Developing Executive Function Skills is Your New Goal

What are executive function skills?

Executive function skills are a set of mental techniques to manage your tasks and adjust the ones you’re thinking to achieve. This process starts in the early life stage of becoming an adult. Given that, you can start developing your skills with detailed modeling and teaching.

Can games be more than fun?

According to the Center on the Developing Child, people can develop their executive function (EF) skills by using board games, song games, physical games and many more. They proved to give healthy life challenges and practice. For example, strategic games help to make plans and adjust them based on different contingencies. You involve your cognitive flexibility, working memory and control to pass the game levels.

How to develop Executive Function skills?

As mentioned earlier, there are more games that can build each of the techniques/tools of EF skills. For instance, you should play games that allow you to focus purely on important information and ignore distracting factors. It will build your control skills.

For cognitive flexibility, one of the best examples would be Uno cards. The more you explain why you switch between card features the more you build your explanatory skills. You become a flexible thinker and more considerate about why you choose one thing over the other.

The third tool is the working memory that holds information while you work on other tasks. This is the best time to share strategies for remembering things.

When is the best time to develop your EF skills?

There is no such thing as the best time. Even with a busy schedule, it might be easier than you think. Whether you are stuck at home on a rainy day or having lunch, it’s good exercise for your brain. You will train your brain to make quick transitions between academics and gaming breaks.

Conclusion

Executive function skills help to support a better learning experience, solve problems and get away from distractions. In addition, they contribute to personal achievement because they help you to pay attention and get through daily challenges. Why not starting from today?

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