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Attention Span & Productivity – Book Recommendation

Two goldfish in a bowl, one of them reading a thick book. The other one asks: "You’re reading a book called “Attention Span”? Is this some kind of joke?"

“You’re reading a book called Attention Span? Is this some kind of joke?”

In her book “Attention Span“, Gloria Mark explores the impacts of today’s fast-paced technology on our attention spans, productivity, and happiness. She presents a lot of research done both by her own and other teams. Based on that, she offers advice, not only on how to gain more control over our attention, but also on finding balance between productivity and happiness.

Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity by Gloria Mark (2023). [1]

Here are just a few of the findings and insights I found helpful.

Fun facts about attention and productivity

Have our attention spans really decreased?

Maybe you are feeling it yourself? Or maybe you’ve heard humans’ attention spans compared unfavorably to those of goldfish? Well that was a bit unfair. But is it true it that we are switching our attention more often these days than we used to? As it turns out, indeed we are.

Mark reports dramatic findings from her own as well as other people’s research [1], spanning from the early 2000’s to now. In the early years they shadowed people with stop watches. Later, they used computer logging methods to record precisely how long people’s attention remained on one screen, and when they switched their screens, apps, or websites. The measured average time people spent before switching went down steadily from about two and a half minutes in their earliest studies in 2004, to less than fifty seconds in 2021.

Another change that happened along with attention spans shortening is that people were spending more time at their desks and less time in formal and informal meetings. With that, people were becoming more sedentary during their work hours. (That decline already happened pre-pandemic, when most meetings were in person.)

The three high costs of rapid attention switching

Multitasking has rightfully earned a bad rap. Because our attention cannot be divided into more than one focus, we cannot truly to two things in parallel, unless one or both of the activities require little or no attentional resources. For example, listening to an audiobook while cooking is possible if I cook something that requires minimal thinking. If I’m trying to read and follow a new recipe, I’m quickly going to lose the plot in the audiobook. Similarly, I may be able to speak on the phone while painting, but not while responding to incoming texts or emails. Even if it feels like I’m doing both things at the same time, what I am really doing is switching my attention rapidly between them.

There are three problems with rapid attention switching. All three have been well documented over decades of research:

  1. We make more errors. Whether the switching is voluntary or not, our performance on each task is worse when we switch between them, compared to when we first complete one and then the other.
  2. It takes us longer to complete both tasks (again compared to first completing one, then the other).
  3. It increases stress. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure rises, and heart rate variability increases. Those physical markers are consistent with people’s subjective experience. The faster the switching, the more stressed people report feeling.

How can we improve our attention span and productivity?

What NOT to do:

1. Don’t try to focus as long as possible

Mark aims to dispel several myths in her book. The first myth is that we should try to focus as long as possible in order to be most productive.

It turns out that focusing for lengthy periods of time, especially without breaks, is not natural for most people. Just as we are not able to lift weights all day, we can’t stay focused for long stretches throughout the day without breaks. Sustained focus is associated with stress and can only be maintained for a limited time before our performance begins to decline.

There is a physiological basis in the brain that underlies this. When we focus our attention, the regions of the brain that are involved in that task use more oxygen, and accordingly the carbon dioxide content in the blood increases. This causes blood vessels to dilate to remove that waste from the activated part of the brain. Over time, blood velocity decreases as a consequence. When that happens, and the person remains in that sustained focused state, their performance declines. This change in performance that accompanies decreased blood velocity suggests that cognitive resources are not being replenished fast enough while the task continues. [1]

In other words, our brains hit a physical, metabolic limit, and we need breaks. This leads to another recommendation:

2. Don’t try to eliminate all rote, mindless activities

In line with this, Mark challenges the myth that rote, mindless activities have no value. There is no need to cut out all mindless activity like playing silly puzzle games, browsing the web, watching movies, or other easy and non-productive things.

Mark on the contrary suggests that since our attention is limited, it makes sense to pull away when we feel that we have exhausted our cognitive resources. Letting our minds wander while taking breaks with easy tasks, both online and in the physical world, helps us replenish our scarce cognitive resources. With more resources, we are better able to then focus again and be productive.

3. Don’t feel bad if you can’t get into a flow state at work

Another myth that Mark challenges is that we should all be able to get into “flow states” at work.

Flow, a term coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is that optimal state of attention where we are so caught up in an experience that we lose touch with the outside world and are unaware that time has passed. We feel joy and excitement, and are at our utmost creative peak. [1]

While people often have flow experiences with creative pursuits such as art, music, craft, design, or also in problem-solving tasks such as coding, Mark and her collaborators found that it rarely occurs in the knowledge workplace. Much of the nature of knowledge work is just not conducive to this kind of creative experience. This doesn’t mean we’re doing something wrong.

What can we do instead to improve our attention span, productivity, and happiness? 

Instead of falling for these myths, Mark suggests we aim for balance and well-being by finding a good rhythm for our attention and productivity.

1. Designing your day:

Design your day based on your own rhythm of attention, knowing that you have peak times for focus. Take advantage of these. Most people have peak focus times around 11 a.m. and midafternoon, but your own peak focus may differ from that. Save your hardest tasks for your peak hours.

When designing your day, recognize the value of “negative space”. In art, negative space refers to the area around a figure and is recognized as an essential part of the art work. In Japanese, the term “yohaku no bi” refers to the beauty of empty space. Design your day to include negative space, which is just as important as the work itself because it helps you achieve a sustainable balance.

2. Coping with external interruptions

Having control over interruptions helps people be more productive.

A good time to intentionally redirect your attention is when you reach a break point in a task, such as finishing writing a chapter or completing a budget—natural places to pause.

It that’s not possible and you do need to interrupt a task: externalize your memory of that unfinished task. For example, write a note about your most important unfinished tasks and a plan for the next step. Mark cites a study by Michael Scullin and colleagues, who found that people who wrote down their unfinished tasks fell asleep significantly faster than the other group. In fact, the more detailed their notes, the faster people fell asleep. [1] This finding can be explained by the Zeigarnik effect: as people lay in bed, unfinished tasks agitated around and around in their minds, stirring up tension.

3. Coping with internal interruptions

It is important to acknowledge that interruptions to our attention can be external as well as internal. We tend to self-interrupt, even when there are no outside triggers that would prompt us to switch attention.

Practice meta-awareness (awareness of your awareness). This means being conscious of what you are experiencing while it is unfolding, for example of the moment you choose to switch screens from work to opening your news browser.

Once you have that awareness, you can ask yourself: what value will I gain by interrupting my work and checking the news? If you’re already on the news site by the time you reach that meta-awareness, you can ask: How much time have I spent here already? Am I gaining any value by staying here? When you have meta-awareness, you can switch your frame of mind from being a passive to an active user of your attention.

Developing the ability to use meta-awareness takes practice. The better able you are to gain a meta-awareness of your behavior, the more intentional you can be in your actions.

Practice forethought by imagining how your current actions might affect your future. For example, before you go on social media or play an online game, spend a moment to think ahead and imagine what your end of the morning might look like if you indulge. The more detailed your visualization is, the easier it is to take an action to course-correct if you need to.

Increase friction: make it harder for your attention to switch. For example, if you know that you like to play a certain game, hide the app in a folder so that it’s harder to get to. Having to search for it will make you pause and increase the chances you’ll become aware and get the chance to make a conscious choice.

