The Rundown

• 10 Neurodivergent Founders Building Businesses That Work With Their Brains

• Human experience optimization: Why experience now shapes search visibility

• Do you like cat photos? Are you constantly distracted? You're probably actually quite good at focusing: 10 myths about attention

• I didn't think I needed a task manager in Gmail — until I tried it

• Best AI Tools of 2026

👉Did you miss an issue? Check out previous Productivity Stacks issues anytime here

Sponsor

The book I almost rage-quit (and how Shortform saved book club)

We run a book club in my membership, the Doers Inner Circle. Members vote on the book, and a few month's ago the winner... well, let's just say I started reading and immediately thought "nope."

I won't name it because I don't want to disrespect the author, but I was THIS 🤏 close to putting it down.

Then I checked Shortform. They had it!

Here's what happened:

I pulled up their guide first. Their analysis showed me the actual valuable points buried in the book—the ones I was missing because I was so annoyed by how it was written and structured.

Armed with that filter, I went back to reading.

The result? I went from "this is a complete waste of time" to "okay, these points are actually pretty valid, I just wouldn't have written the book this way."

Ended up getting a lot out of a book I absolutely would have abandoned.

This is the thing about Shortform: It's not about replacing reading. It's about helping you extract value. Sometimes it’s so you can make that book you knew you’d implement…eventually actually actionable. 

Other times it’s getting value when a book's structure or style gets in the way of the actual content.

Right now just for you guys: $50 OFF the annual plan by using https://shortform.com/express

🔥Quote/Prompt

Use the quote as a writing or thinking prompt to finish your week strong.

A bit from mine:

(posted in our Doer Entrepreneurs Free Community — off social media)

Did someone forward this to you?

📈 Performance

10 Neurodivergent Founders Building Businesses That Work With Their Brains

We spend so much energy trying to work like someone else instead of designing systems that work with how our brains actually function. This piece from Forbes showcases ten founders who stopped forcing themselves into standard business models and built companies around their actual wiring. Whether you're neurodivergent or just tired of following advice that never quite fits, these stories prove something powerful: you don't need to be successful like someone else. You need to be successful like you.

Key Insights:

1. Success in broken systems can be the thing breaking you. A teacher who excelled for 16 years discovered in her late 30s that she was autistic and ADHD, realizing the systems she'd been succeeding in were slowly destroying her, which led her to build a coaching business for late-diagnosed women burning out while looking successful.

2. Your biggest struggle often contains your message. After OCD completely turned his life upside down, one founder wrote a terrified book about beating it that went on to help thousands, opening doors to speaking stages and a YouTube channel with over 10 million views.

3. Standard support often misses the actual problem. When a mother watched her bright dyslexic child fail despite more accommodations, she stepped outside the system entirely and spent a decade helping families do the same while helping education companies serve the fastest-growing segment they misunderstand.

4. Mindset work fails when your nervous system is fried. A dopamine coach for high-achieving women over 40 uses brain science and playful accountability to help clients rebuild after burnout, because positive thinking is useless if your biology is working against you.

Read the full article for all ten founder stories and how they turned perceived weaknesses into business advantages.

⚙️ Optimization

Human experience optimization: Why experience now shapes search visibility

Getting found online used to be about keywords and backlinks. Now search engines are watching what happens after someone clicks. Do they engage with your content? Do they come back? Do they trust you enough to take action? This breakdown from Search Engine Land reveals why SEO, user experience, and conversion optimization can no longer operate as separate strategies.

Key Insights:

1. E-E-A-T is a business system, not a checklist. Adding author bios and citations helps, but search engines evaluate your entire business credibility over time through transparent operations, consistent brand voice, and clear accountability for what you publish.

2. First-hand experience beats aggregated information. A subscription pricing guide summarizing common models might be accurate, but one written by someone who's actually priced and tested tiers will surface tradeoffs and edge cases that aggregation can't replicate.

3. Helpful content problems are usually brand problems. When content consistently underperforms, the issue typically stems from unclear positioning, avoiding taking clear stances, or fragmented experiences across touchpoints rather than technical SEO gaps.

4. Measure what actually matters beyond traffic. Engagement quality, brand recall, return users over time, and conversions driven by trust tell you more about sustainable performance than raw visitor counts.

Read the full article for the complete framework on aligning SEO, UX, and CRO around human experience optimization.

