How to Increase Executive Functioning (get sh*t done) at Work and In Your Business

 Welcome to the Outsmart, A DHD podcast. I'm your host, Jamie Catino, board certified occupational therapist. Two-time Ted Speaker, A DHD coach, A DHD, advocate and Reality Show, contestant. Now let's talk about A DH. D.

  Hello friends. How are you doing today? Today's episode is inspired by How the fuck Today was going. I was going to talk about something completely different and I'm like, you know what? I think we need to talk about what to do when your executive functioning is trash and you're trying to get work done like at your job and at your job can be in your business or at a nine to five job, corporate professional job, whatever it is, this episode is going to be for you If you ever struggle with that.

And if you have a DHD, you do struggle with it because executive functioning is decreased when you have a DHD. We're gonna get into that in all of that in a minute. I. I wanna tell you a little bit about what inspired today's episode. So I had the best of intentions of how today was gonna go. I had this beautiful, small to-do list on my phone in the notes app, which is where I typically put my little to-do list for the day.

I'm very diligent about not putting too many things on it so I'm can actually get started and with this new puppy that we have every other night. Either my partner or I will be sleeping on the couch, by the crate, so that we can tend to the dog when he needs to go outside. And then the other person can sleep happily ever after.

So every other night we do that so that neither of us become too entirely sleep deprived. Anyway, I woke up with the best of intentions of, okay, when he gets up, I will be able to work on my shit, tackle this to-do list. He's got an appointment to go to, I'm gonna have the house to myself .

What ends up happening is he completely forgets that he has a second appointment prior to the one that. I had already known about. So we yes, take that appointment telehealth. So that means I am stuck with a puppy longer. I don't have a window to do literally anything until 2:00 PM which is well passed.

Like my good window of when my a DH ADHD meds are working, especially since I was, I took them around nine o'clock. Anyway, it pissed me off. I was dysregulated. I messaged my coach and I was like, you know what? It pisses me off when this happens. And then I did the things that I am gonna tell you that helped me when I am dysregulated and executive functioning is not there.

Just because I'm an A DHD coach and an occupational therapist does not mean that I don't get dysregulated. It doesn't mean that I don't have days where executive functioning is hard and I still have to get things done. Anyone that tells you they don't struggle anymore, that's so silly. They're telling you that for their marketing.

Don't believe them. Don't listen to their podcasts anymore or their emails or anything because they're just a liar. Okay. So let's talk about what executive functioning is. Executive functioning is your ability to start a task, finish a task, switch tasks, and also in your frontal lobe, which has decreased activation with A DHD, you also have that's the part of the brain that also regulates emotions.

It does a lot of really important things. Think about any adult activity in your life. That doesn't require you to plan or prioritize or start a task or finish a task or switch tasks, pretty hard to find them. And your workplace, whether it's your business or your nine to five, is full of tasks that require executive functioning.

So we're gonna talk about what to do on those days where the executive functioning just isn't there. Okay.

So these tips are in no specific order because I have a DHD and I wrote them down as I thought of them. Okay, here's the first thing to ask yourself when you are trying to get your day started, but your brain is just not fucking cooperating. First question you ask yourself is, are you having a low or a high focus day?

And also, are you having a low or a high energy day? If you are struggling with executive functioning, it's really good chance that you are having a low focus and a low energy day. Just because of that doesn't mean that your list of shit doesn't need to get done. Because maybe you have an overpaid tool of a boss that you need to get things done for.

Or maybe you have a really cool boss. I'm hoping that you do. I hope your boss is really cool. But anyway, you've got things that you need to get done. So the first question you ask yourself is, are you having a high energy day or a low energy day and a high focus or a low focus day? Now, if you're having a low focus low energy day.

That's when you look at all the shit that you need to get done and ask yourself, what's the easiest place to start? What is the absolute easiest thing to be able to get started on now? Earlier today when I was feeling like this after I had myself a good cry I, one of the things on my to-do list was to open an email, just open an email that I got a couple days ago that I had been avoiding about a free webinar that I'm doing in a couple weeks.

So I opened the email as I was sitting on my bed. Actually, no, I was laying down, I was laying in my bed crying and I opened the email. But guess what? I was able to then mark that thing off of the list and it started the cascade of getting my shit done. Okay. Just that feeling of, okay, at least I got one thing done even when I was feeling not completely regulated yet.

'cause that takes some time, right? I was still able to feel a sense of pride of, okay, I was able to get shit done. I'm not a completely lost cause. Now, if you're having a high energy or a high focus day, then you would ask yourself, what would give you the biggest sigh of relief if you were to get it done?

So say you've got, I don't know, you have to schedule a meeting with somebody and you've been dreading it forever and you've just been feeling like, oh, I don't wanna send the email to ask them for to do the meeting. What would they give you? The biggest sigh of relief to just have it off of your fucking plate.