Best practices for organizations: increasing employees’ attention spans and productivity

Finally, some changes can only be accomplished on an organizational level. Two recommendations stood out to me in particular:

  • Reducing email
  • Designating quiet time, where responses are not expected

It took Gloria Mark six years to find a company that was willing to cut off email for a full work week as an experiment. When email was cut off, heart rate monitors revealed significantly less stress by the end of the week, and more enjoyment of social interactions. What’s more, people’s attention spans were significantly longer while working on their computers. In other words, they switched their attention less frequently. With the caveat that this was a quasi-experiment in the field, rather than a randomized controlled study, this finding nonetheless offers plausible evidence that email may cause attention spans to decline.

Based on her findings, Mark suggests cutting off email as a no-brainer. However, individuals alone cannot solve the email problem by simply cutting off from it. Email is a problem that needs to be tackled at the organizational and even societal level.

Disappointingly (and surprisingly to me) Mark found that batching email does not help. People who read email in batches showed no difference in stress levels compared to people who checked their email continually. In fact, batching even led to more stress, rather than less, for highly neurotic people. However, simply decreasing quantity helped. People who spent less time daily on email were less stressed—even after controlling for their job demands and job autonomy.

Final note

What I presented here is not meant to be a book summary. I selected only a few insights I gained from the book, and gave my notes a different structure than the book did. I hope you find some of it memorable and applicable.

If you would like to discuss how you or your organization could put some of these suggestions into practice, please let me know.

"Get in Touch" Button to Schedule a phone call or coaching session with Ursina Teuscher

 

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR

 

Picture Credits:

Image created with the assistance of OpenAI DALL-E and Microsoft Designer

 

Reference:

[1] Mark, G. (2023). Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity. Hanover Square Press.

Note: Gloria Mark cites many studies in her book, some of which I mentioned here. I have not read those original studies and am therefore not listing them as direct references for this post.

 



ADHD Tools – Part 3: Don’t Do It Alone

Tools and Tricks to Improve Your Executive Functioning

Part 3: Involving Others And Asking for Help

In my last two posts, I have written about practical tools that can improve your executive functioning (here are Part 1 and Part 2. In this third part, I want to emphasize one more strategy: involving other people for help.

This third strategy could also be seen as a part of the other two. Other people can be our external memories, as well as hold us accountable for our choices, make life less boring, and help us make better long-term decisions.

However, I figured the aspect of asking others for help deserved to be addressed on its own, if only because this point might be the hardest for many.

Why is asking for help particularly hard for people with ADHD?

In my work with people with ADHD, especially those who had received their diagnoses as adults, I’ve learned that many of them have struggled all their lives with great amounts of shame over their difficulties, and with feelings of inadequacy. Throughout their childhoods and adult lives, they experienced repeated failures to meet expectations. First, it may have been the parents and teachers who interpreted their struggles as laziness or disobedience. Later, they might have disappointed their friends and partners by forgetting dates or commitments, and their supervisors or colleagues by missing deadlines. And most importantly, they kept failing their own expectations, blaming themselves, and not understanding why they couldn’t just “get it together”, like everyone else seemed to.

Shame makes us want to hide, instead of asking for help. Therefore, I think it is important to recognize that if you have ADHD, your shame might, in fact, be one more real obstacle you have to overcome. It is one more thing that may truly distinguish you from others (to a degree, just like your ADHD symptoms distinguish you only to a degree), and it is important to address it. Because it, too, is holding you back.

How can involving others be particularly helpful for people with ADHD?

Other people are often an essential part of our external memories (or “extended minds”, as reflected in the idea of distributed cognition). But they can also motivate us, hold us accountable, keep things interesting with their presence, and help us to make better decisions.

Here are just a few examples of how you might involve other people to help manage your ADHD symptoms:

  • Trust someone to remind you of important dates, as a backup to your own calendar system (not as a replacement).
  • Set up appointments to work on particularly challenging tasks in someone else’s presence (or virtual presence), if they also benefit from that accountability.
  • Involve a friend to develop a token system with you, where you can earn tokens for tasks that are particularly hard for you. Your friend can hold bigger rewards for you that you can exchange for the tokens you earned. Include them in the celebrations of your achievements.
  • Ask for other people’s perspectives when you are facing important decisions. Chances are, if they don’t have ADHD, they might approach decisions differently than you [5]. They might also think differently about risks and benefits than you [7], or about the future [1, 2, 3, 4, 8] – which are aspects that usually matter for important decisions. If your preferences are truly different from theirs, of course you should choose whatever aligns with your own values. This includes honoring your own risk tolerance, and your own future time perspective, as long as your decisions don’t harm others. But other people’s input might help you take additional or different aspects into account, so that you can make the best choice for yourself.

Tortoise handing over medal to hare

Remember it’s a two-way street

If you’re still hesitant to ask others for help with any of your ADHD-related challenges, remember that the “neurotypical” people (or, perhaps even more so, those at the other end of the self-control spectrum) need you too. In Ann Patchett’s words, as she tells the story of her colorful friendship with Lucy Grealy [6]:

“We were a pairing out of an Aesop’s fable, the grasshopper and the ant, the tortoise and the hare. And sure, maybe the ant was warmer in the winter and the tortoise won the race, but everyone knows that the grasshopper and the hare were infinitely more appealing animals in all their leggy beauty, their music, and interesting side trips. What the story didn’t tell you is that the ant relented at the eleventh hour and took in the grasshopper when the weather was hard, fed him on his tenderest store of grass all winter. The tortoise, being uninterested in such things, gave over his medal to the hare. Grasshoppers and hares find the ants and tortoises. They need us to survive, but we need them as well. They were the ones who brought the truth and beauty to the party, which Lucy could tell you as she recited her Keats over breakfast, was better than food any day.”

Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty.

Hopefully, once you think about it, you recognize the positive value you are contributing to the people around you, not just despite but also because of your differences. Chances are, they recognize it too and welcome a chance to help you to succeed.

If you’re not sure where to start, I’d love to help you figure that out.

"Get in Touch" Button to Schedule a phone call or coaching session with Ursina Teuscher

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR

 

Picture Credit:

Images created with the assistance of OpenAI DALL‑E and Microsoft Designer

References:

[1] Carelli, M. G., & Wiberg, B. (2012). Time Out of Mind: Temporal Perspective in Adults With ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 16(6), 460–466. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054711398861
[2] Jackson, J. N. S., & MacKillop, J. (2016). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Monetary Delay Discounting: A Meta-Analysis of Case-Control Studies. Biological Psychiatry. Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 1(4), 316–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2016.01.007
[3] Marx, I., Hacker, T., Yu, X., Cortese, S., & Sonuga-Barke, E. (2021). ADHD and the Choice of Small Immediate Over Larger Delayed Rewards: A Comparative Meta-Analysis of Performance on Simple Choice-Delay and Temporal Discounting Paradigms. Journal of Attention Disorders, 25(2), 171–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054718772138
[4] Mette, C. (2023). Time Perception in Adult ADHD: Findings from a Decade—A Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3098. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043098
[5] Mowinckel, A. M., Pedersen, M. L., Eilertsen, E., & Biele, G. (2015). A Meta-Analysis of Decision-Making and Attention in Adults With ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 19(5), 355–367. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054714558872
[6] Patchett, A. (2004). Truth and Beauty: A Friendship. Fourth Estate.
[7] Pollak, Y., Dekkers, T. J., Shoham, R., & Huizenga, H. M. (2019). Risk-Taking Behavior in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): a Review of Potential Underlying Mechanisms and of Interventions. Current Psychiatry Reports, 21(5), 33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1019-y
[8] Ptacek, R., Weissenberger, S., Braaten, E., Klicperova-Baker, M., Goetz, M., Raboch, J., Vnukova, M., & Stefano, G. B. (2019). Clinical Implications of the Perception of Time in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A Review. Medical Science Monitor : International Medical Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 25, 3918–3924. https://doi.org/10.12659/MSM.914225



ADHD Tools – Part 2: Future Time Blindness

Tools and Tricks to Improve Your Executive Functioning

Part 2: Time Blindness and Impulsive Choices

In my last post, I wrote about the practice of externalizing memory as an essential part of managing ADHD. Here, I will tackle a different common challenge of ADHD: “time blindness” and impulsive choices.

