Executive Function Planning, the Friendly Way

Source: Photo by THE 5TH Pexels

The coach is gathering bouncy 9- and 10-year-olds, including my wonderful niece, for basketball practice. The girls have a routine of warming up with sprints, stretches, and giggles, which are unofficial but part of the process. At the end of practice, they cool down, slowing their heart rates, gathering their things, and heading toward their waiting families. It hit me while watching the practice: the routine of practicing a sport is a great analogy for effective planning.

I look at my planner (yes, I keep a paper and digital version), and see my appointments:
Tuesday 10:30 physical therapy
Friday 7:30 family video call

With a casual glance, my calendar looks organized, and I practice what I preach: if it matters, write it down, and if it needs to happen, schedule it. Yet, not all of the data that I need is here, and many times that leads to feeling rushed, sometimes late, and often over-booked.

Borrowing from the sports practice routine, we can hack our planning by adding time to “warm-up” and “cool-down.” These small amounts of time help account for the entire process of completing a scheduled event and give a better sense of the time we need.

Getting to an appointment or social outing is a good example. My planner says, 10:30 for physical therapy, which is accurate; I need to arrive at 10:30–that’s when my event (my “practice”) starts. But that’s not the whole story. I need to start winding down what I’m doing at 10 am. By 10:05, I need to hit the bathroom, grab a sweatshirt, and put on my shoes. Around 10:12, I need to grab my keys and sunglasses and head out the door, leaving my driveway by 10:15. My multi-step “warm up” takes about half an hour–something that’s not accounted for in my planner.

After my appointment, which usually takes about 75 to 90 minutes, meaning I leave around 12, I have to walk to the car, drive home, and probably spend a bit of time preparing for and re-engaging in work. Sometimes, I have pain after my appointment, which is an unknown but important consideration. Scheduling work right after I get home, or worse, too soon because I don’t account for “cool-down” time, can mean disaster. What was on my calendar as “10:30” actually represents several hours.

Source: Photo by Leon Ardho Pexels

Treating our activities as if they have warm-ups and cool-downs helps us plan accurately. Instead of: “7:15 video call,” I might write: “7-get laptop set up” and possibly an end time to aim for. Having an estimate on the time we need to get ready and transition back into life after an event also helps us backward plan, so we can manage the process; if I know the warm-up time takes two hours, I can accurately plan when to start getting ready backward from the activity. It also helps us stay on schedule. When you know you need to be putting on shoes at a specific time, for example, you’re more likely to stay on track when you’re rushed or tired–the clock becomes your guide.

A bonus of using warm-up and cool-down thinking is it can illuminate the steps you tend to forget. Many of us are fairly decent at the “warm up,” knowing what we need to collect or do to be ready to go. However, we often neglect the cool-down: putting things away, restocking things we used, or allowing time to transition between activities. When we start to think in these “sporty” terms, we can routinize and appreciate the actions we take to wrap up activities and even make it easy for Future Us tomorrow.

Test out adding some estimates for warm-up and cool-down time into your plans. You may be surprised at how much you already do and how good it feels to have a realistic and brain-friendly plan!