#executive dysfunction tips

[kirkscarr]

pro tip for anyone who gets executive dysfunction!

so, i have adhd, and my executive dysfunction usually happens because when i need to get more than one thing done, my mind makes a list of the order that things HAVE to be done in.

(so like, if i cant do the first thing, i cant do anything!! and i just bed rot and stress out about everything that needs doing.)

so! switch up the order!! once i recognized that this was part of what was making my executive dysfunction so bad, i was able to CONSCIOUSLY choose to do things in a different order, and i’ve been able to function sooo much better ever since.

[studycation]

my tips for students that struggle with consistency

[neurospicyu]

🚨 Productivity Showdown Time! 🚨 If you've ever rolled your eyes at traditional productivity advice (looking at you, “just make a to-do list and focus”), then this post is for you! 😏

We’re pitting outdated advice against neurospicy brain hacks that actually make sense for neurodivergent brains! From quest-style to-do lists to sensory-friendly self-care breaks, we’re here to help you level up your focus and win the day! 🎮✨

Tag your favorite productivity hack in the comments—bonus points if it involves snacks! 🍫

#productivitytips #neurodivergentlife #neurospicyhacks #executivedysfunction #adhdbrains #organizationwithflair #sensoryfriendly

[ironmandeficiency]

here’s a tip for my girlies, gays, and geese that suffer from executive dysfunction:

if your executive dysfunction manifests like mine does, chances are, there’s one specific chore that makes a cannonball into a wood chipper sound like a vacation. for me, that chore is washing dishes.

this has been my least favorite chore to do ever since i was taught how to do it. the gross water and soggy food bits floating around were a sensory ick even with gloves, the smell was horrendous if the dishes had been sitting without being rinsed beforehand, and standing in front of the sink for a prolonged period was the eighth circle of hell for my adhd addled brain.

i’ve been slowly emerging from yet another depressive funk and my dirty dishes have been taunting me for two entire weeks. my issue is that i built up a big ball of dread about doing the dishes and have found every single excuse in the world to not get it over with, resulting in most of my bowls, plates, cups, and cutlery still being dirty.

what is my solution, you may ask? it’s simple: take the gunky dishes outside and spray off the stuck-on food with a water hose, then bring them inside to wash them with soap. that way, i don’t have to endure sensory hell and won’t have to worry abt my sink taking forever to drain afterwards. as of typing this, it’s half past midnight and i’m abt to hose off my dishes in my front yard

[staryulovesu]

Executive Dysfunction Tips™️ from a girliepop with ADHD

The important stuff is in Purple so if you don’t wanna read the whole thing then you see the important stuff

Dedicated Tomfoolery Time. If I have to do school work, every ten minutes I have the time specifically for tomfoolery. Five minutes of no work, ten minutes work.

If I must clean my room (the horror), I take a broom and push it all in one corner. The one corner is easier to clean than a whole room.

Don’t wanna do laundry because it’s all in one pile? Sort it into smaller piles. Any way you like. Rainbow? Okay, we love that for you. By category? We stan a ruler who sorts like that. By any other arbitrary rule? Slay, monarch. Slay.

forget to eat or drink because you’re hyperfocused on something? Have your phone play a super annoying song but put your phone near the food and drink when it plays. In your quest to turn it off, you will see the food and enjoy it.

that’s all the tips I have! Thank you!

[adhdexecutives]

What’s the next action? What is the very next thing you need to do in order to move the item toward the intended outcome? Do you need to make a call? Write a draft? Research your options? You need to define the next concrete step you need to take in order to keep things progressing. If you don’t assign a specific action, the item will ... be an open loop for you. If you can’t complete the activity in one step, then it’s actually not an action, it’s a project and needs further planning. 

Source: Asian Efficiency

[jay72664]

Would like to add that you don’t have to necessarily not listen to music or white noise while doing so, pretty much as long as you can enter a ‘flow state’ as my dad calls it, it doesn’t particularly matter.

