves to act, we lack a clear focus on the end goal. How does this task help you in the bigger picture? Yes, even small tasks like cleaning up dishes or taking out garbage are tied to bigger goals!
Cognitive flexibility and inhibition control will serve you well in this process. How you internalize these thoughts and address them will facilitate change. You have an opportunity to practice practical mindfulness each day, and that consistency will bring about positive changes.
Switching tasks can be mentally draining but are often important. This skill set is practiced daily; growth as a multitasker will happen when you reflect on what works.
Sometimes, you must shut out the additional distractions and sustain your focus on just one task.
E.g., put your phone on silent and ignore communications for a small amount of time.
Set a timer and focus on that one task – see how long it takes you to complete and note it.
Closing.
To sum all of this up, the steps you take to prioritize and plan your time will reward you rather than cause you additional stress. We cannot avoid stress but mitigate some of its effects by planning ahead.
How we frame situations can result in positive outcomes – even failure can be a positive outcome if we learn from it. Accountability is a constant part of the “growing pains” in maturity. Accepting the mistake made and forgoing the excuse(s), you internalize the importance of doing better work.
Support is there, and it is up to you to take it! Reliance on your brain to remember all these details only leaves opportunities to forget – build the habit of structuring your day/week to avoid setbacks proactively.
Remember, you don’t have to do it someone else’s way all the time, but seeing how others organize themselves and adjust to fit your style doesn't hurt.
As always, thank you for reading this (and all of my) posts! I genuinely believe in giving back to others in any way I can. I hope to hear from you in the comments about your thoughts on this post!
Dustin.
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