🧠 Weekly MindSweep No. 196 | Manage Your Mind | Self-Worth
October 2025
Week 194: Curated Conversation: Self-Worth
Week 195: Mind Your Business: Self-Worth
*Week 196: Manage Your Mind: Self-Worth
Week 197: What’s On My Mind: Self-Worth
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 Mind Electric by Pria Anand
Collaborations with Terri Hamilton (Thursday) & Shannon Giordano and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce (First Friday)
My face 💜 and a link to schedule your free consultation.
The Brain Science of Enough: Rewiring the Pattern of ‘Doing to Deserve’
If I’m not doing, I’m not worthy.
That sentence has lived somewhere inside my body for as long as I can remember.
I don’t always say it out loud, but I feel it every time I catch myself reaching for my phone during dinner. Every time I squeeze “just one more thing” into a day that’s already been spilling over. Every time I tell myself that rest is for later – after I finish this email, after I fix this system for my client, after I prove (again) that I’m capable.
My instinct is to do.
And if you’re a creative or ADHD entrepreneur, you probably know that instinct too. It’s your reflex to measure your value in completed tasks, checked boxes, posted content, or progress made.
Doing feels like worthiness in motion. It’s the place that our brains feel safest, because doing gives us evidence.
But underneath that evidence-driven productivity is something tender and complicated.
It’s your nervous system trying to earn safety through action.
The Badge of Doing
When you live with a creative brain, action becomes your comfort zone. Even when it’s exhausting. Especially when it’s exhausting.
You swing between hyperfocus and depletion, achievement and guilt. One minute you’re unstoppable, the next you’re apologizing to yourself for not keeping up with the very pace you set.
You wear “busy” like armor because if you’re productive, you’re safe from judgment. You’re proving your value, not only to the world but to the doubting parts of yourself.
And when you do slow down, when you rest, your brain gets loud:
You haven’t done enough today.
You could have gotten further.
You’re wasting time.
That’s not a moral failure. That’s a neural pattern. [1
ADHD brains are wired for stimulation and feedback. When your dopamine runs low, the brain searches for something—anything—that restores that sense of momentum.
Doing becomes the easiest fix.
But your brain forgets: self-worth isn’t something you earn through output. It’s something your body learns through safety.
The Neuroscience of Self-Worth
When you think about your abilities, values, or sense of “enoughness,” your medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) lights up. It’s the region responsible for self-knowledge and self-evaluation.
That part of your brain is constantly scanning: Am I doing okay? Am I safe in this group? Am I contributing enough?
Then there’s your ventral striatum, part of your brain’s reward system. When you hit publish, finish a task, or receive praise, the striatum releases dopamine, that feel-good neurotransmitter that reinforces behaviors.
For ADHD entrepreneurs, that dopamine hit is gold. It’s the brain’s version of applause. It says, “Yes, keep going. You’re valuable when you achieve.”
But when the hit doesn’t come, the post doesn’t perform, the project feels stalled, and your brain is foggy or unmotivated, the opposite circuitry is activated. The anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala, both involved in error detection and threat response, begin to interpret that gap as danger.
But wait, there’s more!
Your Default Mode Network (DMN)—the brain’s storytelling system—steps in to explain the feeling. It searches your internal library of memories for evidence.
Why do I feel so bad? Because you’re behind. Because you’re lazy. Because you’re not enough.
The brain needs a narrative, and in the absence of self-compassion, it writes one rooted in shame. [2]
The Brain-Body Feedback Loop
Self-worth doesn’t just live in your thoughts; it’s a full-body experience.
Your brain and body are in constant communication through the vagus nerve, a superhighway that connects your emotional brain to your heart, lungs, and gut. When you perceive failure or rejection, your vagus tone drops, activating your sympathetic nervous system. That’s the “fight, flight, freeze” pattern that so many creative ADHD entrepreneurs know intimately.
Your shoulders tense. Your breathing shortens. You scroll, you clean, you overwork, you disappear into spreadsheets. Anything to avoid the discomfort of feeling unworthy.
The irony? The very effort to escape that feeling deepens it.
Your body starts to believe that worthiness lives on the other side of doing.
But wait, here comes neuroscience and neuroplasticity to the rescue: you can rewire this loop.