Hey. Your brain needs to de-frag. Literally it needs you to sit there and space out.

If you want your memory or executive function to improve, stare out a window at the skyline or sidewalk or trees or birds on the electrical wires for like 20+ minutes per day. (With no other stimulation like a podcast or TV if you can manage but hey baby steps innit). If you're fortunate enough to have safe outside with any bits of nature, go stare closely at a 1 meter square of grass and trip out on the bugs and shapes of grasses and stuff.

Literally this will make you smarter. Our brains HAVE TO HAVE this zone out time to do important stuff behind the scenes. This does not happen during sleep, it's something else.

That weird pressurized feeling you get sometimes might be your brain on no defrag.

Give your brain a Daily Dose Of De-Frag.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

I don’t think trees feel guilt and shame when they can’t photosynthesize on a cloudy day? so why do I??

[writing-with-olive]

ADHD task completing tip

okay so growing up i was usually told "do the hard thing first and then you get to do the fun thing." and generally that's reasonable.... if you've got decent executive function. but for those of us who don't, this is a thing i've been using to get through school/work/general human functioning. It's still using hard thing/fun thing, but it interweaves them WAY more

first step: find something that sparks some dopamine quickly. i usually use short-timer online chess or mobile games. if you pick scrolling social media or something that doesn't have a clear endpoint, make sure you have an easy way to set a timer. On apple phones, there's a timer setting that says "stop playing" instead of playing a sound. I love this because it'll take you to your lock screen so you can't accidentally dismiss the timer and keep going. Do NOT make this movement or taking care of bodily functions; eating/hydrating/going to the bathroom/moving around are things you can and should do when your body tells you. take care of ya self

second step: look at your task and break it up TINY. If you have to write a paper, don't break it up by paragraph. break it up into something like fifty words. Cleaning a room: ten items put away. Close reading: 1 page. Really you want something that if your executive functioning was playing nice you could do in 1-4 minutes. I recommend NOT saying "work for x minutes" however, since that's a really quick way to sit there watching the clock. You wanna tie progress to completion not time spent.

third step: estimate how many levels/games/etc of your dopamine source it takes to last 1-5 minutes. Ideally you will already have a sense of this. I'd advise not "testing it out right now" and procrastinating that way.

fourth step: get to work. every time you complete a tiny task, you can do one unit of the dopamine thing. If you get some momentum, you can stack rewards, so if your tiny task was 50 words for one mobile game level, 150 words straight would be three levels. If you are having a really hard time getting going, you can start with 1-3 units of your dopamine thing to kinda jumpstart the process, just decide how many you're doing first so you don't lose hours to it.

note that this ONLY WORKS if you don't ignore your timer/level cutoff. The idea is to get dopamine levels up and use that to power through the next tiny task.

[5-htagonist]

ADHD TIPS: FOR THE NONMEDICATED AND THE MEDICATED

obviously, ADHD is not the same for everyone who has it. if you dont have ADHD, or aren't sure, but experience issues with executive function, memory, impulsivity, and emotional regulation, these tips can still be helpful!!!

practice radical self forgiveness

keep a notebook/journal

give your items a home

keep baskets, boxes, and bins, especially clear/mesh or anything that lets you see whats in it.

buy fruits/veggies/anything that spoils super quick the day youre going to use it

keep a list of easy meals

keep a trash receptacle in Every room

when you notice something dirty piling up, clean for just 5 minutes

do NOT worry about completing necessary chores. just do a little

if you need it frequently, keep it in sight, but off the floor if you can.

check under your bed, couch, or other corners where stuff can pile up when you get that random energy spike.

take a multivitamin, and cut down on soda (or other highly sugary food/beverages) if youre able. seriously!

specifically for the medicated!

take your meds, go to bed, and wake up at around the same time every day.

