This is how tasks get organized into a routine. It comes directly from the pages of my book “Executive Function: Blueprints for Learner Success.” I remember myself in high school, not knowing how to schedule my work or structure my time. It became an unmanageable source of anxiety, which, ironically, pushed me further away from doing my work.
High anxiety does NOT motivate. It’s painful stress. Humans respond to stress with fighting, fleeing, freezing, or distracting. If the student falls behind in classes, the stress becomes overwhelming. Enter procrastination, high emotion, evasion, sleepiness, arguments, and every other form of task avoidance the student can devise.
I start each session of academic support by updating my log of the student’s grades to two decimal places, making the student aware of their grades at the current moment. Next, we check for big items coming up, like tests, projects, or essays. I guide the student to schedule/review due dates and their projected timelines for multi-step tasks. The learner practices allocating time in relation to deadlines. Finally, I teach my clients to break the work to be done into smaller pieces, then schedule them into the time available.
I use a clear task/time management process. Everything is scheduled in a planner. This creates consistency and develops time awareness and a path for taking control of their work that builds confidence. Running a Macro Sync pins the unorganized work floating in a student’s mind in a planner. The stress of trying to juggle medium-term memory is gone, and the learner has a clear map to follow.
It’s critical to run the Macro Sync BEFORE beginning each work session. Not only does it clarify what to tackle in what order, it puts the learner in the driver’s seat and reinforces their control of the process. I won’t pretend it’s an easy habit to build. Most people resist attempts to change existing behavior patterns. This is where parents have much more influence than I ever would. By encouraging kids to use the Executive Function Macro Sync in their daily lives, parents can make the benefits clear over time. Attach rewards to doing it, create environments that support remembering to do it, or even give gifts that go with these new behaviors. Brand new planners, journals, large large-format desk calendars are all potentially inspiring tools. Even more impactful might be sharing the productivity tools parents themselves use at work and home.
The only way to achieve independence and empowerment to fulfill their own ambitions is to practice the building blocks. The Macro Sync is a lynch pin habit. With the macro sync done first, students gain experience prioritizing and organizing not just the work itself, but the way they THINK about getting work done. That’s a life skill.
