ADHD business owners – How to Focus a Brain That Wants to Do Everything at Once

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As ADHD business owners, we get overwhelmed and paralyzed by too many ideas because we don’t know where to focus. One minute you’re creating a new course, the next you’re redesigning your website, and by afternoon you’re researching an entirely new business model.

Sound familiar?

I’ve worked with hundreds of ADHD business owners, and “lack of focus” is consistently one of the biggest challenges we face. This scattered approach doesn’t just slow your progress—it’s a direct path to burnout and feeling like a failure, despite how capable you truly are.

To help with this, I’m boring Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to create what I think is the optimal way for ADHD brains to prioritize their time, energy and focus, as it related to their business – so they can grow with clarity and ease.

The ADHD Entrepreneur’s Hierarchy of Needs

Below is the order of focus I encourage my clients to consider, particularly when new ideas hit or distraction is keeping you stuck.

1. Survival First: Your Fastest Path to Revenue

Before you can chase your most exciting ideas, you need to secure your path to revenue. That means focusing on:

• Leveraging your existing skills to generate consistent income as fast as possible
• Creating simple offers you can deliver right now (to a clearly defined audience)
• Being strategic about client selection to minimize energy drain – see point above about clearly defining your audience, first

ADHD Real Talk: When your finances are unstable, your anxiety spikes and executive function plummets, making focus even harder. Getting this foundation right is crucial, but new business owners tend to deprioritize it in favor of getting things like logos and websites done first. This is the wrong approach. Before you invest in long-term assets like branding, you need to know who you’re talking to first, with an offer that has been tested.

2. Energy Management: Your Most Precious Resource

With ADHD, your energy fluctuates more dramatically than for neurotypical entrepreneurs. Focus on:

• Creating offers and modeling your business to honor your natural energy patterns instead of against them – this might feel like a “nice-to-have”, but if you want to avoid procrastination and burnout, it needs to be a top priority
• Creating boundaries that protect your time & energy – this requires clear communication about expectations with clients from the start. Message this in your offer before a customer buys to avoid people-pleasing mistakes down the road
• Building recovery periods into your schedule before burnout hits – you will start to learn your patterns over time. Knowing how to manage energy is a skill that needs to be cultivated

ADHD Real talk: Time tracking (even for a short time) will help you get clear on how long things actually take. Knowing this will make planning and managing time, more effective.

3. Community: Your Support System

Building a business with ADHD can feel isolating, especially when traditional methods don’t work for you. Prioritize:

• Finding other neurodivergent entrepreneurs who “get it” – Have you joined the ADHD Business Hub yet?
• Working with coaches or mentors who understand ADHD brains – The ADHD Hub was designed for this
• Creating accountability structures that actually motivate you

ADHD Real Talk: ADHD’ers need to be around like-minded, supportive community. That’s why I created the ADHD Business Hub. Don’t sleep on this secret weapon!

4. Creative Expression: Channeling Your Ideas

Once your foundation is stable, give yourself permission to explore your creativity in a structured way (so that you’re not chasing every idea you have):

• Set up “idea capture” systems and let new ideas simmer for at least 48 hours before acting on them
• Experiment with different formats and approaches to analyzing whether or not to take action on an idea
• Create structured exploration time to satisfy your curiosity – like two hours on a Friday afternoon, just to work on whatever you want

ADHD Real talk: If your mind is racing with new ideas, or decisions on current ideas, take a short walk and voice record your thoughts into Claude.ai. Ask it to help you organize your thoughts and make choices based on your values and goals.

5. Impact & Legacy: Your Bigger Purpose

ADHD’ers have strong justice sensitivity which makes us big-hearted entrepreneurs. We want to make the world a better place, but in truth, we can’t do that unless these other priorities are already addressed. Once you have them in place, then you can focus on:

• What unique contribution can only you make?
• How can your neurodivergent perspective solve problems others miss?
• What does your business stand for and how can you communicate those values in everything you do?

Putting This Into Action Today

1. Honestly assess where you are. Which level needs your attention right now? Be realistic—if you’re stressed about paying bills, focus there first before chasing your legacy project.
2. Create a focus filter. When new opportunities arise, ask yourself: “Does this support the level I need to focus on right now?” This simple question can cut through the overwhelm.
3. Build systems that work WITH your brain. Stop trying to force yourself into planners and methods designed for neurotypical brains. What actually works for YOUR unique brain?

Does this framework resonate? If you want more frameworks, tools and like-minded community, consider joining the ADHD Business Hub where you can grow your business with clarity, confidence and ease.