being vitamin deficient can make your medicine less effective. magnesium, B vitamins, omega 3s, and vitamin D might help. if you dont eat a lot of fruits, veggies, and fish, you are likely deficient in these at least.

stay. hydrated. For the love of god

try things you had trouble doing before medication

dont expect medicine to fix you

dont blame medicine for all of your improvement

no 2 people are the same, and what works for me might not work for you. i am likely on the spectrum, and i wasnt medicated at all for my ADHD until i was 17, and i wasnt on the right medicine until i was 21. i would recommend keeping that in mind while considering my tips!!

i will elaborate on these tips under the cut!

practice radical self forgiveness

i think this is the most important of all of these tips, which is why i put it first. i know its easy to look down on ourselves for our disability. but you must acknowledge this: you are disabled. you have a disability. you cannot hold yourself to the "normal" standard. more than likely, you grew up in an environment that didnt teach you how to navigate the world as you are, either. thats okay! we must teach ourselves.

try to view yourself as both the teacher/parent, and the child. when you forget something important, or make a careless mistake, or give into impulses, or say youll do it later and dont, or go too long without a bath, or let the trash pile up, you have to be kind to yourself. the child within you needs it. these things simply dont come naturally to us.

you must apologize to yourself as the child: im sorry i didnt pick up the trash. i know it makes the place dirty, and overwhelming. i will do my best to improve. i love you. you must forgive yourself as the parent: its okay, pumpkin. i forgive you. i know you didnt mean to make me overwhelmed, or to invite dirt into the home. i will help you improve. i love you. you also must do the reverse, apologize as the parent: im sorry, child. i did not teach you how to know you should pick up the trash. i did not teach you to recognize dirt. i will do better, and i will help you as best i can. i love you. forgive as the child: i forgive you. i know you are doing your best to lead me, and teach me what you know. you werent taught to pick up and see dirt either, were you? as long as you support and love me, we can figure it out together. i love you.

i know, to think this way can feel infantilizing sometimes. and its much harder to teach ourselves these habits. if its available, its okay to ask for help. just dont be too hard on yourself when your disability impairs your ability to be "normal." our habits die harder than most. even if you forget to maintain a habit, just do it when you remember.

2. keep a notebook/journal

i know, i know... every ADHDer HATES this tip. but it seriously works. dont hold yourself to a rigid standard when using it. i prefer dot grid journals, so i can write notes, or sketch, or make lists, or otherwise neatly divide pages how i wish, rather than it being blank/horizontally lined.

i dont keep a to do list all the time, i dont journal every day, i dont even look at the thing every day. there is no right way to use your journal. i use mine for many things at once: if i forget a notebook for class, or my laptop dies, i put my class notes in there. i put random doodles, layouts, oc pages, Big Feelings, and weekly/daily plans/to do lists. i dont obsessively keep up with it, or update it every day.

i DO use it when i feel overwhelmed. if i feel like 50 different things need to be done in 3 different domains and i dont know where to start, i write them down as i think of them. here is my typical order of operations (it took me a while to figure this out. i struggle deeply with prioritization.)

first, i write everything down i can think of that that moment. second, i label them necessary, important, and least important. third, i label how long they take (most time, some time, least time) finally, i start with the most important one that is the least overwhelming

now, i dont have an easy time labeling importance and time taken, of course. that can be the hardest part. but i dont worry so much about accuracy of my labels. i havent got it all down because i will almost always prioritize schoolwork over housework and hygiene, but we cant be perfect. the MOST important thing is always your health and safety.

dont worry about finishing a todo list, either. the most important thing is getting stuff you can forget on paper where you can look back at it when youre overwhelmed. you should keep your journal somewhere you access frequently or can see it.

also, the journal helps with big feelings. if youre feeling that white hot anger, the itching impulsivity, or rejection sensitivity, or anything that makes you think "i cant do this," start jotting words or pictures down. it can be anything. this will help when you feel that feeling the next time. we often get stuck in loops because we dont remember what caused a feeling or conflict, so we make the same mistakes. when you write it down, you can take your own word for it when you make a mistake. this makes it easier to recognize when youre falling into a pattern, and makes it easier to change your response.

