A New Approach to Executive Functioning Support

By: Jack Vaughan

What do we think about when we think about Executive Functioning?

Here’s what the Merriam Webster Dictionary suggests: Executive functioning is the group of complex mental processes and cognitive abilities that control the skills required for goal-directed behavior.

What we have here is a rather reductive view of executive functioning that simplifies the incredibly complex world of goal-directed behavior down to something as rote and mechanical as top-down processing.

A further complicating factor is that most of our behavioral health interventions are rooted in this anachronistic misconception and tend to rely on:

·      Providing information (“Just schedule your time.”)

·      Offering tools (Here’s a monthly planner, watch, etc.)

·      Hoping the person applies them consistently (*fingers crossed*)

For individuals who struggle with executive functioning, the challenge isn’t a lack of information. It isn’t a lack of tools. It is the inability to integrate that information and activate those tools in the messy, real-time context of real-world life.

Sure, you can give someone a planner, a checklist app, or a course on time management, but if they can’t bridge the gap between tool and action, all tools remain unused and unusable.

The bottom line is this: the skills required to effectively use productivity tools are the exact skills that this population struggles with in the first place.

Based on the rich contemporary research of Dr. Russell Barkley, Edward M. Hallowell, and William Damon, I would like to suggest a revision to the aforementioned definition: Executive functioning is the group of complex mental and emotional processes that regulate the skills required for goal-directed behavior.

Dr. Russell Barkley is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on executive functioning and ADHD, having published over 180 research papers and 25 books on the subject. According to Dr. Barkley, executive dysfunction is ultimately a “self-regulation deficit disorder” and the most effective behavioral health interventions rely on providing the right support at the “point of performance.”

For a person struggling with executive functioning, “The point of performance is the place and time in [their] natural settings where [they] should use what [they] know, but are not” (Barkley, 2018).

In other words, the point of performance is where the rubber meets the road – it’s when and where a person gets their tasks done or doesn’t; it’s when and where they create a schedule for the week or don’t; it’s when and where they prioritize their tasks or fail to do so.  

Dr. Barkley’s work also demonstrates that executive dysfunction is a deficit in future-directed motivation. However, motivation is a double-edged sword, and precisely why William Damon’s research has shown that the proper cultivation of purpose and meaning can act as an inside-out scaffold for executive control and why individuals with weak EF skills can perform extraordinarily well when their work is purpose-driven.

If the point of performance is where the rubber meets the road, EF skills are the car, and purpose-driven alignment is the fuel.

Ultimately, people with EF challenges don’t need another informational tidbit or productivity planner. They need the right support at the point of performance and a healthy sense of purpose. They need this in the ever-fluid context of real-life so that they can effectively integrate and activate the right tools at the right time and begin to cultivate goal-directed behaviors that will endure – or better yet, become habits. 

The Launchgo Solution

At Launchgo, we understand the way people with EF challenges actually grow and we’ve designed every aspect of our tech-enabled coaching service to support them. 

That’s why we give users access to a platform that helps them organize all of their tasks, commitments, and deadlines in one convenient place, and then match them with a professional accountability coach who can help keep them on track.

With features like schedule curation, micro-check-ins, personalized reminders, task management, progress tracking, and location verification – we make it easy for users to super-charge their daily accountability and maximize their long-term productivity.

This is not about adding another app or integrating a scheduling bot. This is about providing a meaningful space where our clients can work with a coach to learn how to manage their time, prioritize their tasks, follow-through on tasks, and better organize their lives. 

Aside from our user-friendly platform, we’ve also developed a proprietary curriculum that consists of a comprehensive, 30-page document that outlines 35 distinct tools and strategies for fostering EF skill growth.

Furthermore, our evidence based approach is rooted in real behavioral science that leverages executive functioning skills and the core tenets of positive psychology to activate new behaviors and maximize progress. 

What exactly is our evidence based approach? Our patented methodology – the ABLE method (or Auxiliary Backbone Learning Experience) – is rooted in a behavioral science framework designed by world renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Rami Kaminski.

As he writes, “The ABLE approach provides a solution for individuals who struggle with motivation and executive functioning. ABLE provides an experiential system that enables action even in the absence of intrinsic drive. This can be likened to an auxiliary backbone: just as a broken back requires the proper support for healing, ABLE offers the necessary framework to help individuals function and grow in real-time.”

Our approach is not to complete tasks for the user, but rather to remind and prompt them to adhere to their necessary routines and help them develop their own motivation. This cannot be achieved by doing things for them or forcing them into unwanted actions. Therefore, our system does not replace the client, punish, or pressure them. Instead, it provides real-time support, in real-world environments, with genuine feedback, and constant accountability so that our users stand the best chance to effectively integrate the right information and activate the right tools at the right time. 

The Launchgo Mission

• We believe that accountability is greater than advice because passive information is never sufficient – people change through structured, real-time support. 

• We believe that consistency is greater than perfection because EF skills are strengthened by repeated, guided action, in the moment.

• We believe that partnership is greater than isolation because learning requires real human connection.  

Today, too many students and professionals are stuck, not because they lack potential, but because they lack the applied structure to unlock it.

We are here to change that.

Launchgo is not just a platform, and it is not just coaching. It’s the first real tech-enabled solution for actively growing executive functioning skills — powered by human connection, designed by experts, and supported by technology.