My Executive Function Helpers
As a psychologist, my job is to understand the human mind. But sometimes, my own mind feels like a library where all the books have been tossed on the floor, or a laptop with too many tabs open.
I’m talking about executive dysfunction. It’s the gap between wanting to do something and actually starting it. It’s that heavy feeling when I see a long research article, a blank report page, or a calendar full of webinars, and instead of diving in, I feel paralysed.
It isn’t laziness; it’s more like a biological “traffic jam” in the brain. I often want to do the thing, but my brain can’t quite organise the steps to begin.
For a long time, I felt the sting of labels: procrastinator, disorganised, lazy. I worried that if I couldn’t “manage” my own time perfectly, I couldn’t be a good professional. The weight of all the steps required for one task (like writing a clinical report) often felt so heavy that avoidance became the default.
But I’ve learned that the key isn’t to work harder against my brain, but to work with it. To acknowledge it, understand it, and find supports that actually fit with how my brain operates.
Here are some of the strategies that have changed both my practice and my life.
Naming it instead of judging it
The most important shift was moving from shame to naming.
Instead of saying, “I’m being lazy,” I now say: “I’m having difficulty with task initiation,” or “My working memory is overloaded.”
By naming the specific executive function that’s struggling, I strip away moral judgement. It allows me to work in smaller chunks, take breaks, and stop trying to do everything at once. Self-advocacy starts with being your own kindest colleague.
Changing how I take in information
I love learning, but some days a wall of text feels like a physical barrier.
To work with this, I use Speechify. It reads articles out loud while I follow along visually. It shifts reading from something overwhelming into something I can access through multiple channels at once.
Learning doesn’t have to feel effortful in the wrong way.
Supporting focus through structure and reward
To avoid the “scroll trap” while writing reports (which I do a lot of), I use the Focus Plant app.
It turns focus time into something more tangible. The longer I stay off my phone, the more my digital plants grow. It provides a small, immediate reward that helps me stay anchored to the task. If I pick up my phone during focus mode, it gently brings me back to what I was doing.
Body doubling
One of the most effective tools I use is body doubling.
It’s a productivity strategy where you work on a task in the presence of another person. They don’t need to help with the task; they’re simply there, in person or on a video call, doing their own work.
Their presence acts as an anchor. It helps regulate attention and makes starting and sustaining tasks feel less effortful.
The Kidd Clinic team often utilise body doubling during admin time
Final Reflection
The key to navigating executive dysfunction isn’t finding a “cure,” it’s finding accommodations that actually work.
We need to acknowledge the difficulty, experiment with supports, and honestly notice what helps us feel more resourced and steady.
Being a “good professional” doesn’t mean being a machine or achieving perfect productivity. It means knowing how to support yourself well enough that you can show up for others.
