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If you’re an ADHD entrepreneur, chances are you’re either stuck in idea overload… or lost in the land of half-finished projects.
This isn’t because you’re lazy or undisciplined.
It’s because most business advice wasn’t made for your brain.
This week on The Optimization Toolbox, I interviewed Steve August—serial entrepreneur, ADHD business coach, and creator of the Focus Formula—a framework that helps neurodivergent founders finally get traction without burning out.
Steve built and sold a multimillion-dollar company, all while undiagnosed. When he finally hit a wall (he couldn’t even finish writing an email), he started digging into why things felt harder than they should.
The answer?
ADHD—and a lack of structure that worked for his actual brain.
🧠 The “Focus Formula” Framework
Steve breaks down ADHD entrepreneurship into three core challenges:
* Decide – Prioritize and choose what matters
* Do – Start, focus, and actually finish
* Sustain – Keep going without crashing
It’s not about discipline—it’s about designing a system that supports how your brain operates.
⚙️ How to Decide: Find Your Magnetic North
You can’t prioritize if you don’t know where you’re headed.
That’s where Steve’s “Magnetic North” comes in.
It’s not just a business goal—it’s a visceral, body-level pull. Something you care enough about to push through resistance, rejection, and discomfort.
✅ Ask yourself:
* What am I willing to be uncomfortable for?
* What mission lights me up and grounds me?
* What direction would I choose if I couldn’t fail?
⏳ How to Do: The Two-Hour Workday
Steve’s productivity secret?
He knows he has just 2 peak hours of executive function a day—and he protects them.
Instead of cramming in 8 hours of tasks, he pre-decides which priorities deserve his highest-functioning window, using a visual dashboard (like XTiles or Notion).
No traditional calendar. No to-do list spiral.
Just a laser-focused “What matters most today?” approach.
🔁 How to Sustain: Weekly OS & Co-Working
Steve’s entire framework runs on a weekly rhythm—not daily hustle or quarterly overwhelm.
He hosts daily ADHD co-working sessions where founders body double and say their intentions out loud. It’s not just about accountability—it’s about showing up in community.
Why it works:
* It leverages rejection sensitivity to create commitment
* It reduces time blindness by anchoring tasks to people
* It helps you stop overcomplicating your systems
👥 Why ADHD Entrepreneurs Struggle with Scaling
Here’s what Steve sees over and over:
* Early-stage ADHD entrepreneurs thrive in chaos and creation
* Growth requires consistency, sequencing, and data—not our strong suit
* Leaving structured environments (like school or corporate) often reveals how much we relied on external systems
ADHD makes you great at starting.
But scaling? That’s where the frameworks come in.
🧩 You Don’t Need a New Planner. You Need a Framework.
Steve sees too many ADHDers obsess over the perfect tool—when what they really need is a simple, visual, flexible system.
His advice?
Start with principles, not platforms.
📍 Know your Magnetic North
📍 Schedule your best 2 hours for Deep Work
📍 Review your week, not your day
📍 Choose what sustains you—not what impresses others
💬 Favorite Quotes from the Interview:
🗣️ “ADHD isn’t a deficit of attention. It’s a surplus of attention—and nowhere to put it.”
🗣️ “I don’t use a calendar. I use a dashboard. Because I care about priorities, not time slots.”
🗣️ “If people say ‘That’s interesting,’ you’re not there yet. If they say ‘How much is it?’—you’ve got an offer.”
🚀 Final Takeaway
Your brain isn’t broken.
It’s just playing a different game.
If you’re an ADHD entrepreneur, frameworks like Focus Formula help you shift from chaos to clarity—without changing who you are.
You don’t need to be someone else.
You just need systems that get you.
✨ Connect with Steve:
Other updates!
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