Podcasts about faster than normal podcast

In this Retain: The Customer Retention Podcast episode, Lauren DeSouza talks with Peter Shankman, a six-time bestselling author, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and host of the Faster than Normal podcast. Together, they discuss how companies can retain neurodiverse employees while also creating neuro inclusive workplaces and how to include and retain neurodiverse customers.

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.  Our Guest today in their own words:  As a visionary team leader from Delaware, Zachary has leveraged the power of social media to build his own successful brokerage, Loft Realty. With a robust following of 1.6M on TikTok, coupled with a significant presence on Facebook and Instagram, he has elevated Loft Realty to the pinnacle of Google reviews in the state.  Now, Zachary channels his passion for mentorship, regularly sharing his blueprint for success. From gracing stages as a distinguished speaker, coaching budding agents, to hosting inspiring masterminds, his mission is to empower others to make their own mark in the industry. Enjoy! [You are now safely here] 00:40 - Thank you again so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:41 - Introducing and welcome Zachary Foust!! 01:42 - So what's your backstory? 03:35 - “Where there's consistency, there's redundancy” -Zachary Foust  5:55 - Talk to me about some of the lessons that you pulled out of those dark times? 06:15 - On meditation and the change is made in Zach's life. 07:32 - How on Frozen pond do you Meditate@!?? On ADHD!? Ref: MindValley.com Ref: Wim Hof Method 09:00 - On wanting to resume disciplines and hobbies.  12:32 -  How do our subscribers find out more about you if they are at the lake?  Web:  https://www.loftteamde.com   https://zacharyfoust.liftoffalpha.com Socials: @zacharyloft on TikTok  @Zachary.Loft on INSTA and Loft RealtyDE on FB 00:00 - 00OhHello hello? Hello there! YEs, yoU.  We are so happy that you are doing good, here & listening with us!! I'll say it till I die..  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. -Peter Shankman. And ooh-ooh now.. and just by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number #1 One bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 13:15 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky.  [Ed: I will siphon -in BlueSky and learn about that next week!! If not, in October when Twitter stops eating itself and we figure out hash^tag threads or whatever it all the Newnew is, cooL??  -Ed] [Also Ed: This is still a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we've missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb]  — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat.  You're listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast, where we know that having Add or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Each week we interview people from all around the globe, from every walk of life in every profession. From rock stars to CEOs, from teachers to politicians who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their add and ADHD diagnosis and used it to their personal and professional advance edge to build businesses, to become millionaires, or to simply better their lives. And now, here's the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, the man who doesn't understand how anyone could have leftover Pizza  Peter Shankman [00:00:40]: Hey, guys. Peter Shankman. Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. Thrilled to have you here. Every once in a while I'm browsing Instagram or a lot. And not just once in a while, but like constantly. And every once in a while I do come across someone who is worth following. And I found someone named Zach Faust who does a billion things. I'll tell you, he sent me a bio and he managed to put a billion things into two paragraphs. He's a team leader from Delaware. He's levered the power of social media to build his own successful real estate brokerage called Loft Realty. With a robust following of 1.6 million on TikTok. Coupled with his significant presence on Facebook and Instagram, he has elevated Loft Realty, the pinnacle of Google reviews in the state. Now, Zachary channels his passion for mentorship, regularly sharing his blueprint for success, gracing stage as a speaker, coaching agents, hosting Masterminds. He likes to empower other people. He's also massively ADHD. At 29 years old. Zach. Welcome to past the normal man. Zachary [00:01:35]: Thank you, Peter. Man, I did not write that. My lovely assistant Adrian did. And yeah, he did manage to somehow sum it all up. Peter Shankman [00:01:42]: Well, it's pretty much everything you need. It turned out pretty well. It turned out pretty well. So tell us your story. You tried to tell me offline. You were diagnosed when you were a kid. Tell us what happened. Zachary [00:01:51]: Yeah, I think probably the typical history book for a lot of ADHD was, hey, if only he applied himself. Right? If only he would apply himself. If only he could pay attention, being a distraction. And so it eventually just led to teacher after teacher saying the same thing. Doctor appointment schedule came out at around eleven or twelve years old, was given the Adderall medication for several years, body just wouldn't take it. Nothing was really helping in that regard. And it led me toward pushing toward the inevitable difficulty of US. Structure and consistency and had been for so many years. Peter Shankman [00:02:30]: Right. Zachary [00:02:30]: And it took me a good twelve years of adulthood to finally accept that and just accept than that's how it's going to be Add. We're all just kids that grew up. We just happen to be kids that wanted to fidget every time. Peter Shankman [00:02:42]: What was it? Because a lot of entrepreneurs. A lot of ADHD people are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur people, ADHD. What was it that sort of woke you up and said, okay, I don't play well with others in that regard? Zachary [00:02:55]: So I was six years military. I joined the army at 17 years old. My parents, dual military, they didn't force me to get in, but obviously just the influence and from their perspective and from mine, the consistency and the discipline required just to be a part of it seemed like it could help, and it did, and I learned so much. But one thing I definitely learned was that where there's consistency, there's redundancy. And that redundancy for me especially, I just couldn't do it. Peter Shankman [00:03:25]: That's a great line where there's consistency, there's redundancy. Zachary [00:03:29]: Yeah. And it's tough to not bleed those lines together. And we have to be consistent, especially in the entrepreneurial world, but that also leads to that. Oh, it's the same thing, chicken and rice. So I eventually bled into accidentally becoming an entrepreneur by when I not back from my first deployment or actually my only deployment to Afghanistan, I wanted to play soccer again. There were no adult soccer leagues that weren't like either 40 year olds or 40 year old or older or for kids 18 younger, Add. So I was like, let's just start an open gym. And then we had 10, 20, 30 before we knew it was uncontrollable. So we're like, let's turn this into a league. And before I knew it, I was profiting off of something we created. And I discovered entrepreneurship, and I quickly found out that even though I was making no money off the venture, it was like 40K in, 40K out. I was like, this is what I need to do. Meeting with different people every day is different. New problems to solve, something different, some new fire to put out. I fell in love with it. And that's what led us into led me to finding real estate, which is just every single day is definitely different. And now running a team here in Delaware of 17 fold problems, fires to put out, and loving every day of it. Peter Shankman [00:04:38]: What is it about the constant? Not, say the constant fires, but the constant you never know what you're going to get when you wake up in the morning that excites you? Zachary [00:04:45]: That exact thing. The never knowing what's going to happen. I'll put our podcast, for example, I put your book in the morning when I went into the gym by noon or 01:00 p.m., I'd finished it. DMG said I liked it. And here we are in a podcast together. I love that about life. I love that about the universe. I love that about just the life I get to live with my beautiful daughter and wife, that every day is different. And I love that because I've seen the redundancy just lead to a dark time for me where my brain is just not being stimulated and part of that for me was immaturity and not knowing my brain. Add not knowing that just like a muscle in my body being worked at the gym, so too did my brain need to be stimulated. Even more so for us to continue to grow and not grow stagnant and frankly, dark and went through a lot of dark spots before I really started learning about what I was and how my brain operates. Peter Shankman [00:05:43]: Talk to me about.. so that's an interesting point. So you went through dark times. Talk to me about some of the lessons that you pulled out of those dark times, because if you're talking about the now in the past, you obviously learn from them. Zachary [00:05:55]: Well, I would say the fall of 2021 was my darkest time. I've had, I had fallen into it on so many different levels. But what got me out is what's really important and what got me out was understanding what my brain was doing add how it was operating. And that every time I went into a consistent pattern of good, I felt like I was met with water on the other end time period of doing bad. Like I could go two weeks, no alcohol, no sugar, no caffeine, and then boom, four weeks laying on the couch, getting to work late, not taking care of myself, things like that. And that wave was just compounding, it seemed, every single time. Add it was like a drug. Higher the high, lower the lows. And so finally I met meditation and I sat and I finally learned and I sucked for a while. I sucked for a while. Add I finally started to learn how to actually be in a moment. I never knew what that meant. And then from there, it was a little easier to start the little tiny self care things back again, just doing what I need to do, the routines of making my bed. I started getting back into the gym for the first time in years and then a fitness journey took off and real estate grew from being just myself and as part of our team to now it's the top brokerage in the state. And all that was based off the little consistencies that really just started with getting my brain involved and giving it a moment to breathe. Man, it's like our engines are on hyperdrive all the time. Peter Shankman [00:07:32]:  Yeah, talking about than brings up an interesting point though. You said you learned to meditate. People with ADHD usually equate meditation with something else. Whether it's for me, I meditate, my bike is my meditation, right? I look at people who sit there and sort of become one with their brain and one with the universe and can do 30, 40, 50 minutes of, of just, just Zen. Add I just don't understand those people, right? And God bless them, it's amazing what they can do. But it has never come easy to me and I just assumed it's because of my ADHD, you seem to have cracked the code there. And I guarantee you a lot of my listeners, a lot of my listeners are like, sitting there going, how the fuck did you do that? Zachary [00:08:24]: I can't sit here and say there's one secret. I will say getting my own brain is very on the logical end of things. Emotion doesn't get mixed in a ton. And so for me, I need to know why I started ice bathing because I learned why it was helping my I i started going to the gym more because I started learning more about it wasn't just about my body. It's what my liver is getting from it. It's what my bones are getting from know. It's what I'm going to be as a grandfather type deal. And so with the meditation side of things, a man by the name of Joe Dispenzia, dr. Joe Dispenzia and a company named Mindvalley both were really good at breaking down why we're doing it, why being in the moment matters, what are the studies? What's the reality behind the science? And from then, I discovered that what I thought was keeping me from being able to meditate, I was actually given a little bit of a superpower behind it. It's just like your book, being able to operate on hyperdrive, being able to go in super fast mode, it seems like the worst thing in the world for when you're told, hey, shut your eyes and think about nothing, right? But the way that, like Dr. Joe Dispenzio puts it, is meditation is focus. And we have this innate superpower that we can unlock sometime called that hyper focus, where we can just lock in, where you're on a plane writing a book for 8 hours, right? And so meditation has become my plane in a way where I can now focus my energy instead of focusing my thoughts, because we're really good at focusing on something, add just going into it. But what if we could transition that insane amount of hyper focus into, say, hey, just focus on the top of your head. Just focus really hard on the top of your head and just on repeat or focus on the tip of your nose. How does the air feel going in and out? Is it warm? Is it cold? What do you smell? How are your nostrils moving? How do your eyes feel? Because doing that body scan type stuff where it's like feeling your toes and your fingers, I feel we have such a superpower with that because we can lock in now. When I'm locked out, don't expect me to be able to knock out more than seven to ten minutes, right? But like any form of exercising, I'm continuing to get better. And that was definitely the start because I wasn't listening to me. And especially when we have 19 different voices and messages and emotions and stressors and, oh, by the way, I forgot to say Happy birthday to Gabrielle six weeks ago. Got to get to that all going on at the same time. Giving the opportunity to breathe was just something I had to learn how to do. Peter Shankman [00:11:15]: I understand. It makes sense. It's one of the simplest things in the world, and yet the hardest thing in the world to master. Zachary [00:11:20]: There's no question about it. Yeah. And this thing that named itself between our ears, we don't even take the time. Peter Shankman [00:11:29]: I love the fact that you're an ice bath guy. I fell in love with ice bathing about probably ten years ago. It's so funny because I go for me, everyone's like, oh, how do you survive the cold? I'm like, It's not about the cold. It's about breathing. Zachary [00:11:43]: Yeah. Peter Shankman [00:11:44]: It's not about the about I know that if I get dumped into Coney Island on New Year's Day for the polar bear plungers, I do almost every year that I'm not going to drown because I understand how to control my breathing. The fight or flight scenario of hitting that water, I don't say I control it, but I don't say I own it, but I definitely can control it. Zachary [00:12:09]:You're aware of it. Peter Shankman [00:12:10]: Yeah, and I understand that it's going to take five to 10 seconds. Push through it, and you'll be breathing again. Zachary [00:12:18]: Exactly. Peter Shankman [00:12:18]: It is literally a metaphor for life. I've yet to meet a problem that might take some time. Bu. You just push through it, and then you're onto the next thing. Zachary [00:12:30]: Onto the next side. Yeah. Peter Shankman [00:12:32]: Really true. Zach, how can people find you? I know that you have a ridiculous Instagram following or Twitter following all that. No TikTok followers. How can people find you? Zachary [00:12:40]: Yeah, it's at Zachary Loft. On most platforms. Just Loft Realty is the company. Zachary is the name. So just combined it and ended up sticking. So it's at Zachary loft. Instagram is the best place for DMs. That's in my opinion. I'm not a big Twitter guy. I know. It's good over there, too. Peter Shankman [00:12:54]: No. Canceled myself off Twitter about three months ago. I just don't see the point anymore, but awesome. Zach, thank you so much for taking time. I definitely want to have you back in a few months. I'm going to make a note to reach out to you, and we'll do this again in the fall, but I have a feeling you have a lot more stories to share and a lot of value to give, so we're definitely going to have you back. I really appreciate the time, man. Zachary [00:13:13]: Of course. An open book for you, my man. I appreciate you. Peter Shankman [00:13:15]: All right, guys, as always, fast and almost for you. We want to know what you want to hear. Shoot us an email. Know it's the beginning of summer now, and my kid is at summer camp. She's at sleepaway camp. So I got a shit ton of time in my hands. Let me know what we're talking about. Find me a guest. Bring the on. We'll have them on just like Zach. Stay safe, stay healthy. ADHD add all forms of neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. We'll see you guys soon. You've been listening to the faster than normal podcast. We're available on itunes, Stitcher and Google Play, and of course, at www.fasterthnormal.com. I'm your host, Peter Shankman, and you can find me@petershankman.com and at petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review? The more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast is shown and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were performed by Steven Byrom, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagonblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.  Our Guest today in their own words:  Dana Sproule, is a passionate teacher and literacy coach who loves learning about “neurodiversities” and loves working with students who have them.  She was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and suddenly her impulsive, hyperactive, obsessive and passionate behaviour and thinking started to make sense.  Dana is now grateful to have a good awareness of ADHD, and realizes you can only recover with awareness and knowledge.  Recently she has noticed connections between ADHD and individuals who are in 12 step recovery programs.  Looking ahead to the future, Dana believes there should be a substantial increase in ADHD testing and support in our educational systems, so hopefully this could help our future generations avoid the pitfalls individuals with a little less dopamine can run into. Enjoy!  [You are now safely here] 00:40 - Thank you again so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:41 - Introducing and welcome Teacher and Literacy Coach, Dana Sproule!! 01:45 - So what's your backstory? ADHD traits in children and people attending AA meetings and thinks AA should acknowledge the connection. 06:50 - Ironically hyperactive people love singing, dancing, sports, but struggle with small talk and team sports. 09:35 On Breaking the stigma: ADHD acceptance and progress towards destigmatization 12:00 - Hope for a future without stigma. 00:00 -Ever want to pursue a degree in Psychology? Here are some other good topics Dana Sproule and Peter Shankman discussed today.. that you will learn more about if you will tune-in :) - Dana's personal experience of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult - Discussion of the connection between ADHD and addiction - The need for more research in the area of neurodiversity and addiction - Correlation between neurodiversity and incarceration rates - Personal experience of being open about their ADHD and its positive impact on their job search - Progress in society's understanding and acceptance of ADHD - Sharing knowledge and observations with teachers and principals - Criticism of negative stereotypes and misinformation surrounding ADHD - Advocacy for play-based learning and outdoor time in schools - Discussion of ADHD testing in schools and the potential benefits - Comfort and relief in realizing one has ADHD and eliminating shame - Importance of openness and the harmful effects of secrets and shame - Noticing ADHD behaviors in students and personal associations with ADHD - Observations of ADHD traits in participants of Adult Child of Alcoholics and Al-Anon meetings - Connection between ADHD and partners attending Alcoholics Anonymous - Suggestion for incorporating a brain-based component into the twelve-step program 13:00 -  How do our hot subscribers find out more about you?  Web:  Ms. Sproule is not a big fan of socials, but if you have a question you may email her dana@donotemaildanasproule.whatevs.ca or you can contact us for her address.  [Ms. Sproule did not verbally share her email address -Ed] 14:11 - Hey, hellooo from Earth!!@ ERF!  YEs! You right there with the cool earbuds and big grain Golden brain! Yes YOU dear!  We are THrr~rilled that you are here & listening!! Repeat in forward and to your kiddo'sx!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. -Peter Shankman. And ooh-ooh now.. and just by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number #1 One bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 0000 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky. [Ed- I will siphon -in BlueSky and learn about that next week!! If not in two or so, cooL??  -Ed] [Also Ed here. SorryIFneedbe: This is still a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we've missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb] 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.  Our Guest today in their own words:  Phil is an innovative memory coach who transforms learning by tapping into the mind's hidden potential. Leveraging techniques honed from history's greatest minds, Phil has helped over 2,000 students worldwide to learn languages in just 15 hours. His own ability to learn and teach a language within a month showcases the power of his methods. He is on a mission to learn 30 languages and teach them to 500 million students and we're going to learn several of his techniques and tricks today- enjoy!   [You are now safely here] 00:40 - Thank you again so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:41 - Introducing and welcome Philippe Arseneault! 01:45 - How did Philippe start his career; what's your backstory? 04:41 - Speed learning unlocks dormant potential for all people, but especially the Neurodiverse 08:28 - Imaginative networking scenarios  14:56 - ADHD students benefit in multiple areas. [i.e. A student with ADHD had an 800% memory increase in 15 hours using memory tricks]  15:00 - How does Philippe view speed learning? 16:00 -  How do our hot subscribers find out more about you?  Web:  https://speaklikealocal15.com/ Socials: LinkTree  @speaklikealocal on Facebook or info@speaklikealocal15.com FREE MINI COURSE JUST EMAIL HIM!! Don't forget to mention Faster Than Normal!  00:00 - Hey, hellooo from Earth!!@ ERF!  YEs! You right there with the cool earbuds and big grain Golden brain! Yes YOU dear!  We are THrr~rilled that you are here & listening!! Repeat in forward and to your kiddo'sx!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. -Peter Shankman. And ooh-ooh now.. and just by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number #1 One bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 11:56 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky. [Ed- I will siphon -in BlueSky and learn about that next week!! If not in two or so, cooL??  -Ed] [Also Ed here. SorryIFneedbe: This is still a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we've missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb]  — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat.  Speaker A [00:00:00]: You're listening to the Faster than Normal podcast where we know that having Add or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Each week, we interview people from all around the globe, from every walk of life in every profession, from rock stars to CEOs, from teachers to politicians who have learned how to unlock the gift of their add and ADHD diagnosis and used it to their personal and professional advantage to build businesses, to become millionaires, or to simply better their lives. And now, here's the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, the man who doesn't understand how anyone could have leftover pizza, Peter Shankman. Peter Shankman [00:00:41]: Everyone. Welcome to their episode of Faster than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. I am thrilled to have you. This is the world's number one ADHD podcast. Add. We are glad that you are here. Add neurodiversity is a gift, not a curse. We explain it every week. Add. Hopefully this week will be no different. I would love to mention our guest today. Want to talk to you about Phil. Let's Talk About Phil. Phil Arseneault is how do we put him? He's a memory guy. I think he's the best way to explain this. All right. What the heck is I'm thinking? Well, Bill is an innovative memory coach who transforms learning by tapping into the mind's hidden potential. He's helped over 2000 students to learn languages in just 15 hours apiece. His own ability to learn and teach a language within a month showcases the power of his methods. He's on a mission to learn 30 languages and teach them to 500 million students. That is pretty impressive. He began his career with law enforcement, but he wound up going down this fascinating path when he discovered his fascination with memory. He learned Spanish in a month to secure a managerial position at a high end restaurant in Playa del Carmen at the age of 22. I love that. Sounds like he's ADHD. He loves exploring shipwrecks without oxygen tanks. Philippe [00:01:53]: Interesting timing considering what's happened in the past couple of weeks with the Than, he dives the depths of the human mind. So there's definitely diving here. Phil. Welcome to fast add normal. Philippe [00:02:02]: Hey, Peter, thanks for having me. Peter Shankman [00:02:05]: First question. How did you discover that your memory was incredible and you decided this is what you want to do with your life? Philippe [00:02:12]: Well, I don't have an incredible memory bu. I've been harnessing these very powerful tricks which have unlocked my ability to remember things. But before we even get into that, I want to just show some appreciation towards you. Thank you so much for writing that book. It completely blew my mind when I discovered that I had ADHD through this book. And I don't know, nobody else in my life was surprised except for me. Peter Shankman [00:02:42]: Thank you. Than means a lot. That's usually the case when you come out with ADHD. People like well, yeah, duh. Philippe [00:02:49]: Yeah. A student of mine, a friend of mine, he needed to learn Portuguese in a month, so I had to learn Portuguese and teach him Portuguese. And at one point, he just casually mentioned the fact that I have ADHD, and I was like, no, I don't. And he's like, you got to read this book. And I'm like, I'll read the first chapter, but there's no way I read the whole book in the day, and I was just completely so just thank you so much for having made that beautiful piece of content. Peter Shankman [00:03:12]: I love that. Thank you. Fast and normal helps again. I love that. I need to understand this. So you started what you started as a cop? Philippe [00:03:22]: Well, I worked in municipal law enforcement for five years in Montreal, but it was completely depressing, and I knew I was destined for greater things. So I was very happy to have shifted or manifested this opportunity in Mexico. And then the only obstacle that was in my way was the Spanish components. Peter Shankman [00:03:41]: Yeah, I imagine managing a restaurant in Mexico would kind of require you to speak Spanish. Philippe [00:03:45]: Yeah, well, I managed to make it through all the hiring process and made it down to the last two until that finally came up. And then I had to convince them that I was going to be able to learn Spanish within a month and that if I was not able to do that, that they would have that time to find somebody that's much more capable and competent than the other guy and me. But in the meantime, I'd at least solve all of their logistical issues and I'd train all their staff. So that was the whole goal, is basically just a month. They didn't think that I'd be able to do it, but they figured they'd get a month of training, add optimization of their new hotel restaurant, and I guess I surprised them because I succeeded. I stayed there for over a year. Peter Shankman [00:04:30]: Unbelievable. So what is it what is it about language that makes it this sort of tell us your secret? Philippe [00:04:41]: For me, it all boils down to speed learning. Speed learning or accelerated learning methods. And this, for me, I kind of see it as like the Green Lanterns ring. I think when you have focus and determination but you don't have a solid way to utilize it, it gets pretty much wasted. But when you have a way to focus it. So, for me, the speed learning has been something that has unlocked so many things throughout all my entire life, and it has given me this feeling of having a superpower. So I use it in school to memorize 510, 15 pages of notes the night before the exam. Obviously, I had to build up to that. I started off with just a couple of little dates and a couple of little bits of information, and then over years, you develop it into 15 pages verbatim in an hour that you can memorize. But I also use it in the restaurant industry to memorize 20, 30, 40 people's names every night and then their orders and their drink orders and what their bills were. And again, it started off with a table of two and a table of four and I'd make a bunch of mistakes. But over a period of time using these really powerful tricks, it made me feel like everything is possible. We have 256,000,000,000 gigs of storage capacity, which is like 1.2 billion computers. So we have all this potential. And I didn't understand why people can access it. And then when I started going on this rabbit hole of memory competitions around the world and there's thousands and thousands of people that are utilizing these really powerful tricks, they're memorizing over 4000 digits in an hour and like 30 to 60 decks of shuffled cards in a couple of hours, which is like 3000 individual cards. They're doing all this. Why are we struggling in school? So it was really serendipitous that the language element came into play with this challenge. And as I was learning it with these tricks, everybody was so surprised by how quickly I was learning and I just felt like it was normal. So I was teaching them along the way. And then when I realized that my natural gift to perceive patterns and to simplify things. And all the years that I've spent very passionately curious about the mind psychology, personal development, flow states and speed learning, it all couples together and fits in perfectly with languages in a way that I don't think that anybody else has ever really tapped into. So people just started getting really excited with because most of my students don't have ADHD. And I've noticed that the students than I've taught that have ADHD are able to outperform and they really take all these tricks and these tips and they run with it and it's just so much more powerful. But even with the people without ADHD, they're accessing parts of their brains and capabilities that they thought never existed, but they were just lying dormant. So it's just been incredibly rewarding. The language is just basically the path that I'm choosing to spread the knowledge of speed learning and unlocking people's dormant potential. Peter Shankman [00:07:55]: Give us an example of one of those tricks because look, it sounds amazing. It sounds like, oh my God, I need to do this. Give me an example of something that you learned that allows you to sort of tap into that potential. Philippe [00:08:07]: Okay, so the beauty about the speed learning tricks is it's a very simple fundamental core, right? And then you use it in different ways that you can use it for numbers, for names. When you go to a networking event. Peter Shankman [00:08:22]: Give me something with names. I'm terrible names. I meet someone, I forget the name 2 seconds later. Give me something with names. Philippe [00:08:28]: All right, so here's an example. I meet you at a networking event and you say hey, my name is Peter Shankman. So as I'm shaking your hand and saying hello to you, I'm imagining you dressed in tights like Peter Pan, and then you never wanted to grow up, so you have a shank in your pocket and I'm shaking your right hand always, because I know that's your shanking hand and I know you're always looking to shank a man, right? You want to be a boy forever. Peter Pan wants to be a boy forever. So you're always looking to shank a man. So I shake your hand and I neutralize your Shanking hand because you're Petershankman. And then in the beginning, you say, well, that takes a long time. How can you do all that while you're shaking somebody's hand? Well, in the beginning, it takes a bit of time, but as you practice it, over a couple of weeks, couple of months, that whole story just pops into my head in terms of concepts, not in terms of specific words. And then I immediately lock you down as Peter Shankman. I can give you another story for numbers, if you like. Yeah, I'll summarize it, but normally it's a little bit longer, add more wild. But basically, you want to imagine yourself as a spy sent to murder Hitler. Now, this is Germany, kind of like where the movie Unglorious Pastors ended off, where they're trying to kill Hitler and he's in his office yelling, nine, nine, nine. Right? He's getting very, very angry. So you reach into your pocket and you're there as an undercover spy, and you pull out this little tiny, mutated squid, octopus assassin creature. And as it goes onto the floor, it starts to shift and mutate and grow into the giant assassin octopus. He's killing Hitler. He's killing everybody in the room. You start running away. The octopus starts chasing after you. But luckily, you have a secret pill that's hidden in your teeth. So you clamp down and you break the hidden tooth. You hope that it's not cyanide, but it doesn't taste like cyanide, so it actually transforms you into a car. So you look down and you look down at your hands and your feet, and you got four tires growing out of your extremities. You have four tires growing out of your extremities. And now you transform and you drive the hell out of there and you go down to Amsterdam for your extraction point. Now, when you get to Amsterdam, the first place you go to is the brothel, obviously. So as you pull into the brothel with your four tires, you transform back into human shape and you try to get into the brothel to call. Now, there's this little short bouncer that's blocking the way, and he's not letting you into the brothel. He looks kind of like the famous rapper $0.50. But he's vertically challenged. He's a dwarf, so his friends jokingly call him $0.25. So you pick up air. He's not very intimidating, and you smush him into your hands and he transforms into a 25 cent quarter, right? So now he literally is as you walk into the brothel, there's this giant, like, blockbuster gumball machine. Like those giant gumball machines. You put twenty five cents in the gumball machine, and you turn it around and the ball comes out. But you didn't get a gum. You won a prize. So you open up the little piece of paper and you read it, and it says, you have won a complimentary 69 in this establishment. Complimentary 69. We get 69. Amazing. So you run in, forgetting about the extraction point, just running in to collect your reward. But when you get in, there's this giant jigsaw from the movie the movie saw this giant jigsaw puppet riding the Tricycle and he's so freaky and he's giant Tricycle, and he starts chasing you out of the brothel. So you've got this Tricycle just hauling ass behind you, pardon my French. This giant tricycle chasing you? And you try to bite down on your teeth again, but you can't turn into a car anymore. But luckily, there's this giant pink Ford pickup truck. It's a four x four with two pink with a couple of pink unicorns in the back. For some reason you jump in the car, the keys are in the ignition, you haul of, and then you're driving, and the Tricycle is gaining on you. But luckily, you see the button for the four x four. You unlock the four x four. You have enough torque to escape. So let's go back to the beginning of the story. Where are you? Peter Shankman [00:12:34]: In Germany. Philippe [00:12:35]: In Germany. What is Hitler yelling? Peter Shankman [00:12:37]: Nine. Nine. Nine. Philippe [00:12:38]: Perfect. So the first number is nine. So we got nine. You reach into your pocket. What was in your pocket? How do you kill Hitler? Peter Shankman [00:12:45]: An octopus. Philippe [00:12:46]: Octopus. How many legs does an octopus have? Eight. So we got nine. Eight. Perfect. Now, how do you escape the octopus? Peter Shankman [00:12:54]: I bite down on something in my tooth Philippe [00:12:57]: Perfect. And then what grows out of your limbs? Peter Shankman [00:13:00]: Two wheels. Philippe [00:13:02]: Out of all of your limbs? Peter Shankman [00:13:03]: All four wheels. Philippe [00:13:04]: Perfect. We got nine, eight, four. Perfect. And then where do you escape to after Germany? Peter Shankman [00:13:10]: Amsterdam. Philippe [00:13:11]: Amsterdam. And when you get there, who's blocking your entrance? Peter Shankman [00:13:15]: Twenty five cents. Philippe [00:13:16]: Twenty five cents. Excellent. Now, when you turn it into 25 cent, what do you get in the gumball machine? Peter Shankman [00:13:21]: A prize. Philippe [00:13:22]: And what's the prize? Peter Shankman [00:13:24]: Free 69. Philippe [00:13:25]: Perfect. So we got 69. And then when you get into redeem, your prize, who attacks you?  Peter Shankman [00:13:31]: I don't remember that part. Who attacks me? Philippe [00:13:34]: Okay. What was his vehicle of transportation? What was he riding? Some creature was attacking you on this weird children. Peter Shankman [00:13:43]: Was it a bike or something like that? Philippe [00:13:44]: Yeah, it was a bike, but it was a Jigsaw from that's right. Peter Shankman [00:13:48]: Jigsaw from Saw. Right. Philippe [00:13:49]: So he's got a tricycle. Right. So the tricycle number three. And then how do you escape him. There was unicorns somewhere. Peter Shankman [00:13:58]: That's right. Philippe [00:13:59]: Okay, and then how do you get enough speed to outdrive the tricycle? You hit a button. What did the button say? Peter Shankman [00:14:07]: What did the button say? Philippe [00:14:09]: It unlocked all the torque if it was a pickup truck. Yes. Okay, very good. Four x four x four. So that's my phone number, 984-256-9344. When it's in the format of numbers, I can't memorize a single phone number. But when I transform it into these stories, I can do in one night, I could do 1020 people's phone numbers, and if I need to sit down to memorize them for an event that I have, it takes me ten minutes, and I just get 1020 phone numbers locked in the form of these stories. Peter Shankman [00:14:46]: That's amazing. I imagine that people with neurodiverse brains would even have an easier time learning this stuff because they're already creative to begin with. Philippe [00:14:56]: Like I said, I've seen 800% increase when we measured it once with I had a student ADHD. This is one of my first students when I beginning. For a month, I was teaching everybody for free, and then I just started going with referrals. But this guy, he was always known as having a crappy memory. Maybe it was partly due to ADHD, but his brain was just not able to make memories. His mom, as a gift, as a gag gift for Christmas, bought him a little kids memory game. So there's 70 cards in them, and it's like a picture of a pacifier, a picture of a bicycle, et cetera. And he could never memorize more than five or ten, depending on how he's feeling. And then within 15 hours of working with me with these tricks, he was able to memorize the whole deck, and we ran out of cards, so we didn't even reach the limit of its potential. But that's an 800% increase in 15 hours. So ADHD students that I've had, they just take this and fly, not only for the languages, but for numbers, for information. They use it in their work now. They use it in their relationships. Their girlfriend's favorite color is blue. They just imagine the girlfriend listening to blues music every anniversary, so now they always remember it's blue. If it's red, they imagine them as a raging bowl. If they forget the favorite color, and then the red connects with the bowl. I love the it connects everything. Peter Shankman [00:16:18]: This is brilliant. All right, we're out of time. I want to have you back without question. How can people find you? Philippe [00:16:24]: I'm on Facebook. Speak like a local. Or they have my phone number now. It's plus 52 area code or email info at speaklikealocal15.Com. Web:  https://speaklikealocal15.com/ Socials: LinkTree  @speaklikealocal on Facebook or info@speaklikealocal15.com FREE MINI COURSE JUST EMAIL HIM!! Don't forget to mention Faster Than Normal!  Peter Shankman [00:16:37]: Amazing. Just amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time. This was awesome. Philippe [00:16:41]: See? And just to show you a bit of gratitude for rocking my world with this book, and I mean setting me on this path of optimizing my brain, add removing all the obstacles that I've had in my path. Happy to give all of your listeners a free mini course. So if anybody wants to send me a message, seven Spanish verb tenses in 1 hour. Or if they just want a memory, I have a little intro to memory hacking. I'll give it absolutely for free. Just send me a message. If you have any questions, just mention Peter Shankman or ADHD and happy to send off some cool free content. Peter Shankman [00:17:19]: I love it guys. You also know this guy on his zoom. His name is Dr. Phil. Your brain I love that. I love that, Phil. Thank you so much for taking time guys. If you listen to Faster Than Normal, this is fun to do. We'll have Phil back.  As always, we'd love to hear what guests you want to have on the podcast. We always have room. Let me know and we will see you guys soon. Keep having fun, stay healthy. Neurodiversity is a gift, not a curse. And we'll talk to you guys later. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.  Our Guest today in their own words:  Amanda Soper is the founder of Amanda Soper Equine – Gestalt Coaching & Horsemanship. A labor of love that focuses on helping young women break generational trauma cycles to live in authenticity and joy, through the healing power of horses. Amanda is a graduate of the renowned Touched by a Horse Equine Gestalt Coaching Method, where she found her community after a lifetime of feeling like a misfit toy. As a Gestaltist, her job requires spontaneity and creativity, so ADHD is the perfect superpower for creating powerful healing spaces and sessions. We are grateful for her time today and are now researching ADHD + Equine also, enjoy! And hey, thanks kindly for subscribing to Faster Than Normal!   [You are now safely here] 00:40 - Thank you again so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:43 - Introducing and welcome Amanda Soper 02:06 - Why is it that every young girl has love affair in some capacity with horses? 03:14 - When were you diagnosed? 05:41 - Does ADHD give you that same hyper focus as say, Skydiving; when you're on a horse? 06:48 - Tell us how and why you started Equine Therapy; explain it to us? 10:28 -  How do our soon-to-be-poolside subscribers find out more about you?  Web:  https://amandasoperequine.com Socials: @amanda_soper_equine on: INSTA   11:07 - Hey, hellooo from Earth!!@ ERF!  YEs! You right there with the cool earbuds and big grain Golden brain! Yes YOU dear!  We are THrr~rilled that you are here & listening!! Repeat in forward and to your kiddo'sx!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. -Peter Shankman. And ooh-ooh now.. and just by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number #1 One bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 11:56 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky. [Ed- I will siphon -in BlueSky and learn about that next week!! If not in two or so, cooL??  -Ed] [Also Ed here. SorryIFneedbe: This is a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we've missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb]  — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat, (Ooh-ooh! 1234-now Fiiifth and likely final re-trial run is today June 13, 2023. #gen_AI_for_whut??  Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. I'm thrilled to have you here. We are closing in on 300. Pretty crazy. We're not there yet. We should be there by the end of the summer, but 300 episodes, that's pretty amazing and inspiring. And I have you guys as an audience and I have all my listeners and guests to thank for it. It has been an incredible ride and I'm thrilled by it. So than you for that. I've just gotten back from another wonderful hour and a half of boxing. My kid is done with school, so she thought she was going to get to stay in and just do nothing. And I dragged her to boxing with me and had her workout. So she water me right now, which is good. It. So I'm back. I'm a little beaten up, but all good. Let's get into it. Today we are going to talk horses. And when you ask yourself, what do horses have to do with ADHD, it turns out the answer is a lot. So I want you to meet Amanda Soper. Amanda Soper is the founder of Amanda Soper equine guestal coaching and Horsemanship. She calls it a labor of love that focused on helping young women break generational trauma cycles to live in authenticity and joy through the healing power of horses. Amanda is a graduate of the renowned Touched by a Horse equine gestalt coaching method, where she found her community after a lifetime of feeling like she's a misfit toy. I get that as a Gestaltist, her job requires spontaneity Add creativity. So ADHD, which she has, is her perfect superpower for creating healing spaces and sessions. Welcome to Faster than Normal. Amanda [00:02:02]:  Amanda thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here. Peter Shankman [00:02:06]:  So why is it first question not related to ADHD? Why is it that every girl, when they are young, starts a love affair in some capacity with horses? My daughter, I put her on one at age four, age five, and even though she didn't pick it up because living in midtown Manhattan makes that a little difficult, she did fall in love with it and speaks of it often, that it's something she wants to do. What is it about horses and young. Amanda [00:02:37]:  Girls that is a million dollar question. Definitely. I think it's about freedom. For a lot of young girls, horses are their first faster of independence. Add getting to ride and partner with 1000 pound or bigger beast is just really magical. Add, I think it's the magic that draws most of us young women in young girls. It's great that you got your daughter started with a little taste of it early on. That's wonderful. And good luck with that if she turns it into a career or a hobby. Peter Shankman [00:03:14]: Yeah, I think she's picked up on acting, so hopefully that'll kick in for a while. But no, she loved it. She's an amazing time. Speaks with fondly often. So, tell me about ADHD. Tell me about when you were diagnosed. How old were you? How to start with your thing? Amanda [00:03:29]: So it's very new for me. I just learned about it in 2019. No, excuse me, where are we in the world? 2022. Add diagnosed 2022 about December. So this is really new. But when I learned about it, it was just this explosive light bulb moment of oh my God, yes, that's me, 100% Add. It, in fact, is, as it turns out. Peter Shankman [00:03:57]: That's pretty cool. At what point did you realize that ADHD could be a benefit or could be anything other than a hindrance? Amanda [00:04:06]: Kind of right away. Once I had the awareness of the trajectory of my life because of it, I never thought of it as being a hindrance. Because post school, where it definitely was a hindrance, all of my education was just a nightmare. Since I was diagnosed, it's been an absolute asset all the way. Because what I do with horses, of course, is horses are a high risk activity which real well into that ADHD Add world, but also because it requires spontaneity to pivot on a dime. Add your horse and you are maybe not communicating correctly. I can be really creative and find new avenues to work better with the horses, work better with people, work better with myself. The awareness of ADHD has been huge. Just that piece all alone has been huge. For me to take the trajectory of my life and go, I can help other people who have ADHD and Add and help them learn that it's an asset and not a curse or a gift. Not a curse, as you say. Yeah, for me, it has not been a negative at all since I was diagnosed. Peter Shankman [00:05:41]: Here's an interesting question I just thought of so you mentioned, and you're right. It's these thousand pound beasts who can easily trample you without a second thought. Not intentionally, but things happen. So when I first started Skydiving and my mother was definitely afraid of it because she goes, you never focus on anything. How the hell are you going to focus on doing things you need to do to jump on a plane safely? She was amazed when she came and watched me and realized how hyper focused I was on every single aspect of the event. Does ADHD give you that same hyper focus when you're on a horse, that you're so hyper aware of what you have to do because you love it so much and you know that it can be dangerous? Amanda [00:06:16]: 100%. 100%. There is a saying than your horse and you can both have the opportunity to freak out. But as a person it is never your turn. It is always you have to be hyper focused, you have to be in the present moment very much to be successful. Even if you're just trail riding or if you're barrel racing or whatever you're doing with horses. Absolutely that hyper focus is such an asset. Peter Shankman [00:06:47]: Makes sense. Tell me about this concept of what you started and explain to me where this because I imagine it's almost a level of therapy. Amanda [00:06:58]: It is very much, very therapeutic. After I got out of school, which as I mentioned was just something I never ever wanted to return to, I took about a year off and immediately returned to school to pursue horse training. And then to make a long story short, I graduated from the horse training program, and I didn't have any business sense, so I looked into schooling for business, which is how I ended up finding the Touch by a Horse equine Gestalt coaching method, which is a really intensive two year program to teach people how to partner with horses in gestalt. To coach whatever niche you choose to go into. Mine happens to be women and empowerment and grief processing and trauma recovery. So going down that trail of my own personal work, which is a requirement of the program, unlike traditional therapy where therapists don't actually it's not a requirement, than they heal from their own traumas. Bu this program touched by horse, it is very much a requirement. So once I started to heal from my childhood traumas, which I see now in a different light than even when I was doing the program, is a lot of it being related to ADHD and parents who didn't have coping mechanisms. For me, parents who themselves have ADHD, though they're undiagnosed this pathway has led me to helping women heal their own hearts, their own trauma with horses. And I've lost the thread of your question, so if you would please repeat than for my brain. Peter Shankman [00:08:44]: No, that's an classic ADHD thing. No, it's just the premise. Than horses can be incredible therapy and I don't think enough people realize that they absolutely can. Amanda [00:08:53]: Most people are aware of physical therapy with horses that's been around for a long time, but mental health and wellness with horses is just as powerful. And the horses themselves of course, are the drawing point for a lot of women, especially men, benefit from this as well. It's still stigmatized for men. So I work with men, but not very often. The horses themselves, their part in it is hard to explain because they show up differently for each individual person. For example, with grief, which is one of the very main things that I work with people on. I have seen people literally be wrapped up by this thousand pound animal. They put their head, add neck over their body and they pull them in and they give them this giant horse hug. And for somebody in deep grief or somebody who is having relationship problems and they're not feeling loved, the horses really do a deep dive into their heart and just expand it with their presence and people walk away feeling lighter and lighter. Really a lot of times physical issues will disappear. For somebody who's been suffering with say back pain or gut issues, just by being in the presence of a horse and having somebody listen and talk to. Peter Shankman [00:10:22]: Them and experience sounds pretty amazing. Amanda [00:10:27]: It's truly amazing. Peter Shankman [00:10:28]:  How can people find more? How can they reach you? 10:28 -  How do our soon-to-be-poolside subscribers find out more about you?  