Why ADHD Creatives & Entrepreneurs Burn Out (And How to Break Free)

Mar 56 min read

Do you ever...

Have days where everything is flowing, and you’re gaining effortless traction towards your goals, only to crash days later, feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, burnt out, and like you’re spinning your tyres and going nowhere?
Obsess over new projects, only to lose interest and abandon them before they are finished?
Build systems, habits, and routines that reliably unlock deep focus and productivity, only to watch them slip away as you start to rebel against them?
Have creative breakthroughs that excite and inspire you, only to overthink, procrastinate and eventually talk yourself out of action?
Find yourself prioritising your career over everything else and wonder whether your sacrifice will pay off in the end?

If this feels like a personal attack, or like I’ve been following you around with a notepad - it isn't, and I haven’t. I’m merely describing a day in the life of Jamie before I discovered Flowjo.

I was diagnosed with ADHD at 11, expelled from school at 15, and burned out THREE times in my career before turning 30.

The first time I was competing on the men's pro tennis circuit, I smashed all my rackets in front of hundreds of spectators, forfeited the match, and quit the sport forever. 😅

The second time, I was running a successful M&A firm headquartered in San Francisco: I stepped down as the CEO, took a six-month hiatus, and then sold the business. 😬

And the third time? I had just founded a government-backed accelerator program, published my first book, and launched a software company, only to burnout again. 🤬

Since then I've spent the past five years researching and reflecting on the connection between ADHD, Burnout and Flow. Yes—this is the longest project I’ve ever stuck with (1,914 days and counting). No—the irony of sticking to a project about why I can’t stick to things is not lost on me.

Here’s what I’ve learnt

The hero’s journey is a lie. Why do we believe that the journey to success must be paved with suffering and sacrifice before we can reach our destination?

Of the 400+ entrepreneurs I've helped successfully exit their businesses:

95% suffered multiple burnouts on their journey

80% felt empty and unfulfilled when they reached their destination

Success shouldn’t come at the cost of your well-being. If you aren’t enjoying the journey towards your ultimate goal, don’t expect the destination to be any different.

There's a reason why everyone thinks they have ADHD

This is because we now live in an ADHD world, where our devices have hijacked our brain’s reward system and turned us all into dopamine junkies. In fact, Dr. Ned Hallowell discovered a new condition called VAST (Variable Attention Stimulus Trait) for people with neurotypical brains who experience temporal ADHD-like symptoms due to chronic cognitive overload.

This is why traditional productivity hacks, which rely on discipline, consistency and willpower, aren't as effective in this new reality. We are trying to defend our focus against thousands of companies spending billions of dollars trying to dismantle it. And ADHD or not, it's a losing battle.

The Carrot & Stick is an outdated performance model

Our entire lives have been shaped by this approach: pocket money and groundings from our parents, A’s and F’s from our teachers, bonuses and warnings from our bosses.

Now, we’re the ones dangling the carrot of future rewards while beating ourselves with the discipline stick for past failures. But this rigid system clashes against the way ADHD brains are wired, which drains our energy and makes scaling feel like we’re fighting an uphill battle against ourselves.

The only carrots that ever worked for me were the ones dipped in hummus, and the only sticks that caught my attention were the ones dogs dropped at my feet to play fetch. This outdated approach is about as effective for ADHD brains as trying to herd cats with a PowerPoint presentation.

We don’t need bigger carrots or sharper sticks — we need an entirely new system that harnesses our unique cognitive wiring.

Flow cures burnout and makes scaling faster, easier and way more fun

We've all experienced flow - those magical moments on the sports field, creating art, in the bedroom, or deep in a work project. It's that altered state of consciousness where time melts away, we're fully absorbed in the present moment, and everything just... flows.

Why does scaling become faster and easier? Because flow is the holy grail of peak performance. Studies show that our creativity explodes, and our productivity skyrockets when we enter flow. With consistent deep focus, effortless decision-making, and accelerated problem-solving, scaling becomes inevitable.

Why is it way more fun? Because according to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow is an 'autotelic' experience, where the action becomes the reward in and of itself. In other words, flow is intrinsically motivating, which means we don't have to rely on external punishment or rewards (outdated Carrot & Stick method).

We are approaching Flow the wrong way

In the West, we are taught to hack our way into temporary peak performance flow states with ice baths, meditation apps, and hundreds of other biohacking solutions. Although we are spending more time and money trying to unlock flow than ever before, we are experiencing less of it.

Why? Because we focus on the symptoms rather than the underlying cause. We are much more likely to buy supplements and a sleep-tracking device than we are to fix the problem that’s causing us to lose sleep in the first place.

In the East, Flow isn't a peak performance state we need to hack our way into - it's our natural state of being. We already have a limitless reservoir of flow within us. We're living in a way that fights against our natural wiring, which blocks our access to flow. Instead of piling more tasks and techniques onto our already packed lives, we need to identify and remove the obstacles that are preventing flow from happening naturally.

Flowjo is the best way to master Flow

If you haven't figured it out already, Flowjo fuses 'Flow' (the pinnacle of peak performance) with 'Mojo' (your unique magical superpower) to create a performance framework designed for ADHD minds.

Flowjo is underpinned by a simple idea: Flow is our natural state of being, and to master it; we must embrace our true nature and remove what blocks us.

This ADHD-friendly performance model combines timeless principles from the East with cutting-edge neuroscience from the West to remove friction, align with your natural rhythm, and create effortless momentum toward your goals.

Unlike other performance models that rely on discipline, willpower, and extrinsic motivation (i.e., the Carrot & Stick model), Flowjo harnesses the ‘autotelic’ nature of Flow as the driving force behind peak performance — making productivity effortless, sustainable, and intrinsically rewarding.

Instead of trying to fit a square peg (you!) into a round hole (outdated performance models), you simply design systems that work with (rather than against) the way you are wired to perform at your best.

Flowjo has helped many clients with ADHD achieve more with half the effort and twice the fun. Where burnout fades, work feels like play, and your neuro-spicy brain becomes your greatest asset.

What I love about Flowjo is how broadly it can be applied to every aspect of your life and how simple it is to integrate. I'll explain how in my next edition of Flowjo Drops!

In the meantime, I encourage you to watch my talk on How I Discovered Flowjo.

It’s a heartwarming tale of how I went from smashing tennis rackets in front of horrified spectators to torpedoing my successful M&A company, only to end up living with my mom at 29. Because nothing says ‘business mogul’ like discussing your next move over Tuesday night meatloaf. But don’t worry—there’s a happy ending where I finally stop letting my chaos brain run the asylum and learn to harness it for reliable peak performance and a truly fulfilling life.

My aim with these Flowjo Drops is just to drop some stories and insights your way that could change how you approach burnout, ADHD, flow and peak performance - so you can reach your goals faster with half the effort and twice the fun!

Warning: Side effects may include productivity without self-hatred, finishing what you start, and the strange sensation that your brain is finally working for you instead of actively plotting your demise.