Examples Of Executive Functioning Skills In Action

Complimentary session from my course "Understanding Your Executive Functioning Skills".

The best way to understand executive functioning skills is by looking at real-life examples of how these skills work and how they help us manage every area of our minds and lives. In this session, we will look at real-life situations where these skills are in action.

I invite you to join the course and get support from me and the community in the course classroom.

Transcript

Welcome back to session 2.

This session is all about sharing real-life examples to see all of these executive functioning skills in action.

I invite you to get comfortable and close your eyes so that you can listen to these examples with your full attention.

You will see that these skills work together and they blend with each other.

It's normal that you recognize overlaps and several skills in action at the same time.

By noticing each of these skills in action,

You will deepen your awareness of how your brain functions and you will then be able to explore complementing strategies that will help you function better.

Let's get started following the same order we did in the past session.

In memory.

Some examples of this skill in action are remembering a person's address or phone number while talking to them,

Remembering a new person's name,

Remembering passwords,

Remembering to-dos and appointments,

Remembering instructions to do a specific task that you are not familiar with,

Or remembering directions to get to places.

Some examples for adaptable thinking or cognitive flexibility are being open-minded to new ideas and other perspectives,

Being open to new learning opportunities,

Brainstorm different solutions for the same problem,

Be able to adapt to unexpected changes like you were planning to meet with a person and they cancelled last minute,

Or a family emergency requires you to change your agenda,

Greeting social cues and adjusting your behavior accordingly,

Avoiding having a my way or the highway mentality.

So basically being open-minded to other people's views of a situation.

Some examples for metacognition are be able to reflect about your performance in a specific task and tweak your actions accordingly,

Being aware of the best way for you to learn a new skill or to complete a specific task,

Understand your limitations and find strategies to complement them like using a journal to write down information so that you don't forget if your working memory is not really good.

Remember that metacognition is thinking about how you think,

It's being able to reflect about how you perform,

The things that you need to tweak and change and brainstorming different approaches for a future situation.

Emotional self-regulation.

Some examples for this skill are noticing what you feel and being able to name it,

Notice how events and actions trigger feelings and emotions in you,

Being able to control your reaction to events that trigger you,

Avoiding saying something mean and hurtful in the moment and regretting it afterwards,

Creating space and time for you to explore your emotions and feelings.

Practice self-care activities that help you feel better when you are feeling charged.

You can practice meditation,

Mindfulness practices,

You can go for a walk,

You can find a self-care activity that will help you cope with those emotions,

Will help you give yourself space and time so that you can reflect,

You can regulate that charge that you are having and maybe come back with a bit more awareness and more grounded.

Response inhibition and impulse control.

This is the same name for the same skill.

Some examples of this skill are ignoring distractions while completing a task like putting your phone in silence,

Avoiding interrupting in conversations when you want to speak right away,

Not saying or doing something in the heat of the moment that you will regret afterwards,

Controlling your emotions while driving and being disturbed by other carless drivers,

Resisting the temptation of eating a delicious cake or stop eating when you had enough,

And not engaging in dangerous activities without thinking of the possible consequences.

As you see this skill is very connected with emotional self-regulation.

Task initiation.

Some examples for this skill are reminding yourself to get started doing a task that you plan to do like meditating,

Going for a run or reading a book,

Being able to stop doing what you are currently doing and get started doing a new task that you planned on doing,

Like stopping working so that you can make dinner,

Stopping watching Netflix so that you can go to sleep,

Or timing how much time you spend doing a specific task when you need to be somewhere else at a specific time.

If you need to be at a doctor's appointment at 11 a.

M and it takes you 30 minutes to get ready and drive there,

You need to initiate this task of going to the doctor at 10 30 a.

M the latest.

Motivation and how exciting or beneficial one activity is will also affect your task initiation skill.

Attempting to do a big task all at once can also overwhelm you and affect your ability to start that task.

Attention control and focus.

A good example of attention control is your ability to set your attention to a new self-care activity that you want to include in your week like reading more,

Doing meditation,

Going for a walk,

Cooking more,

Etc.

And a good example for focus would be to be able to maintain your attention in that specific activity for the time that you intended to.

So if you set a goal of meditating for 15 minutes every day,

Your attention control will be your ability to shift your attention to that new activity so that you can get started and then focus your attention meditating for 15 minutes as you intended.

As you see,

Several skills are working together here to make this activity a reality.

In this specific example,

You are using your attention control,

Your task initiation,

And your focus at the same time.

You may notice other executive functioning skills showing up too,

Depending on the specific situation you are analyzing.

This is why being aware of the executive functioning skills on their own is helpful to start noticing which ones are working.

This will allow you to start learning new strategies to help complement your skills when you are not able to achieve your desired outcome.

Time management.

Some examples for this skill are arriving on time to your appointment,

Using your time in a way that feels good to you,

Being able to create and protect time for things that are important to you like self-care,

Exercise,

Cooking,

Spending time with a friend,

Spending time with your family,

Etc.

