December 9, 2025 • 11 mins
Full Shownotes Here:
What if pivoting ISN'T failure but actually your most powerful business strategy?
If you're an ADHD entrepreneur who sets January goals only to completely pivot by March, this episode is for you.
Host Alyece Smith breaks down why traditional goal setting is designed for failure when you have an ADHD brain, and shares her 5-step strategy for building a pivot-friendly 2026.
In this episode, you'll discover:✅ Why flexibility should BE your entire strategy (not something to feel guilty about)✅ The difference between direction setting vs. destination setting and why it matters✅ How to plan FOR your hyperfocus instead of fighting against it✅ Why quarterly checkpoints beat annual goals for ADHD brains✅ The 3 non-negotiables you must identify NOW for business survival✅ Alyece's personal story of hitting six figures by following the pivot instead of the plan
UNMASKED: The ADHD CEO Community
A safe space for support, clarity, community, and tools that make sense for ADHD brains.
Instagram: @socially.ausome
TikTok: @sociallyausome
Website: sociallyausome.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Here's the pattern I see with ADHD entrepreneurs in January,
right? You set those goals, you're
committed, you're going to do this.
And then March hits and you discover something totally new
and you get bored with the original plan.
You pivot, you hyper focus on something completely different
and you feel like you failed. But what if the pivot is
actually the plan? Yo-yo, yes.
(00:27):
Yo-yo, Yo-yo with the least. Say it right.
No cap. ADHD CEO.
Yeah, We run this track systems that slap brains built
different. We make sales in our sleep.
Yeah, the hustle's efficient. This ain't fluff.
Nah, this is strategy. Raw for the ADHD minds breaking.
Never your law hit. Subscribe.
Don't miss a single show. We're running on dopamine.
(00:48):
Let's go. Let's go, let's go.
What if flexibility is the entire strategy for ADHD brains?
Traditional goal setting is set up for failure because it
assumes you can change your mind.
It assumes January knowledge is better than March knowledge.
(01:09):
And that's totally wrong. And so some things that I see is
entrepreneur saying like, I haveto know what I want for the
whole year. No, no, you don't.
OK. You have to know what direction
you're going, what you're working towards, but the
specific path that gets figured out as you go.
And this is actually more responsible than rigidly
following a plan that no longer works.
There is nothing worse than sticking to a plan and in your
(01:30):
gut knowing that it's not what you're supposed to be doing.
And so that's the entire reason I launched the Growth Game Plan
sessions while back was you sentyour direction, your three month
iterations and you're allowed toadjust each quarter based on
real information. And that's not wishy washy,
that's smart. And instead of goal setting, do
direction setting. Like what direction do you want
(01:52):
your business to move in 2026? Revenue, audience, product
expansion, impact, it might be all of those things.
But if you know the direction, the implementation kind of
happens as you go. I also see a lot of 80 HT
preneur saying like if I'm not disciplined about my goals, I'm
going to fail. And it's actually the opposite.
(02:12):
If you're so rigidly attached toyour goals that you can't adjust
when things change or when really big opportunities show
up, you're going to fail, OK? Your market will shift, your
customers will change, your energy is going to move.
And discipline isn't about not pivoting.
It's about being disciplined about the direction, even when
you're flexible about the path. And so I want you to think about
(02:35):
listing out the goals from last year that you accomplished and
notice which ones you were flexible about and adjusted,
because those are your successes.
Your hyper focus isn't a problem, OK?
It's not a problem. And this is another thing and I
see often that wrecks so many neurodivergent entrepreneurs is
they hyper focus on something, they abandoned their plan and
(02:58):
then they feel guilty. But hyper focus is legitimately
your superpower. It is your brain saying this is
important, this matters, let's go deep.
And so instead of fighting it, you have to make a plan to work
with it. It's a plan, your gear.
So your hyper focus is expected and integrated.
And you should know that based on your history and the focus
and free membership, That's whatI teach specifically.
(03:20):
Build your hyper focus into yourprojects.
You don't want to pretend they won't happen.
You know it's going to happen. What typically do you get hyper
focused on? Is it community?
Is it content? Is it product development?
Is a client service? Build that into 2026.
And so I know a lot of times we think that commitment means
never changing your mind, but that's just corporate culture
(03:40):
bullshit, honestly. And and that's how it works,
right? In corporate, you set a goal in
quarter one, you execute it through quarter four, no matter
what changes. But that's actually a really
poor strategy. Good strategy accounts for new
information, market shifts, learning your ability to change
your mind when the evidence suggests you should is a
feature. It's not a bug, it's not a
problem. And we think, and we've been
(04:01):
trained to think that real entrepreneurs have these five
year plans. And, and you probably do and you
probably did, but we also know ADHD brains, we change your mind
often, right? And so some entrepreneurs
benefit from those long term planning, some benefit from
quarterly planning with annual direction.
