For 23 years of my life, I struggled to focus.

I had horrible grades in school, I repeated a grade, and I even failed my final school exams. This left me without a degree and an additional internship to get my school degree. Technically, I finished school with 20, rather than 18.

Everyone in school always thought that most of my energy went to my muscles rather than my brain, simply because of my bad grades.

And I think I am not the only ADHD person who experiences things like that.

After school, my life went up:

• At 19, I started a photography Airbnb business during my internship, and it paid really well.
• At 21, I had my first company and a team of 10 people, and was featured in the newspaper as the youngest and most “successful” startup in our town of 80.000 people in Germany.

But the uncomfortable truth was that the startup was successful due to teamwork, not really because of my ability to focus and be productive.

I worked 14 hours a day, and most of it could have been done in 4-6 hours.

After I left my startup, I set myself a challenge: “I am going to fix my ADHD problems without medication.” (Never a big fan of any pharmaceutical pills, if it’s not necessary)

And it worked.

It took 3-6 months, and it was even confirmed by professional therapists or Neurodivergent PhD coaches that my approaches to ADHD worked.

At this time, I had no prior professional information or help; I was just a 24-year-old living at my mum’s place after my dad passed away in December 2023. The only things I did were research and self-experimentation for an extended period of time.

Simultaneously, I have shared all this information in this newsletter you are reading right now, on threads, and on YouTube for 18 months now.

And for this newsletter, I am going to fix your ADHD focus problems in one day.

To make this work and get that big “AHA moment” moment about how to finally focus, you need a free day. Meaning do it on the weekend, when you don’t have any obligations.

Pick Saturday or Sunday, the day when you have the most time and have pure autonomy on how to spend your days.

The goal we are aiming towards is a high-flow lifestyle and routine. The routine enables you to focus on a command for 4 to 12 hours. (if you need to work that long) The high-flow lifestyle enables you to achieve it daily, because the more flow you get, the more flow you have.

What is actually flow?

And our goal is to achieve this state of consciousness every single day, as many times as possible and for as long as possible. Once you understand this, ADHD stops being a burden to you, because you can use your hyperfocus strategically.

Flow makes you 500% more productive (seriously, it’s research-based), and for me, it is the only state in which I can actually work. If I am not in a flow state, I procrastinate or do something else entirely.

And after 18 months of running this creator business, I follow the exact same routine every single day, and it works.

Your action plan for the weekend:

1) Have 2-3 clear goals the night before.

Goal 1: One goal, something you want to write about, either a journal entry or advice to your younger self.

Goal 2: Something you want to build, create. or design.

Goal 3: A person you want to spend time with.

2) Wake up ideally before or during sunrise.

3) Wake up, no phone, no emails, no news, no coffee, no conversation.

4) You can brush your teeth, and can take a cold shower to boost dopamine by 250%

5) View sunlight as soon as possible, best is between 15 minutes upon waking and ideally through an open window, to capture all wavelengths. You can do this while brushing teeth (if possible) or while reading a book.

Option 1: Read a book for 15-60 minutes while letting sunlight into your eyes, if possible.

Option 2: Start working right away, ideally in a bright room where sunlight naturally enters in the morning.

6) Don’t go on walks or do a morning routine. Flow state is the alpha state, and the easiest way to enter alpha is right after theta waves, which occur during REM sleep, the state you dream in and wake up from. When your body temperature rises, and cortisol naturally spikes, triggering this with sunlight, reading and work, entering a flow state happens on command, without any force.

7) After 60-90 minutes, if you consume caffeine, such as coffee, matcha, green tea, or black tea, you increase your chances of entering a flow state. Better said, caffeine triggers this state like a drug. Caffeine increases dopamine and norepinephrine availability, similar to stimulants, just on a lower dosage. (which is better for your body, because caffeine naturally exists in nature)

8) Start writing. Writing is the best way to enter a flow state; it might take 15 minutes to enter this state of focus, but just sit it out. You need a struggle face to enter the release face, and then you hit flow state. Without a struggle, without being “uncomfortable”, there is no release and no reward. Flow is the reward after you struggle. It is the pure enjoyment of being in the present moment. Struggle→Release→Flow→Recovery.

9) Flow states last 90-120 minutes. I mostly go for a run in between or have a 5-minute non-stimulating break, and make myself another cup of coffee. After 4-6 hours of work, I am done for the day. I eat lunch, train, move, hike, cycle, and spend time with friends, partner, etc. That’s where you recover and, ideally, enter a state of flow while training, or a social flow with other human beings.

To summarize: Wake up and go straight to work. No routine is needed. (which is also a routine)

Now test this out on the weekend, and let me know if it worked! (Got a lot of positive feedback in the past about this "routine".)

And if you want to join today's live group call, getting into more details about ADHD and Flow states, join our live ADHD weekly Discord call at 8 pm EDT:

👉 Weekly ADHD Live Calls​

Thanks for reading, and hope to see you in our weekly live calls!

Jeff

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