Understanding Executive Function: What It Is and Why It Matters
The Zoom Out, Zoom In Dance: A Foundation for Better Productivity
The Cognitive Foundations of Executive Function: Working Memory, Attention, and Processing Speed
In my previous posts, I introduced the concept of executive function, explored the importance of separating planning from execution with the "Zoom Out, Zoom In Dance," examined the cognitive foundations that underpin executive function including working memory and processing speed, discussed how to break down complex projects with "Task Analysis," and examined various prioritization frameworks. Now I want to share a practical system that brings these concepts together into a daily ritual that translates priorities into action.
From Theory to Practice: The Missing Link
Many of my clients enter therapy with a strong theoretical understanding of productivity. They've read books, tried multiple apps, and understand what they "should" be doing. Yet they still struggle with implementation. They understand what they should do, but have trouble putting it into practice! Why? Because understanding what to do intellectually is very different from having an embodied executive function support practice that works with, rather than against, your nervous system.
This gap between knowledge and application is where the Daily Aiming Ritual comes in. Like an archer who takes time to aim carefully before firing, this ritual creates a regular dedicated space in your busy life for deliberate planning which takes place before you dive into work. The Daily Aiming Ritual transforms abstract priorities into concrete action plans and facilitates your awareness of the various bodily and environmental conditions that support your clear decision-making and task execution.
Remember in my "Zoom Out, Zoom In Dance" post, I explained how planning and execution involve fundamentally different neural networks in the brain. The Default Mode Network (DMN) supports big-picture thinking, creative connections, and future planning, while the Task-Positive Network (TPN) enables focused action and immediate task completion. These networks tend to operate in opposition – when one activates, the other deactivates.
The Daily Aiming Ritual offers you a structured bridge that helps you shift between these two neural modes. It creates the conditions that support DMN activation during planning, allowing you to see connections and possibilities, while also preparing your brain for the shift to TPN activation during execution. Without this deliberate transition, many people find they bounce ineffectively between networks, never fully engaging either one.
The Neuroscience Behind the Daily Aiming Ritual
The Daily Aiming Ritual isn't just practically effective; it's neurologically optimized to work with your brain's natural functioning.
When you engage in this ritual, you're activating specific neural networks in a deliberate sequence:
The centering practice activates your parasympathetic nervous system, reducing stress hormones and creating the physiological conditions for clear thinking.
The context review engages your Default Mode Network (DMN), involved in big-picture thinking and making connections across different areas of your life.
The selection process activates your brain's Salience Network, which helps determine what truly deserves your attention from among competing priorities.
The first action definition assists your shift from the Default Mode Network (DMN) into your Task-Positive Network (TPN), preparing your brain for focused task execution.
The transition movement completes the shift from DMN to TPN activation, using physical signals to tell your Salience Network that a mode change is occurring.
This neurological progression, from relaxed awareness to big-picture thinking to focused preparation, mirrors your brain's natural transition patterns. Rather than fighting against your neural architecture, the Daily Aiming Ritual works with it, making your planning-to-execution shift more fluid and effective.
The physical components of the ritual are particularly important for engaging your Salience Network, which is highly responsive to bodily signals. When you change your posture, breathing pattern, or location, you provide your nervous system clear cues that help facilitate the network transition from planning into execution mode.
A Flexible Approach to Planning
Before I dive into the specifics, I want to emphasize something important: effective planning doesn't require that you implement every element I'm about to describe. Some of my clients thrive with elaborate routines, while others need something much simpler. What matters most is that you find a consistent approach that is well suited to support you given your specific needs and circumstances.
In my clinical work, I've observed that people generally fall into one of three implementation categories:
Minimalists who need quick, stripped-down planning to overcome resistance
Moderates who benefit from balanced yet flexible component choices
Maximalists who thrive with detailed rituals and environmental controls
No approach is inherently better than others. What matters is that you arrive at a personalized version of the aiming ritual that best fits and supports your unique regulatory patterns and life circumstances. As I describe the ritual, I'll highlight which elements are core and necessary and which are optional enhancements. I'll also share examples of how different clients have adapted the ritual process to fit their needs.