How Does ADHD Affect Choices About the Future?

ADHD is often associated with difficulties in planning and time management. For example, people with ADHD find it harder than others to estimate time, and to notice how much time passes while they’re doing a task [1, 10, 13].

These practical problems seem to go together with systematic biases in time perspective [8]. For example, one study found adults with ADHD to be more present oriented, and their view of the past as well as the future to be more negative and less positive than that of control participants [2]. The strongest predictor of ADHD were low scores on future-oriented statements that involve planning, organization, and timekeeping.

In line with this, many studies have shown that people with ADHD tend to make more impulsive choices than others [5]. Even when given time to think about their choice, they tend to favor small immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards more often than people without ADHD [7, 11, 12]. These are surprisingly robust findings that have been replicated in many studies and confirmed through meta-analyses, which showed minimal evidence of publication bias [5, 7].

ADHD Hacks Part 2: Taking Care of Your Future Self

Take care of future self, as Part 2 of ADHD Tools: Future Time Blindness.

While ADHD makes planning for the future particularly challenging, very few people complain about making decisions that are too good for their future, such as saving too much money for retirement or eating too healthily.

So, whether or not you have ADHD: would you like to align your daily choices more with your longer-term goals? Here are some tricks that can help us delay gratification and act in the best interest of our future selves.

1. More immediate rewards: reduce time between your action and its consequences

If potential consequences in the future are not enough to motivate you, you may have to add immediate consequences to your actions that align with the direction you want to go in. That means that you reinforce actions that align with your future goals, and make your unwanted actions (e.g., habits you want to break) harder or less rewarding. There are many ways to do this, and it might require some creative thinking to come up with your own tricks. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Calendar and coffee cup as illustration of breaks as rewards.

Breaks as rewards

Schedule your breaks for after you complete a task, instead of taking them as a way to procrastinate before you get started. That way, your natural needs for coffee breaks, meals, relaxation, etc., act as rewards for tasks you’ve completed. After practicing this regularly, your brain will learn to associate your work with the following reward through experience, and starting the task will become a stronger (reinforced) habit. As a nice side effect, you’ll be able to enjoy your breaks more if you feel that you deserve them.

Token-systems

Rewards do not need to be physical for humans (though they can!). Even for children, token systems work really well, where desirable behaviors are rewarded with tokens, which can be saved up and exchanged for a bigger reward (such as a favorite meal, or a new toy). There is no reason to think token systems should be any less effective for grown-ups, just because we think we should not need them anymore in order to motivate ourselves. The only challenge with token systems for adults is that it is usually within our own control to withhold that bigger reward (such as a bigger purchase) until we’ve collected enough tokens. If you’re working towards a real reward, you might want to work with someone who helps you set up a specific token schedule and is “holding” that reward for you.

Symbolic rewards

Rewards can also be entirely symbolic, such as in the form of stickers or “gold stars”. Again, they work even with children, so why not use again what worked in the past? One of my clients made the astute observation that it was precisely their symbolic nature that made stickers effective for her: as opposed to “real” rewards, there was no temptation for her to give herself a sticker for a task she didn’t complete.

If stickers are not your style, maybe color-coded spreadsheets will do the trick to track your progress?

Example of a writer's word count spreadsheet as symbolic reward, as example of ADHD Tools Future Time Blindness

Fast checklists

Create “fast” checklists: break your task up into many sub-tasks that you can check off rapidly, as you work through them. This has the added benefit of making your task more specific and therefore actually easier. It also means, however, that the creation of a “fast checklist” is in itself a task, perhaps the hardest one. Acknowledge it as such, schedule it, and reward its completion. One of my clients had the most success when he added “Write Next Fast Checklist” as the last bullet to his fast checklist.

Make tasks self-rewarding

When possible, make tasks more exciting or interesting (= self-rewarding). This might require some creative thinking, and is not always possible, but might be worth some thought. Can you modify your task to make it more fun, even at the cost of some of its effectiveness? Where this works well is for activities like exercise or chores, which might be more fun when listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. For example, Kathy Milkman and her colleagues found that their study participants were more likely to visit the gym when they were combining their exercise with listening to the Hunger Games as an audiobook [9]. They called their trick “temptation bundling”.

Gamify your tasks

The strategy of “gamification” also uses these elements of defining, tracking and rewarding progress. In addition to that, gamification could include timed challenges or competition to make your tasks more exciting. Again, this might not work for all of your tasks, but when it does, it can be very effective.

Work with someone else

Another way to add accountability is to work with someone else. This adds an immediate consequence (someone else’s success) to your showing up for your work. Only use this strategy if you know that you WILL show up for someone else in a way that you wouldn’t for yourself. An example of this is “body doubling”, where you work on your task by yourself, while someone else is present (in real life or virtual via camera), who is also focusing on their own task. Their mere presence can help you stay on track. Additionally, it may boost your motivation and make the task more enjoyable and achievable. If you can’t think of any friends or colleagues who would benefit from this kind of work session with you, consider a virtual platform such as Focusmate, which sets you up with a stranger for virtual sessions.

2. Constrain Future Options
Pre-commitment

Consider restricting the choices of your future self, if you’re sure that your current preference will be better in the long run, but are worried your future self might lack self-control. One of the oldest examples of a pre-commitment strategy was Ulysses’ instruction to his sailors to bind him to the mast of their ship, while it was sailing past the island of the sirens. That way, he would be able hear their enchanting song, but not act on it. Meanwhile, his sailors filled their ears with wax, as a different way of shielding themselves from the same temptation [4]. In modern life, some effective forms of pre-commitments are setting up automatic savings accounts, making plans to exercise with someone else, or throwing out the sugary snacks in your pantry.

Design a strong “default option”

This is a concept from choice architecture. It is essentially a toned-down version of pre-commitment: make your desired option the easiest one. Remove obstacles, so that you will automatically do your planned action, if you don’t make any active and effortful decisions to the contrary. For example, instead of throwing out all sugary snacks, you might just put them out of sight on a higher shelf. Similarly, you might write down meal plan before going grocery shopping, and put those meals in the calendar. Without having to actually constrain any of your options, designing a healthy (but delicious!) default might already make a difference in your eating habits.

Meal plan as default-option. Take care of future self, as Part 2 of ADHD Tools: Future Time Blindness.

Routines are a special case of setting a strong default. In order to build a routine that really sticks, think it through in detail. Design your ideal routine in a way that excites you, or at least feels realistic and friendly. (Always be kind to your future self!) Schedule it, then practice it. Don’t expect it to work right away. Start practicing it as a way of collecting data of what works, and what needs to be planned differently.

3. Visualize the Future

Visualize the future in more detail. In her recent book “Attention Span”, Gloria Mark [6] recommends that we picture ourselves relaxing at the end of the day, in order to find more motivation to be productive during the day.

If you tend to run late for appointments, visualize the people who might be waiting for you, or visualize getting there early enough to greet them as they arrive.

