aiTokens are the new quarters.
I spent twenty years building reward systems for a living. Then I started using AI every day and recognized the mechanic from the inside.
Sep 11, 202611 min read
Essays for the sideways brain
For the Creative Thinkers Who Build Sideways.
Real tools, real stories, and a few messy insights to help you make your brain your best tool — exploring ADHD, creativity, and the art of thriving with a neurodivergent mind.
Featured Stories
What's been on my mind.
ai
aiThe Magician Got So Good We Started Believing in Magic
A 3am argument with myself about whether AI is waking up. I don't think it ever will, I can't prove it, and neither can anyone who says otherwise.
Sep 9, 20265 min read
creativityMy Dad Taught Me Design Thinking Before It Had a Name
I had ideas bigger than my ability my whole life. The skill that actually built everything was not making the thing. It was finding the people who could. TAGS: adhd, creativity, collaboration, teams
Jun 28, 20269 min read
neuroscienceYour "Broken" Brain Isn't Broken. It's Built for Breakthrough.
For decades we were told ADHD is a deficit to manage. New 2026 research tells a stranger, better story, and it lines up with what a lot of us have felt our whole lives.
Jun 25, 20265 min read
burnoutWhen I Chased Money, It Ran. When I Chased My Craft, Everything Changed.
I spent five years burying the creative instincts that built everything, chasing funding that kept running the other way. Here's what it cost, and what pulled me back.
Nov 17, 20254 min read
3d printingNew Rabbit Hole: My Grandson and I Are Building a Printing Press
Kai and I are building a 19-inch printing press out of mostly 3D-printed parts before school starts. This is the kickoff.
Jul 26, 20263 min read
Recent
Notes from the rabbit hole.
ritualThe Stall
I lifted the lid on the smoker mid-work-call and my heart dropped 20bpm. Turns out real fire is the one ritual that quiets an ADHD brain.
Jul 26, 20267 min read
creative mindThe Worst Video Game Ever Made Is in the Smithsonian. I Helped Put It There.
A kid in Thunder Bay, a game he hated, and a rumor he never let go. Thirty years on it ended up in the Smithsonian, all because his brain forgets nothing.
Jun 27, 20266 min read
belongingWhen the Outcasts Become the Gatekeepers
Finding your people feels like coming home. Then you catch your tribe drawing the same borders the bullies once drew around you.
Jun 22, 202610 min read
teamsHerding Lightning: The Six ADHD Archetypes I Learned in 20 Years of Creative Chaos
Twenty years running a 250-person creative agency taught me the chaos wasn't a bug. It was six kinds of ADHD brain, and once I could name them, I ran them like a symphony.
Jun 18, 20268 min read
M
About the writer
Hi, I'm Mike. Another guy who didn't know he had ADHD until later in life. Now I do my thinking out loud here, for the people whose brains feel like pinball machines too.
This is the stuff I actually think about:
ADHD, creativity, and building things sideways when your brain won't go straight.
Subscribe and I'll give you a heads-up when a new one lands.