And that's what I see works better for neurodivergent
brains. And so I share a lot about this
(04:22):
in my unmasked community becauseit's full of entrepreneurs who
have stopped fighting their actual planning process and
embraced it instead. That lie that we tell ourselves
that pivoting means we weren't serious or we weren't
successful, it just keeps you attached to bad strategies.
Every successful company pivots.They learn, they adjust, they
respond to that market feedback.And so your 2026 goals should
(04:44):
include the pivot possibility from day one.
And I remember sitting down to plan 2024.
I was determined, OK, this was what, 2-3 years ago?
This was going to be the year, it was going to be my year.
And I was going to stick to the plan.
I wasn't going to change anything.
I was not going to hyper focus on anything.
I was just going to execute. And by March, I was hyper
focused on something completely different.
And I felt so guilty, like I wasfailing, like I was off track.
(05:08):
But I went on, hit six figures in less than six months, again
for the second in time, because I realized that the pivot was
actually working better than theoriginal plan.
The new focus was more aligned with my energy.
The market response was better. I wasn't failing.
I was learning. And instead of fighting against
it, I did something pretty radical.
I acknowledged that pivot and I made it official and I built the
(05:29):
rest of the year around it. And so the most successful year
I had happened when I stopped forcing the plan and started
working with those signals, those gut punches that I get.
And so if you've never listened to any of my episodes, I love to
be super tactical. So I'm going to give you 5 steps
to build a pivot friendly because it's going to happen.
You know what? Let's go ahead and acknowledge
it. Set your direction.
(05:49):
Strategy one, OK, your direction, not your destination.
So when you're looking at makingyour goals for 2026, I want you
to think about like instead of saying I'm going to make
$250,000 in 2026, I want you to think like I'm building, you
know, a six figure revenue sustainably.
I want you to think along the lines of what that direction
(06:10):
looks like, right? Direction gives you flexibility,
destination locks you in and obviously we need to have SMART
goals in order to achieve them, but start with the direction.
So instead of I'm going to launch three products try, I'm
going to expand my product rangebased on what the market wants
in this area or this this niche.And so I work really closely
(06:31):
with my students in the ADHD Preneur Academy teaching this.
You set the direction, you measure progress quarterly, and
then you adjust it. So I want you to stop and think
and write down your 2026 direction and three sentences,
OK, Start there and the goals build from that strategy to here
is I want you to plan for hyper focus.
OK, Don't fight it. Look at your history.
(06:53):
You know what's going to happen.Why are you even trying to
pretend like it's not? When do you hyper focus?
What do you typically hyper focus on?
What's the pattern? Build that into 2026.
Don't pretend it's not going to happen.
Expect it. Make it part of your strategy.
I talk a lot about this in my unmasked community and then of
course in my programs of how I have structured my work week for
my flow for that since what my entire Ted talk was about.
(07:16):
But if you know you hyper focus on community, build community
projects in quarter one, don't pretend you're going to pull off
something different map where your hyper focus typically shows
up in the year. Plan projects that leverage it.
Strategy 3 is building in those quarterly checkpoints, so not
necessarily annual goals. I do recommend that you have
annual goals, but instead of onegoal for the entire year, set
(07:38):
quarterly intentions every threemonths and review, adjust, move
forward. And that's going to give your
brain the structure it needs to be flexible and that's what it
requires. It's just that simple.
So set your three sentence direction for the year and set
quarter one goals, three areas of focus.
That's it. OK.
And then in March, look at that and say, OK, where am I going
(07:58):
from here? Strategy 4, identify your non
negotiables. And Oh my gosh, I cannot tell
you enough about this. These are three things that must
happen in 2026 for you, not for perfection, but for business
survival and growth. Maybe it's a revenue target,
maybe it's customer satisfaction, maybe it's
sustainable hours. Whatever it is, identify that.
Now everything else can pivot. But write your three non
(08:20):
negotiables for 2026. Everything else can change.
And then Strategy 5 here, give yourself permission to pivot,
OK? This is the magic 1 because
you're allowed to change your mind.
You're allowed to follow the hyper focus.
You're allowed to respond to themarket signals.
Written permission from me, fromthe unmasked community, from the
ADHC Preneur Academy. You don't have to rigidly
(08:41):
execute a plan that's no longer working if it is not in your gut
that it is what you're supposed to be doing.
