5 Ways to Use Minimalism to Improve Executive Functioning

Do you want to improve your executive functioning, but have no idea where to start? I can so relate.

Executive functioning has never been easy for me. I’m autistic, I have ADHD, generalized anxiety, and sometimes battle mild to moderate depression. All of which are only some of many conditions that can cause executive functioning challenges. If you don’t already know, executive functions are a set of processes in the brain that help us self-regulate and take the necessary steps needed to complete tasks. Executive functioning is all about properly planning and prioritizing tasks, being able to remember the important stuff, all while being being flexible in your thinking and keeping track of what you’re doing.

For many neurodivergent minds, these skills do not come easily. When you struggle with executive functioning, life feels so much harder and more overwhelming. On my most depressed, anxious days, even basic self-care tasks like showering take a lot of mental effort to accomplish. Some days I try so hard to be more productive, but I still feel like I’ve accomplished nothing at the end of the day.. and I cry, because once again, I couldn’t live up to my expectations. I’ve let myself down more times than I can count. Because of that, I carried so much shame about myself for too many years. It got so bad that for a while, I stopped believing in my ability to accomplish anything.

My life before minimalism

For the first twenty years of my life, I couldn’t keep my room clean. Prying myself away from a good Netflix binge to get shit done wasn’t a skill I possessed until somewhat recently. Impulsively buying stuff and saying yes to everything was the norm for so long. More stuff, more obligations, more overly extravagant projects and plans that always ended up unfinished. More visual over stimulation, and nothing but more clutter, more overwhelm and more disappointment with myself.

Two years ago, I was in the darkest place I’ve ever been. I was struggling to sleep at night, so I was sleeping a lot during the day. Smoking too much weed, crying constantly, and being in an almost unending anxiety spiral. In the past year, I’d lost my dad to ALS and ended things with my longtime boyfriend. I felt sad, lost, alone, confused, and a lot of other things. I could ‘barely function’ as they say. Keeping up with my super flexible work from home job was even really hard for me.

For the first time, I was finally seeing the combined impact of my Autism and ADHD on my executive functioning. I’d always thought I was just lazy. Now that I knew it was much deeper than that, I felt powerless. For a while, I lost any remaining confidence and trust in myself I had left. I was starting to feel hopeless. I knew if I didn’t make some kind of change, I’d only grow more hopeless.

All hope was not lost

I started googling, looking for ways to manage ADHD naturally. I’d read a few articles explaining why many people with ADHD find minimalism so helpful, and I was intrigued. I’d started becoming aware of my tendencies to over consume everything, so this minimalism thing made a lot of sense to me. So, I started reading more and more about minimalism. The more I learned about it, the more convinced I became that it was exactly what I needed.

I started going through my stuff. I decided what to keep, what to sell, what to give way, and what to throw away. Slowly, I learned to stop spending money impulsively. I’m always working on being more mindful about how I consume everything… food, weed, stuff, social media, etc. I’m learning the beauty and magic of systems for keeping things organized. I taught myself how to tell other people ‘no’ and myself when I need it. As much I still love impulsivity and fun, I’m learning that routine and structure are what I need most.

No matter how bad it is now, it can get so much better.

In only two years, I’ve made so many positive changes. I’ve established a much healthier sleeping schedule. I eat pretty healthy and am very mindful about what I eat (most of the time). I’ve gotten so much more disciplined and am always improving my self-regulation skills. Anxiety is still a big part of my life, but I’m constantly learning how to control it and use it for my good. I’m still a messy person, but I finally have systems that keep my mess from getting out of control.

I’ve gotten so much better than I used to ever believe I could. No matter how bad it may be for you now, know that it can absolutely get so much better. All hope is not lost. Our brains may be different from a lot of other brains. That just means it’s up to us to learn how to work with them! That’s exactly what minimalism has been helping me achieve in the last two years. And, it’s also why I’m writing this blog post! Because, I want you to know that you can learn to work with your brain, too. Executive functioning is hard, but in my opinion, minimalism makes it a lot easier.

In this post, I’m going to share my best minimalism tips that have helped me dramatically improve my executive functioning.

Own less, get distracted with less, and organize less.

Realizing that many of my problems came back to the amount of stuff I owned was incredibly eye opening. It’s why I decided to become a minimalist. I couldn’t stop impulsively spending, had no organizational skills, and no motivation. Plus a lot of anxiety. It was truly all a recipe for disaster.

