Episode 95
You’re Not Inconsistent, You’re Bored: A Conversation with Polly Pollock
"I just can't stay consistent."
It's a sentence I've heard countless times from clients, and if you have ADHD, there's a good chance you've said it about yourself too. Maybe you've started using a planner only to abandon it a month later. Maybe you've promised yourself you'd exercise regularly, stick to a budget, post consistently on social media, or finally keep your desk organized. It works for a while, until one day it doesn't. That's usually the moment the self-criticism begins.
"See? I knew I couldn't stick with it."
During a recent conversation with marketing mentor Polly Pollock, we talked about this idea of inconsistency, and she offered a perspective that I think deserves a lot more attention. What if the problem isn't that you're inconsistent at all? What if you've simply been trying to force yourself to keep doing something that no longer works for your brain?
That shift may seem subtle, but it changes everything.
The Danger of Turning a Struggle Into an Identity
There's an important difference between saying, "I'm struggling to stay consistent," and saying, "I am inconsistent."
The first describes a challenge. The second becomes part of your identity.
Once we decide something is part of who we are, our brains become remarkably good at collecting evidence to support that belief. Every unfinished project becomes proof. Every forgotten appointment reinforces the story. Every abandoned routine confirms what we've already decided must be true.
Before long, we stop asking why something stopped working because we've already concluded that the answer is us.
For many adults with ADHD, this story has been reinforced for years. Teachers may have described you as capable but unmotivated. Employers may have questioned your follow-through. Family members may have encouraged you to "just try harder."
Eventually those messages stop coming from other people because we start saying them to ourselves.
Sometimes It's Not Inconsistency. It's Boredom.
One of Polly's observations really stood out to me.
She said that many people who describe themselves as inconsistent are actually bored. Or they're working on something that isn't producing a result they care about anymore.
That makes sense when you consider how ADHD brains are wired.
Novelty matters. Interest matters. Progress matters. We can stay deeply engaged with something that feels meaningful, challenging, or rewarding. But when those elements disappear, motivation often disappears with them.
Instead of recognizing that the task has changed, we assume we've changed.
We decide we've failed.
That's a heavy burden to carry when the real issue might simply be that your brain needs something different.
Stop Throwing Away Systems That Almost Work
One thing I appreciated about Polly's approach is that she doesn't encourage people to reinvent their lives every few weeks. She encourages them to pay attention to the moment when something starts feeling stale.
That's a very different mindset.
Many of us are all-or-nothing thinkers. We find a planner we love, use it faithfully for six weeks, and then one day it feels painfully boring. Rather than making a small adjustment, we throw the planner away and begin searching for the next perfect system.
Then we repeat the cycle.
Instead of asking, "Why can't I stick with anything?" Polly encourages people to ask, "What needs a small refresh?"
Sometimes the answer is surprisingly simple.
You might:
Change the layout of your planner.
Rename a project that's started to feel stale.
Work in a different location.
Switch the order in which you complete tasks.
Add more visible ways to track progress.
Those tiny adjustments often provide enough novelty to re-engage your attention without forcing you to start over.
I love that idea because it acknowledges something many people with ADHD already know intuitively: our brains don't necessarily need completely new systems. Sometimes they simply need familiar systems presented in a fresh way.
The Goal Isn't to Work Harder
One of the biggest myths surrounding ADHD is that success belongs to the people who simply push through.
Push harder.
Stay later.
Work longer.
Compensate more.
Many high achievers become incredibly skilled at doing exactly that. They're praised for their work ethic, their reliability, and their willingness to take on more. From the outside they look successful.
On the inside, they're exhausted.
Polly described her own experience in corporate life as constantly trying to earn approval by working harder than everyone else. That pattern didn't disappear overnight when she became an entrepreneur. Like many people diagnosed with ADHD later in life, she had to untangle years of believing her worth depended on how much she could produce.
That's a lesson that extends far beyond business.
Whether you work for yourself or someone else, constantly proving your value through overwork is not a sustainable strategy.
Before You Add Something New, Ask What You Can Remove
When people feel overwhelmed, our instinct is often to look for another productivity strategy.
Maybe a better app.
A better planner.
A better morning routine.
Sometimes what we actually need is subtraction.
When Polly works with entrepreneurs approaching burnout, one of the first questions she asks is what they're spending enormous amounts of time on that isn't producing meaningful results.
That's a question all of us can ask ourselves.
Where are you investing hours without moving closer to what matters?
What task drains your energy every week while giving very little back?
What obligation are you holding onto simply because you think you "should"?
Removing one unnecessary commitment often creates far more relief than adding three new productivity habits.
Success Should Include Happiness
Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Polly how she defines success.
Her answer was simple.
Success requires both purpose and happiness.
I loved that because we often assume purpose alone is enough. We convince ourselves that meaningful work should feel difficult all the time, or that exhaustion is simply the price ambitious people pay.
But purpose without happiness eventually becomes burnout.
At the same time, happiness without purpose can leave us feeling unfulfilled.
The healthiest version of success includes both.
It allows room for meaningful work, meaningful relationships, rest, curiosity, and joy.
A Different Question to Ask Yourself
This week, instead of asking, "Why can't I stay consistent?" I'd encourage you to ask a different question.
What if consistency isn't actually the problem?
Maybe you're bored.
Maybe the system needs a refresh.
Maybe you've outgrown the strategy that used to work.
Or maybe you've been carrying around a label that never really fit in the first place.
Approaching yourself with curiosity instead of criticism won't solve every challenge overnight. But it will help you stop fighting against your brain long enough to start understanding it.
And from my perspective, that's where lasting change begins.
👉 Resources
Find Polly Pollack: Neuropreneur Rising podcast | Free community (weekly mentorship, Facebook Lives)
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