A Quick Note on Executive Functioning Skills

The one thing I might have not mentioned or potentially emphasized enough is the idea that these skills are what make us do life better in a way. The person who is organized and always seems to have their life together often has learned how to master each of these skills or they’ve focused on one thing at a time and slowly built it in with the rest of their life. This is a lifelong process and pursuit. The greatest gift a parent can give to their child is autonomy. This becomes difficult if your child has a learning disability or in my case a chronic illness because of the fear involved in letting them loose into the world. There has to be a level of faith that they will figure it out given the right support and education (or in worst case scenarios because they have no other option because necessity is the mother of invention). An education is not something solely learned in a classroom. It’s part of what makes you who you are. How you process information. What you think about things (and how). The level of critical reasoning skill you have. These are all life things. They are also things that either directly or indirectly get taught not just by teachers but every person they come into contact with in their life. I tell my students to learn to take advice from people whose lives you admire. Set goals. Write. Think. Engage with the world. It’s not about escaping. It’s about embracing the mess and learning how to tame it. Life is supposed to be hard at times. It’s how you learn through failure and things not working out the way you want that separates the wheat from the chaff as the saying goes. It’s about practice and perseverance. So more than anything work on your attitude. And fall in love with the process. The more you engage in being annoyed that you have to do this. Or question why it has to be so hard. That’s what you get. Toil and strife. When you fall in love with the process you look at the world as a challenge to be tackled and embraced and these skills develop faster. Attitude and mindset are everything. So do it joyfully, not begrudgingly. And for all that is holy let go of the idea that if you can’t do it perfectly you can’t do it or it’s not worth doing. Perfection doesn’t happen without trial and error and tons of failure. Imagine if Thomas Edison gave up on the lightbulb after the first failure the first ten the first fifty. Or don’t engage in that kind of thought train because that’s an interesting can of worms. This week I set a goal to get better at one of the executive functioning skills I’ve been mentioning. Pay attention. Make adjustments. Practice. Practice. Practice.