If you want to save more money for retirement, picture yourself as an older person. Several studies have shown that people are more willing to delay monetary rewards after looking at realistic virtual images of their future selves [3]. Real-world tests even have confirmed that this would be a cost-effective, practical, and scalable intervention to nudge people to save more for their retirements [14, 15].

4. Dare to Over-Correct

Do you consistently underestimate how long something should take (even more so that other people)? First of all: recognize the problem. Be honest with yourself as to whether chronic lateness is a problem that affects your relationships, your work, or other aspects of your life. For example, when you have appointments, do others more often have to wait for you than you have to wait for them? If they – even while being polite – see this as a lack of respect for their time, it will affect your relationships.

If you’re serious about wanting to fix this, plan more transition time than you think you need, and extra buffers. Set yourself a challenge of being always early for an entire month, then evaluate whether you like your life better this way. (Bring a book, laptop or phone to keep you entertained while you wait. In case you didn’t know: that’s most likely what other people are doing too, if you rarely have to wait for them.)

Similarly, does chronic lateness affect your work? Do you miss out on opportunities by missing deadlines? If you’re a freelancer or contractor, do you short your own income with estimates that are too optimistic? Try the other extreme for a while. Under-commit and overdeliver, until your time estimation skills become more realistic. Don’t make promises if there is uncertainty.

This might require some sacrifices. It likely requires you to limit to yourself to fewer commitments. You might have to admit in advance that you can’t accomplish as much as you or others would like you to. Will that be painful? Absolutely. But that particular pain is not unique to ADHD. Remember that it’s not your fault that life is so short.

To sweeten the pain: insert buffers into your schedule that double as breaks. Enjoy the break you get when you’re done with a task earlier than you thought.

Ready to Take Care of Your Future Self?

Whether or not you struggle at all with time blindness, or impulsivity, or any other ADHD symptoms: would you like to start taking better care for your future self?

If you’d like to put some of the strategies I mentioned here into practice, or explore others with me, I’m excited to hear from you. I often see people go through astonishing transformations starting with small practical changes. It is always exciting and rewarding for me to be part of that process. I’d love to help you figure out where to start, and how to develop your own tricks that work best with your personal style and preferences.

"Get in Touch" Button to Schedule a phone call or coaching session with Ursina Teuscher

[Update: here are Parts 1 and Parts 3 of ADHD tools]

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR

Picture Credits:

Images 1, 2, and 5: created with the assistance of OpenAI DALL-E and Microsoft Designer
Image 4: picture of stickers donated by my coaching client with permission to share

References:

[1] Barkley, R. A., Edwards, G., Laneri, M., Fletcher, K., & Metevia, L. (2001). Executive Functioning, Temporal Discounting, and Sense of Time in Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29(6), 541–556. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012233310098
[2] Carelli, M. G., & Wiberg, B. (2012). Time Out of Mind: Temporal Perspective in Adults With ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 16(6), 460–466. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054711398861
[3] Hershfield, H. E., Goldstein, D. G., Sharpe, W. F., Fox, J., Yeykelis, L., Carstensen, L. L., & Bailenson, J. N. (2011). Increasing Saving Behavior Through Age-Progressed Renderings of the Future Self. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(SPL), S23–S37. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.48.SPL.S23
[4] Homer. (2024). The Odyssey (W. C. Bryant, Trans.). Standard Ebooks. https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/homer/the-odyssey/william-cullen-bryant
[5] Jackson, J. N. S., & MacKillop, J. (2016). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Monetary Delay Discounting: A Meta-Analysis of Case-Control Studies. Biological Psychiatry. Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 1(4), 316–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2016.01.007
[6] Mark, G. (2023). Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity (Original edition). Hanover Square Press.
[7] Marx, I., Hacker, T., Yu, X., Cortese, S., & Sonuga-Barke, E. (2021). ADHD and the Choice of Small Immediate Over Larger Delayed Rewards: A Comparative Meta-Analysis of Performance on Simple Choice-Delay and Temporal Discounting Paradigms. Journal of Attention Disorders, 25(2), 171–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054718772138
[8] Mette, C. (2023). Time Perception in Adult ADHD: Findings from a Decade—A Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3098. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043098
[9] Milkman, K. L., Minson, J. A., & Volpp, K. G. M. (2014). Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling. Management Science, 60(2), 283–299. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2013.1784
[10] Nejati, V., & Yazdani, S. (2020). Time perception in children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Does task matter? A meta-analysis study. Child Neuropsychology: A Journal on Normal and Abnormal Development in Childhood and Adolescence, 26(7), 900–916. https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2020.1712347
[11] Patros, C., Alderson, R., Kasper, L., Tarle, S., Lea, S., & Hudec, K. (2015). Choice-impulsivity in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2015.11.001
[12] Pauli-Pott, U., & Becker, K. (2015). Time windows matter in ADHD-related developing neuropsychological basic deficits: A comprehensive review and meta-regression analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 55, 165–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.04.011
[13] Ptacek, R., Weissenberger, S., Braaten, E., Klicperova-Baker, M., Goetz, M., Raboch, J., Vnukova, M., & Stefano, G. B. (2019). Clinical Implications of the Perception of Time in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A Review. Medical Science Monitor : International Medical Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 25, 3918–3924. https://doi.org/10.12659/MSM.914225
[14] Robalino, J. D., Fishbane, A., Goldstein, D. G., & Hershfield, H. E. (2023). Saving for retirement: A real-world test of whether seeing photos of one’s future self encourages contributions. Behavioral Science & Policy, 9(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/23794607231190607
[15] Sims, T., Raposo, S., Bailenson, J. N., & Carstensen, L. L. (2020). The Future Is Now: Age-Progressed Images Motivate Community College Students to Prepare for Their Financial Futures. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Applied, 26(4), 593–603. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000275

 



ADHD Executive Functioning Tools – Part 1

Tools and Tricks to Improve Your Executive Functioning

Part 1: External Memory

Would you like to get better at managing your attention and daily choices?

In this and my next post, I will describe practical tools and tricks that can help you manage your time and tasks better, especially if you have ADHD. I’ll explain why these practices are particularly essential for people who struggle with ADHD symptoms. However, many of these self-regulation tools are also good practice for everyone else.
Tools and Tricks to Improve Your Executive Functioning - Bionic Brain

Some Misunderstandings About ADHD

In order to understand how people with ADHD might benefit from specific tricks and tools, let me first address some common misunderstandings about ADHD.

1. The Scope of ADHD – a Deficit in Executive Functioning

The label “Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder” (ADHD) has long been criticized for being misleading and insufficient at best [47]. It highlights two specific symptoms, but falls short in describing the core or scope of ADHD.

While our understanding of ADHD as a complex phenomenon is still developing [16, 22, 26, 30, 35, 47], a big part of its core problem seems to be a deficit in self-regulation, or “executive functioning” [7, 13, 41]. This includes inefficient use of working memory, and poor engagement of reward circuits, especially for delayed rewards [39, 44, 45, 47].

Executive functions can include the following aspects [3, 6, 23], all of which ADHD can disrupt to varying degrees:

  1. self-inhibition, or self-restraint
  2. nonverbal working memory, or visual imagery
  3. verbal working memory, or self-speech such as your mind’s voice
  4. emotional self-regulation and motivation
  5. planning and problem-solving, or mental play
  6. self-managing with regard to time; anticipating and preparing for the future
2. The Cause of ADHD – Mostly Genetic

Individual differences in executive functioning are almost entirely genetic in origin, in fact it seems to be one of the most heritable psychological traits [18, 31]. ADHD, too, is highly heritable, although there are also some environmental factors, mainly of the biohazard type (such as brain injuries or toxins during pregnancy) that contribute to the risk of developing ADHD [36].

Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that ADHD is caused by social or other environmental factors, such as modern technologies, lifestyle, poor parenting, or not enough “rough and tumble play”.

3. The Spectrum of ADHD

Lastly: ADHD is not a pathology, in the sense of a qualitatively distinct category from neurotypicality. Instead, the differences between those who do and don’t have ADHD are quantitative and come on a spectrum. As such, there are also people on the other end of that spectrum, who have exceptional abilities to self-regulate (motor, cognitive, and emotional). A cutoff within the spectrum is needed only for practical purposes, such as qualifying for disability benefits.

How ADHD Affects All Areas of Life

If we consider how essential it is in our adult lives that we are able to manage our thoughts, as well as our emotions and behaviors, it is not surprising that poor self-regulation has far-reaching consequences throughout all areas of life.

An abundance of studies shows that people with ADHD experience more negative outcomes across many domains, including:

  • academic and professional underachievement [1, 17, 24, 27]
  • financial distress [10, 24]
  • higher divorce rates [10]
  • lower ratings of their friendships, social and leisure activities [10]
  • driving accidents and citations [5, 8, 17, 34]
  • substance abuse [1, 11]
  • arrests, convictions and incarcerations [32]
  • psychiatric disorders, including antisocial, addictive, mood and anxiety disorders [11, 12, 46]
  • recent negative life events as measured with the “Life Experience Survey” [20]

Furthermore, ADHD severity seems to be associated with negative life events, even when adjusted for – in other words, independently from – confounding factors such as psychiatric comorbidities, substance use, education, and income [10, 20].

As reflected in these studies, people with severe ADHD struggle in ways that are hard to even imagine for the rest of us, even though I’m sure we are all familiar with some degree of struggles with self-regulation. I trust we all know what it feels like to be distracted or disorganized, to be overwhelmed by a task or by too much information, to cope poorly with strong emotions, to run late for a meeting because we have misjudged or lost awareness of time, or to disappoint someone because we forgot about a commitment we made. For the luckiest among us, those are rare occurrences. For people with severe ADHD, this is every day, all day long.

But since probably all of us would prefer to become better – rather than worse – at regulating our own thoughts, emotions and actions, many of the skills and habits that make life with ADHD more manageable are good practices for all of us.

What Practical Tools and Tricks Can Help You Improve Your Executive Functioning?

ADHD Hacks – Part 1: Get Yourself a Bionic Memory

People with ADHD often experience deficits in working memory [2, 25], which is the ability to actively use or process information held in short-term memory. This impacts many everyday tasks, such as problem-solving, understanding and following instructions, or organizing and prioritizing to-dos.

Working memory capacity also suffers as we get older [14, 43], and it seems safe to say to say that we would all prefer our working memories to be better, rather than worse.

Therefore, the practice of externalizing memory as much as we can is good advice for everyone. Instead of relying on your brain, it is good practice to offload and organize all task-related information outside of our minds – on paper or electronically. If we don’t do that, we are all prone to forget things, lose clarity of what we’re working on, and become chronically stressed by all the “stuff” in our minds.

Here are some practical examples of how to externalize memory.

Calendars

You are probably already using one, or several. Are you already maximizing its usefulness, or could you put more things out of your mind if you put them into your calendar?

Physical reminders

Sticky notes or actual objects in strategic places can remind you what you of need to do when you see them. If you want to make sure you won’t leave the house forgetting that it’s trash day tomorrow, you might stick a note to the door saying “take out trash”. Make sure to remove those physical reminders as soon as you don’t need them anymore, otherwise you will very quickly stop noticing any of them.

Physical reminders as external memory (ADHD Executive functioning tools)

Worried you might forget to clear out the fridge after a night in a motel? (It’s happened to us. Oh, the sadness!) To avoid that, put an ultra-cool beer-cooler – but really anything works – as a place-holder in front of the door, to serve as a physical obstacle/reminder.

Writing things down

This one is obvious, but it goes beyond writing to-do lists. For example, one of my clients had troubles staying focused while reading. She already had made good experiences with journaling in the mornings to clear ther mind, so she decided to also try journaling right before reading. She was happy to report that this enabled her to stay focused on the plot and enjoy a novel in a way she usually couldn’t.

I also find that writing down intrusive thoughts helps many of my clients put those thoughts literally “out of their minds”, and enables them to re-focus on the task at hand.

Decision tools

For important decisions, use decision support tools that help you visualize the problem, rather trying to juggle all your thoughts and feelings in your head. This might be particularly beneficial for people with ADHD, because in tasks that measure analytic decision making competence, adults with ADHD show deficits that are no smaller than their attention deficits [28, 33]. Importantly, low analytic decision competence truly matters in real life: even when measured with hypothetical decisions, low decision-making competence is related to real negative life events [14a]. Therefore, learning how to make good decisions seems like a very worthwhile skill to acquire, not only for people with ADHD.

Task management systems

A classic example is David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” method, which proposes a system of how to offload and organize all task-related information externally. There’s no shortage of other books, programs and apps with similar purposes, and no particular system that I would recommend over any other. Try whichever you find appealing, or create your own system. Keep using whatever works and fine-tune what doesn’t. Don’t try to find the perfect app that will solve all your problems at once. Also, don’t use too many apps, especially if their purposes overlap.

You can go very high-tech, or very analogue. Whatever works for you, as long as it’s outside of your own brain.

Alarms

Again, you’re probably already using those. However, could you use a larger variety of them to start and end different kinds of tasks? If the word “alarm” sounds harsh, choosing a pleasant sound or motivating song can make a difference. But perhaps more importantly, consider how wonderful it will be to NOT have to pay any attention to the clock at all in the meantime. You can fully relax, focus, or be free, until the moment the timer goes off.

You might also consider non-auditory timers. For example, my husband and I wanted get to sleep at a more regular time. (By the way, that is also one of the most often named changes my clients want to make). So he programmed one of our lights to switch off at the same time every night. It is is not a disruptive „light’s out“, just a decorative light clicking out. But it works, since it’s a reminder of something we want to do anyway. The difference between wanting to do something and consistently doing it is sometimes just an programmed light switch.

What other tools and tricks help with executive functioning if you have ADHD?

In this post, I focused on the practice of externalizing memory, since it is such an essential part of managing ADHD. However, deficits in working memory are not the only challenge for many people with ADHD. Another hallmark of ADHD is a difficult relationship to time, especially the future [15, 30a]. This includes poor time estimation [6, 30a, 40]. But also includes a tendency towards impulsive choices, and with that, difficulties to get motivated when consequences are delayed [6, 21, 29, 37, 38].

In my next post, I will discuss these problems in more detail. I’ll provide practical examples of tools that help with delaying gratification and managing time. Whether or not you have ADHD, these practices will help you take better care of your future self.

Stay tuned!

[Update: here are Parts 2 and Parts 3 of ADHD tools]

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR

Picture Credit:

Top image created with the assistance of OpenAI DALL‑E and Microsoft Designer

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Time Management for Mortals – Book Recommendation

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman (2023).

Four thousand weeks – Burkeman reminds us – is about all we get in life, if we live to be eighty. In the big picture of the universe, this is an “absurdly, insultingly brief” span. Clearly, it is not enough to do everything we want, even if we maximized our productivity with every trick ever invented.

That is the backdrop of this book, which offers guidance on constructing a meaningful life by acknowledging our limits.

