AFM-9 · OVER-ITERATION SPIRAL
DESKRUNE
For when you come back.
The pattern: you have a draft that's already shippable. Draft three was good. You're now on draft eleven. The AI made each round 'better' in some small dimension. It's worse than draft three. You don't know how to stop.
Each iteration produces a tiny dopamine hit and a tiny improvement. Both are real. Together they create a slope where 'just one more' is always rational at the local level — and ruinous at the global level. The protocol has to be set before draft three.
Hook by hook. If you recognize even one of these in the last week, this is the failure mode that's costing you.
When you've received a functional output from an AI tool (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Notion AI, Custom GPTs) and have made no more than two significant revisions to it, you must stop. If you're still tempted to edit, you must immediately switch to a different, unrelated task for at least 30 minutes. Upon returning, you are only allowed to make one final, minor adjustment if absolutely necessary. If the output is still not 'perfect' in your eyes, you must declare it 'done' and move to the next item on your to-do list. This protocol is designed to prevent the Over-Iteration Spiral (AFM-9) and reclaim your forward momentum.
Every AFM hits four people. The ADHD adult living it. The partner watching it. The coach explaining it. The boss pricing it. Every kit speaks to all four — because the buyer is sometimes one of the people watching.
Did you ship that Draft 3 AI output, or are you still tweaking?
Your loved one is stuck polishing AI drafts instead of moving forward.
Help your client break free from the Over-Iteration Spiral (AFM-9) with AI outputs.
Is your team stuck refining AI-generated work instead of shipping?
AFMs cluster. If this one hits, the next two probably also do.
Most ADHD-AI loops feel random until you can see them next to each other. Log a moment in the form below — intensity, time, AI tool, brief context. After three or more entries, you'll see your own pattern in the recap. Stays in your browser. Nothing is sent to us.
You don't have to be precise. The point is to capture enough that the pattern becomes visible. Future-you reading this in three weeks will have something concrete to work with.
Deskrune. For when you come back.