You are smart enough for your PhD.

You are capable enough for your PhD.

But if your brain keeps freezing when it is time to write, plan, email your sdvisor, or make progress without panic, you do not need another generic productivity hack.

You need a system that works with your ADHD brain.

PhD Breakthrough for ADHD Minds is a 3-month, ADHD-informed 1:1 coaching program for PhD students who feel overwhelmed, inconsistent, avoidant, and ashamed about how hard it has become to move their research forward.

Together, we build your external brain, writing rhythm, planning system, advisor communication plan, and realistic 90-day roadmap, so your Ph.D. starts to feel doable again.

The goal is not to make you perfectly consistent.

The goal is to help you build a PhD life that expects inconsistency and still creates progress.

Inside PhD Breakthrough for ADHD Minds, you will learn how to:

• Know what to work on without holding your entire PhD in your head.

• Break vague tasks like "Write Chapter 3" into steps your brain can actually start.

• Build writing and reading rituals that reduce the executive function wall.

• Plan your week around energy, attention, deadlines, and recovery, not fantasy productivity.

• Prepare for advisor meetings and emails without spiraling for days.

• Track progress in a way your ADHD brain can actually see and trust.

• Recover from off weeks without turning them into months of avoidance.

This is a practical, compassionate, ADHD-informed structure for the real PhD work you are doing.

This program is for you if:

• You are a PhD student with diagnosed ADHD, suspected ADHD, or a strong sense that executive function is affecting your progress.

• You keep avoiding writing, reading, admin, advisor emails, or big research tasks, even though you care deeply about your work.

• You feel constantly behind, even when you are working a lot.

• You swing between intense hyperfocus and periods where you cannot open the document.

• You have tried traditional productivity systems and felt worse when they did not stick.

• You need structure, but you do not want to be shamed, micromanaged, or treated like a problem to fix.

• You want direct support from someone who understands both ADHD patterns and the emotional weight of the PhD journey.

This program is especially valuable if you are in one of these moments:

• You are stuck in the messy middle of your PhD.

• You are avoiding your supervisor or committee because you feel you have nothing to show.

• You need to restart after weeks or months of avoidance.

• You are trying to build sustainable writing momentum.

• You are close enough to see the next milestone, but too overwhelmed to consistently move toward it.

This program is not the right fit:

• You want someone to write your thesis for you.

• You are looking for one magic hack that makes everything easy.

• You are not open to experimenting with new systems.

• You need therapy, diagnosis, or clinical mental health treatment instead of coaching.

This is coaching, not therapy. If you are currently working with a therapist, this program can sit alongside that support by helping you build practical PhD-specific systems and strategies.

24 Private ADHD-informed PhD Coaching Sessions

You receive twenty-four 30-minute 1:1 coaching sessions over 3 months.

We meet twice per week because ADHD brains often benefit from shorter, more frequent support. Each session has a clear purpose: clarify priorities, break tasks down, troubleshoot what is not working, and help you return to momentum quickly.

Weekday Chat Support

Between sessions, you can message me on weekdays when the real-life ADHD PhD moments happen.

That might sound like:

• "I cannot make myself start."

• "I have been avoiding this email for a week."

• "I opened the document and panicked.

• "I did the thing and need to tell someone."

• "I need help choosing what to do first."

You will receive a response within a maximum of 24 hours on weekdays with concrete next steps, reframes, or small experiments to try!

Your PhD Hub

We create a simple external brain for your PhD.

This becomes the home of your current priorities, deadlines, tasks, drafts, notes, advisor updates, and next actions. The goal is not to create a beautiful productivity museum. The goal is to create a system you can actually use when your brain is tired, overwhelmed, or scattered.

ADHD PhD Assessment

At the start of the program, we map your current PhD stage, strengths, executive function challenges, emotional patterns, writing blocks, supervisor dynamics, and biggest sources of avoidance.

This helps us stop guessing and start designing support around your real life!

Kind Accountability and Progress Tracking

We build accountability that feels supportive, not punitive.

You will learn how to use done lists, weekly reviews, tiny-win tracking, and realistic check-ins so you can see your progress instead of feeling likeyou ae always failing.