I’ve enjoyed reading it, but am having difficulties passing on its advice. I feel a similar ambivalence toward its wisdom as towards the wisdom we sometimes hear from survivors of near-death experiences. Seemingly only having acquired this insight after almost dying, the survivors tell us that life is short and can end even sooner than we think, and therefore we should appreciate it even more. For example, why not marvel at the wonders of a sweet-smelling rose, instead of picking a petty fight with your spouse? It’s not that I disagree. On the contrary. It’s that those insights seem – well – not new, exactly.

That said, probably no great wisdom is truly new. (This itself would not be a new insight by any stretch.) Passing on old words of advice, even just as reminders, might be a good idea anyway. Most likely, people have been doing just that with memento mori art and related concepts, which seem to appear throughout human history and throughout different cultures.

Memento Mori, obraz

So here are some of Oliver Burke’s points I found worth reflecting on.

My top three selection of time management tips for mortals
  1. Neglect the right things. Sadly, some of the things you’ll need to neglect will be important things. Make peace with those losses. It’s not your fault that you can’t do everything that would be important. Two particular lines of thought might help you decide what to let go of:
    • Limit your works in progress.
    • Resist the allure of middling priorities.
  2. Get real not only about how little time you have, but also about the fact that most things take longer than you expecteven when you take into account that most things take longer than you expect. Plan for enough buffers and breaks, slack and transition time. Since you can’t do everything anyway, you might as well cut out one more thing and instead show up early enough and be present for what you do choose to do.
  3. And my favorite – cosmic insignificance therapy: Remember how little you matter, on a cosmic timescale. Even the most impactful people in human history don’t make a dent in the universe. Truly recognizing this fact may feel like setting down a burden we didn’t realize we were carrying in the first place. Seen with this perspective, appreciating how little time we have in this life doesn’t mean resolving to “do something remarkable” with it. On the contrary, letting go of an over-demanding standard of remarkableness may help us appreciate the impact we do have on the people close to us, and to not discount the significance of this.

Lastly, this song goes out to (only, I’m afraid) my loyal Swiss-German readers, who might enjoy it as a collectively treasured memento mori:

Picture Credit:

Jendex, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR



Temporal Construal Levels: Seeing the Big Picture in Daily Choices

How does knowing about temporal construal levels help us make better choices?

An interesting but not widely known framework for dealing with self-control and daily decisions is the theory of temporal construal levels.
The theory and many subsequent research studies (here’s just one example by Fujita, Trope, Liberman, and Levin-Sagi) suggest that we think quite differently about events depending on how far in the future they are. When we think about a distant event, we represent it in a more abstract and coherent way, and we connect those future events with our goals. This would be a high-level construal. As the event gets closer, we become more concerned about the concrete and incidental details of the events and about the experience itself. This would be a low-level construal.

As an example: When I plan to hike next weekend, I’m thinking about the big picture and have goals in mind such as leading a healthy life, making beautiful memories, or enjoying good company.
In the moment of the event itself, from the alarm clock going off way too early, to the strenuous climb and descent, I am likely to focus on the specifics of the experience, including all the discomfort that comes with it.
After the event, I will likely look back at it again from the big picture perspective, happy about the memories and achievement.

Climbing a Mountain as Illustration of Temporal Construal Levels

The fact that we represent future events differently from the present has very practical implications for our decisions: it means that we often make different choices for our future selves than for our present selves.

When we’re further away from a choice, we find it easy to focus on the big picture and know what’s best for us.

For example, we know that we want to be productive, eat healthy, work out, and so on. However, as we get closer to the moment when we should actually do those things, we’re more likely to choose what feels good in the moment – for example, watch the funny video, eat the chocolate cake, and generally seek instant pleasure and avoid discomfort.

Two practical tips to deal with changing temporal construal levels:

1. Beforehand: “zoom in” to plan well

Since we tend to think about our past decisions on the same high level construal as about our future decisions, planning ahead helps us make choices that we won’t regret in the future. The more detailed your plan, the more decisions are you are making before the event, rather than during it. However, while you’re in the planning phase, remember to be kind to your future self! Try to envision difficulties ahead of time, and set your future self up for success by removing as many obstacles as possible. In that way, a realistic plan – one you’re willing to commit to – will give you a priceless advantage by freeing you from too many decisions later on.

2. In the moment: “zoom out” to reconnect with goals and values

As the event gets closer, and in the heat of the moment itself, remind yourself of the big picture and the original plan. When things get hard and uncomfortable, think about the reasons why you are doing this. Since there is no longer any temporal distance, one very good trick is to increase the psychological distance to get back into a high-level construal. For example, before deviating from your plans, think about what you would advise a friend to do in your situation. This helps you see your decision from more distance – similarly to the way you will likely judge your own decision in the future, when you look back at it.

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR



Skills coaching group for executive functioning

Executive functioning skills group offered through ADHD-NW Treatment Center

Would you like to improve your abilities to plan ahead and meet goals, manage your time, stay focused despite distractions, or display self-control more generally? Or do you know someone else who could use help with any of these so-called “executive functioning” skills?

I’m offering a new weekly skills and support group in collaboration with the ADHD-NW Treatment Center. This course is open to all (with or without ADHD)! The group is ideal for adults who struggle with procrastination, time management, and developing and maintaining healthy routines of life organization.

Topics covered in this group include: scheduling strategies, learning how to reward yourself for working toward difficult tasks, techniques towards better focusing abilities, establishing a productive work environment, among others.

Groups will begin with a check in, mutual accountability on progress toward goals from the previous session, and discussion of weekly topics. We’ll discuss relevant findings from neuroscience, psychology, behavioral economics, and choice architecture in relation to the topic of the week, and how you might apply those concepts to make your own life easier. We’ll end each group end with sharing a personal plan and commitment to action for the coming week.

Coaching Group: Developing Healthy Work Habits and Skills
Start Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Tuesdays 8:00 to 9:00 AM
Minimum Commitment: 6 Weeks
Open Enrollment – You can join this group at any time
Format: Virtual
Cost per Group Session: $29.99 – $39.95

You can find more info and enroll here:
https://nw-adhd.com/community-groups/

If you have questions, feel free to text or give me a call at (858) 200-6887.

Thanks so much for sharing!

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR



Effects of sleep deprivation on decision making

How does a lack of sleep affect our judgment? Does it really lead to poorer choices?

"Drowsy drivers use next exit": warning sign on Interstate 15 in Utah Unfortunately, the answer is many times yes. In my research into the topic, I’ve found at least eight ways how a lack of sleep affects different aspects of our judgment and decision making.

Sleep deprivation affects us both physically and mentally, and decision-making is a complex process that requires the orchestration of multiple neural systems, such as emotion, memory, and logical reasoning. It is therefore not too surprising that sleep deprivation would take a toll on many fronts.

Here are eight effects of sleep deprivation on decision making:

1) What’s perhaps best known is that it impairs attention and working memory, leading to slower reaction times, reduced vigilance, and more mistakes. This is why the risks of driving while sleepy are considered at least as dangerous as the risks of driving under the influence of alcohol [1]. For example, being awake for 17 hours leads to impairments equivalent to having a BAC of 0.05%, and being awake for 24 hours to having a BAC of 0.10%.

For people with ADHD, sleep deprivation leads to even more focus-related problems, such as disproportionately more errors and slower reaction times. In addition, lack of sleep decreases the effectiveness of some ADHD medications [2]. (Unfortunately, ADHD also makes it harder stick to a good sleep routine. Here are some tips on how to deal with this problem.)

