I will never forget the time I tried to fix everything in my business by moving from Notion to ClickUp in one giant leap.
At first, it made sense on paper. I love lists. Plus, I love the idea of clean task boards. And of course, I love the “this is what Real Businesses use” vibe. So, I did what so many of my own clients do: I decided, in one sweeping decision, that ClickUp was The Answer.
I started by moving all my client work, then all my own tasks. I even trained my clients on the new setup…before I had actually tested it with my own brain.
Spoiler: it did not go well.
In Notion, I can see a high-level overview of everything. That “bird’s eye view” is how my ADHD brain hangs onto reality. However, in ClickUp, once I made the list, my brain treated it like the thing was done. List = completion. Which, yeah, is not ideal when there’s still actual work to do.
The problem was, I hadn’t stress-tested it. I didn’t use the very framework I use with clients. Instead, I just changed everything at once and hoped my brain would magically adapt.
If you are staring at your own backend right now thinking, “I just need to burn it all down and start over,” this post is for you. Because you don’t need a new personality. You need ADHD friendly business systems built for the brain you actually have.
Quick Answer: Why Big Overhauls Fail
Big, all-at-once system changes usually fail because they ask your brain to relearn too many things at once. You lose visibility, your trust in the system wobbles, and you can’t tell which part is actually broken. The fix isn’t more discipline; it’s smaller, minimum viable workflow changes that you actually test in real life.
The “Fix Everything” Trap (And Why We Fall For It)
In my experience, most founders I work with don’t actually have “nothing figured out.” They have what I call a Franken-system.
A Franken-system isn’t broken; it’s just unintentional. You started with one tool. Then, you added another. Eventually, you added yet another. Each new problem = new tool. No blueprint, no map.
(If you’re wondering how much that patchwork is costing you, check out my guide on how to audit your software subscriptions—it’s usually more than you think).
So, you do what we’ve all done: you hit a breaking point, decide “this time will be different,” and try to overhaul the whole thing in a weekend.
- A new tool.
- A new setup.
- A “new you.”
Initially, you get the big dopamine spike setting it up. Then two weeks later, you’re not using it. Again.
When this happens, most people decide, “That system was perfect, so the common denominator is me. I’m the broken one.”
But ultimately, that’s a lie. The problem is not you. The problem is the pace and the scale of change you’ve been sold.
Why Traditional Overhauls Fail (And How to Build ADHD Friendly Business Systems)
Task switching—moving from one thing to another—is not a cute little button your brain presses. It’s an executive function process. And for ADHD brains, that process costs more “fuel.”
Specifically, every time you change tasks, your brain has to:
- Disengage from what you were doing.
- Hold a bunch of details in working memory.
- Re-orient to a new context, rules, deadlines, and expectations .
For example, imagine what happens when you change your project management tool, your filing system, your client onboarding flow, and your calendar setup all in the same month .
In fact, that’s not just a new system. That’s dozens of new task-switching contexts your brain has to relearn at once. And since executive function is a limited resource, you run out of “switch fuel” much faster.
This is why I tell founders to stop buying software for the brain you wish you had. Trying to force yourself into an “ideal” workflow that requires 100% executive function capacity is a guaranteed recipe for burnout.
Quick Answer: The Science of “Switch Fuel”
When you stack multiple changes, you drain your executive function quickly, making it much harder to remember steps and trust yourself to follow the new system. Neurologically, nothing “went wrong” when you abandoned that shiny new tool. Your brain just got asked to do too much too quickly, without time to stabilize.
The Solution: The Minimum Viable Workflow
If burning it down doesn’t work, what does?
The Minimum Viable Workflow.
Basically, when I talk about a minimum viable workflow, I’m asking: what is the least we can do to make this actually work for you?
- It doesn’t need to be “perfect.”
- It certainly doesn’t need to be “impressive on Instagram.”
- It just needs to be functional, sustainable, and friendly to your brain.
(I dive deeper into why simple wins every time in small business automation, but the short version is: complexity is the enemy of consistency).
A Real-Life Example: The Spreadsheet Notification
I had a client who wanted notifications when someone submitted a contact form. We set it up so Tally fed into a Google Sheet (because that’s the system she already used), and she got a link to the sheet every time someone filled the form.
Technically, it worked. However, she told me, “It still feels like I don’t have a handle on what’s happening.”
Instead of telling her we needed a full CRM and pipeline and tags and automations, I asked: “Tell me what feels hard about it.”
As it turns out, it wasn’t the process. It was the format. The spreadsheet view made her feel scattered. Her brain wanted to see each lead’s information more like a document.
Consequently, we changed exactly one thing:
Instead of notifying her with a link to the sheet, we set up an automation that sent her an email with all the answers in a readable, almost document-like format.
Same form. Same tool stack. Same workflow, structurally. But, a different way her brain interacts with the information.
That was it. Suddenly, she felt organized and on top of it. No bigger platform. No “new system” to learn. The smallest possible change that made the workflow actually usable.
My “Blueprint Before Build” Rule (Especially for Automations)
I am hardcore about this: I do not believe in automating anything you can’t explain in under two minutes.
However, before you touch Zapier or Make or anything else, you need to follow the Blueprint-Before-Build approach:
- Map the current reality. Where is information coming from? Where does it go? Who touches it?
- Define the ideal path on one page. Trigger $\rightarrow$ Action $\rightarrow$ Outcome. If you can’t articulate that, you won’t be able to maintain it .
- Test it manually. This is where most people want to skip ahead. But if you can’t run the workflow manually for a couple of weeks, I don’t want a robot running it either.
This is especially true for things like onboarding. Why your manual client onboarding is waking you up at 3 AM isn’t because you lack tools—it’s usually because the process hasn’t been blueprint-tested first.
Quick Answer: When NOT to Automate
Do not automate tasks you genuinely enjoy, processes you haven’t stabilized manually, or anything running on a tool you’re still learning. If sitting down to send invoices manually gives you a chance to touch your numbers and feel connected to your money, keep doing it manually. Automating that could actually disconnect you from your own business.
Your Minimum Viable Next Step
Finally, if everything in this post is making you want to rip up your systems…and also take a nap…here’s your minimum viable move:
- Pick ONE friction point. Not “systems.” Not “everything.” One thing that makes your day harder than it needs to be.
- Ask yourself: What about this feels hard—volume, format, timing, decisions? What would “just a little easier” look like?
- Design the smallest change that would help. A different view. One template. One clearer handoff. One notification.
- Run it for 2-3 weeks. Don’t stack. Don’t add six more changes. Just live with this one and notice how it feels.
Want a System That Actually Fits Your Brain?
If the theme of your last few years has been “maybe the right tool will finally fix me,” the Right-Fit Tools Workshop is where we stop that story.
It’s not a tools promo session. Instead, it’s a thinking session. We walk through how you actually process information, what your business really needs to track, and where your current tools support you vs. fight you .
You’ll leave knowing your next step, not a hundred hypothetical ones.