What Makes This Different: The Embodied Approach
Traditional productivity approaches often treat planning as a purely mental activity. In contrast, the Daily Aiming Ritual differs by recognizing that in order for you to engage in effective planning it's important that you experience specific physical and emotional states. With this in mind, the Daily Aiming Ritual combines planning activities with exercises that support entering into the body and emotional states which are most conducive to planning.
This embodied approach to daily planning is grounded in neuroscience. Research has established that our cognitive functions are deeply influenced by our physiological state. When you're stressed or perceive a threat, your body initiates an automatic and irresistible survival response. Your physiological systems prioritize your immediate survival over long-term planning by redirecting blood flow from your prefrontal cortex (the part of your brain most essential for planning) to your limbic system and motor regions (the parts of your brain which are most crucial for engaging in survival-oriented action).
This physical shift of blood flow from one area of our brain to another isn't just a side-effect. Instead it's an automatic motivational reprioritization of our body happening at the biological level. Your body is literally shifting motivational gears to focus on immediate survival concerns rather than abstract future planning. This explains why planning is so difficult to engage in when we're stressed. The biology of our brain and body is literally pushing us to attend to other priorities entirely.
The ritual components I'll describe below aren't just productivity "tips and tricks". Instead, they are deliberate interventions designed to regulate your nervous system in ways that support your optimal cognitive function. The breathing practices, physical environment adjustments and transition movements all create the physiological conditions where your Default Mode Network can operate effectively during planning, and then later to deliberately shift you out of the DMN into your Task-Positive Network as you start to execute your tasks.
Let me walk you through what this ritual looks like in practice. I'll start by describing the essential core elements of the ritual before going on to describe ways you can enhance the ritual to further support your specific needs.
The Essential Core: A Minimal Approach
At its most basic, the Daily Aiming Ritual requires just three simple steps that can be completed in as little as 2 minutes:
1. Center Yourself (30 seconds)
Take three slow deep breaths (extending the exhale activates your parasympathetic nervous system)
Feel your feet on the floor (this grounding technique helps you shift away from fight-or-flight mode)
Notice your current state without judgment (this direction helps you engage the prefrontal cortical regions of your brain that support metacognitive or mindful awareness)
2. Identify What Matters Most Today (1 minute)
Review your priorities using your preferred prioritization framework
Consider your energy level and available time
Select 1-3 tasks that, if completed, would make today successful
3. Define Your First Action (30 seconds)
For each priority task, identify the specific first step needed to work on that task
Make your description of the first step you need to take to start that task concrete and obvious so that it becomes easier to get started
Decide when and where you'll take your first action
That's it. This minimal version of the Daily Aiming Ritual contains all of the essential elements needed to shift you out of reactive mode and to intentional planning. Everything else I'll describe builds on this foundation.
Alex, a software developer with ADHD, uses exactly this minimal approach. "I used to think I needed some elaborate planning system," he told me, "but I was never able to do it for long. What actually works is me taking 90 seconds each morning to identify my 'Big 3' tasks for the day while my coffee brews. More than that and I'd never stick with it."
The Pragmatic Approach: A Moderate Structure
For those who find the minimal approach too limited but don't want an elaborate Daily Aiming Ritual, this slightly more complicated version of the ritual adds a few key enhancements (5-10 minutes):
1. Brief Centering (1 minute)
The same centering practice as the minimal approach
Add a quick body scan to notice areas of tension
2. Quick Context Review (1-2 minutes)
Glance at your calendar for the day
Check for any deadlines or appointments
Review the main projects you're working on and the roles you play with regard to those projects
3. Thoughtful Selection of Tasks (2-3 minutes)
Using your preferred prioritization framework, choose 3-5 tasks that you're going to focus on today
Make sure at least one of the tasks advances your project in some significant way
Look to create a balanced blend of urgent tasks and important but non-urgent tasks
4. First Action Definition (1-2 minutes)
Define the first actions for each of your priority tasks
Identify any potential obstacles
Consider what time of day will be best to do each task
5. Simple Transition (30 seconds)
Stand up and stretch briefly
Take a deep breath
Move to your execution space
Sarah, a marketing manager who struggles mightily with overwhelm, plans each evening for the next day by following the steps of this moderately complex aiming ritual. "This five-minute approach gives me the structure I need without being too hard to follow," she explained. "I keep a simple checklist on my desk to help guide me through these steps so that I don't have to keep it all in my head."