3. give your items a home

if you arent constantly using something, or go more than a day without using it, send it home. an objects home is just somewhere it comes back to when its not needed, so that it isnt taking up space where it isnt needed. things like snacks, laundry (clean and dirty), art/craft/hobby materials, coats, electronics, plushies, anything. personify your stuff just a little bit- if you cant use it anymore, it cant find a home with you-- you have to send it on trash vacation. your coat wants to go home! pick it up and take it there when you can. its okay if that home isnt permanent, or if you lack materials/money to create a proper home. our coatrack is a chair right now, which is a much comfier home than the floor.

4. keep baskets, boxes, and bins, especially ones that are see through/visible

this helps you give your items a home. if you buy storage, get something stackable too, but even a cardboard box works. keep like objects together! and keep them near what theyre used for.

5. buy fruits/veggies/anything that spoils quickly the day youre going to use it

its sooo tempting to try to eat healthy and save money by stocking your fridge full of healthy produce and raw meat, but unfortunately i know how much money we waste forgetting/not having the energy to use them. if you need a fresh fruit, veggie, or meat, for something you are definitely planning on cooking, buy it the day of. if you have something in your fridge you dont think youre going to use before it rots or molds, stick it in the freezer!!!

also, frozen and canned fruits, veggies, and meats are just as good as fresh. they stay good for so long you dont have to worry about it going bad.

6. keep a list of easy meals

things that you can get down your gullet easily, and prepare easily. 1 pan meals, sandwiches, hotdogs, hot pockets, instant oatmeal, canned meals. i typically keep instant oatmeal and those tuna creations packets, as well as club/ritz crackers. also, skillet meals like velveeta skillets and hamburger helper are awesome, just keep some frozen ground beef (or meat of your choice) and youre good to go!

also, eggs last for MUCHHHH longer than the sell by date. i have had eggs 3 months past the date (note im american so they are under refrigeration) that were still good, but obviously that long past the date you should do a sniff test after breaking an egg. eggs are awesome in terms of ease of prep. heat your pan up to temp before cooking and they wont stick so bad. use cheese or milk to make a desirable texture for scrambled eggs or omlettes. dont forget salt and pepper (necessary...) you can also stir an egg and peanut butter into instant ramen for some actual nutrition. i also keep onion powder, paprika, and cayenne for yummy eggs.

in the egg vein, french toast is extremely easy and filling, and will sate a sweet tooth with some syrup!

7. keep a trash receptacle in every room

it doesnt have to be big, but having a designated trash spot in your bedroom is super helpful

8. when you notice something dirty piling up, clean for just 5 minutes

you dont have to clean to completion, thats overwhelming!!! but when you see something gross or messy and it bothers you, just take a couple minutes and pick up a little. play a song and tidy until the end of it! cleaning isnt all or nothing!

9. do not worry about completing chores, just do a little

in the same vein as the last one, the most important thing is getting the ball rolling. cleaning can be really hard because of the overwhelm of how bad it is. you can make it less bad a little at a time!

something ill do is sort out and scrape off the dishes before even thinking about doing them. that way, they take up less space and it doesnt look quite as bad. then next time i come to them, i do a bit more. or ill pick up the dirty laundry off the floor, then ill put it next to the washing machine, then ill wash/dry. i dont worry about folding and putting away unless im up for it-- its more important that theyre clean at all.

10. if you need it frequently, keep it in sight, but off the floor if you can.

remember, the floor is the stuff killer! if it must be on the floor, designate a spot.

11. check under the bed, couch, chairs, and piles if you have a random energy spike

i have found so much stuff i didnt even realize i lost. this also prevents pests and the accumulation of dirt.

