How often do you do the prep work for your tasks?  Do you know what I mean by prep work?  Most people I know really dislike the prep work and just want to get down to doing the task.  They even feel that the prep work is a waste of their time because it isn’t getting the job done.  And, they are short on time as it is, so this is just a non-essential thing to do.  But is it really?  Everything in life needs prep work and maintenance.  If you are the cook in your family or home, you need to prep the meal before you can make it and then eat it.  If you are going to work on an art project, you need to prep and make sure you have all the supplies you need for your project before you embark or you’ll be running out to the store or aborting the project when you find out that you don’t have what you need.  What about leading a meeting at work?  Do you just show up and talk, or do you need to prep for the meeting so you stay on topic for the purpose of the meeting and are clear on what you will present?  Like I said, prep work and maintenance is just part of life. Prep work can include many Executive Function skills or Executive Function pre-skills.  And, if you don’t have solid pre-skills, then building your Executive Function skills on a flimsy foundation isn’t going to get you sustainable results.  The 3 Executive Function pre-skills that I feel are essential are your relationship with time and how you manage yourself and time itself, procrastination and how you eliminate it from your life, and decision-making since you are making decisions every day, and sometimes all day long.  Do you trust yourself with time and the decisions you make?  Have you eliminated procrastination from your life? In this episode, I talk about:  Executive Function pre-skills development