Hi friend, Kat here, but with a new logo!
Not changing anything crazy, but going forward, you can expect more strategies for managing ADHD, focus, and overwhelm here. I’ll also include more of the psychology + neuroscience behind it, and learnings from my tech background.
If you are completely disinterested in the above, feel free to click unsubscribe at the bottom. However, I hope these emails will be insightful for anyone, whether you have ADHD or not.
That said, here’s this week’s email!
A millionaire tech founder gives me some “game-changing advice” I have to follow. A content creator with 1M+ subscribers tells me to do the exact opposite.
My ADHD brain tells me I need to do all of the above at the same time.
Right now.
Naturally, I end up doing nothing.
A few weeks ago however, I found this insane AI prompt on X:
The post had over a million impressions. Endless comments about how AI said exactly what people needed to hear.
Intense. Maybe I too would learn something?
I brain-dumped a few paragraphs about my existential struggles, asked it for a one-week execution plan, and let Claude (ChatGPT works too) run wild.
AI Solves My Problems: Part 1
Fair warning.
If you ask AI for “brutal honesty,” you will get brutal.
In just three seconds, this non-existent “personal strategic advisor” cracked open every hint of my perfectionism, fear of failure, anxieties, procrastination, and focus issues, in the name of billion-dollar efficiency. A short snippet:
“No excuses, no extensions. Send me the metrics next Sunday with a screenshot of your analytics.”
“Anything less than full execution is a failure.”
Not inaccurate, but also… ouch.
I told Claude to name this persona “Dan.”
Outsourcing my Executive Dysfunction to AI: Part 2
Dan understood the assignment. Dan gave me straight truths.
Dan also hurt my feelings.
Sure I could be motivated by guilt, fear, disappointment. But what if there’s another way?
I’ve been going down the ADHD rabbit-hole recently. So I asked Claude to create a new advisor, “Caren.” Exact same credentials as Dan, except Caren is also a certified ADHD coach:
“Choose just ONE system from your own life to share this week. Don't try to be comprehensive.“
”What reward will you give yourself when you complete this week's plan?”
Did AI just make me feel… calm?
Very interesting.
Part 3: My Personal AI Psychologist
At this point, I was fascinated.
Two 7-day AI-generated plans created intensely oppositional feelings:
Dan made me feel like I wasn’t doing enough. But it was certainly motivational in a no-nonsense kind of way.
Caren made me feel less overwhelmed. I felt clarity on how to move forward but possibly a bit too comfortable.
There’s more.
Enter AI Alec.
Alec is a Harvard-trained psychologist with a PhD, specializing in ADHD, especially inattentive type in women.
According to my prompt, at least.
I asked Alec to analyze the specific differences between Caren and Dan’s approaches, backed by ADHD research.
ADHD-Optimized Approach vs Brutal Truth Approach
This is what Alec pulled up (likely also helpful if you don’t have ADHD):
CAREN’S APPROACH | DAN’S APPROACH |
|---|---|
Energy-aligned scheduling (link) - Scheduling focused work during peak energy times addresses fluctuating attention patterns in ADHD | Multiple hard deadlines without scaffolding (link) - Fails to address ADHD time blindness, which creates a binary “now” vs “not now” perception |
Built-in rewards (link) - Dopamine-deficient ADHD brains typically require stronger-than-average incentives to see behavior change | Emphasis on metrics and consequences (link) - Overlooks how punishment triggers anxiety and “threat-sensitivity” in ADHD brains, while positive reinforcement works significantly better |
Task batching (link) - Reduces context switching, which is especially challenging for ADHD brains | Multi-tasking expectations (link) - Ignores evidence that task-switching is particularly inefficient with ADHD |
Accommodations for perfectionism (link) - One of the most common ADHD cognitive distortions that triggers avoidance and procrastination | Reinforced perfectionism (link) - Increased pressure typically leads to more avoidance, not progress |
These similar seven-day plans apparently could have drastically different impacts on an actual human being.
Not just according to AI Alec, but according to real research on real humans.
What Someone Says You Need vs What You Actually Need
I tried this prompt in an attempt to get my questions answered. Ultimately, I realized—there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
A billionaire AI or human can give you advice all day, but that doesn’t mean blindly following it will actually help you become “successful.”
Anyone you talk to will always have less context than you.
So, did I hack my ADHD? In a way, yes.
However.
You owe it to yourself to understand how your unique brain and body work. From there, you can build the best set of tools, ask the right people the right questions, and form your own conclusions.
If you’re looking for answers, you’re in luck. Nobody else has them but you.
This Week: For You
Have you created any AI characters to help you make decisions or better understand yourself?
Try it out and let me know if you discover something crazy about yourself or AI.
Hi, I’m Kat! Welcome to my weekly newsletter—writing to help extra-interesting brains work with their strengths, not against them.
Were you forwarded this email? Click the button below to subscribe too!
Thanks for reading!
— Kat