Daily Motivation and Regulation Support

You receive short prompts, voice notes, or written check-ins that speak directly to your ADHD patterns, such as time blindness, rejection sensitivity, perfectionism, task initiation, emotional overload, and the guilt spiral.

This is not about toxic positivity. It is about helping your nervous system return to the next doable step.

Master Timeline and 90-Day Action Plan

We create a flexible PhD timeline that expects real life.

That means we include buffer time, low-energy weeks, recovery, hyperfocus patterns, advisor delays, and the reality that progress is rarely linear.

By the end, you leave with a clear 90-day roadmap you can keep using after the program ends.

Every part of this program is based on the SPARK framework, redesigned for ADHD in academia.

Systems and Structure

Your brain was not built to hold every deadline, idea, task, and decision at once.

In this pillar, we create external systems so you no longer have to rely on memory, panic, or last-minute pressure. We design a weekly rhythm with short sprints, buffer time, recovery, and one simple tool that becomes your PhD home base.

Progress and Planning

A PhD can feel impossible because it is huge, vague, and far away.

In this pillar, we break your PhD work into visible, brain-sized steps. We replace vague goals with concrete next actions, visual timelines, and weekly planning that considers energy as well as time.

Accountability and Achievement

Accountability for ADHD brains has to feel like support, not surveillance.

In this pillar, we create check-ins, done lists, small wins, and momentum tracking that help you stay connected to your progress without shame.

Resilience and Relationships

ADHD in academia often comes with emotional weight: rejection sensitivity, imposter feelings, advisor anxiety, feedback spirals, and the fear that you are always behind.

In this pillar, we build scripts, prep routines, and regulation strategies for advisor meetings, committee emails, feedback, and hard academic conversations.

Knowledge and Know-how

Generic study advice does not work when your brain struggles with starting, switching, prioritizing, and sustaining attention.

In this pillar, we create ADHD-friendly writing, reading, communication, and planning strategies so you are not constantly starting from a blank page.

Month 1: Map your ADHD-PhD brain and build your base

In the first month, we understand what is actually happening and build the foundation

Week 1: Your ADHD-PhD pro le and bad-day plan

We identify your strengths, challenges, current stage, stuck points, and what support needs to look like on difficult days.

Week 2: Time blindness and reality-based planning

We look at how long tasks actually take, where your plans collapse, and how to create plans your real brain can follow.

Week 3: Task initiation rituals

We build personalized starting rituals for writing, reading, admin, and advisor communication, so you do not need a 3-hour warm-up to begin.

Week 4: Your core system

We set up your PhD Hub and weekly rhythm, so you have one clear place to return to when everything feels scattered.

Month 2: Build momentum and manage the emotional load

In the second month, we focus on implementation, adjustment, and emotional resilience.

Week 5: Project decomposition

We break your current PhD work into steps small enough to start and meaningful enough to matter.

Week 6: Kind accountability

We ne-tune your check-ins, review what is working, and adjust what is becoming too heavy or unrealistic.

Week 7: Emotional regulation and rejection sensitivity

We develop strategies for handling feedback, avoidance, shame, criticism, uncertainty, and emotional crashes.

Week 8: Advisor and committee navigation

We prepare scripts, meeting notes, update emails, and communication routines so academic relationships feel less threatening

Month 3: Consolidate, simplify, and plan what comes next

In the final month, we turn what worked into a system you can maintain.

Week 9: System audit

We decide what to keep, drop, simplify, or rebuild.

Week 10: Setback planning

We create a relapse plan for off weeks, missed deadlines, avoidance spirals, and low-capacity periods.

Week 11: Your next 90-day PhD roadmap

We map your next phase with realistic milestones, weekly rhythms, and support structures.

Week 12: Wrap-up and next steps

We celebrate what changed, consolidate your tools, and make sure you know how to keep going after the program ends

My name is Maria Stefanidi, and I coach PhD students through the messy, overwhelming, stuck parts of the doctoral journey.

Over the past few years, I have coached more than 40 PhD students from around the world through moments of avoidance, uncertainty, writing blocks, advisor stress, and academic overwhelm.

The SPARK framework did not come from a textbook. It came from hundreds of real coaching conversations with brilliant PhD students who were capable, committed, and still completely stuck.

