WHY GOLDMIND
Why Goldmind exists.
Goldmind was started to solve a problem I kept seeing in psychiatry: capable people who felt they were losing their ability to think clearly. They had a harder time staying with one thing long enough to do their best work.
A pattern of constant switching.
By the late 2010s, more professionals were coming to my clinic asking whether they had ADHD. Some did. Others were describing a different pattern: a workday built around repetitive mental switching: email, messages, meetings, feeds, notifications, and a constant expectation of immediate response.
Medication has an important place in psychiatry, but it is not always warranted and does not address the work environment itself. I wanted a better framework for helping people whose attention problems were being driven in part by constant switching and interruption rather than simply untreated ADHD, and who wanted to avoid pharmacology.
I noticed the same pattern in my own work.
Around 2023, I felt poor focus creeping into my own workday. I could still do demanding work, but I was clicking the next tab, message, or interruption before I had finished the task in front of me. I had already been constructing action plans for my patients with focus issues, but now I went back through the literature on attention, behavior, sleep, exercise, digital habits, and supplements and rebuilt my own routine around what was most research-supported and practically effective for me. I was user #001 of the Goldmind system.
Goldmind:Focus and Defragging Your Mind.
This work became Defragging Your Mind, Goldmind’s free guide to the behavioral side of protecting attention and thriving in the modern attention environment. It also became Goldmind:Focus, a stimulant-free daily supplement with research-supported core ingredients in clearly stated amounts.
Defragging Your Mind addresses work structure and behavior. Goldmind:Focus addresses the supplement side. Sleep, exercise, and deliberate work habits still play an outsized role in regaining lost cognitive effectiveness.
How Goldmind evaluates a formula.
When constructing Goldmind:Focus, I started with published human evidence, chose ingredients with consistent positive signal, included them in clear amounts aligned with the literature, and avoided proprietary blends. I anchored on safety, effectiveness and ease of use to keep the routine simple enough to use consistently.
I explored and experimented with dozens of nootropic variations and doses on myself and only locked the current formula once early users repeatedly reported Goldmind:Focus was helping them feel more able to do the work they were used to doing.
I believe you'll notice a difference in your mental performance, too, especially at the end of a demanding day. It is a formula I take essentially every work day.
About Michael Vagts, MD
Michael Vagts, MD, MBA, MA, is a board-certified psychiatrist and founder of Goldmind Health. He studied physics at UCLA and UC Berkeley, earned his MD from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and his MBA from UCLA Anderson, and completed psychiatry residency with San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. He previously served as a Medical Chief for San Mateo County BHRS and continues to practice psychiatry as Medical Director of The Baywood Clinic.