If you're having a really high energy, high focus date, start there. But guess what? A lot of days you're not gonna be in that head space, and that's okay. And that's when you ask yourself, what's the absolute easiest, smallest thing that I could get done today? Sometimes you need to look at a task and say, okay, what's the very first step of that task that needs to get done?

An example of this could be you need to have an entire PowerPoint presentation done by Friday. It's currently Monday. You have not even started it. Step one of that might be to open a PowerPoint document, name it, and save it. That's step one. That can literally be your step one. There is not a step too small.

The whole point of this is to just get started. Okay, tip number one, if you're having a low energy, low focus day, start with the easiest thing. If you're having a high energy, high focus day, start with the thing that would give you the biggest sigh of relief. Okay? So thing number two, where do you start?

Will anything burn to the ground if you don't start there? That good old sense of urgency. If you are in this place, chances are, you're probably already getting started on this, but the paralysis of, oh fuck, like executive dysfunction gets in the way. Even with important things, a lot of times, even more with important things.

But if you're not sure where to get started, that's another place to start. If by the end of the day today this thing doesn't get done, will things burn to the ground? Do you have a day, a deadline that is like due now? Start there. Another thing, as you are thinking of all the things that you have to do, have you ever noticed that you ever feel exhausted just thinking about what you have to do?

It feels like work. A lot of times it feels even harder than the task. That you have to do because our brains have such a hard time prioritizing and organizing and getting started on things. So if you feel like this, like you are physically, mentally working, when you're just thinking about it, you are not weird.

You are not abnormal. This is so normal for A DHD people, and I feel it all of the time. So much more exhaustion, thinking about what I have to do versus actually doing it. Okay. Okay. But let's say you did get started on one of these tasks. Let's say you're having a low energy day. You started on the easiest thing, but now you have all of these other things popping up in your brain.

Pro tip, leave a notebook next to your desk. I am not gonna tell you to make a to-do list. I'm not gonna tell you make a to-do list. If you're about to log off because you think I'm gonna make tell you to make a to-do list, I'm not telling you that. Stay tuned in. Okay. Leave that notebook there so that all of the thoughts that pop into your head that are getting in the way of you actually finished that task that you started, write them down in that notebook.

Okay? I don't care if they don't have jack shit to do with your actual job, I don't care if it's, oh, I have to call my mom later today. Write it down. I have to call my mom later today. If it's, oh, I need to pick up lettuce from the grocery store. Write down. I need to pick up lettuce from the grocery store.

If it's, oh, I have this deadline on this date, write that thing down. Your brain is going to keep repeating the same thing to yourself over and over again because it knows that you struggle with working memory. Which is another symptom of A DHD, having a really hard time with working memory. So this gets repeated in your head over and over again.

Not because your brain is trying to piss you off, but because it knows, Hey girl, you're gonna have a hard time remembering this. We're gonna just put it on repeat forever and ever. And unlike that song that you have on repeat, that you can suck all of the dopamine out of this is giving you no dopamine, it's just pissing you off.

So that's where all of those thoughts are gonna go in that notebook. I don't care if it's. Oh, you have an ex that is popping in your head and the idea of that person's pissing you off, I don't care. Write that in the notebook. All of those thoughts that are going on in your head are going in that notebook.

Okay. And then maybe put that notebook somewhere that you're coworkers can't just be really nosy and glance over at you. But that is gonna help you to be able to complete the task at hand, okay? It's gonna get all of those impulsive thoughts out of the way. It's gonna get all of those recurring thoughts of trying to remind you of what you have to do out of the way.

It is not intended to be a to-do list at all. It is a place to know that. I am not going to forget these things. I am recognizing these things. Now I'm gonna get back to my work. This was absolutely life changing for me, especially when I was building my business, because there's just so many things to do when you're building a business.

There's always so many things to do when you have a business, but. Especially when I was in the building phases, I kept getting all of these ideas, all these ideas, and of course I can't execute all of these ideas at the same time, especially in the beginning, right? Limited time, limited resources, all of those things.

So I had a running list of notebooks. Sometimes I was using a Google Doc to put all of those things in. If you don't wanna do a notebook, have a literal, put Google Docs on your smartphone the app, and then open it and then brain dump there so that, there's nowhere they can go. I'm a pen to paper type of person.

Maybe that's a millennial in me that wasn't raised on an iPad, but there's no shame. Whatever works for you, but have a designated place that you can put all of those things so that you can get back to the thing that you're actually trying to get done. Okay. The next tip that I have for you is to find a reset activity.

This is for when you get dysregulated and it feels like there is nothing that you can get you back on course. It's okay, you're you're in NASCAR right now and your car just flew off the side of the track and there's literally nothing that is able to bring you back on track. If you are not tending to that dysregulation and the lack of emotional regulation, it's gonna be really hard to get focused, to be able to get that thing done.

