Students, just make a plan already. Even if you hate planning! This will help your life.

Hey, what’s up students — middle school, high school, college students.

Right now, we’re living in a time where schedules are completely destroyed. If you struggle with executive function skills — in other words, if you’re the kind of student who doesn’t like planners, doesn’t like planning, has a lot of late, missing, or incomplete assignments, avoids test corrections, doesn’t feel comfortable talking to teachers or advocating for yourself, procrastinates, makes excuses, or struggles with motivation — then listen, listen, listen.

Please: make a daily plan.

Even if you think you have nothing to do that day.

Here’s the deal: if that’s your brain — and honestly, that’s my brain too, and the brain of many people I work with — you’re not alone. There have always been people who struggle with executive functioning skills, and there is absolutely zero shame in that.

Some people just struggle with those things, and that’s okay.

But you still have to build a life for yourself. Nobody else is going to do it for you.

I had to learn this too.

If you can figure out how to execute — how to get things done, how to plan, organize, and manage your responsibilities, how to reduce late and missing assignments — your life will open up. You’ll have more choices, more opportunities, and more possibilities. You’ll be able to build whatever kind of life you want.

And one of the best ways to start figuring this out is by making a daily plan.

Every single day.

Even if the plan isn’t perfect.
Even if you barely have anything to do.
Even if you don’t fully believe in it yet.

The habit itself matters.

Just waking up each morning and asking yourself:
“What do I need to do today?”
“What’s on my list today?”

That simple act of thinking through your day and writing things down will help you for years and years to come.

A lot of people resist this. They say:
“I don’t need to write it down.”
“I’ve got it in my head.”
“I’ll remember.”

Or they say:
“It’s all in the online portal.”

But here’s the thing: if your brain works like mine — and like many students I work with who struggle with executive functioning — then your brain is not naturally good at remembering what to check, where to check, or when to check it.

We often aren’t realistic with ourselves, and then we accidentally dig ourselves into huge holes. We get behind, overwhelmed, stressed out, and stuck.

I know some of you are dealing with resistance right now.
Your brain is telling you:
“I don’t need this.”
“I’m different.”
“I’ll remember.”

But you’ve also probably had many experiences where you intended to do something and forgot, or kept putting it off until it became a problem.

So I’m telling you:
Make a daily plan.

And I’m going to show you how simple it can be.

Take a note card.
Take a bigger note card.
Use a small pad of paper.
Use a journal.
Use your computer.
Use your phone.
Use a whiteboard.

It honestly doesn’t matter.

Find a method that works for you and create a simple daily plan.

At the very top of that plan, ask yourself one question:

“What is my number one priority today?”

If you got absolutely nothing else done today, what is the most important thing you need to finish?

Then start writing down your to-do list.

Ideally, keep the list short — about three to five things. Why? Because when people overload their list, they usually get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing.

So:

* Choose a number one priority.
* Write down three to five important tasks.
* Then move forward from there.

Now, here are the questions you should ask yourself every day:

First:
“What do I need to do for my classes?”
Math, science, reading, writing, social studies — all of it.

Second:
“Do I have any missing work?”
A lot of students think, “I don’t have math today,” while forgetting they still have missing math work from last week.

Third:
“Do I have any long-term projects I should be working on?”
Maybe there’s no science homework tonight, but you have a science lab due next week that you could start now.

Students like me — and many of the students I work with — tend to wait until the last minute, and that creates stress and problems.

Finally, ask yourself:
“What other executive functioning tasks do I need to do today?”

Things like:

* Cleaning your room
* Making your bed
* Doing laundry
* Organizing papers or books
* Checking your inbox
* Looking through your online portal

Those things matter too.

And beyond school, you can ask yourself:

* What am I doing for my health today?
* How am I taking care of my nutrition?
* Am I exercising?
* What time am I going to sleep tonight?
* What habits will help me rest better?

Honestly, sleep, nutrition, and exercise are foundational. They support everything else.

Anyway, I wanted to make this video because I understand these struggles personally. I struggle with executive functioning too, especially working memory.

My name is Seth Perler. I’m an executive function coach in Colorado, and I help struggling students navigate school and education so they can build awesome lives.

Right now, planting the seed of making a daily plan is incredibly important.

When people lose structure and schedules, things become chaotic. Motivation drops. People avoid starting tasks. Students begin falling behind. They spend all day gaming, scrolling social media, or doing things that are fun in the moment instead of things that help build their future.

One of the biggest challenges we face is that we’re naturally drawn toward what feels good right now. And that’s fine — unless it starts costing us our future.

We need to plant seeds for the life we want later.

So again, I hope you take some time to figure out a simple planning system that works for you.

Every day:

* Make a plan.
* Choose your number one priority.
* Do the best you can.

And listen carefully:
You are not going to complete everything every day.

That’s okay.

The important thing is not perfection.
The important thing is building the habit of consistently thinking through and planning your day.

That habit can empower you in literally any career and any future you choose.

I just want to encourage you:
You’ve got this.

The world needs you.
You need you.
Your family, friends, and community need you too.

I hope this helps.
Take care.