2) But it also affects long-term memory. Sleep deprivation affects the brain’s ability to learn and recall information [3]. In fact, lack of sleep seems to be a risk factor for (not only correlated with) dementia, probably for a number of reasons [4; 5; 6]. For one, during REM sleep the brain processes information and consolidates memories from the previous day. Sleep also plays a large part in regulating the availability of neurotransmitters. Lastly, sleep deprivation leads to an increase in beta-amyloid. This is the protein that occurs in abnormally high levels in brains with Alzheimer’s disease, where it clumps together to form plaques that collect between neurons and disrupt cell function.

3) Logical reasoning ability also suffers. Namely, sleep deprivation increases rigid thinking, perseveration errors, and difficulties in processing and using new information [7]. In other words, complex tasks and innovative decision-making do suffer from a lack of sleep.

4) Self-awareness is another aspect of our judgment that’s essential for making smart choices. Unfortunately, self-evaluation of cognitive performance is also impaired by sleep deprivation. In one study [8], during 36 h of sleep deprivation, research participants became more confident that their answers were correct as the wakefulness continued. Confidence was even stronger when the answer was actually wrong.

5) Lack of sleep makes us more risk prone. For example, in gambling tasks, sleep deprivation led to both higher expectations of rewards for risky choices, as well as diminished responses to their losses [9].

6) In addition, many studies show that sleep deprivation leads to more impulsive behavior and a lack of inhibition [e.g., 10; 11]. Note that impulsivity is not the same issue as the risk attitude from the previous point. These two aspects of decision making are independent – you can be deliberate about taking high risks (e.g., choosing an aggressive investment portfolio), and you can be impulsive about avoiding risks (e.g., giving into irrational fears or shying away from discomfort). But of course the combination of impulsivity and risk-proneness is a particularly dangerous cocktail that can lead to reckless behavior.

7) Sleep deprivation has negative effects on many aspects of mood, such as depression, anger, and anxiety [e.g., 12 – 15]. While some studies only show correlations over time [12]., others do show a causal effect [13; 14]. One study examined the effects of sleep deprivation in healthy adolescents, comparing depression, anger, confusion, anxiety, vigor, and fatigue across days. They found that all mood states significantly worsened following one night without sleep. Female participants showed a greater vulnerability to mood deficits following sleep loss, with greater depressed mood, anxiety, and confusion [14]. Another study examined a cohort of medical residents over their first postgraduate year and found that mood disturbances, lowered empathic capacity, and burnout increased over the year, and were associated with decreases in sleep amounts and increases in sleepiness [12].

Here, too, if we keep in mind that increased impulsivity will be added to this mix of bad mood, it won’t be surprising to learn that bad behavior follows. For example, one study looked at abusive supervisory behavior in managers across a variety of industries. They showed that daily sleep quality was negatively related to leaders’ self-control, and that those who were more sleep deprived were rated as significantly more abusive and toxic in interpersonal interactions [16].

8) Finally, sleep deprivation affects our hormones and metabolism. It leads to decreased glucose tolerance, decreased insulin sensitivity, increased evening concentrations of cortisol, increased levels of ghrelin, and decreased levels of leptin [17]. While cortisol is a biomarker of stress, ghrelin and leptin regulate our appetite. Ghrelin increases our appetive, while leptin decreases it. In other words, sleep deprivation leads to increased hunger and appetite on both the ghrelin and leptin fronts. Add to that again a lack of inhibition, and it becomes clear that our eating choices will be affected by a lack of sleep. Indeed, there is growing evidence both from epidemiological and laboratory studies showing an association between sleep loss and increased risk of obesity [18].

How can you get enough sleep in your busy life?

Most of all, make sleep a priority. This will most likely require some sacrifices, because it means giving up some of your waking hours. But if you’re taking into account how much better those waking hours will be if you’re fully rested, the trade-off will be well worth it.

For practical tips as to how to get into a better sleep routine, google “sleep hygiene” and follow all the advice you’ll find. As an example of that, a recent study at a boarding school found that a regular routine and no mobile devices at night helped teenagers get more sleep [19].

If your have troubles falling asleep despite good sleep hygiene, here are some interesting tips. Or, google “visualization falling sleep” and you’ll find cornucopias of techniques. I’d encourage you to try one after the other, until you find one that works for you.

All this is easier said than done of course! If you’d like to get some help along the way–from deciding how to shift and re-balance your priorities, to developing strategies, and getting support as you’re putting your priorities into practice–I’d be excited to talk to you.

"Get in Touch" Button to Schedule a phone call or coaching session with Ursina Teuscher

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR

 

Picture Credit:
Phil Konstantin. Photo released into the public domain via hhttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UtahSignByPhilKonstantin.jpg

References:

[1] Powell, N. B., Schechtman, K. B., Riley, R. W., Li, K., Troell, R., & Guilleminault, C. (2001). The Road to Danger: The Comparative Risks of Driving While Sleepy. The Laryngoscope, 111(5), 887–893. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005537-200105000-00024
[2] Waldon, J., Vriend, J., Davidson, F., & Corkum, P. (2018). Sleep and Attention in Children With ADHD and Typically Developing Peers. Journal of Attention Disorders, 22(10), 933–941. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054715575064
[3] Alhola, P., & Polo-Kantola, P. (2007). Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 3(5), 553–567. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19300585/
[4] Berglund, J. (2019). The Danger of Sleep Deprivation. IEEE Pulse, 10(4), 21–24. https://doi.org/10.1109/MPULS.2019.2922564
[5] Lack of sleep may be linked to risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. (2018, April 13). National Institutes of Health (NIH). https://www.nih.gov/news-events/lack-sleep-may-be-linked-risk-factor-alzheimers-disease.
[6] Lack of sleep in middle age may increase dementia risk. (2021, April 27). National Institutes of Health (NIH). https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lack-sleep-middle-age-may-increase-dementia-risk.
[7] Harrison, Y., & Horne, J. A. (1999). One night of sleep loss impairs innovative thinking and flexible decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 78(2), 128–145. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1999.2827
[8] Harrison, Y., & Horne, J. A. (2000). Sleep loss and temporal memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A, Human Experimental Psychology, 53(1), 271–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/713755870
[9] Venkatraman, V., Chuah, Y. L., Huettel, S. A., & Chee, M. W. (2007). Sleep Deprivation Elevates Expectation of Gains and Attenuates Response to Losses Following Risky Decisions. Sleep, 30(5), 603–609. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/30.5.603
[10] Anderson, C., & Platten, C. R. (2011). Sleep deprivation lowers inhibition and enhances impulsivity to negative stimuli. Behavioural Brain Research, 217(2), 463–466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2010.09.020
[11] Demos, K. E., Hart, C. N., Sweet, L. H., Mailloux, K. A., Trautvetter, J., Williams, S. E., Wing, R. R., & McCaffery, J. M. (2016). Partial sleep deprivation impacts impulsive action but not impulsive decision-making. Physiology & Behavior, 164, 214–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.06.003
[12] Rosen, I. M., Gimotty, P. A., Shea, J. A., & Bellini, L. M. (2006). Evolution of Sleep Quantity, Sleep Deprivation, Mood Disturbances, Empathy, and Burnout among Interns. Academic Medicine, 81(1), 82–85. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200601000-00020
[13] Scott, J. P. R., McNaughton, L. R., & Polman, R. C. J. (2006). Effects of sleep deprivation and exercise on cognitive, motor performance and mood. Physiology & Behavior, 87(2), 396–408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2005.11.009
[14] Short, M. A., & Louca, M. (2015). Sleep deprivation leads to mood deficits in healthy adolescents. Sleep Medicine, 16(8), 987–993. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2015.03.007
[15] Pires, G. N., Bezerra, A. G., Tufik, S., & Andersen, M. L. (2016). Effects of acute sleep deprivation on state anxiety levels: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine, 24, 109–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2016.07.019
[16] Barnes, C. M., Lucianetti, L., Bhave, D. P., & Christian, M. S. (2015). “You wouldn’t like me when I’m sleepy”: Leader sleep, daily abusive supervision, and work unit engagement. Academy of Management Journal, 58(5), 1419–1437. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.1063
[17] Leproult, R., & Van Cauter, E. (2010). Role of Sleep and Sleep Loss in Hormonal Release and Metabolism. Endocrine Development, 17, 11–21. https://doi.org/10.1159/000262524
[18] Beccuti, G., & Pannain, S. (2011). Sleep and obesity. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 14(4), 402–412. https://doi.org/10.1097/MCO.0b013e3283479109
[19] Lushington, K., Reardon, A., & Agostini, A. (2022). O025 Boarding school students sleep better than day-student peers. The positive effects of bedtime routine and restricting technology use at night. Sleep Advances: A Journal of the Sleep Research Society, 3, A9–A11. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleepadvances/zpac029.024



