Executive functioning skills are the cognitive, behavioral and emotional processes that allow us accomplish tasks and meet our goals. There are many different executive functioning skills, including:

Planning: The ability to figure out how to accomplish your goals. It includes analyzing what you need and the steps you will take to accomplish a task.

Organization: The ability to develop and maintain a system to keep track of plans and materials.

Task initiation: The ability to start tasks when you need to (without procrastinating).

Time management: Having an accurate understanding of how long tasks will take and using your time wisely to complete tasks efficiently.

Self-control: The ability to regulate your thoughts, actions, and feelings. This enables you to stop and think before making a decision.

Attention: Being able to focus on something or someone for a given period of time.

Working memory: The ability to remember information while working with it. This is important for following directions and completing academic problems.

Metacognition: Being aware of what you know and what you don’t know, which helps you understand what you need to learn to move forward.

Flexibility: The ability to adapt to new situations, deal with changes and shift thinking when you need to try a new approach.

Perseverance: Continuing to work through challenges in order to accomplish a goal.