What are executive functions?
Executive functions are a set of brain-based skills that help you manage yourself, your time, your emotions, and your actions. They work together behind the scenes, and when one or more of them isn’t working as smoothly as you’d like, life can feel a lot harder than it should.
Most people have a mix of strengths and challenges across these skills. Understanding where yours sit is a genuinely useful place to start.
A note on models — there are different models of executive function out there, and not everyone agrees on exactly which skills count. The ones on this page are the model I work with in my executive function coaching practice and are based on my training with Mindspark and Peg Dawson and Richard Guare’s work.
Most people have a mix of strengths and challenges across these skills. Understanding where yours sit is a genuinely useful place to start.
The 11 Executive Function Skills
Metacognition
Thinking about your thinking
The ability to step back and observe yourself.
Metacognition is your brain’s ability to watch itself at work. It’s how you notice when something isn’t going well, reflect on why, and adjust your approach. Without it, you can find yourself repeating the same patterns without quite knowing why.
For example
Noticing mid-task that you’ve gone completely off track — and being able to redirect yourself.
Emotional control
Keeping a lid on it
Managing your feelings so they don’t run the show.
Emotional control is the ability to manage your emotional responses in a way that fits the situation. It doesn’t mean suppressing feelings, it means not being hijacked by them. When this is tricky, emotions can feel bigger, longer-lasting, and harder to move on from.
For example
Getting frustrated with a task but being able to set that frustration aside and carry on, or knowing when to step away.
Response inhibition
Hold that thought
Stopping yourself before acting on impulse.
Response inhibition is the ability to think before you act, to pause between an impulse and a response. It helps you consider consequences, filter out unhelpful reactions, and choose how to respond rather than just reacting automatically.
For example
Stopping yourself from sending a message you’d regret, or waiting your turn in a conversation rather than jumping in.
Working Memory
Your mental sticky note
Holding information in mind while you use it.
Working memory is the mental workspace where you hold and manipulate information in the moment. It’s what lets you follow multi-step instructions, keep track of a conversation, or remember what you were doing when you got interrupted.
For example
Carrying a number in your head while doing mental arithmetic, or remembering what you came into a room for.
Flexibility
Changing gears
Adapting when things change or don’t go to plan.
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to shift your thinking or approach when the situation calls for it. It helps you cope with unexpected changes, see things from a different angle, and let go of a plan that isn’t working. When it’s a challenge, transitions and the unexpected can feel disproportionately difficult.
For example
A meeting gets cancelled and you’re able to smoothly switch to something else, rather than feeling thrown off for the rest of the day.
Sustained attention
Still here, still going
Keeping your focus on something over time.
Sustained attention is the ability to maintain focus on a task for as long as it takes, even when it’s not immediately rewarding. It’s different from interest-driven focus, it’s about being able to stick with something even when your brain would rather be elsewhere.
For example
Reading a long document from start to finish, or sitting through a meeting without your mind wandering completely.
Task initiation
Actually starting the thing
Getting going without needing a crisis to motivate you.
Task initiation is the ability to begin a task without undue procrastination, especially when it’s not urgent, not interesting, or feels overwhelming. It’s one of the most commonly struggled-with executive functions, and it has nothing to do with laziness.
For example
Opening the document and writing the first sentence, even when every part of your brain is suggesting you do literally anything else first.
Planning & Prioritisation
Working out what matters most
Deciding what to do, in what order, and why.
Planning and prioritisation is the ability to create a roadmap to a goal, deciding what steps are needed, in what order, and which things matter most. When this is a challenge, everything can feel equally urgent (or equally resistible), and knowing where to start becomes genuinely difficult.
For example
Looking at a full to-do list and being able to identify the three things that actually need to happen today.
Organisation
A place for everything
Managing your stuff, your space, and your information.
Organisation is the ability to create and maintain systems, for your physical space, your digital life, your time, and your thoughts. It’s not about being tidy for tidiness’s sake, but about being able to find things, manage information, and not lose track of what matters.
For example
Knowing where to find an important email from three weeks ago, or having a system for your paperwork that you can actually maintain.
Time Management
Time is real (apparently)
Understanding and using time in a way that works for you.
Time management involves accurately sensing how much time has passed, estimating how long things will take, and planning your time accordingly. Many people, particularly those with ADHD, experience something called time blindness, where time feels less real or predictable than it does for others.
For example
Leaving the house at the right time, or finishing a task before you’ve accidentally spent three hours on it.
Goal-directed persistence
Keeping your eyes on the prize
Staying motivated towards a goal even when it’s hard.
Goal-directed persistence is the ability to keep working towards a goal over time, even when progress is slow, motivation dips, or other things get in the way. It’s closely linked to being able to delay gratification and to maintain a sense of why something matters.
For example
Continuing to work on a long-term project through the difficult middle bit, when the excitement of starting has worn off and the end still feels far away.
What affects your executive functions
Executive function skills aren’t fixed. They fluctuate. Lots of things can make them stronger or more of a struggle on any given day. This is worth knowing, because it means a bad day isn’t a life sentence.
Neurodivergence
ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and others are all associated with executive function differences, often significant ones.
Sleep
Even one poor night's sleep can noticeably affect working memory, emotional regulation, and the ability to start tasks.
Stress
Chronic stress has a direct impact on the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain most involved in executive function).
Hormones
Hormonal shifts, including during the menstrual cycle, perimenopause, and menopause, can significantly affect EF skills.
Environment
Your physical surroundings, noise levels, and how much your environment supports or undermines you matters more than most people realise.
Mental health
Anxiety, depression, and burnout all affect executive function, sometimes in ways that are hard to untangle from the cause.
This might sound familiar if...
Executive function challenges don’t always look the way people expect. If any of these feel like they were written about you, you’re in the right place.
Executive function affects every part of life
In Relationships
How executive function shapes the way you connect, communicate, and show up for others.
Running Your Own Business
Self-direction, motivation, client relationships, and wearing every hat at once.
What neuroplasticity means for you
For a long time, it was believed that the brain was largely fixed by adulthood. We now know that Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new connections and adapt, continues throughout life.
It does take longer in adults than in children, and it requires consistent, repeated practice rather than a single step. But, it is possible! The strategies we co-create in coaching aren’t just workarounds (although you may choose to make some environmental adaptions) they’re ways of gradually rewiring how your brain approaches the things that have always felt hard.
Understanding your executive functions is where that process begins.
Curious about your own profile?
Not sure where your strengths and challenges lie? The Executive Function Guide gives you a personalised snapshot. It’s free, and takes about five minutes.
You've been told you just need to try harder (and you've been trying harder your whole life).