If it doesn't feel good to you, why are you doing it?
Write this down somewhere, OK? You'll see it.
I have permission to adjust my 2026 plan based on learning
market feedback. My actual energy.
Boom, done. Put a sticky note, put it on
your desk. So implementation tips.
(09:02):
Here's how you're actually goingto do it.
First starting out, let your ideas percolate.
If you're trying to wait till January 1 to get this going,
Yikes. 2, you need to be in somesort of mentorship and
accountability program that actually sees you, sees your
brain, how you work. So you need to be using focus
and free membership or I don't care.
You can go find a different mentor, but you need some sort
of accountability structure. You got to share your direction,
(09:24):
you got to get feedback on it. We are always looking for get
somebody to validate us and it'sjust how we operate and it's
very hard to validate ourselves,especially when our
neurodivergent brain starts spiraling.
Third, you need to build in a pivot point.
Maybe it's March, maybe it's April.
Give yourself a moment to reviewand adjust course if needed #4
track what works not perfectly approximately so you can learn
(09:47):
the patterns. We recognize patterns, we like
patterns that gives you the dopamine that you need and the
momentum to keep going. 5 Celebrate the pivots, OK?
They're not failures, they're your brain doing exactly what it
should be doing. So you're 2026 doesn't have to
look like everyone else's, OK? It doesn't have to be rigid.
It doesn't have to be planned perfectly.
It has to be flexible, responsive and built for how
(10:08):
your brain operates. And when you plan that way,
something magical kind of happens.
Not to go all Disney on you guys, but I am getting ready to
go to Disney, so maybe that's why I said magical.
But you stop failing at plans, you start succeeding at life,
You pivot when you need to. Your hyper focus should come
into play when it needs to. You build a business that works
with your brain instead of against it.
(10:29):
That's 2026. That's sustainable ADHD
entrepreneurship. So with that being said, if you
got any value out of this episode at all, I like to keep
them short and sweet to the point.
Drop me a review. It is the absolute best
compliment you can give. Take a screenshot of you
listening to this, throw it in your stories and tag me at
social A dot. Awesome and igi read everyone.
I want to help celebrate you. As always, check the show notes
(10:52):
for all the resources mentioned today.
If you don't have someone that understands your brain and can
help guide you on your path and ADHD entrepreneurship, it's
going to be a really hard journey for you.
A really hard journey for you. And that's why I made made 2025
my year to really serve neurodivergent entrepreneurs and
start bringing more awareness tolight for this.
(11:13):
So I can't wait to see you in next week's episode.
And next week we're actually talking about your year end
money reality check. I know it's going to be a hard
one. And if you missed last week's
episode, episode 191, go back and listen to that as well.
So this week we talked all aboutgoals, but last week we talked
about reviewing where you currently are to make these
(11:35):
goals. And until next time, make it
simple, make it social, make it awesome.
Here's the pattern I see with ADHD entrepreneurs in January,
right? You set those goals, you're
committed, you're going to do this.
And then March hits and you discover something totally new
and you get bored with the original plan.
You pivot, you hyper focus on something completely different
and you feel like you failed. But what if the pivot is
actually the plan? Yo-yo, yes.
(00:27):
Yo-yo, Yo-yo with the least. Say it right.
No cap. ADHD CEO.
Yeah, We run this track systems that slap brains built
different. We make sales in our sleep.
Yeah, the hustle's efficient. This ain't fluff.
Nah, this is strategy. Raw for the ADHD minds breaking.
Never your law hit. Subscribe.
Don't miss a single show. We're running on dopamine.
(00:48):
Let's go. Let's go, let's go.
What if flexibility is the entire strategy for ADHD brains?
Traditional goal setting is set up for failure because it
assumes you can change your mind.
It assumes January knowledge is better than March knowledge.
(01:09):
And that's totally wrong. And so some things that I see is
entrepreneur saying like, I haveto know what I want for the
whole year. No, no, you don't.
OK. You have to know what direction
you're going, what you're working towards, but the
specific path that gets figured out as you go.
And this is actually more responsible than rigidly
following a plan that no longer works.
There is nothing worse than sticking to a plan and in your
(01:30):
gut knowing that it's not what you're supposed to be doing.
And so that's the entire reason I launched the Growth Game Plan
sessions while back was you sentyour direction, your three month
iterations and you're allowed toadjust each quarter based on
real information. And that's not wishy washy,
that's smart. And instead of goal setting, do
direction setting. Like what direction do you want
(01:52):
your business to move in 2026? Revenue, audience, product
expansion, impact, it might be all of those things.
