Focus is a lie. And yet… here we are.

Hey friends 👋,

First of all: a massive thank you to the 229 Founding Flakes who signed up before this newsletter even existed.

You joined based on nothing but vibes, a half-built landing page, and my inability to pick a logo — and honestly? I adore you for it.

I was expecting maybe 12 people (including 3 of my own burner emails).

But instead: here we are - a tiny internet swarm of brilliant, overstimulated minds, ready to build weird, wonderful things in our own way.

Welcome to #Issue001 — the very first drop.

And yeah - the dopamine hit from your DMs, emails, and “can’t wait for this” messages?

It's real. You're fueling this thing more than you know.

PS: Developers hate styling emails. I hate styling emails.

It’s clean. It’s focused. It might even have a secret mode. 👀

(Also, fun fact: I rewrote this entire issue three times this week. Don’t ask. Just scroll.)

I sat down to write about focus.

Then I started tweaking my website.

Then I reorganized my Obsidian vault.

Then I got distracted fixing the colors on a Notion dashboard I haven’t used since 2022.

Then I forgot why I even opened the app.

Anyway. Focus is a lie.

At least, the kind of focus we’re supposed to have - the kind the productivity bros write Medium posts about.

The kind that says: "Just block distractions. Do Deep Work. Hustle harder."

For ADHD devs? That advice is like telling a goldfish to “just walk.”

Our brains are running five tabs of curiosity, three tabs of anxiety, and a Spotify playlist called Lo-Fi Panic Attack to Debug To - all at once.

🔍 So what does "focus" actually feel like?

Sometimes it’s magical.

Hyperfocus kicks in and suddenly you’re rewriting your whole codebase at 2 am, feeling like a wizard who drank three Red Bulls and discovered time travel.

Other times, it’s like trying to thread a needle during an earthquake.

You want to focus, but the mental noise is just too loud: Slack pings, browser tabs, "quick" emails, and a tiny voice reminding you that you haven’t replied to that one message from three weeks ago.

(Yes, I remember. No, I haven’t replied. Yes, I feel bad.)

⚙️ The problem isn’t you. It’s the settings.

We’ve been sold this idea that focus is a binary: you're either "on task" or "lazy."

But for neurodivergent folks, focus isn’t a switch - it’s a state.

A slippery, unpredictable, sometimes glorious state.

Trying to brute-force it just leads to burnout and shame.

Trying to fit into a system built for factory-floor brains leaves us feeling broken.

But here’s the truth: you’re not broken. You’re just not running the default firmware.

🛠️ So what do we do instead?

We design around it.

We use timers, color-coded chaos, post-it notes on post-it notes.

We chase dopamine. We build weird workflows that somehow work for us.

We lean into what actually moves us - not what some YouTuber swears by.

And when we get into the zone?

We see patterns no one else sees.

We make creative leaps.

We build.

Not because we’re focused like monks - but because we followed the weird, winding trail to something real.

If you liked this, share it with a fellow dev who has 47 tabs open and accidentally restarted their side project instead of finishing it.

I’d love to hear what resonated (or didn’t). Just hit reply, your feedback = instant dopamine.

Want a shoutout in the next issue? Tell me something cool you’re building or thinking about (anonymous is totally fine).

See you next week.

(If I remember. Which… let’s be real. No promises.)

// Simen