"There is a gap between what people want and what they have in their lives; you know what they want their lives to be and what they are." Listen as your host, Eric Tivers, and his guest Brandon Tessers discuss the different ways he discusses executive function with children and adults, plus much more on this episode of ADHD reWired. Brandon is a licensed clinical professional counselor, a professional actor, and a playwright. He's an amateur singer, songwriter, a former school teacher, tutor, a spectacular dungeon master, and an enthusiastic if sometimes not prepared husband and father. Brandon has been helping children and adults with their executive functioning for over a decade and has always been focused on working with people who exist outside the norm in one way or another. Listen to Brandon as he shares what his definition of executive function is and how they talk differently about it in his practice. Brandon believes that a lot of the work he does is observation and teaching the awareness piece. He also talks about how he uses his model to help people identify the approach to figure out helpful strategies. Brandon discusses knowing the language and how you aren't able to use it if you don't know it. He talks about communication issues in relationships and how the brain prioritizes negative information first. Brandon speaks about the idea of overvaluing or undervaluing things and what happens when we miss the value or cost of doing something. Brandon shares his definition of perfectionism, which is not being clear on when you are done doing something. He says the most important takeaway from this show today is the awareness piece and how you make the best decision you can at the moment. You'll learn: [03:02] Welcome to the show, Brandon! [04:09] Brandon shares what they do in his practice. [06:59] The gap between having an idea of what you want to do or intend to do and then actually doing it is an executive function. [08:09] Brandon says that they talk about executive function differently than most people. [10:40] Brandon speaks about how a lot of the work he does is observation. [12:39] We can't deliberately decide what to be aware of. [15:42] Attention to Brandon is kind of like a bandwidth, which works into awareness. [18:06] Brandon says the analysis is great when it helps. [24:17] Eric talks about using the live transcript when he has zoom meetings. [26:06] How do you use your model to help people identify the approach to figuring out helpful strategies? [30:09] Brandon discusses having precise language to process and retrieve information. You have to know the language to be able to use it. [32:47] Brandon speaks about the words he's made up. [34:53] Listen as Brandon talks about communication issues in relationships and what we are dealing with, and what he does to communicate with clients. [36:44] Eric speaks about a book he's listening to on non-violent communication. [39:30] Brandon believes that the brain prioritizes negative information. [41:27] Brandon discusses the idea of overvaluing or undervaluing things based on the decisions we make. [48:03] What happens when we miss the value or cost of doing something? [50:12] Brandon defines perfectionism as not being clear on when you are done. [51:52] Eric says he doesn't want to teach people to be better at planning. He wants to help people plan better things. [54:58] Brandon says you have to be able to notice smaller distinctions to build on something. [55:24] Brandon wants the listeners to take away is to understand the awareness piece. [57:20] At the moment, you make the best decision you can make, and later, you make another one. [57:58] Thank you so much for being on the show! [58:44] If you are a regular listener, consider becoming a patron by clicking on our Patreon tab at www.ADHDreWired.com Find Brandon: Effective Artistry