A funny thing happens when you try and launch something new.

I had high hopes for my abilities to keep up with a set schedule of writing content. HIGH hopes. The reality is that trying to schedule something like that takes a lot of discipline. I’m working towards trying to be that disciplined person. Confronting that discipline is my arch nemesis: Executive Dysfunction. Executive dysfunction hampers my focus and task completion. I used to manage it effectively with medication, but I no longer have access to it due to health concerns. Gaining weight as an adult led to doctors advising against its use due to my abysmal blood pressure. A nasty little pit I’ve dug for myself. The nice thing about a pit is there really is only one way out of it. A clear sky hanging above me with clouds and a beautiful sun. Those clouds seem to spell out : GET GOOD.

Thanks clouds. Such helpful advice.

This is the advice that anyone gets who is struggling with things like executive dysfunction. They are told that they can be the best version of themselves, and that to do it, they just have to completely alter their way of thinking and how they do everything. Advice that is usually along the lines of just retrain your brain make me think, “Cool… let me just quick fix my entire way of thinking with all the struggles that come with being an adult and a parent.” It’s also where a lot of predatory self help “experts” try and swoop in to give a quick fix. The reality is that there is no quick fix to retraining the brain. The how usually is what makes things difficult. Truly how? Life is stressful and full of challenges. Sadly few people have the opportunity to step away from a large amount of responsibilities to properly work on proven methods. Methods that people who are able to afford both financially and through their time,(therapy, gym, nutritionist) have proven to work. This is the real world and we can’t just have a movie montage that results in a happy outcome. We have to go through it all, no skips.

So how does the layman do it if they can’t get the help. Something still has to happen to make the montage. Rocky trained all those days, learning to dance happened over a summer in Dirty Dancing. Every montage is made up of pieces. Pieces that represent the change someone is making. As the non-affluent I can start there. I can try and make one scene happen. Cleaning out that cupboard full of junk to help get more organized, trying to prioritize a healthy meal, spending a minute doing what makes me happy. These scenes in my life will have to take place around being a parent and having to work in the evening. 16 hour days make it hard to work on yourself. But blades become sharpest against the coarsest stone. Or something like that. My goal is to create these tiny scenes one at a time, so that in the next three months I’ve made a mini montage of GETTING GOOD.

My executive dysfunction makes it hard for me to complete goals. So setting shorter term goals is what is going to help me. Being able to get tiny wins allows us to build up those successful montages. I personally am going to have a physical notebook and document my MONTAGE MOMENTS! Checking things off lists is fun. We’re going to focus on three things. Did I clean today? Did I Eat Healthy today? Did I workout today? I of course will make notes about something fun I did for myself each day and something fun I did with my children. Hopefully I can combine some of these in to activities for us to do together. My wife loves Scrapbooking and is the one who gave me the idea for the physical journaling part. I am happy to have her care about my success and to be a good cheerleader to me feeling better. I’m doing this for her and the kids as much as for me.

I’ll keep letting you know how it’s going and continuing to write my little book. I’d love it if any of you who read this had any of your tips you’d like to share! What have you done that helps with organization and task completion in the face of things like executive dysfunction? Hopefully fixing some core me issues will give me better insight and time to writing my story. Keep your eyes open people, you never know when something funny can happen on the way to the book.

K