6 Executive Function Strategies that Really Work for People with ADHD

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Getting Started is the Hardest Part: Three Reasons It’s So Difficult and Five Strategies That Might Actually Help

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Getting Started is the Hardest Part: Three Reasons it's so Difficult and Five Strategies that Might Actually Help

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Why is the ADHD industry so obsessed with executive function and ADHD? Executive functioning skills can easily be hacked or outsourced, and here are some ADHD tips to help.

For more content like this, please follow me @neuroemergent_insurgent.

This channel looks at the ways the ADHD industry had made the particular neurodivergence we call ADHD even more disabling by hyperfocusing on certain deficits in ways that shame and traumatize people with ADHD, while at the same time ignoring the many ways our brains are uniquely creative and brilliant.

This video looks at the ways the industry's focus on executive functioning skills contributes to this disabling of the ADHD brain, while at the same time acknowledging that executive function deficits can themselves be disabling. However, I believe that to the extent executive functioning deficits are disabling, they can fairly easily be hacked or outsourced, and this video offers 6 (plus a bonus!) specific and practical ways people with ADHD can minimize the ways executive functioning deficits interfere with a healthy, happy, and productive life.

[paulnagelkerke]

ADHD Skills:
1 - Have less stuff - less Mental & Physical Clutter - Out of sight: Out of mind
2 - Store vertically in clear containers - Global view that allows focused deep-dives when necessary
3 - Planning and Prioritizing - Bullet Journal - I need to look into this
4 - Meta Thinking - you can self-hack your thoughts to get the desired outcomes, a unique skill
5 - Let go of guilt and shame - you are different, you are allowed to be different, you just think differently, sometimes for the better!
6 - Emotional Control - do not re-live old traumas - compartmentalize what you can control - Mindfulness
7 - Bonus! Outsource your weaknesses! Enjoy your strengths! Do not torture yourself with tasks you are unsuitable for!

[UrbanomicInteriors]

Does anyone else link perfectionism to their ADHD? Part of what trips me up is the fear of doing the wrong thing first, starting in the wrong place, and then having to go back and re-do things. The idea of wasting time bothers me so much that I end up wasting time because I am afraid of wasting time. Makes no sense!

EDIT - To anyone struggling with this listen to Brad Bizjack - he is a great motivator! Perfection is the lowest standard you can set because it's impossible. The key is to focus on moving the needle forward. Listening to his podcast has really helped me!

[isidoreaerys]

I feel like none of this would be an issue in an ideal society where survival didn’t depend upon individual striving within a winner take all, zero sum game of economic competition.

[arkaix]

Some notes from the video
1) Body double: have someone be there with you while you work. It tends to make starting and keeping the work easier
2) Imagine that someone is documenting your life and there's a camera in the room with you and they need footage where you at least look like you're working
3) don't ask your brain to start a task, just try a piece of it and see how it feels
Example: wanna take the dog for a wolk but difficult to convince yourself? Take your shoes, just the shoes, then you'll decide if you want to.

[royce]

In the flip side, I’m glad to see executive dysfunction talked about rather than saying “deficit of attention”. The research is a work in progress honestly

[descai]

I think one of the most important things for ADHD is to keep trying even when you fail.

Long term routines and habits are one of my biggest struggles with my ADHD, I can't consistently keep a routine for the life of me.
I'll start a new routine and be able to keep up with it for a few days, maybe a week, only to eventually fail.
These repeated failures gave me shame and often stopped me from trying to make routines in the first place, why try if I'll inevitably fail.

The key is to continue the routine when you are ready. Don't give up just because you missed a day, were really late, or didn't do it properly.
Learn to accept that this is going to happen, forgive yourself for it, and continue when you are ready.

[wendysherbert]

I just wanted to add that this has been one of the best ADHD videos I have ever seen. I am in my 50’s and have only been diagnosed recently. This rings true for me on so many levels.

[MimifBones]

My executive dysfunction is completely disabling. Does no one else have it so severe that they are impaired from doing basic tasks nearly all day every day?

[meganeff]

I use a lot of these!

The only way I can stay organized is by getting rid of everything I don’t need. It also helps my attention levels because I reduced the number of distractions I face at home.