But if you know the direction, the implementation kind of
happens as you go. I also see a lot of 80 HT
preneur saying like if I'm not disciplined about my goals, I'm
going to fail. And it's actually the opposite.
(02:12):
If you're so rigidly attached toyour goals that you can't adjust
when things change or when really big opportunities show
up, you're going to fail, OK? Your market will shift, your
customers will change, your energy is going to move.
And discipline isn't about not pivoting.
It's about being disciplined about the direction, even when
you're flexible about the path. And so I want you to think about
(02:35):
listing out the goals from last year that you accomplished and
notice which ones you were flexible about and adjusted,
because those are your successes.
Your hyper focus isn't a problem, OK?
It's not a problem. And this is another thing and I
see often that wrecks so many neurodivergent entrepreneurs is
they hyper focus on something, they abandoned their plan and
(02:58):
then they feel guilty. But hyper focus is legitimately
your superpower. It is your brain saying this is
important, this matters, let's go deep.
And so instead of fighting it, you have to make a plan to work
with it. It's a plan, your gear.
So your hyper focus is expected and integrated.
And you should know that based on your history and the focus
and free membership, That's whatI teach specifically.
(03:20):
Build your hyper focus into yourprojects.
You don't want to pretend they won't happen.
You know it's going to happen. What typically do you get hyper
focused on? Is it community?
Is it content? Is it product development?
Is a client service? Build that into 2026.
And so I know a lot of times we think that commitment means
never changing your mind, but that's just corporate culture
(03:40):
bullshit, honestly. And and that's how it works,
right? In corporate, you set a goal in
quarter one, you execute it through quarter four, no matter
what changes. But that's actually a really
poor strategy. Good strategy accounts for new
information, market shifts, learning your ability to change
your mind when the evidence suggests you should is a
feature. It's not a bug, it's not a
problem. And we think, and we've been
(04:01):
trained to think that real entrepreneurs have these five
year plans. And, and you probably do and you
probably did, but we also know ADHD brains, we change your mind
often, right? And so some entrepreneurs
benefit from those long term planning, some benefit from
quarterly planning with annual direction.
And that's what I see works better for neurodivergent
brains. And so I share a lot about this
(04:22):
in my unmasked community becauseit's full of entrepreneurs who
have stopped fighting their actual planning process and
embraced it instead. That lie that we tell ourselves
that pivoting means we weren't serious or we weren't
successful, it just keeps you attached to bad strategies.
Every successful company pivots.They learn, they adjust, they
respond to that market feedback.And so your 2026 goals should
(04:44):
include the pivot possibility from day one.
And I remember sitting down to plan 2024.
I was determined, OK, this was what, 2-3 years ago?
This was going to be the year, it was going to be my year.
And I was going to stick to the plan.
I wasn't going to change anything.
I was not going to hyper focus on anything.
I was just going to execute. And by March, I was hyper
focused on something completely different.
And I felt so guilty, like I wasfailing, like I was off track.
(05:08):
But I went on, hit six figures in less than six months, again
for the second in time, because I realized that the pivot was
actually working better than theoriginal plan.
The new focus was more aligned with my energy.
The market response was better. I wasn't failing.
I was learning. And instead of fighting against
it, I did something pretty radical.
I acknowledged that pivot and I made it official and I built the
(05:29):
rest of the year around it. And so the most successful year
I had happened when I stopped forcing the plan and started
working with those signals, those gut punches that I get.
And so if you've never listened to any of my episodes, I love to
be super tactical. So I'm going to give you 5 steps
to build a pivot friendly because it's going to happen.
You know what? Let's go ahead and acknowledge
it. Set your direction.
(05:49):
Strategy one, OK, your direction, not your destination.
So when you're looking at makingyour goals for 2026, I want you
to think about like instead of saying I'm going to make
$250,000 in 2026, I want you to think like I'm building, you
know, a six figure revenue sustainably.
I want you to think along the lines of what that direction
(06:10):
looks like, right? Direction gives you flexibility,
destination locks you in and obviously we need to have SMART
goals in order to achieve them, but start with the direction.
So instead of I'm going to launch three products try, I'm
going to expand my product rangebased on what the market wants
in this area or this this niche.And so I work really closely
(06:31):
with my students in the ADHD Preneur Academy teaching this.
You set the direction, you measure progress quarterly, and
then you adjust it. So I want you to stop and think
and write down your 2026 direction and three sentences,
OK, Start there and the goals build from that strategy to here
is I want you to plan for hyper focus.
OK, Don't fight it. Look at your history.
(06:53):
You know what's going to happen.Why are you even trying to
pretend like it's not? When do you hyper focus?
What do you typically hyper focus on?