12. take a multivitamin and cut down on soda (or other highly sugary foods) if youre able. seriously!

in high school i tried eating low-carb for a while. i didnt maintain this diet, but what i did maintain was not drinking soda regularly. when i say my head cleared and i felt less groggy, i mean it. if youre in the position, pay attention to the amount of sugars in what you eat and drink.

i know the "eat well" advice is given out too much, but nutrition seriously matters. if you care to work on your nutrition, do not worry about fat, carbs, or anything like that. just cut down on how often you eat highly sugary foods. you will feel so much better just from that. i have a sody pop as a treat every now and then and i have a whole other appreciation for it :-)

for the medicated:

take your meds, wake up, and go to bed around the same time

your body works on a schedule whether you want it to or not. pay attention to this schedule and try to work with it. when do you usually get tired? when do you prefer to wake up? when do you usually use the bathroom? this goes for nonmedicated people, too. your body will thank you!

2. vitamin deficiency can make medicine less effective. magnesium, B vitamins, vitamin D, and omega 3s can help.

these vitamins are all harmless, except for magnesium, which can slow your heart rate and cause shallow breathing IN HIGH DOSES. luckily, stimulants tend to deplete vitamins/electrolytes like magnesium, which can cause twitches and spasms. dont get large doses of these, 100% daily value is just fine.

3. for the love of god stay hydrated

imagine you are a machine and water is lubricant. stimulants suck up this lubricant to make you run more effectively. however, without extra, the machine will still run like shit. try to drink a whole glass with your medicine, and keep a cup to fill thru the day.

4. try things you had trouble with before medication

its super easy to get discouraged from something when you feel like a failure! try it again now! it may be easier. be sure to give yourself praise for what you do! your effort, your success, anything! this will teach your brain to see stuff through and help you feel and be more competent!

5. dont expect medicine to fix you

adderall, vyvanse, ritalin, none of these are a pill to fix you. they give you the capacity to work on yourself. dopamine is the "go get it" chemical. typically, ours is low and irregular, so we dont feel the drive to "go get it" when we need to, and we dont feel enough of a drive to see something through until we "get it." you still have to put in a lot of effort to fix habits and do work, medicine makes it so its easier. for me, it also reduces Noise in my head, so i can focus better. i still have to put effort into everything, its just less painful.

6. dont blame medicine for all of your improvement

again, medicine gives you capacity. YOU still do it all! its all you!!!!!! :D

thank u for reading i hope these are helpful! i feel like adhd tips are veryyy all or nothing and never explain WHY they may help, so i hope my explanations are helpful!

[im-da-bronx]

When I get Stuck, it’s usually because I have to do A Task, and I don’t have any momentum built up to do it. So when I’m Stuck in Idle Animation Mode, here’s how I build up momentum:

I try to wiggle my toes.

Just a little bit, and once I can wiggle my toes, I move to wiggling my feet, and once I’m wiggling my ankles and calves I’m usually UnStuck.

executive dysfunction is telling yourself for two and a half hours that you need to shower bc you smell like your workplace and you absolutely Cannot do Anything Else until you shower, doing Any Other Thing before showering is illegal!!! but you still haven’t for some reason??? you’ve just been sitting on your bed in a towel scrolling tumblr for 2+ hours thinking “I need to shower right now immediately” and growing increasingly frustrated that you are still not clean and you haven’t eaten or done your laundry either

[elio-loves-boys]

How does someone with adhd + executive dysfunction practice their worship?

I've been unable to light Their candles nor properly talk or offer things to Them (other than the stray "hello my Lord/Lady [Name]" and lighting Their incenses) and I walk past Their altar every day and I feel so weak and I don't want to feel like They are just a stray thought or a passing hyperfixation.

I know I can't control my mental obstacles, but it's hard to overcome them or get around them. I'm trying so hard to live, let alone breathe. I keep Them in my mind and my heart every day, but is it enough? Am I okay?