Tending to that is gonna help you so much more than trying to just fight through it earlier today. I probably spent an hour being pissed off, just let myself cry. But then I did my reset activity, which is to take a shower nine times outta 10. After I take a shower, I do feel better for other people.

Let's say that you're at work. It might be taking a small walk. It might be walking over to your coworker and chatting with them for a little bit. Find a reset activity. Pet your dog. I would stay away from something like phone games because phone games are really good at just three hours can go by and you just won't know, and I have no idea.

Speaking from experience, it's a heavy sarcasm intended, but find a reset activity that will help you when you're feeling dysregulated. Let yourself feel those emotions as much as you can. If you have to go into the bathroom, let yourself cry a little bit. I don't care if you gotta bring some concealer to work so that no one can tell that your eyes are puffy.

It's fine. You still look great girl. And. Then.

Do the reset activity and then you'll be able to get back to what you actually want to focus on. Do not bypass that emotional regulation. Gosh, it is like impossible to get anything done when you're feeling that dysregulated honor that tend to it, and then you're gonna be able to get your stuff done. So much faster.

I promise you. I know that what you're thinking right now. Yeah. But like I have so much time or I got so much to do, I don't have time to be dysregulated. You are so right. You don't have time to be dysregulated and the way to get through it is to allow yourself to feel those things as much as you can safely in your work environment so that you can get back to focusing on what you have to focus on.

Okay. The next thing also has to do with emotional regulation, which is to find a friend or a trusted coworker to bitch to or a coach. So this is what I did earlier as well with my coach. I sent her a message and I'm just like, you know what? This is pissing me off. All of these things got in the way of my beautiful day that I had planned.

I missed my peak medication window where my brain is functioning. It's pissing me off. I. Have not even been able to take a fucking shower today. I feel disgusting, and I wanted to record a podcast and do all of these high focus things, and I feel like I can't now, and it's pissing me off. And I'm not even mad at my partner because he did literally nothing wrong and he just forgot that he had an appointment and that is okay because he.

Also as a DHD, I'm not blaming him, but holy fuck, my entire day is thrown off and I'm pissed off about it and I just bitched about it. And she literally was just like, yeah, it sucks. You feel like that? Didn't try to fix it or anything. Simply having someone to be like, yeah, that shit sucks, doesn't it? Was so regulating.

And then I messaged another friend and I'm just like, Hey, do you ever have a beautiful plan of how your day's gonna go? And then something unexpectedly gets in the way and it pisses you off and you're not able to get your shit done during your medication window. So then you're just like laying there crying.

And she was like, no, I've never experienced that. Just kidding. Absolutely. And just having her to validate as well. I was able to get regulated. I'm just like, thank you for the, for taking a moment to validate me. I'm gonna take a fucking shower now and do my things. So do not underestimate the power of being able to regulate, to be able to get things done.

Honestly, it has to be step one of all, executive functioning. If you are struggling to get things done and you're feeling really dysregulated, pissed off, sad, anything, start with. One of those two things either. I would say start find someone that you can trust that you can bitch to, and then find your reset activity, whether that be a shower, a walk stepping outside, petting your dog, whatever.

So those are gonna help you to be able to get things done.

The next tip is as best as you can, plan your day around your A DHD meds if you take them. Your medicine if you are on I'm talking specifically about stimulant medication here too. If you are on, say, like an extended release medication, at least for me, I know that within about an hour my brain will be the medication will be peaking as far as its effects.

If I'm taking an instant release, I know that within about a half hour it's gonna be working pretty good. And. I know that for about the next four hours, I've got pretty good focus, so I will try to plan all of my really focus heavy tasks for that timeframe. Okay. If you ever go on like my Calendly and stuff, you might see that there's more, blocks of time that are between like 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM my time, unless I already have calls at that time. That's because I wanna be able to give you the best focus that I have. And I know that my focus, my best focus, as long as I get up and take my meds around nine o'clock is from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Okay?

If this means, hey, if you know that you don't have too big of a problem getting up and getting ready for the day, but you have like meetings really heavy from maybe one to 5:00 PM I really hope you don't have four hours of fucking meetings. But I know a lot of people have meetings that could have been an email.

It might mean taking your medication at like noon so that by one o'clock your medication's peaking. Obviously be very mindful of how this affects your sleep. Some people are able to sleep better when the medication's in their system later on in the day. Other people have a really hard time sleeping if they don't take it earlier in the day.

I'm unfortunately one of those people, all the stars have to align to be able to sleep. But anyway, as best as you can, plan your day around when your medication's going to be peaking. Or let's say you're like me, I have to take my medicine earlier in the day because it. It is really helpful for it to be working so that I can get ready for the day so I can get to take a shower, get dressed, whatever.

