Executive Functioning Coaching
What is executive functioning?
Executive functioning is the set of mental skills that runs the day: planning, starting tasks, keeping track of time, holding information in mind, switching gears, and stopping yourself before acting on an impulse. The Cleveland Clinic calls it the brain's management system.
When these skills are weak, smart and capable people still miss deadlines, lose track of bills, start ten projects and finish none, and feel like they are always behind.
What gets in the way
ADHD is the best-known cause of executive functioning trouble, but it's far from the only one. Anxiety, depression, autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and trauma can all affect it. So can poor sleep, chronic stress, brain injury and some medications.
Signs it's a problem
Knowing what needs to happen but not being able to start
Losing track of time, then rushing or missing things
Piles of unopened mail and unanswered messages
Trouble breaking a big task into parts
Forgetting appointments even with reminders
Getting derailed by small changes in plans
Coaching that happens where the work is
Most executive functioning advice is easy to agree with and hard to keep doing. Get a planner. Break tasks down. Use reminders. The gap is follow-through, and that's where a Sanare clinician helps.
Coaching happens at the client's desk, kitchen table or campus, one to five times a week. Together we might set up a calendar system and use it for the next three weeks, sort a backlog of mail into a simple bill-pay routine, or plan a semester's assignments and check in before each one is due.
Systems that fit the person. Paper or phone, visual or written, built around how the client actually thinks.
Breaking tasks down. Turning "apply for jobs" into steps small enough to start today.
Time. Estimating how long things take and building in buffers.
Accountability. Regular check-ins that keep momentum going without shame.
The underlying condition. Treating anxiety or depression that makes executive skills worse.
Our blog has more on executive functioning coaching and what to expect in a first session.
Executive functioning coaching in Denver
Sanare works with adults 18 and older across the Denver and Boulder metro. Contact us or call 303.476.1974.