I love you, Lord Apollo ☀️

I love you, Lord Ares ⚔️

I love you, Lady Artemis 🏹

I love you, Lady Aphrodite and Lovely Eros 💕 💘

I've not abandoned You. I can only hope You've not abandoned me.

[libraryspectre]

I have a tip for people who struggle to do things. I struggle to do things because of depression, but this might also help if you have executive dysfunction? Idk!

I don't usually listen to an audiobook or podcast at home because I can't sit still and listen. Sometimes I will while crafting, but this seems to work as long as I'm not crafting to begin with.

I will put on a podcast or audiobook to keep me company during a specific task, like cleaning out the fridge. What I find is that once I'm done with the intial task, if I am sufficiently engrossed in what I'm listening to, I will naturally come up with other things to do so I can keep listening. If I sit down and be still, the story stops, so I need to keep going. So I might as well clean the bathroom.

What's amazing about this is that it's the only thing I've found that keeps cleaning from feeling like an unpleasant slog. Something about flipping the switch from "I'm listening so I can clean" to "I'm cleaning so I can listen" makes it so much more bearable.

This tends to fall apart as soon as I need a break to sit or eat, or if what I'm listening to isn't interesting enough, but usually I get like three times as much work done as I planned initially.

I'm posting this because I hope it might help someone else, and also because for some reason I've never purposefully exploited this loophole, it's just kind of happened a few times. But I'm thinking I should try to make it happen on purpose.

[uninexos]

I have a system that works kinda like bullet journal. But it's very simplier.

This is my lil' neck bag. There is where i put my keys, documents and things that i usually would put on pocket (and forget what clothe was or ending washing it. Annnd

A lil' note and a lil'pencil with a lil"eraser. They're cheap so I don't get anxious about messing with it, witch was a problem with my bullet journals. I can note everything, everywhere, every moment. I just take it off to shower.

Here i note short memory things, like informations or instructions, phone numbers, grocery list, etc.

But most importantly, i can note my tasks, my goals, and etc. When i have free time I totally forget the things I need or want to do and just, like, stare the wall or do the infinite scrolling. So everytime this happened i just check my notes and "wow i totally forgotted that i want do study EXCEL" or "develop my friendship with that person" or "work on my portfolium" or "have a goal to drink more water" and imediatly do it and satisfying risk the task as cumplished.

This helps me so much with memory, executive dysfunction and self-grown. I note the maximum i can, i execute the maximum i can, if i missed something or made a mistake i just imediatly try to do better. i can see the things I actually made and get pround. I keep all the notebooks so I can see my progress and even complete a task from last year.

sorry for the bad english. I don't know if this made sense

Hey ADHD and/or Autism fam I have a question.

How do you bullet journal bc I lasted like. 2 days.

Also exercising. I’d sure like to but uhhh self regulating is hard ™

And laundry. So three questions I guess.

[zo-gu]

For when you're too anxious to study

it's kind of common sense but I had to hear it from my therapist to genuinely get that if you look at something that you do not understand (or don't want to understand) for 10 minutes a day, every day, you will get used to it and it will eventually enter your brain.

it's like how kids learn new words or how to do stuff; just repeating stuff without the pressure of HAVING to learn it asap. just spending time with the material. kids don't take notes or write flashcards.

AND; if you learn a definition or a way to solve a math problem by heart, you will have "crutches" during the exam.

things that are gonna feel as obvious as someone going "what are you sitting on" and you going "chair" and that will make you feel good during your exam! :)

if you've been procrastinating a lot and think you'll fail the exam anyways, then you have nothing to lose; try to see how well you can do as a silly little experiment, no high expectations. take care of yourself <3 you deserve good things and you deserve a nice exam experience because you CARE! else you wouldn't have read this entire post. things are meant to work out in your favor

[nondelphic]

my characters: getting a full arc

me: can’t even get out of bed