What's the pattern? Build that into 2026.
Don't pretend it's not going to happen.
Expect it. Make it part of your strategy.
I talk a lot about this in my unmasked community and then of
course in my programs of how I have structured my work week for
my flow for that since what my entire Ted talk was about.
(07:16):
But if you know you hyper focus on community, build community
projects in quarter one, don't pretend you're going to pull off
something different map where your hyper focus typically shows
up in the year. Plan projects that leverage it.
Strategy 3 is building in those quarterly checkpoints, so not
necessarily annual goals. I do recommend that you have
annual goals, but instead of onegoal for the entire year, set
(07:38):
quarterly intentions every threemonths and review, adjust, move
forward. And that's going to give your
brain the structure it needs to be flexible and that's what it
requires. It's just that simple.
So set your three sentence direction for the year and set
quarter one goals, three areas of focus.
That's it. OK.
And then in March, look at that and say, OK, where am I going
(07:58):
from here? Strategy 4, identify your non
negotiables. And Oh my gosh, I cannot tell
you enough about this. These are three things that must
happen in 2026 for you, not for perfection, but for business
survival and growth. Maybe it's a revenue target,
maybe it's customer satisfaction, maybe it's
sustainable hours. Whatever it is, identify that.
Now everything else can pivot. But write your three non
(08:20):
negotiables for 2026. Everything else can change.
And then Strategy 5 here, give yourself permission to pivot,
OK? This is the magic 1 because
you're allowed to change your mind.
You're allowed to follow the hyper focus.
You're allowed to respond to themarket signals.
Written permission from me, fromthe unmasked community, from the
ADHC Preneur Academy. You don't have to rigidly
(08:41):
execute a plan that's no longer working if it is not in your gut
that it is what you're supposed to be doing.
If it doesn't feel good to you, why are you doing it?
Write this down somewhere, OK? You'll see it.
I have permission to adjust my 2026 plan based on learning
market feedback. My actual energy.
Boom, done. Put a sticky note, put it on
your desk. So implementation tips.
(09:02):
Here's how you're actually goingto do it.
First starting out, let your ideas percolate.
If you're trying to wait till January 1 to get this going,
Yikes. 2, you need to be in somesort of mentorship and
accountability program that actually sees you, sees your
brain, how you work. So you need to be using focus
and free membership or I don't care.
You can go find a different mentor, but you need some sort
of accountability structure. You got to share your direction,
(09:24):
you got to get feedback on it. We are always looking for get
somebody to validate us and it'sjust how we operate and it's
very hard to validate ourselves,especially when our
neurodivergent brain starts spiraling.
Third, you need to build in a pivot point.
Maybe it's March, maybe it's April.
Give yourself a moment to reviewand adjust course if needed #4
track what works not perfectly approximately so you can learn
(09:47):
the patterns. We recognize patterns, we like
patterns that gives you the dopamine that you need and the
momentum to keep going. 5 Celebrate the pivots, OK?
They're not failures, they're your brain doing exactly what it
should be doing. So you're 2026 doesn't have to
look like everyone else's, OK? It doesn't have to be rigid.
It doesn't have to be planned perfectly.
It has to be flexible, responsive and built for how
(10:08):
your brain operates. And when you plan that way,
something magical kind of happens.
Not to go all Disney on you guys, but I am getting ready to
go to Disney, so maybe that's why I said magical.
But you stop failing at plans, you start succeeding at life,
You pivot when you need to. Your hyper focus should come
into play when it needs to. You build a business that works
with your brain instead of against it.
(10:29):
That's 2026. That's sustainable ADHD
entrepreneurship. So with that being said, if you
got any value out of this episode at all, I like to keep
them short and sweet to the point.
Drop me a review. It is the absolute best
compliment you can give. Take a screenshot of you
listening to this, throw it in your stories and tag me at
social A dot. Awesome and igi read everyone.
I want to help celebrate you. As always, check the show notes
(10:52):
for all the resources mentioned today.
If you don't have someone that understands your brain and can
help guide you on your path and ADHD entrepreneurship, it's
going to be a really hard journey for you.
A really hard journey for you. And that's why I made made 2025
my year to really serve neurodivergent entrepreneurs and
start bringing more awareness tolight for this.
(11:13):
So I can't wait to see you in next week's episode.
And next week we're actually talking about your year end
money reality check. I know it's going to be a hard
one. And if you missed last week's
episode, episode 191, go back and listen to that as well.
So this week we talked all aboutgoals, but last week we talked
about reviewing where you currently are to make these
(11:35):
goals. And until next time, make it
simple, make it social, make it awesome.
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