I also love bullet journals; but I only do parts of it. I keep the future journal so I remember appointments, birthdays, & other events, I use a monthly spread so I can track my bills, I use a daily spread to plan my day & then at night I write down anything important that happened during the day, and my most important & favorite part is what I call my chaos funnel where I write down anything & everything that randomly comes to my mind throughout the day. If it is not life-threatening or livelihood-threatening, it goes into the funnel for later. Then whenever I have free time I go in and sort things into relevant logs (shopping list, books to read, quotes to live by, things to research later, bills, schedule it, etc.). This has been a game changer.

I also do the Pomodoro Method - set the timer for 25 minutes to just get started. Sometimes I only set it for 2 minutes. I just have to start.

Unhealthy/toxic shame is not conducive to recovery or growth.

[baassiia]

I love how you avoid promoting victim mentality. We are who we are, we should conentrate on what we can do better with what we have.

[prant]

The Meta thing you talk about is really, disassociation. Stepping out of the present and looking down from above like we are filming a movie of our life is classic disassociation. Maybe the polar opposite of being “present, ” but we are present, just not involved directly. For me this happened in a trauma episode where my then GF completely freaked out in a public park, yelling and screaming at me, (and this is the important part), for no reason. I was terrified, humiliated, stunned, and panicked. I stood there, and was looking at this little movie movie scene as if I were on a high ladder looking down. This lasted for only a few seconds, but I realize I do this sometimes. Not to that degree where I’m frozen with my mouth agape, but certainly taking in my life from a satellite view. It is an out of body experience, in the sense that we have zoned out of the picture, and my brain has decided, not knowing what else to do, just take a break and look at life as a overview, because, "the present, " makes no sense. A stress response, coping mechanism.

[michaelknapp]

I’m ADHD and being organized is super important to me. When I was in college I couldn’t start writing a paper if my apartment was messy. I’d have to clean it before starting a project. Organization is huge at home and at work.

[rembeadgc]

Lol! Loved: "I wasn't keeping track...cause, you know, I have ADHD..."Lol. Folks with ADHD teach others to love themselves, be patient with themselves and forgive themselves more, because when we neurotypicals get triggered by ADHDers we are really confronting our own faults and projecting our personal frustrations on them. I learned so much about myself and human beings, in general, while dating a remarkable woman with ADHD.

[Roar]

While I with ADHD did feel like I was constantly rejected or incapable, after I had my son with more symptoms than I, I realised how difficult it is for others to be around us. It made me empathise with the people around me and forgiving of their frustrated outbreaks. The thought healed my bitterness

[alisonhaueter]

Well, Marta, you've managed to make me cry. I didn't realize the shame I've been holding. In helping my kids understand why they struggle in school, I have concluded I have undiagnosed ADHD. Finding you was like finding a long lost friend. Thanks for being sweet to my brain. :) I appreciate these tips very much!

[TheSpiralLab]

I want to thank everyone who has commented here, and apologize profusely for not responding sooner. Honestly, I sort of lost track of my YouTube channel while I was focusing on my work on Instagram -- and wow! But I'm back to YouTube now, and I intend to read and respond to every comment! I hope you all will receive notifications of my tardy replies! I am so grateful to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment and I have so much more content coming! I hope it will be useful to you!

[GreatMindsSeekTruth]

Thank you for these suggestions. I can do the regular everyday tasks ( picking up, dishes, vacuum) but the more overwhelming tasks ( wanting to clean out closets At the moment) I can’t seem to get my brain on board to start. Then I beat myself up every night because the day is gone & it’s undone. Especially now during isolation when I have all this free time!

[mspsychgenius]

I think this is the best video I've seen on EF. I can't do lists, journals, ADHD apps etc. My ADHD is extremely clever and it won't be duped.

[brittrubio]

I love the language you use in this video. Phrases like “emotional control” make me feel defensive and a sense of shame. Phrases like “emotional intelligence” and the fact that we feel deeply makes it easier to accept this characteristic of ADHD and work to improve this aspect. Thank you for your video ❤️

[elianaboer]

Also I wanted to just say, I completely agree, get rid of shame and guilt. That creates a sort of inflamation of the "joints that need to function" and causes a clogging up and restricts flow. It's not our fault. And now that we know, we can take steps as we are able to get to a better place, the place we deserve. Sending love to all out there bc the struggle is real, and I'm happy to know I'm not just a total ditz.