Sorry for derailing. (My usual moderation rule is that anyone is free to derail any thread---cross-pollination often results in interesting insight---unless staying on-topic is requested by the OP. So you have the power... just ask.)scottindenver wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:23 amAlso if could share any strategies and tactics for better executive function that would be great as we could all benefit.
To start off, I found it helpful to finally have a yearly planner and I have a task list and obligations list (two separate lists helps keep me organized). Also I cross off stuff that isnt that important but only after I get everything out of my head and onto paper. Super simple but I just never did it.
Executive functioning is to a large degree a comprehensively learned skill that is eventually internalized as a habit and becomes the boss manager part of your superego. This is done over very many years of growing up---and nobody ever gets too chronologically old for continuing to grow up. It's not a course or a list of tricks but rather habits turned into character and personality. It is harder to do if your neurochemistry tends to light up your brain whenever its cued by input. Hey look! Shiny butterfly! Followed by a cascade of random associations. Point being, EF is not something anyone is born with but acquiring it comes easier to some than others and it is rather useful for focusing in order to get things down in a world where focusing to get things done is important. Note this is not required in all situations. Case in point, lack of EF and its associated tendency to overplan is useful when "act first, ask later" is more useful. Like when the fryer is on fire or when a SWAT team enters a building. In that case, doing anything as long as it's something is better than freezing like a normal person.
Regardless ... there are some tools to make the (re)construction easier.
Get familiar with the Eisenhower Matrix and start using it for---well---everything. The Eisenhower matrix distinguishes between what's important (or not) and what's urgent (or not). EF is the sorting mechanism for this. I suspect ADHD kinda lacks that kind of automagic sorting and so everything gets thrown into the mix regardless of whether it's urgent and important or non-urgent and non-important. Applying this filter before doing or speaking might work wonders. Turn it into a habit. Insofar you had the natural talents for this kind of behavior you might be surprised it even has a name. However, not everybody has that particular talent. This is why it's even a thing and has a name in the first place.
Another if rather crude way is to control the input: Remove non-important distractions from your environment. Minimalism is your friend. Also see spoon-theory. If you only wear one uniform of clothes and only have a collection of blue jeans and white tshirts, what to wear never becomes an focus in the first place. You'll see people deleting youtube and other apps insofar they're unable to EF-control the impulse to look at them. An old personal finance trick was to freeze your credit card inside an ice cube in order to increase the barrier to using it. (Maybe freeze your smartphone? j/k). The point here is to arrange your environment to help you rather than hurt you. The easiest way to avoid temptation is to avoid being exposed to temptation. Be very deliberate here. What seems like a weakness can also be a strength. If you work in a creative-anything-goes industry (fashion), random associations are probably a good strategy. If you work in accounting or public speaking, probably not.
However, you can't really control the input when it comes to associations that are internally generated in your own brain. (The i-functions mentioned above.) Instead, you have to focus on how you act on them. I have two suggestions. First, stick to a limited number of interests. A good balance is doing something meaningful; doing something fun; and doing something that grows you as a human being. That's 3 different things you can do. Pick 1 (only one!) in each category. Do not pick another until the previous one is either finished or terminated (because it can never be finished). You generally don't want to pick more than 1... maybe 2 ... because the human capacity to focus multiple projects is limited and tends to take mental energy away from the others. IOW, you don't want to be debugging 2-3 complex software projects at the same time. That just won't do. OTOH, your brain might have room for and even benefit from playing volleyball while finishing the debug. Just don't think you or your body can endure playing 2-3 different sports at a productive level at the same time. In summary, try to avoid picking up a new focus until you've gotten closure on a current focus.
The brain can be trained just like a muscle. The analogy is not great though. A muscle gets stronger through training but the brain gets different. The reason for this is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunking_(psychology) For example, as you grew up you might have gone from not knowing what 7*5 meant to seeing as 7+7+7+7+7 to seeing it as "35" to seeing it as a rectangle of a certain shape and size. Basically your perspective changed. The same holds with muscles but only in the combinations that allow for agility. There's a difference between the leg press, the squat, and jumping over an opposing player as if they were a hurdle. Basically, the previous and simpler levels are "chunked" and this allows operating at a higher level. EF is similar in that regard.
Good executive functioning is built on a foundation of having internalized and chunked a set of simpler functionality AFTER determining that is is correct or solid and then moving onto the meta. If you know that 5x7=35 or that being able to lift this much weight is solid, you can just accept it as a given (not urgent and not important) and take your focus to the next level using what you know to get things done. (There's a bit of a GTD cult on the ERE forums, so search that out as well. It tends to work better if the project can be chopped into milestones but if that's your environment, the GTD system might very well work for you.)
But I suggest starting using the Eisenhower Matrix as a rule of thumb.