Sometimes planning and organising daily life can become difficult. You can feel busy all day or even all week, but still not get through your tasks. There are a whole range of supervisory skills that we use to manage new and challenging circumstances. These include planning, estimating, organisation, judgement, reasoning, self-monitoring, picking up errors, adapting to new things and being flexible with change.
Some people notice problems with executive function occasionally and during very difficult activities (e.g. exams), whilst for other people they can occur frequently and repetitively (folding your wheelchair to fit it into your car). Having a problem with planning skills can lead you to feel that you are not coping well, and to have trouble choosing the right thing to do.
You may find that you feel overwhelmed at particularly busy times. If these skills are more significantly affected, then everyday tasks can seem like too much. By using these tips to improve your planning skills, you can help to solve this problem.
Signs that you are struggling with executive skills include:
- Repeating the same response or action that doesn't work.
- Finding it hard to generate or consider alternatives in, say, managing your health.
- Running out of time and finding that you haven't completed important tasks.
- Misjudging social situations and saying or doing the wrong thing.
- Taking longer to get the hang of doing something new.
- Feeling apathetic or unable to begin a task