The Complete Ritual: Enhanced Support
If you're someone who benefits from more structure and detailed preparation, this fuller version of the Daily Aiming Ritual provides you with comprehensive support for the planning process. This approach (15-20 minutes) works particularly well for people who have significant executive function difficulties and who have the time and inclination to engage in a more thorough planning process.
1. Create Your Planning Sanctuary
Choose a consistent location where you'll engage in planning
Clear all visual distractions from your field of view
Ensure you have comfortable-enough seating that supports good posture
Have all the tools you need to do planning readily available
Consider optimizing your space for planning (lighting, ambient music, etc.)
2. The Arrival Practice
Take several slow deep breaths, extending the exhale
Notice the sensations of your body making contact with the chair and with the floor
Scan your body for tension and consciously relax those areas which feel tight or stressed
Notice and name your current emotional state
3. Review Your Compass
Briefly review your values and the high-level goals you're trying to achieve
Remind yourself of the projects and situations you've been involved with recently
Note which project areas need your attention right now
Check upcoming calendar events or deadlines
4. Gather Your Inputs
Review your project lists or backlogs
Check yesterday's incomplete items
Look at your calendar for the day
Review your notes from recent meetings
Note any new tasks that have emerged
5. The Selection Process
Using your chosen prioritization frameworks, select key tasks you'll work on today
Include at least one high-impact task
Be realistic about time constraints and how much energy you have to work with
Figure out when you'll work on which tasks
6. Define Success
For each task, clearly define what "done" looks like
Identify the minimum viable version you need to produce which will be good enough
Note any "nice to have" but non-essential elements and consider deprioritizing them
Anticipate potential obstacles that might get in the way of you completing your task list
7. Set Your First Move
For each task, identify the specific first actions you'll take when you start work
Note where you'll be and what tools you'll need
Visualize exactly how you'll begin each task
8. Prepare Your Environment
Identify environments that will support your tasks
Gather the necessary materials and resources you'll need to do your tasks
Remove potential distractions as much as you can
Create visual cues that will help you remember your intentions, for instance, a todo list
9. The Transition Ritual
Stand up and change your posture
Engage in brief movement such as stretching
State your first intention aloud
Move to your execution environment and get to it
Thomas, a professor with complex cognitive challenges, uses this most complete version of the Daily Aiming Ritual each morning. "The structured nature helps my brain shift into planning mode," he shared. "The environmental cues and physical components help me feel more grounded and focused. Over time, these steps have become more automatic, but I still find the full process valuable, especially on days when I'm feeling particularly scattered."
Finding Your Approach: Start Simple and Build
I encourage most of my clients to start with the minimal version of the Daily Aiming Ritual for at least two weeks before considering adding additional elements. This practice helps build your confidence by helping you experience early success, and also helps you establish the core habit of engaging in daily intentional planning. Once your foundation is solid, you can experiment with adding one enhancement at a time to see if they help you better support your specific needs.
Some of my clients worry they need to do the full ritual "correctly" or it won't work. But as the old saying goes, "the perfect is the enemy of the good." Any planning you do, even if imperfect or incomplete, provides you benefits over no planning at all.
The goal isn't to implement the "perfect" planning ritual! Instead, the goal is to establish a daily planning ritual that you actually and consistently engage in, and then to shape that ritual so that it best supports your individual needs; your particular brain and life circumstances.
The Aiming Ritual is a forgiving process however you manage to implement it. Even a little planning will be helpful versus doing no planning at all. What matters most is that you end up consistently doing some daily planning.
Supporting Working Memory in the Daily Aiming Ritual
Recall that your brain's limited capacity to hold and manipulate information is known as working memory. Your working memory can quickly become overloaded trying to juggle multiple priorities, deadlines, and considerations. The Daily Aiming Ritual inherently supports your working memory. The ritual supports your working memory through systematic externalization.
Sequential Processing: Breaking planning and projects into distinct steps prevents working memory overload
External Capture: Writing down your plan makes it so that you don't need to hold it in your memory
Decision Finalization: Committing to specific tasks reduces the temptation you might otherwise experience to engage in endless reconsideration
Implementation Specificity: Defining first actions for each of your tasks eliminates your need to hold procedural details in mind
These working memory supports are particularly valuable for people with attention difficulties and/or people whose demanding work schedule leads to them constantly experiencing high cognitive load.