The ADHD edition of this work exists because so many students needed something different.

Not stricter.

Not harsher.

Not another system that assumes they can “just start.”

They needed a structure that respects executive function differences, accountability that does not feel like punishment, and coaching that understands this sentence: “I know what I need to do. I just cannot make myself do it.”

If that sentence feels painfully familiar, this program was built for you!

Step 1: Book a free ADHD PhD Breakthrough Clarity Call

You answer 7 questions, so I can understand where you are in your PhD, what is feeling hardest right now, and what kind of support you are looking for.

Step 2: We meet for a 20-minute call

On the call, we talk about your current situation, your main blocks, and whether this program is the right level of support for you. This is not a pressure call. It is a clarity call.

Step 3: If it is a fit, we decide your start date

If the program feels aligned and I believe I can support you well, we will talk through the next steps, payment options, and onboarding.

Step 4: We begin with your ADHD-PhD assessment

Your first step inside the program is not to “try harder.” It is to understand what has been making progress so difficult and design support around that

PhD Breakthrough for ADHD Minds is a 3-month private coaching program.

You receive:

• 24 private 30-minute coaching sessions

• Weekday chat support

• Initial ADHD-PhD assessment

• Your PhD Hub

• Weekly planning and accountability

• Daily motivation and regulation support

• Master timeline and 90-day roadmap

• Templates, scripts, checklists, and planning tools

Investment:

€1,050 per month for 3 months

Or €3,000 paid once

Because this is a high-touch 1:1 program, spaces are limited

I have not been officially diagnosed with ADHD. Can I still apply?

Yes. This program is for PhD students who are diagnosed, self-identified, newly exploring ADHD, or strongly recognizing themselves in executive function challenges. You do not need a formal diagnosis to benefit from ADHD-informed coaching.

I have tried coaching and productivity systems before. How is this different?

Most productivity systems assume you can start, prioritize, remember, switch tasks, estimate time, regulate emotions, and stay consistent because the plan says so. This program does not assume that. We design around task initiation, time blindness, emotional dysregulation, avoidance, rejection sensitivity, perfectionism, and inconsistent energy. The goal is not to force your brain into someone else’s system. The goal is to build a system around how your brain actually works.

Will two sessions per week feel like too much?

The sessions are short on purpose. For many ADHD brains, frequent 30-minute touchpoints are more useful than one long session every week or two. The goal is not to add more pressure to your calendar. The goal is to reduce the amount of time you spend spiraling alone.

What if I am very behind?

Then we start there. You do not need to arrive organized, caught up, or ready to impress me. The program is designed for the messy point where you know something has to change, but you are not sure how to begin.

What if my advisor or committee is part of the problem?

We can work on that. While I cannot control your advisor or institution, I can help you prepare for meetings, write updates, clarify boundaries, respond to feedback, and reduce the panic around academic communication.

Is this therapy?

No. This is coaching, not therapy. It does not diagnose, treat, or replace mental health care. If you are in therapy, this program can complement it by giving you practical PhD-specific structure, planning support, accountability, and communication tools.

What happens after the 3 months end?

By the end of the program, you leave with your PhD Hub, weekly rhythm, next 90-day roadmap, communication scripts, planning tools, relapse plan, and a clearer understanding of how to support your ADHD brain through the next stage of your PhD. The goal is not to make you dependent on coaching forever. The goal is to help you become more supported, more self-aware, and more able to keep moving

You have spent enough time wondering what is wrong with you.

You have spent enough energy pretending you have it together while quietly drowning in guilt, avoidance, and unfinished tasks.

You have spent enough late nights staring at a blinking cursor and blaming yourself for struggling with work that matters to you.

There is nothing wrong with you.

Your brain is not the problem.

The system was never built with your brain in mind.

PhD Breakthrough for ADHD Minds exists to help you build a di erent kind of system: one with structure, support, compassion, and realistic momentum.

If you are ready to stop ghting your brain and start designing your PhD around it, I invite you to book a freeADHD PhD Breakthrough Clarity Call!

You are not too behind.

You are not too messy.

You are not too much.

You are a PhD student with a brain that needs the right kind of support.

Let’s build that support together!