🧠Weekly MindSweep No. 191 | Mind Your Business | Expectation
September 2025
Week 190: Curated Conversation: Expectation
*Week 191: Mind Your Business: Expectation
Week 192: Manage Your Mind: Expectation
Week 193: What’s On My Mind: Expectation
Let’s sweep the brain…
Let’s Sweep the Brain
🎬 Rather watch or listen instead of read? Now you can!
In the MindSweep this week:
Curated Conversation with curated GIF’s & puns (for your entertainment).
Jamie’s Second Brain Corner: Links to references. Need a map? I’ve got you!
What’s I’m Reading - The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Collaborations with Terri Hamilton (Thursday) & Shannon Giordano and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce (First Friday)
My face đź’ś and a link to schedule your free consultation.
The Expectation Gap: When "This Will Change Everything" Doesn't
One of my clients sat at their laptop, heart racing, as they hit "publish" on the launch post for what they were sure was their “HELL YES” big breakthrough program.
They had poured weeks into creating it, sketching ideas on napkins, staying up late to design modules, and imagining a launch so successful that it would fill overnight.
In their mind, it was inevitable: the sign-up sheet overflowing, clients thrilled to finally have what they'd been waiting for, and their business stepping into a whole new chapter.
Then the refresh button became their new best friend.
They checked their inbox every few minutes, waiting for the flood of registrations to arrive. Instead, the sign-ups trickled in slowly. A few polite "this looks great, but not right now" responses and way more silence than celebration.
The sting wasn't just in the numbers; it was in the gap between what they expected and what the market was actually ready for.
The High of Creation
For creative entrepreneurs, that initial spark of creation is intoxicating.
It starts as a flicker of an idea, maybe during a walk, in the shower, or while you're supposed to be focusing on something else. And suddenly, your brain is on fire. You can see it, hear it, and almost touch it.
The vision of success feels so vivid that it's as if it has already happened.
You can picture the full roster of clients, the glowing feedback, the income, the relief of finally cracking the code. That vision doesn't just inspire you, it propels you into action. You stay up late writing content, designing slides, and fine-tuning every detail because it feels inevitable.
Our brains thrive on dopamine, the neurotransmitter linked to motivation and reward. And the ADHD brain? It's especially sensitive to dopamine. Just imagining the outcome of seeing yourself "there" in your mind can trigger the same surge of reward as actually achieving it.
That's why you feel unstoppable when you're building something new. The brain is giving you the chemical hit as if the work is already paying off.
You're not just building a program or offer, you're creating the future version of yourself that lives inside your head.
When Reality Doesn't Match the Vision
But when reality doesn't match that carefully rehearsed story, the crash is brutal.
The sign-ups don't come.
The emails don't flood in.
The silence feels deafening.
And suddenly the dopamine drip that kept you buzzing is gone.
In the brain, that dopamine drop is experienced like a broken promise. Your reward system was primed, but the delivery never came.
It's not just disappointment; it's neurological withdrawal.
And in your body, it shows up as heaviness. Exhaustion. That sinking feeling in your stomach. The urge to shut the laptop and walk away. To scrap the whole thing and start over with a new idea because chasing the next spark feels safer than sitting with the letdown.
For ADHD entrepreneurs, that swing can feel extreme: from this is going to change everything to I'm not cut out for this in a matter of days. The shame spiral kicks in, telling you that the failure wasn't the launch, it was you.
The crash doesn't mean you're broken.
It means your brain was running on borrowed dopamine, and when the market didn't line up with your expectation, the loan came due.
This is where unmet expectations can distort the story. Because it's not that your program, product, or idea had no value, it's that the timing, the audience, or the alignment wasn't quite right.
It's a lot like cooking a beautiful meal you're proud of, only to discover your guests were craving something entirely different. The disappointment isn't about the food itself; it's about the mismatch between what you served and what they expected to eat.
When the Menu Doesn't Match the Appetite
Launching something new is like opening a restaurant and building the menu entirely around your favorite dishes. You imagine every table filled, glowing reviews, and a line out the door.
But when diners walk in, they're craving burgers, and you're serving your mom's favorite lasagna recipe.
The lasagna isn't bad, and your effort isn't wasted. But the expectation of demand didn't match the reality of appetite.
This does not mean you're a bad chef. It means the menu and the market weren't aligned yet.
The Mismatch Between Passion and Demand
Expectation is a double-edged sword in business:
Fuel: It drives us to create, launch, and share our work with the world.
