For years I’ve watched artists sit down with a clear list of what they need to do (send the follow-up, update the website, mail the invitation, post to Instagram) and then not do any of it.
Not because they don’t understand marketing. Not because they don’t want a thriving art business.
But because something between knowing and doing keeps breaking.
What executive function has to do with your art business
In this episode of The Art Biz, my guest Georgie Coote identifies the culprit underneath this gap as unreliable executive function.
Things like planning, organization, and task initiation are the things that let you look at a to-do list and start. When they aren’t working the way you want them to, you can know exactly what needs to happen and still feel unable to begin.
Add time blindness, the way ADHD brains perceive time, and it gets more complicated. You put something off because it feels enormous, then when you finally start it takes five minutes. Or you sink into a chair in front of your computer and lose the whole afternoon you’d blocked for the studio.
Why “just do it” doesn’t work
I used to be far more rigid about how I taught planning. Set the goal, break it into steps, put it on the calendar, execute. It took me years to understand that that wasn’t working for many of my clients, so I changed how I coach.
Georgie’s explanation: everyone’s brain relates to information differently, and ADHD brains especially need visual, tangible systems. A calendar you can’t see doesn’t exist. A digital reminder buried in an app doesn’t fire. One of her clients built a physical Post-it note version of a Trello board so she could see the project moving across her wall.
The point is that whatever system you adopt must match the way your brain works.
Why so many women are diagnosed in midlife
Georgie sees a lot of women who get diagnosed in their 40s, 50s, and later. They’ve been holding everything together for everyone else — kids, partners, aging parents, the mental load of a household — and at some point there’s more coming at them than they can keep up with. What looks like ADHD emerging is often ADHD finally becoming visible after decades of masking it.
Not everyone who feels scattered has ADHD. Modern life is genuinely overloaded, and overwhelm can produce symptoms that look similar. Georgie is careful to make that distinction, so keep it in mind if you’re wondering about yourself.
What helps when you can’t start
Starting is the hard part. What Georgie sees work:
- Saying out loud what you’re stuck on. You often start working it out the moment you hear yourself describe it.
- Breaking a task down to a step so small it feels almost silly. Starting is the hard part.
- Getting your systems out where you can see them, in whatever form works for your particular brain.
- Talking to someone who isn’t going to judge you for how you got here.
That last one is where coaching comes in.
You have Georgie’s list of strategies and can probably find others online. What’s often missing is someone in the room with you when you try to use them. Someone who can help you name what you’re stuck on, break it into a step you’ll actually take, and treat the whole thing without judgment.
If you work with artists who have ADHD
If you work with an artist whose brain runs differently than yours, Georgie suggests dropping the assumption that your way is the correct way.
Ask them how they’d approach it. You’ll often get an answer that isn’t yours and works better for the person doing the work.
Georgie Coote Quotes
“A neurotypical brain isn’t better than an ADHD brain. They’re just different.”
“There’s so much exhaustion from trying your hardest to be what you perceive to be normal.”
“Having ideas is great, but you need to be able to implement them.”
“It’s not a weakness to need support. Everybody could benefit from a coach at some point in their life.”
About Georgie Coote
Georgie Coote is a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach and an ADHD clinical services provider, who specializes in coaching adults with ADHD.
The majority of her work is with women who are diagnosed later in life, including entrepreneurs, and creatives who have incredible ideas but often struggle with the executive function side of turning those ideas into a sustainable business. She co-creates systems with clients that work with their unique brain to support their creativity and wellbeing.
Follow Georgie on Instagram: @georgiecootecoaching
