The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success: How to Use Your Brain's Executive Skills to Keep Up, Stay Calm, and Get Organized at Work and at Home - Softcover

Dawson, Peg; Guare, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1462516963 ISBN 13: 9781462516964

Publisher: Guilford Press, 2016

Synopsis

Are you smart, scattered, and struggling? You're not alone. Cutting-edge research shows that today's 24/7 wired world and the growing demands of work and family life may simply max out the part of the brain that manages complex tasks. That's especially true for those lacking strong executive skills--the core brain-based abilities needed to maintain focus, meet deadlines, and stay cool under pressure. In this essential guide, leading experts Peg Dawson and Richard Guare help you map your own executive skills profile and take effective steps to boost your organizational skills, time management, emotional control, and nine other essential capacities. The book is packed with science-based strategies and concrete examples, plus downloadable practical tools for creating your own personalized action plan. Whether on the job or at home, you can get more done with less stress.

See also the authors' Smart but Scattered parenting guides, plus an academic planner for students and related titles for professionals.

About this title

About the Author

Peg Dawson, EdD, is a psychologist who provides professional development training on executive skills for schools and organizations nationally and internationally. She was previously on the staff of the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders at Seacoast Mental Health Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Dr. Dawson is a past president of the New Hampshire Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), and the International School Psychology Association, and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from NASP. She is coauthor of bestselling books for general readers, including Smart but Scattered, Smart but Scattered Teens, Smart but Scattered--and Stalled (with a focus on emerging adults), and The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success (with a focus on adults). Dr. Dawson is also coauthor of The Work-Smart Academic Planner, Revised Edition, and books for professionals including Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, Third Edition.

Richard Guare, PhD, BCBA-D, is a neuropsychologist and board-certified behavior analyst who frequently consults to schools and agencies on attention and executive skills difficulties. He is former Director of the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders at Seacoast Mental Health Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Dr. Guare is coauthor of bestselling books for general readers, including Smart but Scattered, Smart but Scattered Teens, Smart but Scattered--and Stalled (with a focus on emerging adults), and The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success (with a focus on adults). He is also coauthor of The Work-Smart Academic Planner, Revised Edition, and books for professionals including Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, Third Edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success

How to Use Your Brain's Executive Skills to Keep Up, Stay Calm, and Get Organized at Work and at Home

By Peg Dawson, Richard Guare

The Guilford Press

Copyright © 2016 The Guilford Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4625-1696-4

Contents

Cover, 
Praise for The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success, 
Also Available, 
Title Page, 
Copyright Page, 
Authors' Note, 
PART I Understanding the Executive in Your Brain, 
1 Are You Smart, Scattered, and Stressed?, 
2 Your Executive Skills Profile, 
3 Managing Executive Skills by Modifying the Environment, 
4 Improving Your Executive Skills, 
PART II Understanding the Impact of Executive Skills in Your Daily Life, 
5 Executive Skills in the Workplace, 
6 Executive Skills in the Home, 
7 Executive Skills and Relationships, 
PART III Strategies for Individual Executive Skills, 
8 Controlling Impulses: Response Inhibition, 
9 Keeping Track of It All: Working Memory, 
10 Being Cool: Emotional Control, 
11 Avoiding Procrastination: Task Initiation, 
12 Staying Focused: Sustained Attention, 
13 Defining a Path: Planning/Prioritizing, 
14 Clearing Clutter: Organization, 
15 Sticking to the Schedule: Time Management, 
16 Shifting Gears: Flexibility, 
17 Learning from Experience: Metacognition, 
18 Reaching the Finish Line: Goal-Directed Persistence, 
19 Rolling with the Punches: Stress Tolerance, 
PART IV Looking Ahead, 
20 Aging without Losing Your Edge: A Prescription for Preserving Executive Skills, 
Resources, 
References, 
Index, 
About the Authors, 
About Guilford Press, 
Discover Related Guilford Books, 

CHAPTER 1

Are You Smart, Scattered, and Stressed?

Ginger was behind the eight ball once again. She hadn't built in enough time to put the finishing touches on the presentation she was due to deliver tomorrow to an important potential marketing client, and now it was 4:45, and she had to pick up her son from soccer practice in 15 minutes. She was supposed to run the PowerPoint by her supervisor before she left work, and she probably still had 45 minutes of work to do on it. She dropped by her supervisor's office to deliver the bad news. "Kerry, I know you wanted to see what I came up with before I left, but Kevin's soccer practice ends at 5, and I can't leave him hanging. Can I get you something by 9 tonight?" Kerry didn't even try to hide her displeasure. "Ginger, this happens all the time. You need to figure out how to manage your time better — it not only is affecting your work, but it affects mine as well. I'm a morning person. By 9 o'clock, I'm getting ready for bed!"

Ginger apologized as best she could, gathered her things in a hurry, and dashed out of the office, already calling Kevin on her cell phone to tell him she would be a few minutes late. As she made the drive across town to her son's school, she frantically tried to think what else she had to do that evening. What were they doing for dinner? Then she remembered that she hadn't taken the casserole out of the freezer to thaw and wondered if her family would tolerate another night of fast food instead.

She pulled into the school, and there was Kevin looking forlorn, the last one waiting for a ride home. He threw his backpack in the back seat and climbed in front. "How come I'm always the last one to get picked up?" he stewed.

Ginger apologized to him and then tried to change the subject. "How much homework do you have?" she asked. Kev

Edition details

• Publisher: Guilford Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1462516963
• ISBN 13: 9781462516964
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 294