This was the story of my life for so many years.. until I just couldn’t take it anymore. Eventually, I realized how owning so many things was affecting me and creating anxiety. I realized I’d never needed most things I’d once told myself I needed. Then, the impulse shopping stopped, and the decluttering began.

I’ve now gotten rid of over half my things. I’m still decluttering, and will continue to do so as I go about the rest of my life. I find it so freeing to own less stuff, and definitely find organizing my stuff much more manageable now. I still lose things from time to time, though it happens much less often than it used to.

Do you want to part with your things, but don’t know where to start? Try these helpful tips:

• When decluttering, categorize the items that you want to keep, give away, sell, and throw away.
• Commit to spending at least 10-20 minutes sorting through your stuff everyday.
• Keep the items you’re not sure you’re ready to part with in a separate box or bag to sort through later.
• Maintain your clutter free space by spending a few minutes every day decluttering and tidying up.. or at least set that intention, and do it as often as you can at first.
  

Learn how to say ‘no’ and prioritize your needs first.

I know I’m not the only person with this problem.

It’s like, it didn’t even really register in my brain that saying no was an option until recently. Then after that, it took a lot of time and effort for me to actually do it. I used to worry so much about other people’s feelings. Or, maybe my ego was just deeply afraid of how other people would see for saying ‘no’. We try to avoid imagined consequences about what will happen if we say no. But by doing that, we suffer the worst consequences of all. Because we don’t properly care for ourselves, and our energy, mental health, and overall well-being suffer so much.

It’s more than okay to not say yes to every social invitation. To say that you don’t want to talk right now, you’re not interested, or that you’d rather just go to bed. Or that you are already super busy doing nothing (my personal favorite, and absolutely justifiable).

Our energy is precious, and we have to fight to protect it at all costs.. because if we don’t, who will?

By never saying ‘no’, you only create more consequences for you.

The people who are okay with being told ‘no’ and who understand that sometimes you just have to prioritize yourself are the ones that you want to keep in your life.. and the ones who don’t understand? Those are the people that you should get rid of anyway!

Tip: Next time you’re struggling to say ‘no’, think about the understanding that you‘ve had for the people who have told you ‘no’. And remember that you deserve to give other people the opportunity to offer that same understanding to you. We are all only human!

Also – remember that you are under no obligation to give an explanation for your ‘no’. You can, but it should never be expected. A simple, but polite ‘no’ is the only thing necessary. And if anyone ever demands an explanation, let that only reaffirm your decision. Also, probably take that a sign to avoid that person in the future.

Set up simple and effective systems to help you stay organized and calm.

Pre-minimalism, I basically had no organizational skills or systems, and it was bad. But, I’ve gotten so much better now. One of the things that’s helped me the most is setting up a variety of organizational systems. A big part of my executive functioning challenges has been time blindness.

If you aren’t familiar with that term, time blindness is when you have no sense of time, so all the hours just sort of meld together, and then you have no idea where they went. When you struggle with time blindness, it’s especially hard to stay aware of the current time and the time that you have left to complete a task.

Here are the organizational tools that are helping me manage time blindness:

A wall calendar

I use my calendar to keep track of important dates, events, and hang outs I have scheduled. Glancing at it throughout the day makes it impossible to forget these things, because I can’t help but notice them. It’s also a great visual reminder of how much time I have to complete my goals for that month.

My bullet journal

I rely so much on my bullet journal for a bunch of different things. Bullet journaling helps me keep track of my week and plan for future events. I use it to stay mindful of my habits, be more aware of my emotions, and a lot more. To understand how bullet journaling can be helpful for neurodivergent minds, check out this video by Jessica McCabe of How to ADHD.

Mini white board

I purchased this mini whiteboard from Target a few months back, and I’ve been using it to plan my day ever since. Because I feel better when I can see my whole day ahead of me, I plan my days using time blocking.

If you aren’t already familiar with it, time blocking is when you divide your day into 3-5 parts and select specific tasks and activities to fill each block. As a highly visual person with anxiety and short term memory struggles, time blocking has been life changing for me.

Seeing my entire day in detail makes me feel so calm. It’s also helping me have better awareness of time and use it more effectively. Because I work from home, planning what to accomplish by a certain time has helped me be more structured. It also helps me be more focused and in the moment. Whenever I feel impulsive or distracted, my white board reminds me of what I should be doing.

Look for ways to simplify your life and eliminate decisions whenever possible.

