How ADHD Shaped the Groundwork System

Read time: 3-4 minutes

When I was in college—before I dropped out and went to Silicon Valley—I was convinced something was wrong with me. All throughout school I struggled to retain information for exams. Sitting at a desk was torture.

But everything shifted when I found philosophy and humanities. Suddenly I could grasp and distill complex ideas with ease. I even started re-teaching entire classes to my peers, hosting drop-in sessions in the library to break down concepts in my own way. By finals, nearly the whole class was showing up for my recap sessions.

Still, about a year and a half in, I realized I was deeply unhappy in a traditional academic setting. I wanted to be on the court of life—learning by experimenting, failing, trying again. To my Punjabi father’s dismay, academics weren’t for me.

Before leaving, I went to student support services, desperate to understand why learning felt so hard. Was something wrong with my wiring? After a test, the answer came: ADHD.

At the time, I didn’t take the diagnosis too seriously. To me, it simply meant I needed to find a way of learning that worked for me. I hardly thought about it again until recently, when I began working with high-performing leaders who were also navigating their own ADHD. In their hardship and brilliance, I saw myself.

Looking back, I’m pretty sure I created the Groundwork System because of my ADHD (at least in part). I’ve learned that people like us thrive with structure, routine, and systems—not ones that box us in, but ones that support clarity, values, and abundant creativity.

To me, ADHD is a gift. Some research even suggests it’s a hunter-gatherer gene that persisted in those who never fully adapted to agricultural life. It gives us the ability to sprint, to hyper-focus, to chase what fascinates us. It’s a true superpower.

But left unchecked in a world constantly at war for our attention, ADHD can feel debilitating. Many leaders I’ve worked with spent years believing their struggle to stay organized was a personal failing—when in fact, they just needed the right system to unlock their brilliance.

That’s what the Groundwork System offers: a deeply adaptable framework that addresses both the internal and external factors that keep us stuck in survival mode. It’s for everyone, no doubt—I’ve seen it work across industries, life stages, and perspectives. But I hold special gratitude for how it redeemed my college years, transforming a perceived weakness into a pathway to high performance—for me and for others with ADHD who are learning to thrive.