Does Positive Thinking Help You Reach Your Goals?

Can “positive thinking” really help you change your life for the better and reach your goals? Many motivational speakers and writers seem to believe so, but empirical studies reveal a more complicated picture.

If you want to reach your goals, positive thinking seems to come with some pitfalls.

In particular, in her research spanning decades, Gabriele Oettingen and her colleagues have discovered a powerful link between positive thinking and poor performance [e.g., 1 – 5]. Oettingen’s book “Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation” [6], and her website detail many of these findings. For example, in one study [2] they asked college students who had a crush on someone to engage in future fantasies about them and a person of their romantic interest. Six months later, the students who had engaged in positive future fantasies were less likely to have started up a romantic relationship with the person. The authors found a similar effect with academic performance: the more students engaged in positive phantasies about their performance on an upcoming exam, the poorer their performance was at the time of exams.

As her book [6] and website detail, Oettingen and her colleagues have performed such studies with participants from different demographic groups, in different countries, and with a range of personal wishes, including wishes related to health, academic and professional success, and relationships [1 – 5]. Consistently, they found correlations between positive fantasies and subsequent poor performance. The more people “think positive” and imagine themselves achieving their desired future, the less they achieve. The reason for this may be that positive thoughts and fantasies can trick your brain into feeling like you have already succeeded, thereby sapping you of the motivation necessary to work hard enough to realize your dreams [1].

So if positive thinking isn’t the best strategy to help you reach your goals, then what is?

Instead of positive thinking, Oettingen suggests “mental contrasting”. This method combines dreams and reality. As Oettingen writes in her book [6], the method brings positive thinking up against a visualization of the challenges that stand in our way. The method is explained in more detail on the website woopmylife.org.

Similarly, in her book “The Positive Power of Negative Thinking” [7], Julie Norem suggests “defensive pessimism” as a cognitive strategy. By imagining worst case scenarios, we can improve problem-solving and make our worries work for us. This can help us manage anxiety and as well as perform better.  

Does mental contrasting – instead of simple positive thinking – really help you reach your goals?

On her website, Oettingen cites a number of studies that have tested the effect of this mental exercise. This page provides a list with links to each study.

More recently, an independent group of researchers conducted a meta-analysis, including a total of 21 empirical studies. They evaluated the efficacy of mental contrasting in combination with implementation intentions for goal attainment [8]. They did find some publications bias, with published studies showing on average a larger effect size than unpublished studies. This is a phenomenon that’s often revealed by meta-analyses, and it is one reason meta-analyses are so important to consider. The authors therefore caution that the actual effect sizes may be smaller than the published studies suggest. Nonetheless, their analysis showed that overall, mental contrasting is an effective strategy for goal attainment.

Do you want to try some mental contrasting on your own goals?

If you’re ready to try this method, check out the many resources (videos, worksheets, and even a free app for Android or iOS) on Gabriele Oettingen’s website. If you think you could benefit from continuing support as you move towards your goals, let’s discuss how I might help.

Contact Ursina Teuscher for help with reaching goals

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR

Picture Credit:

[1] Photo released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0, Public Domain via https://pxhere.com/en/photo/539762

References:

[1] Kappes, H. B., & Oettingen, G. (2011). Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(4), 719–729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.02.003
[2] Oettingen, G., & Mayer, D. (2002). The motivating function of thinking about the future: Expectations versus fantasies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1198–1212.
[3] Oettingen, G., & Wadden, T. A. (1991). Expectation, fantasy, and weight loss: Is the impact of positive thinking always positive? Cognitive Therapy and Research, 15(2), 167–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173206
[4] Thinking positive is a surprisingly risky manoeuvre | Aeon Essays. (n.d.). Aeon. Retrieved September 16, 2022, from https://aeon.co/essays/thinking-positive-is-a-surprisingly-risky-manoeuvre
[5] Oettingen, G. (2012). Future thought and behaviour change. European Review of Social Psychology, 23(1), 1–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2011.643698
[6] Oettingen, G. (2014). Rethinking positive thinking: inside the new science of motivation. New York: Penguin Random House.
[7] Norem, J. K. (2001).
The positive power of negative thinking. New York: Basic Books.
[8] Wang, G., Wang, Y., & Gai, X. (2021). A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 565202. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.565202



How to Monitor Goal Progress

Best Ways to Monitor Goal ProgressIf you want to achieve goals, one of the most effective things you can do is to measure and track your progress.

There are many ways to monitor goal progress, and it turns out they are all helpful. However, some techniques are more effective than others, as was shown by a large meta-analysis, which included findings of 138 experiments. Three things in particular will make it more likely that you achieve your goals:

1. Measure frequently. The more often you monitor your progress, the greater your chance of success.

2. Share your information. You don’t have to make your information public; even reporting it in private to one other person helps. If you’re really not into sharing though, don’t despair – you’re in good company. This last point is still for you and becomes all the more important:

3. Record your information physically, such as in a written diary or spreadsheet. As an example, here’s a spreadsheet template for tracking your caloric deficit or surplus over time, and here are some insights from a guy who lost weight with a spreadsheet. Or, one of my clients was able to overcome her writing paralysis when she started to simply log how many words she wrote every day. For her, it was particularly helpful to have a spreadsheet (shown below) with some conditional formatting, where the cells changed font or background color when she reached certain thresholds – in her case: two hours of (focused) writing time, or 1200 words written per day. That gave her logging the character of a game and made the process more rewarding.

How to monitor goal progress - example of a writer's word count spreadsheet

All that said, does it even matter whether we are successful in the pursuit of our goals? Will it make us happy? That was the topic of another meta-analysis, which included 85 studies. They found, perhaps not so surprisingly, that successful goal pursuit was linked to greater well-being. However, what’s interesting is that this relationship was stronger when success was defined as progress towards the goal, rather than as reaching a goal. Does that mean that the path is indeed the goal, as wise people have suggested before? No. The goal is still the goal, but moving towards it seems to be more tightly related to our well-being than reaching it.

Would you like to get help with your own goals? Schedule your first online coaching session or a brief phone call to discuss options.

Set up an appointment with Ursina Teuscher

I’ll be excited to talk to you!

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR


References:
Klug, H. J. P., & Maier, G. W. (2015). Linking Goal Progress and Subjective Well-Being: A Meta-analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(1), 37–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9493-0
Harkin, B., Webb, T. L., Chang, B. P. I., Prestwich, A., Conner, M., Kellar, I., … Sheeran, P. (2016). Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), 198–229. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000025



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