Your brain’s ability to form new connections can teach your system that safety, not striving, is the foundation of worth.
The Two Kinds of Self-Worth
Self-worth arises from both rational and emotional processing:
Rational self-worth lives in your prefrontal cortex. It’s logical, evidence-based, and tied to your conscious self-assessment. “I’m good at what I do.” “I’ve built something meaningful.”
Emotional self-worth lives in deeper, older parts of the brain. It’s shaped by early experiences, such as how safe it felt to make mistakes, how love was given or withheld, and how success and failure were modeled. [3]
When your logical mind says, ‘I know I’m doing fine,’ but your emotional brain whispers, ‘you’re still not enough,’ those two layers are out of sync.
The Emotional Landscape
Let’s name the terrain.
Self-worth often travels with a few familiar companions:
Anxiety: the brain’s anticipation of failure before it happens.
Shame: the body’s response to perceived inadequacy.
Rejection sensitivity: that intense sting of not being chosen or acknowledged.
Grief: the quiet ache for the self you think you should have become by now.
But when rewiring begins, new emotions emerge too:
Contentment: the calm that comes when you stop performing for proof.
Joy: spontaneous, unearned, and often quiet.
Self-compassion: the neural antidote to shame.
These emotions aren’t signs that you’ve “fixed” yourself. They’re signals that your brain is learning safety in your own presence.
Why ADHD Entrepreneurs Struggle So Deeply with Worth
ADHD brains are built for possibility. We see patterns, connections, and creative leaps that others miss. But that same openness also means we feel everything (success, failure, approval, rejection) more intensely.
You’ve likely built an entire career around adapting. Around compensating for inconsistency with brilliance. Around chasing momentum so you never have to face the quiet question underneath:
“When will I feel like I’ve done enough?”
That’s why you find yourself subconsciously listing your résumé in conversations and trying to earn belonging through credentials. Or defending your busy calendar like it’s proof of worth. Or feeling guilt when you rest, because rest feels like disappearing.
It’s not ego. It’s neural conditioning.
The ADHD brain’s reward system runs on anticipation and novelty. We crave the spark of progress because it tells your system, “We matter. We’re moving.” When that spark dims, it can feel like a small identity crisis.
Your instinct to ‘do’ isn’t wrong; it just needs direction.
When you redirect that instinct toward actions aligned with self-trust, your doing becomes an act of integrity, not insecurity. [4]
Rewiring Self-Worth: Awareness Meets Action
Here’s how to begin the neural retraining process to rewire your brain-body pattern of “doing = worth.”
1. Pause Before You Prove: The next time you catch yourself reaching for your phone or laptop to do something that isn’t urgent, pause. Ask: “What am I trying to prove right now?”
That single moment of awareness pulls you from autopilot into observation, shifting your brain activity from the limbic system (emotion) to the prefrontal cortex (reason/logic).
2. Anchor in the Body: Take a slow, extended exhale. Notice your heart rate slowing. Feel your feet.
These sensory cues tell your nervous system: “I’m safe in stillness.” Over time, this teaches your brain that rest isn’t just absence, but rather integration.
3. Separate Fact from Story: Write down two columns: Facts and Stories.
Fact: “Only ten people liked my post.”
Story: “No one cares about my work.
Then write a new story grounded in reality: “Ten people connected with what I shared. That’s ten real humans.” [5] (I’m speaking to you Social media lovers)
Each rewrite weakens the old neural pathway of shame and strengthens the new one of grounded self-assessment.
4. Name and Nurture the Need: Underneath every productivity spiral is a need: connection, reassurance, rest, and play. Instead of suppressing it, say it aloud: “I need a break,” or “I need to feel seen.”
The act of naming it activates the brain’s language centers, reducing emotional intensity and inviting compassion.
5. Create Micro-Evidence of Enoughness: Your brain learns through repetition. Each time you complete a small, aligned action such as writing one paragraph, following through on a boundary, or choosing to rest, you’re wiring in a new prediction: I am safe even when I’m not hustling. [6]
These micro-moments accumulate. They build the neural equivalent of muscle memory for self-worth.
Reclaiming the Meaning of “Enough”
The brain craves metrics because numbers feel safe, but “enough” is not a number. It’s a nervous system state. You’ll know you’re entering it when you no longer need the world to mirror your worth back to you. [7]
When you can look at your unfinished to-do list and feel grounded instead of guilty.