Web:  https://amandasoperequine.com Socials: @amanda_soper_equine on: INSTA     Amanda [00:10:32]: I am pretty easy to find so my website is Amandasoperequine.com, facebook is Amanda soperequine and Instagram is Amanda soberequine and I think that's pretty much all my socials. Peter Shankman [00:10:50]:  Awesome. Amanda, thank you so much for taking the time to be a faster. Normally we appreciate it. Horses definitely have a magical ability. I think we need to explore that more and I'm going to see if we can find other people who have ADHD and also understand the power of horses. I'm going to do some research. Amanda [00:11:05]:  Awesome. Let me know what you find out. Peter Shankman [00:11:07]:  Will do. Thanks so much guys, as always listening to Fast than Normal. We'd love to hear what you think. Drop us a note, leave us a review, let us know how we can help. Life goes on. Stay safe, stay healthy. ADHD is a gift, not a curse. We'll talk to you guys soon. Have a great day. You've been listening to the Faster than normal podcast. We're available on itunes, Stitcher and Google Play and of course at www.fasterthenormal.com. I'm your host Peter Shankman and you can find me@petershankman.com and at petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform form of choice and leave us a review. The more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast is shown and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were performed by Stephen Byrom and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagon Blast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. Our terriffic Guest today in her own words: Joia McDaniel is not just a dynamic force in the supply chain industry, but also a passionate advocate for neurodivergence. As the architect of Supply Chain GOAT she has over two decades of award-winning experience and an armory of creative ideas that set her apart in her field.  Born and raised in Detroit, the epicenter of the automotive world, Joia was primed early on to understand the complex dynamics of supply chains. Today, she resides in Fort Worth, Texas, expertly balancing her role as a business maven with her life as a loving wife and mother to four spirited children. Joia's journey to success is one that defies convention. Living with ADHD, she's found a unique perspective that she applies to her work and life. Far from being a limitation, her ADHD has proven to be an extraordinary capability. It propels her creativity, drives her boundless energy, and fosters a level of hyper focus that enables her to delve into complex problems until they're solved. Her Auditory Processing Disorder has refined her listening skills, helping her catch subtle cues others might miss and use these insights to fuel her innovative approach. Joia's distinctive prowess has shaped her success and fueled her passion to advocate for the neurodivergent community. She actively promotes a better understanding and acceptance of neurodiversity, highlighting the unique strengths and talents that neurodivergent individuals bring to the table. She is a testament to the fact that different minds have a place in our world and can lead, innovate, and excel. Joia McDaniel is a trailblazer, a thought leader, and an advocate. Her contributions to the supply chain industry and her commitment to fostering neurodiversity make her story a powerful narrative of exceptional ability, resilience, and impact.  Enjoy and hey, thanks so much for subscribing to Faster Than Normal!   [You are now safely here] 00:40 - Thank you again so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:43 - Introducing and welcome Joia McDaniel CEO of Supply Chain GOAT  02:40 - So how does one grow up in the supply chain? 04:36 - On the rewards of a career in Supply Chain and Logistics; is it a sexy career choice now? 05:42 - How did you first get diagnosed? 06:21 - Oh no.. Not the Meatz!!   07:58 - What were the first major changes that you noticed personally after you got diagnosed? 09:51 - So.. we have tons of kids who are college students or just getting out of college, figuring out what they want to do with their life. If they wanted to look at supply chain, tell us why, number one, and then tell us what they should be doing to get involved in that industry? #SummerJobs #SupplyChain #Neurodiverse 10:43 - Why is it the perfect career for neurodiversity? This is Joia's favorite question! 12:25 - Is working in the Supply Chain like putting out one fire after another? 13:11 - On Passion for your job/work/gig/world/client/account/boatshoes/recycle bins 13:46 -  How do our New Summer-shiney subscribers find out more about you?  joya@supplychaingoat.com. My website is www.supplychaingoat.com. It's not up as of June 13, 2023, but iscoming soon, so those are the ways that I could be reached. 14:36 - 500 POINTS FOR USING THE WORD SAUNA!! Ahhhh.. summer swim & spa days….  00:00 - Hey, hellooo from Earth!!@ ERF!  YEs! You right there with the cool earbuds and big grain Golden brain! Yes YOU dear!  We are THrr~rilled that you are here & listening!! Repeat in forward and to your kiddo'sx!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. -Peter Shankman. And ooh-ooh now.. and just by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number #1 One bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 00:00 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky. [Ed- I will siphon -in BlueSky and learn about that next week!! If not in two or so, cooL??  -Ed] [Also Ed here. SorryIFneedbe: This is a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we've missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb]  EXTRA CREDIT + GENERATED BY AI and NOT proofread much really here below: ——————————————— [Yaaaay CastMagic.io. Go-go-Gadget AI! -tell us in the comments or emaiL:  -Ed] Is this thing on?? 1. Who is the guest of the episode? Answer: The guest is Joia McDaniel, an advocate for both the supply chain industry and neurodivergence.  2. How has COVID impacted the supply chain industry? Answer: COVID has increased the attention on supply chain as more people realized the importance of understanding each link in the process.    3. What are the cognitive differences of the speaker, and how have they helped them in their career? Answer: The speaker has ADHD and auditory issues, which they consider their "superpower" in the supply chain industry.    4. What changes did the speaker experience after being diagnosed with ADD? Answer: The speaker experienced a significant change in energy levels, ability to complete tasks, gained more confidence, and was able to hyper-focus more effectively after receiving a diagnosis of ADD.    5. How did understanding the diagnosis and accommodations help the speaker? Answer: Understanding the diagnosis and accommodations helped improve the experience for the speaker in their career.  6. What company did the guest create, and how much experience does she have in the field? Answer: The guest created Supply Chain Goat LLC and has over two decades of experience in the field.  7. Where was the guest born and raised, and why is it important for understanding supply chain dynamics? Answer: The guest was born and raised in Detroit, which is important for understanding supply chain dynamics because of its connection to the automotive industry.  8. What sparked the guest's interest in supply chain? Answer: The guest's interest in supply chain was sparked by growing up around the automotive industry and being fascinated by watching the process of turning car parts into a whole vehicle.  9. What are some challenges that neurodiverse individuals face, and how can they excel in supply chain? Answer: Neurodiverse individuals can struggle with transitioning from a high-stress state to a calm state, but can excel in supply chain because of their ability to connect with different people and be natural people pleasers.  10. What is the name of the podcast, who is the host, and where can it be found? Answer: The name of the podcast is Faster Than Normal, the host is Peter Shankman, and it can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play, as well as www.fasterthannormal.com.——————————————————————————— — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat, (Ooh-ooh! 1234-now Fiiifth and likely final re-trial run is today June 13, 2023. #gen_AI_for_whut??  Peter Shankman [00:00:40]: And here's the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, the only man who goes skydiving to calm down + focus, Peter Shankman. Peter Shankman [00:00:40]: Greetings, everyone. Happy day. It is time for another episode of Fast Than Normal. My name is Norm McDonald. No, that's not true. I'm Peter Shankman, but I wanted to see if you guys are listening because I say that every single week. It is great to have you here. Everything is good. It is a gorgeous day. We're finally into summer almost, but it's good enough. It's nice out. Everyone's happy. Dog is sleeping. Let's see how long that lasts. So I am good. I'm glad you're with us, and I'm glad our guest is with us today, a lovely young lady named Joya McDaniel. Joya McDaniel is pretty interesting. The told me before we started that she's really nervous because she can't believe that I chose her to be on this podcast. I'm like, okay, you have obviously no idea who I am because I'm not special in the slightest, but there's nothing to be nervous about. But that being said, I'm thrilled that you're here: Welcome, Joia. Joia McDaniel [00:01:26]: Thank you. Thank you, Peter. I appreciate that. Peter Shankman [00:01:28]: So you have an interesting bio. You're like a dynamic force in the supply chain industry, right? So you're the reason that during COVID no one got any of the things they needed, right? That was all on you. Joia McDaniel [00:01:40]: No, absolutely not, because I wasn't a part of that. Peter Shankman [00:01:43]: There you go. Someone didn't hire you for the right time, and that totally screwed up the entire country anyway. She's a passion advocate, not only in the supply chain industry, but also passionate advocate for neuro divergence. As the architect of as the architect of supply chain Goat LLC, she has over two decades of award winning experience in an armory of creative ideas that set her apart in the field. She was born and raised in Detroit, which is the epicenter of the automotive world, as we know. So she was primed early on to understand the dynamics of supply chain. Now she lives in Texas, and we'll talk about that. But she's expertly balancing her role as a business maven with her life as a loving wife and mother to four spirited children. She is neurodiverse. She has ADHD Add. She's not a unique perspective that allows her to apply her work, so she applies this to her work in life. Here's what I want to know. This cool thing. Her auditory processing disorder has refined her listening skills, helping her catch subtle cues others might miss. So essentially you'd be one hell of a poker player. Joia McDaniel [00:02:37]: Yeah, maybe so. I don't play, but I can learn fast. Peter Shankman [00:02:40]: There you go. All right, Joy. Welcome to Faster. We're glad to have you here. So how does one grow up in the supply chain; how does that happen? Joia McDaniel [00:02:49]: So being from Detroit automotive, automotive is pretty much centered around supply chain. But as a kid, you don't know about supply chain. You just know you see one vehicle. I mean, you see the arts turn into a whole vehicle. And with both my parents being in the automotive industry, one at GM and, the other at Chrysler, it was just my life. I grew up automotive. I just heard all the conversations and it just kind of stuck with me. And it's literally just ingrained in my DNA because literally that's all that Detroit used to talk about during my days of growing up. And it's just going to see my Dad, seeing what he did, it was just always intriguing to see how he put one part on and then at the end you have this beautiful car. And so, yeah, that's pretty much been my life. And I don't know if you've heard of that saying, don't shut the line down, but that is like a common phrase in Detroit. So you can't shut the line down because it's expensive and it's almost like you're just going to hell. Like, literally it's just than serious. So having that ingrained in me, that started me out with the interest of just automotive, but I didn't, like I said, grasp the whole supply chain concept until after college, actually, and I got my first job and I just pretty much fell into supply chain in the automotive industry. And it's just been going nonstop, literally since then. So that's how automotive supply chain kind of ingrained in it to where I am now. Peter Shankman [00:04:26]: It's kind of fascinating when you think about it. You found it amazing and you found it enjoyable. Joia McDaniel [00:04:36]: Yes, absolutely. It's a very rewarding career and it's kind of like the new sexy word now. You really didn't hear about supply chain too much before, COVID so now everyone's trying to understand all the dynamics of supply chain. And it's such a layered field, and you really have to understand each chain, I mean, each link of the supply chain to really be good in this industry. Add that's something that my ADHD and my auditory issues has really helped to put me in a position of just excellence regardless of what I'm doing, literally, it's just effortlessly. So I'm excited. I find it to be my superpower. And it didn't always be like this. It wasn't always like this at all. I definitely had my challenges before I really understood what was going on. But definitely once you hone in and you know who you are and what you have and capable of the industry is just amazing for our brain type. Peter Shankman [00:05:42]: So let's talk brain type, let's talk neurodiversity. How did you first get diagnosed? Joia McDaniel [00:05:47]: So I was diagnosed in the third grade, and I was diagnosed because my mom was getting calls from the teachers I wasn't listening, I wasn't focused and all this stuff. And so was diagnosed from school, from my performance in school, Add. My mom, she never put me on any medication growing up. Instead, we did I don't know if you've heard of, like, the Bach remedy flowers. Yeah, we did that. And then I had a diet. No sugar, no meat. Literally, it was like that for 18 years. She was very, oh, my God. Peter Shankman [00:06:21]: No sugar I can handle, but no meat. Oh, my God. Joia McDaniel [00:06:24]: Yes. It was crazy. And it wasn't until I came home from college and my grandmother was frying some pork chops, and they smelled so good and, oh, my gosh, diet is broken. I cannot do this anymore. But, yeah, it's been going on since the third grade, but my mother never talked about it. I just knew that I had to take these drops, but she never said what it was. So when I got my career started going, things just started getting a little weird, like, okay, why can't I focus? Like, I need to why am I forgetting to do this? And just why is things just really weird? And so I went to the doctor again, I had the diagnosis, but I was never told about it. So I went to my doctor, and I literally told him this phrase. I said doctor, I am stupid. I don't know what's going on. I need some help. And just pulling my records and going through just my previous records and taking questionnaires, definitely. And then I told my mom. She's like, oh, yeah, you've had that since the third grade. I'm like, you know what? That's pretty much my story. And ever since I've had the official diagnosis of me knowing once, you know, it just kind of what do people say? It's like you're putting the wipers on when it's raining. But, yeah, it's been amazing. Now that I know and have an understanding, and I don't know how I was getting by before that. Peter Shankman [00:07:58]: Tell me what it was. So what was it like when you finally after you got diagnosed and you started, I guess whether it was medication, sort of understanding, Add, learning it, what were the first major changes that you noticed personally? Joia McDaniel [00:08:10]: Well, the first major changes was my energy. I've always been high energy, but my energy was different because I was able to actually get things done, and I would get things done, and I was able to multitask with actually getting the things that I was multitasking completed and just more confidence and stand up, able to hyper focus more. I would say that's some of the first benefits that I definitely experienced once I got the official diagnosis. And once you get it and you know Add, you understand some of the accommodations that you may need. That helps too. So you can understand exactly what's going on with you. But not being able to tell your employer and kind of mask in those things that I would say was the most difficult. You didn't ask that question, but that's something that kind of ties into that because it's all good. Add, you perform and you're a stellar. You're doing all these great things and getting these awards and everything but the masking and the background. It takes a long time to get things done for me back then before I learned updated processing. But it took a while to get used to having to do things differently and having the wheel and the brain power after medication.  Peter Shankman [00:09:51]: Let's shift gears for a second. Go back to logistics and supply chain. So you say that it's great for.Someone with Neurodiversity, supply chain is awesome. So we have tons of kids who are college students or just getting out of college, figuring out what they want to do with their life. If they wanted to look at supply chain, tell us why, number one, and then tell us what they should be doing to get involved in that industry To get involved in that worl. Joia McDaniel [00:10:07]: So what they should be doing is looking into manufacturing, cohort classes or just anything dealing with automation, logistics. You could take courses at a community college. Even in high school they have transition classes and study groups and things like that. Just reading, reading and learning about supply chain, understanding the dynamics of it and what all it entails. What was your other question? Peter Shankman [00:10:43]: Sorry, tell us about so you mentioned neurodiversity. Why is it the perfect career for neurodiversity? Joia McDaniel [00:10:49]:  Okay, so it's the perfect career for neurodiversity. This is my favorite question because literally, supply chain moves so fast. Everything is moving so fast, Add. There's always something new going on. Every day there's a new problem, there's something going on. And in order to keep up with that fast paced scale, you have to have the ability to stop what you're doing maybe, and then go to something else and totally hone in on that and then go back to what you were doing before and have it be seamless. People communication, it can be a struggle with ADHD of people in supply chain, but we're natural born people pleasers. So sometimes you get intimidated. But communication, being a people pleaser actually works because you're dealing with so many people from so many different backgrounds and we're just able to connect with just about anyone. I'm sure you definitely can understand that. So that's definitely a plus. And then just being able to not just see one portion or one link when someone makes a decision and let's say for instance, sales, you know, that okay, they made a decision in sales. So this is going to impact production. This is going to impact forecasting. So it's like this huge like you just have this brand and you just know from the onset that if this happens, then that's going to happen. So definitely those are definitely things people. Peter Shankman [00:12:21]: With ADHD and Neurodiversity tend to be Really good at, putting out fires..Really good at, putting out fires. Is this a kind of industry where It'S one fire after anothe Joia McDaniel [00:12:29]: Absolutely, yes, absolutely. There's fires almost every day. And I don't care how good your supply chain is. I mean, it's so layered, it's so deep that you're always going to have something to do. Add it wasn't oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. Peter Shankman [00:12:42]: No, I just want to own into it because I want to follow up because that brings up an interesting question because we're really good people with neurodiversity are phenomenal putting on fires. But how do you handle the concept of, okay, I just put in a fire. Now I have to go home and listen to my children or listen to my husband or calm down or not because I can imagine you put in a fire and you solve a huge problem. You must be high as a kite. Dopamine hit from that. Must be off the charts. So how do you then go home And turn it off? Joia McDaniel [00:13:11]: It's difficult because you're so passionate. We're passionate people and you're excited, especially if it gets accomplished and it's favorable terms and it's just having a partner that understands what I do and being supportive and can listen to my stories and kind of bring me down some, that helps. But the ride home when I was going to the office, especially if I had to go through traffic, it was a lot a huge transition to go from that. It's like going from fire into the sauna. ####SAUNA!  Peter Shankman [00:13:46]: Fascinating. I love this. I want to get a job with you. Very cool. Joy than you. How can people find you? How can they reach you? Joia McDaniel [00:13:54]: So you can reach me at joia@supplychaingoat.com. My website is www. supplychaingoat.com. It's coming soon, so those are the ways that I could be reached. Peter Shankman [00:14:08]: We will link all of that in the podcast. I am greatly, greatly appreciative of you taking the time. Thank you so much. It was really great to have you. Joia McDaniel [00:14:15]: All right. Thank you, Peter. I appreciate it. Peter Shankman [00:14:17]: All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky. [asap is good; I know -Ed] We'll talk about this every episode, but any interesting guests, shoot us a note. We'd love to have them on as well. Stay safe, stay happy, have a great week andBy the time this comes out, it'll Probably be summer, so stay cool and we will talk soon.Thanks for listening, guys. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.  Our Guest today in her own words:  Suzy Malseed is a high-energy Mum of twins, a competitive free-diver, a farmer, a reformed teacher and a neurodiversity advocate. Based in Australia, originally from New Zealand, Suzy maintains a ferocious appetite for adventure and travel, having lived in 6 countries and worked and stayed in many more! We have a few things in common, but can you guess the main similarity? Yep, ADHD! Also parachutes; but you've got to subscribe and listen for that story ;-)  Enjoy and hey, thanks so much for subscribing to Faster Than Normal!  [you are now safely here ]    00:40 - Thank you again so much for listening and for subscribing! [This week we've switched to Cloudemagic.io from a slow Descript. All sorts of things are happening in Tech now, huh?!  This may be ‘the way' we go for this upcoming Summer season. Please let us know what you think in the comments?! I will be paying special attention to any feedback on this Ep, that you may share- and also of the past three Ep.s (not the tbd Ep.291)  Thank you -Ed] 01:00 - Introducing and welcome Suzy Malseed!  03:50 - Most parents when their kids are diagnosed are like, Wait- this sounds like me? 05:09 - Shrek- Ogers are like Onions Ref 06:00 - On processing your ADHD 06:37 - Peter on Free Diving. Ref: Le Grande Blue  Luc Besson [Not a Luc Besson film, but if you love the above ref, (or Philip Glass, or Portugal even, then this assistant editor strongly rec's The 100 Foot Wave. It appears to also be a podcast now! -Ed] 07:50 - On “the silence” while free diving with very little gear  Ref:  If I dive to 30 meters, that four times the pressure that we experience walking on the ground..feels like a giant bear hug, basically.  09:24 - On Skydiving joy 09:42 - do you have techniques to get your head right, to get into the zone & ready to dive? 10:52 - On meditation.  11:00 - How much does your heat rate decease when you put just your HEAD into the water? Ref: The Diving Reflex aka MDR 11:18 - What, what? Why?? Genetics??! 12:05 - On mental and physical adaptation & breaking the surface13:04- Are you good in Emergencies too? Please ell us in the comments!! [remember, we always read these at some point every few weeks] 14:04 - Is dopamine generation = wanderlust or/and wanderlust?  [US parlance + vernacular]  14:20 - What else do I and we all not know about Free Diving; but should? 16:32 - When your back-up plan is to be prepared and try harder if… there is a next time, 98 feet down. 17:26 - Do you want to see what free diving in an Underwater Cave looks like?! [We have warned you!! [Trusted respect to AL + MCH & Co. btw -Ed ;-] 18:10 - Thank you Suzy Malseed!!  “I would rather a child start therapy at an early age and learn that they're brilliant; than spend the next 30 years undoing the belief that they are broken.”  -Peter Shankman  June 7, 2023 18:14 -  How do our now Summer-shiney subscribers find out more about you?  Web:  Will update if avail. Otago Times article from 2018 is here Socials: @NoAirSuzy on:  INSTA  @SuzyMalseed on: Facebook 18:14 - Hey, you there! Yes YOU! We are thrilled that you are here & listening!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 17:24 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  [ Ed: This is a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we've missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb]    EXTRA CREDIT:  10 GEN-AI POINTS ABOUT FREE DIVING COVERED IN THIS INTERVIEW AND GENERATED BY AI.  1. What is free diving?  Ref: Free Diving Safety  Answer: Free diving is an activity that involves diving underwater without the aid of scuba diving equipment, but instead, relying on one's ability to hold their breath and adapt to high pressure underwater. 2. What is the process involved in free diving? Answer: The process involves a state of deep meditation to connect the mind, body, and breath. It involves getting a feeling in the body to confirm readiness and experiencing a mammalian dive reflex, which results in a 30% drop in heart rate when immersing the face in water. 3. What attracts people to free diving? Answer: Many free divers are drawn to the sport due to the sensory deprivation it offers. The sport also requires a lot of respect for the body and its ability to adapt to the demands of the sport. 4. What is the connection between ADHD and free diving? Answer: ADHD is highly represented in free diving. Many free divers with ADHD are drawn to the sport's calming effect and the sensory deprivation it offers. 5. Can free diving be a solo activity? Answer: Yes, free diving can be a solo activity, and the responsibility for success or failure rests solely on the diver. 6. What is the movie La Grand Blue about, and why is it significant? Answer: La Grand Blue is a movie about a free diver who can slow down his heartbeat and go as deep as he wants. It is one of Luke Basal's best films and launched the career of Eric Sierra and Jean Renault. 7. How does free diving compare to skydiving? Answer: Both skydiving and free diving require a lot of preparation work before the activity. The speaker puts a lot of effort into checking their gear before skydiving and even dreams about it. 8. What is the connection between risk-taking and neurodiversity? Answer: The speaker shares a love for risk-taking with their son. They both enjoy taking risks, but they are careful when doing so. This high appetite for risk-taking is much higher than the average person. 9. How was the speaker's son diagnosed with developmental issues? Answer: The speaker's son was diagnosed with developmental issues by a specialist in Singapore who observed his high energy and sensory needs. 10. Why is silence important to the speaker in free diving? Answer: The speaker experienced silence for the first time in their life when they first went underwater, and they are addicted to the quiet. The feeling of deep pressure on their body when diving is also compared to a welcoming hug. — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat, (Ooh-ooh! Fourth and likely final trial run is today June 7, 2023. #gen_AI_for_whut?? Peter Shankman [00:00:40]: Ladies and gentlemen, good morning from wherever in the world you happen to be. And welcome to their episode of Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. It is 5:30 in the morning when I am recording this, which can only mean one thing. We are talking to someone and interviewing someone on the other side of the world, because otherwise I'd be on my bike right now. I want you guys to meet Suzy Malseed. Suzy is with us today, who is a high energy mom of twins, or Mum, as she puts it, which cold give you some idea of where we're talking to get this. She's a competitive free diver. I cannot wait to talk about that! She's a farmer, a reformed teacher, a neurodiversity advocate. She is based in Australia. Her two kids have ADHD. She's originally from New Zealand. She believes she has ADHD. She's a ferocious appetite for adventures and travel, having lived in six countries and worked and stayed in many more. Susie, good evening. Where you are. Good morning from where we are! Suzy [00:01:26]: Hello, Peter!! How are you? Peter Shankman [00:01:28]: It is great to have you back on the podcast. Love to talk with this. I found you because I started following you on Instagram because your Instagram is just you free diving, which is just some cool stuff. So I'm a huge fan. So thanks for taking the time today. Suzy [00:01:42]: Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Peter Shankman [00:01:44]: So there are a lot of topics here I want to cover. Both your children, ADHD, were they diagnosed? If so, where? If so, how? How old are they? Let's start the so. Suzy [00:01:55]: Yeah, my kids are twins and they were diagnosed pretty young, particularly my son. So he was diagnosed first, which is kind of often the case because girls present a little differently. And he was diagnosed pretty early, pretty easily, pretty obvious, if you know what I mean. Right, Add? It wasn't necessarily something that I sort of went to the doctors and said, look, I think we've got some challenges. It was actually more because they were twins and because they were a little bit premy and we were living in Singapore at the time. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so singapore is amazing. It tends to be a little bit more on the clinical side, so they're very good at tracking and than sort of thing. So they were tracking growth and checking up a lot of things. And it was actually only in quite a routine sort of pediatric appointment when the specialist just saw my son literally bouncing and just said and I just said, oh, no, he's got high energy. I have too. And they just said, yeah, but there's energy and then there's energy. And I just went, oh, okay. Anyway, so we went there with Max pretty quickly, and it helped him a lot, to be honest, because it helped us to understand his sensory needs. That was probably the biggest thing that we had to get our heads around, is his sensory needs. He was very sensitive, so there was a lot of sort of putting his fingers in the ears and high pitched noises. He was very aversive to those sort of things. But he was also a sensory seeker, so he would love contact. He would love heavy contact. And once we understood that, we could do a lot of OT him. And we did a lot of physical work with him. I ran everywhere with him, on him, a scooter and a skateboard in the pool from a very young age, and his body just responded just so well to that heavy work. So I'm very grateful for understanding…. Peter Shankman [00:03:49]: Interesting. You said than you're undiagnosed, but you probably have it like most parents when their kids are diagnosed. That's how you figured out. You're like, Wait, this sounds like me 100%. Suzy [00:04:01]: I mean, as I was reading reading to learn more, to understand how to advocate for my son, I just sort of went, oh, my God. Well, that's me. And it was sort of the risk taking type stuff. I've never really put it all together, but I'm a very high energy person. I always have been. I've always had a ridiculous appetite for risk, but not in a stupid way. So from the outside, it might look like you're doing crazy stuff, but I've actually thought about everything I've done before I've done it. But my appetite for risk is certainly much higher than the average person. And I saw it with my son as well. He would jump off very high things, but he knows how to land, and that's the difference, right? Little parachute landing, and he's just not scared of getting hurt. And I've had the same thing. I'm not scared of getting hurt, which is probably quite weird, but when you've lived your whole life in the same body, you don't really realize how strange it is until you sort of put it all together. And it's like peeling an onion. As you get older, you realize a little bit more every year. Peter Shankman [00:05:09]: I always think back to that great line in Shrek. Onions are like ogres. Oh, they smell. No, they have layers. But it's very true. It's a complicated peel. It's interesting. And I talk about this all the time, which is great segue into talking about free diving. I never felt any kind of sense of release until I did my first race, until I did my first skydive, until I did all these things that allowed me to get as much dopamine as I ever wanted than I was doing stuff that would get me in trouble in school. And it'd be a nice quick hit, but it'd always come with a punishment. So, yeah, when you find that thing, it changes everything. And I'm sure your kids figured that out. Suzy [00:05:46]: Oh, absolutely. And for me, when I was at school, I mean, being a female, it's different again, like, I was the class clown, like you sort of alluded to in your book and stuff as well. It's very similar. And I never realized that I was doing it. I wouldn't have said than I was doing it to get a laugh. I was just quite flippant, and my brain just goes so fast. I would think of things very quickly. And it did get me into a fair bit of trouble, of course, but yeah. And you do realize after a while I did figure out that I was chasing adrenaline. I didn't understand that I was also chasing dopamine. So there's been a lot more come out since. Every year we learn more. So that's an interesting bit to put together. Peter Shankman [00:06:26]: All right, speaking of dopamine, let us talk about free diving. How cool. I've never done it, but I actually can't. Funnily enough, I have something called a peritoneal shunt in my spine. I can't go below like 20ft or. Suzy [00:06:40]: I'll. Peter Shankman [00:06:42]: But let's talk about free diving. I first learned about free diving high, as I'm sure you're familiar with in the movie La Grande Blue. Yes, I saw that movie in college, Add. Holy shit. Did that just captivate the hell out of me. It started my love affair with Jean Renew. If you haven't seen La Grande Blue, it's one of Luke Basal's best films. Luke Basal is the guy who did the original of Fem Nikita. Not that American bullshit, but the original version, the French version. And La Grande blue launched Eric Sierra's career and launched Jean Renault's career as well. So I strongly encourage you to check out La Grand Blue. But it is about a free diver and who just has this incredible ability to go as deep as he wants and slow his heartbeat down like something like six beats a minute. The first question I want to ask it must be I'm sure the dope mean hit is amazing, but the silence must be incredible. Suzy [00:07:39]: Yes. This is the thing. When I first went underwater was the first time in my whole life I've ever experienced silence. Like, my whole mind just went quiet. And that is what I'm probably addicted to the most, is just the quiet. I just love it. And then there's also pressure. So you're familiar with every 10 meters of depth, there's an additional atmosphere of pressure on the body right. So when we're sort of walking around on the ground, we have 1 ATM of pressure on our body. When we go 10 meters below surface, we have two atmospheres of pressure. Every 10 meters past that is an additional. So if I dive to 30 meters, I have four atmospheres of pressure on my body. Four times the pressure that we experience on the walking around on the ground. Now that feels like a giant bear hug, basically. And the really interesting thing is you either like it or you don't like it, to be honest. And I love that feeling. It's deep pressure to me. It just feels like a big welcoming hug. And that's a sensory thing for sure. So I have a few head starts, I think in terms of my natural ability to be able to be very good at the sport, sort of just drew me in from the start because I've actually been helping other people along the way. And sometimes when I watch their journey, it seems so foreign to me because it was so different to my journey. So they tell me about how scary it is and they tell me all than and I'm just like I can see that they are scared, so it's their truth. But I don't understand it because I've never had any fear around free diving. For me, it's just the most beautiful sport you could ever do. Peter Shankman [00:09:24]: I think it's the same for Skydiving when I'm never more free. Because when I jump out of that plane, I only have two options. I'm going to live or I'm going to die. That's it. Yes. Suzy [00:09:34]: Quite a cool feeling, right? Peter Shankman [00:09:35]: It is. It's wonderful. It's the most free I'll ever be. Suzy [00:09:38]: Yeah.  Peter Shankman [00:09:42]: So one of the things about Skydiving, I'm assuming it's the same with Freediving, is there is a not of prep work that goes into it. And a lot of for me, it's checking my gear, it's making sure that everything's right. The point where I have dreams about it. And my parents, once when they came to, they weren't too happy I was doing it. But when they first came to watch me, they told me were shocked at how meticulous I was because I was never that meticulous for anything in my life. And all of a sudden I'm here checking all my gear and I'm doing double check and triple check. So I'm curious, do you have routines before you go? You don't just jump in the water and dive. So do you have things that you do to sort of get your head right, to get into that zone to get ready to go? Suzy [00:10:24]: Yeah. The cool thing with free diving is we don't have a lot of gear. So that's pretty cool. Compared to scuba diving or technical diving. They have a lot of gear. They have all of that check check stuff. We don't have that. But obviously we have to go through our own process. The process that I go through is basically I would consider it. I was very deep meditation. So it is my way of connecting in my mind, my body and my breath. I get a feeling in my body and then I know I'm okay, I'm ready. Everything's like you just quieten down, everything. And then your heart rate flows. It's called a mammalian dive reflex. So every human gets this. When you hop in the water and immerse your face you'll get a 30% drop in heart rate. That's a given, right? Everyone gets that? Yeah.  Peter Shankman [00:11:11]: Wow. When you're in the water say it again, say it again. Suzy [00:11:16]: So when you immerse your face in water you get a 30% drop in heart rate. Peter Shankman [00:11:22]: That is incredible. Why?! Suzy [00:11:24]:  It's genetic. So it goes back to when we were little, whatever you think we were before. A little fishy somewhere along the line. Yes. It's called the mammalian mammal. Mammalian dive reflex. MDR. Yes, I've heard of that. Peter Shankman [00:11:39]: Okay. Suzy [00:11:39]: Yeah, no I know! Peter Shankman [00:11:40]: 30%. That's amazing. Suzy [00:11:42]: It's a big drop and so that's a real thing. So that sense of comfort and feeling like you're really supposed to be there comes over you. And then of course I suppose one of the other reasons I just love the sport so much is how much your body adapts is just you have so much respect for your body. So your body can adapt to pressure. Obviously we take one breath at the surface and that breath has got to carry us through all of the equalizations of our masks, our sinuses, our ears all the way down to the bottom and then all the way back. And the more you dive, the more you free dive, the more your body adapts to what you're asking it to do. And that happens with everything that we do, as you would know with your own body and your training. And free diving is perhaps an extreme example of that because when you take your breath on the surface and you leave, it's just you and it's like jumping out of a plane. It's just you. There's no one to blame, it's no one else, it's just you. And like you said to me, it's just so freeing. I go very silent and very quiet in that response. And are you good in emergencies and things like that. Like do you have that same sort of response where whenever everyone else panic. Peter Shankman [00:13:04]: I'm perfect in emergencies I'm terrible at real life.  Suzy [00:13:07]: Exactly. Peter Shankman [00:13:08]: But throw an emergency there and I'm the guy you want. Suzy [00:13:11]: Correct? Yeah. And I'm exactly the same and I figured that out along my life as well. Everyone. And when I was a kid I used to tell myself, I don't know why, but I live in opposite land and that's just how I prioritize it on my head. So someone else would go yay, we're having a massive party. And I would go oh my god. Peter Shankman [00:13:28]: Exactly. Well you know, you just made me realize something. I think that part of that might be because when you're in an emergency, you don't have time for social anxiety. There's never any small talk in the emergency. Suzy [00:13:40]: True. Yeah. Peter Shankman [00:13:42]: I just realized that there's no small talk in emergency. It's get shit done now. Suzy [00:13:46]: Yes. And we can be who we really are, like instead of niceties. And the other one I wanted to touch with you is travel. So I know that you're a massive traveler and I'm the same and quite extreme stuff as well. Probably when I look back in it, I have an appetite for that. And I think it boils down to the same sort of really ridiculous survival instinct which I quite enjoy, which is basically you're only going to eat when you figure out how to go get the food that you want to get and how to make yourself understood. Peter Shankman [00:14:16]: That's kind of a cool thing very much. I love that. What else? What am I not asking you about? Freediving? I don't know enough about it to know what to ask you. What am I not asking? Suzy [00:14:29]: Okay, so I think that ADHD is quite highly represented in free diving, to be honest. When I consider other free divers and I look around I see a lot of people who are like me and I believe that we're all drawn to the sport for the same reason, which is like a form of sensory deprivation, if you know what I mean. A lot of times we're actually diving in black water and that freaks some people really out. But we just close our eyes and I suppose how do you do that? Well, you have to find a way to surrender. You have to understand than the more you relax, the better your dive will be, the more tense you are, the worse your dive will be. So you have to switch off and there really is no choice. And if anything happens when you're under the water like I've had a couple of little incidences along the way. I had this time when I was swimming through a wreck and it was a fun dive with some other free divers and as I was going through the wreck and coming up through the wheelhouse, the back of my fin came off and I was sort of like it just came over me. I'm like, oh my God, I'm 30 meters down. I've already been here for at least a minute and now I only have one fin. If I panic, I'm toast. And you just go through that process and you're like, right, I have to cross my legs to make you can picture yourself crossing your legs and than do the dolphin movement to make your one fin work and just get yourself to the surface fast. And you just know that you have no space for panic so you have to stay calm. Peter Shankman [00:16:10]: I'm panicking listening to that story and I get it. I mean, you're in a position like same thing with Skydiving. Knock on wood. I haven't had to use my reserve yet, 500 jumps, but I'm sure at some point I will and I'll know what to do. But yeah, I mean, I guess it's that premise of what is your other option? Right? There is no other option. Suzy [00:16:30]: That's right. There's no other option. Peter Shankman [00:16:32]: Add, it's interesting because we worry about I'm sitting here, I'm listening to you. I'm like, Jessa, Christ, it's 98ft underwater, and she loses a fin. And I'm thinking you can't stop to get it right. You just sort of have to let it go. And so, okay, do what you have to do. Right. And this is what you train for. Suzy [00:16:50]: That's right. Peter Shankman [00:16:51]: And again, there's no small talk. There's no, oh, what would you rather do? There's no oh, honey, I don't know. What do you want to eat tonight? No, it's get out. Yeah, right. So you make than work. No, it makes perfect sense. But Jessa, 98ft of door. It's it's so funny. The only thing that that really physically scares me to the point where I can't even watch it is these guys who do sunken wet cave diving where they wear the air and they go into these ridiculously tight. And there's always a story, like people who have died doing that. I'm watching them skirt through these caves that are like they have half an inch above them. They have to take off the air bottle and put it next. What is wrong with you people? Yeah, I'll go jump into a perfectly plane because I'm not going to get Stuck through the middle of the earth, Jessa. Peter Shankman [00:17:47]: But, yeah, I get the freedom. I totally get the freedom that you feel it. But again, Steven, free diving is more freedom because you're not stuck in between the middle of the earth. I don't know. Suzy [00:17:56]: That's right. Peter Shankman [00:17:57]: Anyway, I want to be respectful of your time. Suzy, this was amazing. What a great story. I really like to have you back, if at all possible. Next time I'm down under, next time in Australia, I'm coming to visit, no question about it. You can take me out of the water. Peter Shankman [00:18:09]: That would be awesome. Suzy [00:18:10]: Absolutely. Yeah. We've got some nice things. Peter Shankman [00:18:12]: Thank you so much for taking the time. I really, really appreciate it. Suzy [00:18:15]: Thank you, Peter. Keep up the good work. Peter Shankman [00:18:17]: Thank you, guys. As always. Faster Than Normal is intended for you and yours! Shoot me, email. Let me know you want to hear. Peter Petershankman.com. I'm at Peter Shankman everywhere but Twitter, because Twitter sucks. Now, Add, if you're on Blue Sky, you can find me there, too. Let us know what you want to hear faster than most for you. We'll see you guys next week. ADHD is a gift on a curse, and I'd rather here's my new quote. I would rather a child start therapy at an early age and learn that they're brilliant than spend the next 30 years undoing the belief that they're broken. We'll see you soon, guys. Stay safe.  — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.   Our Guest today:  Morgan Hancock is a commercial Real Estate Agent, Entrepreneur, US Army Veteran, Mother-of-two, “Bourbonista” , and passionate advocate of the Arts. She is a charismatic force who can completely capture a room, radiating positivity with a disarming demeanor and sharp sense of humor. Growing up as an only child in a small town, Morgan spent much of her time alone reading, writing, and creating. With an overactive imagination and natural talent, art became an early passion. Taking an atypical path to her current success, Morgan has never let her context stand in the way of her ambition. She believes that art, like life, is only limited by your imagination, and it's up to you to create your own world. Morgan created Bourbon with Heart as a way to leverage the influence and popularity of Bourbon, in order to raise funds, bring awareness, educate, provide better access and deliver a first-class Arts experience to every person in Kentucky! Regardless of age, race, class, gender, or ability.  About the company: Bourbon with Heart is Kentucky's first & only arts-focused bourbon charity. Bourbon with Heart's (501c3) mission is to leverage the influence and popularity of Bourbon to raise funds, bring awareness, educate, provide better access and deliver a first-class arts experience to every person in Kentucky regardless of age, race, class, gender, or ability. This interview was a blast! [Ed: and made my Producer/Editor a little emotional]. Enjoy and thanks so much for subscribing to Faster Than Normal!  [you are now here ]  00:40 - Thank you again so much for listening and for subscribing! 02:00 - Introducing and welcome Morgan Hancock, Founder & Director Bourbon with Heart, Inc.  02:33 - Thank you for your Service! [And to all of you who served- your family too if applicable!] 03:25 - On service and Peter's training. “My ADHD probably would have been I would have served me well to have been in some branch of the military, just for the discipline” -ps 04:17 - What's it like to be ADHD and in place w/ such discipline, such rigid controls; like the Army? 04:24 - And... we're now flying over Giza!  Ref:  https://www.instagram.com/p/B34UmeQlZE_/ 05:09 - When were you diagnosed? 06:04 - A little of Morgan's backstory 07:09 - On The Military  08:02 - On becoming a very young mother  09:03 - On parenting, and a couple of exciting childhoods 11:12 - Ok, I wanna know about Bourbon with Heart?! 12:53 - How's your company doing? 14:17 - Peter's toughest day in Louisville… almost a decade ago 15:05 - What if any advice would you have for your younger self? 16:27 - This was fantastic.. thank you Morgan. Please stay in touch! 17:01 -  How do our spectacular subscribers find out more about you?  Web:   https://bourbonwithheart.org  Email: BourbonWithHeart@gmail.com Socials:  @bourbonwithheart on INSTA  YouTube and Facebook 17:11 - Thank you so much for making time for all of us today Morgan!! 17:18 - Hey, you there! Yes YOU! We are thrilled that you are here & listening!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 17:24 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  [ Ed: This is a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we've missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb]  — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat, (Ooh-ooh! Third and likely final trial run is today May 30, 2023. #gen_AI_for_whut?? Peter Shankman [00:00:40]: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to their episode of faster than normal. How about we raise a glass of bourbon today? I don't actually well, that's not true. I've had bourbon. I like bourbon, but like most things, I rarely drink anymore, because, as we know, I don't just have one drink. Peter Shankman [00:00:58]:  We are talking today on this gorgeous day I'm recording on a Thursday. I'm doing all my recordings on a Thursday this week, and it's it's beautiful out. It's it's about 68 degrees in New York. It's sunny and a cloud in the sky. It's a gorgeous day, and I'm inside recording all day. And this Saturday, it's going to be raining into the 40s. It's like god's personal gag reel. I just don't I don't understand the universe sometimes. Anyway, we have a fun guest on faster than normal day. We are talking to Morgan Hancock. Morgan Hancock is a plethora of things. I believe that everyone should make it an effort to use the word plethora at least once a day. Morgan includes you. I want you to start using the word plethora. Morgan [00:01:39]: At least I use it five times a day. Peter Shankman [00:01:40]: There you go. I like her! Morgan is a commercial real estate agent. She's an entrepreneur. She's an Army veteran. She's a mother of two. She's a get this “Bourbonista”, okay, which has to be my new favorite word. And she's a passionate advocate of the arts. She launched something called bourbon with heart. It's Kentucky's first and only arts focused bourbon charity. Bourbon with heart's mission is to leverage the influence and popularity of bourbon to raise funds, bring awareness, educate, provide better access, and deliver a first class arts experience to every person in Kentucky, regardless of age, race, class, gender, or ability. I absolutely love that. As a public school kid who grew up in the performing arts, I think that is hands down, one of the coolest things I've ever heard. Oh and by the way, Morgan also has massive ADHD. Welcome to the show. We're thrilled to have you. Morgan [00:02:33]: Thank you. And let me we started by saying we are Kentucky's first and only arts focused bourbon charity. But pretty sure we could just claim the world because I'm almost 100% certain nobody in the world has an Arts focused Bourbon charity. Peter Shankman [00:02:52]: I'm pretty sure I've never heard of one. I haven't been looking, but I'd be willing to bet that you're probably right on that. I'm talking to Morgan today and she's has her camera on. I'm looking in the background. She has this gorgeous her desk is full of stuff and she has this gorgeous collection of color swatches adorning her wall where normal in any other room it would be at a place. For some reason, it just seems to fit her style. She looks awesome as she's talking to us and it just seems to work. So, welcome to the podcast. We're thrilled to have you here. First question I got to ask you. So you're an army vet? Thank you for your service. Number one.But more importantly, let's talk about I've Often said that looking back on it. My ADHD probably would have been I would have served me well to have been in some branch of the military. Just for the discipline. Because when I was in my late.Twenty s, I met a former Navy.Seal who was teaching a boot camp class in New York City. Come to New York, he lived in Houston, came New York four times a year for two weeks at a time, and taught a boot camp class.And it was basically like being in the field for two straight weeks every Morning for two weeks. And I remember, granted, it was only 2 hours a day as opposed to in your aspect, 24/7, but the discipline that he required from us has stuck with me to this day. He's the reason I'm early. Everywhere I go, he's the reason that I'm not on time, I'm early and things like that So I don't know if you were Diagnosed by the time you entered the army, but let's first and foremost talk About what it's like to be in A place with such discipline and such rigid controls. Like the army, like the military, with ADHD. Morgan [00:04:24]:  Okay, well, first, it's a little awkward to people that can't see. So I'm just talking to you while you're jumping out of a plane in. Peter Shankman [00:04:33]: Egypt over the pyramids of Giza.Yes. Morgan [00:04:35]: So I've never interviewed with someone who's actually in the air over Giza. This is school for the people listening. His camera is not live right now, so he has the placeholder photo, which is him, skydiving or parasailing, I can't tell in Egypt. So I feel like that's I'm interviewing with him while he's doing that. I feel like really boring over here right now. Peter Shankman [00:05:07]:  Not at all! Morgan [00:05:09]: So, to answer your question, I wasn't diagnosed by that time. