Boosting Executive Function for ADHD and Beyond

We all need support unlocking our brain's true potential! Whether you're navigating the challenges of ADHD or simply looking to enhance your executive function, this blog is your roadmap to getting stuff done with comapartive ease. Drawing insights from neuroscience, medicine, naturopathy and Kinesiology we'll explore top tips, supplements, and effective systems to supercharge your cognitive abilities! 

Understanding Executive Function:

Executive function encompasses crucial mental skills like motivation, organization, time management, and impulse control. Dr. Andrew Huberman, a prominent neuroscientist, emphasizes the importance of regulating the brain's arousal states for optimal executive function. This involves creating a balance between focus and relaxation.

Top Tips from Andrew Huberman:

• Strategic Breaks: Huberman advocates for strategic breaks, recommending short intervals of focused work (25-50 minutes) followed by brief breaks. This technique aligns with the brain's natural cycles, enhancing productivity and preventing burnout.

• Quality Sleep: Adequate, quality sleep is a cornerstone of executive function. Huberman underscores the importance of maintaining a consistent sleep schedule and optimizing sleep hygiene (avoiding stimulants or alcohol, reducing light, especially blue light, reducing emf and optimising temperature) for cognitive performance. 

Structured Time Blocking: 

Productivity expert Cal Newport suggests time blocking to enhance time management. Allocate specific blocks for tasks, minimizing multitasking and improving focus.

Task Prioritization: 

ADHD coach Alan Brown emphasizes the significance of prioritizing tasks. Identify the most critical items on your to-do list and tackle them first, ensuring a sense of accomplishment and motivation. I like to divide a page into four pieces noting the to-do tasks that I have for the day and I then arrange them into four categories: urgent and important, urgent and not important, not urgent and  important and not urgent not important.  

urgent and important get handled first, urgent not important get delegated, not urgent but important gets planned and not urgent not important gets dumped. Play with this for yourself

Supplements to Support ADHD:

Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Research indicates that omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish oil, may benefit ADHD symptoms by promoting healthy brain function.

L-Theanine: This amino acid, commonly found in green tea, is known for its calming effects without inducing drowsiness, making it an ideal supplement for managing ADHD-related anxiety.

Tyrosine also an Amino acid is a precursor for dopamine and thyroid hormones dopamine is our key motivation neurotransmitter it's involved not only in reward but also in motivating us to seek reward. 

More supplements might be helpful depending on your particular deficiencies ask your naturopath or health professional.

Effective Time Management System:

Did you know that we can only maintain optimal focus for 25mins? Implement the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method involving 25-minute work intervals (Pomodoros) followed by a short break. After completing four Pomodoros, take a longer break. This structured approach enhances focus and prevents mental fatigue. If I am struggling to start a big task I tell myself, just do 25mins. I am always surprised. 

Just do the first step in a process.

Similarly, if you just tell yourself put your shoes on and see if you feel like doing this walk once you’re up and ready, 9/10 you’ll do it. Many of us have enough energy to fulfill the task that we are putting off but our biology wants us to experience comfort and the least amount of effort.Just getting started with the first step has the most resistance, so make it tiny and manageable. Once you realise there’s no danger or discomfort in putting on your shoes for example, many times being in that momentum and having some variety and novelty is uplifting and you find it better to be doing things than procrastinating. Crucially if you still really don't feel like doing it do your best to practice compassion with yourself. This is an area that we all struggle with in modern society, particularly those with ADHD who have been told their whole lives that they are deficient in their executive capacity. Which leads to my next point…

Be more compassionate to yourself

 This one seems counter-intuitive however as Brene Brown says “you cannot shame someone into modifying their behavior.” All shaming yourself does is make you more afraid that you are a deficient person, and that you'll be rejected, which causes you to not want to apply yourself… it's too risky to give a mediocre performance so we withdraw or procrastinate. Let: “Done Is better than perfect” be your Mantra. In many cases this is your body having a stress response to what you need to undertake and thinks it's being protective. Try to forgive yourself and get curious about the sources of stress driving your executive dysfunction rather than becoming self rejecting. 

Use a Bullet Journal. 

This Is a wonderful way to get all of your thoughts out on paper allowing you to feel more clear on your specific goals enabling you to prioritize tasks with greater ease and manage your time more effectively because seeing what you need to undertake all in one place supports good time management.

Example of Bullet Journaling:

• Daily Log: Start each day with a brief overview of tasks, appointments, and priorities.

• Rapid Logging: Use concise bullets to note tasks, events, and thoughts throughout the day.

• Monthly and Future Logs: Maintain a monthly overview and plan future tasks, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

• Collections: Create specialized collections for goals, habits, or project plans.

• Use Keywords or symbols. When referencing your notes using keywords or symbols can be useful for example a speech bubble around something might mean it's something of great importance. A strike through might mean not a priority today, a star next to something might mean this is something to delegate, for example. Choose a system that works for you.

• Allocate the first few pages of your journal for an index and every time that you fill in a page number it and place it in the index for ease of reference later.

Set yourself up with an excellent morning routine

Do not look at your phone for at least an hour after waking up.

 Research has shown that utilizing the earliest time after waking for reflecting on your life goals and ambitions is a very effective way to catalyze your resources towards the life you want to achieve. Early after waking your brain is still in a theta state (more dream-like and imaginative) if you leverage this state you set yourself up for better productivity and focus to your life’s ambitions.

I wake up, get myself a cup of green tea and get out my journal, reflect on my general goals and tasks specific to the day, then I do a little work, then exercise, nutritious breakfast, get ready for work and meditate before clients. I have had to refine this over years and life is in flux so it changes. Experiment and find what works for you. 

Through self acceptance, adopting strategic supplements and effective time management tools, you're on the path to boosting your executive function. Embrace the power of a well-structured bullet journal to keep your goals in focus, and watch as your cognitive abilities flourish. Here's to unlocking the full potential of your mind, the most valuable asset you have!

All the Best of health and Happiness

E xx