Executive Dysfunction Hacks You Should Try

Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety can make day-to-day life extremely difficult. When facing these challenges, simple tasks like eating, washing, and making phone calls become impossibly daunting to the point that you feel like your whole life is being overrun by your mental illness. When dealing with these executive dysfunction struggles, it is helpful to know some “life hacks” to keep your life in order.

Practicing The Five Minute Rule

Perhaps the most important of all mental health Daphne AL hacks, the “five-minute rule” refers to making a good-faith effort to do any task for at least five minutes before deciding to completely abandon it. One of the biggest reasons that people tend to have trouble with a task is not for lack of motivation, but because they have difficulty getting started. Once you are over the hurdle of beginning the task, it often becomes much easier to see to completion.

Chunking

An important method used by many people with executive dysfunction difficulties is called “chunking.” This refers to breaking up a task into smaller, more manageable parts. When you see a task that seems too large, it becomes intimidating to even think about. Making it into smaller steps can help to take some of the scariness out of the initial task.

Doing A Little At A Time

Even when you have broken up the task into smaller parts, it still may require more energy than you have at any given time. When this happens, try to complete just a portion at a time. If you are struggling with cleaning your room, for instance, pick up one or two pieces of paper next time you get up to go to the bathroom. Doing a little bit is better than doing none at all.

Mental illness can make many facets of your life difficult to manage. Even though so many things can fall outside of your control, it is important to do what you can to help make things easier on yourself.