When you can rest without justification.
When your self-worth is steady, even on the days when your dopamine isn’t.
That’s not complacency. That’s the coherence of your brain, body, and values finally in alignment.
It’s Not Just Positivity
The neuroscience of self-worth isn’t about thinking more positively. It’s about feeling safer in your own skin.
The medial prefrontal cortex gives you the capacity to observe yourself with honesty.
The ventral striatum reminds you that joy and reward aren’t external and can be generated internally.
The Default Mode Network can be trained to tell truer stories.
The vagus nerve can learn calm through breath and presence.
And neuroplasticity (the gift of the brain) means it’s never too late to rewire.
Your brain doesn’t care how old you are, how many times you’ve burned out, or how loud the old narrative has been.
What it cares about is what you repeat with emotion.
So repeat this gently:
I am not my output. I am my awareness.
I can rest without regret.
My worth is not pending; it’s present.
Integration: Awareness into Action
Awareness changes the chemistry of your brain.
Every time you notice that old pull to check one more thing off, and instead pause—even for a single breath—you’re teaching your nervous system a new rule: I can be safe even when I’m still.
That’s what integration looks like. Not the absence of doing, but the ability to choose it consciously.
When you pause between tasks and feel the quiet, that’s not lost time; it’s rewiring time.
When you feel the urge to prove, take one deep breath instead; that’s your prefrontal cortex reclaiming control from old prediction loops.
When you speak kindly to yourself after a stumble, you’re not being soft; you’re strengthening neural pathways of compassion and safety.
This is the real work of self-worth: returning to your own enoughness without needing to earn it.
So this week, when your brain whispers, You should be doing more, try answering back,
I already am. I’m doing the work of remembering. 💜
P.S. I’d love to hear what that remembering looks like for you. When you pause the proving, what comes up in the quiet? Hit reply and share. I read and reply to every one.
My questions for you this week :
If your body could speak before your brain jumps to fix or prove, what would it ask for?
What micro-evidence of “enoughness” already exists in your day that you tend to overlook?
When your brain whispers, You should be doing more, what truth could you whisper back?
Reply and share with me!
✨ If this week stirred something in you or brought the awareness that your worth has been tangled up in your to-do list, let’s get it out of your head and onto paper.
During a MindSweep Mapping Session, we can unpack what’s driving your brain’s need to prove and create a map that brings focus back to what truly matters.
Book your session today and give your brain the gift of space.
🧠 Your brain. Your business. Mapped.
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner:
[1] Did you miss our month on Failure?
[2] Did you miss our month on Compassion?
[3] Did you miss our month on Success?
[4] Did you miss our month on Self-Trust?
[5] Did you miss our month on Reality?
[6] Did you miss our month on Boundaries?
[7] Did you miss our month on Meaning?
[X] What is Curated Conversations?
[X] Did someone say MindSweep MAP?!
[X] Follow Chickbook Creative on Substack!
[X] NEW >> Now on Apple Podcasts!
MONDAY: 8 am - Curated Conversation - Zoom
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What I’m reading
The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains
by Pria Anand
Stories are etched into the very structure of our brains, coded so deeply that the impulse for storytelling survives and even surges after the most devastating injuries. But our brains are also porous—the stories they concoct shaped by cultural narratives about bodies and illness that permeate the minds of doctors and patients alike. In the history of medicine, some stories are heard, while others—the narratives of women, of Black and brown people, of displaced people, of disempowered people—are too often dismissed.
In The Mind Electric, neurologist Pria Anand reveals—through case study, history, fable, and memoir—all that the medical establishment has overlooked: the complexity and wonder of brains in health and in extremis, and the vast gray area between sanity and insanity, doctor and patient, and illness and wellness, each separated from the next by the thin veneer of a different story.
Find it where you browse for books.
Collaborations!
Join us on Friday, November 7, 2025 from 9am-11am.
For November, Shannon and I will welcome Tim Holtsnider of Passages
How the Workplace Has Evolved, the Challenges it’s Creating and Possible Solutions.
From Fortune 500 boardrooms to four continents, Tim Holtsnider has seen the workplace evolve. He’s sharing what’s changed, what’s next, and how to prepare. Join us!
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.
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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
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