⏲️ Time Management

Do you like cat photos? Are you constantly distracted? You're probably actually quite good at focusing: 10 myths about attention

Running a business means juggling multiple priorities while your brain processes 11 million bits of information every second. That overwhelmed feeling isn't a personal failing. It's your brain doing exactly what it's designed to do. This research-backed breakdown from The Guardian reveals why our typical focus strategies often work against us, and what actually helps.

Key Insights:

1. Your phone drains focus even when it's silent. A 2017 University of Texas study found that just having your device visible reduces working memory and problem-solving ability, so move it to another room for deep work.

2. Task-switching is your biggest productivity thief. Checking your phone or email causes a temporary IQ drop lasting at least a minute, which is why batching similar tasks by day or theme builds stronger mental pathways over time.

3. True recovery requires doing nothing. Scrolling social media during breaks still feeds your brain new information, while activities like walking without headphones or staring out the window activate your default mode network and actually recharge your focus.

4. Tackle your hardest work first. Glutamate builds up in your prefrontal cortex throughout the day and takes a full night's sleep to clear, meaning you have limited focus to spend and should use it on what matters most.

5. Boring tasks need more stimulation, not less. If your mind wanders during routine work, try reading faster or listening to familiar music to increase the mental challenge and trick your brain into staying engaged.

Read the full article for all 10 myths debunked and specific strategies to work with your brain instead of against it.

💻 Tools & Technology

I didn't think I needed a task manager in Gmail — until I tried it

If you're paying for a dedicated task management app but still treat your Gmail inbox like a to-do list, there's probably too much friction switching between them. Starred emails tell you something needs attention, but not when. This breakdown from Android Police reveals how Google Tasks built into Gmail eliminates that gap by turning emails into scheduled tasks without leaving your inbox.

Key Insights:

1. Built-in tools stick because you're already there. Dedicated task apps fail when you forget to open them, but Gmail's task manager removes that friction since checking email is something you inevitably do anyway.

2. One-click conversion preserves context. Adding an email to tasks automatically creates a task with a link back to the original message, eliminating the manual work of copying subject lines or details between systems.

3. Automatic calendar sync makes tasks real. When you assign a due date to a Gmail task, it appears in Google Calendar without any additional steps, turning abstract to-dos into scheduled commitments that show up wherever you've connected your calendar.

4. Visible deadlines create productive pressure. Tasks tucked away in a separate app rarely demand attention, but seeing unfinished items in both your inbox and calendar creates the kind of subtle accountability that actually works.

Read the full article for the complete workflow on integrating Gmail, Google Tasks, and Calendar to turn emails into actionable commitments.

🤖 AI

Best AI Tools of 2026

I'm switching it up this week with a 19-second video that's more valuable than most hour-long tutorials. It shows something critical: AI tools aren't interchangeable. This creator breaks down which AI he uses for creative tasks, which for feedback, which for analysis. Pay attention to the categories, not just the tools. Then ask yourself honestly: are you strategically matching AI to task type, or defaulting to one tool for everything because it's simpler? (Spoiler: most of us do the latter.)

🎉 Celebration Corner

Every week Doers Inner Circle members do a weekly review & get help when they need it — check out the progress they made this week!

• Finished a large task.

• Made progress on planning, plans are more clear and focused.

What did you do this week? We feature non-member successes too. Just post them here!

🔒Inner Circle: Events & Announcements

• On-going Challenge: Doers Routine Bucket Challenge Join here

• Monday: Doers IC Mastermind RSVP here

• Monday: {EU Time} Work ON Business. Theme: 1️⃣ Strategy & Mission  RSVP here

• Tuesday: Work ON Business. Theme: 1️⃣ Strategy & Mission RSVP here

• Monday/Friday: Goal Setting + Plan Your Week Party

• Accelerators: February 13 is your Offie Hours  RSVP here

🆕Enjoy the new newsletter?

We will soon be adding Referral Perks — Refer now to start earning! 👇

As a reminder, you’re getting this twice-weekly newsletter because you opted in to receive awesome productivity and systems tips through one of these methods:

Doer Entrepreneurs, Doers Express Newsletter, Productivity Stacks, Success by Rx, ClickUp Facebook Group, Productive & Successful Translators Facebook Group.

If you’re not interested in improving your and your business’s productivity so you’d like to break up, that’s definitely a bummer. But, you can always use the unsubscribe link at the bottom if you do not want to get these tips — but keep in mind I am hyper-focused on making these twice-weekly emails as valuable as possible.

Got a tip? Hit reply!

I hope you found this valuable!

Wishing you much productivity!

- Jenae :)