For years, I’ve fought against how I naturally work.

I thought I just needed more discipline. Better habits. Stronger willpower.

Despite my best intentions, I’d end many days:

• Disappointed I didn’t do what I said I would
• Frustrated I couldn’t get started on certain tasks
• Annoyed that some parts of work felt impossible

I judged myself for it. I assumed I just wasn’t good enough.

But over the past few months, something has shifted.

I never considered that I might have ADHD.

No teacher, family member, or friend had ever mentioned it to me. Not once in 28 years.

But through the internet - and people being open about their own experiences - I started to see patterns in myself.

In December, I had a conversation that brought me to tears. For the first time, I felt seen.

All these things I’d labelled as flaws… might just be how my brain works.

Here are some behaviours I’ve shown consistently:

• Getting lost in time: I’m usually late and don’t grasp how long things take. Once I start something, I struggle to stop.
• Hyperfocusing: I can get so locked into something that I forget to eat, drink, or go for a walk. This especially happens in coffee shops.
• Needing stimulation: It feels like I need a minimum level of stimulus to start my engine. Co-working or “body doubling” helps massively.
• Location swapping: I often need to move between 3–4 locations in a workday. I used to see this as a failure to “just sit down and work.”
• Feeling overwhelmed: My mind constantly races with ideas. That can paralyse me - but if something excites me, I can make weeks of progress in a day.

I don’t have a formal diagnosis yet.

But even just accepting this might be true has been incredibly liberating.

For the first time, the world feels a little lighter.

Instead of fighting how I naturally work, I started designing my days around it.

Here are five changes that have made an outsized difference.

1) Structure first, creativity second

I used to crave long, open days.

Even one meeting on the calendar felt like a huge inconvenience.

Now I realise creativity needs confinement. Without a clear intention for your day, distraction fills the space.

2) Pay to reduce friction

If you don’t respect your time, nobody else will.

I’m increasingly willing to spend money to win back time - whether that’s outsourcing, upgrading tools, or just creating more space to rest.

A scarcity mindset can be out-trained with reps.

3) Use body doubling

I first learned about body doubling from Cliff Weitzman, the CEO of Speechify.

Whenever I needed something from Cliff, we’d jump on a Zoom call. He called it “babysitting” him.

We’d sit on the call in silence and work until the task was done.

There’s something magical about working alongside someone that snaps you into focus.

4) Enjoy your favourite work environments

I used to judge myself for working better at coffee shops.

“Why can’t I just work at my desk? Am I not disciplined anymore?”

But I spent two years facing a white wall with just my laptop. I’ve done my time.

Now, I design my environment to make work more enjoyable - and more effective.

5) Understand the nervous system

For large parts of 2025, I felt like I was in a constant state of fight-or-flight.

I’ve consumed self-help content for over a decade, yet somehow knew almost nothing about the nervous system.

Spending just a few hours learning how the body actually works has been a game-changer.

Constantly pushing is dirty fuel. It works - but it isn’t sustainable.

For years, I thought I was broken.

Now I’m starting to see that I just needed a different operating system.

Thank you for your patience as I took some time off to understand myself better.

I'd love to hear how your year has started so far, reply to this email and let's chat.

Take care,