Stop Brewing Coffee in the Toaster - Jim Livingstone - ADHD Optimist

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Stop Brewing Coffee in the Toaster

You've tried everything. The morning routines. The productivity apps. The business courses. The detailed plans. The motivational videos.

Some of them even worked... for a few weeks. Then they stopped. And you blamed yourself.

But here's what nobody told you: You weren't following bad advice. You were following the RIGHT advice for the WRONG brain.

I built custom homes on challenging sites for 35 years. Steep blocks. Retaining walls. Access nightmares. Sites that other developers walked away from.

Know what separated successful projects from expensive disasters?

It was whether the developer updated their approach based on what the SPECIFIC site was telling them.

I'd watch developers fail on steep blocks because they'd use the same techniques that worked perfectly on flat land. Same effort. Same quality materials. Same commitment. Wrong context.

The techniques weren't bad. They just weren't right for THAT terrain.

Your career or business attempts are the same. You're following neurotypical instructions with your ADHD brain. Of course, it keeps failing. The instructions weren't written for your ADHD terrain.

Why You Keep Choosing the Wrong Approach

Look at what's happening when you try to start something:

You decide to launch your business. You research. You plan. You create the perfect schedule. You set your alarm for 5 am to work on it before your day job. You buy the course. You make the spreadsheet.

Week one works. Week two gets shaky. Week three, you've missed four days. By week four, you've abandoned it completely and you're telling yourself the same story: "I just don't have the discipline."

But here's what happened: You followed neurotypical startup instructions.

Neurotypical brains can force consistency through willpower. They can maintain boring routines because "it's important." They can delay gratification for months while building something.

Your ADHD brain literally cannot do this. Not because you're weak. Because it's following different operating instructions.

When you try to force 5 am routines, detailed business plans, and consistent daily schedules, you're asking your ADHD brain to run software it wasn't built for. It's like trying to brew coffee in a toaster. The machine isn't broken - you're just asking it to do something it wasn't designed for.

Three Examples of Wrong Instructions (And What Works Instead)

Example 1: "I need a detailed business plan before I start"

Wrong instructions say: Research everything. Plan thoroughly. Have all answers before taking action.

Why this fails your ADHD brain: Planning feels productive, but gives you NO dopamine feedback. Your brain needs proof it's working. Detailed plans offer no proof until months later. Your brain abandons ship.

Right instructions: Start with the smallest sellable thing. Sell it once. Get paid. THEN expand. Your brain needs evidence that this works. One sale gives you more momentum than six months of planning.

Example 2: "I need to post consistently on social media every day"

Wrong instructions say: Build an audience through daily consistency. Show up at the same time, same place, same format.

Why this fails your ADHD brain: Daily sameness kills novelty. Your brain needs variety to stay engaged. By day twelve of the same posting schedule, your brain is screaming for something new. You ghost your audience and feel like a failure.

Right instructions: Create in batches when you're hyper-focused. Bank ten posts in one sitting. Schedule them out. Let the system handle consistency while your brain stays engaged with variety. Next hyperfocus session, batch ten more.

Example 3: "I should work on my business a little bit every day"

Wrong instructions say: Small daily progress compounds. Fifteen minutes a day beats occasional marathons.

Why this fails your ADHD brain: Task-switching costs you thirty minutes of mental setup time. By the time your brain engages with your business task, your fifteen minutes are up. You accomplish nothing and feel unproductive.

Right instructions: Block two to four-hour deep work sessions once or twice a week. Protect them ruthlessly. Your ADHD brain in hyperfocus for four hours accomplishes more than two weeks of fifteen-minute sessions. Work WITH your brain's natural intensity, not against it.

The Pattern You Need to See

Every failed attempt follows the same pattern: You adopted advice written for neurotypical brains and blamed yourself when your ADHD brain rejected it.

But your brain wasn't being difficult. It was trying to tell you the instructions don't match your operating system.

When developers ignore what the site is telling them, they waste time and money on failed projects. When you ignore what your ADHD brain is telling you, you waste years on failed business attempts.

What Changes When You Use the Right Instructions

You stop forcing morning routines and start leveraging your natural energy spikes.

You stop trying to maintain artificial consistency and start building systems that work during your chaos.

You stop planning extensively and start testing quickly.

You stop fighting your need for novelty and start designing variety into your business model.

Your business doesn't require you to become someone else. It requires you to build something that matches who you actually are.

Your Next Move

Look at your last failed business attempt. Not to beat yourself up. To identify which neurotypical instruction you were following.

Was it the "wake up early" instruction? The "post daily" instruction? The "detailed planning" instruction? The "little bit every day" instruction?

Write it down. Then ask: What would the ADHD-aligned version of this look like?

Don't abandon your business idea. Abandon the instructions that don't fit your brain.

The men and women who succeed with ADHD aren't the ones who finally develop discipline. They're the ones who stop following instructions written for someone else's brain.

If you're ready to stop using the wrong instruction manual, my book " ADHD ADULTS The Ultimate Success Guide " gives you the complete ADHD-aligned approach to building what you want.

Respect Yourself 

Jim

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