After leaving my startup in 2023, I’ve faced the reality that I am really unproductive.

Yes, the startup made 300k a year, 20-30k per month, and we were a team of 10 people.

But after leaving my startup and being fully on my own, I realized I have close to zero skills. The only things I was good at were photography, sports, and talking/connecting with people.

Put me in front of a computer or at a desk doing difficult tasks, and I give you an almost empty page, like “The” SpongeBob episode.

Fast-forward 3 years, I kept, improved, and self-experimented with every possible variation of habits, routines, food timing, sleep quality, training performance, light exposure, temperature exposure, etc.

Precisely, the last 2 years were truly life-changing because I not only studied health, productivity, business and the mind, but also learned to focus, maintain attention for a long period of time (even up to 12 hours) and organize my entire ADHD brain into Notion Databases, that look like this:

It looks confusing, but it isn’t; it’s fully hierarchical and simultaneously interconnected. (pattern recognition)

Every thought, image, video, quote, idea, newsletter, and content piece is searchable and filterable in 100 different ways, so I find everything with a click or filter it to my liking. (It’s just one database of many)

It started as a way to organize my ADHD brain, but turned into a full life, business and content operating system. (Something I am teaching in The Weekly Bonfire starting October 8.)

Going back to health, I tracked everything on my Apple Watch Series 5, and now on my Ultra 4. Everything: how food and training influence my performance, whether in front of a screen to purely focus, or in triathlon or gym training sessions.

Long introduction, but here are my 7 ways to optimal health & Performance for ADHD, summarized from my research and self-experimentation.

(Be aware that everyone is different; what works for one doesn’t work for the other. And gender is important as well. That’s why I started data-driven health & performance coaching for ADHD.)

0.5) Health & Performance

Honestly, you don’t need to understand most of the health advice, what happens in the body, what it is called, etc., and you can’t. It is an infinite game.

The most important thing is whether it works for you and whether you can stick to these habits while enjoying them and staying productive, depending on your life goals.

Look at Bryan Johnson. He is a multimillionaire, and he does all of it as part of his work, which he enjoys. I would find it boring and not challenging enough to spend 30-60 minutes in a sauna or lie down for 2 hours to get tested. I like to push my mind, body and spirit every day.

Maybe you are the same and like to balance these things without going to extremes.

Health is only one of 3 pillars, so don’t spend all your time and energy on it. You still need to build and maintain wealth and relationships.

I like to see health as a way to improve my performance and productivity. Performance & productivity in the sense of health, wealth and relationships.

1) Sleep For Health & Performance

1.1) You sleep long if you don’t sleep deep.

You might be the person who doesn’t need 8 hours of sleep with your ADHD. But it also depends on your gender, age, health & fitness, genes, etc.

You can literally sleep less and have more energy.

→ Imagine having 1-2 more hours every day, while also feeling more energized.

Look at these two sleep scores side by side (tracked with the old Apple Watch Series 5, so the numbers are different from newer models, my Ultra 4, Whoop, Garmin or Oura)

Left side: 8:18 h (I rarely sleep that long), and right side: 6:30 h, which is my usual sleep time (6-7 h per night).

The difference here is deep sleep.

I feel much better and more energized after sleeping 6 hours with more deep sleep than after sleeping 8 hours with less.

1.2) The more time you spend outdoors, the better your sleep gets.

Most people buy all these devices and things to become more “healthy.”

But the best way to improve health & performance is to reconnect to nature.

Following nature's path, like waking at sunrise, sleeping when it’s dark, and spending little time indoors, is the key to a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling life.

That’s why the Italian guy, who smokes and drinks wine every day, probably outlives Bryan Johnson. It’s lower stress levels, time spent with people he loves, time spent in the present moment (flow), and spending as much time as possible in nature, sunlight, and grounding.

→ Do what is supported by nature and exists in nature, and you will automatically be healthier.

1.3) Socializing outperforms every metric.

You can do everything right and follow the perfect routine (I do it regularly), but if you are alone, resentful, ruminating, and overthinking, your sleep and overall health will suffer.

The irony behind “biohacking” is: I got the highest deep sleep score (since I started tracking) ever, but with the most messed-up routine…

• I ate late
• Had ice cream at 9:30 pm
• Went to bed at 11:30 pm
• Woke up at 6:45 am (extremely late for me)

→ But had a deep sleep time of 1:50. (Apple Watch Series 5: Every watch/ring tracks sleep differently) The highest one I ever had. What an irony.

This is life’s whole point.

It’s not there to be spent alone, consuming and dying alone.

→ Try to stick to your healthy habits and routines, but don’t force yourself, because this “forcing” might lead to stress, higher cortisol and excessive ruminating and overthinking. (I often make the mistake myself.)

1.4) Body Temperature for Optimal Sleep

High cortisol (which is good in the morning) and high body temperature in the morning can be caused by sunlight (50% effectiveness), coffee, movement, training, even eating (get to that a bit later).

Ideal body temperature comes from getting early-morning sunlight (50%) and is the best morning habit you can have. Pair it with reading, writing and coffee, and your day starts with an unbreakable flow and focus. (Even while writing right now, the sun bursts into my eyes, and I feel how easy it is to write.)

That’s why I often talk about reading while viewing sunlight.

1. Reading creates a narrowed focus without distraction.
2. You hunt for ideas, which creates curiosity and leads to idea flows.
3. Sunlight increases cortisol and wakefulness, which boosts focus and flow.

I feel much more awake and energized after getting sunlight in the morning. Not only for your health, but especially for your performance and focus.

For example, every year, I work inside this Starbucks in Jakarta, Indonesia:

I mostly visit my family for a few days, and the Starbucks is close to my family’s place. (Jakarta have really bad air quality, so I don’t like to stay long there.)

But every time I am in Jakarta, despite the bad air quality, I sleep really well (air purifier), and my work at this Starbucks is extremely flowy.

I mostly hit the gym before, because Starbucks only opens at 8 am and I wake up between 5 and 5:30 am daily, so I hit the gym first, get myself a cold brew and start working. Every time, I am in such a deep state of flow for so long that my stomach starts to hurt. (12 pm)

I am pretty sure it’s because of this big window, the bright light, and the cortisol spike from training and coffee. (The only thing I don’t do is eat in the morning)

I also eat dinner early, ideally 3-4 hours before bed, so my body can digest and relax.

→ Opt for a high-cortisol morning and a low-cortisol evening.

Next week, we continue with: 2) Training for Health & Performance.

Thanks for reading!

Jeff

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