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 31. And I'm 37 almost, will be in a couple of months. My personality, if that's what you call it, did not do well in the military. I was constantly in trouble. I got transferred. I'll just say I got kicked out of a platoon, put in a different platoon. I was always on the verge of being written up for different issues. Bu. I made it. I served my time. I got honorable discharge. I made it. But I don't suggest it. The military as a place for people. Peter Shankman [00:05:56]: With ADHD, why were you constantly getting written up? Was it lack of attention? Was it lack of focus? What was causing it? Morgan [00:06:04]: Yeah, all the above and just kind of my whole life struggling with authority or any type of rigid systems and structured and just always kind of bouncing all over the place and kind of always being the class clown type, which really doesn't go over in the military. They just don't have a good sense of humor, I'll say that. Peter Shankman [00:06:36]: So basically your time in the military was like my time in school. Morgan [00:06:39]: Yeah, if you were a class clown, then yeah, I just tried to be a class clown in the military, and drill sergeants don't appreciate that. There's not like a superlative or you can win class clown. There's awards, honors and medals, but not for class clown and not for the funniest. Peter Shankman [00:07:00]: You got through it, though, right? Was there a point where you realized, gee, maybe I should shut up. Maybe I should stop making jokes? Morgan [00:07:09]: Yeah, because my arts and legs would hurt because of the punishments. And then because they do mass punishment. Peter Shankman [00:07:22]: Everyone had to do it. Morgan [00:07:23]: And you were getting trouble. Yeah, I thought, maybe I shouldn't do this, but then it's like I just couldn't resist either, so I just stayed in trouble and just don't recommend that's really my review of being in the military. Peter Shankman [00:07:44]: But you did it. You got through it. You got through it. Congratulations.     Morgan [00:07:47]: I did it, yeah. By the skin of my teeth, I got out of there. Peter Shankman [00:07:52]: So talk about; your an Army veteran, and prior to that you had a kid. Morgan [00:08:02]: Yeah, so I was 15 with my first son. I have two. One is 20 years old now. So it's crazy because we grew up together, and then I have a 13 year old, so I got pregnant with my second son also while I was in the military. I had one before I joined and than the second one during. Peter Shankman [00:08:30]: Are you married? Are you single? Morgan [00:08:32]: I'm not married, but not single. What do you call that? Peter Shankman [00:08:37]: Cohabitation? Doesn't matter. I guess the question I was going to ask is, what is it like raising a kid, a, when you're young. And by that, I mean, I've raised my Daughter when I've had ADHD, but I also had her at almost 40 years old. Right. So I had a little more life experience under my belt. What was that like for you? What were some of the, I guess, difficulties that you had to go through? I can't imagine anyone having a kid at 15, bet it wasn't easy, but what was it like for you? Morgan [00:09:03]: Right. I know it couldn't have been easy. If you just look at the facts of it, there's no way it could have been easy, but it's weird because honestly, sometimes it's just hard to remember. I think also when you're young, you just don't think about things being hard, you just do them and you just don't think, oh, this is now. If I had to do it now, I'd be like moaning and groaning, complaining about every step of the way. But I think when you're young, you're different. Maybe you're just a little more adaptable. But he had to go on some wild rides with me. I was always kind of rebelling or doing things against the norm and having a new phase or interest every other month or couple of months. So he definitely did not have a traditional upbringing. I pulled him out of school for many years to do homeschooling, if that's what you call it. I don't know how you exactly define homeschooling. We weren't in school. We'll say that. Peter Shankman [00:10:16]: It sounds like it was interesting, though, for him. It sounds like it was never boring. Morgan [00:10:19]:  Oh, no, definitely not. I think it was called ‘unschooling' at that time, and it was just the reason I did that is because school just wasn't beneficial to me. If anything, it felt a lot like wasted time. And he was also just a very passionate person like me. And so I just knew that school in a lot of ways was going to hold him back the way I felt it did for me. So he really didn't go to school most of his life, and I don't have any regrets of that decision. I think he's one of the most mature, just turned 20 year olds than I know. He pays all his own bills. He has a fantastic job making more than most 40 year olds I know. Peter Shankman [00:11:12]: Yeah, I want to talk about Bourbon with heart. So a nonprofit to help the arts is always an amazing thing!! I mean, I'm on the board of a couple of them here in New York, but why bourbon? What's your connection to bourbon other than Kentucky? Morgan [00:11:31]: Well, if you live in Kentucky, as you said, you can't help but be impacted by bourbon. It's a huge part of our culture, of our economy. I love bourbon. I've been a fan of bourbon since well, I can't say how long, because we'll just say since I legally could be. And bourbon in Kentucky has this kind of incredible power to people really unite around it, because, as I said, it is a culture and it brings people together. And there's this bond than bourbon forms, and art does the same thing. Art unites people and brings people together. And one thing that people, everyone in the world knows Kentucky is the leader of the bourbon industry, but people don't realize we have a really rich and thriving arts culture in Kentucky and a ton of talent. So we took bourbon with heart, got them as a way to leverage that existing popularity and influence of bourbon to then bring the awareness and educate people and raise funds for the local art scene. And it's working. Peter Shankman [00:12:53]: How is it working? Morgan [00:12:54]: It's working because it has been met with so much support and enthusiasm. I mean, people just naturally when we launched this, I did not expect the rapid success and for everyone to just be so to just embrace it with open arms. I mean, corporations, our local businesses, the distilleries, the media, the artists in our community, and everyone just has embraced us with open arms and everyone's all of a sudden, wow, art and bourbon was such a natural marriage. And so many things are just growing from this initial concept. We're on our fourth exhibit this year. We're already over $100,000 that we've raised this year. And we have some really huge partnerships coming with big community players coming up in the coming years or next year. It's bringing people together that you would not typically see in the same room. And that's a beautiful thing. And let me also I don't know if you mentioned this, but yes, we raise funds and we raise awareness for the local arts community, but we raise funds for other local nonprofits. So we've given away almost $45,000 to other nonprofits that aren't arts related. Peter Shankman [00:14:12]: Very cool. That's a phenomenal what a cool concept. Marrying the two. You wouldn't really think it's funny but, I want to say I have a love hate relationship with Kentucky, but primarily just a hate relationship. In 2014, I ran the Louisville Ironman and it was the last year they ever did it in the summer because the starting temperature was 104 degrees and it was hands down the most painful and difficult Iron Man Triathlon I've ever done in my life. And I remember being back at the airport after it was over and saying, I am never I don't even want to fly over Louisville. It was so hot and so miserable. But I got through it. And the people there were wonderful as they rescued my dehydrated ass from nearly dying. So great people, but your weather sucks ass. Morgan [00:15:03]: That being said, I agree. Peter Shankman [00:15:05]: What a cool concept and I'm so glad we took the time. Let me ask you one final question, Morgan. Let's say you're walking down the street and you come across a 15 year old who is much like you were at 15, undiagnosed ADHD, school, bores her. Things really, aren't you're not really seeing what's out there and you want more. You just don't know how to get it. What do you tell her? Morgan [00:15:27]:  You're not going to find it in that boy. Start with that. That's probably what she's needing to hear at than point that's honestly one of the main things. And then just chase your passions because basically what I've had to do. All the energy that fuels and drives me now to make me successful in these endeavors. Bourbon with heart. It's really kind of the same energy that got me in trouble in the past. I just learned how to harness it for more positive, socially acceptable, not self damaging things. I would tell them to take that energy and harness it. They can still let it all out, but harness it for something that's not going to get you in trouble. Peter Shankman [00:16:25]:  I love that. Morgan Hancock, this was an honest pleasure. Thank you so much. I'd love to have you back at some point. Morgan [00:16:31]: Thank you. Thank you. Peter Shankman [00:16:32]: Awesome guys. As always. Faster Than Normal is for you. We want to know who you want to hear other really cool people like Morgan. Send us a note. I am Peter@shankman.com. I am at Peter Shankman on all the Socials except Twitter. I don't use it anymore because it's evil. At FasterNormal everywhere as well, including instagram. Everywhere. Everywhere in the world that social media exists except Twitter. We will be back next week with another awesome episode and another awesome guest just like Morgan. Oh, Morgan! How can people find you?! Morgan [00:17:01]: 17:01 -  How do our spectacular subscribers find out more about you? Web:   https://bourbonwithheart.org  Email: BourbonWithHeart@gmail.com Socials:  @bourbonwithheart on INSTA  YouTube and Facebook Peter Shankman [00:17:11]: Very cool guys. We will see you next week. As always, thanks for listening. ADHD is a gift, not a curse. All neurodiversity is amazing. You're not broken, you're brilliant. See you next week. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.   Our Guest today:  Konrad runs a charming team of strategic word-slingers, known as The Creative Copywriter. They're a fast-growing content strategy and copywriting agency that blend art with science to help bold brands sell more stuff. Brands like Adidas, Hyundai, TikTok, Geox, Les Benjamins, Superdrug, PTC, Thomson Reuters, VMWare and plenty more. His mission? To break the boundaries of corporate dullness. And help companies pierce through the noise with ‘real talk', ‘word science' and calculated creativity. We're also taking about how to harness and Neurodiverse Superpower techniques today.. duh. Enjoy and thanks so much for subscribing to Faster Than Normal!  [ you are here ]  00:40 - Thank you again so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:57 - Introducing and welcome Konrad Sanders! 01:34 - What do you do when you run a creative company and have ADHD? 02:00 - How are you Konrad? 03:02 - What's your back story? Ok, your business's back story then! 04:00 - Incredible procrastinator also? Tell us in the comments!  04:40 - On life and Travelogue 05:20 - On career beginnings 06:40 - On meeting his business partner and wife! Who is NOT ADHD or Neurodiverse… 09:50 - On the ADHD/Neurodiverse brain and a non-neurodiverse partner 10:37 - What makes it work.. I mean your marriage + biz partnership; what 5 tools do you use?! 11:27 - The steps Konrad has taken and processes they is practicing 12:32 - Ref: Gemba Kaizen and  Techniques  14:37 - On dividing up the day-to-day work responsibilities, time management, ah, + hyperfocus! 17:16 -  How do our spectacular subscribers find out more about you?  Web: www.konradsanders.com  Email:  info@creative-copywriter.net Socials:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/konradsanders/ 18:00 - Thank you so much for making time for all of us today Konrad. [Konrad has kindly shared a few of his links/works with you and here they are]:  WATCH/LISTEN:  Speaking with Tyler from Yes Optimist! On sales funnels: https://youtu.be/R8DXWhT_NAY  Panel discussion with The Fountain Partnership on the state of SaaS Marketing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrqYKxBKsuU&t=1s  How to make your content zig when the industry zags with Sales Impact Academy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdT6W7OJNeY  How to make money writing online with Teachable: https://discover.teachable.com/workshops/make-money-writing-how-to-turn-your-word-skills-into-wages  How Konrad copes with ADHD as a CEO and founder: https://deezer.page.link/3EByB6ncxtm26D4L9  How Konrad builds business brand based on demand (Brand Harder or Go Home) https://street.agency/podcast/brand-harder-or-go-home-with-konrad-sanders/  READ:  The 13 Lenses approach to writing content that converts on Neal Schaffer: https://nealschaffer.com/how-to-create-content/  Are B2B SaaS Marketers getting it wrong on Tech Crunch: https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/26/are-b2b-saas-marketers-getting-it-wrong/  Why your marketers should stop marketing on The Drum: https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2021/10/14/why-marketers-should-stop-marketing  18:44 - Hey, you there! Yes YOU! We are thrilled that you are here & listening!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 18:46 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  [ Ed: This is a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we've missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb]  — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat, (Ooh-ooh! Second trial run is today May 23, 2023. #gen_AI_for_whut?? — Summary:   - Background in philosophy, copywriting, and SEO. - The challenges the speaker faced due to ADHD and how it helped him understand his limitations and strengths. - Medication and ADHD coach. - A lean management approach and agile process. - Difficulties with time management and hyperfocusing. - Struggles with planning and organization in personal life. - "The Boy with the Faster Brain" and its success in sales. - Acknowledging the challenge of living or working with someone who has a brain different from yours. - The importance of acknowledging the struggles of non-ADHD partners or colleagues. - The speaker's tendency to go off on tangents during conversations.” — Peter Shankman [00:00:40]: Hey everyone, Peter Shankman here. Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. Glad to have you. It is a Friday here. We're recording on a different day for a change, but it is kind of gray and gloomy outside, so what better thing to do than be inside talking to cool people? Today we have Conrad Sanders. Conrad has an interesting backstory. He's masali ADHD and he runs a company, as he puts it, a charming team of strategic word slingers known as the Creative Copywriter. His company is a fast growing strategy and copywriting agency that blends art with science to help bold brands sell more stuff. He has clients like Adidas, Hyundai, TikTok, A, Superdrug, PTC, Thompson, Reuters, VMware so names, you know, he tries to break the boundaries of corporate dullness. I love that. What do you do when you run a creative company and you are ADHD? I have discovered this when I was running Help a Reporter Out about twelve years ago now, problem is, you're so creative tend to forget the day to day. And so I want to ask Conrad and I want you guys to hear how he handles that. So welcome, Konrad. Good to have you. Konrad Sanders [00:01:50]: Yeah, thanks for having me. I'll just say that I'm across the pond. You might be able to tell from my accent. And believe it or not, it is a rare sunny day here on this. Peter Shankman [00:02:00]: I was going to say yeah, I figured it would be cloudy and rainy just like it is here, but no, you have a sunny day in London. Nice. Konrad Sanders [00:02:05]: Yeah, we've had the worst weather this year possible, but the skies have opened up and the sun is shining, so I can't complain. Peter Shankman [00:02:14]: I'm hoping it stays that way. I'm going to be there on Sunday, so please keep it that way if you could. Konrad Sanders [00:02:18]: I'll do my best. Peter Shankman [00:02:19]: All right, so tell me about running a company when you're ADHD, because I know my story, but every story is different. Tell me your backstory. When were you diagnosed? The whole thing? Konrad Sanders [00:02:29]: Yeah, I mean, I think if I tell you my backstory, I think it's probably best to start with the backstory of the business. Like how that kind of started because I was only diagnosed a year and a half ago. Okay. I think that the diagnosis once I got it, it made a lot of sense, right? Once I kind of understood more about ADHD, looking back at my journey, my life journey, things made a lot more sense. It explained a lot, essentially. But shall I start with kind of the beginnings of the creative copywriter? I'll try to be succinct story and how I've got to where I am today. So I think it all helps you understand my journey and where I'm at and how we operate now. So I'll start off the uni left uni. I studied philosophy at Uni. I was one of the kind of guy that didn't go to found it very hard to go to lectures when it came to writing essays. I always left it literally to the last day and would drink loads of coffee. And I was good at kind of cutting corners and good at writing. Right? And I was good at cramming things in. Obviously, this is a sort of trait of having ADHD, leaving things the last minute and only being good at working under pressure, but being extremely good once, I'm very pressured again. I didn't know at the time I had ADHD. I just thought I was an incredible kind of procrastinator. I just didn't really understand why I could never start a project until it was, like, right at the last very minute. So Left Uni went traveling in Australia, all around Australia, met my wife well, she's now my wife, a girlfriend at the time, and she's also the managing director of the agency. So she's played a very important role in my life for many reasons. She also has a very different brain to me, to mine even. And anyway, we met traveling in Australia. She's from Israel originally. So I ended up there after two years of being in Australia, traveling Southeast Asia on a shoestring budget, literally, and ended up in her parents house in Israel without a work visa because it took a while to apply for one. And that's when I basically discovered the art and science of copywriting and SEO and kind of combined those things to sort of start a business and start an online business, which has kind of grown since Than and later in that journey. So I was kind of very good at kind of the sales, the marketing, the ideas. And actually, what some people don't know about me and my kind of entrepreneurial journey, which I'll share for you guys, is that that wasn't the only business idea I had. Right? There were plenty of the things, and I definitely had shiny object syndrome. And early on in the journey of our agency and I started as a freelancer, quickly kind of wanted to grow it and managed to kind of turn Than into a collective, gradually was building an agency. But I had what we call what I call shiny object syndrome, right? I was like, anything that came my way, I wanted to jump on and was hugely optimistic with time, which is again a common trait and terrible with time. So there was a point at which, believe it or not, I was kind of a co founder of, I believe, five different businesses, right, because there would be friends going, hey, why don't you join the Brcmo for this? And it made no sense, right? It didn't make sense. You can't really focus, and focus is extremely important as a business owner. And I gradually kind of understood that I was burning out, basically, I was doing too many things, spreading myself way too thin, doing far too many things, and then kind of matured a bit and understood I need to focus on the agency. That's the only thing making money. There's lots of potential there and a key milestone, right? A key ingredient in this sort of recipe or this journey, was my wife joining in 2017, and she has a very different brain to me. And she was in the NGO world prior to that, trying to solve the conflicts in her region. Didn't manage to do so. Kind of felt disillusioned with that whole NGO sort of world. And I said, hey, why don't you join us? It's when we're a small kind of, I think, a few person agency at the time and using freelancers, why don't you join? I know you're good with project management, that kind of stuff, right? You've got an operational type brain, so we could probably do with a bit of that. She joined just part time to fill in for someone, and the first week we were just clashing high, massive arguments. Why is it so chaotic? Why is it so chaotic? And I said, I was like, Babe, that's just agency life, you have to get used to it. And there was maybe a slither of truth in what I was saying, but for the most part it was because I was running it with my ADHD brain. And my second in command was also a creative and further along on that kind of spectrum, let's say. And we were going around putting out fires in a very charming way. We're very good at putting out fires, but rather than preempting them, rather than building process, right? And there were loads of parts of the business that I just wouldn't even look at, like finances. My brain wasn't interested. I wasn't interested in that. I was interested in the big ideas, the schmoozing, the charming, that kind of stuff. And there were holes, there were gaping holes in business, which I didn't even see at the time because my brain was kind of and I was closed off to it, I didn't want to see it. So things like money owed, right, I thought was money in the bank and there was debt, right? There were people owed us money and I was like, oh, yeah, they'll pay it, it's fine. And I didn't want to chase them up because I wasn't interested in the invoicing and things like that. So gaping holes which my wife discovered and she kind of naturally lent into that side of the business. What happened was the became the integrator and I was the visionary. And it actually worked really well after we got past the blazing rouse and kind of found our strengths and kind of limitations. And she helped me really understand where mine were and are. And she kind of obviously knows me on a personal level. So kind of it made a lot of sense. She started together with me building structure for the business, like processes lasering on the building process and making sure that we follow through and those processes are followed through. And gradually what happened was we built structure and then we started to grow that's properly. When we started growing as an agency, we've hit 40% growth since then and we're kind of approaching the 2 million mark now. I owe a lot of that to having someone like NIT Sam, Marga Hart and her very different kind of brain complementing. Peter Shankman [00:09:46]:  Let me interrupt you for a second because that actually brings up a really interesting point. You work and partner with someone both personally and professionally yes. Konrad Sanders [00:09:55]: Right. Peter Shankman [00:09:55]: Who has the complete opposite brain that you do. I think there is not a listener in this podcast who doesn't want to know five ways to make that work, because that is not easy. Forget about just one. Like living with someone with a different brain or working with someone with a different brain and you've chosen to do both things. And the fact that your partner hasn't thrown themselves out of a window yet is when you're ADHD it is difficult. We don't often talk about how difficult it can be for the other person. Konrad Sanders [00:10:34]: Yeah. Peter Shankman [00:10:34]:  So tell us what makes it work? Konrad Sanders [00:10:38]:  I think that's a great point to make. And I write LinkedIn posts about my ADHD quite a lot and I actually wanted to write one specifically on that. There's a lot of neurodiversity awareness at the moment, which is brilliant and it's great. And I almost want to do kind of partners of people who have neurodiversity awareness because yeah, and you said, like, she hasn't thrown herself out of a window yet. But I'll be honest, it's come close to that. But again, both based on our work life and personal life and often they're kind of woven into each other naturally. So how have we avoided that? I think, first of all, awareness of how my brain works. I did get diagnosed a couple of years ago. That made a big difference, even for myself, because in terms of understanding really where those we knew where the limitations were. We knew what I wasn't good at. Right. But there wasn't an explanation. And I think you know as to why. And I think when you understand why and I am on medication, and that's definitely helped. I also have ADHD coaching and that's really helped as well because it's someone else who's an accountability partner rather than just my partner in my personal life that's been really crucial and it's really been life changing for me having an ADHD coach because at work we built these processes, right? So there's something about building a business where even with my ADHD brain I really wanted to succeed. I know process is important and I know than following is important as much as my brain doesn't want to. And we have just this lean management approach, we take this agile approach based on like Gemba Kaizen, the Japanese business management philosophy where when there are hiccups, we call them Oopsies. Whenever there's something inefficient a hiccup, something has not quite gone wrong. Rather than blaming each other or blaming team members, we write it down on a slack thread and two weeks later we tackle it in this level ten meeting where we look at the problem, what was the root of the problem, how do we then preempt that issue for next time? Let's work it into a process and who in the team is going to take care of that? Two weeks later it's done, right? So it's this very very lean approach to kind of we call it the quest for perfection. You can ever be perfect bu if you're on that quest, it really really helps. And that was something we installed quite early. And I think that back to your question. I think that's one of the ways where we've perhaps avoided killing each other because we have this approach to business where if something's gone wrong and it might have been caused by me and it might be caused by something that hasn't been conducive to how my brain works, but it's written down and we tackle it and we think about what's the process that would be good for avoiding that. So I'll give you an example back in the day, for many years I'm in charge of getting the business in, right? Nita is in charge of making sure we deliver, you know, great results essentially to simplify it. And back in the day I used to do the proposals and a proposal is a project that has many different parts and that is not good. I'm not great at doing that, especially when it comes to time management, way, way too optimistic and also I would hyper focus on the wrong things, right? My brain wouldn't want to write the proposal, I'd be sitting there spending I could spend 4 hours adjusting the design of one slide because I like how things look and I wanted to look perfect and I'd hyper focus and what would happen is I would spend many evenings literally like until three or 04:00 A.m. Working on proposals and burning out and it wasn't good, but I thought oh, it's just because it had to take that long and there was the deadline tomorrow, there's no two ways about it and the other team members perhaps are not doing the right thing. I'm really pedantic and I have to kind of go in and change things. When we kind of took this much more process driven, agile approach to kind of uncovering why, what's going wrong and why and what's the root of the problem. One kind of look at it from Nitsang going in and looking than process the could uncover those holes and realize right there's A, B and C, there's this issue, we don't have a good process and Conrad is not great at doing that. So let's give it to another team member and then jump on a meeting with me and I will go through it and do you see what I mean? We created structure and process whereby the bits that I'm not good at, we're delegating and bringing me at the right time. And it was again, life changing transformative for the business and really, really crucial. So that's definitely one of the ways I say is like taking this, I mean, Gemba Kaisen is this book. I recommend this approach to business, which I think is probably one of the main ways which has helped us in our work life, really play to our strengths and really build structure that works not just for me, but other team members too. And in our private life, I'll be honest, that took a lot longer, right? That's where I feel like up until recently, even at work, I've been really good. Great at work, great at what I do. And we built this structure where I can really ADHD has superpowers as well, right. The amount of ideas I have kind of really brilliant just to blow my trumpet, like brilliant ideas in terms of branding and marketing and what we can do to kind of drive those forward, but the limitations as well. But I feel like I've been doing really well at work and then suddenly when it comes to after work hours, it all goes out the window. I don't have that structure, it's just this big void. And yeah, it has been difficult relationship wise because Nitzan traditionally has taken on way more than me. It's been very one sided relationship outside of work. She books the holidays, she plans them. Like when it comes to cooking, she'll buy the ingredients and plan. And I would take kind of I'll cook on this day and the other, but I haven't prepared bu. It'll be 07:00 p.m.. I don't know. I haven't got the ingredients. I don't know what I'm going to cook. And it causes friction. And that's just one example of the kind of way that friction in a relationship. Peter Shankman [00:17:22]: We try to keep these to 15 minutes because ADHD but tell people how we can find you and we'll definitely have you back. Konrad Sanders [00:17:29]: Yeah, I go off on tangents. Peter Shankman [00:17:31]: No, it's cool. I love it. I love it. I can relate. Konrad Sanders [00:17:34]: Yeah. So find me. LinkedIn is the best place. I'd say. Comrade McKay. Sanders. S-A-N-D-E-R-S-I talk about ADHD on there. I talk about copywriting and content strategy, I talk about my agency journey. And, yeah, there's so much more to talk about, but as you know, I will go off on many different tangents and not be very succeed, but I hope there's been some value and some interesting interest there in what we've chatted about today. Peter Shankman [00:18:02]: No question about it. Really appreciate it, guys. We're talking to Conrad Sanders. Really interesting stuff on how to survive ADHD. When your partner doesn't have it, you do, and you work with them as well. My God, that is just I can't even get over that. That's very impressive. We will definitely have you back, guys. Thanks for listening to Faster Than Normal- we love when you listen, we love when you comment. We love your emails. Send me a note, let me know how we're doing. The book The Boy with the Faster Brain continues to rocket the charts. We are thrilled for everyone who has purchased it. I am greatly appreciative. And we're changing the world about ADHD. One book and one podcast recording at a time. We'll be back next week in another episode. Have a great week. Stay safe, stay humble. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. Over the past month, we have been fortunate enough to be sponsored by Skylight Frame. [Check it out at: https://www.skylightframe.com]  And guys, if you need a calendar for your family, for your kids, if your kids are neurodiverse- look at skylightframe.com! You order it, you hang it on your wall. It connects to your WIFI. You import your calendars, you add chore lists. My daughter knows all her chores. She knows everything she has to do. There's no more fights, no more arguments. She looks at the chores. She does them. She clicks the little button, the little touch screen, and it means that she's done and she gets her Roblox cuz that pretty much is what kids exist on today under the age of 12. They exist on, on Robux and, and apparently high quality mac and cheese. Apparently, you know, regular mac and cheese that we ate as kids. No, that's not good enough anymore. Skyline Frame is awesome. Use code PeterShankman at checkout. That will give you up to $30 off. I love the thing. You can also throw up all your photos on it. Uh, so when you're not using the calendar, it just. Scrolls your entire life by you and it looks pretty cool. It's in our kitchen. When I wake up at two in the morning to go get some cold water, I see a photo of me and my daughter or my dog, or my late cat, NASA, and it's pretty awesome. Makes my night. So https://www.skylightframe.com code: PeterShankman up to 30 bucks off. You will not regret this. If you get it, send me a note, let me know that you have it, and uh, I'll send you a photo for it. All right, again thank you to Skylight Frame! Enter discount code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off https://www.skylightframe.com Cortney Weinbaum (she/her) is the lead author of a new RAND Corporation report on Neurodiversity and National Security (link). She is a senior management scientist and senior national security researcher at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think-tank in Washington, DC. She specializes in intelligence and space topics, and she has worked with the Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense to improve policies, practices, and technologies. She has improved analytic and collection tradecraft; identified emerging technologies and their impact on space architectures, special operations, countering weapons of mass destruction, and intelligence; and examined new workforce models for intelligence agencies. The study:  https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1875-1.html I am beyond excited that this study and research are basically backing up IN WRITING so many of the things we've been saying for almost THREE HUNDRED EPISODES!! We're definitely asking Cortney Weinbaum back!  Enjoy and listen up! 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! Thank you Skylight Frame - Get your coupon now!  https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off 01:45 - Introducing and welcome Cortney Weinbaum!! Ref:  What is RAND anyway & why does it matter? 03:30 - I want to talk to you about the recommendations you and your team have made on this incredible research report. But first of all, what prompted this? 04:40-  I love that Rand was so open and wanted you to do this, and you got no pushback or feedback or anything like that? 05:00 -  Explaining to companies & governments how interviewing neurodivergent job candidates is a benefit to all, even your talent pool!  06:00 - Combatting prejudice, discrimination, and bias with the Neurodiverse Ed:  [this part right here] 07:48 - “You're the first person I've ever met like me who's successful” 08:40 -  “Two female civilian intelligence officers both came up to me.. from different agencies, and they said they both identify as autistic in their own workplace…We both face bias and discrimination for this. Ironically, they never met each other until that day” 09:54 - Within the US government, neurodivergent diagnosis are treated as a Disability. 11:54 - The Catch 22 paradox. 15:30 - The US national security community isn't taking a position yet they're not saying we're neurodiverse friendly or we're not. They're more, maybe neurodiverse ignorant at this point. And that ignorance is changing for sure.. one organization, one office at a time.. 17:51 - I want to touch on a few more recommendations 18:42 - This is why we say don't treat it, (or ADHD), as disability.. 20:16 -  How do our spectacular subscribers find out more about you?  So, yeah, if people want to post or write to me, I say that anyone who doesn't sound like a troll, I will respond to. Web:  https://www.rand.org/about/people/w/weinbaum_cortney.html Socials: @cortney_dc on Twitter. @cortneywdc on Instagram,  LinkedIn,  Mastodon it says. “I'm on everything except Facebook”  20:30 - Thank you so much for making time for all of us today Cortney! 21:00 - Hey, you there! Yes YOU! We are thrilled that you are here & listening!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 16:40 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat, (first trial run is today May 17, 2023):   As always, thank you Skylight for sponsoring this episode as well as many others of the Faster Than Normal Podcast. https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off. Peter Shankman [00:00:40]: Hey, everyone. Peter Shankman. Welcome to the Faster Than Normal Podcast episode number “Happy You're Here!” We're happy you're here as always! It's a gorgeous Monday. We are recording on Monday. I try to do all my podcasts in one day a week, and I do all my zooms the same day. And basically, I just know that there's going to be one day where I'm be super productive and not that productive, and you get everything done, and then that way you can spend the rest of the week doing everything. That's been my ADHD sort of lifestyle going on, like, ten years now. It really does work. Anyway, big shout out to Skylight Frame. You guys have heard me talk about them before. Skylight Frame is this awesome little frame that hangs in my kitchen right over there. And it shows my calendar, and it shows my daughter her chores and her calendar and what she has to do for school and what she has to bring everything in one place. It's touchscreen. It's Skylightframe.com. Peter Shankman. The code Peter Shankman will get you $30 off. I love it. I can upload pictures of anything. My parents can send pictures to the frame. So if they instead of that's their new way of guilting me for not bringing the kid over. They only live three blocks from me. So their new way of guilting me for not bringing the kid over is to send me photos of themselves that show up my Sky Frame, where they're holding little signs and say, forget about us. Remember us. We miss our granddaughter, things like that. It's lovely. Lovely Jewish guilt via digital. Anyway, skylightframe.com use code peter Shankman and we thank them for sponsoring this episode of Faster than Normal. And guys, I am so stoked today because we have a wonderful woman who I just met named Cortney Weinbaum on the podcast today. Get this. She is the lead author of a new Rand Corporation report on neurodiversity and national security. Okay, that is huge. And you know what the key finding is? Neurodiversity, like other forms of diversity, can strengthen a national security organization. I feel like Vindicated, like, for the first time, this stuff that I've been shouting from the rooftops about companies and neurodiversity in the workplace and neurodiverse. Cortney, sitting here right now from Bethesda, Maryland, and has verified everything that I've been screaming for ten years. I'm, like, the happiest person. A Cortney, Welcome to festival. Ed: [that's so funny- Castmagic.io thinks this is a festival.. well.. kind of it IS a festival, really.. but anyway, back to your transcript here- that has been corrected at least to this point by a human]. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you so much for taking the time. Cortney  [00:02:43]: Oh, thank you for having me, and I love your enthusiasm! Peter Shankman [00:02:46]:  Oh, my God. This came across my I don't remember who said this to me, but someone said to me that, you're going to love this. They're like, oh, my God, I am, like, so stoked about this. And we're going to talk about how you decided to do this study, but listen to this, guys. Neurodiversity, like other forms of diversity, can strengthen a national security organization within the US. Government. Neurodivergent diagnosis are treated as a disability and requiring employees to identify as disabled benefits those with severe needs, while stigmatizing employees who have spent decades overcoming the challenges of workplaces designed for neurotypical workers. Several aspects of the recruiting and hiring process can pose barriers to a neurodiverse workforce. And then, once on board, neurodiversion employees can face challenges, navigating careers and workplaces that were not designed for them in mind. So I want to talk to you about the recommendations you and your team have made on this incredible research report. But first of all, what prompted this? Cortney  [00:03:38]:Wow. I want to unpack all of that in this episode with you. So what prompted this? A dear friend of mine who's the president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance got together with one of her summer interns to write an op ed two years ago now on neurodiversity and intelligence. And my background is from the intelligence community. I joined the intelligence community very soon after 911, and that's how I entered National Security. And so when she and her intern called to interview me, it was like I got hit with a ton of bricks. Why hasn't anyone written about this before? And so I said, Send me that op ed as soon as it's done. And they did, and I took it inside Rand. For those listeners who aren't familiar with Rand, we're a nonprofit, nonpartisan, federally funded research center. I'm in our Washington, DC. Office, and I took that op ed inside Rand, and I said, we need to research this. There needs to be data about this topic. And I got an immediate gap. There was no hesitation at all. And so we got some project funding, and we did this study that you're looking at now. Peter Shankman [00:04:40]: That is amazing. I love that Rand was so open and wanted you to do this, and you got no pushback or feedback or anything like that? Cortney  [00:04:47]: None. Peter Shankman [00:04:48]: And we're starting to see that now. I mean, the companies that I'm dealing with and I'm working with, adobe and Morgan Stanley and Google, they're understanding not only that neurodiversity is real, not only that neurodiversity is something that needs to be addressed, but that it can benefit companies tremendously. And that's the story screaming from the rooftop. So let's talk about the key findings. First, in terms of neurodiversity, like other forms of diversity, can strengthen a national security organization. So that the hardest part there is explaining to companies that that can be a thing, right? As opposed to companies look at it. Okay, something else we have to deal with. No, this can benefit. Cortney  [00:05:22]: Absolutely. One of the questions that we were asked at the beginning of the study and then again at the end of the study were, but which jobs? Just tell me which jobs I should be opening to the neurodivergent candidates. And I'll flag those jobs as the one. And I'm laughing for those who can't see my face. And what we found out, what all of your listeners probably already know, is the answer is all of the jobs. And the way we make that point is I tell people this story, which is that when we started doing this research project, our goal was to talk to program managers, hiring managers. We were not trying to ask people to self identify as having a diagnosis and tell us about their experience. We didn't want to put at risk a population that's already at risk for prejudice, discrimination, and bias. So we weren't asking anyone about a diagnosis. But people started calling me. My phone started ringing by people who would say, I heard you're doing this study. I'm an intelligence officer, or I'm a military officer, and you need to interview me. I'm autistic. And I've never told the military that before. I got diagnosed outside the military health system so that there was no military record of my diagnosis. We heard all these personal stories so very early on. It was very clear that people with all of the Diagnoses we talk about in this report already are serving in the military, are serving as civilians in the entire national security enterprise, and that they're usually doing in a way that is masking, that is hiding whatever is their neurodivergent trait in order to fit in in their office so that they're not known. They describe themselves as living in the closet, like the LBGT community used to in the military. And that masking is exhausting, and it leads to burnout, and it prevents them from really leveraging the talents and the benefits of their conditions, but it also leads to burnout, exhaustion. It's psychologically draining all of the things. And so it creates this environment where the neurotypical employees and managers think, well, there's no one neurodivergent here. And it prevents us having role models that we can see with these diagnoses so that we can realize that, yeah, we actually should be making on ramps and making entry easier because our colleagues, who we really value, already have these diagnoses. So by having that community hide, it's a disservice to everyone. And so that's one of the first findings we had in this report, that. Peter Shankman [00:07:48]: Last point about the fact that we're not being more public about it. I gave a talk last week to a bunch of hundred fifth graders in school in New Jersey, because my latest book is for kids called The Boy with the Faster Brain. And it's hard. I tear up every time I think about this. Fifth grader came to me at the end of the class, and his head was at the end of the talk. And as everyone else was leaving, his head was down. He didn't really mumbling. I'm like what? And he's like, it you're the first person I've ever met like me who's successful, and my heart, oh, my God, my heart. Cortney  [00:08:27]: Oh, my gosh. Peter Shankman [00:08:28]: Right? And it's like, we need why we. Cortney  [00:08:30]: Do what we do. Peter Shankman [00:08:31]: Oh, my God. We need to be telling these stories. We need to be telling these stories. And I'm so glad that you are. Cortney  [00:08:40]: I have to give you one more example. We were at a conference. I mean, it was a small event, not massive, but it was a small event for neurodivergent service providers in the national security sector. So there are some please don't think there are none. And two female intelligence officers came up to me after I explained, I stood up, I said, I'm doing this project. If anyone wants to talk to me afterwards, come find me. And two female civilian intelligence officers both came up to me. They're from different agencies, and they said they both identify as autistic in their own workplaces. They're out of the closet, quote, unquote, in their workplaces as autistic. And they said, we need more of this. We need other people to be able to be out just like us. There's no one else that either of us could ever look up to. We both face bias and discrimination for this. Ironically, they never met each other until that day. They knew each other existed. I think they talked to emails, but this event was the first time they'd been in the same room, and it was really powerful. There are people who are trying to be role models, and they're doing it at cost. And we wanted to put this study out there to provide data and analysis and objective, unbiased data analysis on what is the benefits and what are those costs. Peter Shankman [00:09:54]: That's amazing. I'm so glad you did this. So let's look at this. Within the US government, neurodivergent diagnosis are treated as a disability. And so my first reaction is, no, it's not. But I understand why that would be, right. You're looking at a lot of these things are based on 50, 67 year old rules or the Ada from 82. So talk to me about what you learned from that standpoint. Cortney  [00:10:18]: Yeah, this was just eye opening, so I'm not a disability researcher. So a lot of this was new ground to me. If you want to get a job in the US government and you want to self identify as being disabled, any type of disability, you get what's called a schedule, a letter, from the Department of labor. Basically, you fill out a form, the department of labor gives you a letter called a Schedule A Letter. The schedule. A letter does not state your disability. It just says Mr. Smith has a severe disability and therefore qualifies for accommodation. That's all it says. It doesn't say what your disability is. You can be blind, you can be an amputee. Well, because of that process, no matter what your disability is, you're just identified as disabled and severely disabled. When government agencies are calculating data, we ask them, how many people do you have for neurodivergent your agency? And they said, I don't know, I can only give you my disability number. So the blind employees, the deaf employees, the amputees, and the autistic employees are all lumped in one category. So that was one finding. The second finding is that Schedule A Letter says severely disabled. And all the people we talk to don't identify as severely disabled. And they take deep personal offense at the idea that they should have to describe themselves as severely disabled just to wear noise canceling headphones in a classified room. Peter Shankman [00:11:34]: Exactly. Cortney  [00:11:35]: Or just to ask that the light bulb be taken out from over their desk, or that their desk be moved from the bullpen further away from the door so they don't hear the door every time it opens. These are like basic requests of a manager, but the government treats them as accommodations and if you want an accommodation, you must have a declaration of disability. Peter Shankman [00:11:53]:Right? Cortney  [00:11:54]: So we provide a few metaphors in the report and we call this the accommodations dilemma because it was like this whole catch 22 paradox. Cause you either declare yourself as disabled and all of a sudden you get all these benefits along with the risk of bias and discrimination, right? You don't declare yourself as disabled, don't worry about the bias and discrimination, but now you've got to cut it. And we said if you compare this to other diagnoses, and I use vision in the report as the example, I'm sitting here wearing eyeglasses, I'm near sighted. I am not disabled by any standard. I drive a car I can see perfectly with my eyeglasses on if I want to apply for military service or for a civilian job. I'm not considered disabled simply because I'm near sighted. Now, there's a point at which a vision diagnosis does become a disability, but it's a spectrum, and we know it's a spectrum and we know that