Breaking big projects into manageable chunks that you can then schedule in your calendar easily.

Being aware of passing time.

Completing tasks.

Some examples of this skill are completing tasks accordingly to specific standards,

Setting specific outcomes that are measurable like by the end of this hour I will have all my laundry washed,

Folded,

And put away in my closet.

Or creating a time limit for a task that doesn't require a specific outcome like I am going to practice my guitar for 20 minutes or I am going to spend 30 minutes reading my book.

As you see you can define what completing a task means to you by setting a specific intention,

Outcome,

Or time limit.

Organization.

Organization helps you keep track of things physically and mentally.

It also helps you create structure and systems to be able to maintain order.

Some examples of organization are understanding where you can put your belongings away when you finish using them to avoid clutter,

Having a clear step-by-step system to manage your paper files,

Having routines that help you keep your home clean like taking the garbage out on Tuesday night,

Cleaning once a week,

Doing the dishes at the end of the day,

Doing your laundry once a week,

Etc.

Having a system to organize your schedule like a calendar or an agenda.

Organization can apply to your physical world,

To your mental world,

And also to your digital world.

Planning.

Planning is the skill that will help you design and find a way to carry out tasks to reach a specific outcome.

Some examples for this skill are planning the steps needed to do a renovation in your home,

Planning a vacation where you need to figure out accommodation,

To figure out accommodation,

Flights,

Food,

Activities,

Or planning a new product launch at work.

As you see,

Planning can be applied to any area of your life and this skill will work together with other skills.

Sequencing.

Sequencing is your ability to put tasks in the right order to be able to achieve your desired outcome.

Following the examples that I shared for planning,

Sequencing will allow you to order the steps required to complete your home renovation efficiently,

The order required to plan your vacation,

And the order of the steps to make your new product launch at work a success.

Let's go deeper with the sequencing required for planning your vacation.

You won't be able to book your flight before getting a confirmation of your vacation date and you won't be able to book accommodation until you have specific dates.

So this is just one example of how sequencing comes into play.

Prioritizing.

Prioritizing is your ability to decide what tasks or outcomes are more important and need your immediate attention.

This skill can be used combined with other skills like sequencing,

Task initiation,

Time management,

And organization.

Metacognition will also help you reflect and decide what's most important.

Some examples for prioritizing can be looking at your vacation planning.

Your priority may be to talk to your boss to confirm your vacation date.

That may be the first priority.

Looking at your home renovations,

Your priority may be to contact a few contractors to get quotes and more information of steps needed and the length required to complete this renovation.

Looking at your new product launch at work,

Your priority may be to set a meeting with your team to create a plan together.

Taking a step back,

You can also use your prioritizing skill to decide what to prioritize this week or this evening or this weekend.

Maybe you want to prioritize moving forward with your work or with your renovation plans or finalizing your vacation plans.

As you see,

Prioritizing can be applied to a very specific task and also can be used to decide what activity may be the most important now,

Today,

This week,

This month,

Or this year.

Allowing time to connect with yourself,

Doing mindfulness activities or self-care activities can help you gain clarity and decide your priorities with more intention.

Transitioning or shifting your attention.

Transitioning or shifting is your ability to move intentionally from task to task,

Allowing yourself enough buffer time to get ready physically,

Mentally,

And emotionally.

Some examples for this skill are shifting from work to coming home,

Shifting from being a dad or a mom,

Spending time with your kids,

Into being a manager at your work,

Shifting from cooking a meal into sitting down at your desk and paying bills.

When you transition from activity to activity,

You may need to shift your physical,

Mental,

And emotional energy to adjust into the new needs.

Throughout your day and week,

You may tap into different kinds of energies,

Different kinds of mental and emotional states.

Noticing these energies in yourself will allow you to transition more easily and to learn to understand your body and your mind better.

For example,

If you are in your analytical mind doing accounting and paying bills and you notice that you are getting tired,

Allowing yourself to transition into a different activity for a few minutes,

Like getting up,

Stretching your legs,

And moving your body,

May allow you to then transition back into the analytical task with more focus and intention.

I hope all these examples help you have more clarity about how these executive functioning skills work.

Don't worry,

There will be a dedicated session for each of these skills where you will have time to notice that specific skill in your day-to-day life.

In the next session,

You will learn ways for understanding and honoring how your brain works.

Until then,

I invite you to start noticing your relationship with each of these skills,

How you use them throughout your day,

The skills that seem easy for you,

And the ones that you may be frustrated or challenged with.

Feel free to share what came up for you during this session in the course classroom,

And please share any questions you may have.

I hope you have an amazing rest of your day.

Adios!

Reviews

Excelente. Gracias por compartir tus conocimientos.

This is such a great set of tools & clear explanations for a healthy foundation of life skills❣️ Thank you, Emilio🙏🏻, for making it available to everyone 🌼🦋💙

Gracias por este recording, Emilio! A really precious reminder for me to get all the skills enumerated and explained with examples, will listen again, and awaiting more 🙏🏽🫶🌟💚🌊🙏🏽🍀