Executive function support you can set up this weekend
Support means putting the manager’s job outside your head and into your space.
The short version: try one today
- A whiteboard by the door with today’s three things.
- Recurring phone alarms with a clear label.
- A weekly 15 minute reset with a partner or friend.
Stuck at the starting line right now? Priori breaks the task into tiny first steps, so you only have to do one. (We make it. It's free to download.)
You need a whiteboard, your phone and about an hour spread over two days. That's the whole shopping list. Good executive function support is rarely clever. It's a set of dull, visible things that remember for you.
The idea is simple. Planning, remembering and prompting are jobs your brain does unreliably, so you give those jobs to objects and people. Set it up once, on a weekend when you have a bit of energy, and let it carry you on the days you have none.
Why executive function support has to live outside your head
Anything stored only in your mind depends on working memory, and with ADHD that's the shelf things fall off. You've probably remembered a dentist appointment perfectly at 11pm and then forgotten it completely at 9am.
External cues don't have off days. A whiteboard says the same thing whether you slept well or badly. Many women with ADHD have spent years compensating with sheer mental effort, which works until life gets busier. Moving the load into your space is cheaper. There are more ideas along these lines in put your brain outside your head.
Saturday: the whiteboard and the alarms
Hang a small whiteboard by the front door, or prop it on the shelf where your keys live. Each evening, write tomorrow's three things on it. Three, because that's what fits in a glance while you're putting on shoes. 'Post parcel. Email Priya. Buy milk.'
The door matters. It's the last place you pass before the day gets hold of you, and it catches you while you can still grab the parcel. A whiteboard in your bedroom becomes furniture within a week.
Then set your recurring phone alarms. Aim for a handful, clearly labelled.
- Name the action. 'Put bins out now' works. 'Bins' gets ignored.
- Pick a time when you can act on it. A rent reminder at 2pm in a lecture just gets swiped away.
- Give different jobs different sounds if your phone allows, so you know what it is before you look.
- Keep the total low. Ten alarms a day turn into background noise.
If you'd rather use an app, Priori has reminders and connects to Google Calendar. Use whatever you'll actually look at.
Sunday: the fifteen minute reset
This one needs another person. A partner, a flatmate, a friend on a video call. Same time every week, fifteen minutes, timer on.
Each of you looks at the week ahead and says it out loud: what's due, what's booked, what you're dreading. Check the calendar, wipe the whiteboard, fix any alarms that have gone stale. Then stop. Keep it a reset and resist turning it into a two hour life audit.
The other person is there because a plan with yourself is easy to skip. A plan with someone waiting on a call is much harder to ghost. They also catch things. 'Isn't your sister's birthday on Thursday?' is worth the whole fifteen minutes.
When you start ignoring it
You will. In about three weeks the whiteboard will show the same three things it showed nine days ago, and the 7pm alarm will get dismissed without being read.
This is normal, and the fix is small. Move the board to a new spot. Change the pen colour. Reword the alarm labels. ADHD brains tune out anything that stays the same, so a little novelty brings a cue back to life.
If one piece keeps failing, drop it and keep the others. Two supports you use are worth more than five you resent. For the background on why any of this is needed, see executive dysfunction explained without the jargon.
Quick questions
What is executive function support?
It is anything outside your head that does part of the planning, remembering or prompting for you. Whiteboards, labelled alarms, calendars and regular check-ins with another person all count. The aim is to rely less on working memory and more on your surroundings.
How can adults with ADHD support their executive function at home?
Start with one visible list near the front door, a few clearly labelled recurring alarms and a short weekly reset with someone else. Keep each tool simple and place it where the action happens. Refresh the tools when you notice you have stopped seeing them.