simply having a vision diagnosis is not a binary yes you're disabled, or no you're not. For the government, having a neurodiverse divergent diagnosis is a binary yes or no. Whereas we all know, those who are in this community or researchers in this community, that it is a spectrum. There are some people with ADHD, autism and other diagnoses who do self identify as severely disabled and there's plenty who don't. And the government right now doesn't give people the option. Peter Shankman [00:13:07]: What's interesting, I think another aspect of that is because it's government work, it's the premise that you can't just move your desk away from the door if you just want to. There has to be an accommodation for. Cortney  [00:13:20]: It because someone else in the office is going to say, well, that's unfair. Why did they get to their desk? I want to be near the window. Peter Shankman [00:13:26]: And I think that what companies are starting to realize is that those rules don't. I interviewed someone who was a boss once and I said, what are the neurodiversion aspects of how you're dealing? He goes, there are none. He goes, you get your work done. He goes, I do not care how you do it. You're not in junior high. You don't have to ask for a bad bathroom pass. Do whatever works for you as long as you're getting stuff done. And I think back to my first and only job I ever really had working for someone else was for America Online and under Steve Case back in the 90s in Virginia, right near you, Northern Virginia, they said the same thing. We don't care when you come in, right, work from a forest, just get your stuff done. And that was so amazing. And of course it screwed me because I thought, oh wow, this must be what the workforce is like. And my second job at a national magazine was, no, the hell it ain't. That was sort of a wake up call, but now there's no question about that. It is difficult if you have to constantly label yourself as only one thing or the other. I've never looked at this as a disability from my perspective. I understand I've had to write it down at some points for surveys or qualifications or things like that. But again, I don't qualify my ADHD as a disability. And the funny thing was, I remember growing up in school, in the New York City public schools, you could qualify for something called resource room, which would give you extra time on tests and allow you lots of different accommodations. To get there, though, you had to fall below a certain level in reading and in math. And because I loved reading, I was on a 12th grade level from first grade. Because I hated math, I qualified. But because I didn't qualify for both, I didn't get anything. So yes, there's a lot that needs to be addressed in that. Talk about for a second the concept of and I want to be constantly time, but we're definitely having you back, but the aspects of recruitment and hiring process, right? So there are companies now that I'm advising that are trying to create conversation, that they are more neurodiverse aware and that they are neurodiverse friendly. And is that not the case in government yet or how is that happening? Cortney  [00:15:29]: Well, for the most part, the US national security community isn't taking a position yet they're not saying we're neurodiverse friendly or we're not. They're more maybe neurodiverse ignorant at this point. And that ignorance is changing for sure. But one organization, one office at a time, we're hoping this report can blow that door open. So what we did is we actually went through real government job vacancy postings and said, how is this worded today? And how might one word it differently? And there's actually a point in the report. We take a table. We take three or four job descriptions. And we wanted to make sure that these aren't very stereotypical job descriptions. We had people come to us say, oh yeah, I could hire people who are neurodivergent and they could be the cyber analyst in the corner who never have to speak to anyone. And so we made sure that the job descriptions we chose were not just like that person you put in the back corner who doesn't actually interact with people. We chose an accountant. Yes, a cyber operations officer. We chose a contracts officer. Contracting is a huge part of the national security workforce, and we chose some of these job descriptions. And then based on what we had learned from the commercial sector, we said, here's how you might do it differently. Sometimes it's just changing the wording. Like, instead of saying, demonstrate that you're an effective communicator. I don't know how to do that in a cover letter very well. Instead, we write it in a way that for someone who has trouble with nuance, who has trouble with interpretive language, who doesn't know how to do that, we'd be able to figure out what exactly is that they need to see from me. We took one of the job descriptions that was asking for financial analysis skills as the accounting position. And we said instead of all these things that they're asking the applicant to prove in a resume, instead let's interview this person by giving them a practical exercise, which is what some companies do, we email them a spreadsheet three days before the interview. The spreadsheet is fake financial data. We say to them, in three days, you're going to present your analysis to the hiring manager or a board of three people. Well, by doing that now, this person isn't worried about making eye contact and making sure they know how to answer the question of what do you want to get out of your career? Instead, you're really assessing this person on their financial analytic skills and their ability to convey analytic findings to a customer. That's probably all you really cared about in the first place. You didn't really care if they could make eye contact and shape your hand with a firm handshake. So we provide those kinds of really specific, tangible recommendations. Peter Shankman [00:17:51]: I want to touch on a few of the more recommendations. We have a few minutes left. One of the ones that I saw immediately, and I love this, help all employees understand neurodiversity right and this goes back to what I've taught at some of the companies that I work with in the concept of curb cuts. I'm sure you know that is at the end of World War II, 600,000 US servicemen came home disabled. And every city and every town across the country put ramps at the at the corner of every block, make up the sidewalks, making curb cuts. And they wound up helping those 600,000 servicemen and also wound up helping pregnant women and people with boxes and children and people with strollers list goes on and on. So you help one group and it benefits all. So the concept of teaching, understanding university, go ahead. Yeah. Cortney  [00:18:42]: This is why we say don't treat it as disability. By putting ramps in buildings, you didn't just help the people who are disabled. Like you said, you help the Janet or push the card more effectively. So if you change your interview practices or your management practices in ways that provide clear communication to everyone, everyone will benefit from that. It's not just the few employees that have a diagnosis. And by the way, there's plenty of employees who are not diagnosed because they didn't have the availability to have a diagnosis. So it helps them, too. So, yeah, we wanted to make sure that the recommendations in here were really widely applicable. We heard from plenty of people we interviewed. It's one thing to give the neurodivergent employee the feedback that they need to be a better communicator, but did you also give the rest of the team the feedback that they need to be better communicators, too? And that's what we're talking about. Why is the whole burden on one person to be able to improve team wide communication? The burden shouldn't fall on one person's shoulders 100%. Peter Shankman [00:19:41]: Courtney, I want to have you back again. I really appreciate you taking the time. I'm going to tell Meagan immediately that I want to have you back. I could talk about this for 6 hours. Maybe we'll break our rules and do like a 45 minutes version if you're up for it. But thank you so much for taking the time. And this research is available. Anyone can download it. It's at RAND.org under publication for free. Cortney  [00:20:03]: It's for FREE!!!! Peter Shankman [00:20:04]: That's the coolest thing. It's like, Here, have it. I'll put a link to where it is in the show notes. But again, if people want to find you, I mean, you're pretty easy to find. Do you mind if people contact you? Do you have a social account or. Cortney  [00:20:16]: How can people yeah, I'm on Mastodon, I'm on Twitter. I'm on Instagram, LinkedIn. I'm on everything except Facebook. So, yeah, people want to post to me. I say that anyone who doesn't sound like a troll, I will respond to. Peter Shankman [00:20:30]: Awesome. Cortney Weinbaum, thank you so much for taking the time. Really. Cortney  [00:20:34]: Thanks for having me. Peter Shankman [00:20:35]: Phenomenal. Most definitely. We'll be live in a few weeks. Guys, thank you for listening. Really appreciate your time. I love that you are still listening to Faster Than Normal. We are closing in on 300 episodes. How amazing is that? I've never been able to do anything 300 times in a row, so I am super excited about that. And we will be back next week with another interview with someone probably not as cool as Cortney, but we're going to try. Thank you again, everyone for listening. Cortney, thank you one more time. We will talk to you guys soon. Have a great day. Stay safe. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. Over the past month, we have been fortunate enough to be sponsored by Skylight Frame. [Check it out at: https://www.skylightframe.com]  And guys, if you need a calendar for your family, for your kids, if your kids are neurodiverse- look at skylightframe.com! You order it, you hang it on your wall. It connects to your WIFI. You import your calendars, you add chore lists. My daughter knows all her chores. She knows everything she has to do. There's no more fights, no more arguments. She looks at the chores. She does them. She clicks the little button, the little touch screen, and it means that she's done and she gets her Roblox cuz that pretty much is what kids exist on today under the age of 12. They exist on, on Robux and, and apparently high quality mac and cheese. Apparently, you know, regular mac and cheese that we ate as kids. No, that's not good enough anymore. Skyline Frame is awesome. Use code PeterShankman at checkout. That will give you up to $30 off. I love the thing. You can also throw up all your photos on it. Uh, so when you're not using the calendar, it just. Scrolls your entire life by you and it looks pretty cool. It's in our kitchen. When I wake up at two in the morning to go get some cold water, I see a photo of me and my daughter or my dog, or my late cat, NASA, and it's pretty awesome. Makes my night. So https://www.skylightframe.com code: PeterShankman up to 30 bucks off. You will not regret this. If you get it, send me a note, let me know that you have it, and uh, I'll send you a photo for it. All right, again thank you to Skylight Frame! Enter discount code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off https://www.skylightframe.com Our guest today is Stephanie Scheller. Stephanie has studied human psychology for more than a decade and built her first business from scratch to walk away from her job in less than five months. She has now worked with more than 5000+ companies and is dedicated to helping small business owners understand how to create their greatest impact. Using the violin to tap into the human subconscious, Stephanie breaks down the psychology behind business growth strategies and marketing that makes an impact to simplify implementation and accelerate growth. She is a TEDx speaker, a two-time best-selling author, an award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of Grow Disrupt, a company that designs and produces educational events for the ADHD small business owner! In her downtime, you'll find Stephanie playing on the violin, out in the Texas Hill Country with her horse, or in the garage painting endlessly. Enjoy! 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! Thank you Skylight Frame - Get your coupon now!  https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off 01:45 - Introducing and welcome Stephanie Scheller! 03:04 - How long have you been playing violin? 04:30 - Is music and the Arts in general an ADHD brain booster? 04:45 - On unlocking your focus on what to do correctly! 05:20 - On having a plan for when you succeed. 05:53 - Peter's T-shirt idea- …that was successful. 06:08 - When were you diagnosed, and how did that go? 07:20 - On ‘covering' for your ADHD and building events that will keep us focused 08:15 - What are YOU doing to care for your ADHD?  [On Peter's diagnosis/non-diagnosis]  08:42 - What happens in your brain when you start playing violin? Has it always been easy? 12:00 - On finding your happy thing, and how it can completely change your life! 13:30 - What kinds of events are you doing, what kind of content and tools are you employing? 14:48 -  How do our spectacular subscribers find out more about you?  Web:  www.GrowDisrupt.com and https://www.thestephaniescheller.com Socials: @GrowDisrupt on Facebook  YouTube  15:18 - Stephanie.. would you give us just a little taste of your violin, 48secs or so? 16:00 - Thank you so much for making time for all of us today Stephanie! 16:40 - Hey, you there! Yes YOU! We are thrilled that you are here & listening!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 16:40 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  —  

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. Over the past month, we have been fortunate enough to be sponsored by Skylight Frame. [Check it out at: https://www.skylightframe.com]  And guys, if you need a calendar for your family, for your kids, if your kids are neurodiverse- look at skylightframe.com! You order it, you hang it on your wall. It connects to your WIFI. You import your calendars, you add chore lists. My daughter knows all her chores. She knows everything she has to do. There's no more fights, no more arguments. She looks at the chores. She does them. She clicks the little button, the little touch screen, and it means that she's done and she gets her Roblox cuz that pretty much is what kids exist on today under the age of 12. They exist on, on Robux and, and apparently high quality mac and cheese. Apparently, you know, regular mac and cheese that we ate as kids. No, that's not good enough anymore. Skyline Frame is awesome. Use code PeterShankman at checkout. That will give you up to $30 off. I love the thing. You can also throw up all your photos on it. Uh, so when you're not using the calendar, it just. Scrolls your entire life by you and it looks pretty cool. It's in our kitchen. When I wake up at two in the morning to go get some cold water, I see a photo of me and my daughter or my dog, or my late cat, NASA, and it's pretty awesome. Makes my night. So https://www.skylightframe.com code: PeterShankman up to 30 bucks off. You will not regret this. If you get it, send me a note, let me know that you have it, and uh, I'll send you a photo for it. All right, again thank you to Skylight Frame! Enter discount code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off https://www.skylightframe.com Welcome to the month of May! So, there are a few things you cannot buy in life: One of them is Time and your Life. Therefore people's goal is to reclaim time and have peace of mind. For our guest today, Roy Smith, protecting others has always been his passion. An Executive Protection Specialist, Mr. Smith makes sure people come home after a busy workday, or a night out. His career in law enforcement has laid the foundation for his exceptional expertise in the security industry. His experience spans diverse roles. Roy worked with high-threat criminals - was a Gang Task Force Officer on the southern border of Texas. He was assigned to multiple Texas and Federal task forces to combat gangs, drug trafficking, etc. His goal at that time was to protect the community. Then Roy went into the Executive Protection field and graduated top of his class from one of the most renown academies in the US and won a prestigious award. Security is not a luxury; it's a necessity. Roy Smith understands this principle and has dedicated his life to ensuring the safety and well-being of those he serves. As the CEO and Executive Protection Specialist at Viking Executive Protection Solutions and Owner and President of Viking Tactical Security Group, Roy offers top-tier concierge executive protection services to high net worth clients, and high-threat security to media networks, and at events as well as a School Guardian Program for children. In addition to personal security, Viking provides assessment and situational awareness classes to empower individuals with essential knowledge and skills. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one of the industry's leading professionals and learn how Roy Smith and his team at Viking Executive Protection Solutions can help you stay safe and secure in an unpredictable world. Today we learn how to stay heads-up, especially since it is unbelievably easy for us neurodiverse individuals to lose situational awareness. Enjoy! 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! Thank you Skylight Frame - Get your coupon now!  https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off 02:17 - Introducing and welcome Roy Smith! 03:36 - What is your company designed to do? 04:00 - Do you think there would be lower instances of crime if people were just more aware of their surroundings on a regular basis? 05:00 - Bad stuff can happen anywhere.. and you may not even be aware of all that you are not aware of! Especially when ‘safe' in your routines & cyclic norms. #HeadOnASwivel 08:04 - Challenging our habit of going into ‘autopilot' when we commute and… 08:31 - When you get home… 09:00 - How do you practice being aware of new/odd patterns in your daily? 10:00 - How do you not sit there and dwell, or worry about one detail being off, once you've noticed it? 10:53 - Let's talk about personal safety in the post COVID era 11:06 - Not quite like Jason Bourne's default training state but.. what basic things should we remember to always do when going to:  a restaurant, movie theater, baseball park, whatever? 12:18 - A couple of tips for travelers and event-goers awaiting the queue to shorten 14:19 - On the benefits of pet, (let alone well-trained pet), ownership; in public! 17:14 - How do you train your Neurodiverse, (or any), body to sort of not go into overdrive when something is happening? How do you use that dopamine and adrenaline to your advantage? 20:30 - On training your mind and body via live scenarios 20:45 - The benefits of using preparedness drills as part of your training 23:08 - How do our spectacular subscribers find out more about you?  Telephone: (1+) 844-6-Viking aka: +1 (844) 684-5464 Web:  www.VikingEPS.com  email:  info @ vikingeps.com Socials:  @viking_eps on INSTA and @ vikingeps on Facebook and Twitter 24:06 - Thank you so much for making time for all of us today Roy! 24:24 - You! Hey there! We are thrilled that you are here and listening! ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 24:50 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.   I wanna give a shout out to Skylight Frame, the official Skylight frame. They are sponsors of this episode of Faster Than Normal. Let me tell you about Skylight! So I have a daughter, you all know, her name is Jessa, she's nine. Jessa, like any nine year old, doesn't really do what I tell her to do until I say it like 4, 5, 6, 18, 54 times. And the problem with that is that when your ADHD, you're kind of forgetful to begin with. So Jessa sits there and I tell her, Jessa, change Waffles' pee pads, my dog right? [@petersdogwaffle on INSTA] Changes defense. Okay, Dad. And she goes right back to Roblox. And then two times later, Jessa change Waffle's pad? Goes, okay, Dad goes right back to robots. And by the fourth time, I've forgotten about it. She's forgotten about it. Waffle doesn't get his pee pad changed. No one's happy. And the house smells. So Skylight Frame eliminates that. It is a essentially a calendar. It's calendar with pictures. It sits on your wall, it connects to wifi, it connects to your Google calendar, and it adds your chores. So I tell Jessa say, Hey, Jessa before you leave for school, before you get in your iPad to play Roblox, before you go to school, are all your chores done? Are they green on the board? She looks. Now I gotta change Waffles pads. Change the pads, comes back. Click. Not you waffle. I, I know you heard your name, but I'm actually not talking about you. I'm doing, doing a podcast. He click, she clicks on the, click it on the, on the chore, it goes away. When all her chores are done, she gets her iPad, everyone wins. It makes life so much easier. It is unbelievable. It's a 10" inch touchscreen display. It's digital, it's gorgeous. You put all your photos in from your photo album, you can send 'em all there. And when it's not in calendar mode, you get a beautiful display of all the pictures. Totally worth it. And as always, thank you Skylight for sponsoring this episode as well as many others of the Faster Than Normal Podcast.  https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off. Robin Maddox, LMFT, is a pediatric mental health expert with over a decade of hands-on experience following data-driven, evidenced-based strategies to support and heal children, adolescents and families. As Director of Behavioral Health at Clay, a virtual company within early education centers, she has guided the development of an early identification platform that provides a comprehensive suite of behavioral and developmental tools for school communities that serve children ages 0-5.  Prior to Clay, Robin worked as a child and family therapist in her own private practice (Maddox Counseling), and at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She previously served as Director of Special Education at Notre Dame College Prep, where she created, developed, and implemented a Special Education  Program for students with Down Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Trisomy 13, and other developmental disabilities. Robin also has prior experience as a Director and Executive Board Member for Camp Hope, a summer camp for children and young adults with developmental disabilities. Today we learn… Often with neurodiversity, by the time a therapist is seeing a child, they are pulling them out of the river. A good part of Robin and Clay Behavioral Health's purpose is hiking upstream- to see why so much of our young neurodiverse population is getting thrown into the river in the first place. By intervening and putting good tools in the hands of teachers and parents, we're learning more about our kids, a little earlier in life than before concluded. Today we learn about why and how. Enjoy! 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:52 - Introducing and welcome Robin Maddox  03:30 - What drove you towards special education and towards neurodiversity as a whole? 04:35 - What is Clay? 06:11 - Six short sessions of work with a four-year-old, would take years with the same teenager 06:45 - How a ‘heads-up' about your child, can be almost as effective to parents as a diagnosis 07:30 - It's a GIFT! You don't even have to stand in line for it; just learn how to use it! 07:45 - What if the school says: “We can't test your child until they are six”? 08:36 - You don't have to wait for a diagnosis. Tools are ready and available.  09:04 - How kids feel about themselves? How do they feel about themselves by age 5, at kindergarten? 10:00 - All of the research right now is on how one-third of teenagers have identified as having anxiety or depression. What the research shows is that those kids are showing those signs even at ages 3, 4, 5. 10:40 - What kind of signs should parents be looking for? 11:10 - How do people find out more about you?  Web:  https://carebyclay.com  email: robin@carebyclay.com  Socials:  @carebyclay on Twitter  INSTA  Facebook  and LinkedIN 11:40 - Thank you so much Robin!! 11:45 - We are thrilled that you are here and listening! ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 12:00 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. mostly somewhat:   As always, thank you Skylight for sponsoring this episode as well as many others of the Faster Than Normal Podcast. https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off. [00:00:40] Peter: Hey guys. Peter Shankman, another episode of Faster Than Normal is Coming Your Way at Lightning Speed. Wanna give a big shout out as always. Skylight, skylight calendar and skylight frame. Like I, I, look, I'm not gonna tell you again how much has changed my life. My daughter's getting sick of hearing it. But I will say this, yesterday morning we were about to walk out to school and I looked and I noticed that the, um, dog doggy pee pads were not changed. And I said, Jessa I see if you're forgetting something. And she's like, no, I have, you know, I have my water bottle, I have my backpack. I'm like, really? You have everything? She's like, yeah, everything you need. Like, did you clear off all your chores or, oh my god, I forgot. She runs, she looks at chores. What? Well, I'll take care of your pads right now. And she ran and she changed the pads two seconds and she clicked that, that, that, that touchscreen and got rid of her chores today and everything went green. And she was incredibly happy. And I'm like, I'm like, why'd you forget? She's like, because you were talking to me. So obviously it was dad's fault cuz that's what happens. But check them out. Skylight frame.com. Use code Peter Shankman for up to 30 bucks off your order. I love this thing, one of the best things I have in my kitchen, uh, other than my, uh, ninja Ninja foodie, which is a whole ‘nother discussion. But anyway, welcome to the ever sort of fast than normal. I am thrilled that you're here. We are talking today to Robin Maddox. She's a pediatric mental health expert with over a decade of hands-on experience following data-driven evidence-based strategies to support and adhere heal children adolescents, and families. She works for a cool company called Clay. And Clay is sort of like this virtual company within early education centers. So think like zero to five when like 90% of the brain develops, right? And they have this comprehensive suite of behavioral and developmental tools for school communities that allow. More insight into what's going on and, and more sort of awareness of any sort of, uh, neurodiversity long before I guess other people would get it. Um, prior to Clay Robin was a child and family therapist in her own private practice and at the Family Institute at Northwestern University. She was the director of Special Education at Notre Dame College Prep. She's much smarter than me, I can tell this. She created, developed and implemented a special education program for students with Down Syndrome Autism, cerebral Palsy, tri ME 13, and other developmental disabilities. Robin also has prior experience as director and executive board member for Camp Hope, a summer camp for children and young adults with developmental disabilities. I have a dog named Waffle. Either way. It is great to have you on the products, Rob, on podcast. Robin, my God. You have, you have a, you have quite the background. [00:03:04] Robin: Thanks Peter. Thanks for reading that bio.  [00:03:07] Peter: Notre Dame. Are you an Irish fan?  [00:03:09] Robin: No, I'm actually not. Um, it was the, you know, first job I got. [00:03:14] Peter: So you're one of the few rams I discovered that there are very few people with connections to Notre Dame that do not shout, go Irish at every conceivable opportunity. [00:03:20] Robin: Yeah, that's not me.  [00:03:21] Peter: That being said, thrilled to have you as always and thrilled to have everyone listening as always. So, Robin, talk to us first about. Sort of what drove you towards special education and towards neurodiversity as a whole? Because, you know, it's, it's a, a lot of people go into it, but you're very specific. You're very specialized here.  [00:03:39] Robin: Yeah. I love that question. Uh, when I was in high school, I did a camp for kids with disabilities, um, pretty profound disabilities. So my Camper, who I was in charge of for the week, uh, was non-verbal in a wheelchair, and I was in charge of feeding her, changing her diaper, and she was older than me. Um, but I feel like she taught me more about life in that five days that I was taking care of her than I had you know, ever experienced. And so that drove me into special ed, um, in, in my undergrad. And then I met one of my students, um, family therapist. They came to observe me at school and I was like, that's exactly what I wanna do. And so for the last 10 years I've been in, um, child and family therapy, working with kids with disabilities and all different neuro divergence.  [00:04:29] Peter: It's not easy.  [00:04:32] Robin: Yeah, it's not easy, but it's really fun and really rewarding and um, I love it. [00:04:37] Peter: I imagine it would be. Tell us about, so Clay is really interesting. So this is one of those things that get sort of to the heart of what's going on long before other people figure it out.  [00:04:44] Robin: Yes, yes. I joined Clay because, you know, I felt as a therapist, I was so burnt out. I was, you know, helping one family at a time, pulling them out of the river and never going upstream to see why are you getting thrown in the river. Um, and I think so often, you know, parents are bringing their kid to the pediatrician and saying, you know, we're having these different behavior issues. Um, or they're having behavioral issues at school or home, and the pediatrician has 10 minutes, you know, for all the vital health assessments and vaccines, and they're not equipped to always handle behavioral health issues. And then the teacher's pretty burnt out and not always equipped, and the parents burnt out and not equipped. And the end result is, you know, from zero to five when it's the most. Like you said, the most crucial time, 90% of the brain's growing these negative neural pathways get set. These negative coping and self-soothing skills get set. Negative family dynamics, negative association with school and negative self-esteem. And then the research says kids don't land in my office until 11 years later. I. So, you know, that was kind of my goal at Clay was, and what Clay is doing, we're solving this, um, we're intervening and putting the tools in teachers and parents' hands earlier. So what I can do in six sessions with a four-year-old would take years and years with a teenager. And we're really seeing the mental health crisis start in preschool. Even though they're talking about teenagers,  [00:06:07] Peter: You're preventing having to undo things essentially.  [00:06:09] Robin: Yes, exactly. Exactly. [00:06:11] Peter: Huh. That is interesting. I mean, it's, it's interesting the statistics you rattle off there. I, I always talk about how, you know, it's difficult to undo years of being told you're broken, but I didn't realize it started that early.  [00:06:22] Robin: Yes, I know often. That's fascinating. Yeah. Often we undermine how important, uh, Zero to five is, and it's really the most crucial. And it's when parents are the most burnt out and, um, you know, many preschool teachers are underpaid and overworked and have these massive classrooms of behavior issues and they're not equipped to handle it.  [00:06:41] Peter: I'm still blown away by, by five years old. So, so you're saying is if you get the kids in. Before that sort of settles. [00:06:47] Robin: Yeah. When we, you know, it's much, much easier. We've found our research so far of the kids that we've screened, a third of them have been flagged for, you know, a certain behavior concern. Um, 40% of those kids were flagged for anxiety and 19% were flagged with A D H D symptoms. And so we're not diagnosing them, but we're flagging the teachers and the parents with this is what's going on. So they're not just a behavior issue, they're not a lazy kid who's not trying or purposely being defiant. They actually have something else going on. And if we can give them really effective coping skills and ways to talk to the kids. And, um, you know, to really see the gifts. I love that about what you do on your podcast is always talking about the gifts of A D H D and there are so many gifts of anxiety and gifts of A D H D and we really have to help kids get those coping skills and see that as their superpower and, um, figure out how to make school and family life work for them. [00:07:45] Peter: Talk to me about the parents. So I was just talking to a parent who said that, yeah, pretty sure my kid has is, is neurodiverse, but. We can't test him until he's six, according to the school. Mm-hmm. Right. And so I'm curious, when you go in and talk to parents who are at a much younger age  [00:08:00] Robin: Yep. Right.  [00:08:00] Peter: What's the, what's the reaction, what's the response? [00:08:02] Robin: Yeah, I mean, it's a common response of like, they're too young to have ADHD. They're, um, you know, it's kind of crazy to put my four year old in therapy. And I hear that and I get it, and we can't diagnose ADHD pre four, but we see the symptoms and we definitely see, um, the family genetics of that. So, if a parent has ADHD or anxiety, we typically, you know, there's a higher rate of a kid having that. And so there's never any harm in getting coping skills and language around ADHD or anxiety or autism sooner. You don't have to wait for a diagnosis. If you're seeing some of the symptoms and you're seeing the behaviors, we can jump in there and, and get coping skills. I'm not, I'm not encouraging, you know, an increase in diagnosis. I'm just encouraging an increase in screening and getting those tools.  [00:08:51] Peter: Right, right. And it's interesting because I don't know, I, this is the first I've ever heard I like, like think I know what I'm, you know, I've heard a lot about this. The first thing I've ever heard about. Young age, um, about really sort of young age intervention. [00:09:04] Robin: Yeah, it's crucial. It's really crucial in terms of how kids feel about themselves. You know, often you'll see a five year old going to kindergarten and already feel like they're stupid. They don't wanna go to school, they're a bad boy or bad girl. They're bad at listening. Um, they get all of these messages about themselves before school's even started. Right. And that's what, and, and you know, the family dynamics have been set up. So, um, you know, parents get in a loop of how they've been parenting a, a kid, and it really affects how they cope, how they self-soothe. And then I see them 11 years later and they're addicted to their screens or they're using food to cope, or they're depressed or anxious. And so what I try to tell parents is if we intervene at four, you won't be doing this at 15. You know, you won't have a depressed, anxious kid who's who's using negative coping skills. That's our hope.  [00:09:58] Peter: And the research backs it up, Robin.  [00:10:00] Robin: Yes, yes. You know, the, the mental health crisis, all of the research right now is on teenagers being anxious and depressed. One third of of teenagers are, um, identified as having anxiety or depression. And, and what we're seeing is those kids are, they're showing those signs at 3, 4, 5, um, and we can intervene way sooner.  [00:10:24] Peter: Wow. Three, four, and five. They're showing sign of depression. That is, that is sad.  [00:10:30] Robin: Yeah. Of what will end up, you know, I think we might not see a kid who's depressed, but we could see a kid who's, um, you know, got some pretty [hectic?] Behavior and, and then they start to feel depressed about  [00:10:41] Peter: what kind of signs should parents be looking for? [00:10:42] Robin: Yeah, I think when it's persistent, uh, when it's happening in more than one setting. So if it's happening at school and at home, that's, you know, a good sign that, that it's prevalent in both places. Tantrums, unexplained tantrums, um, pervasive, you know, negative moods, feeling like you're walking on eggshells around your kids. Um, feeling like nothing you do works seeing that like typical parenting strategies or typical school strategies are not working. And I think anytime you have that gut feeling as a parent, something's not right, or I think something's going on, or I think they're gonna be the kid and I. You know, first grade where we get them diagnosed. Right. Intervene now. You don't have to wait.  [00:11:24] Peter: That's a really, that's really good advice. It makes a lot of sense. I think it's gonna help a lot of people. Robin Maddux how can people find you?  [00:11:29] Robin: Yes, you can find us @ carebyclay.com and carebyclay.com. Cool. Yes. www.carebyclay.com .And you can always email me at Robin robin@carebyclay.com [00:11:40] Peter: Awesome. Well, I think this is gonna be a very, very helpful episode. I really appreciate taking the time, Robin, as always, thanks to our audience for listening. Thanks to Steven Byrom for being our amazing producer/editor. We'll be back next week with another episode where we will learn a lot and hopefully continue our mission to let the world know that all forms of neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. We'll see you soon.  — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. I wanna give a shout out to Skylight Frame, the official Skylight frame. They are sponsors of this episode of Faster Than Normal. Let me tell you about Skylight! So I have a daughter, you all know, her name is Jessa, she's nine. Jessa, like any nine year old, doesn't really do what I tell her to do until I say it like 4, 5, 6, 18, 54 times. And the problem with that is that when your ADHD, you're kind of forgetful to begin with. So Jessa sits there and I tell her, Jessa, change Waffles' pee pads, my dog right? [@petersdogwaffle on INSTA] Changes defense. Okay, Dad. And she goes right back to Roblox. And then two times later, Jessa change Waffle's pad? Goes, okay, Dad goes right back to robots. And by the fourth time, I've forgotten about it. She's forgotten about it. Waffle doesn't get his pee pad changed. No one's happy. And the house smells. So Skylight Frame eliminates that. It is a essentially a calendar. It's calendar with pictures. It sits on your wall, it connects to wifi, it connects to your Google calendar, and it adds your chores. So I tell Jessa say, Hey, Jessa before you leave for school, before you get in your iPad to play Roblox, before you go to school, are all your chores done? Are they green on the board? She looks. Now I gotta change Waffles pads. Change the pads, comes back. Click. Not you waffle. I, I know you heard your name, but I'm actually not talking about you. I'm doing, doing a podcast. He click, she clicks on the, click it on the, on the chore, it goes away. When all her chores are done, she gets her iPad, everyone wins. It makes life so much easier. It is unbelievable. It's a 10" inch touchscreen display. It's digital, it's gorgeous. You put all your photos in from your photo album, you can send 'em all there. And when it's not in calendar mode, you get a beautiful display of all the pictures. Totally worth it. And as always, thank you Skylight for sponsoring this episode as well as many others of the Faster Than Normal Podcast.  https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to $30 off. Roni Weiss is the Executive Director of Travel Unity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on increasing diversity in the world of travel through individual and community empowerment.  Roni was born in Long Island, New York and grew up in Snohomish County, Washington, north of Seattle.  At the age of 10, Roni began attending Edmonds Community College (now Edmonds College), receiving his Associate's of Arts and Science with Honors at the age of 12. He graduated from Lynnwood High School at the age of 15, then attended the University of Washington, receiving double Bachelor's of Arts degrees in Drama and English at the age of 18. Through years of world travels, Roni visited 70+ countries, including every country in Europe, six of seven continents, and taught English in Italy, France, Taiwan, and Chile, both to youth and professionals. In 2011, Roni founded RW Social, a marketing and consulting company for the travel industry and nonprofits. From 2011 to 2016, Roni worked with Africa Travel Association (now Africa Tourism Association), assisting with and speaking at ATA's events in NYC, DC, and multiple African countries. In 2013, RW Social launched the New York Travel Festival, an event focused on innovation and sustainability in the world of travel, which served as the genesis for Travel Unity, where he now serves as Executive Director. Roni lives in Westchester County, NY with his partner, Lauren, and their four children. Today we learn how travel is changing for all people including the Neurodiverse, and about some things we can do to help move forward. Enjoy! 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 02:40 - “DEI” is a term used often in this interview; it represents: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion 02:48 - Welcome and introducing Roni Weiss! Ref:  Africa Tourism Association, RW Social, Travel Unity, NewYork TravelFest  04:36 - So how do you go to college at age 12, and then high school at age 15?! 06:10 - Ref:  Saved By the Bell 07:00 - What made you focus on diversity in Travel, specifically?  Ref: Monica Drake 09:00 - Talk about diversity and travel. What you think can be changed, what has been changed, what needs to be changed?  Ref:  Travel Unity 10:45 - “Local and regional travel is as meaningful and you don't have to pay as much to do it” 10:52 - On tourism management, workforce, visitor-ship, community impact and representation 12:20 - Talk about Neurodiversity and Travel? What are you working on in that venue? 12:50 - Roni on his ADD diagnosis and in what ways it has played a role in his career! 13:01 - On being physically in pain due to boredom 14:00 - About how all people fit multiple ‘things'! 15:00 - On the ‘well, you don't look sick' stereotype 15:51 - On the importance of good listening, universal inclusion, empathy, and respect. 17:10 - How do people find out more about you?  Web: www.TravelUnity.org  Roni@travelunity.org Socials: @TravelUnity on Twitter  INSTA  Facebook and Roni is on LinkedIN and all of his info in also on his website here: http://roniweiss.com 18:00 - We are thrilled that you are here and listening! ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 18:19 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. mostly somewhat:  [00:00:40] Peter: Hey everyone, Peter Shankman. Welcome to Faster Than Normal. Another episode. Thrilled that you're here. As always, it's a Monday morning in New York City; recording Day as always for the podcast. What a lovely day outside. I think we're finally, finally hitting Spring! Of course now that I said that we'll probably have eight inches of snow by Thursday but it's still a beautiful blue sky day. I just came in from outside and it's, it's nice. It's a little chilly, but we're getting there. Guys… we made it through another winter! I wanna give a shout out to Skylight Frame, the official Skylight frame. They are sponsors of this episode of Faster Than Normal. Let me tell you about Skylight! So I have a daughter, you all know, her name is Jessa, she's nine. Jessa, like any nine year old, doesn't really do what I tell her to do until I say it like 4, 5, 6, 18, 54 times. And the problem with that is that when your ADHD, you're kind of forgetful to begin with. So Jessa sits there and I tell her, Jessa, change Waffles' pee pads, my dog right? [@petersdogwaffle on INSTA] Changes defense. Okay, Dad. And she goes right back to Roblox. And then two times later, Jessa change Waffle's pad? Goes, okay, dad goes right back to robots. And by the fourth time, I've forgotten about it. She's forgotten about it. Waffle doesn't get his pee pad changed. No one's happy. And the house smells. So Skylight Frame eliminates that. It is a essentially a calendar. It's calendar with pictures. It sits on your wall, it connects to wifi, it connects to your Google calendar, and it adds your chores. So I tell Jessa say, Hey, Jessa before you leave for school, before you get in your iPad to play Roblox, before you go to school, are all your chores done? Are they green on the board? She looks. Now I gotta change Waffles pads. Change the pads, comes back. Click. Not you waffle. I, I know you heard your name, but I'm actually not talking about you. I'm doing, doing a podcast. He click, she clicks on the, click it on the, on the chore, it goes away. When all her chores are done, she gets her iPad, everyone wins. It makes life so much easier. It is unbelievable. It's a 10" inch touchscreen display. It's digital, it's gorgeous. You put all your photos in from your photo album, you can send 'em all there. And when it's not in calendar mode, you get a beautiful display of all the pictures. Totally worth it. Up to 30 bucks off with code: PeterShankman at www.skylightframe.com .And as always, thank you Skylight for sponsoring this episode as well as many others of the Faster Than Normal Podcast . Alrighty, we have a fun guest today. Roni Weiss is the Executive Director of Travel Unity, a 501c nonprofit focus on increasing diversity in the world of travel through individual and community empowerment. I love that. I love when diversity is increased in any capacity, but travel is something you really don't think about. And when I booked you, Roni when I, when I got in touch with you and realized, Hey, I should get you on the podcast on my next flight, I looked around. And I was sitting in business class and was pretty much surrounded by white, middle-aged guys like myself. And that was interesting. That was the first time, I'll admit, that was the first time in my 20 something years of travel I actually looked and noticed. So you've, you've, if nothing else you opened my mind, at the age of 10, Ronnie began. At the age of 10, mind you; hear me, 10. Roni began attending Edmunds Community College, received Associates of Arts and Science with honors at the age of 12. Then he graduated from Linwood High School, laid a little backwards there at 15, and then went to the University of Washington, receiving a double Bachelor of Arts degree in job in English at the age of 18. So it's shame that he's really such a non-starter, really done nothing. He's, he's only visited 70 countries, including every country in Europe, six of the seven continents, and he's taught English in Italy, France, Taiwan, and Chile; both to youth and professionals. In 2011, he found an RW Social and marketing consulting company for the travel industry. From 2011 to 16, he worked with Africa Travel Association, now Africa Tourism Association. I think we have a very, very close mutual friend in that. And then we as in the assists with and speaks at a t a events in New York to see local African countries. In thousand 13, he launched the New York Travel Festival and event Folks in Innovation, sustainability in the world of travel, which served the genesis for travel unity, where he now serves as executive director and he lives in Westchester. He has a wife and four children, so pretty awesome. Roni, welcome. [00:04:33] Roni: Thank you. Thanks Peter. It's good to chat with you.  [00:04:35] Peter: So how the hell do you go to college at 12 and then high school at 15, then college get. 15. What the hell, dude?  [00:04:41] Roni: So I was in the challenge program, the, the gifted program in elementary school. So they, they bussed us to another place and it wasn't clear where I would go to middle school. So we looked into different options. We, we vi my mom and I visited the principal at the local middle school and my mom is immensely obsessed with education. She still is getting master's degrees and such in her. Now in her 60's. So when we went there, the principal said that middle school's about socialization, not education and she didn't like hearing that. So meanwhile, I was in sixth grade with, with a guy who said he was taking community college classes and I said, You know, I, I, I, I think I'm smarter than him, so why don't I just do that? So my parents being the sort of pushy Jews that they are went and talked to the the people who were running the community college were like, what would it take to, to get our kid in? And they're like, well, he needs to prove he can do it. So take this assessment test and I did, and at first I needed to get the approval of every teacher whose class I was in. And yeah, I started the summer after sixth grade. At the age of 10. I got really involved in the electronic music department there and for my mom, her focus was, Hey, move on to to university after this. But meanwhile, I had grown up on Saved by the Bell and everybody said like, you shouldn't miss high school. It's the best experience of your life. So I'm like, okay, why don't I go and do that? So after three years of community college, including getting associates, I went to high school and it wasn't the best experience in my life, but what it did serve as was kind of a buffer because university was one of, if not the best experience of my life, being there from 15 to 18 was perfect for me. So, you know, people treated me like their younger brother and, you know, I, I got live in the dorms and that was, that was amazing. So had I gone to university starting at 13, I wouldn't have had that experience that I got to have. [00:06:45] Peter: That's very cool. Now tell us about, so diversity came early for you in life, and what made. I mean, you were working in the travel industry already, and so was it just a natural switch to say, There's no diversity here. I mean, you, so you think travel and you think travel is a worldwide thing, and I don't think anything constitutes diversity more than like worldwide. [00:07:08] Roni: Yeah. I, I, the thing was, as you mentioned, I, I started that event New York travel festival and we were already trying to talk about things that I didn't see being discussed as much except in certain circles. So sustainability, you know, in theory is something everybody should care about, especially if you look at it at, its kind of root of what does it mean to sustain something. It means to keep it, every business should wanna keep itself going. So sustainability and storytelling and innovative ideas in tech, I wasn't seeing it necessarily as, as mainstream. So in 2015 we had a session at the festival called Traveling While Black, and it was all black women and it was at the New York Times building and moderated by Monica Drake, who's a black woman editor at the Times. And it was clear that this wasn't being discussed. And like you, when you mentioned the business class thing, I started being aware.. And it's interesting cause people like; how has this changed in recent years? And I think representation, not necessarily in the traveling public, but marketing has changed and that's kind of a problem. But years ago I would see a financial services ad, and it would be a mixed race couple with a, a banker in a wheelchair, and then the next Ad you'd see would be a destination or a property or whatever, where everybody who was traveling was white and everybody who was serving them was a person of color. And I, I, on that side I just became aware and from the work with Africa Travel Association, from talking to black colleagues who were who felt marginalized in the industry and in their own travels. And then on the other side, I'd been working with young people for many years. So the idea that I had been around all these folks through the event I was running through doing content creation, et cetera, that people get all this value for tra from travel and as we've already noted, not everybody has those opportunities. Right.  [00:09:02] Peter: That's very true. And so tell, talk about, you know, not to dive right in, but talk about diversity and travel. Talk about what you think can be changed, what has been changed, what needs to be changed, so,  [00:09:14] Roni: When it comes to the work we do, we we're doing two things in Travel Unity. One is getting individuals, especially young people, to see travel is something they can do no matter who they are in a career path. Because I, no offense to you or anybody who else who takes business class, but a lot of folks aren't gonna be able to afford that.  [00:09:32] Peter: Oh, I can't afford 'em, my clients afford it. I can't afford it to save my life, let's not.. Let's be honest.  [00:09:36] Roni: So, so, but, but my, my point there is that, that that's the vision a lot of people have of what travel is; of like, oh, I have to spend, you know, all this money and spend, go to this fancy hotel and, you know, all of that. Or that they have to get a job where They're a consultant and somebody else is paying for it. Right. However it is, there's this perception, but the reality is, you know, you, you and I both live in New York state and when I went up to Watkins Glen State falls a few hours upstate, I was personally offended. Cause like I'm like, this is an amazing spot that people would be Instagramming the hell out of it if they were overseas and they'd go out of their way and they'd be on the plane and they'd take their selfies on it, and then they'd go to that one thing and that would be the thing. But because it's in New York state, people don't necessarily seek it out as much, and that's part of the problem. And in the city, obviously in New York City, there's so much cultural experiences that you can have. When I was in Flushing Chinatown, after I had visited China, I'm like, I feel like I'm in China again. Yeah, so to be able to have these experiences of culture, nature, et cetera, you can do it without even taking a plane. And that's one of our big focuses that local and regional travel is as meaningful and you don't have to pay as much to do it. So that's on one side. On the other side we have our d e I standards for travel and tourism, which we developed with a lot of people back in 2020. And those are focused on the three different ways that a visitor facing organization. So any company, museum, destination, whatever it is that's trying to bring visitors in. What are the three different ways they deal with people? So management and workforce, the people who work there visitorship, the visitors, and then community impact. So what we're trying to do is make sure that voices are being heard, that things are being processed, and that's one of the biggest. Things that I've discovered over the past few years is that we have, you know, the culture wars and all these discussions around things, but a lot of this real core diversity, equity, and inclusion work. Yes, the identities and the communities are important for a variety of reasons, historical and present. But some of it is literally just if a visitor fills out. A complaint form or a, you know, a, a wonderful compliment. Are you doing anything with it? Right? Are you doing with a, doing anything with the information you're getting? And are you listening to all the different kinds of people who are giving you feedback and information? Because a lot of time that just gets lost in the mix, and then people don't feel like they're being heard. They don't feel like they belonged. And at the very least, it's neutral, if not negative. Whereas if you actually had processes in place, it could be positive.  [00:12:14] Peter: Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. I gotta ask the question based on this podcast, which it is, talk about neurodiversity. Are you, are you approaching that at all?  [00:12:22] Roni: So I, for you already mentioned the, the ADD stuff. It's where, one of the things that I usually mention at the the top of this, because the things about identities is they're not monoliths. Right? Exactly. Exactly. Having ADD, OR ADHD,, you might be able to draw broad strokes about the things that you always talk about, about the chemical side of things, and I'll tell you in terms of my own sort of trajectory, first. You know, I was diagnosed and I think based off of the education path, anybody who themselves is ADD, ADHD or knows people; could see how, huh, yeah, that probably sounds like who Roni is. At a certain point I felt like I had outgrown it, and what I realized was it was kind of the opposite. I had completely structured my whole life around never being bored, right? That I was always going somewhere new. I was always having constant stimulation. And now that I'm more settled than having, you know, more of a, a regularish kinda role, I'm more aware of how different I am than neurotypical people. And how I just, I literally cannot stand being bored. It physically pains me. And you know, I will be sitting there and there will be a session of some kind, a speaker, and if I can't take it, I'm gonna go nuts. Whereas other people, they can manage to get their way through. So the idea in and of itself that neurodiversity is a part of of this is when we're talking about diversity, we're talking about all the different aspects of identity community that makes some of these concerns, needs, et cetera, different. I think one of the unfortunate things sometimes, and I understand why it's the case, but is, is that there ends up being a fixation on, on race and ethnicity in this work. And the thing about that is it, it, it loses sight of things. If you were focused on getting more black or Hispanic or Asian or whatever it is, people into space, that's fine if that's your focus. But don't say you're doing diversity, equity, and inclusion broadly if you're not looking at the identities broadly because there are disabled black people , there are gay, bisexual, Hispanic people, et cetera. And I think that's one of the things that ends up being, being lost in all this, is that idea of intersecting identities. That if you're saying that somebody is just one thing, there are two problems with that. One is they're not, they're multiple things. And also it suggests that everybody's experiences within that identity are all the same. And that's not true either.  [00:14:50] Peter: Think one of the interesting things also is the fact that that which is not visible is often not talked about. Right. And, and you know, you hear this from people who have diseases that, that start off with a conversation of, well, you don't look sick. You know, and you have sort of the same thing in d e i in the respect that, you know, I, other than the fact that I probably need to lose 20 pounds, I look like a perfectly normal 50 year old. Right. I, I actually guess the fact that I need to lose 50 pounds makes me even more of a nor perfectly normal 50 year old. But, but you know, the, the fact that my, what you don't see is that my brain is racing a million miles an hour, and I've had to do 15 things this morning to keep it in check, right? And, and that, and because it's not visible, it's easy to overlook and it's easy to ignore. And I think that d e I needs to be, you know, needs to focus on.  [00:15:34] Roni: I think that, you know, this comes down to, to the empathy and the awareness thing. I, I'm a big fan of the concept of neutral ignorance. That there are just things you don't know because you haven't experienced them. And as you said, if you're not seeing them at all, then how are you going to, to be aware of them? Which is why it's so important for people to be listening to other people's stories and to, it's one of the first things that we have in our individual pledge, which is just the recognition that different people have different lives and have different experiences, and that's one of the biggest problems that I see overall, you know, if I, if I make this a little more political, is that on, on the sort of stereotypical left wing side, you have people who, who get kind of absorbed in their feelings of guilt, which makes it about them. If you go to the kind of stereotypical right wing side, it's like, well, I, you know, didn't grow up with money and whatever; it's like yeah, nobody's saying you didn't have problems growing up. The point is that different people have different things and you need to be aware of that, and it needs to come from empathy. It needs to be you seeing what it's like in other people's shoes and trying to make the results, the outcomes better for everybody as much as possible. And if you're fixating on yourself and your own experiences in any way, that's not about other people, and that's not what this work is either.  [00:16:52] Peter: Hundred percent. Hundred percent. Tell me how people can find you, because I think that this is,.. First of all, we're out of time, so I wanna have you back. That goes without saying. But tell me how people can find you. I mean, the, the, the premise of travel unity is something that's only gonna obviously grow. Right, and I'm, I'd be curious if we talk again or we will talk again to learn how it's being embraced by the travel world as a whole. But how can be able to find you for now?  [00:17:15] Roni: So, Travel Unity is at www.TravelUnity.org. You can email me, Roni at travel unity.org. You could find me on LinkedIn in, various places, but yeah, always happy to talk to folks. You know, it's an interesting sort of world that, that we're in with Travel Unity. As you said, it's already sort of growing, so the more folks we have who are interested in what we're doing, always happy to talk to them. [00:17:37] Peter: I love seeing d e i being included in all different categories. I think it's wonderful. Roni, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. Guys, check out what Roni Weiss is doing at Travel. Unity. I think you really like it. Thank you for listening as always. The new book, The Boy with the Faster Brain, is selling like hotcakes on Amazon. Still it hit number one in this category. It's still there, I think. I am speaking at schools, I'm speaking at colleges, I'm speaking at businesses. As always, if any of you would like to have me there, I will do it for books! So buy books, get me to speak. That works for college and for universities and schools. That doesn't necessarily work for businesses but we'll figure something out. Shoot me an email, peter @shankman.com. Either way thrilled that you guys are listening. Thank you so much for taking the time. We will see you next week. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Bye-bye. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.     Hey guys, Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal. I wanna talk for a second about the Skylight Calendar, the wonderful sponsors of this episode and one of the things that keeps myself and my daughter on track. Skylight sits on your wall and tells you what you have to do today; what chores your child has to do today. It's basically a family calendar all-in-one. You can color code. It is amazing for people with ADHD. I am truly in love with this thing. We look at it every single day. It tells us the weather. It tells us what's on our calendar. It tells us what chores are left to do. Oh, time to feed the dog! - Mark it off on the calendar. My daughter can check the box when she's done and the chore disappears. It is one of the best things we've ever had. You can get yours with a discount using code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to 30 bucks off. You're gonna love this Skylight calendar.  And you are gonna love.. I mean, truly it is amazing for people with ADHD or basically anyone who wants to keep track of their schedule. It sits on the wall, added bonus. You can throw your own photos onto it as a screen saver- on your wall! So now your wall has pictures. That's cool. Check it out. I'll put the link in the show notes. https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to 30 bucks off. In her own words: Hello, I'm Kelsey! I am in my early 30's, originally from Michigan, and got diagnosed with ADHD when I was 26.  I graduated with a degree in Psychology and Public Relations, and have worked in several different roles in sales, customer service, operations, and marketing in the computer software industry within the last decade.  Shortly after being diagnosed, I sold my house, furniture, and all my belongings to pursue a nomadic lifestyle.  From the years of 2017-2020 I participated in an organization called WWOF, where I worked on several different organic farms across the US in exchange for room and board.  During this time, I worked remotely, tried stand up comedy, adventured, and brainstormed on how I could make money on my own terms.  In 2020, I moved to Nashville and in 2023 relocated back to Michigan.  I have a passion for fitness, international traveling, learning, and meeting other neurodivergent people. Today we learn why Kelsey Sterkenburg decided to try out the nomadic lifestyle and if it is perhaps a choice for you also, enjoy! 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 02:06 - Welcome and introducing Kelsey Sterkenburg 03:00 - What made you decide to go Nomad; the ADHD diagnosis? 04:20 - On WWOOF-ing ref: https://wwoof.net/destinations/ 05:00 - On actually making the commitment and doing it. Yeah…how did you do that? 06:20 - On leveraging the prep-work and risk taking 07:00 - On settling-in and how she got into WWOOF-ing 08:27 - Did you ADHD play a big/small role in your being able to learn something new, and in a hurry? 09:45 - What was in a typical day that got you to that euphoric high? 10:00 - A day in the life on the farm 11:05 - On re-claiming perspective and finding a passionate work ethic once again 13:38 - Would you recommend this lifestyle for other people with ADHD; maybe to change things up even? If so then why? 16:30 - What are you doing now? 17:26 - How do people find out more about you? Socials we could find: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelseysterkenburg/ Another big shout out to Skylight calendar! 18:00 - We are thrilled that you are here!  ADHD and all forms of neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. So check it out. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 18:41 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. mostly somewhat:  [00:00:40] Peter: Hey everyone, what's up? My name is Peter Shankman. I'm the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, and I wanna give a big shout out to Skylight for sponsoring this episode again, Skylight Calendar, guys, I told you about this thing before. I love it. It sits in my kitchen wall and tells my daughter exactly what she has to do. It tells her what she has to bring to school. It tells her what she can leave home. It tells her what chores have to be done. I don't have to yell at her anymore. She doesn't complain. We can throw photos on there of family, of friends, of my parents, of her, of of her mom's parents, everyone. She sees everything. She can touch screen it when she's done. She loves going over feeding the dog and then touch screening to say that she's fed the dog and the chore disappears. They're color coded, which is great for people like me who have ADHD and people like you. Check out Skylight. It is a phenomenal, phenomenal calendar. It'll make your life so much easier and simpler,. You'll have so much less to complain about. Skylightframe.com . Use code Peter Shankman and get up to 30 bucks off your first offer. And I wanna thank them again for sponsoring the podcast. The Skylight calendar is incredible. Skylight frame.com. Check it out. https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman    [00:00:40] Peter: Hey guys. Peter Shankman. Welcome to that episode of Faster Than Normal. I am your host as I have been going on, I don't know, six years or something ridiculous like that. It is lovely to have you here. We are having a good time. We're gonna have a good time today. We're gonna talk to a wonderful young woman named Kelsey, but before we do, I wanna give a big shout out to Skylight Calendar. Makes the skylight frame. They now have the skylight calendar, which let me tell you, has changed my life with my daughter. She doesn't argue with me over what chores to do anymore because they're literally on a digital calendar on our wall, in our kitchen table area place. Basically, she goes in, she pours her Honeynut Cheerios. She looks up at the calendar and says, oh, okay, today I have chorus and have to bring my coral music and I have to feed the dog and I have to do all this stuff. And as she does it, she clicks the checkbox on the touchscreen and she checks it off. She loves doing that. It's color coded for people like me who have ADHD. It is the easiest thing in the world. You can upload all your photos to it as well. So when you're not using the calendar, it shows cool photos. Remind you of places you've been in, things you've done. You can get up to 30 bucks off with the code: PeterShankman at skylightframe.com. Huge, huge fan of this calendar. It has made my life a lot easier, and we want to thank them for hosting or for, for sponsoring the hosting of this podcast. As always, it is wonderful to have such wonderful, wonderful, fascinating, and brilliant sponsors such as Skylight Frame. Check out the frame, check up the calendar. You're really, really gonna like it. Use code Peter Shankman. For 30 bucks up to 30 bucks off and lemme know what you think. So with that said,  [00:02:06] Peter: I wanna welcome Kelsey. Kelsey, I'm gonna screw up your last name again. Sterkenburg. Is that right? Yes. Yep. All right. Got it. Kelsey is in her early thirties, she's originally from Michigan. She got diagnosed with ADHD when she was 26. She graduated from the, with a degree in psychology and public relations, and worked in several she worked in several different roles in sales, customer service, operations, and marketing, blah, blah, blah. But after she got diagnosed, she decided to sell her house and furniture and all her belongings and pursuing nomadic lifestyle from the years of 17, 2017, 2020. She participated in an organization called WWOF, or. Which I like, where she worked on several different organic farms across the United States in exchange room and board. During this time, she worked remotely. She tried standup comedy. She adventured, she brainstormed how she could make money on her own terms. In 2020, she moved to Nashville and 2023 back to Michigan. She loves fitness, international traveling, learning, and meeting other neurodivergent people. Kelsey, welcome to Faster Than Normal.  [00:02:59] Kelsey: Thank you so much. Thanks for having.  [00:03:01] Peter: My pleasure. So you have an interesting life when you decided, Hey, I'm ad, was it because you decided, because you had ADHD that you decided you were gonna go nomad or was there something else involved? [00:03:11] Kelsey: You know, it was, um, it was mostly the ADHD. It was just this kind of light bulb came outta my head and it made sense at the time of my life. Um, I was a little bored with how I was living. I, I was trying to kind of fit in and mask do what everyone else was doing around me. Um, kind of just live the Midwest life and it felt very hard for me. Um, I felt very stable. I felt very safe, but I didn't feel like I was doing what I really wanted to do. Um, and it's hard, you know, when you first get diagnosed it makes so much sense. It's just you finally have, you can see color. Yeah. After living in black and white for so long. So for me, I just thought, I wanna travel, I wanna go see things, I wanna go do things. And of course I, you know, I knew I had to work and I knew I had to have everything, kind of my ducks in a row. But I did feel confident in myself for the first time in my life. I felt like I can do this! You know, I wanna go move somewhere different, somewhere new, and I've always been pretty adaptable. So I kind of just looked online and I, um, I had heard a lot of people talk about, um, woofing is what it's called. And it actually is, um, an organization that allows you to, um, like you mentioned, live on organic farms and, um, move around the country and, um, you're not necessarily making money, but you're not losing money. So I saw that as an opportunity to grow and discover my love for working again. I had gotten a little bit stagnant in that department. Um, I had kind of lost that passion because I was doing things I didn't truly have a passion for. Um, so I just decided to go for it.  [00:04:52] Peter: Lemme interrupt you up for a second. Let's talk about that. Cuz the concept of sort of selling all your crap and just going out, working on an organic farm or doing anything like that. You know, a lot of people talk about it, oh, we should do this or do that, but it's scary as hell to actually make. Sleep and do it is scary as hell. So how did you swallow that fear and turn that into action? Because fear usually negates action when you're nervous, you usually, you, you're paralyzed by fear, yet you just, some somehow swallowed your fear and did it. What was it that made you do that?  [00:05:19] Kelsey: I did. You know, I put together, I've always been, I've found that when I'm very motivated towards a goal, I know it's gonna happen and I know I'm going to get there and it, it, I may seem crazy to the outside world, but to me, It makes sense and it's just, I'm laser focused, right? My hyper-focus was on, so I knew I wanted to sell my house. Um, I just knew that wasn't for me.  [00:05:42] Peter: So you owned the house in that point?  [00:05:44] Kelsey: I did, yeah. Wow. I did and I tried everything. I tried to really just create a lot of stability where I was and. Like I said, follow the norm and do what everyone else was doing. And I had done every single, I felt like I was checking off, you know, things on a list, and it felt really, um, I just felt kind of uncomfortable with it, which is strange because usually at that point in life, you, uh, feel steady and you feel comfortable. But for me, I wanted to be outside my comfort zone a little bit. So I felt like I had a little bit of a nest egg once the, the house went through. Um, and I thought to myself, I'm smart, I'm capable. I can do this, you know, and as long as I'm frugal and, um, I'm careful, I think that it will all work out because I had been playing it safe for so long at that point that. I wanted to take a risk. I wanted to go. So it was, uh, a little bit of a leap of faith, but I also had that confidence. I just knew that I was gonna be okay and I was excited. So I kind of let that draw me into, um, making that decision. Um, but I went and, um, I was excited and, um, I ended up just kind of being thrown into. Um, I went to California actually first in San Diego and, um, found a place to live pretty quickly. Um, and, you know, started the job hunts. And while I was doing that, I started to look at, um, WWOOFing because I had actually. Um, met one, I met a friend that was doing, um, woofing in Arizona and he actually, um, kind of introduced me to it. I had never heard of it before. I always, uh, you know, I just assumed that was something that, you know, maybe rich kids would do, but it was really for anyone. Um, and I thought to myself, I don't really wanna stay only in San Diego. Um, I had stayed there for a little bit. I wanted to see more. I wanted to do more. So I thought, what can I do that will allow me to. See more of this country and move around a little bit, but not, um, you know, not have to start over each time with housing and that kind of thing. So I saw, um, woofing as an opportunity to be out in nature. Um, Learned to work hard. I worked on farms, I worked with animals. Um, I helped rebuild fences. Um, and just really worked with some really interesting people. Um, and you're, you know, you're meeting people from all walks of life at the same time because there's other volunteers, um, at each site that you choose. [00:08:26] Peter: Tell me about your adhd. How do you think your ADHD played into you're being able to be on a farm and do something incre entirely new. Right. And, and, and, and learn something basically on the fly with your feet in the fire.  [00:08:37] Kelsey: Yeah. Um, I think, um, like most ADHD people, I think, um, we're very spontaneous. We're very excited to learn. Um, when we're interested in a subject, it's, you know, there that hyper focus comes on. Um, so for me, I had always been. Um, aware of just my adventurous spirit, you know, being spontaneous and, um, interested in a lot of different things. So I, I feel the most sharp when I'm moving. When I'm, um, talking fast. I'm moving fast. I'm meeting other people. I'm, you know, there's novelty around me, so, Um, those things excite me. And, um, I think that because I had kind of been bogged down by, you know, sitting in a chair for eight hours a day and trying to, you know, living that monotonous life for a while that I was, I just, it was polar opposite of that. It was just so much dopamine. Um, and I wasn't medicated either, so it was just this, um, I guess you could call it like a euphoric high.  [00:09:44] Peter: Tell us about it. But I was, what, what was the typical day that got you to that euphoric high?  [00:09:48] Kelsey: Um, what was it that got me there?  [00:09:51] Peter: No, tell us, tell us about a typical day there. Cause you said it was euphoric high, so what were you doing? What was a typical day like for you?  [00:09:57] Kelsey: Absolutely. So what I would do is I would, um, wake up and, um, you could actually pick what kind of work you wanted to do. So, um, wake up, they actually, they feed you. They give you kind of room and board. It's, it's very nomadic, like I said. So it's, um, you know, it's not for prim and proper. It's, you know, you're, you're dirty and you're not. It's not a hotel, but you're living, well, you're living on someone's property and you're, you're helping, you're giving back to a really good cause and, um, and you're treated very well. So I would wake up, um, have breakfast and um, you know, you kind of just, Get started, you've just kind of developed this routine and you're told, okay, you know, you're in charge of the horses today or you know, the donkeys or you know, go out in the field and start um, you know, doing kind of the farm chores. And they of course had walked me through how to do that every single day. And, um, I specifically wanted to work with animals cause that is one of my biggest passions. So I would go out and kind of complete all the farm duties, and that would take a couple hours. Um, it wasn't easy, I will say, but it didn't feel What kinda, [00:11:02] Peter: when you say farm, when you say farm duties, what were you doing? [00:11:05] Kelsey: Yeah, I was, um, kind of like bailing the hay in, um, feeding all the animals and, um, I actually was milking the cows as well. Wow. Um, and doing a lot of different things just, um, to kind of keep all the operations up and running. This was a, I had worked on a couple different farms, um, up in the PNW area. Um, Northern California and um, also one in Montana as well in the, the Bozeman area. So each farm was different. So you do have to really just adjust to, um, the owners and their expectations, what they would like you to do. Um, but it was like a little bit of gardening as well. There was a little bit of, um, you know, learning how to manage a garden. Um, and also a lot of the food prep, you know, kind of taking in the eggs and the milk and kind of doing a little bit of food prep in the kitchen. So it kept me busy, as you can imagine. Sure, yeah. Um, a six hour shift would go by like a snap of the fingers. And I could not remember the last time I felt so, um, so busy and, um, productive and I felt like I was back in college again where I'm learning new things and you know, I'm interacting and I'm away from my phone for, you know, that period of time. And I'm just really, really happy. I feel like this is a good fit for me and this is what I need. Um, so I kind of felt like I had become a drone before that. Um, just kind of masking and blending in and trying to do what was expected of me. And then I finally chose to do something that I thought would help me grow. Um, that's a little bit unconventional, but it worked and it did really help me establish a hard work ethic again. Um, which in turn helped me kind of decide what I wanted to do next, um, with work. So, um, but it did definitely teach me that I prefer to work by myself. Um, I, I like to be independent. I like to, um, I prefer the more the self-employment route I guess you could say. So I kind of, uh, discovered my entrepreneurial spirit during that time and, um, learned a lot though. And I did that for, um, about a year and, um, did a little bit of traveling in between there.  [00:13:25] Peter: That's very, very cool.  [00:13:26] Kelsey: Tell us as well, so very risky.  [00:13:31] Peter: Tell us, uh, I guess this is my, my only my, my last question to you, because this is fascinating to me. What. You re would you recommend this lifestyle for a year or two years or three years for other people with h adhd? Because it seems to be for people who are stuck and, and in this sort of A D H D, um, uh, spinning their wheels type mentality, which we've all been in from time to time. And there are some people who are just looking for, okay, maybe this is a way to break everything and, and change everything up. Would you recommend it?  [00:13:59] Kelsey: I would, and I'll tell you why, and I know a lot of people can relate to this. I had a lot of people trying to stop me from doing this. They said, you know, you're gonna fall on your face. You're not gonna make it. Um, you don't have enough money, you don't have enough experience with life. You know, all these things. And um, and I had always found that the more people told me not to do something, the more motivated I was to do it. Um, and so I stopped kind of sharing. I stopped oversharing and I started to really just quiet the noise around me, um, and stopped comparing myself to, you know, other people. Um, and that's hard to do in your twenties, as you can imagine. It gets easier as the years go by, but, um, I thought to myself, you know, this is smart. This is a way that I'm not really losing any money. I'm not really. Um, the biggest, you know, fear I guess is just a couple months off of a real corporate job, you know, but at the same time, with everything we have in our remote world today, digital marketing, you know, you can start your own business online. There's a, there's a ton of ways to be creative and make money, and I thought.. I don't think this is gonna be hurting me. I think this will help me grow. This will reshape my perspective of life. Um, kind of bring back that childhood spirit, you know, that childhood energy and, um, get me excited about life again. And not learning the same thing in an office day after day. Um, I just, I also really wanted to rediscover my work ethic. I wanted to feel like I was really, really earning my time and my money. Um, and, you know, feel fulfilled at the end of the day. And I did. I feel like it really helped me reset, um, and put me back on the path that I was meant to be on. So it changed my life, it really did. And I know I, um, I know others have had much, you know, greater experiences with moving to different countries or traveling. but.. it definitely gave me that travel bug and that, um, thirst for life. And, um, I recognized that there were other neurodivergent people that were in that environment and I didn't feel alone and I felt, wow, there are other people like me that have struggled and just had to do something that was a little bit crazy to uh, maybe find themselves and discover where they're meant to be. Um, so I  [00:16:29] Peter: What are you doing now?  [00:16:30] Kelsey: Um, so now I am, um, kind of, I'm also still working remotely in a, a software, um, company that does analytics for, um, LMS systems. So we're kind of tracking the performance analytics for instructional designers that are creating different courses over different LMS systems. So I'm kind of working as more of a, I guess you could call me a jack of all trades, a customer success kind of manager slash business sales representative slash operations manager. So I'm, I'm in a role right now that is a really good fit. Um, it really does let me wear all the hats I like to wear. Um, and it also lets me thrive because I'm, um, working independently and, um, I don't really have anyone overseeing anything I'm doing. It's just, I'm just kind of given the reins to run with it.  [00:17:25] Peter: That's awesome. So, very cool. Kelsey, how can people find you if they wanna learn more? They, I have a feeling this might change in lives. How can people find you?  [00:17:32] Kelsey: Yeah, they can actually, um, find me on, um, LinkedIn. Um, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn, just Kelsey Sterkenberg um, or they could find me on. I have Instagram, I have Facebook, um, all those tools and my name is pretty, um, un uncommon. Yeah, true. So I think, uh, it won't be too hard to track me down, but yeah, and I'd be happy to, you know, provide my contact information if needed. [00:17:58] Peter: Very cool guys. Kelsey, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. Kelsey. This is a really interesting interview. I found myself really fascinated by this. Thank you so much, Peter. Awesome guys. Listen to Faster Than Normal. We want to hear what you want to hear. Let us know what you think. Don't forget, uh, the Boy with a Faster Brain is still number one. It's burning up the charts. Grab your copy, buy a copy and donate it to a library. They're shutting down libraries in this country. Man. This is. Keep libraries alive, buy a copy and donate it to a library. And if you do that, shoot me an email, let me know you did and I'll send you something fun. But either way, keep listening. We'll have another episode next week. ADHD is a gift, not a curse, as is all neurodiversity. We love that you guys are here and we're greatly thankful that you tune in every week. Stay safe, stay well. We'll talk to you soon. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!   

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. Hey guys, Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal. I wanna talk for a second about the Skylight Calendar, the wonderful sponsors of this episode and one of the things that keeps myself and my daughter on track. Skylight sits on your wall and tells you what you have to do today; what chores your child has to do today. It's basically a family calendar all-in-one. You can color code. It is amazing for people with ADHD. I am truly in love with this thing. We look at it every single day. It tells us the weather. It tells us what's on our calendar. It tells us what chores are left to do. Oh, time to feed the dog! - Mark it off on the calendar. My daughter can check the box when she's done and the chore disappears. It is one of the best things we've ever had. You can get yours with a discount using code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to 30 bucks off. You're gonna love this Skylight calendar.  And you are gonna love.. I mean, truly it is amazing for people with ADHD or basically anyone who wants to keep track of their schedule. It sits on the wall, added bonus. You can throw your own photos onto it as a screen saver- on your wall! So now your wall has pictures. That's cool. Check it out. I'll put the link in the show notes. https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman for 10% off, up to 30 bucks off. -- Entrepreneur, social media expert, influencer and now CEO of the hottest events in NYC, Liv Schreiber has a vision for changing how New Yorkers meet and build relationships and social communities. In the past, it was intros from friends, families, gym workout buddies or boring dating apps. Today, New Yorkers are growingly turning to the 26 year old Schreiber who's “Hot and Social” events are selling out in 36 seconds. Hot and Social has developed an event strategy where the attendees not only have an opportunity to meet and speak with their peers but an invitation to become friends in a world that many times seems so uninviting and cold. The events have continued to gain traction, and the waitlist for Liv comes from a family of entrepreneurs which you frequently will see in her content. The tagline of her company is "99% of the attendees show up alone, 100% leave as friends". This unique concept has led to some of the largest restaurant and club companies in NYC to reach out with the hope of securing a Hot and Social event for some of the most well known venues in the City. Schreiber is overwhelmed with the support and can't wait to bring her concept to other cities.  Schreiber has already worked with brands such as Anheuser-Busch, Moxy, REVOLVE and Rumble. Her TikTok and Instagram accounts have been blowing up- giving Schreiber the ability to package her social, with Hot and Social's accounts and event sponsorship. The Digital Renegades CEO Evan Morgenstein sees Schreiber as a perfect new client, "Myself, coming from Rockland County and having my family in the event promotion business most of my childhood, I see Liv as a refreshing new take on bringing people, brands and unique experiences together. Liv is so smart, she lives this lifestyle- so it's authentic and she has her finger on the pulse of the 22-35 year old market in NYC and beyond. We are going to make this an international brand and I can't wait!" 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:44 - Welcome and introducing Liv Schreiber! 02:17 - On the importance of not feeling alone in a classroom setting. 03:34 - We don't need a lot of friends, but we need a few good ones. Would you agree with that? 04:20 - Tell me what your story is, how you came up with this idea. What's your background? 05:00 - Ref: Brand Caffeine 06:24 - What pushed you to decide to do something for friendship; as opposed to like dating, relationships, or the usual fare? 08:40 - Tell us about the people who go to & enjoy these events? To me it sounds like a root canal? 09:43 - What do people talk about? 11:00 - Why do you think we as adults sort of forget how to make friends? 12:26 - How do people find out more about you Liv? Web:  https://www.livschreiber.com Socials: @livschreiber on INSTA and TikTok  Then.. @hotandsocial on INSTA and Liv's Styling account is @styledbylivschreiber in INSTA & TikTok 12:25 - Can more friendships benefit everyone with ADD or ADHD and Neurodiverse? 13:07 - Thank you for your work here Peter!  13:18 - Thank you Liv! 13:20 - Another big shout out to Skylight calendar! 13:24 - We are thrilled that you are here!  ADHD and all forms of neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. So check it out. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you're looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman 14:06 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. mostly somewhat:  [00:00:40] Peter: Hey everyone, what's up? My name is Peter Shankman. I'm the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, and I wanna give a big shout out to Skylight for sponsoring this episode again, Skylight Calendar, guys, I told you about this thing before. I love it. It sits in my kitchen wall and tells my daughter exactly what she has to do. It tells her what she has to bring to school. It tells her what she can leave home. It tells her what chores have to be done. I don't have to yell at her anymore. She doesn't complain. We can throw photos on there of family, of friends, of my parents, of her, of of her mom's parents, everyone. She sees everything. She can touch screen it when she's done. She loves going over feeding the dog and then touch screening to say that she's fed the dog and the chore disappears. They're color coded, which is great for people like me who have ADHD and people like you. Check out Skylight. It is a phenomenal, phenomenal calendar. It'll make your life so much easier and simpler,. You'll have so much less to complain about. Skylightframe.com . Use code Peter Shankman and get up to 30 bucks off your first offer. And I wanna thank them again for sponsoring the podcast. The Skylight calendar is incredible. Skylight frame.com. Check it out. https://www.skylightframe.com Discount Code:  PeterShankman      Okay guys, another episode of Faster Than Normal! I am thrilled that you're here! About two or three months ago. I had coffee with the one we're about to talk today. Her name is Liv Schreiber and Liv calls herself, the one who's making friendship cool again, and it's really interesting. She runs a very cool company where she basically throws parties to let people make friends, and we're talking about that, but we're also talking a bigger picture about friendships. So Liv, welcome to Faster Than Normal- so good to have you! [00:02:11] Liv: Hey Peter, you're the best. So good to finally get to be talking to you here. This is awesome!  [00:02:17] Peter: Now I'm glad to have you. I wanted to do this for a while. It's, um, you know, it's interesting, the, the, I was, I was talking last week to a elementary school. I was reading them the new book, the Boy with the Faster Brain, and everyone was, you know, it was funny to watch the kids, right? Because 30 kids in the classroom and they bun Bud buddy up with their friends to walk to the auditorium where we were doing the speech that's, I was following them, you know, talking to the teacher and I look over and all the kids have somehow buddied up with another kid and they're all holding hands and there's one who, I guess, I guess someone was absent and didn't have anyone to hold hands with and he's just sort of like walking behind everyone. And he looked a little sad. My daughter was with me cuz she had the week off from school and she walked up, she grabbed the kid's hand. Right. And my daughter's nine. This kid I think was like five or six or whatever. And, and you immediately saw the change in the kid. The kid was like, he went from like, we have no one to talk to. Like, oh, someone's holding my hand. Yeah. And he was all happy and everything. Uhhuh. It really is amazing. We don't, you know, we joke, I joke a lot that I hate people. Right. I don't think we talk enough about how valued and how important friendships are, not relationships, not dating, not marriage like crap, but the concept of friendships, right? We don't need a lot of friends, but we need a few good ones. Would you agree with that?  [00:03:29] Liv: Absolutely. And when you think about it this way, like you're, you know, that kid grows up and he moves to New York City and he doesn't know anyone and he is starting a new job and he doesn't have anyone to talk to. Like, that's debilitating and, and just one person can make a huge difference in his life. So, you know, I was that kid. I moved to New York and I knew no one, and I was jealous of people in the street who had plans. And Peter, I'm not weird, you know. I have friends, but for some reason in your twenties and your thirties, it's so hard to make those adult friendships that really can make a huge difference. So, um, I noticed that and just kind of got sick of having this, this issue and figured other people might as well.  [00:04:12] Peter: Tell me for, okay, so let's go back. Tell me what you do. Tell me your story. Um, you're not, you have never been diagnosed ADHD but you're pretty sure you have it. I met you, I knew in about three seconds you did. Tell me what your story is, how you came up with this idea. What's your background? Tell us the whole thing.  [00:04:26] Liv: Yeah, absolutely.  [00:04:27] Peter: As far as my audience is gonna know, looking at your photo, they just say, oh, she's six foot. Of course she goes to all the clubs. Of course she has tons of friends. I'm right. [00:04:34] Liv: I'm actually five four. I'm not six foot.  [00:04:36] Peter: You come across very tall in your photos. Tell us the biggest story about you. [00:04:39] Liv: So I'm uh, from New Jersey. I have a twin brother. Grew up with a family of entrepreneurs. Every single hu human in my family line has been an entrepreneur. My dad has major ADD, um, and I've always just had a million different things that I love to do. My brain is non- stop. It's exhausting being inside of it. Um, I have a really hard time focusing on just one thing. Um, I have little quirks and, and things that I actually read about in your book that I thought were just me things, that happen to be, um, ADD things. So I've kind of harnessed it as my superpower and the things that I really love. I've been able to turn into businesses that make money. So the first is brand caffeine. Uh, my twin brother and I own a digital marketing agency and we launch content strategy, paid ads for brands and personal brands. Um, so we're responsible for making people blow up on social media and their sales. Um, but in terms of my personal, I, on Liv Schreiber have, um, a following on Instagram and TikTok, both of which, um, on my explorer pages think I have ADD as well. So I'm constantly getting fed, you know, signs. You have ADD every day. Um, and then, you know, I started Hot and social about a year ago. Where people come to meet new people. It's not weird. They're not weird people. It's all super cool and um, the premise is everyone comes solo and leaves as friends. So it's really, really special and very fulfilling.  [00:06:12] Peter: I like that. What brought you to create something where people, you know what, most people have created a dating app. Create a relationship app. I remember, I remember going to the hell back in like early two thousands, going to the hell that was the J-Date, matzo balls every Christmas and, and, and leaving and thinking that there was no hope for humanity and I wasn't really wrong. But, um, tell me what, what, uh, pushed you to decide to do something for friendship as opposed to like dating relationships, which is usually where everyone else goes. [00:06:39] Liv: Yeah. Number one, I'm not like a, a very sexual influencer showing my boobs on Instagram. So it, it just wouldn't, as a Lisa Lit, our shared friend would say, no fit my brand aesthetic. Um, That's number one. Um, it started out as hot and single because my twin brother was single. And I go around and I interview people who are hot and single, but that's just not the root of who I am. So in honor of that authenticity, um, switched it over, rebranded to hot and social. And the point is, is that when you come in just looking for friends or just looking to meet one other people, you're always pleasantly surprised and leave with more, especially if you do happen to meet a romantic connection. It's not something that you went in looking for. And I think that's the problem with a lot of dating apps is people are going in with this expectation and being let down every time.  [00:07:32] Peter: Yeah, it makes sense. I mean I think that that, you know, especially cuz dating apps need people to get let down in order for them to continue to make money. Exactly. Right. If everyone on dating apps found everyone immediately, they're, they're, you know, dating apps anymore.  [00:07:43] Liv: Right. And the great thing is there is a cap in, I guess some societies on romantic partners, but there's no cap on friendship. You can come and come back and come back again and still, you know, be excited by new people that you're meeting.  [00:07:58] Peter: It's very possible. Um, tell us about the people who go to these events, because I imagine that if you're going to an event to make friends, right, there's two types of people who go to the, to an event to make friends type of people who, you know, I don't think people imagine like, oh, this is actually gonna be fun. I'm looking forward to this. You know, for, for a lot of people, d, ADHD, going into a room full of people where the expectation is you have to talk to all these people. You've never met. Right. And you have to, uh, make small talk for an hour, two hours, three hours is the equivalent of going to a dentist.  [00:08:33] Liv: No, no, no.  [00:08:35] Peter: I'm not saying, I'm not saying that's what you do, but for a lot of people with adhd, I mean, I don't necessarily know if going to a, going to a room, Hey, you're gonna go to this room and you're gonna, there's a hundred people there and you're gonna talk to 50 of them, and good luck. You know, that, that, that, I don't know. Root canals, I, I sort of broke up my mind. So tell us why this is different and tell us how people sort of survive this and enjoy it?  [00:08:54] Liv: Okay. I love that. That's really funny. Um, so the number one thing is everyone's on the same page, so you're picturing yourself as going somewhere alone, where other people may know each other. This is. Peter. This is like freshman year of college. Everyone's on the same playing field. No one knows each other at the events. I show up solo. So it's really exciting because if you're someone that's looking to challenge themselves or just try something new or get out of the typical bar scene, it's really awesome because the energy is actually like ADD puppy. It's so friendly, so warm, so welcoming, so much great energy because you can literally turn to anyone there and know that they want to talk to you. I know that you wanna talk to them. Um,  [00:09:43] Peter: what do people talk about?  [00:09:44] Liv: Talk about everything. Where are you from? Where in the city are you? And we always have an activity, so it's not just like gathering people in a room with drinks. I barely drink, so it, that just wouldn't make sense. What we do is we do fun things. So, um, we're having pickleball tournaments. We had one on Friday, we have another one this coming Friday. So you know, everyone like does some rose and rally. We're drinking rose, and then we're going to rally. And learn how to play on the courts. We have comedy shows coming up, so it's like there's always an experience and something to talk about or look forward to or bond over. Um, and I think that's what makes us different.  [00:10:19] Peter: There's obviously a need for these things, right? Why is it so hard to make friends and not so much just, you know, oh, in New York, I think it's hard for adults to make friends, period. Because we're, as kids, it's sort of expected of us, right? I remember I have this great photo of my daughter, um, when she's like two years old and she's with a bunch of her friends on the playground and we, someone said, okay, it's time to go, everyone, get your buddy. And they just walked over and they immediately held hands and there was no, uh, issue with that because that's what they're trained to do, right? So we trained them to do that. But at some point as we mature the concept of go find your buddy disappears, right? And people either go out on their own or they have their own social circle and they don't wanna move out of. Why do you think that is? Why do you think we, for lack of a better word, forget how to make friends? [00:11:10] Liv: I think we get so absorbed by our own selves and, and by our own lives that we kind of forget that the world is going on around us. Like I, I think work comes into play and finding a partner comes into play and friendship kind of gets pushed to the side. Um, and it's sad because people kind of start, stop growing, right? Like, you know, every year in college we're forced to learn something new. But you become an adult and you kind of forget that that life is like a classroom too, and you have to constantly be pushing yourself and learning new things and meeting new people. So, you know, I, I don't think it's anything to shame ourselves about. I think it's just about remembering, oh, this thing's still going on, and, and there's so many people that are super cool that are out there that we don't even know exist yet.  [00:12:02] Peter: It's very, very possible. I think that, that we get into these ruts, we get into sort of these moments where it's like, okay, I'm good. I have enough. Right? I don't need more. I don't want go through because it's hard to make friends, right? No one ever said it was easy, and so if we don't, if we have what we have and we're comfortable and we're in our comfort zone, we don't necessarily have to do more because that's hard to do. The problem is nothing grows in your comfort zone, and so over time you need to do that. [00:12:23] Liv: No, I, I, exactly. I hear you. I agree with that. [00:12:26] Peter: Uh, Liv how can people find you? What? I know you have a phenomenal Instagram. I follow it. What, what? Tell people what it is. So how people can find you more.  [00:12:31] Liv: It's at Liv Schreiber. L i v s c h r e i b e r. Um, and Hot and Social is Hot and social. H o t and s o c i A L. Am I okay. I need to wake up. Um, But yeah, I'm super excited and I think also having ADD or undiagnosed ADD for everyone who's watching is actually such a benefit in friendships because you know, there's no one else who can text 20 of their friends at eight in the morning and check in on them and ask them how they're doing. Like I think having ADD actually is a huge, um, it, it, it's really a huge asset to my friendship. So, Peter, I'm really grateful that you've taught me that and reading your book and hearing, uh, you know, about all your tips and tricks on this podcast has really helped me. So thank you so much. Yeah. [00:13:18] Peter: I appreciate it. Thank you. It's great. It's great to have you and, and, and hopefully we can connect again and see each other in person again. I had a lot of fun over that coffee a couple months ago. It was fun.  Um, Guys, you've been listening to Fast Than Normal. We appreciate you. We love that you're here. If you haven't already checked out the new book, the Boy With the Faster Brain, it was on Today in New York yesterday on the Today Show. It is blowing up. It is. It is gaining a lot of traction, if you haven't, please leave us reading on Amazon. We love that. But either way, we will see you next week with a brand new episode. Thank you again to Skylight frames, skylight calendar, https://skylightframe.com. Check them out. To 30 bucks off with code PeterShankman. We will see you guys next week. Have a wonderful, wonderful week. Stay safe, stay healthy! ADHD and all Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. We'll see you soon.  — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. — Hey guys, Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal. I wanna talk for a second about the Skylight Calendar, the wonderful sponsors of this episode and one of the things that keeps myself and my daughter on track. Skylight sits on your wall and tells you what you have to do today; what chores your child has to do today. It's basically a family calendar all-in-one. You can color code. It is amazing for people with ADHD. I am truly in love with this thing. We look at it every single day. It tells us the weather. It tells us what's on our calendar. It tells us what chores are left to do. Oh, time to feed the dog! - Mark it off on the calendar. My daughter can check the box when she's done and the chore disappears. It is one of the best things we've ever had. You can get yours with a discount using code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to 30 bucks off. You're gonna love this Skylight calendar.  And you are gonna love.. I mean, truly it is amazing for people with ADHD or basically anyone who wants to keep track of their schedule. It sits on the wall, added bonus. You can throw your own photos onto it as a screen saver- on your wall! So now your wall has pictures. That's cool. Check it out. I'll put the link in the show notes. https://www.skylightframe.com code:  PeterShankman 00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:38 - Say hello to my daughter Jessa Shankman! 02:17 - How old are you and what grade are you in? 02:22: So when you think of the letters ADHD what do you think of? 02:43 - Do you get distracted sometimes? What do you do when you do- if you do, to re-center and focus? 03:30 - About daily routines 03:50 - What do you think about your Dad and ADHD? 05:00 - On getting distracted and realizing that you have become so. How do teachers help? 05:22 - What do you think kids can do to be more focused?  05:52 - When is a fidget spinner really helpful? 06:42 - Can a little water help you focus? If so why do you think that is? 07:15 - What would you tell a kid who realizes that they are being distracted, doesn't like school and doesn't know how to fix any of it?  08:09 - Ref: Amanda Steinbegr's interview sponsored by Bouncy Bands https://www.fasterthannormal.com/ftn-052-failing-doesnt-mean-youre-a-failure-with-guest-amanda-steinberg/ 08:24 - On the importance of being comfortable and being able to employ a comfortable posture 08:52 - Do you think that when you exercise it helps or hurts your focus? 09:10 - What about recess? 09:30 - Do you feel more focused if you've had a good night of sleep? 10:01 - Anything else you wanna tell kids who might have ADHD or might be distracted once in a while? 10:48 - Jessa and Peter's big shout outs to Skylight calendar! 11:18 -  The Boy with the Faster Brain is now out! https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI 11:40 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. [After this interview Peter's dog, Waffle submitted a request to share more 'screen time' in future interviews. You can check-in on him here:  @petersdogwaffle on INSTA  Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. mostly somewhat:  [00:00:40] Peter:  Hey guys, Peter Shankman, host of Faster Than Normal. I wanna talk for a second about the Skylight Calendar, the wonderful sponsors of this episode, and one of the things that keeps myself and my daughter on track. Skylight sits on your wall and tells you what you have to do today, what chores your child has to do today. It's basically a family calendar with all in one, you can color code. It is amazing for people with ADHD. I am truly in love with this thing. We look at it every single day. It tells us the weather. It tells us what's on our calendar. It tells us what chores are left to do. Oh, time to feed the dog, mark it off on the calendar. My daughter can check the box when she's done and the chore disappears. It is one of the best things we've ever had. You can get yours with a discount using code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to 30 bucks off. You're gonna love this Skylight calendar.  And you are gonna love. I mean, truly it. It is amazing for people with ADHD or basically anyone who wants to keep track of their schedule. It sits on the wall. Added bonus. You can throw your own photos onto it as a screen saver on your wall. So now your wall has pictures. That's cool. Check it out. I'll put the link in the show notes. https://www.skylightframe.com code:  PeterShankman [00:01:37] Peter: Hey guys, Peter Shankman, host of Faster Than Normal. I wanna talk for a second about the Skylight Calendar, the wonderful sponsors of this episode, and one of the things that keeps myself and my daughter on track. Skylight sits on your wall and tells you what you have to do today, what chores your child has to do today. It's basically a family calendar with all in one, you can color code. It is amazing for people with ADHD. I am truly in love with this thing. We look at it every single day. It tells us the weather. It tells us what's on our calendar. It tells us what chores are left to do. Oh, time to feed the dog, mark it off on the calendar. My daughter can check the box when she's done and the chore disappears. It is one of the best things we've ever had. You can get yours with a discount using code: PeterShankman .Check for the link in the show notes. And you are gonna love. I mean, truly it. It is amazing for people with ADHD or basically anyone who wants to keep track of their schedule. It sits on the wall. Added bonus. You can throw your own photos onto it as a screen saver on your wall. So now your wall has pictures. That's cool. Check it out. I'll put the link in the show notes.  Welcome to Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. I am sitting here today on a one-on-one interview with one of the most incredible people I've ever met, and I guess I kind of have to say that cuz we're talking to my daughter. We're talking to Jessa Shankman. Say, hi, Jessa.  [00:01:54] Jessa: Hi, my name is Jess Shankman and I am the daughter of Peter Shankman.  [00:01:57] Peter: We are gonna talk today about, we're gonna talk to my daughter about what it's like to have a Dad with ADHD. And we're sitting here, we're joined by Waffle the dog. And we'll take a picture and, and put it up as well of all three of us on all family on one couch. But we are talking today about what it's like for a Dad and for a Daughter when a Dad has ADHD and how a daughter deals with it. So, Jessa how old are you? [00:02:18] Jessa: Nine.  [00:02:19] Peter: Nine. What grade are you in? [00:02:21] Jessa: I'm in fourth grade. [00:02:22] Peter: Fourth grade. So when you think of the words ADHD and letters, adhd, what do you think of?  [00:02:27] Jessa: Well, when I think of adhd. I just think of like the letters and the word or, yeah, the letters. I think of like, like a, what do you call? Like a just random numbers, like math. I just think of like when I think of adhd, I think of people who get distracted.  [00:02:43] Peter: People get distracted. Okay. And do you get distracted sometimes? [00:02:48] Jessa: Yes. A lot actually. [00:02:49] Peter: A lot. And what do you do when you get distracted?  [00:02:51] Jessa: Well, sometimes when I get distracted, I. lose focus or I, like, I keep doing it, but then if I realize I've gotten distracted, like today I was just, uh, like fidgeting or singing or something and I wasn't paying attention that I have to read my book. So then I was like, okay, yes, you have to read your book and be focused. So I just try to do that.  [00:03:15] Peter: And how do, what happens when you, when you do, do you do anything special to help you refocus? We talked about sometimes you do exercises or, um,  [00:03:24] Jessa: I don't usually do exercises, but sometimes I just need to get my mind. So I take, I don't usually take deep breaths, but I just try to get my mind in focus by using my mind. [00:03:35] Peter: So breathing helps though, right? Sometimes taking deep breaths. Yeah. And sometimes when you're a little too hyper or sometimes we'll do exercises together. We'll do like,  [00:03:42] Jessa: I was too hyper to read today,  [00:03:43] Peter: too hyper to read today, what didja do like a Peloton workout or something. Normally if you get a work workout in the morning, you're pretty much focused all day. [00:03:49] Jessa: Yeah.  [00:03:49] Peter: Yeah. But I mean it also happens cuz you know you're also nine, so sometimes that happens. What do you think about when you think about your Dad and ADHD?  [00:03:57] Jessa: Sometimes when I like ask him to like read me this or do something, he doesn't listen the first time and he sometimes gets distracted. But then if I say again, he's like, sorry, what'd you say? And then he listens.  [00:04:14] Peter: So I think anyone can really have that. Anyone can get distracted. Right? So sometimes, but, but you also know that I do certain things to help you, control my ADHD like what? What do I do to control it? Like exercise and stuff like that? Exercise, yeah. I get on my bike every morning,  [00:04:27] Jessa: right? Get on the bike If I [unintelligible] every morning. Yeah.  [00:04:30] Peter: So I get on the bike and I do things so I'm able to focus better. But it's not, do you, do you see, like, do you have friends who have a hard time concentrating too?  [00:04:39] Jessa: I don't think so. Most kids are prob, most kids are, oh yeah. One friend is, uh, but I think some, some of my friends are, but then they get, um, like focused. [00:04:54] Peter: I think a lot of times what happens, especially when you're younger, is that you get distracted and you don't realize you're distracted. Right? So you're like, oh, what? And then you were like, oh, wait a second. I wasn't paying attention.  [00:05:02] Jessa: that's what I do. [00:05:03] Peter: Right. And that can be, that can get you in trouble sometimes. Like if a teacher's saying something, you have to listen. Right?  [00:05:08] Jessa: Sometimes my teacher does point it out to me.  [00:05:10] Peter: So your teacher, when your teacher points out to you, what does he say?  [00:05:13] Jessa: He says, Jessica, Jessa.. Like, he just says that and he,  [00:05:18] Peter: so he just says your name and then you like it sort of snaps you back in. [00:05:21] Jessa: Yeah.  [00:05:22] Peter: What do you think kids can do to be more focused?  [00:05:27] Jessa: Have a fidget maybe near them, but also be, that being said, a fidget is a fidget. It could be more distracting.  [00:05:35] Peter: Well, you're sitting here right now, you're playing with a little bit of slime, right? .  [00:05:38] Jessa: Yeah, but I'm focused.  [00:05:40] Peter: You're focused because you're giving your fingers something to do. Yeah. Right. So you're playing with your slime and you're rubbing it and like, so turning it into a ball, a ball or something like that.  [00:05:49] Jessa: Sometimes a fidget can be really helpful and sometimes it can be distracting.  [00:05:52] Peter: When is it really helpful?  [00:05:54] Jessa: Uh, helpful. Like when you're, when you are kind of focused, but then like your hands are just like, Just like doing anything and you like, it's just, I don't really know how to say this, but sometimes when you're distracted, if like you're doing a math class or any class that you don't love and you like get bored, you should get something in your hands. Or it could be like a marble or it could be a piece of slime, but like not, not something to really get you distracted, like something that you can make a whole town out of. like clay. You can't have that. We You can't. It's a little something. Yeah. Just like a marble or like a, A magnet. Or a fidget spinner. [00:06:34] Peter: That's a really good suggestion. So the goal is like to keep yourself sort of a little bit occupied. Keep your hands busy.  [00:06:39] Jessa: Yeah. Keep your hands busy, but keep your focus on the teacher.  [00:06:42] Peter: Do you think that you get more or less distracted if you've drank some water? Less like you drink water and you get less distracted. [00:06:49] Jessa: Sometimes I do that, like sometimes I'm like, okay, I gotta go and get my water bottle. And then I drink, like, um, I drink a little bit of it, and then I'm like, okay, sit back down and focus on the Math.  [00:07:00] Peter: So sometimes your distractions, your brain can be helped by water. Why do you think that is?  [00:07:06] Jessa: Maybe the water just gets you refreshed. [00:07:08] Peter: Yeah.  [00:07:08] Jessa: And like, [00:07:09] Peter: because your body may have like a lot of water. Yeah. The majority of your body is water, right? Yeah. What would you tell a kid who realizes that he or she is being distracted and doesn't like in school and doesn't know how to fix it?  [00:07:22] Jessa: I would tell them to, if you realize you're getting distracted, then just notice it and try or drink a and drink water or just shake it up.[as Waffle laps at his water bowl in the background] Maybe like I would say raise your hand. Just go to the back of the room and maybe do like, maybe like I, you can't do jumping jacks in the middle of a class. Maybe some squats. But I would say, yeah, not even, maybe just like, maybe just moving your feet or something. Maybe standing up. Yeah, just standing up. Cuz sometimes if you're sitting down, you could easily be distracted. Just stand up and take a breath or take a break. [00:07:58] Peter: I think there's also, there's um, you know, there's a company we had on the podcast called Bouncy Bands, where they make little bands that go on the bottom of the chair and you can just move your feet to those. Oh, really? So yeah, those are like helpful too. But yeah, I think at the end of the day, movement just stand up movement. Really helpful. Right? Really? Yeah. Just it's hard to sit down all day. Yeah. Back when, back when we were cavemen, we never sat down all day. If we sat down, we were sleeping. If we stood up, if we, if we weren't sleeping, we were hunting stuff and getting food. Right?  [00:08:24] Jessa: Yeah. Like also there's like, I sit on something that does not support my back and that makes it even harder to really sit and my back sometimes during the day.  [00:08:35] Peter: What do you sit on that doesn't Like a chair or just a bench?  [00:08:38] Jessa: You know, there's a bench. Oh, they bench in school. Yeah. But then most of the time if I'm like, I wanna, I want like I need to stand up, I would do that and then I would grab a chair, which, you know, it's better for me, like, [00:08:51] Peter: yeah, definitely. Do you think that when you exercise it helps or hurts your focus? Helps.  [00:08:56] Jessa: Helps. I just say like move your feet. Like you can't like, just like maybe like do, I don't think you should do like jumping jacks or squats. No. That's kinda tough in the middle of the class, but I think you should just like move your feet or move your arms. [00:09:10] Peter: Like how do you feel after recess? Are you focused? [00:09:12] Jessa: After recess, I am focused, but sometimes a little bit distracted. Recess gives you a time to run around, but some people don't run around. But .Do you? I sometimes, yeah. I, I don't love to run around that much. I don't love the game tag or, but sometimes I just sit and like try to get myself ready for the next. Or for the class or just, you know. [00:09:35] Peter: Do you feel more focused if you having a good night sleep?  [00:09:36] Jessa: I think so, yeah. Because sometimes I'm really tired in class and I'm like, I probably didn't get a good night's sleep. That explains, I went to bed at nine last night. Um, but I think sleep, I think you should really get a good night's sleep for you to help. Cuz you could be really tired in class. Yeah. And that wouldn't be good. You would fall, you would like almost fall asleep or you could just be like really tired that you would just fidget and just do this and you wouldn't pay attention to anything.  [00:10:01] Peter: Anything else you wanna tell kids who might have ADHD or might be distracted once in a while. [00:10:05] Jessa: I think just standing up, taking a break and then sitting back down, sitting in a comfy seat. You don't wanna sit in like a bad seat where you can get really distracted easily. I think you should just sit in a chair and listen or try to listen. Just take a break if you feel distracted or something like that. And yeah, that's it.  [00:10:28] Peter: Awesome. Guys. That was my daughter, Jessa Shankman, who is enough to come on the podcast today, interrupting her day of, she's off this week, so interrupting her day of playing with slime and, and, and playing Roblox and, uh, talking to her friends. But really, really appreciate you taking the time, Jess. I love you very much. [00:10:43] Jessa: Love you too.  [00:10:43] Peter: Okay, guys. You've been listening to Faster Than Normal, my name is Peter Shankman. As always, we are thrilled that you're here. Big shout out again to Skylight Calendar. That frame, that calendar has saved my life countless times. [00:10:53] Jessa: Can I tell them about it?  [00:10:53] Peter: Yeah, go ahead.  [00:10:54] Jessa: Skylight is really good cuz it helps me with my chores and like if I see like feed the dog, or clean up after breakfast, I can just tap it when it's done. And it also has cool pictures. You can upload pictures on it.  [00:11:04] Peter: Yep. It is a very, very cool product. We both love it. Strongly recommended. Check the link out in the show notes, get a discount with the code. Peter Shankman. Guys, thank you so much for listening as always thanks to Steven Byrom, our wonderful executive editor and producer who creates amazing episodes for us every week. [Thank you too Peter! -sb]  We will see you next week. We are thrilled that you are here. ADHD and all forms of neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. And by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number one bestseller in all categories. So check it out, The Boy with the Faster Brain. It is a children's book about neurodiversity.  Jessa: I love it.  Peter: Thank you, Jessa. Guys, thanks for listening and we'll see you next week. Say bye, Jess.  [00:11:39] Jessa: Bye  [00:11:40] Peter: Bye guys!  — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Hey guys. Peter Shankman here, the host of Faster Than Normal. I wanna talk to you for a second about the Skylight all in one family calendar. So Skylight sent me one of these a couple of months ago and I hung it on my wall. And God, how do I put this? My daughter no longer skips out on her chores! I know when her events are at school, we don't miss them. Everything is in front of us. It's a touchscreen. It's visible. It is the easiest thing I have ever used. It's beautiful. You can import your photos to it, or use the screen savers and it's right there. We sit down at breakfast. Everything she has that day is right there. Everything I need to know is right there. Did she do her chores? She does them. She checks off the box on the calendar. Oh my God. Greatest thing ever. It is amazing. I am in love with the Skylight Family calendar. I am using it constantly, literally every day, and I strongly recommend you guys pick it up too. They're a great supporter of Faster Than Normal. Neurodiverse families are going to love this. Use code: PeterShankman for 10% off, up to 30 bucks off. You're gonna love this Skylight calendar. It has changed my life with my daughter. It'll change yours too. Enjoy it. See you guys soon. Today's encore! I have been listening to our guests for well more than a decade! They have been part of my playlist since the summer of 2006 when their music helped me run the NYC Marathon faster than I ever had before. You surely know their music too, even if you've never heard the name Shinedown! Their song “Get Up” is the most inspiring, straight to the point, song I've ever heard that challenges the stigmas of talking honestly about mental health. They are some of the hardest working Artists in the world, so I was honored when they agreed to spend some time with us here today, helping to grow & inspire more honest conversations about mental health. Shinedown is a multi-platinum rock band. The song "GET UP" is from their latest album "ATTENTION ATTENTION?" Enjoy! In this episode Peter, Brent and Eric discuss: 1:08-  Intro and welcome Brent Smith and Eric Bass! 2:00-  After 136 shows spanning 48,000 miles, you guys were labeled The Hardest Working Artists of 2018! That's a ton of work & a healthy mantle! How do you make sure that you are taking care of yourselves mentally? 5:37-  On loving what you do & being driven 6:10-  On the importance of surrounding yourself with good people & a good support system 9:49-  Brent, you wrote “Get Up” for Eric. The majority of folks don't know how to talk to a friend who is, or might be struggling. What did you learn from writing this song? 14:08-  “You are not going to be defined by your failures. You are going to be defined by the fact that you refuse to give up- no matter what” -Brent Smith 16:05-  Peter on the importance of Music, and how music will pull you through  ref: “I Dare You”  ref:  Peter gets arrested for exercising, makes news. 18:24-  What is it about music, not books, movies, tv, etc, but music that people always credit with bringing them through a rough spell, or helping them remember a moment in time, etc. Why? 20:52-  Talk to me about the stigma around mental health. Finally there is a solid movement- between you guys, people like Erik Kussin who have started WeAreAllALittleCrazy.org, etc. What can people do to help grow the national/international conversation about mental health? ref:  Erik Kussin's FTN interview here #SameHere Follow Shinedown at:  http://www.shinedown.com FB Twitter INSTA YouTube AppleMusic Shazam Spotify 26:07-  Thank you Brent and Eric!! And thank YOU for subscribing, reviewing and listening.  Please.. stop right now and write us a review, EVEN IF you've reviewed us before, so that we will all be able to help & reach even more people!  You can always reach me at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. Also at @FasterThanNormal on all of the socials. 27:02-  Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits As always, leave us a comment below and PLEASE drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! The more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! Know of anyone you think should be on the FTN podcast? Shoot us a note, we'd love to hear!

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives. We have a new book to tell you about:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! The Boy with the Faster Brain is now out! Click HERE to see & get it! https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI 12:35 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  [00:00:40] Peter:  Hey guys. Peter Shankman, the host of Faster Than Normal. How you doing today? I wanna do a podcast on the new book; the children's book I wrote, that's coming out pretty soon, but as I was thinking about specifically how to do it in, in such a way that it wasn't just basically a podcast about my brand new book that read like an Ad. I was brainstorming ways on how to talk about it and that sent me down a rabbit hole of thinking about what it was like to be when I was a kid. And I thought about a couple of specific instances and, and as I thought about them, I wrote them down and um, I just wanna share them with you today. This won't be a long podcast, but there's a reason, there's a method to my madness here. So I'm just back from boxing. I did an hour, uh, again at the gym. I'm going probably like three or four times a week now and I just love it. I, it is, it is like no other sport. It's, it's, for me, it's better than running. It's better than triathlon. It, it's just an hour of, of, of me one on one of the coach. And I realized why I love it so much. Not only cause I get to hit things and, and the more things I hit, the less people I have to hit. But there's a, a bigger reason for that. And I think as ADHD people we can relate to this. Boxing is finite and it's why I love skydiving the same way. When I'm boxing, the gym operates on bell system. There is a three. There is a bell that rings at the start of three minutes, at the end of three minutes, and at the end of a one minute break. No matter what I'm doing, no matter what I'm, I'm, no matter how much pain I'm in, no matter how much out, out of breath I am, whether I'm getting hit, whatever the case may be. I know that there's going to be a bell and that bell is going to give me a one minute respite, or in some cases the end of my workout.  And I was thinking back, I remember in high school, I guess freshman year of high school, sophomore year of high school, I got, I got mugged and. I guess my Dad decided that it might be smart. I mean, I lived in New York City, it was understandable. My Dad decided to be smart to send me to a gym, to, to learn self-defense and lift weights and, and, and get bulked up. And, um, there weren't many weightlifting gyms. Um, I think it was the mid eighties, so it was like the era of, uh, Jack Lalaine or, or. Cardio Jazzer size or whatever, there weren't a lot of gyms and, and even fewer gyms that that allowed kids. But my parents found a gym, like an old school gym with, you know, weights and, and problem was, it wasn't a trainer like Mick from Rocky, which is what I was hoping for. It was some. Juiced up. I don't wanna say Guido cause that's an offensive term, but you get, you get the idea of of of what I mean that's what I remember and I, I certainly meant no offense by that, but it was, it was definitely a guy with an accent that probably from Brooklyn, or Queens, and everything we did for the week or two that I went there before I quit was, yeah, hit harder, kick some ass. No one's, no one's gonna mess with you and it was the exact opposite of what I was hoping for at a gym. And I, you know, obviously didn't last long there. I, I hated it. And, uh, I wasn't that kind of kid. I wasn't the kid who wanted to go get jacked up and, and, and, and, and, you know, I just wanted to, to put on a few pounds or shed a few pounds and build a few pounds of muscle. It was total opposite what I needed. And I was thinking about that because growing up, everything I ever tried like that. I mean, I remember going to a gym with my Dad when I was like 10, lasted a couple weeks there. And I remember going, you know, I, I to be on diets and I'd try this and that. Nothing really took. Wasn't until my late twenties when I discovered running and running took because sort of now that I think about the same reason as boxing, running at a start point and an end point. Right, I'm running five miles. Well, that meant I'd run five miles and when those five miles were over, I would stop running .  Um, and I think that's a big thing that when you're ADHD especially when look, when you're a kid, I mean, I can tell you about my daughter; no matter what I make her do. . It has to be, how long do I have to do it? Jessa did you get your reading done tonight? Every, every night she's supposed to do 30 minutes of reading. Right. So there's, you know, and, and she loves, she's a great reader, but she, and she loves when she gets into a good book, but she doesn't like reading as a concept. And so there'll be times when it's like, Jessa, did says, you do 30 minutes of reading. Uh, no, I'm gonna start, can I, can I only do 20? No, do 30. And then she'll set an iPad timer. And I swear to you the, the, the, the millisecond that thing dings, she's. Doesn't matter if she's in the middle of a word. Doesn't matter if she's about to find out who the killer is. Ding, okay, I'm done. Did 30 minutes. In her mind. It's about those 30 minutes. Now all kids are like that. But I think the problem I had with exercise as a whole growing up, it was not my thing. I I, I've said this before, I, I ran by pressing X on a joystick and then college, I ran to the store for cigarettes and that was about it. Um, I think that what I learned. or what I didn't have then that I have now in like boxing and running is the premise of a finite time, a finite workout. You know, a lot of times we try and figure out, okay, I'm gonna go to the gym and I'm gonna exercise every single day and I'm gonna do this and that. And we don't put a start putting an end point to it. And because of that, in our mind, we're five minutes in, and it's never going to end. Well. If it's never gonna end, I might as well quit right now because there's no way I could do this forever. And one of the things that I've found, About boxing. It ends after three minutes, it's over for a minute and you can breathe.  So perhaps one of the ways we talk to our kids about ways of getting the dopamine and the serotonin and the adrenaline that we need; is we introduce them to timed things right. I remember when I ran, when I, I started running last summer with my daughter, and of course she hated it until she started liking it. She got her first dopamine hit. She's like, Ooh. But we started running in a half a block. In how much further do we have to go until we, you know, and we, I said, we're gonna go to the end of this block and then we're gonna turn, make a left to go three blocks down and then three blocks back up, and then we're gonna come home. And as soon as I said that, she stopped complaining because she could envision in her mind, how long she had to do. Right? Three blocks. Three blocks. Turn around. Three blocks. Three blocks. And I think that's something that not only is good for our kids with ADHD, but good for us as well. It's why we all set timers. Okay, I'm gonna work for 55 minutes. I'm gonna spend five minutes standing up, go to the bathroom doing deep stretches, and then work for another 55 minutes. It's why I do when I on a plane, I know that I have 14 hours to write this book. , I'll break that into six hours and then break the, you know, we're seven hours break, seven hours, two and a half hours, whatever. I don't think we give enough appreciation to time, even though time's a manmade, manmade construct. The premise of breaking things into smaller bits of time is very, very beneficial for someone with ADHD or a faster brain or any form of neurodiversity because it allows us to not be frightened by a massive thing, right? We're not frightened of a, oh my God, I have to do an hour of exercise. I know that when I go to the gym, I'm gonna be working out nonstop for an hour, but I know that every three minutes I get 60 seconds off, and by the end of that hour, I'm sweating my ass off and I'm dying but, I get 60 seconds off and that gets me through the next three minutes and the three minutes after that, and then three minutes after that and all of a sudden it's an hour and I'm told to take off my wraps and my gloves, my wraps, and go home. So let's think about that. Let's think about assigning time values to things that might help us get through a lot of stuff. So that's probably a good lead in to this book. I wrote a book called The Boy with the Faster Brain, and it's, it's a fiction book that's autobiographical. How about that? It's about Peter, a 10 year old, very hyperactive kid who gets a lot of notes home. Every day, gets a note home from the teacher about how he made jokes in class, how he interrupted the class, how he did all these things. Peter gets in a lot of trouble. Peter, doesn't mean to get in a lot of trouble. Because what Peter discovers is that when he tells those jokes and his class laughs, he gets this jolt of bolt of lightning, this jolt of electricity in his brain and it allows him to focus. Of course, he usually has to focus on walking himself down to the principal's office to get in trouble. I wrote this book because I don't ever want one another kid to grow up going through in school and even as an adult. For years going through what I went through as a kid and an adult, I don't ever want anyone to go through that again, and if this book helps even one kid understand that they shouldn't hide their differences, but embrace them, then I've done my job.  The book is launching on the 21st, but for listeners, it's launching earlier and I'm putting a link down below. [awaiting link and code]  And I am very excited about it. I'm excited because it's my first non-business book. No, it's my second non-business book, Faster Than Normal being my first one, but this one, it's for kids. It's my first children's book and I am, I'm just really psyched about that. I hope it helps a lot of people, including you and including your children.  It's my, also my first self-published book, and so I can do a lot with it. So you guys want me to come and speak to your school? Want me to come and speak to your company? Company? Sure. Buy some books. We'll work something out. Um, I can give them away, I can donate them to schools. I can do whatever I want. It's my book. And what I found also is that I'm starting to get a lot of calls lately from corporations. Hey, can you come in and talk about neurodiversity in the workplace? I, gave a keynote to. Google last week I have Morgan Stanley coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm in talks with several other large companies to come in and talk about, um, not customer experience but neurodiversity in the workplace. And so if that's something that I can help you guys out with as well, shoot me a note. I have several keynotes on it and I'd love to do more about it. And we can work something out where you buy some books, donate them to a school or something, and I'll come and speak. I'm excited!  The Boy with the Faster Brain. I really hope it changes some lives. I really do.  So as always, thank you for listening. I love you guys. I'm greatly appreciative. My email is peter@shankman.com. I answer all my questions. Any I answer all my emails personally. Ask, email, tell me what's up, and let's chat. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your excitement. All the emails you've sent me about the Boy with the Faster Brain, I am really stoked as well. And I'll see you next week.  And . Again, I wanna give a huge shout out to Skylight. [LINK WAS NOT READY AT THE TIME OF THIS RELEASE- SHALL BE UPDATED AT WWW.FASTERTHANNORMAL.COM] This frame and this calendar that hangs on the wall has changed my life with Jessa, it makes life so much easier. It has a short chart and has meal planning, and it cus custom lists weather, you can get a mobile app for it. It has share access. You can invite your spouse or your ex-spouse or your co-parenting partner kids, close friends, anyone you want. Um, you can color code. My daughter is pink. I am red. You can ch change the views and you can, the coolest thing is you can take all your photos and turn them into a screensaver when you're not using the calendar. Just random photos of like, me, Jessa, and my dog show up. So it's pretty cool. Uh, the, the link is below skylightframe.com . The um, uh, coupon code is below as well. And, uh, yeah, I am really, really excited to work with you guys and see what you're doing with the frame. Send me some photos. I'll send it over to them. We'll get you on Instagram, but yeah, it's gonna be good. The, the Frame, the book, The Boy with the Faster Brain, the podcast, I owe you guys a lot for being here. And don't ever think I'm not grateful cause I really am. Love you guys. Talk to you next week! — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

About our guest today, Teresa Clark: An innovative and forward-thinking leader Teresa Clark is the founder and alchemist of The Wellness Revolution. A pioneering culture and employee wellbeing company reimagining the workplace to unleash human potential. Built on the belief that the world of work plays an important role in transforming society and that by supporting people to live happier and healthier lives we can co-create happier and healthier societies together. She is deeply passionate about social justice, human flourishing, and the power of creativity to transform society. A public speaker, transformation and resilience expert, Teresa's moving personal journey as a woman who received a 4-year prison sentence for the deaths of 3 of her friends in a car accident where she fell asleep at the wheel after a festival, has led her on a turbulent journey of personal recovery from extreme physical injury, psychological and emotional trauma. The deep remorse and transformative journey of finding peace and amends birthed a life trajectory driven by a magnanimous compassion to create positive social change centered around a deep passion and purpose to help others.  With 12 years of experience working within mental health for the criminal justice system, NHS, and charity sector, she has consulted at local and national levels and led cultural change across organisations through the design and development of award-winning programmes and services. Through her work, she has empowered thousands of people to reconnect with their authentic selves and transform their lives creating synergistic outcomes from collective shifts in mindset to social impact.  Enjoy!  In this episode Peter and Teresa Clark discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:00 - Intro and welcome Teresa Clark 01:24 - What gave you the idea to start a career in mental health? 02:45 - On masking strains and normalizing dishonesty in the workplace  03:48 - How are companies beginning to take mental health seriously enough to implement change? [versus the bottom line] 05:00 - Are companies really making fundamental shifts? How and to what extent? 06:31 - On Google's big bad goof-up 08:22 - “Don't Be Evil” -Google 09:00 - What do you do once inside a company; how does consulting work best? Definition of reticent 10:10 - Breaking the stigma takes courage and intentional, comprehensive systems of support, time, training, positive reinforcement and encouragement, inclusive of leadership. 12:58 - How can people find more about you?  Web:  www.thewellnessrevolution.co.uk Socials:  @thewellnessrevolution_ on INSTA  @ThewellnessR on Twitter 13:23 - When HR and Business Leaders allow certain foundations for our people to flourish, our business will flourish. It's a natural thing. And it's been proven. Ref: Deloitte article Deloitte study: Mental Health and Employers: The Case for Investment – Pandemic and Beyond 14:40 - The Boy With the Faster Brain is out very soon!! 15:14 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!    — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  [00:00:40] Peter: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. I'm your host. I will guide you through this journey today where we talk about A D H D in the workplace and all neurodiversity really in mental health in the place for a change. We're talking Teresa Clark. And Teresa Clark is the founder I believe, of the Wellness Revolution. She's based in London, England, and her job is to help company culture, enhance employee experience, and unleash the potential of the people who work for said companies. They are a pioneering culture and employee wellbeing company built for businesses of the future. They support forward-thinking organizations to create cultures of happiness fueled by passion, purpose, and creativity. So welcome, good to have.  [00:01:19] Teresa: Thank you for having me. It's great to be here.  [00:01:22] Peter: So let's dive in. What gave you the idea to start a company focusing on business mental health?  [00:01:29] Teresa: So I, my career is in, um, working for the N H S. I've worked in mental health for about 12 years, and it was during my time when I worked for, um, a big mental health trust in North London when I was working actually in a hospital. And, um, I started to kind of look around and just see, we had a really high turnover of staff and the nature of the work was very intense because I worked in forensics, which is, um, a part of type of mental. Services, which when people commit offenses, they go into hospital as opposed to prison. So as you can imagine, you, you are, you know, experiencing quite a lot of sad cases. It's the works quite heavy. But even so, um, we just had this huge turnaround of staff and as I was there longer and longer, I realized that we weren't looking after our own people's mental health and that the workloads were huge. People were really stressed out if somebody came and said that they were experiencing. their own issues. It wasn't treated very well. In fact, there was a kind of real fear culture that nobody would've said that. Um, and they would've just gone off work with, you know, explained it underneath another sickness. But it was actually to do with that. And what was happening, which was really, really sad, was that was actually affecting patient care. So I started to sort of think, wow, if this is happening in a mental health trust, what's happening in the real world? And I started to kind of look at my family and friends and acquaintances and kind of see that, you know, we all struggle with something. Some of us might talk about it, others might not. But you know, mental health is just the same as physical health. And I just started to, to sort of think about how many toxic work cultures there are in the. and that we really need to do something about it because we spend 90,000 hours of work in our lifetime. And that is a long time to be stuck somewhere where you feel miserable and the, and the outcomes of that in terms of your own physical and mental health, but also the ripple effect that it has on your family, your friends, uh, and just sort of society at large, really. So I thought if we can really shift the workplace to be somewhere where. It actually lays the foundations for people to reach their potential, you know, optimal wellbeing. You know what a, what a different world we would live in. Sounds very idealistic, but I really do believe that we can do it.  [00:03:48] Peter: So my first question is this. How are companies reacting to this? Because companies, you know, at least in the US, companies don't particularly like spending money on anything that doesn't help their bottom line, obviously. Mental health and mental wellbeing in the workplace does help the bottom line, but that's a hard explanation to give. I've been there. So how are, how are companies, uh, reacting to that first and foremost?  [00:04:06] Teresa: Yeah, great question and you're right. I think there's still some attitudes that we need to change around wellbeing as a fluffy topic and that it's a nice to have but not actually imperative to your business success. But the good thing is there's, you know, the, the bodies of evidence of studies and case studies. Just, uh, continuing to rise and really, really being able to show that r roi, I call it return on happiness, to show the difference between a company that does foster, you know, positive experience for their employees and emo, um, employee wellbeing compared to one that doesn't or that does it surface level. So it's really about kind of presenting the figures, you know, talking to the people who are making the big decisions, because that's another thing that I think is really important. You know, getting the C-suite and people in leadership roles really involved so that it's not just a bottom up, it's a, you know, a top down and a bottom up approach. And that does really work. It's still, you know, it's still difficult. I think there are a lot of companies out there that are doing what, what's sort of known as like wellbeing, washing, similar. What people do on pride and things like that is sort of saying that they do it, but. You know, doing the opposite. [00:05:16] Peter: Well, I mean, that's my, that was my next question. You know, the, we are, we're all familiar with, you know, uh, what are they doing for mental health? Oh, they're allowing wacky tie days on Friday. You know, it, it, it's, it's, you know, or free sandwiches does not equate to mental health and mental, mental, uh, caring. And so I think that, that one of the big. Um, issues that I've seen is that companies say, this sounds like a great idea, but then again, it's that question of actually getting 'em to commit because there's no, you know, the ROI isn't immediately seen.  [00:05:45] Teresa: Yes. Yeah. And I think what we are seeing now because of this, is we are seeing kind of mass exodus at companies where people are, are leaving, you know, the great resignation or we wanna call it the great awakening. Either way, people are looking for a very different experience, particularly Gen Z. And millennials. And so if a company doesn't start to do these things, it's, you know, when you look to, to, to start a new company, if your company doesn't have a flexible working policy that doesn't have some sort of ea and that doesn't kind of offer some kind of wellbeing provision, it's gonna make you think twice about whether you take their offer because money's not everything, as we all know. And again, the research shows that people would rather take a pay cut to have those things and go and work for an organization that doesn't have that now. It's pretty shocking at what the kind of world is like at the moment, because I don't know if you'd, you'd seen that, you know, Google's laid off a load of staff just now,  [00:06:39] Peter: including their, including the director of mental health and wellbeing. Yes, I saw that.  [00:06:43] Teresa: So that's, you know, really, really scary considering that some, the company like Google is doing that. It's just,  [00:06:49] Peter: that's also really telling, because if a company is big and as, as supposedly forward thinking as Google doesn't give a shit, why should any other company.  [00:06:56] Teresa: Well, yes, it's true, but I'm, I I think it's also a very, very bad move for Google because they're losing their credibility as an employer. Like their, their employee brand is really suffering because it's not just about the businesses, it's about the people that work there and, and we, people that work that have as much sort of say in terms of, you know, whether they wanna work at an organization like that or whether they want to go and work for Microsoft. You have all of those benefits. So it's a about, you know, the companies really need to think about what their brand reputation is because that does, you know, in a marketplace it's gonna get more and more difficult now for, you know, jobs for everybody. That's something that everybody's gonna be looking at. Yeah. And how much money does it cost? I was gonna say, how much money does it cost to, to recruit somebody? Especially for a company like Google, you're probably thinking, you know, it's in the grands isn't it? So you don't wanna be not being able to retain your staff, cuz that's just gonna cost you more and more. So it'll be interesting to see the data on that bad decision and how that's gonna infect Google because it is gonna really affect them. I. .  [00:08:01] Peter: Well, I think that's really the question, you know, is it we, and we'll have to wait and see on that. But I, I mean, I agree with you. I just, I feel like, you know, and, and this is maybe the, the New York City cynic and me, I just feel like companies that try, uh, you know, oh, we're gonna care, wanna care, you know, Google's, I mean, do you remember who Google's original motto, company motto was? Back in like the, the, the early two thousands?  [00:08:20] Teresa: No, I don't think I do. [00:08:22] Peter: It was literally don't be evil. Oh wow. Yeah, that was their, that was their corporate motto, their corporate culture motto. And, and they publicized it and they talked about it and they go, we're gonna be the good company. Because back then Microsoft and, you know, Yahoo, were the bad companies and. All of a sudden, you know, here they are laying off their, their, their, their vice president of, of, of mental health and wellbeing. So I, I, I think that companies talk a lot of, talk a great game and I wanna do this. And I think it's a lot harder to sell that story, um, in the real world because at the end of the day, you know, they're, they're shareholders are looking at the next quarter and not the next quarter centuries, which is, which is obviously a much bigger problem. Talk. What are you doing into, in terms of once you get into a company, you know, are you, are you listening? Are you holding sessions? How, how does this whole process work? Because, um, I remember the one time I did work for a company back in the nineties, I worked for America Online, and they had someone in-house who actually, uh, was a mental health, and this is, this is again the mid nineties, so that was pretty impressive that they were that forward thinking. And they had someone where you could just go in, you could say, Hey, you know, having a bad day, not having a good time, having a mental health day. And again, before any of this was, was popular. So, so how does it work from a consulting point of view? [00:09:29] Teresa: Yeah. So what we do is we kind of go in and we just really get to understand the organization. We look at the values, we look at how the values are being lived. We look at the kind of main challenges around the people. We look at what they're doing really well, what they could do better, and then we speak to, um, the employees and we kind of find out anonymously what they're thinking. Cause I think. , that's a big thing. You know, companies have a lot of in-house surveys and things like that, but people are quite reticent to be honest. Completely, because there's kind of like a lot of fear about, you know, will I, right, will I be looked at differently if I say that I've got a mental health condition or that I'm struggling, or, you know what? How does my culture support mental health and wellbeing as it is now. So we kinda understand the energy of the organization, what's going on, what's going on that can't be seen, and then we kind of present that to, um, the C-suite or the people team, and we sort of talk about. , you know, what we can do to support them, what they wanna focus on first. Cuz sometimes you go in and there's quite a lot of things that they didn't realize are going on. So it's almost, you know, too much of a big job to do everything all in one go. So it's like, where do we start first? So that can be things like helping them to set up like wellbeing champions so that they're embedding wellbeing more regularly within their culture because it's gotta be kind of a movement that goes forward. We do a lot of workshops and webinars, training. Taking like a design thinking approach to the employee experience. So thinking about when you have new starters, like what's their experience like, how do we deal with, um, you know, when somebody comes to us with a problem, how do we make more space in our teams so that we are having more interaction socially? Because a lot of companies we work with now become completely remote. So you have to be really intentional about that employee experience. You know, as a brand, like how do we want our employees, what are our team rituals? How do we embed wellbeing so that it's not something that we're having to deal with when it reaches crisis point, that we've kind of creating a culture where people can come and talk about things. So we are supporting each other. So when we have a team meeting, somebody says, we do a check-in and someone says, I'm having a bit of a bad day today. , we are normalizing it cuz you and I both know as well, people that have ADHD you know, sometimes we are, we are having a terrible day, sometimes we're having a great day. But sometimes it's difficult to say that you are without, you know, fear of being judged because you don't wanna seem like you can't do the job or that, you know, they can't trust you. So there's so many things around that. So what we do is we try to really help, well, not we try, we do help the organizations to, to really look at that and then just getting some defining, um, ways of approaching that as an organization and as teams and as individuals. And we do, um, some really cool offsites and sort of revolutionary retreats where we look. Kind of issues are within leadership, and then we create kind of like a two day conference, which is much more based on sort of like human potential and like how we can be the best leaders and really kind of like changing the mindset in more of a kind of intense short way, which, which are really successful. Um, and we do panel talks like loads of things. We, we, what we do as an organization is we just try to be really innovative and approach mental health in a very different way than, uh, the sort of traditional sort of pathology of it.  [00:12:58] Peter: Awesome. I love it. Well, the website is called the wellness revolution.co.uk and you can find everyone there, you can find the whole team there. And it is really great to have you on the podcast. I appreciate you taking the time. It is. With any luck, this is sort of the start of, you know, more and more people understanding that, that there is something here and that we have. Uh, pay attention. We can't just let this go, right, Teresa?  [00:13:23] Teresa: Oh, definitely. And I wanted to, to give you a, a, a really interesting stat actually. Yeah, please. For those leaders out there that, um, are still kind of struggling to see the, the real kind of returns on it. D Deloitte did a report here recently, I think it was last year actually, so it could do with renewing now. But they said that for every pound that's spent, and obviously I know it's in pounds, not dollars for every pound that's spent on wellbeing and mental health interventions, company receives up to six pounds back in returns on reduced absenteeism, reduced presenteeism, reduce, and um, higher retention rates. So there really is like such a business case and I think what we're gonna see from now on, as well as obviously with things being so uncertain with economic kind of unrest, is that this is the main, you know, people are our highest value assets if we think about it like, So if we look after our people and they're, we are supporting their mental health cause we're still kind of suffering the fallout from Covid, you know, psychologically. that's still very much kind of impacting people in different ways. If we really do sort of, you know, give those foundations for our people to flourish, our business will flourish. It's a natural thing. So just, yeah. I hope that's kind of stuck into some people's heads and that they'll really start to look at it differently. [00:14:40] Peter: I love it. I love it. Teresa, this is great. Thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it.  [00:14:45] Teresa: Oh, it's my pleasure.  [00:14:46] Peter: Guys, as always, you know the drill Faster Than Normal is for you. We wanna know what you want to hear. Shoot us a note, let us know. And, uh, the children's book is coming out, should be out in about a month. The title is The Boy With the Faster Brain, so we are really excited for that. Stay tuned for more on that next week and we will see you next week. A D H D in all forms of neurodiversity are gift not a curse. Pay attention to your mental health. It is just as important, if not more so than your physical health. We'll see you soon. Thanks for listening!  — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Evie Kirshner is an 18 year old gap year student studying in Israel on Kivunim. She graduated from the Heschel school and will be attending Emory university in the fall. Evie has ADHD and anxiety. In her spare time, she loves photography, watching movies, and reading. Today we learn why she was diagnosed early in her life, about some of the choices and decisions she's made thus far, how they're working out and her advice to you. Enjoy!  In this episode Peter and Evie Kirshner discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:05 - The Boy With the Faster Brain comes out in about a month!! 01:40 - Intro and welcome Evie Kirshner 01:50 - How's the weather in Israel today?  Ref: The Kivunim Institute  02:34 - So you were diagnosed in 1st grade. Tell us your story? 03:28 - Kind of how things go in first grade with ADHD or ADD 04:23 - What were some of your symptoms? Did you get in trouble much? 04:40 - Were you put on meds? Did they work? 05:20 - To sparkle or not to sparkle… 06:20 - You can't live the rest of your life just talking out of turn; or can you!? What happened? 07:02 - On resolution and resolve 07:54 - Is there anything you think you may need to change? Or for in the future? 09:05 - What was your parents' reaction upon your diagnosis?  10:00 - What would you tell a kid who's seven years old and getting diagnosed today? 10:20 - How can people find more about you?  Socials: @EVKirshner on INSTA and Snapchat 11:28 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits.Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:42] Peter: Hi everyone. Welcome to Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. It is great to have you for another episode. If you are binging this welcome back. Uh, someone emailed me today and they go, Hey, I found your podcast last week. I'm like, really? Which one? How many episodes do they go? All of them. I'm like, Just doing some quick math in my head. That's a lot of time, but either way, I am thrilled that you're here. It's great to have you guys. And if you haven't already heard, uh, the Children's book is launching in about a month. It is called The Boy With the Faster Brain. So I am super, super excited about that. We have a fun guest today. We're going to Israel. We are going to the Promised Land today to talk to Evie Kirschner, who's an 18 year old gap year student. She's studying in Israel on Kivunim, and she'll explain what that is. She graduated from the Herschel School. She'll be attending Emory University in the fall. She has ADD and anxiety, and she got diagnosed when she was in first grade, so around seven years old. I love talking to kids who are like 18 years old. They're like, yeah, I got diagnosed in first grade. I'm like, Mike Ben, when I was in first grade. They didn't even know what ADHD was. Welcome to the show. It's good to have you.  [00:01:40] Evie: Thank you.  [00:01:41] Peter: Well it's snowing here in New York. How's the weather in Israel? [00:01:44] Evie: Oh, it's, it's actually pouring rain. I just got caught in the rain actually. It's not pretty out. [00:01:49] Peter: Okay. And I don't feel so bad. good. Alright. Well, welcome to the podcast. Glad to have you. So I discovered you because I have lots of friends who send me articles and stuff all the time and say, oh, this person is adhd, you's interviewing them, and, and you caught my eye cause you wrote a beautiful article and you so, so first of all, tell us what you're doing in Israel.  [00:02:07] Evie: This year I'm studying and traveling on a program called Kivunim. So five months out of the year we're studying, like basically taking college classes, you know, five days a week. And then for three months out of the eight we are traveling around the world. I'm going to 13 different countries and studying contemporary culture and ancient history and Jewish history and communities that existed in all those countries. So it's like, it's really cool stuff. It's, it's pretty awesome.  [00:02:34] Peter: That's very, very cool. So let's talk about ADHD so you were diagnosed in first grade. What was that like? What was what? How did it come about? What the teachers say? Tell me your story.  [00:02:43] Evie: I thought it was cancer. . I, I was so em embarrassed. I was fir when I was told I was devastated and I wouldn't tell anybody. It was like my deepest orca secret. I thought it was the only person in the world with adhd. My parents like sat me down and told me. I mean, they were running tests on my brain at NYU by the time I was eight. Really? Yes. I had a severe case especially, and this was in 19? This was in 2000, 2011. 12. Okay. I was always told I had the energy of a boy inside a girl and they had never seen anything like it, and that made me feel. I was like, oh no, I'm, I'm secretly like, have the energy of a boy, and this is like, I can't tell anyone. I have this like, big, heavy secret weighing on me.  [00:03:28] Peter: Yeah. And that's in first grade. In first grade, that's kinda hard to handle.  [00:03:31] Evie: Oh, it was really hard to handle. I was devastated and I, I, I really felt it all the time. Like I had something that made me different that I couldn't tell people about. Um, and I think, like as I got older, you know, people always say to me, well, everyone's a little ADD everyone's a little ADHD , and I'm like, well, hmm, hmm. . Um, I think like when you're, you know, doing, you're getting up in first grade and spinning circles around your desk while everyone's sitting and writing, I think like there's a difference. You know, there's the, there's dozing off and then there's like, actually there's not being able to function in a classroom at seven years old.  [00:04:09] Peter: Yep. So what was, is that, was that some of the symptoms you were just a little, little hyper, a little.  [00:04:14] Evie: I was hyper, I was crazy. I was, time and place did not occur to me. I kind of marched to the beat of my own drum.  [00:04:23] Peter: Okay. That's funny. It's exactly what my mother used to tell me all the time. did it. Uh, did it get you in trouble at all? .  [00:04:29] Evie: Oh, all the time. I was in the principal's office, like I'd say until high school, almost every day of, of middle school, at least. I think like in lower school, they were more lenient on me. Yeah. But I was in the, yeah, I was in the principals a lot.  [00:04:43] Peter: So you were diagnosed in first grade, but were you put on meds? What happened? [00:04:47] Evie: I was put on meds in third grade actually. Um, and I stayed on the same meds almost every day until my junior year of high school. Okay.  [00:04:57] Peter: And were they, do you, did you feel like they were, did you feel like, did you feel like they were working? [00:05:01] Evie: Oh, they were totally working, but they dulled my sparkle. Yeah. So I decided it was, it was time to let it go.  [00:05:11] Peter: I understand that. And so, so when you say dulled your sparkle, why .Did it make you, obviously it made you more focused, but it, did it take away that ooph or did it take away that creativity? [00:05:20] Evie: It took, it took away the oomph. It took away a lot of, it just kind of suppressed everything. It's almost as if, the way I describe it to people, like it's if you turn the saturation down, I'm like the way you, the way you see everything.  [00:05:32] Peter: So you decided to get off of it in seventh grade.  [00:05:35] Evie: Um, in junior year of high school I started oh, junior  [00:05:37] Peter: high school. Okay. Okay. But you said you were in the principal's office a lot in high school? No, in middle school. In middle s. Okay. I'm confused. So you were on the meds and still gonna the principal's office. Oh yes. Interesting. Okay. And what were, what were your charges? What were you, what were you usually busted for? [00:05:53] Evie: Um, making an inappropriate song in the middle of class. , um, texting, um, chatting with a friend over here, not being able to control what came outta my mouth, things like that. Examples like,  [00:06:09] Peter: All right, so obviously there are a ton of people listening right now who hear themselves in your story, , I mean, including me. Um, so what did you do, right? It's obviously you can't live the rest of your life just talking at a turn. I mean, maybe you can. So what happened? [00:06:26] Evie: I think it actually wasn't necessarily anything that changed in me, but something that changed in the people around me in that I think they realized I was a well-intentioned kid. Smart. I had a good head on my shoulders and I meant, I meant well. Um, I was loving and deep down I was really respectful. I just didn't always show respect and often displayed disrespect. But, um, it had nothing to do with how I felt about my teachers or my peers and more to do with something that I was struggling with internally. [00:07:00] Peter: Interesting. So, am I getting sort of the feeling that you just, for lack of a better word, just decided I'm gonna live my life.  [00:07:09] Evie: Yeah, I did. I think like, I mean, I'm still at the point where I'm, you know, deciding, okay, I don't have to change this. I don't have to be self-conscious about this anymore. People around me are gonna have to learn to accept this, and I don't have to be the one that stops kicking the desk or stops, you know, biting my fingernails or dozing off or seeming like I'm not paying attention when someone's speaking because if they know me well enough, they'll know that I am. . And I think like I'm, I think I'm still getting to that point in many ways and I'll see other ways in which that manifests itself over time. But I think I have like chucked a lot of it in the efit bucket like I think that, um, there were many things, especially the way it manifests itself in the classroom, that I just said to myself, okay, so this might be something that I have to explain to teachers, not change,  [00:07:54] Peter: Is there anything that you think may have to change? I mean, I, I am all in the category of, hey, here's who I am, deal with it. But I also know that there are times, right. Especially in my quote unquote adult life, um, where I have to, okay, you're, you're going to listen to this visiting professor. You probably shouldn't make a joke in the middle class, or things like that. Mm-hmm. . So are there any points that you've seen that yet? [00:08:17] Evie: Yes. So I think now that I'm kind of in a more of a college setting, um, I find that, and even in high school, I find that when it, when it gets hard and I feel impulses coming on, or it's hard for me to sit still in class, I just, I just leave and come back. Okay. Or I'll do, I'll do something else. I can't be sitting still with thoughts and impulses and wanting to speak, and I'll either be doodling or tapping my foot or bit like, uh, or, or I'll just leave the room.  [00:08:49] Peter: Interesting. Interesting. So you are, you've basically accepted what you have. You don't take meds for it and you're sort of pulling a a, a Greatest Showman. This is me.  [00:09:02] Evie: Yes. This is me. .  [00:09:04] Peter: Awesome. Okay. What did your, um, parents, uh, how were they when you first got diagnosed? What was their, what was their, uh, reaction? [00:09:13] Evie: They, well, I, they took it very seriously, which is I think why I thought it was such a huge deal. They were like, you have ADHD , we're gonna take you to a therapist, get you meds. And I was like, oh shit. I'm like, dying of something as hard . I was, I was really, I was really scared. Um, but my parents took it very seriously. I, lucky enough, I have a mom who works in the world of learning disabilities um, and she very much like got me the help I needed academically early on. You know, taught me that it's a, it's a gift, not a curse. And, um, even though I felt for a lot of my childhood, like it was, and I think I, I had parents who always reminded me that I'm gonna realize one day that my, I actually really do love the way my brain works.  [00:09:59] Peter: Awesome. I love that. So what would you tell a kid who's, uh, seven years old getting diagnosed?  [00:10:05] Evie: That their brain is beautiful. Mm-hmm. .And it might take time to realize. And other people are gonna see it first. And other people are gonna tell you it's not there, but you'll see it over time.  [00:10:17] Peter: Very, very cool. Very, very cool. Tell us how people can find you. Are you on any of the socials?  [00:10:23] Evie: I am, I'm on social media. I am on Instagram and Snapchat. I don't really have any other,  [00:10:30] Peter: what's your username on Instagram? I.  Evie Kirshner, the letters E & V K I R S H N E R.  Okay. Very cool. Well, okay. Thank you so much for taking the time. I appreciate it.  [00:10:42] Evie: Thank you. I'm gonna have you back, I'm gonna have you back next year and see how, uh, Emory's treating you. I have a lot of friends who went there. Oh, really? Okay. Well that'd be awesome. I'm looking forward to it. [00:10:50] Peter: Very cool. Guys, you've been listening to Peter Shankman and this is, that was Evie Kirshner talking about Faster Than Normal and talking about how she grew up A D H D and when she finally decided to say screw it, and live her life and sounds to me like she's doing just fine. We'll be back next week with another episode. As always, wanna hear what you think, you can leave us, review anywhere, you can tell us what's going on. Wanna thank Steven Byrom, who's our editor and producer, who constantly shakes his head when in the middle of an episode I go, oh, by the way, Steven, do this. So we love you, Steven, [Your Producer/editor loves you too, is proud of the work this podcast is doing and hopes that these transcripts are helpful] and uh, we will see you guys next week with another episode of Faster Than Normal, and hopefully by then I'll have some info on when the book will be out. So stay tuned. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you soon!   — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Nik's Social Media Channel ADHDVision is a global movement aimed at improving well-being, productivity and overall life quality for people with attention deficit disorder (ADHD). With over 150 Million views in just under 2 years Nik has rapidly created a community of over 1.8 million people who follow him and are inspired by his work to live their BEST life with their brain. He is currently running an international inner circle of ADHD business owners and is on a mission to make the knowledge around creating and thriving as a business owner with ADHD more accessible. Enjoy!  In this episode Peter and Nik Hobrecker discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:47 - Intro and welcome Nik Hobrecker! 01:47 - Tell us your story; when were you diagnosed? 02:41 - It all was kind of like an ‘explainer bomb' 03:30 - You live in an especially beautiful part of Thailand. How do you stay productive? Ref: Faster Than Normal book 05:00 - On rejection sensitivity and living in a ‘vacation destination'. 06:30 - What have you been learning from your new Mastermind group; how best to lead? 07:30 - Ref: Perfectionism, decision paralysis, imposter syndrome 08:14 - How many people do you have in your group? 08:45 - What are some of the things you've learned by running this group? 09:49 - What would you tell an entrepreneur who's just been diagnosed; next steps, etc? 14:40 - How can people find more about you?  Socials: @ADHDVision:  YouTube  INSTA  TikTok  Twitter This was great- thank you Nik! 11:37 - Drumroll please:  I have a new book coming out mid-February! The title is…. 12:21 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:39] Peter: Hello everyone. Good morning and welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. I wanna say how many words I could say all in one breath. Good to have you guys. It is a pleasure to see you all again. Talk to you all again. It is wonderful to be back, pretty much back weekly. Now we have a bunch of episodes in the can, so things are good. Let's take a trip today. Let's take a trip. All the way over to Asia, into Thailand, where we're gonna meet up with Nick Hobrecker. Nick has a really cool backstory and I'll let him tell you, but all what all you need to know is he runs a social media channel called A D H D Vision with over 150 million views. Atta aimed at improving wellbeing, productivity, overall life quality for people with A D H D. Sounds like someone you know. He's created a community of over 1.8 million people who follow him and are inspired by his work to live their best life with their brain. He's running an international circle of ADHD business owners again. Sounds like someone you know. Nick, welcome to the podcast. Good to have you,  [00:01:35] Nik: Peter. Lovely to be here. Thank you for having me, my friend.  [00:01:38] Peter: It's great to, great to have you. It's great to find someone on the other side of the world doing the same thing. Tell us your story. How are you diagnosed? How'd you figure it out? Um, how old are you? What's, what's the, what's everything? .  [00:01:48] Nik: Yeah man. So first of all, I'm from Germany, so, um, the whole notion of ADHD, uh, is still arriving there as we speak. Um, I got diagnosed in college, so quite late. I was about 21. If my memory serves me correctly, probably won't, but about 21. And, um, I was studying entrepreneurship in college. It was my fourth, fifth semester and, you know, classical story, mind blown. My whole life has explained itself to me all in a flash. And that's when I started creating content. I was active on YouTube way before then, you know, I was making funny videos on some random games. You know, Roone Scape League of Legends was always a passion of mine. And then I found a way to channel that passion into something helpful for people, which, um, you know, has now gained me that, uh, the amount of followers and, and the views that, that you just mentioned. I'm very grateful for it. I'm really, really happy to be able to reach the people that I do. And, um, Yeah. It's just, you know, showing people what my journey has been and trying my best to, to educate, uh, them so they don't have to say, have the same mistakes and go through the same struggles that I did. [00:02:51] Peter: Yeah, it is, it is a wake up call when you figure out exactly what's going on and how you can use that to your advantage, isn't it?  [00:03:00] Nik: It is, it's, it's huge. Um, you know, I keep going back to the same thing, saying the same thing, but it always, for me it's just, it's like an explainer bomb, right? All of a sudden, you know Exactly, um, who you are, why you do the things you do, and why you've been different your whole life. And, um, yeah, wanted to give that, that knowledge and that awareness to more people, because for me, it was a game changer. Ever since then, my, my life completely turned.  [00:03:27] Peter: Tell me about, uh, an average day for you. Cause right now you're in, you're in Poquette, Thailand, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It's, it's a favorite place of mine. I've been there many, many times and I don't necessarily know how productive I'd be living in a place like Phuket Thailand. So tell us what you're doing to, to sort of stay productive and how are, how are you surviving that?  [00:03:46] Nik: Man, let me, let me tell you, it's . It's a constant struggle, but, uh, there are a few routines in place, um, you know, occasional fun routines that I use to, to, uh, to stay on top of everything. So I do also wanna mention Peter, I, you know, your book Faster Than Normal helped me, um, a lot when I got diagnosed and it was actually part of my inspiration to go out and use my brain for, um, for its benefits. And, uh, what you mentioned in your book, uh, has stayed true, you know, pretty much ever since I've read it, which is just exercising, right, um, exercising in the morning, not just doing something for the dopamine for that reward chemical at the end, but doing something because you enjoy it. I really enjoy running. , right. Um, so every morning I try to do my run. I, I try to do my, my ab exercises. Um, I've got a gym just around the corner. Accessibility is everything, right? If the gym is around the corner, the motivation hurdle is a lot less steep. So that helps me. And other than that, you know what? Thailand is beautiful and the nature just also gives you that energy, right? There's been different studies, I think, on A D H D and nature and how can I help you focus. We've got a beautiful garden, outback, um, and you know, sometimes it's just great to to, to tank up the creativity that, that I need for from my videos. [00:04:59] Peter: That's awesome. So it's, I mean, it's a beautiful, there's no question it's a beautiful location. Um, how is it working there in an environment that, that doesn't necessarily lend itself to work, per se? I mean, tell us what you're doing. Like, you know, what do you do to get sort of like a dopamine hit in the middle of the day. Are you gonna go out and run on the beach or are you gonna go for a swim or, you know, tell me about that.  [00:05:18] Nik: What I like to do is just do something different to what I usually do. So it's just novelty. Novelty for me, gives me that dopamine kick, gives me that creative spark that I need to create new and and meaningful content. So, uh, for me it's just all about exploring this, this beautiful place. You know, we've, we've done so many different trips. I'm here with two of my very good high school friends who are also, you know, we like to call ourselves digital nomads, right? So we travel the world don't really have one specific place that we stay. And we just like to explore this, this beautiful island. I mean, you yourself, I think you've been here, Peter, right? It's, it's beautiful. You have um, this amazing culture shock of just, by the way, people are amazingly nice here. Yeah. Which is very nice for rejection sensitivity, cuz you never get rejected. Everybody's so nice to you, you know? Yeah. Um, on the one hand, on the other hand, you've got these, these beautiful beaches, these um, these amazing, I mean, we went to this huge statue of like a big Buddha. Um, it was a bit of a steep climb, but we went up there and inside this Buddha, they were actually meditating. Meditation has been a huge remedy for me and my A D H D right? Mindfulness. Um, and even though it's a struggle, um, sitting there in a big Buddha meditating with monks, I never knew I had a bucket list until that. You know what I mean? So that was, that was crazy.  [00:06:33] Peter: That's very cool. Tell me about, um, let's, let's flip gears a little bit to the business side of things. Tell me about what you're doing in terms of, so you run a mastermind or, or a, a group. Yeah. Um, all focused, adhd. Are people coming to you with, are you finding that people coming to you from an ADHD standpoint with all the same problems? Um, you know, the lack of focus, the ability is everything different?  [00:06:52] Nik: I mean, look, this mastermind that I'm now creating, right? We are in the very early stages. You know, it's, um, there's a lot of things that we still need to get right, but um, it's an experiment and we're testing things out, um, to see what's gonna give everybody the most value in the long term. Um, and what I've found, and the reason for creating this mastermind for ADHD Entrepreneurs in the first place is, you know, A D H D is often put on a pedestal when it comes to entrepreneurship, which it should be. We are great entrepreneurs, right? Five times more likely to start a business, et cetera. But, um, you know, we really talk about the struggles that do come with owning a business and having a D H D, right? Perfectionism, uh, decision paralysis, imposter syndrome. , all these different things that, that mass up into this, uh, big, you know, ball of, well, what the hell do I do now? Right? And that's where the inception of the group came from to have a support system. Right? One family that supports one another that gets one another, right? I think as business owners, Peter, you're probably gonna relate to this, is just as ADHD business owners, we often don't feel like the other people get it. You. 95% of people usually don't. And having a circle of like-minded people who get each other, um, and who can network with each other all at the same time, um, so far has been proving incredibly valuable.  [00:08:14] Peter: Awesome. Uh, how many people do you have in the group? [00:08:16] Nik: Right now? We've got 13. I wanna keep it really small because this is, you know, we're starting out. It's, it's an experiment. I wanna get everybody's feedback. I wanna make this the most kick ass group. Um, there, there is. And, um, you know, to do that, uh, we gotta dig down in the trenches and I wanna, you know, I've got feedback calls lined up with everybody. Um, and it's more like that we're creating this group together rather than just me, you know, spearheading it. [00:08:38] Peter: Yep. That's awesome. That's awesome. What, what have you learned, um, about yourself from running a group like that? Because, I mean, I know that when I ran, when I run mine, one of the things I learned consistently, consistently, consistently over and over again is that I'm, that any problem I think I can have, right? Any problem I think that I, I'm probably the only person in the world that has this, there's no one else with, is not everyone has the same issues. Um, we just don't talk about 'em a lot. Right. So when you get into a group and you start doing that, it changes everything. So what are some of the things that you've learned? [00:09:04] Nik: I mean, yeah, it's just, it's just exactly what you said. So I'm, I'm very fortunate to be in the position of being, um, you know, a bystander to listen to these amazing, vulnerable stories that do get shared. Um, and, you know, these are all very successful business owners that we have in this group. And you know what a lot of them talk about is, you know, problems like not really being understood, right. Wanting to people please everybody, even though it's your business. And, you know, certain things like that where you just, you. And you're like, damn, that's been, that's exactly been my experience. I just haven't been able to verbalize it. And just hearing that from people feeling at home is, I mean, I don't think there's any, um, any higher value than, than that.  [00:09:48] Peter: Yeah, no question about it. What would you tell an entrepreneur who's just gotten diagnosed and who has all these questions and, and, and really doesn't know what the next step is?  [00:09:58] Nik: Well, um, it's a great question. I don't think I can answer that in like one or two sentences, but the first thing that I would wanna tell them is that you've got a unique set of strengths that work for you, and you should use those strengths, get better at those strengths, right? Build your strengths, but. Try to outsource your weaknesses rather than like, try your best and like force yourself like, oh, I really have to do these financial, uh, statements right now. Like, no, get a virtual assistant for that. Right? You know, like there are certain things that your brain is just not meant to be doing. If you are an entrepreneur, of course, if you don't have the money, you're gonna have to stick through it. But, you know, virtual assistants are quite affordable nowadays, especially online. I know. Oh, totally. Um, I'm sure Peter, I don't know if, if you have, uh, I mean, how many virtual assistants do you have? Do you have one , two? [00:10:44] Peter: I've, I've been fortunate. I've had the same assistant going on 15 years now. And she was originally, she originally started with me and then she moved, uh, went and got married. Uh, so she lives in Massachusetts now, but still works for me. Wow.  [00:10:54] Nik: Well, fif 15 years. That is, um, that is awesome.  [00:10:56] Peter: She saved my life. She saves my life on a, on a regular basis.  [00:10:59] Nik: Yeah. Yeah, I hear that. I hear that. I've got one now. You know, we've been together, been together. Sounds, sounds odd, but you know, it's been 3, 4, 5 months. Um, and, um, yeah, she's, she's also been a lifesaver. So, I mean, but to get back to your question, that's what I would say. Focus on your strengths, outsource your weaknesses.  [00:11:14] Peter: Awesome. I love it. Guys, thank you so much for listening. I really, Nick, thank you so much for taking the time. How can people find you?  [00:11:21] Nik: Um, just at ADHDVision on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, you'll find me. Um, I'll be very happy to, uh, share some content with you. [00:11:31] Peter: I love it guys. Check Nik out. And as always, if you like what you hear, leave us a note. And I told you some good news last week. I'm gonna repeat it again this week. There is a children's book coming out and I can share the name with you now. It is called The Boy with the Faster Brain. And it is, you know, the first question I get every time I say that first question is, oh, is it autobiography? Well, yeah, kind of. But I think you're gonna like it. I think you're gonna enjoy reading it, and it should be coming out mid-February, so I will have a lot more info on that soon. It is gonna be for your kids, anywhere from ages 8 to. 14. It's gonna be a lot of fun, so stay tuned for that. As always, thank you for listening. Thanks to our guest. If you know a guest you think should be on as cool as Nik, shoot us a note, peter@shankman.com or at Peter Shankman, all the socials or @ FasterNormal . We will see you guys next week. As always, thank you for listening. Stay strong. Bye. We'll see you next week. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Abbie McCarthy is an award-winning TV / Radio presenter & DJ, you'll find her hosting BBC Music Introducing in Kent on the airwaves every Saturday night and also bringing great new music & fun interviews to your TV screens on 4Music and E4 Extra with Fresh This Month. Abbie is known for bringing the party with her DJ sets and this year has played at a whole host of festivals, including Glastonbury, Latitude & Knebworth, as well as playing several arena shows. Abbie is also the host and curator of popular gig night Good Karma Club, which has put on early shows for the likes of Tom Grennan, Mae Muller, Easy Life & many more and has even featured some famous faces in the crowds over the years - Alex Turner, Lewis Capaldi & Wolf Alice. Abbie's huge contribution to both the radio & music industry was celebrated when she was inducted into the Roll of Honour at Music Week's Women In Music Awards 2018. Abbie has been highlighted by the Radio Academy as one of the brightest young stars in radio, recently featuring in their esteemed 30 under 30 list and winning Silver for Best Music Presenter at the ARIAs 2020. Aside from music, Abbie's other passion is sport, which really shines through in her entertaining coverage on Matchday Live for Chelsea TV. You'll also find Abbie guesting frequently on BBC Two's football show, MOTDx and doing online coverage for England and the Lionesses football teams. How has she been so successful already, especially having just recently been diagnosed, and what advice does she impart to us? Enjoy!  In this episode Peter and Abbie McCarthy discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:47 - Intro and welcome Abbie ‘AbbieAbbieMac' McCarthy! 03:00 - So you just got diagnosed a year ago, so tell us your backstory? 05:51 - What rituals have you put into play for yourself to be able to get through the boring stuff? 07:00 - Do you get a dopamine release after having completed a list, or boring stuff? 07:38 - Who happens when you have to quickly adjust course? How do you balance your dopamine producers at all hours of the day and night, as various types of work demands? 10:30 - How do you handle negative criticism, and keep performing at one hundred percent even on tough news days? 12:32 - What have you had to fight through with respect to your being a Millennial, and a Female in a often-times patronizing industry? 14:23 - Americans are learning more about Premier League Football thanks to Ted Lasso. Who's your team? 14:40 - How can people find more about you?  Web:  https://abbiemccarthy.co.uk Socials: @AbbieAbbieMac everywhere:  Twitter  INSTA  TikTok  FB This was great- thank you Abbie!! Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  16:00 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:40] Peter: Yo, everyone! Welcome to Faster Than Normal, another episode. Thrilled to have you as always. We got someone fun today to talk about- Abbie McCarthy is joining us from the OK. She's an award-winning TV and radio presenter and DJ. Okay, you'll find her hosting BBC music, introducing intent on the airwaves every Saturday night, and also bringing great new music and fun interviews to your TV screen on 4 Music and Eve four extra with fresh this month. She brings the party with her DJ sets. She has played a whole host of festival. She's played Glastonbury, Latitude & Knebworth, as well as playing several arena shows and she's serious. Like, no joke. She doesn't, she doesn't fuck around. You're gonna, you're gonna like this one. She's the hosting curator of popular Gig Night. Good Karma Club. God, what else has she done? Uh, she was nominated, she was inducted into the role of honor at Music Week's, women in Music Awards 2018. She's been highlighted by the radio academy as one of the brightest young stars in radio, recently featured and their esteemed 30 under 30 lists and winning silvers for best music presenter at the Arias 2020 I. Being in PR week, magazines 30 under 30, and I'm now 50. So yeah, now I'm all pissed off. It's gonna be a shitty interview. All right. Anyway, Abby, welcome. I feel old. How are you?! [00:02:03] Abbie: Oh, I'm good, thank you. How are you? Thank you so much for having me.  [00:02:05] Peter: I'm thrilled to have you. So you came to us because you, you were reading Faster Than Normal, the book, and you identified with it, and you found yourself in it. [00:02:13] Abbie: Absolutely. I really loved it. I just loved the whole concept of it. The fact that you kind of said our our brains are like Lamborghinis. They just work faster than everybody else. But if you do the right things, you can use it quite efficiently. I thought it was a really nice way to approach it. Cause I think there's some books that you read and it's about kind of, Dismissing that you have A D H D or kind of not embracing it. But I thought that the whole approach was great and yeah, I took so much from it. And because I've only recently been diagnosed, it was such a useful book to lose myself in. I actually managed to read it in a couple of days and obviously everyone listened to this that has a D H D knows that's not always, that's not always easy. So I think it, uh, became my hyper focus for a couple of days. I really enjoyed it.  [00:02:56] Peter: Very true. We don't, we don't normally finish things like that. Um, now tell us, so, so you just got diagnosed a year ago, so tell us your backstory. Tell us about what it was like growing up before you were diagnosed. What was it like as a kid? Did you, what was school like for you? Things like that. [00:03:10] Abbie: I think I'm one of those classic people where, I was, I was, I was okay at school. I got like fairly good grades and I was always being told off for talking too much, which obviously makes a lot of sense now and I think that would happen more and more in the classes of things that I wasn't particularly interested in. Uh, you know, you mentioned at the start, I do lots of different things within music and, and some within sport as well. So I'm, I'm a creative person, so some of the more academic subjects I didn't particularly like, but I. Was Okay and, and got good grades, um, which maybe was why it wasn't picked up, I guess, when I was a teenager. Uh, but I, it's, I have this thing where I guess I. I just always felt like I was different, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. And you know, even as I've got older and I've got to do some great things in my professional life, like being on the radio to me is my dream job. I still can't believe I get to do that. I get to go on the airwaves, pick amazing music, and connect with people and share it with them, but that's awesome. You know, it's, it's. It's, you know, you might look at me and be like, oh, she's getting to do her dream job. But then it's like, it's more like all the things I struggle with at home, I guess. It's like, you know, keeping on top of errands and, and things like that and organizing other aspects of, of my life. And I think that's the thing with A D H D, isn't it? Someone on the surface might look a certain way, but you never know what's. Going on in, in somebody's head. Do you, you know, my brain is racing constantly. Yeah. Um, but you know, I've, I've managed to, to hold down a job and I guess I'm lucky because it's , it's, it is in things that I'm interested in, so that makes it easier too.  [00:04:50] Peter: Well, that's, I mean, that's really the key. You know, we, we all have to realize, you know, there are people who, who don't have faster than normal brains who can just sort of wake up, go to their job every day, do it for 40 years, retire, get their little gold watch, you know, and, and whether they love the job or not, is irrelevant to them. I. It's a means to an end. It's a way to make money. If we don't love what we're doing, we're not doing it well.  [00:05:10] Abbie: Yeah. Or you just don't wanna do it full stop. Exactly. So I feel so blessed to be doing something that I absolutely love and I. I'm so excited to go into work every day and the, you know, what I do is really varied as well, which I think works with our brains too. Like, I'm not gonna get bored. Each week can be very, very different. Sometimes I'm in the studio doing a radio show, then it's something like festival season where I'm kind of here, there and everywhere DJing. It might be going to interview somebody, you know, on the other side of the country. It might be going to a gig somewhere else. So it, it's, yeah, it's, it keeps it interesting. It's, it keeps it lively.  [00:05:43] Peter: Tell me about, um, so let's talk about the stuff you're not that great at. Let's talk about like, you know, what is it like to, you know, running the errands, things like that. What kind of, um, sort of rituals have you put into play for yourself to be able to get through the, the, the, the boring stuff? [00:05:57] Abbie: I actually got this piece of advice from somebody on social media when I first posted that I'd got a diagnosis and they were saying the things that you don't enjoy, things like housework and errands and food shopping. It's almost like, think of it in a different way, sort of set yourself, um, a bit of a competition or like, so you're trying to do it in the quickest amount of time or, you know, you set yourself a reward once you've finished it, things like that. So then actually that those, those activities aren't just draining. You are in some way getting a little bit of dopamine and I think it's just like picking the right time in the day to do some of this stuff as well. I think now I try and get up, exercise is a big one for me and I know it's for, for you as well from, from reading your book, getting up, going to the gym, even if I don't feel like it, which I don't a lot of the time, I always feel so much better afterwards than kind of getting all of those errands and boring things out of the way and then I can just enjoy the rest of my day and I kind of don't feel the guilt that I haven't done all the, all the adult things I guess that I think I should have.  [00:07:02] Peter: Well, it's interesting because that there is a, there are some studies that say that getting the boring stuff and stuff that you don't love getting it done is actually a dopamine release. Um, once they're all, not from doing them per se, but from that feeling you get of, oh, I don't have to do them anymore because I did them.  [00:07:17] Abbie: Yeah, that's true. Yeah. You actually completed something that you set out to do, so that's gonna give you a buzz, isn't it?  [00:07:22] Peter: Talk about, uh, some times where it's not that easy. Have things happened, whether you are in, uh, you know, whether you're at work or whatever? How do you deal with the things that, you know, you're, you're going a million miles an hour, right? When you're, when you're DJing or when you're working whatever, you're going a million miles an hour. What happens when you have to adjust course, uh, suddenly when you suddenly, you know, find yourself going off track or something like that. How do you keep yourself going, especially in a high energy job like that, because there's really only so much dopamine mean you can give. Uh, to get through over the course of a day, right. At some point, you know, I know that, that if I time it right, I give a keynote, I get done with the keynote, I get into the airport, get back onto the plane, and that's when I pass out. Right. So, how are you sometimes you're doing, I, I, especially as a DJ you're doing late, late nights, right? You know, into, into the wee hours in the morning. How are you holding that up? How are you keeping yourself aligned?  [00:08:14] Abbie: I think when I am DJing or I'm, yeah, playing a big event, I get so in the zone. I get so pumped for it. So I kind of have enough energy to, to get through it. I think the thing that I struggle with the most is when I've had, you know, a really great run of work, so something like festival season or because I work in football, you know, the, the Premier League season that we have over here. I've just been getting to work on loads of games with that. When that stops and there's just naturally a tiny little lull in work, and I say a lull, it's like four days or something, and. Get really down cuz I'm like, I dunno what to do with all of this energy that I've got. I almost dunno how to, to harness it. And then I have a real low and I'm kind of waiting for the buzz and the high again of, of doing all the things that I love. And I think that's been a learning experience for me is when I have these days off. Which I really crave when I'm in the thick of it. You know, when you are like working back to back and you're traveling everywhere, you can't wait for a day where you are. You can just not think about work and relax. But when it gets to those days, I find it really hard to actually lean into them. So that's something I need to work on to be honest. Um, but the other thing that I think is a bit of a struggle in the job that I do, and maybe you'll relate to this or other people will relate to this. Do more of a kind of public facing job is, you know, the sensitivity we can have to rejection and criticism. It's very much part of my job, you know, it'll be like, I'll be presenting something or I'll send off a show reel sometimes I'm super lucky and I get the job. Sometimes I don't. That's just part of the business, but I might then be really upset about that for a little while, and I think sometimes. The emotional deregulation thing. I can f I can feel a little bit. So that can be hard. I guess if you are, you're in the fields and you're not feeling so great and then you've gotta, you know, go on air and give people a good show, give people a good time. But sometimes I imagine that's a savior because you kind of have to put on this. I thought, great, let's have a good time. And you're doing it for other people. You're doing it for that feeling. It'll give somebody else. And the connection that you have with you and your listeners is really special. So you kind of wanna keep that. So sometimes in a way it can get you out of your funk, which I think is good.  [00:10:30] Peter: That's actually a really interesting point because I imagine that, you know, especially as a creative right, you do these amazing DJ sets, you, you're, you know, on the radio, whatever, and then yeah. You know, millions of people might love it, but there's one person who posted comments somewhere that's negative and that's all we think about, right? The same thing happens to me in keynotes. Mm-hmm. , but it's a real, you, you, you gave us a really interesting point, the concept of going on stage and having to put on that smile regardless of whether you're feeling it or not. You know, you don't have a choice, right? Mm-hmm. . So I would think that, yeah, in a lot of ways that's probably very, very helpful because you know that which you believe you eventually achieve, so, right? So, so you, you put that happy face on, you give that speech or you, you do that set at the end of it, you're gonna have that dopamine regardless. So it's a nice sort of, a nice sort of, uh, I guess, cheat sheet to get out of it.  [00:11:20] Abbie: Yeah, it actually is. Yeah, cuz it kind of gets you into that mental space, even if you really weren't feeling it beforehand. It might be, you know, you've got some really bad news an hour before I'm gonna go on the radio, but then as soon as I'm on the radio, I'm there to. I'm there to give it everything and to hopefully, um, bring people great music but also, you know, some good stories and, and keep them company as well. So it can be very useful cuz it can definitely switch you into a more positive place. And like you say, access that dopamine that we are always searching for. [00:11:51] Peter: Tell us about, um, how, first of all, how old are you, if you don't mind telling us.  [00:11:54] Abbie: I'm, uh, I'm 32, so I got diagnosed when I was say 31.  [00:11:58] Peter: You're 32 and you're female, and you're in an industry that's predominantly male focused and male driven. Right? So you are coming in as sort of a, I guess, uh, what are you, A millennial, I guess. Are you a millennial or Gen Y? What are you?  [00:12:10] Abbie: Yeah, I'll be, I'm a millennial. I wish I was a Gen Z yeah.  [00:12:12] Peter: You're in the cusp of a millennial, right? You're coming as cusp millennial. Tell us about some of the fights you've dealt with and some of the battles you've fought coming in as a millennial, a neurotypical, a neuro atypical millennial, um, who's a female in this male dominated industry. Right. You've, I'm, I'm sure you've, you've had to step up several times, both in, in football as well as DJ ing,  [00:12:32] Abbie: Yeah, I feel like I feel it the most as a DJ actually to be honest, where you'll turn up to DJ at a festival and a club and predominantly a lot of people working in that industry, it is changing, which is great to see. But a lot of people working in that industry, uh, are male. And sometimes you can get a few patronizing kind of sound engineers who are like, oh, do you know how to use the equipment? Do you need any help with that? And you're like, yeah, that's why I'm here. I'm here to, I'm here to dj. I'm here to do the thing that you booked me for. Or the, or, you know, the, the place book before. So I feel like you can experience a bit of that and I think a lot of stuff like where, you know, you are doing as good a job as your male counterparts, but you're probably not getting paid the same. But I think so much is changing. There's a real positive shift in like entertainment, in music, in sport. To, to even things out. But I do, um, some stuff for, uh, for B B C sport and uh, a sport. Chelsea, sorry if you don't, or sorry if people listening don't. So I do some of their matchday live programming as well, and I, I sometimes feel most vulnerable being like a woman in sport. Cause I think often people are just looking to just dismiss what you say because that industry is still so, so male dominated. That one's probably got the most catching up to do. Um, so dealing with that sometimes, but then it's, I think sometimes you just have to, although we find it hard, it's like shut out the outside noise and, and thoughts and just have real confidence and belief in what you are doing and what you are saying. That's the only thing you can do.  [00:14:10] Peter: Shut out the outside thoughts. I love that. So I've actually been a, I've been a Premier League fan for, for years, and I can tell you over the past few years here in America, I'd say millions more people have suddenly learned about non-American football thanks to Ted Lasso. So I think that, um, people are definitely learning a bit more , um, about it. What is your, who's your, who's your team?  [00:14:31] Abbie: Uh, Chelsea. Chelsea Football Club. Yeah, I've been a fan since I was like six or seven. So the good times and the bad times, and the Inbetweens .  [00:14:40] Peter: Very cool. I love this, Abbie! This has been so much fun. How can people find you?  [00:14:44] Abbie: Uh, people can find me on socials, uh, a Abbie Abbie Mac. That's my handle on everything. So A B B I E. Um, yeah, come and say hello! You know what? Us people with A D H D are like we, we love to connect. So yeah, please do, uh, get involved. Gimme a follow and uh, shout me in the dms and thank you so much again, Peter. It's been so fun.  [00:15:04] Peter: Oh, I'm so glad to have you! Guys listen to her stuff. She really is amazing, Abbie it's pretty incredible. Abbie McCarthy, thank you so much for taking the time.  Guys. By the time this comes out, you will probably. Have already heard the news that, uh, Faster Than Normal is being turned into a kid's book. It is. I can give you a title now. It's called The Boy With the Faster Brain, and it is my first attempt at writing a children's book and I am so excited. So I will have links, uh, on where to purchase and how to purchase and how to get fun stuff like that and how to have me come in and, and talk to your schools and your kids and, and whatever soon enough. So stick to that. As always, if you know anyone that we should be interviewing, shoot us a note. Just people as cool as Abbie and all and above only. Those are the only ones we want. No, I'm kidding. Anyone, anyone you think has a great story, we would love to highlight them on the podcast. My name is Peter Shankman. I'm at Peter Shankman on all the socials. We're at Faster normal as well, and we will see you next week. Thank you for listening and keep remembering you are gifted, not broken. We'll see you soon! — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Nathan Minns is the founder of Green Light Improv, a professional training company that cultivates resilience, enhances creativity, and improves communication, all while inspiring connection through improv comedy. Beginning as an actor in 2015, Nathan soon realized that his acting training was positively affecting other work skills, from creativity and confidence, to communication and decision-making. Ultimately, the change he saw in himself led him to create Green Light Improv in 2019. Green Light Improv inspires connection through improv comedy. The company doesn't teach improv comedy, but instead uses improv comedy as a tool to teach other work and life skills. In 2022, Nathan quit his job and is now working full-time to spread applied improv training. An Ohio State University graduate, Nathan has previously spent most of his career in the startup ecosystem as an employee and a 3x founder. How does this all work with his ADHD? Can Improv Comedy work via your ADHD too? Enjoy!  In this episode Peter and Nathan Minns discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:01 - Intro and welcome Nathan Minns! 