Lowering Initiation Thresholds
One of the most powerful aspects of the Daily Aiming Ritual is how it systematically lowers task initiation thresholds which otherwise can lead to you procrastinating.
By defining specific first actions, you create what psychologists call "implementation intentions". Implementation intentions are concrete "if-then" plans that specify exactly when, where, and how you'll begin each task. Creating these implementation intentions can dramatically increase your follow-through by reducing the cognitive effort you require to start tasks.
For example, instead of creating a task with a title like, "Work on my report" (requiring you to spend additional effort to figure out how to do it when you want to start), you can instead define the task more precisely, creating an implementation intention, like this: "Open laptop, create a new document titled 'Q2 Analysis', and start writing the first section heading." This additional specificity helps you bypass the decision paralysis that often occurs when you try to start a poorly defined task. Because you'll have specified exactly what needs to happen during your Daily Aiming Ritual, your brain no longer has to figure out how to begin when it is time to get to work.
You can further lower your initiation threshold by creating environmental conditions that will best support you working in an uninterrupted manner. For instance, you might:
Arrange your workspace so that all the materials you'll need are in place before you get started
Remove potential distractions from your workspace
Setting up visual cues within your workspace that will trigger you to take action
Together, these two approaches (creating implementation intentions and arranging your workspace) can reduce your task initiation thresholds and make it considerably easier for you to get to work and then stay working.
Common Implementation Challenges
Many of my clients encounter predictable challenges when implementing planning rituals. Here are some practical workarounds for common obstacles:
Resistance to Planning
Some people feel uncomfortable or restless when trying to plan, finding it boring or constraining.
Strategy: Begin with an ultra-minimal version of the ritual so that what you're asking of yourself is small enough to tolerate. Devon, a filmmaker I worked with, began with a single sticky note on his bathroom mirror where he wrote his "One Thing" he would get done each day. This minimal approach bypassed his discomfort while still helping him create useful intentionality.
Planning Perfectionism
Others get stuck in planning, revising priorities repeatedly without transitioning to action.
Strategy: Time-box your planning session with a timer set to 5 or 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, either treat what you have come up with as good enough, or consider asking someone else you trust if they might assist with your decision-making. Michelle, an academic with perfectionist tendencies, decided to use a 5-minute timer for her planning ritual. When the alarm goes off, she moves into execution mode regardless of whether her plan feels "perfect." "It's quite difficult to tear myself away from further optimization," she told me, "but if I didn't force myself to do so, I wouldn't get anything done."
Execution Impatience
When urgent tasks loom, your temptation to skip planning can become very strong. This happens because deadlines feel like threats to your brain, triggering your fear response and your Task-Positive Network. Your fear reorganizes your motivation away from thoughtful activities like planning toward an immediate and urgent desire to escape, in this case by causing you to want to jump directly into your work without planning so as to reduce the chance you'll miss your deadline.
It's very difficult to resist the urge to get to work immediately when you feel acute deadline pressure. However, it is almost always a good idea to engage in some manner of up-front work planning if you can.
Strategy: Create an abbreviated emergency version of your ritual. Jordan, a nurse who works variable shift schedules, developed a 60-second "crisis planning" approach he uses on particularly hectic days. This brief planning is just enough to help him identify his top priorities without feeling like he's wasting time he needs to get the work done.
Forgetting the Ritual
New habits take time to establish.
Strategy: Attach your planning ritual to an existing daily habit. Mia, a software engineer, does her planning ritual immediately after brushing her teeth each morning. In her case, connecting the new habit she wants to create to an older and well-established habit she already has learned helps her to remember to do her new habit (planning) every time she completes her old habit (tooth-brushing).
Building Planning Into Your Physical Environment
Creating external supports can significantly reduce the cognitive load required to remember to plan. This approach connects directly to the concept I highlighted in my earlier "Zoom Out, Zoom In Dance" post which highlighted how planning and execution processes are best fitted to entirely distinct cognitive modes. Setting up the right external cues in your planning or workspace can help you trigger your appropriate neural network for planning (e.g., the DMN) without you needing to remember to plan.
