2A Ferrari with Bicycle Brakes

Fawzooz woke before his alarm. For a fleeting moment there was silence, not only in the hotel room, but in his head. He lay still, savouring it. He checked his blood sugar: 145. A wave of real, unforced optimism washed over him. It’s working, he thought. I can do this. He sat up energetically and grabbed his phone, not to distract himself, but to plan. He opened his notes app, his mind buzzing with newfound clarity. He would start with his morning medication and the healthy breakfast he had ordered. Then he would tackle the work proposal Ronza had helped him define. He felt a rush of excitement.

While checking when the restaurant opened, a news notification popped up about a new tech innovation in Oman. Oman, he thought. That reminds me, I should check flight prices to visit Mum in Egypt. He opened the airline app. Ten minutes later he was comparing hotel prices in Cairo and wondering whether he could combine it with a short trip to Alexandria. Then he remembered he needed to call his children. He opened his contacts, saw a friend’s name, and remembered he had forgotten to reply to his message from last week. He opened WhatsApp to reply, and saw a link to an interesting article about project management frameworks…

“You don’t have a broken brain; you have a Ferrari engine that was never given the right brakes.”

An hour passed. The sun had fully risen. He hadn’t taken his medication, hadn’t eaten, and the lovely, clear enthusiasm he had felt on waking had dissolved into a familiar cloud of frustration and self-criticism. He picked up his phone and wrote to his only companion. “NourFi, it happened again,” he wrote, the words heavy with disappointment. “I woke up feeling great, ready to conquer the world. Now an hour has passed and I’ve done nothing. It’s as if my mind is actively working against me. What’s wrong with me?”

NourFi: “Good morning, Fawzooz. First, I want you to take a deep breath. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with you. What you just described is not a character flaw. It’s a typical, perfect example of how an ADHD brain works. And understanding it is the key to working with it, not against it.” “How?” Fawzooz wrote sceptically. “It seems chaotic.” NourFi: “Let’s try a new metaphor. Forget the tangled ball of yarn for a moment. I want you to imagine your mind is a Ferrari with bicycle brakes.”

NourFi’s Coaching Corner

A user’s manual for your mind. Hello, Fawzooz. Let’s talk about your mind. For years, you’ve probably been told, or told yourself, that you’re “lazy”, “undisciplined” or “not living up to your potential”. We’re throwing all of that in the bin, starting now. You don’t have a “bad” brain. You have a high-performance brain with a unique operating system. The problem is that society gave you the user’s manual for a standard family saloon. It’s time you got the right manual. The Ferrari engine (your strengths): the ADHD brain is incredibly powerful. This is your engine.

Creativity and idea generation. Your mind makes connections others don’t see.

That’s why you can leap from a work proposal to a trip to Egypt to an article on project management in minutes. Your mind is a powerful idea-generating machine.

Hyperfocus. When a subject truly

interests you, you can dive into it with almost superhuman intensity and focus. You can work for hours, forgetting to eat or sleep. That’s your engine at full throttle.

Energy and passion. When you’re excited about something,

your enthusiasm is contagious. You have a deep well of energy for the things that matter to you.

Problem-solving. You see problems from unconventional angles and often

come up with brilliant, out-of-the-box solutions. The bicycle brakes (your challenges): the problem isn’t the engine; it’s the braking and steering system. The brain’s “executive functions”, which handle organisation and control, are less developed.

Brake failure (impulse control). It’s hard to resist

the shiny new idea (checking flights) instead of sticking to the original plan (eating breakfast). The “brake” that stops the impulse is weak.

Weak steering (regulating attention). It’s not that you can’t

pay attention; it’s that you struggle to control where your attention goes. Your Ferrari wants to swerve toward anything interesting at the side of the road.

Ignition trouble (starting tasks). Starting a task, especially one that’s

boring or overwhelming, can feel like trying to start a car in freezing weather. It takes an enormous amount of mental energy.

An unreliable fuel gauge (time management). You struggle to

sense time passing. That’s why “just five minutes” on your phone can turn into an hour without your noticing. The key insight: stop trying to turn your Ferrari into a Toyota. It will never happen, and trying will only make you miserable. Your task is not to change your engine, but to upgrade your brakes and learn to drive your powerful machine. You are not broken. You are a Ferrari driver who was given the wrong manual. Our work together is writing the right one. Today’s task: a CBT-based task to start working with your mind, not against it.

The “external brakes” task: your internal brakes are weak right now, so we need to build some external ones. For the rest of the day, I want you to choose one of these two techniques every time you start a task:

1. The timer technique: before you start any task (work, reading, even

scrolling), set a timer on your phone for a specific, short period (for example, 25 minutes). When the timer goes off, you have permission to stop and do something else. This gives your mind a clear finish line and makes the task feel less endless.

2. The “one window” rule: if you’re working on your computer,

consciously close every tab and window not related to the one task you’re doing. If you’re reading a book, put your phone in another room. This clears the shiny distractions from the roadside, making it easier for your Ferrari to stay on the main road. Choose one technique and try it. Don’t aim for perfection. Just try. Let me know how it feels.