4 Brain Hacks to Fight Executive Dysfunction

Executive dysfunction is a major problem for people with all kinds of mental illness, myself included. Executive function is the ability to organize and execute our thoughts and actions, and executive dysfunction is the opposite: scattered thoughts, missed deadlines, and intense frustration over everyday tasks. Accomplishing even the simplest of goals can require a Herculean effort with executive dysfunction ("Depression and Cognitive Dysfunction").

Common Executive Dysfunction Issues

Some examples of executive dysfunction that I run into a lot are struggling to get out of bed, even though I want to, being paralyzed by my to-do list because I don't know where to start, or losing sight of my long-term goals and giving up on them. People who don't understand executive dysfunction might call this laziness, but that would be incorrect.

Everyone is lazy sometimes. Laziness is when you know you should do the thing, but you just don't want to right now. Executive dysfunction is different. I genuinely want to do things like make dinner or work on my art, but something goes wrong in my brain and I'm left feeling trapped and defeated.

Fight Executive Dysfunction with These 4 Brain Hacks

Even though executive dysfunction can be a big obstacle to recovery, there are ways to fight it. You just need to learn how to hack your brain. These are some of the best executive dysfunction hacks that I've found so far:

1. Ask for help -- The kind of help required to fight executive dysfunction will probably feel embarrassing and you might not want to do it. Do it anyway. I know I have trouble starting and finishing tasks, so I try to be proactive by telling my teachers/bosses about this problem and asking for additional deadlines and personal meetings. This hurts my pride, and I know some people won't understand, but I've learned that if I want to produce my best work, I just need help.

2. Lie to yourself a bit -- Executive dysfunction makes even small tasks into a large ordeal. A lot of the time, this means we don't start it at all. My favorite workaround for this is to lie to myself a bit. I'll tell myself that I just need to work on the task for half an hour, and then I can stop. At the end of the half hour, I convince myself to work for that same amount of time, just once more, really, then I can stop. I lie to myself like this for as long as I can, and most of the time, I actually get the task done.

3. Talk to yourself out loud -- I can't count the number of times I've gotten ready for bed by talking myself through it. "Okay, put on your PJs now. Good, now walk to the bathroom. Take your pill. Awesome, now take out your contacts." It feels a little silly, but sometimes I am so scattered or anxious that I feel paralyzed, and talking out loud helps me simplify and organize my thoughts so I can act on them.

4. Break up big tasks into little ones -- Sometimes I try to work on a long-term project during the weeks or months leading up to the deadline, but because the project is so big, my small, steady progress feels pointless and I just stop working on it. When I break up my big projects into lots of little projects, I get a great sense of accomplishment every time I meet a deadline, which gives me the motivation to keep going and meet the next one.