Setting up such external supports leverage what cognitive scientists call "distributed cognition," which is the idea that our thinking processes extend beyond our brains to include our bodies, our physical spaces, and our tools:
Visual cues: Place a small object on your desk or table that reminds you to plan, such as a notebook or sticky-note. Such physical reminders serve as triggers that prompt you to do your planning routine without requiring you to make a conscious effort to remember.
Digital reminders: Set a consistent alarm with a unique tone to go off at planning time. Over time, the distinct sound you assign to this alarm will automatically trigger you to start planning, just like Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate in anticipation of food when they heard a bell ring.
Environmental staging: Leave planning tools in your path (like a notebook on your keyboard). Think of this as offering your future self a caring gift reminding that future you to engage in planning.
Limitation structures: Consider disabling certain apps or features of your devices at the start of planning and leaving them disabled until you've completed your planning ritual. Doing this helps you set helpful boundaries around your planning that keep you from becoming distracted while doing it.
However you accomplish it, the goal here is to make planning your path of least resistance by creating environmental supports that prompt you to engage in the planning behavior until planning becomes fully habitual and effortless.
How the Ritual Evolves Over Time
Your Daily Aiming Ritual will evolve over time. What begins as a deliberate, somewhat mechanical process will gradually become more fluid and intuitive. Many of my clients report that after several weeks of practice, they find themselves naturally shifting into planning mode without much conscious effort.
Your performance of the ritual also becomes more efficient as you practice it again and again. Ritual steps that initially required effortful conscious attention on your part become something you do automatically, which frees up more of your mental bandwidth for deeper consideration of your priorities and intentions.
Jennifer, a consultant who has used the Daily Aiming Ritual for over six months, described this evolution to me: "At first, I had to consciously walk through each step like I was following a recipe. Now my body seems to know when it's planning time. I sit down at my desk with my coffee, and I automatically feel myself shifting into that planning mindset. The whole process takes half the time it used to, but feels twice as effective."
The Embodied Planning Advantage
The Daily Aiming Ritual is a particularly powerful and helpful technique for people living with executive function difficulties because of its embodied nature. By fostering specific physiological (bodily, emotional) states, environmental conditions, and physical behaviors associated with planning, the Daily Aiming Ritual bypasses many of the cognitive barriers that make traditional planning difficult.
This approach leverages what neuroscientists call "state-dependent memory," which is the phenomenon where information encoded in a particular physiological state is more easily retrieved in that same state. When you consistently pair planning activities with specific physical states and environmental cues, you create neural pathways that make it easier to access planning-related thought processes when those conditions are present.
Similarly, the transition practices that bridge your planning and execution states help create what neuroscientists call "event boundaries." Our brains naturally segment ongoing experience into discrete events. By creating a clear boundary between your planning and execution modes, you help your brain to recognize these modes as distinct cognitive contexts, which reduces interference and confusion between your different neural networks.
Over time, your body learns to recognize and support your different modes of thinking. The environmental cues, postural changes, and transition rituals that comprise the Daily Aiming Ritual become powerful triggers that help shift your nervous system into states that optimally support both your planning and execution modes.
This 'embodied cognition' approach to planning acknowledges something fundamental about human cognition: we think with our whole bodies, in particular environments, using specific tools; not just with our minds. By deliberately designing a planning practice that recognizes and works with this reality rather than against it, you create conditions where your executive function can flourish despite the struggles you might face.
Next Steps: Get Started With Your Own Minimal Ritual
I encourage you to start with the minimal version of the Daily Aiming Ritual over the next week. Done consistently, even this simple practice can dramatically improve your focus and productivity.
Remember that the goal is progress, rather than perfection. A "good enough" planning practice that you consistently engage with will far outperform a theoretically more perfect system that you don't manage to implement.
In my next post, I'll explore how to create and maintain effective backlogs and daily todo systems that complement the Daily Aiming Ritual. At the conclusion of this next post, you should have everything you need to create a comprehensive and workable approach to managing your time and attention.
This is the sixth in a series exploring executive function and productivity. In my next post, I'll examine "Building Your System: Backlogs and Daily Todos" – how to create and maintain the underlying systems that make the Daily Aiming Ritual effective.