Friction: When unmet, it can spiral into shame and self-doubt, especially for ADHD brains that experience the crash as a broken promise.
Expectation activates reward circuits in the brain. When reality doesn't line up, dopamine levels drop, leaving us feeling deflated. (We'll dig deeper into this next week!)
From Spark to Strategy
Here are a few practices to help you manage expectations without losing the spark of creativity:
Check Your Why Before You Build: Ask yourself, 'Am I building this because it excites me, or because my clients are asking for it?' Passion is essential, but pairing it with audience insight keeps you from creating in a vacuum.
Hold the Vision, Loosen the Grip: Visualize success because it fuels motivation, but don't tie your worth to a single outcome. The reality may look different than the mental movie, and that's okay. Progress is still happening.
Make Consistency Your Superpower: ADHD brains love novelty, but businesses thrive on consistency. Showing up regularly with small, simple actions compounds over time in ways one "perfect" launch never can.
Test the Appetite, Not Just the Recipe: Before you invest weeks creating the "full menu," try offering a taste. Run a small workshop, post a poll, or pre-sell a beta version. Real-time feedback helps you see if the market is craving what you're cooking. Reflection turns expectation into feedback.
Find Harmony in Passion and Curiosity: Your creativity matters. So does curiosity about your clients' needs. The sweet spot is where they overlap. A quiet launch isn't a dead end; it's a conversation starter. Ask your clients what they need. Reflect on what landed and what didn't. Then adjust. Every result is information you can use to refine your next step.
From Expectation to Alignment
When this client and began working together, something shifted for them.
Instead of chasing the high of expectation alone, they found a rhythm for showing up authentically, listening to their audience, and meeting the market where it was without losing their creative spark.
They didn't stop creating what they loved.
They learned how to align it with what their clients wanted. And when they offered that from a place of authenticity, consistency, and responsiveness, the sales followed naturally.
Expectations shifted from "this will sell out" to "this will connect."
That shift didn't just fill their program; it gave them a way to build a business that feels steady, sustainable, and true to who they are.
My questions for you this week :
What small ways could you “test the appetite” before going all in on your next big idea?
What practices help you stay consistent in your business when the results don’t match your expectations?
Reply and share with me!
✨ If you’ve ever felt the sting of building something you loved only to be met with silence, you’re not alone. Expectation can be a powerful motivator but it can also set us up for disappointment when passion and demand don’t align.
That’s where I come in. Through my MindSweep Mapping sessions, I help creative, ADHD entrepreneurs find that sweet spot: the place where your ideas, your energy, and your clients’ needs overlap. Together, we’ll untangle the noise, test the appetite before you build the full menu, and design offers that connect authentically and sustainably.
If you’re ready to close the gap between what you expect and what your audience is craving, let’s talk.
🧠Your brain. Your business. Mapped.
👉 Book your free MindSweep Chat: www.chickbookcreative.com/mind-sweep
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner:
[X] What is Curated Conversations?
[X] Did someone say MindSweep MAP?!
MONDAY: 8 am - Curated Conversation - Zoom
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What I’m reading
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
The bestselling historical fiction novel from Kim Michele Richardson, this is a novel following Cussy Mary, a packhorse librarian and her quest to bring books to the Appalachian community she loves, perfect for readers of William Kent Kreuger and Lisa Wingate.
Find it where you browse for books.
Collaborations!
Join us Friday, October 3rd, 2025 from 9am-11am.
For October Shannon and I will welcome Nira Mahesh of Illuminira Consulting LLC for a presentation on:
Demystifying AI: How to conquer your fears and leverage it for real-life.
This presentation will give you practical guidance on what AI is, and how to responsibly use it for any workflow.
Nira will show you how to save time, make better decisions, and improve your communication skills, regardless of your business type or size.
After this pre-Halloween session, you will not be afraid of AI!
Join us for this engaging presentation in community with other business owners. You'll leave with new tools to help you make connections and build your business!
Free; Registration is required: REGISTRATION.
Mindful Connections
Connecting like-hearted entrepreneurs to build relationships, offering support, understanding their passions, and sharing their names in rooms of opportunity.
Join us Thursdays, 12-1 pm EST.
12:00 - Take 5—a guided meditation with Terri Hamilton of Positively Terri to ground your week with peace and focus.
12:05-1 pm Round-table Share
Who you are
The gifts you bring to the world
Who you serve
The answer to a Curated question to spark conversation,
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In other news…
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