On camera, icing cookies looks easy. In real life, it’s sticky and chaotic, and the final result rarely looks like the picture on the box.
That’s exactly what happens when ADHD entrepreneurs set big, glossy goals in December and then try to build a marketing plan around them.
On the surface, this looks like a planning problem. Underneath, it’s a nervous-system and marketing problem colliding at the worst possible time of year.
Let’s zoom out from the cookies and into what’s actually going on with your brain, your goals, and your 2026 marketing.
December Supercharges Perfectionism and Comparison
By late December, your feeds are full of:
- “Here’s everything we accomplished this year.”
- “Here’s our 7-figure recap.”
- “Here’s our 12-month content plan.”
You’re marinating in other people’s “after” pictures while still standing in your own “during.”
At the same time, overall stress is already elevated. A 2023 survey conducted by the American Psychological Association found that 89% of U.S. adults experience increased stress during the holiday season, and 41% report more stress than the rest of the year.
Now layer ADHD onto that.
The ADHD brain regulates dopamine differently, which is a big part of why motivation and task initiation feel inconsistent. ADHD-ers have an “interest-based nervous system,” where interest, novelty, challenge, and urgency drive action far more than “importance” alone.
When everyone online is loudly planning, your brain translates that social urgency into, “We have to do this. Right now. Perfectly.” So you sit down to set goals in the most stressful, comparison-heavy month of the year and expect yourself to create a realistic marketing plan.
That’s the trap.
How December Goals Quietly Sabotage Your Marketing
Under December pressure, most ADHD entrepreneurs do the same thing: they set goals for the person they wish they were, not the person who actually runs the business.
That sounds like:
“I’m going to post every day on three platforms.”
“I’ll launch three new offers and a group program.”
“I’ll finally be consistent with email, speaking, and video.”
On paper, it looks inspired. In your nervous system, it’s a setup.
Here’s what usually happens next:
- The plan fights your brain. ADHD motivation runs on interest and novelty. By mid-January, the “newness” of your plan wears off, and routines that aren’t designed for your wiring become hard to execute.
- Marketing becomes all-or-nothing. When you inevitably miss a week, perfectionism frames that as failure. It feels easier to ghost your audience than to show up “inconsistently.”
- You keep rebuilding instead of compounding. Every time the plan cracks, you throw it out and design a new one. That’s precisely the loop we talk about in “Stop Solving the Wrong Problem: Why You’re Stuck Fixing the Same Thing Again and Again.” You’re constantly troubleshooting yourself instead of the system.
From the outside, this looks like flaky marketing. From the inside, it’s a nervous system trying to survive a plan that never really fit.
Micro-Marketing Goals That Work With Your Brain
None of this means you shouldn’t set goals. It means December is the worst time to lock yourself into a 12-month, all-or-nothing marketing promise. Here’s a better approach, especially for ADHD entrepreneurs:
- Use December for direction, not demands.
Outline broad priorities: What offers matter most? Which audience segments do you want to focus on? What channels are already working? That’s enough for now. - Set behavior-based micro-goals once the pressure drops.
When you set a meaningful, achievable goal, your brain’s reward system releases dopamine in anticipation of progress, not just at the finish line. That works in your favor when the steps are small and clear.
Think: “Two emails a month to my list” instead of “Daily email forever,” or “Show up on one primary platform twice a week” instead of “Dominate every channel.”
- Match goals to actual energy patterns.
If you know January is heavy (travel, family recovery, client wrap-up), don’t stack massive marketing commitments there. Push high-output goals into February or March, and let January be a ramp, not a sprint.
We walk through this kind of planning in “Strategic Planning for ADHD Entrepreneurs: Why Too Many Tools Keep You Stuck (and What to Do Instead).”
- Let goals evolve instead of treating them as a verdict.
Your first pass is a hypothesis, not a moral contract. If your “cookie” looks different once the icing hits reality, that’s feedback, not failure.
The Real Marketing Win: Goals That Survive January
The goal isn’t a flawless, color-coded plan you’ll resent by February. The goal is a set of commitments that your ADHD brain can keep often enough that your audience learns to trust you. If your December goals currently make you feel more shame than clarity, that’s not proof you’re failing at business or marketing.
It’s proof that the way you’ve been taught to plan was never designed for the brain you have.
And that’s fixable.
If you’re ready to build a growth plan that actually fits your brain instead of fighting it, come hang out with us at Grow Disrupt. Start exploring ADHD-friendly strategies, events, and resources today.