The Fast Brain Map: why the easy stuff gets so hard at work
A 5-minute map of where your brain flies, where it gets stuck, and what to try first
A free 5-minute map for fast, busy minds, with or without an ADHD diagnosis: where you get stuck, what it costs, and small steps to try this week.
You get a lot done. It just costs more than it should.
And yet you still feel behind. The task you meant to do on Monday is still there on Thursday. The project that was nearly finished last month is still nearly finished. You catch up in the evenings, and people keep bringing you their problems.
Trying harder rarely fixes this. Seeing which habits you’ve been leaning on does, because then you can change the right thing.
The Fast Brain Map shows you. In about five minutes, you’ll answer 24 quick questions about your last four working weeks. You’ll see where your time and energy have been going, what you’re already doing well, and small, practical things to change this week.
Free, about five minutes, no email needed.
What the map looks at
A fast brain is quick, full of ideas and at its best under pressure. It also finds the simple, boring stuff strangely hard. Fast brains tend to get stuck in a few predictable ways. Each one is a habit that usually started as a strength, and it probably helped get you where you are. The catch is that each needs a different fix. A planner won’t help if the problem is finishing, and a deadline won’t help if the problem is too many ideas. So the map works out which habits you’ve been leaning on lately, and points you at the fix that fits.
Exploring. New ideas keep arriving, and they’re good ones. So you start the next thing before the last one’s done, and your week gets rearranged around whatever looks most interesting. It feels like progress, but the things that matter most move slowly.
Sprinting. Important work waits until a deadline, or another person, makes it urgent. Then you do it fast, and often well. The cost is the days you spend carrying it around beforehand, and going straight into the next sprint without recovering from the last one.
Solving. You love cracking a problem. Once it’s cracked, the rest feels like admin, so work sits at 80% and the follow-ups pile up. But work only creates value once it’s finished, so a lot of what you do is wasted, or never noticed.
Fixing. You’re good at rescuing things, so people bring you their problems and you take work back when it’s going slowly. It’s quicker in the moment. Over time, everything starts to depend on you.
Everyone does all four sometimes. Most people lean on one or two, and that shifts with the job and the season. These describe what you’ve been doing lately. The steps in your result work with how your brain works, instead of asking you for more discipline.
The map also checks two things that make everything harder: how hard setbacks have been hitting you, and what your way of working is costing you in energy, evenings and weekends. If the cost is high, your result starts there, because that needs attention first.
What you’ll get
A plain-English read-out of the habits you’ve been leaning on
What they’ve been costing you, and what you’re already doing well
Small, specific steps to try this week
Your result straight away, with the option to email it to yourself
How it works
Every question asks about something you’d have noticed yourself, like a task you put off or a project left nearly finished. There are no trick questions and nothing to prepare. Answer for what actually happened, not your best or worst days.
You’ll see your result straight away.
Who it’s for
People with busy, fast-moving minds who get a lot done and want it to cost them less. You might have an ADHD diagnosis or just a suspicion, or simply recognise yourself here. You don’t need a label to take it, and it can’t diagnose anything.
Why I made this
I lived on white-knuckled effort for 47 years. Two burnouts and an adult ADHD diagnosis later, I realised pushing harder wasn’t the answer. I made this so you can see what’s been happening sooner than I did.
Free 5-minute quiz
The Fast Brain Map
24 quick questions about the last four weeks. Answer for what actually happened, not your best or worst days.
It takes about five minutes, and you'll see your result straight away. It shows where things have been getting stuck, what you're already doing well, and small steps to try this week.
Want help with what the map shows?
In coaching, we work out how you operate, and build your week around it.
Created by
Richard Russell
Executive coach
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Here’s a 5-minute map of where a fast, busy mind gets stuck, with small steps to try this week.