How ADHD Burnout Cycle Built My Pinterest SOP – From Spiraling to Systems

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Sometimes the universe has a twisted sense of humor, especially when you’re deep in the ADHD burnout cycle.

Last week I made this momentous decision to quit ad agency route and take back control of my Facebook and Google Ads. I was feeling empowered, ready to dive back in.

Then I actually looked at my Google Ads.

Zero conversions.

Not one.

My brain immediately went into full spiral mode and in the end to a ADHD burnout cycle .

The Deep Dive Into Digital Quicksand

You know that feeling when you discover something’s broken and you can’t figure out why? That’s where I lived for two solid days.

I was everywhere – Google searching, asking ChatGPT, asking Claude, diving into tracking codes, checking pixels. Everything looked fine on paper. The tracking was good. The setup was correct.

But nothing was converting.

I was getting anxious, stressed, and honestly? Really irritated at myself for not checking these ads earlier. Classic ADHD burnout cycle beginning – the guilt spiral that makes everything worse.

I didn’t want to change anything because I was afraid I’d break something else. This is exactly how the ADHD burnout cycle traps us: paralysis disguised as caution. But after two days of this mental torture, I realized I needed help.

The Fiverr Experiment (And A Green Flag Lesson)

I went to Fiverr and started hunting for a Google Ads expert. Here’s something I’ve learned after many tries on these platforms: the sweet spot is usually Level 1 freelancers.

They’re easier to work with, more accommodating, and more sincere because they’re still building their reputation. Level 3 and higher? Usually agencies in disguise, and I wasn’t going down that road again.

I shortlisted 6-7 Level 1 freelancers and sent them messages about my conversion problem.

One guy replied with the right questions, asked for the right access, and then said something that made my heart sing:

“Let me figure out what the problem is first, then we’ll discuss pricing.”

That’s a massive green flag. When someone wants to understand the scope before jumping on the money bandwagon? That’s your person.

I gave him access and waited.

The Facebook Ads Plot Twist

While all this was happening, my Facebook ads – which had been paused – suddenly resumed. I have no idea what went wrong or what came back up. This kind of blindness is really difficult.

The ads are running now, but I honestly don’t know what happened in between. It’s like being in a fog where things just… happen… and you’re not sure why.

The One Thing That Actually Got Done

While I was drowning in ad drama, something interesting happened. I actually completed my content strategy implementation.

Sometimes when we’re in paralysis mode, we need to do something useful just to feel human again.

I created this comprehensive Notion page for my team with our 2025 content strategy:

• Top of funnel: Free resources, hacks, and tips
• Middle of funnel: Addressing objections
• Bottom of funnel: Direct product selling

I even created a presentation with Gamma, hopped on a team Zoom call, and walked everyone through it. The whole system includes prompts they can use, steps for extracting content from my transcripts, and a content calendar.

My team has started working on it, and having everything in one place instead of scattered across Google Drive? Game changer.

And here’s a PSA: Don’t buy fancy Notion templates. They’re usually overcomplicated and create more friction than they solve. Simple and functional beats pretty and confusing every time.

The Pinterest Project (Because Sometimes You Need Spark)

While waiting for the Google Ads person to get back to me and for my Facebook ads situation to resolve, I needed something to give my brain some spark. You know that feeling when you’re stuck but you need to create something?

I decided to finally set up that Pinterest account I’d been putting off.

And because I’m me, I didn’t just set it up – I created a complete Pinterest VA handoff system that you can literally give to your virtual assistant and say “do this, do this, do this.” No thinking required.

I’m calling it “Delegate and Dominate Pinterest” and it’s available for $9. It’s everything you need to hand off Pinterest completely – from setup to ongoing management.

I took the exact Pinterest system I’ve been using for My Little Moppet (my kids’ food business) and finally put it on paper. This isn’t theory – it’s the proven system that’s been driving real results for months.

What you get: The complete “Delegate and Dominate Pinterest” framework – everything you need to hand off Pinterest completely to a VA, from initial setup to ongoing management so that you can be consistent in pinterest and drive FREE traffic to your website consistently.

The System Consolidation Breakthrough

But wait, there’s more. (I know, I know, but stick with me.)

While I was organizing my Pinterest stuff, something clicked. I realized I had systems and tools scattered everywhere – Google Drive, random bookmarks, half-finished Notion pages, sticky notes on my desk.

This is where the ADHD burnout cycle gets interesting. Sometimes when we’re avoiding the thing that’s stressing us out, we create our best systems. It’s like productive procrastination meets crisis management.

So I did something that felt impossibly satisfying: I created an optimisepress page and finally organized ALL my systems and tools in one place.

Like, everything. All the tools I actually use, all the systems that work for my ADHD brain, all the resources I keep coming back to. Instead of hunting through fifteen different places when I need something, it’s all there.

You can check it out here – it’s honestly been one of the most useful things I’ve done for my own productivity.

The Resolution (Sort Of)

The Fiverr guy found the conversion problem, but couldn’t fix it because he didn’t know my website setup. I had to bring in my Google Analytics person to handle the technical conversion stuff.

Problem solved, right?

Well… maybe. I’m not 100% confident the Google Ads are actually performing well now. And that uncertainty is killing me.

I ended up postponing the decision about hiring the Fiverr freelancer to next week. Sometimes you just need to put decisions to rest when your brain is overwhelmed.

The Knowledge Gap That’s Costing Me My Sanity

Here’s what this whole mess taught me: As an entrepreneur, I used to understand every part of my business. Email marketing, systems, processes – I knew it all.