I really hate decisions.. and I hate them even more when other people are asking me to decide things that I just don’t care about. It’s easy for me to get overwhelmed with little decisions throughout my day. Like what clothes to wear, what music to listen to, what to eat, what activity to do next, etc.

I’ve eliminated the majority of my clothing choices by owning less clothing and wearing specific types of clothing based on what I’m doing during the day. I now have specific clothing and outfit combinations in mind for working at home, exercising, casual errands, and more formal events. If I can’t decide what music to listen to, I listen to something based on what I’m feeling.. I’m even creating Spotify playlists of songs that I associate with certain emotions. I try to plan the healthiest, and most simple meals possible. I have a handful of recipes that I automatically refer back to if I’m suddenly trying to decide what to eat.

Here are a few little things that you can do today to simplify your life:

• Make a list of everything on that needs to get done so that you can physically see it all.
• Make a list of three attainable goals you can accomplish this month and commit to making them happen.
• Take a few minutes before bed to plan the next day.
• Cut ties with people in your life who are draining your energy and costing you happiness.
• Spend a few minutes meditating to clear your head and feel calm.
• Cancel whatever isn’t mandatory on your to-do list.
• Plan and prepare meals for the week ahead of time.

Practice living intentionally and being more aware of time.

I knew my life was never going to change if I didn’t start living intentionally. Only problem, I had no idea how to live intentionally. All I knew were countless massive, ambitious to-do lists full of grand ideas and plans that rarely ever came to fruition.

For so long, I found myself in an endless state of overwhelm that never seemed to end.

This led to constant anxiety. I’d think I’d have plenty of time to accomplish a task.. but then, my mind would start wandering. I’d get distracted with another task, then try to finish the original task, but inevitably run out of time. Then, I’d feel anxious about how how much further behind I was in my day.. and sometimes this anxiety has made me feel so overwhelmed with everything that I just give up. Then, I find myself on the couch with my weed pen binge watching Breaking Bad.. oops.

But in the last year, I’ve started living with more intention than I ever have before. I attribute this to everything I’ve learned about my brain and how to work with it in the last three years!

Here are a few simple tips and strategies I’ve been using to be more aware of my time and live more intentionally:

• Use time blocking to plan your day.
• When you fail to correctly estimate time, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, have a curious and non-judgmental attitude about what went wrong, and look for what you can do differently next time.
• Before starting any activity, set a timer so that your mind doesn’t get lost in hyper focus.
• Before starting a new task, try to estimate how long it will take you to accomplish it.
• Decide the most important tasks that need to be done and commit to finishing them no matter what.
• Decide exactly how you’ll be spending your free time by planning and scheduling it in advance.
• Be aware of any surrounding distractions that are keeping you from staying focused.
• Set small, attainable goals and commit to making them happen.
• Make sure you know what you do and don’t want.

Conclusion

Improving executive function isn’t an overnight process.. it takes a lot of time, and it’s a continual journey of improvement. Minimalism isn’t going to magically make executive functioning easier for you – but it will help you improve on it quite a bit. You’re not going to wake up tomorrow and suddenly be the person you’ve always wanted to be.

But you will make amazing progress if you consistently fight to be that person every day. Practicing being mindful about how you consume everything, simplifying anything whenever possible, and doing your best to improve time management. Remember that everyone else’s best might not look like ‘your best’. That’s okay, because we all grow at our own paces. Which is exactly why it’s not okay for us to judge ourselves for where we aren’t yet!

I believe that minimalism is a journey, not a destination. It’s okay if it takes you a while to clean out your closet, learn to say ‘no’, or improve your time management skills. Learning these things is all a part of the process… a life-long process of self-improvement.

The process is all we have. It’s where we discover the joy in becoming more like the people we most want to be. Becoming is a life-long process, and it’s a beautiful, messy, and painful one. However much you’re struggling with executive functioning, please remember this. Be gentle with yourself as you begin your minimalist journey. Don’t expect to automatically become the person you want to be overnight. It takes time, and it isn’t easy. It happens slowly overtime through consistent effort.. and the joy is found in realizing your progress along the way, and celebrating even the smallest of wins. Because, the more you celebrate them, the more they’ll expand into even bigger wins.

Love every bit of progress you make, and learn from every time that you disappoint yourself. View your failures and disappointments objectively, so that they can become effective teachers, instead of negative self-talk that becomes even more unproductive. You can’t suddenly become the person you want to be today.. but you can start actively fighting to become that person today.