I don't think I've ever done a thread on executive function, so let me try.

EF is the capacity to go from an idea of doing something to actually doing something. It's ability to "execute" your plans. It's made up of something like 9 different subfunctions I can't remember. https://twitter.com/MyNameIsEllieL/status/1287396590068670464

So EF is a big deal for autistic people and neurodivergent people in general because we frequently struggle to turn our desires into actions.

Case in point: I've been meaning to set up http://autistic.af  forever now, but I can't seem to make progress on it. Why?

Because the idea I have in my head of a site with lots of resources and human connections is vivid and clear, and the currently existing structure is vivid and clear. What's not clear is how to turn the latter into the former - there are SO MANY STEPS.

Now, I'm describing being overwhelmed by the number of steps involved in a fairly complex project. But on a bad day I lack the executive function to eat - too many choices, too much work to prepare one, too confusing to know which steps I have to follow, etc.

I was called lazy my whole childhood for struggling to do things that required multiple steps. I'd eat leftover pizza cold because putting it in the microwave was one more step between me and eating, and every step can feel like infinity - even the super simple ones!

So what can we do about it? I've had a number of strategies that I've employed with varying success.

Number one is, get enough sleep and make sure I'm eating healthy and don't have any unmet needs. If I need X, I'll have an even harder time doing Y. So I won't try.

But if I'm rested and generally in control of my faculties I can start to break the problem down.

Ok, I want to make a website that contains advice and resources for autistic adults. That's a BIG project. What's a small step I can take towards it? Well, advice threads!

Literally the reason I'm trying to do neurodivergent advice columns on twitter is because these become resources that I can then add to the website.

In this way I'm not *directly* working on http://autistic.af , but when I do work on it I will have some content to add.

So kinda that's my general strategy for dealing with EF stuff -- always be passively reducing the number of steps you have to take to work towards a goal. The best way to reduce them is to simply take one step - that'll be progress. But it can feel slow, and without feedback, eh.

So another way to make progress is to define smaller goals - your big goal ( http://autistic.af  as a resource for autistic adults) can almost always be thought of as a set of small goals (list of advice, list of terms, list of therapists, etc). So work on small goals.

Once you've solved enough of the small goals, the bigger goals *become* small because you've removed a lot of the steps required.

What's this look like in day-to-day life?

It looks like buying a big-ass box of stamps and envelopes and keeping them in one place.

It can look like keeping a spreadsheet of your friends and keeping track of when you last checked in with them, to make sure none of your relationships drift so far that you lose them.

It can look like getting a job with a flexible morning start time if getting started is hard.

The crucial point is to stop beating yourself up for not being able to do "easy" stuff that everyone else can do. Here's the thing: if everyone else is doing it easily then that's great. It's easy for them.

It's not easy for you. That's real. It can be frustrating, but accept it

Once you stop fighting with yourself over what you *should* be able to do it's a lot easier to work on what you *are* able to do.

As autistic or ADHD people, executive function is *always* going to be challenging for us. We can't ignore that, we can't wish it away.

So instead we break things into smaller tasks, we arrange our lives in ways that minimize the number of steps that big things take, and we don't beat ourselves up for needing that.

Anyone else got advice?