That's why I will plan my. Focus intensive things between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM Again, depending on who your employer is, depending on how much autonomy you have, this is going to be based off of what is in your control, and it's not perfect. It never is. Even me with having my own business days like today do happen, but I would say as best as you can, that has been life changing for me.

Planning my day around when my medication is peaking. Okay. Next tip is to ask yourself, would this task be easier if I started or wait, hang on. Would this task be easier to start if I was okay with doing a shitty job? Okay, so you might be thinking like, okay Jamie, I can't do a shitty job of my job.

That's a really good way to get fired. Hear me out. Hear me out. Your mediocre is a lot of other people's trying really hard. People that don't care, don't listen to podcasts like this. You are listening to a podcast like this because you are trying to get the absolute most you can outta your brain. You are someone who loves to learn, loves to find hacks of how to do life better.

You are likely. A perfectionist in some way, shape, or form. And if you're hearing this being like, I'm not a perfectionist, ask yourself how many times you have not started something because you wanted to be a very specific way and you felt like you didn't have the time or the energy or the resources to do it that specific way, so therefore you didn't do it.

Okay. I have yet to work with an A DH, ADHD that doesn't have some type of perfectionistic tendencies. Ask yourself, would this task be easier to start? If I was okay with doing a shitty job, but getting the bare minimum done? I realized that I had been putting off, preparing for the webinar that I'm doing in a couple weeks because in my mind I had to have really beautiful slides.

I had to be a very specific way. I was putting so much pressure on myself to be perceived a certain way, so that by that webinar, more people would get to know me and maybe I would get more clients from it or whatever. It was meant for marketing, right? And I realized that in doing that, I was putting so much pressure on myself that I wasn't able to get started, and then when I opened up that email today, it literally said, Hey, if you want it to be more casual and just like a conversation, let us know.

So now I know, oh, okay. My version of a shitty job is just sending questions that I want the person on the panel to be, or the person asking me since I'm on their panel. Sending 'em the questions I want them to ask me. Done. I know how to talk to people. I know how to converse back and forth, and I do know the topic that I'm talking about, so that is my shitty version of getting it done.

So people who are going to be watching it. I highly doubt they're going to be watching it being like, oh my gosh, that person was so unprepared and this was so shitty, because guess what? They did not see what I had in my head, which was going to be beautifully orchestrated. Slides done on Canva with my branding colors and the font, and la.

They are not going to see that. They're gonna probably think, oh wow, this person knows what the fuck they're talking about, because I do know what the fuck I'm talking about. This is what I mean by asking yourself, would this task be easier if I was okay with doing a shitty job with it? Now? I hope this was helpful.

I hope that you were able to take something from this to help you with your workday. I know how incredibly frustrating it is for someone to be career motivated, but. Or to be career driven, but all of your extra time and energy goes into keeping up with the career that you feel like you can't keep up with yet.

It's so important to you. You worked your ass off for it. I hope that this is helpful for those of you that are in that position. And if you're looking for more one-on-one help with executive functioning, specifically in the workplace or in your business, I am your person. I'm an occupational therapist for an A DHD coach.

Occupational therapists honestly should be called functional therapist. With my clients specifically, I'm helping them to function in their workplace and their relationships. In their home life, because that is a big old tangled web. If one is out of whack, it's gonna be affecting everything else, and I am going to be the one to help you to untangle that web so that every day isn't exhausting.

If you are spending every single day with no energy, no time to engage in a hobby. And you have no energy to do anything but scroll on your phone after work or watch Netflix. We need to talk because life is meant to be more than that. No shame on watching Netflix though. I fucking love watching Netflix.

But if you have no energy because you are trying so hard to get. You're eight hours of work done in an eight hour day, but you're taking it home and you're doing even more shit. Let's talk in the show notes of this episode. There is a link to center up for a call, a free call with me, and we will talk about what you're going through.

You won't have to worry about any type of sleazy sales tactics. I won't even ask you if you wanna sign up while you're on the call. It is just a way for you to get to know me, for me to get to know you, to know if we wanna work together. So that is in the show notes. Sign up for a free call. You won't regret it.

Your executive functioning definitely won't, and your mental health definitely won't. And if you could do me a giant favor and rate this show, it would be really helpful. I only have a couple people who have rated the podcast and rating. It helps to push it out to other people so that they're able to get this free information too.

I do as much as I possibly can to help those who are not able to afford more resources than just free resources. So if you could do me a giant favor. And rate the show and put a little comment I would be super duper grateful. Until next time, my friends. Bye now.

 Are you a high achieving woman with a DHD looking for a coach or maybe an event coordinator looking for a wildly captivating speaker? Perfect. Go to outsmart adhd.co. That's out. Smart adh adhd.co to get in touch. And before I forget, would you mind taking a minute to share this podcast with someone you love?

It would mean the world to me. Thanks, my friend. Until next time.