The Foundational Importance of Executive Functioning

Executive Functioning refers to higher-level cognitive skills that allow people to manage their thoughts, actions, and emotions to achieve goals.

Not surprisingly, those with strong Executive Functioning are better able to adapt to new situations and solve problems they have never encountered before.

The skills that make up Executive Functioning are often described as the “management system of the brain” because they contribute to planning, organizing, concentration, remembering, and the controlling of impulses.

Four core elements comprise this critical skill set: Working Memory, Mental Flexibility, Self-Control, and Prioritizing. As you read about them, evaluate how strong you are in each one.

Working Memory: If you can remember the rules of a game while playing the game, you exhibit a strong working memory. The ability to hold information over short periods and apply it to everyday activities and tasks is the hallmark of this element.

Keeping track of what you are doing while you are doing it suggests an effective working memory. It is this element that allows you to follow directions and organize the information you receive to be used later.

Aside from retaining names, how strong is your working memory?

Mental Flexibility: The ability to switch your focus or perspective from one issue to another and back again represents a strong mental flexibility. This flexibility allows you to think about a problem in more than one way and seek novel solutions to address it.

The key, though, is about moving from thought to thought while maintaining a concentrated focus.

How mentally flexible are you really?

Self-Control: This element refers to the ability to suppress impulses and resist distractions. Those with high self-control don’t allow their emotions to guide their actions.

Instead, they have the self-discipline to regulate their behavior to fit the demands of a situation. The ability to give your full attention to a task, regardless of what is going on around you, is a sign of high self-control.

How do you score on self-control?

Prioritizing: Having a scheme to evaluate and act on what is most important is critical to Executive Functioning.

This also means you reprioritize your priorities when new information becomes available. Knowing what is most important at all times and engaging it directly suggests high prioritization skill. In any list of tasks and issues, a hierarchy quickly becomes clear to you.

How are you at prioritizing?

These foundational skills support more complex activities such as reasoning, problem-solving, planning, and decision-making.

Research confirms that Executive Functions develop throughout childhood and adolescence and then remain relatively stable and unchanging throughout adulthood.

It’s exceedingly difficult to be highly successful in most professional roles or positions without them. In fact, research confirms that much of the professional success people enjoy in life depends largely upon these four elements in the Executive Functioning skill set.

Take this free and simple test to assess where you really stand. Do I need to remind you to make it a priority?