But ads? I got lazy.

The problem with ads is they change every single day. Meta changes, Google changes, and I just… didn’t want to keep up. I thought I could outsource it forever.

In my kids’ food business, I know every single process from scratch. I can hand-roast grains and lentils on the stove (the traditional Indian way), I know exactly when to switch off the gas, I can even make carton boxes. Even though there are 50 people working there, I taught everyone because I learned everything first.

But with ads, I trusted an agency and just… stopped monitoring them daily or even monthly.

That decision cost me an entire month of mental bandwidth. When you don’t understand something that’s critical to your business, every problem becomes a crisis. Every issue sends you spiraling because you have no context, no baseline, no way to troubleshoot.

It’s like being blind in a maze.

I think I need to learn. I’m going to learn from the ads course I have, and I probably need to buy some Google Ads courses too. The only problem is there are thousands of courses out there, and I don’t know which ones to follow.

But learning is our superpower, right? So I need to get back to that.

The ADHD Burnout Cycle: When Your Body Keeps Score

By the end of this week, I came down with a cold, cough, headache, and fever.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I think this was the culmination of an entire month of emotional spiral finally manifesting physically. This is classic ADHD burnout cycle – the mental overwhelm eventually shows up in your body. (Though my kids also have colds, so maybe I just caught it from them. Who knows?)

This whole month started with such momentum – I created a course in one day! But then everything else went into a haze. Complete haze.

And now I have to go out of station this week while feeling terrible. There are lots of other things happening, but I still want to make this work. The ADHD burnout cycle doesn’t pause for inconvenient timing.

The Monthly Reality Check

This month has been… something.

I started this month with so much mojo. I created that course in one day, felt unstoppable.

But that’s it for the entire month. The rest went by in a complete haze.

That’s the thing about ADHD brains and the adhd burnout cycle. When we get stuck on one problem, everything else blurs out. This entire month became “Facebook ads and Google ads” and nothing else mattered.

We lose track of the intricate things – both the good ADHD things and the challenging ones. And the cycle just repeats, next, next, next.

The Unexpected Therapy Session

Recording these weekly updates has become something I didn’t expect – my real therapy.

It’s like talking to a therapist, but without a therapist in front of me. I’m talking to you, my small but mighty audience, and it’s making me see things about myself I wouldn’t have caught otherwise.

I feel vulnerable sharing all this. Sometimes I think, “Oh my god, I’m telling strangers on the internet about my complete mess of a business week.”

It’s a very small audience – I’m not saying you don’t matter, but it’s not like there are thousands of people hearing what I’m going to say. It’s a very small group.

But here’s what I’ve realized: There are so many people out there telling us ADHD entrepreneurs what we should do. When I was spiraling and getting into a adhd burnout cycle this week, I even looked for an ADHD coach to help me. But everything they suggested just wasn’t going into my brain. I felt huge resistance to it.

It felt like pressure.

Maybe it’s just me, or maybe this will resonate with you, but I think we ADHD people need to do things our own way to break the burnout cycle. When there’s outside pressure telling us what to do, we get more pressurized and nothing gets done.

My Suggestion for Fellow ADHD Entrepreneurs

What I’d suggest instead? At least create a daily journal. Dictate to it, or if you’re a writing person, write in it. Then give it to AI and tell it to summarize whatever you’ve said.

This simple practice can help interrupt the ADHD burnout cycle before it spirals out of control.

Because we forget what we said. These last three weeks, I don’t even remember what’s in my blog posts or what emails I sent. Everything has blurred together for me.

For us, we lose track of the intricate things – both the good ADHD things and the challenging ADHD things. And it keeps repeating.

Breaking Out of the ADHD Burnout Cycle: What Actually Works

This whole month taught me crucial things about preventing the ADHD burnout cycle:

1. Have a backup for everything
2. Learn everything, even if you plan to outsource it

The ADHD burnout cycle often starts with knowledge gaps. Without knowledge, I’ve been in this business for so long, but since I trusted an agency completely and didn’t monitor them regularly, I spent an entire month thinking about and tackling just this one problem.

That’s huge.

I sincerely say that if I hadn’t been doing this open newsletter – where I talk straight from my heart, very vulnerable, very authentic, very true – I wouldn’t have realized this. I would have just moved on to the next month thinking I should do something with Facebook, but without the clarity.

I don’t know who’s reading these blog posts or finding value, but I am finding value myself. A lot. This is showing me more and more about my ADHD business, more and more about me and my ADHD.

I think I’m going to name my ADHD something. It’s like a Buddha to me, showing me everything.

What’s Coming Next Week (Spoiler: No Clue)

Maybe next week will be different. Maybe not. I don’t know what next week is going to bring.

I’m already done. It’s just Thursday as I’m recording this, but I don’t think I can continue this week. I need to take time off.

But you know how we can’t really take time off – our brains will be continuously swirling. Physically I’m very tired, very very tired, and I just want to run away and sleep forever.

Next week is again a new week, and I have no clue what it’s going to come up with.

But I’ll be here, sharing it all with you.

Because if there’s one thing this week taught me, it’s that authenticity – even when it’s messy, especially when it’s messy – is where the real insights live.

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P.S. Between the systems page with all my organized systems here and the “Delegate and Dominate Pinterest” system here for $9, this week actually produced some pretty useful stuff despite the ad drama. Sometimes our ADHD brains create the best systems when we’re avoiding the thing we’re supposed to be doing.

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