supps / meds for focus

Hi all,I recently finished my first Stamets stack from The Psychedelic Workshop — I’d been using Lion’s Mane powder daily for over a year before that. I’ve definitely noticed some benefits, but now I’m trying to work on my focus.I have ADD-like symptoms, but I think it’s mostly because my job has me juggling too many things at once. I still take Lion’s Mane, L-theanine, and Ashwagandha every day. I’ve tried Bacopa Monnieri and some other nootropics, but nothing seems to help me stay focused on a task for long.I’m thinking about seeing my GP to ask about methylphenidate, but that would be my last option. Any thoughts or advice would be really appreciated!cheers 

Oom G wrote:

...I think it’s mostly because my job has me juggling too many things at once.

There’s the problem. No sane person can keep jumping from one task to another and stay focused. The issue isn’t you, that’s just how burnout works.

So what would be the option? Other then find another job....if you stuck at that job, forced due to circumstances to keep going...how do you or rather what do you do to cope with the burn out and keep going?

Back in the day, dymethyl used to keep focus in check but obviously not good for the heart, etc so not the go to here...

If you can’t leave the job (yet), the key isn’t to cope better, but to strip things down. Get brutally clear on what matters, cut everything non-essential, and stop trying to function like a machine. You’re not meant to be in ten places at once.

Start observing yourself. When exactly does the stress hit? What triggers the fragmentation? The more clearly you see your patterns, the less hold they have. Understanding something slowly robs it of its power, because you're no longer reacting blindly.

And try not to numb the discomfort. Numbing it... whether through meds, distractions or constant stimulation will only offer temporary relief and makes things worse in the long run. Sometimes the most healing thing you can do is let the discomfort guide you... research "Amor Fati", especially Nietzsche's take on it if you do not understand what I mean.

Ahh....had a brief run through "amor fati" and for those that may be religiously/spritually inclined, i find it to be a very similar concept to sufism, started reading a book recently and basic principle is to be content with the will God and know this life is nothing but a test....

Thank you Admin.

Amor fati isn’t quite the same as the religious idea of surrendering to the will of God or being content because “this life is just a test.”, though I get why it sounds that way at first. Nietzsche had something very different in mind... almost the opposite, in fact.

In most religious frameworks, suffering is often justified by some higher meaning... a divine plan, moral growth, a reward in the afterlife. Nietzsche rejected that. He saw this as a denial of life. Instead of confronting pain and chaos head-on, religion tries to explain it away or wrap it in meaning. He saw those explanations as ways of softening the blow of life, of turning suffering into something useful so it would be easier to bear. For him, that was a kind of self-deception... a refusal to face life directly.

Amor fati, in contrast, is about loving fate without appeal to any higher justification. Not “this happened for a reason,” but “this happened... and I choose to love it.” Even the pain, even the failure, even the absurdity... all of it is embraced as it is. It’s not passive acceptance; it’s an active affirmation of life, including its darkest moments.

Just to clarify what I meant earlier: when I mentioned amor fati, I wasn’t referring to some abstract life philosophy or a religious idea like surrendering to a divine will. What I meant was more practical... about how to handle discomfort, especially in the context of work and burnout.

Amor fati is about choosing to face the discomfort instead of numbing it away. Not to glorify suffering, but to understand it... to study it. When you embrace it, instead of suppressing it with meds, it starts revealing what’s actually wrong.

Amor fati isn’t passive acceptance. It’s active engagement. “This pain is part of my reality... I won’t hide from it. I’ll sit with it, understand it, and use it.” That’s the only way to improve. Drugs might offer short-term relief, but they often mute the very discomfort that could have pointed the way out.

So yeah... my point wasn’t “just endure your job” or “suffer silently.” It was: don’t hide it away with drugs. Burnout is a message. Listen to it.

I’m strongly opposed to methylphenidate in general. I’ve seen it used too often, especially in children, as a tool to suppress natural resistance to rigid, dehumanising environments, like schools and instead medicate them into conformity. It’s not about helping the child... it’s about making them easier to manage.

That same logic often carries into adult life... if you can’t focus in a high-pressure, multitasking job, the problem is framed as a flaw in your brain and stimulants are offered to “fix” you. But maybe your inability to focus isn’t dysfunction. Maybe it’s your mind refusing to go along with a way of working that’s fundamentally unhealthy.

Wow, thank you for taking the time to explain and share some of the wealth of knowledge and information you have admin. Much appreciated

Thanks for all the input. Yeah, I’m also not keen on stimulants or meds, which is why I asked first before jumping into anything. After some thought and reading everything, I definitely won’t be going that route.It’s not the stress that gets to me—it’s those moments when I’m focused on a task but then my mind just wanders on its own and starts thinking about something else I want or need to do. Sometimes it really surprises me how drastically my brain can change its focus without me meaning to.However as you’ve said maybe training my brain to shut out the unnecessary tasks and zone in on 1 thing at a time may just be the best solution

Thanks for sharing your experience! Sounds like you’ve already built a really strong foundation with Lion’s Mane and the Stamets stack,

For focus specifically, timing can make a big difference:
Morning- Lion’s Mane + Bacopa (both help with neuroplasticity, memory, and mental clarity).
Evening- Ashwagandha + L-Theanine (to calm the system, reduce stress, and support better sleep quality).
That way, you’re getting the cognitive boost during the day when you need it most, and then balancing it with stress reduction and recovery at night.
Since you mentioned juggling many things at once, another tip is pairing your stack with some intentional focus strategies—like breaking work into 25–30 min sprints (Pomodoro technique) or using noise-blocking headphones for deep work.
Medication is always an option, but you might be surprised how much shifting the stack timing + structure in your workflow helps before going that route.

Also, between Stamets stack cycles it’s good to take a 7–10 day break to let serotonin levels and receptors reset fully before starting again.

Cheers and good luck with the focus journey!

Methylphenidate does it for me, specifically Contramyl. Then again, I have inattentive type ADD.

Be forewarned, there it's necessary to learn how to effectively function while on methylphenidate.