02:50 - So Improv is a cult right? What got you into it? What got you excited? 05:51 - Can improv positively affect your mental health? Focusing on 2 things tandem? 07:10 - What is the reason people with neurodiverse brains are drawn to the improv community? 07:50 - How do you feel on stage? Why do you continue to practice improv? 08:30 - What kinds of folks are you working with; what all is your  Green Light Improv company doing? 09:45 - Can you share an example you've experienced in where a new client ‘gets it' for the first time, as you did? 12:40 - Is it about the 8 people you're in a room with, or the eventual audience? 13:48 - Neurodiverse brains. Conversation engineering and management. Improv is a team sport. 14:48 - How can people find more about you?  Web:  https://greenlightimprov.com  Personal: https://nathanminns.com Socials:  @ linkedin.com/in/minns on LinkedIN and via YouTube 15:06 - We should talk about improv as a tool and subject again- than you Nathan!!  Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  15:49 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:40] Peter: Hey everyone. Peter Shankman is with you today. Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal, the podcast where we talk about ADD, ADHD, Autism, Executive Function Disorder, anything and everything having to do with the neurodiverse brain, we here look at all of those things as gifts, not as curses, and we're thrilled that you're here. I am joined today by someone who I've been talking about improv both in my books and on the podcast and in my courses and things like that. As something that you kind of have to do. And why do I say that? Because improv allows you to focus on improving yourself from the inside out. An ex-girlfriend who used to do improv all the time, and I never really got it. And one day she invited me. She said, just come take class. And look, I was a drama major growing up. I went high school, the whole thing. I took this class and the simple act of having to think inside your own head in real time, massively, massively opened up my brain. and I was a fan, have been a fan ever since. So we're talking to Nathan Minns, who's the founder of https://greenlightimprov.com , a professional training company that cultivates resilience, enhances creativity, and improves communication, all while inspiring connection through improv comedy. He began as an actor in 2015, and he soon realized his Actor training was positively affecting other work skills from creativity and confidence to communications, decision making, things like that. So that's where he created Green Light Improv in 2019. It inspires connection through improv comedy. The company doesn't teach Improv. , but rather uses improv as a tool to other work and life skills. That actually, uh, resonates with me because I think that when I, when I talk to companies, when I go and speak to companies, I like to do a little improv just to get them to sort of break down those barriers that are inherent in business and inherent, I think in our brain. You know, a lot of companies, Nathan, um, more than ever before are focusing on, uh, employee mental health and employee mental wellbeing. And I think that, that you might just be at the right place at the right time type thing. That, so welcome to the podcast. First.  [00:02:44] Nathan: Thank you for having me. I loved your podcast for a long time, so I'm happy to be here. [00:02:49] Peter: So improv. So, you know, look, I, before I started going and started becoming a fan of it, I always assumed improv was kind of a cult. Um, you had to go, you had to bring 10 friends, you had to buy two drinks, you know, the usual, right? Yeah. And I was quickly disabused of that theory, uh, my first time there. So what got you into it? What got you excited? .  [00:03:08] Nathan: Well, I started performing in 2015 and I saw my first improv show in 2016, and when I saw the show; they were just, their brains were working so fast. I knew that it was something that I wanted to do too. So I went out and auditioned for these two groups that I saw perform, and I felt like I was doing incredibly well. I was making everyone in the room laugh and I was having a blast. And the only small hiccup that came was that it seemed like I was the only person that thought I was doing well. Because, yeah, I didn't get in, so I did not get into either group and I said, okay, I know this is something I wanna do. I've seen improv, I've done theater. So I took a step back. I started taking some classes and trying to put in the work to be able to get up to that level. Then I went back later, I auditioned again, and I did so much better. And in the end, the exact same thing happened. Really? In total? Yeah. In total. I auditioned across the two groups seven times before I got into an improv group.  [00:04:17] Peter: Wow. But you got into it.  [00:04:19] Nathan: I did . I did get into one. Um, but I, I realized there that many people, like what you were describing, see improv as this thing that they would never be able to do. And it's a learnable skill. It's something that you can figure out how to do. There's training to be able to learn it. And I was very naturally bad at it, but I like to think I'm a little bit better these days than when I first started.  [00:04:47] Peter: I love that. Naturally bad at some. Well, being naturally bad at something is the first step to kind of eventually being good at something, right? Yeah, exactly. Tell me about, um, you, you mentioned the, the brain working faster. Everyone's brain working faster in improv. You know, the thing about A D H D is that we're constantly, our brains are constantly working faster and, and while we're thinking one thing, we're making a joke about something else and we're thinking about something else, and you know, like four different things at the same time. And I found that the only place where that doesn't, two places where that doesn't really work well. One is in a relationship, um, when you're not entirely focused on the person. And yeah. The second one I've just discovered recently is in boxing because I'll be thinking, I'll, I'll, I'll be focusing on my punches, I'll be throwing, I'll doing it, and then something clicks in my brain and half a second later I'm four tangents away, uh, you know, wondering whether or not, um, beavers fall in love. And yeah. Next, next thing I know, I've just gotten rocked with a, with a hard right to the head, so that is, uh, something I'm focusing on, but, but talk about from an ADHD perspective or from mental health perspective. Talk about how improv can positively affect that. [00:06:00] Nathan: Yeah. I, I find that improv is one of the only places that I have gone into that community where the traits of A D H D are often rewarded. So when I'm on stage, I feel very comfortable. I feel everyone's watching me. Of course, I'm performing. But there's something about that heightened feeling that makes me very focused. And also in improv, we have to be fully present in the moment. And I think the stress, almost stress of being on stage helps that helps us to stay focused. And while we're being fully present on stage, we have to be able to come up with a lot of creative ideas very quickly. And discern which ones are good, which ones aren't worth pursuing. And I find that my ADHD is very helpful in allowing me to come up with a lot of different ideas and see what works. So I feel like it is a incredible community where it is the highest percentage of people with ADHD that I have ever been a part of any group.  [00:07:10] Peter: Interesting. Why do you think and and do you think the reason people with neurodiverse brains are drawn to it is because of the speed, is because of the quickness, is because it's, you know, it's, it's like that perfect place for a brain, for brains like ours.  [00:07:22] Nathan: Yeah, I think that it's, it's rewarded. Some of those quick thinking skills are rewarded where it may not be rewarded in the corporate sphere, where we often do more monotonous kind of tasks in 80, in, in improv. we're doing a lot of different things and we have to come up with a lot of different ideas. So I definitely think that, um, that's a, that's a solid reason why we're drawn to improv.  [00:07:51] Peter: Interesting. Tell me about how you're feeling when you're on stage. I mean, are you getting. . You know, when I get off the stage after a keynote, I'm, I'm just a wash with dopamine. Right. Do you have that same sort of feeling? Is that, is that one of the reasons you, you keep doing it?  [00:08:03] Nathan: Yeah. It, it's an incredible high being on stage. I now feel more comfortable on stage when I don't know what I'm about to say next . And in improv than when I'm in a play, or I'm doing a keynote, something like that. I feel very comfortable. Um, when I just, I don't have a script and I can just float along with it. I find I'm incredibly focused. Yeah. [00:08:29] Peter: That's very cool. Um, Where do you, uh, see it taking you? I mean, you're, you're working, what kind of companies and, and groups of people are you working with now in, in the company? And tell us about what the company's doing.  [00:08:42] Nathan: Yeah, so I'm 24 right now and I started the company in 2019 in my senior year of college at Ohio State. And I found, at the very beginning that I found that working with colleges and universities, uh, worked very well. That has stayed something that's pretty consistent working with a lot of colleges, uh, university programs. Now we're expanding into more of the corporate sphere, small business sphere, non-university, university sphere. Um, I see it growing into a place where we can have, uh, a variety of facilitators doing this work at, at the same time, we can have the basis of the curriculum too, but I think that improv can be used for so many different things that we can start to have different branches from, uh, a law school, a social worker school and, and any other, any other groups that we think can really benefit from this kind of training.  [00:09:44] Peter: Very, very cool. Talk about one of your, uh, talk about someone who came in with sort of that same attitude I did the first time. Oh, this is, this is bs, whatever. And talk about that moment when they sort of got it and you saw, you saw the change. [00:09:59] Nathan: So I saw, I went into one group. There were 40 people, and I started my initial talk. It's about, usually the workshops are about 10 minutes of me talking at the beginning. And then the entire rest of the workshop is exercise debrief. And in the exercise we're doing paired exercises for about half the time and groups of four to six for the rest of the time. So I start this 10 minute talk of just what is improv? How are we going to use it today? Why are we doing this? And about 30 seconds into this talk, someone raises their hands, think, okay, this, this isn't typically a time when people raise their hands, . Um, I said, Oh, ok- , what would you like to say? And there was this woman, she was probably around 60 or 70, and she said, Nathan, I just wanna let you know that we are all introverts and we're gonna hate this. Ha ha. And I was like, I appreciate your honesty,., thank you for telling me that. It's nice to see where, where our starting point is. And in that workshop I knew; okay, this might be a tougher audience than my typical workshop, but as we started getting going, I told her, let's just give it 10 minutes. Just give it a little bit of time and we'll see what happens. Within 30 minutes maybe, she was volunteering in front of the entire group, which isn't a thing we force anyone. , but we just, I asked would anyone like to share or represent the group? And she started, started doing it because I, I think they realized that this isn't an activity that's only for extroverts or, um, only for people who like to speak up all the time. Um, this is an, an activity that we, anyone can do, we can use it for, for any group. Yeah. And they can do something and have fun and get something out of it.  [00:12:07] Peter: You know what always interests me, the the introvert concept is interesting because a lot of people with neurodiverse brains are what you might call the most introverted extrovert you'll ever meet. In the respect that, you know, I love being on stage, I love speaking. I love doing that because it's me to many. Yeah. Right. But if it's me to a few, like at dinner party or whatever, I hate everything about that. Hmm. Right. You know, I, I, I, I love being on stage talking to thousands of people, or I love one-on-one, you know, having dinner with a friend or whatever. But the concept of, of, uh, you know, sitting with her in a room with eight people where we all have to make small talk. , you know, I'll be in the second bedroom playing with the cat. And so I think that one of the keys about improv is that it is a small group of people talking to each other, but in essence talking to an audience. [00:12:52] Nathan: Yeah. And in improv it is very much a conversation with the audience, not in the way that we actually expect the audience to talk to us through the performance. But when we're, because in improv, just so we're all on the same page, it is often when five to six actors get on stage, they ask for a single word, and they use that word to inspire a variety of scenes that have never been done before. Never been written before, and will likely never be done again. So something that that we find is that we have to create all of those scenes live and we can use what the audience is giving us all, whenever they laugh, we can say, okay, that is a, a button that we just pressed. Right. That something was funny there. Let's dig into that.  [00:13:42] Peter: That's really smart because you're, you're listening to the audience and you're, you're, you're letting them give you the cues not even realizing they're doing it.  [00:13:48] Nathan: Exactly. Yeah. It, we're not performing in a vacuum. We're not writing in a vacuum, so it's a nice way to, to have a conversation on that kind of scale. [00:13:57] Peter: It's interesting cause that's what people who understand their neurodiverse brands tend to do is they, they tend to, uh, engineer the conversation in the respect that I can go in and start talking about something with someone knowing full well that I'm leading them, uh, down a path that I want to go to get to somewhere I wanna talk about, but making it seem like it's their idea. [00:14:16] Nathan: Yeah. And, and in improv, you know, we, we all have, I have a ton of ideas when I'm on stage, my scene partner has a ton of ideas and that's where the connection happens. Because in improv we're not doing just what I'm thinking. We're not doing just what they're thinking. The ideas very much meld together, and that's much of the basis of how we use it for connecting and trust building. Because improv is a team sport. It's not like standup where it's just you on stage. You win and lose as a team.  [00:14:53] Peter: Totally. How can people find out more about, about you and about, uh, Green Light Improv?  [00:14:58] Nathan: You can go to https://greenlightimprov.com [00:15:02] Peter: I love it. I love it. Nathan, thank you so much for taking the time today to be on Faster Than Normal. Really appreciate it. Improv, I think, is the subject that we, we should touch on again. Um, I think, I think it, it, it is an underrated tool for those with Neurodiverse brains; so I really appreciate you being here, man. We'll have you back. For sure.  [00:15:17] Nathan: Thank you for having me! [00:15:18] Peter: Guys, as always, we wanna hear what you think! Shoot me an email, peter @shankman.com. Let me know about a guest that you think might be great on the show. Uh, we'd love to know. You could follow us on all the socials and I'm gonna give you all a little, uh, piece of secret news that haven't really announced yet. Children's book .Coming in February. I'll leave it at that. Thanks for listening. We'll see you guys next week here on Faster Than Normal.  Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Welcome back and thanks so much for staying with us here in 2023! So today we're catching up with our former guest, Sharon Pope. [her first interview focusing on Shelpful and Instant Human Accountability can be heard HERE].  Sharon is the co-founder and CEO of Shelpful, the instant accountability service that pairs you with a real-human buddy to help you build good habits (they nudge you and hold you to big habits like getting exercise, or small tasks like taking out the trash on time). Prior to starting shelpful, Sharon was a startup executive for 15 years, running marketing and product. She advised startups at the famous startup accelerator, Y Combinator, and was Chief Marketing Officer at ZeroDown, Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT), GoBank and Loopt. Prior to that she managed PR and content for a range of tech companies at leading San Francisco-based PR agencies. Today we welcome back to talk about how her super helpful company Shelpful has changed, if she's still using exercise as medicine, and what new important things she has learned since our visit last year. Happy New Year! Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Sharon Pope discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:50 - Intro and welcome back Sharon Pope! 01:48 - Since our last visit HERE, she has been up to a lot! Let's talk about rituals-  02:17 - On dealing with your tasks, habits, routines  02:45 - About your brain and habit formation 03:41 - A note on keeping perspective and overwhelm 04:05 - On becoming a certified habit coach 05:43 - What can we do right away to begin feeling a sense of accomplishment of achieving a goal? 08:18 - What is it with people start/stopping on very specific dates? Does that even work? 09:15 - On bursts of motivation and will power 10:52 - What have you learned that might surprise people in regards to accountability and habits? 11:00 - ADHD getting small things done, asking for help when you need to, and not feeling bad 13:28 - How can people find more about you?  Web:  www.SHELPFUL.com   Socials:  @shelpful on Twitter  INSTA  Facebook & TikTok 13:39 - A little more on how Shelpful works.  Ref: Oak Journal and method  14:38 - Thank you Sharon! Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  15:00 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:40] Peter: Hey everyone. Welcome back to Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. I am thrilled that you're here for another episode. We are talking again to a recurring visitor, Sharon Pope. Who was on about two or so years ago runs a company called Shelpful, and I love the concept. It's the instant accountability service that pairs you with a real human buddy to help you build good habits, like big habits like getting exercise or small habits like taking out the trash on time. I could use one to remember to walk my dog, but actually we can do that too. the dog. The dog reminds me to do that. I could, I could use my other thing, but, um, awesome. You are, I mean, Sharon, Sharon has tons and tons of, of awesome background. We've had her on before. Um, she ran marketing products. She was a, she, she advised startups at Y Combinator. She worked at zero down Green dot GoBank Loops. She managed PR back in the.com boom for a bunch of tech companies. So she's, she's been around the block quite a few times. So Sharon, welcome. At the beginning of the year here, 2023. Tell us what's been going on in the world of she and, and, and what, what new and interesting things you're doing and how, more importantly, how can our listeners take away some advice on building good habits, good rituals, forget about resolutions, let's talk about rituals.  [00:02:00] Sharon: Yeah. Resolutions, I feel like is the hot topic right now, but it's really about those big goals that I think people try to set. Right. Um, and we at Shelpful a lot of that, right? So Shelpful obviously the place where people can go to get support on whatever they're trying to get done. So tasks or habits, routines. Um, and so we often have people come in and say, I want to do X, Y, z. You know, like a giant list of things and a whole overhaul. And our, our response is always, you know, let's start smaller. Um, and not just because. That helps in a text message conversation or in a workshop setting, which is often how we're helping people. But it's because the research proves it out, right? So you know, the actual habit formation that happens in your brain happens when you feel successful. And if you have these giant goals that you set that are almost unachievable, then after a few days you, your brain, literally, Push against the habit because it's not feeling successful and doing it. So we like to have people really lower the bar, not because they're lazy, but because in lowering the bar, you're actually setting yourself up to feel successful, number one and number two to do the habit the next time. So whatever it is that you're trying to do, whether it's. You know, get movement in every morning. Wake up when your alarm goes off, do gratitude, take your dog for a longer walk, . Um, all these things are, are habits, and if you can work on wiring them in, you know, it, it can help, it can help you feel more successful the whole year instead of just, I don't know, the first month of the year, for instance.  [00:03:41] Peter: So, so basically what we're looking at here really is the concept of eating the elephant one bite at a time. [00:03:47] Sharon: Oh yeah. I think that's a great analogy. I think, and it's, it's, I think people often get, stir that analogy up when you're talking about tackling a big thing. because it's, it's what seems logical to get it done piece by piece. But what's been really enlightening for me as I I, so I became an actual certified habit coach in this path after starting Shelpful to solve my own problem, which was feeling completely overwhelmed with everyday stuff, right? The little things would just follow from my list, like getting movement and getting fresh air. Yeah, like you mentioned, taking my dog for a very long walk instead of just like having go to the bathroom. All these things that were important to my self-care were just falling off the list. So completely geeked out on habits became a sort of a habit coach through Dr. BJ Fogg who wrote the book Tiny Habits, um, and is kind of one of the preeminent. Behavioral scientists in the field, his research backs this up, that if you shrink something down to tiny, tiny, tiny, not only are you making it harder to not do, but you, it's that feeling of success from that small, small action is what wires the habit into your brain. So that's something we spend a lot of time. We have kind of a workshop now that we try to teach people those skills of feeling successful for the smallest thing. Cause it actually is a skill. You kind of have to learn that and, and especially for an ADHD'er who's very comfortable and a shame spiral situation. Yeah. I think that it, it's, it's hard to accept that the smallest version is okay, but that it's not only the reality and something that would be helpful for self-compassion, but the research backs it up!  [00:05:26] Peter: Yeah, no question about it. So tell us about, tell us a little more about that, because the, the premise of, you know, oh, it's the new year, we lose 30 pounds in January. No, you're freaking not. Right, right. You know, we, we, let's, let's be honest. No, you're not. Um, so you have to sort of start at the beginning. Um, what can people do just off the top of their heads, you know, what can we do right, right away, um, to sort of give us a little confidence that we can achieve these goals. [00:05:50] Sharon: Sure, and let's, let's play out your example, right? So if the big goal is to lose 30 pounds or, um, improve your health, then I think the first step would be, first of all, trying to think of an ongoing habit you can work on that you actually want to do. So if you love. Paddle boarding, then maybe pick a habit, like an exercise that you wanna do regularly that helps improve your balance, that would help you with that habit or that that activity that you really, really love, um, or that you're cooking more. If you love to cook, then maybe we're working on a habit that involves meal planning or um, meal prep on Sundays. Things that you genuinely want to do because like we, we talked about, we're working on kind of hacking the brain and so we have to like the thing. That's why bad habits are formed too, because cookies are delicious and and I love them, then I can form that habit. So picking something you really want to do, I think is key. And it might sound obvious, but you know, starting with box jumping, if that's not your thing, is probably not the way to go. Right. Um, And then the second step is making it super, super small. So, um, instead of, I'm gonna work out for 20 minutes every morning, there's, we can make it tiny. Like, after I walk outta the bathroom, I'm gonna put on one walking shoe. Or after I put my toothbrush back in the cup, I'm gonna turn on my Peloton. Right. Literally just, and that's it. And that's, and, and then we actually say the hack is to celebrate that small thing. Because on the craziest busy day, maybe sometimes you'll try on the Peloton. and literally have to just walk away from it. But you can still say you did your habit. Yep. Um, and so that's, I mean, those are the key things is, is making it smaller and attaching it to something you already do. So I mentioned like putting your toothbrush away. This is something that, um, is an existing habit so we can kind of hack the brain a little bit to, to stack those habits together. Right? So just like when I walk through the door as an adult, my hand goes behind me to pull it shut. That's what we're kind of trying to create is this habit, muscle memory. By making it small, by making it part of your existing routine. Right. That can help you form that. And th this is the type of thing that I would define as success, Peter, that if you told me that you turn your Peloton on every day after you put your toothbrush away, I would say that's something to celebrate. I would have no follow up question that I, I assume that some days you would've gotten the workout in too. [00:08:08] Peter: Right. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. You know, it's interesting I think that, that people tie and I, I'd be curious your, your opinion on this. People tend to tie. Whether it's resolutions or rituals, to specific dates like, oh, dry January, or mm-hmm. , or, um, you know what, whatever, whatever those are, uh, the month before Memorial Day to get in shape. But why does it have to be tied to something? Why can't you arbitrate? I mean, when I quit smoking back in 2015 mm-hmm. , I mean, I quit years and years before that, but every once in a while I'd bum one, but the last time I had an actual, honestly got cigarette was March, fif March 17th, 2015. I just, I. no tie to that date whatsoever, I'd say, you know what? Screw it. I'm done.  [00:08:49] Sharon: Had a good, had a good St. Patrick's Day, and you're done.  [00:08:52] Peter: Yeah. Why is it so hard to just go to that, to go say, you know what? I wanna do something and make that change today, but, oh, you know what? I'll do it in February. I'll do it March 1st. Why? Why are we so stuck on tying it to something? [00:09:07] Sharon: Yeah, I, I think that, I mean, in smoking obviously has other addiction elements that I'm certainly not an expert on, but I think I can definitely relate to this Diet starts Monday mentality or, you know, big nears resolution, those things. And I think it, it's related to our tendency to have these bursts of motivation and willpower, which don't sustain, like you can kind of map it, right. You can see. Okay. Big burst of motivation and willpower, especially for an adhd, right? These things can't be dependent upon. So we have these moments where we kind of, um, we put a lot of our kind of motivation eggs in one basket of, okay, this is gonna happen. I'm doing it big, go big, go home. Never say die, right? Keep up the streak. All these things. And our culture. Our culture stokes this, it it, it makes us feel like it has to be all or nothing, which is why I think we have to put a start date on it. But what we always, I mean, what we work with people on, and as you know, we have, we kind of have our habit coaching, but we also have these accountability buddies that you text with. And the big part of what. I've seen from our members is that, start today with something small. Celebrate your small successes, and that adds up to something big. And if, if it's small enough, you can always start today. Usually, you know, like unless it's something that depends on you getting some piece of equipment or something you have to get from your Amazon order. But generally you could start if it's, if you make it small enough, you can start today. And if you can't. It's probably a sign that you're not starting small enough.  [00:10:43] Peter: Yeah, no, that's a really, really good answer. That's a really good answer. What else have you learned, um, as you've been going through? So, so you've been running the company now for a few years. What, what else have you learned? What would you, what would surprise people, um, about whether it's habits or about whether it's accountability? .  [00:10:59] Sharon: Yeah. We started this company in early 2021 as a response to my own frustration. And I, I've obviously, through that journey, I've found out or was finally diagnosed with my own adhd, which explained why so many people with ADHD were signing up for our service. Um, and I think, I think the main thing, it's, it's been interesting. I have, I've had this parallel path of learning a lot about myself and learning a lot kind of what, what support needs to exist in the world? Um, on my own track, I think being able to instantly see when I launched this service that I wasn't alone, that a lot of people felt a lack of support on the little things in life. Just felt like they were completely alone in these tasks of taking care of everyone in their life and taking care of work, but not taking care of themselves. It was, I wasn't alone in that. Which for me was not only enlightening and exciting from a business perspective, but just made me feel this immediate sense of community and and gratitude to be able to help people just like me. Yeah, and I think the other thing I've really learned is, As I, I've had this parallel path of understanding about my ADHD as I've been helping people with adhd and I've found it transformative. So the advice I just spat out on starting small and not falling to the shame spiral, that was advice I would not have been taking two years ago. And so I've had this kind of personal journey of being able. to number one, name a specific thing as adhd, like, I didn't pay that bill. I have adhd. I'm not a horrible person. , let me reach, let me, you know, I, I have a shelter. That's our, that's our name for an accountability buddy. So I, I literally texted her last night like, please, please, please make me cancel this fitness subscription that I haven't used and I like, and they're making me call, which is complete paralysis for me, of course. And so instead of blaming myself and being like, I suck as a person because I can't pick up the phone and cancel subscription, I mean, you know, you, I'm sure you can completely relate to this and a lot of people can, someone making me call them is like, oh, the worst thing in the world, the literal, worst thing in the world. Like I, I'd rather start a company. I'd rather learn to fly a plane , like there's a million things I'd rather do than c all a person to cancel something. Right. So I, I have, I've had this, I think, journey of self-compassion that I, I'm accepting support, that I know I need help on little things, and I'm not a bad person for that. [00:13:23] Peter: Yeah. I love it. I love it. Very cool. How could people find you?  [00:13:30] Sharon: Yeah, we are at www.Shelpful.com S H E L P F U L. Rhymes with helpful. Um, and we have all sorts of services you can find there. Our most popular thing is that one-on-one work with your own real human buddy who will remind you of your crap , basically, and help support you on any habits or tasks you're trying to get done. But we also have groups where you can be put in a group with four, with three other people and work on the same thing. So we have, we actually have folks with adhd. Um, we have groups, people working on all trying to get movement in, drink more water, anything under the sun, and we actually have some specialties. Um, in partnership, there's a company called Oak Journal that we're partnering with, and they have this kind of daily method where you do gratitude every day and set your top priorities every day. So groups are kind of going through that process together so they can stay on track and work toward bigger goals. So that's been really fun to do as well.  [00:14:26] Peter: Very cool. Well, Sharon, thank you as always for joining us at Faster Than Normal. I love it when you come by. It's great to hear from you. Glad things are going well, and we'll have you on again towards the end of the year. We'll see how we're doing with our, our, our, our rituals. [00:14:37] Sharon: Thanks for having me Peter. [00:14:38] Peter: All right, guys, as always, listening to Faster Than Normal. We love that you love us. Have any ideas for great guests like Sharon, let us know. Shoot me an email peter@shankman.com we'd love to include, and we will see you with another episode next week. Stay safe, stay happy. Bye bye :) Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

In this episode, Peter Shankman shares key strategies and mindset tools he has developed to help him thrive with ADHD. He is also candid about his struggles over the years, particularly given his late ADHD diagnosis. 

Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson is cross-appointed to the Faculties of Social Work, Medicine, and Nursing at the University of Toronto. She is also Director of the Institute for Life Course & Aging.  She has published more than 170 articles in peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and Cancer. Her research examines ADHD and mental health, the association between early adversities and adult physical and health outcomes, and disparities in health. She has recently been focused on resilience and flourishing mental health.  Her work has widely cited in the media including the New York Times, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine and CNN. We're thrilled to welcome her back and hear about her latest research in our last episode of 2022. Thank you for joining us all year long! We hope you have a happy, healthy and safe holiday season, everyone. Enjoy!  In this episode Peter and Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson discuss:   01:20 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:15 - Intro and welcome back Dr. Esme Fuller-Thomson! 01:57 - Since our last visit HERE, she has completed some new research on Anxiety and ADHD 03:00 - Women with ADHD were 5x more prone to anxiety, compared to women without ADHD 04:20 - What is the percentage of researchers who study ADHD and Anxiety? 05:45 - On budget, finance and anxiety + ADHD 07:17 - Are you one of the people perhaps more at risk for anxiety? Ref: Research Aug. 31, 2021 08:00 - ADHD and finding moderation with controlled substances/impulse control 09:40 - And now for the new good news!  11:00 - Ref: Corey Keys at Emory University and his three pillars of “Excellent Mental Health” 13:00 - More than 2 out of 5 are flourishing w/ excellent mental health; how do we get more of us here? 15:12 - On keeping perspective and not hyper-focusing on the bad stuff. 17:25 - A look at the factors in the study of those flourishing with ADHD 18:29 - 300 years ago, exercise was a mandatory part our daily life because we needed it to simply exist 19:40 - People who use spirituality to cope w/ their day to day troubles were much more likely to be in complete mental health. 20:43 - Point | Counterpoint on relationships and marriage 21:17 - Happiness and chronic pain 22:00 - Remember, just a few years ago it was still rare for Women to get an ADHD diagnosis 23:56 - What is CBT and can it be helpful? Ref: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy  00:00 - How can people find more about you?  Just type in Fuller-Thompson + ADHD, HERE on Google Scholar, or via https://socialwork.utoronto.ca/profiles/esme-fuller-thomson/ 25:00 - Thank you Esme! 25:18 - “Thank you Peter for what you do for the whole community of people with ADHD. We all appreciate it!!” 25:28 - The Faster Than Normal book is still being printed, and this is awesome, THANK YOU and I'm so happy it's helping!!!!   26:07 - Happy Holidays!!  Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  26:35 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:40] Peter: High, high, high. Hope you're well. This will probably be last episode will be recorded before Christmas and the holiday break. I hope that you are all going somewhere warm or if. You are doing something that keeps you busy or maybe going somewhere cold if you live in a warm area right now, like to all my friends in Australia anyway, I'm not, I'm in New York City, it's 12 degrees or some crap like that. Um, I am getting outta here later in the week for about a week and, and gonna bury my head in the sand somewhere warm. So that's nice. Anyway, we have a g returning guest. We. Esme. Okay, I gotta stop you right here. Cause first of all, you understand I love this person. This person is one of the few people who's out there doing hardcore research on girls, women, and adhd. So I want to welcome back Esme Fuller Thompson, Dr. Esme Fuller Thompson. She's an incredible guest. We had her right, we think about God two or three years ago, I think it was pre pandemic. So it's wonderful to have you back as we welcome and you got tons of new stuff to talk about.  [00:01:36] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Absolutely. And some of it is really positive because last time I came it was all about the negatives. And I still have some, I remember. Yeah. But I promised you that I had in the works, um, some research on flourishing among h adhd. So do you wanna start with the bad stuff or the good stuff? Which one?  [00:01:52] Peter: Let's get the bad stuff outta the way.  [00:01:54] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Okay, so, um, when I was with you, which I think was about two years ago, we were talking a lot about women with h ADHD which is dear to my heart. Um, I think it's a neglected population. People really haven't been looking at it, but we, we, in that time we talked about, um, depression and suicidality. But we didn't really know very much about anxiety. So I worked on a paper that came out, um, uh, almost a year ago on generalized anxiety disorder among A D H D and life. It, it's not too surprising that the rates are higher among people, um, with adhd cause life is anxiety producing because things are sometimes quite chaotic, right? So yes, indeed. Um, We found that people with A D H D had four times higher odds of anxiety disorders compared to their peers without [00:02:52] Peter: Wow. Four times higher odds of anxiety disorders when you have ADHD. Wow.  [00:02:57] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Yes. Yeah, so I mean, I was expecting maybe double, but. Four times and it's women. Insane. Were even worse. Women, women with a adhd were five times compared to women without h adhd. Now these are young, relatively young, like 20 to 39 year olds. And um, ooh, you know, that, that, that's hard. It's hard to, to manage. Uh, that doesn't mean that they actually have it necessarily at this moment, but they've had anxiety disorders. So some have overcome it, but, but it's, um, it's a significant barrier that, that a lot of people with a d h ADHD have to go through. And as I said, women have, um, a harder time with it even than men, even though women in general have higher anxiety., Women with ADHD proportionately are doing worse than women without ADHD compared to men with ADHD versus men without, so interesting. It's, it's, uh, it's a real issue and I think it's neglected. I don't think, I think the other behaviors, you know, the, the depression and substance abuse, those ones tend to get more attention, but anxiety can be crippling. And I think we need to think about it as, as clinicians and also as as people with A D H D and, and also people who love people with A D H D, that keeping an eye on that anxiety and thinking about interventions to help with it because there are some really good interventions.  [00:04:18] Peter: I know for a lot of people who are getting help with A D H D and they're getting help, uh, you know, whether it's medication, whether it's, uh, D B T or whatever, you know, there are a lot of. What do you think the percentage of of psychologists or or therapists are that put together the link between ADHD and anxiety?  [00:04:38] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Well, certainly I know with, um, some of my research on women and other people's research that women are much less likely to get the correct diagnosis and Right. So they might have, they, so sometimes they might be that anxiety or the depression or flagged and they haven't put it together that it's A D H D. If people are brought in young, uh, be maybe because of school related stuff for A D H D, they may not be screening for, um, depression or anxiety. So it's, I what I, my plug is if you have people presenting with anxiety and depression, think about A D H D. If you have, um, have patients or clients with a D H D think about depression and anxiety. Not that everybody has it, and we'll get the good news at the end. But it is more, much more likely to occur. And among those with, uh, among women are more vulnerable than men. But there's other things too. Um, low income is very anxiety producing, whether you have ADHD or not.  [00:05:40] Peter: Wondering, and I completely, I mean that, that's a given. There's no question about that.  [00:05:43] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Absolutely. But, People with A D H D may have harder time managing budgets and, and making sure that the money makes it all the way through to the end of the month. And so that, that's very anxiety producing. So now going from middle class to upper class, that doesn't make a huge difference. But being really close to the line and not having enough to make ends meet is desperately anxiety Produc. Yep.  [00:06:11] Peter: I believe it. And what's interesting is that I think, you know, especially now in this sort of worldwide financial crisis we're in, you know, that certainly doesn't help. It's, it's tough enough when, when we're all doing moderately well, [00:06:22] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Yes. Yeah. So, uh, I, now, my, I should have comment that my research is based on, uh, representative samples, but before the pandemic, right? So everybody got more anxious, more depressed, and more, you know, during the depress the, um, pandemic and being locked at home is. Great for people who like a lot of the stimulation and activities. So I'm guessing that these estimates are perhaps, um, underestimates of the magnitude of the problem in probably, yeah. The pandemic. So I, I, as I said, there'll be a while before we get that kind of information out, but it seems logical to think it's not getting better anyway.  [00:07:06] Peter: Hmm. Unreal. Unreal. , but you said you had good news. [00:07:11] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: All right, well let me just finish the other people at risk, cuz those are kind of Okay. More, more bad news. Let's go over that. More bad news. Okay. Um, so the, uh, people who had more close relationships were much less likely to have anxiety. So almost every study I've done in ADHD, social support, having a confidant, having, uh, a spouse on your side. All of those things are really, really protective. So, um, the idea of building and building a so social support network and reaching out to that network and investing in it really helps on all those fronts. Um, . And then the, uh, the other negative news in August in 2021, I published on substance use disorder. And we touched on this briefly, I think two years ago when we talked about it, but some people, uh, uh, we found that people with A D H D were much more likely to have had a substance use disorder at some point in their life. And we're looking at 20 to 39 year olds and. Almost half had a substance use disorder. I don't think that'll be too surprising to you having talked with so many of your guests, but Yeah, not at all. So the issue is, I mean, some people are able to consume in moderation, but people with A D H D are probably many of them. find Moderation a hard piece. It's kind of an all nothing piece.  [00:08:35] Peter: People are able to, people with ADHD are some are able to consume with, what'd you say? [00:08:39] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: With moderation? Say, oh, I'll just have a glass. But that's,  [00:08:42] Peter: why are you, why are you making up words? I've never heard this word. Moderation. What is that?  [00:08:48] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: So my point is that, um, among people with substance use issues and a D H D and impulse control issues, perhaps abstinence is a good strategy. Not, you know, some people can do it without the abstinence kind of piece, but, um, You know, it, it can get you into, if you have impulse control and drinking and drink, this is all types, uh, it's higher for everything, cannabis, uh, heavy drugs and alcohol. So, um, generally the. The idea is that, uh, A D H D makes it harder to manage, uh, substances in general and makes you more vulnerable to, um, addictions. So that makes perfect sense. Yeah, totally makes sense. So those are the bad news, but can I get to the good news? Can I share with you,  [00:09:39] Peter: for God's sake? Yes. [00:09:40] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: After all of this. Okay. So, So, uh, you know, I'm, I'm more than a quarter century into my career, and so I, I have spent the first 20 some years looking at negative things, depression, anxiety, um, uh, suicidality, and, you know, that's a bit of a Debbie Downer. When you go to parties and you say, oh, what do you do? I'm looking at depression, anxiety, thanks, geez. But, and then, but it's a little bit of. Whack-a-Mole Pro, uh, uh, problems, you know, that little kid's game where it's politics of course. Yeah. Very, uh, politically incorrect, where just spit poor moles on the head and yeah, one goes down and the other pops up. So, you know, here I am, I'm like, okay, I'm focusing on say A D H D and anxiety. And so, you know, you think about interventions and many really good interventions and maybe anxiety goes down, but depression pops up or maybe depression goes down and substance abuse pops up. So, um, I, I started thinking, well, I need to really look at it holistically. And if I said to you, how are you doing today? And you said, I'm not suicidal. Well, that's not really where we want you to be. We want you to be flourishing, right? So, um, I started looking around and there's an amazing researcher at Emory University called Corey Keys, and he came up with this concept. Excellent mental health. So when I ask you what does mental health mean to you? Not just it's, it's the absence of mental illness. Sure. But that's not really enough. Just not being suicidal or not being depressed. It's really more than that. So his idea has, Three pillars. The first one is, no mental illness in the past year. No substance dependence, no um, depression, no anxiety, no bipolar, and no serious suicidal thought. So that's a great place that's getting you to, that's pillar one is getting you to neutral, which is great. Um, and certainly if people are, are, are, have any of those issues, getting them out of that is, is your first plan as a clinician or as a family member. But then, then pillar two. How often in the last month have you been happy? And you have to say every day or almost every day. Like if you're just happy twice a week, it doesn't make it. And they also ask how, how often you are satisfied with your life and you have to be daily or almost daily. So you can see that one of you have to be at least one of these. So pillar two is happy or satisfied on an almost daily level. So no mental illness and you're happy and satisfied. And then pillar three is about psychological wellbeing and social wellbeing. I have warm and supportive relationships. Life is getting better for peace pull. Like me, I like most parts of my personality. And in the last month you have to agree to the majority of those six of the 11 questions. at least, uh, daily or almost daily. You have to agree to that. So this is really, really, really high, right? You're not mentally ill. You have no substance dependence, you have no suicidal thoughts. You're happy and or satisfied, and you have warm and you, you have great social or psych and or psychological wellbeing. Like, isn't this what we're hoping for?  [00:12:54] Peter: Yeah, one would think,  [00:12:56] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: all right, so among those with ADHD, this is a really, really high bar. More than two and five are flourishing, are absolutely flourishing, are hitting this incredibly high bar.  [00:13:12] Peter: Interesting, interesting. That's more than two and okay. . I wouldn't, I would not have thought that ,  [00:13:20] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: neither would I. And in fact, when I talk to anybody else, they all say, oh no, it's gotta be 10% or something like that. But, and you know, some of the blame is to us who are researchers, cuz we've just focused on the negatives. Like I started the conversation with, but without looking at, well there are some people who are completely free of mental illness and are flourishing, and why don't we spend more time thinking about who those people are and how they got there and how can we help more people get to that point.  [00:13:51] Peter: Really, really interesting thoughts. I, you know, it's interesting. I think that a lot of, and I mean, look, I, I'm not the doctor you are, but I think there's, I wonder if a part of the reason that people with A D H D tend to find themselves in positive spaces more often is because, , we're very, very good at changing the subject. In other words, we're in a bad mood for as long as that bad mood can hold our attention. .  [00:14:16] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Okay, well, so fine. But, but at least, at least, uh, almost daily in the past month, uh, past week, months, uh, you have to have been happy. So you're saying the, it's the, uh, [00:14:28] Peter: well, cause you have, you have to be happy 24 7. I mean, no one's happy. No, no,  [00:14:32] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: no, no. You have, just have to have happy. Right. Yeah. Or you have, you have happy moments. Oh, well then, now I have to admit that people with a d, ADHD have a much lower rate than people without H adhd. But I, my, what I was focusing on, and I think, I think partly as we said, because we do all this negative research about all the negatives, people feel that they are, they don't have in front of them our potential to flourish. That they, you know, that, that that is not a trajectory for them. And I'm saying, wow, many, many, many people are getting to that incredibly high level of functioning and just, you know, life is good.  [00:15:12] Peter: Yeah. It's really, you know, it's fascinating. I think that that, you know, we spend a lot of time complaining. Oh, this is this and this. I mean, we got on the phone today, Peter, how you been? Oh my God, these last six months. You know, but, but in retrospect it's not bad. It's, there's day-to-day annoyances in the minutiae, but. , I'm here. I have my health. I'm, I'm, I'm my kid's doing well, you know, all those kinda things. I'm happy and, and I think that I at least look. Again, I'm, I'm looking at a sample of, of one or maybe two here, but I think that A D H D helps you stay happy because there's constantly something exciting. Something shiny just over the next hill. I know it sounds ridiculous. [00:15:59] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: No, but life is, I mean, let's be honest, it's fun to hang around with people with adhd, life, Ising. Right?  [00:16:06] Peter: Well, it's fun to hang around with people with adhd as long as those people with ADHD are on the right path or understand their path. I think that that there have been times when I've hung out with people who were probably undiagnosed adhd. You know, I take, I, I, I turn my head for a second. I look back and everyone's railing fat lines of cocaine. So I think that ADHD does have some negatives there in terms of the fun of hanging out with them. But yes, I mean, you know, my, my girlfriend tells me constantly that the reason, one of the reasons she, she, she loves hanging out is she never knows what's gonna happen next. You know, we're, we're sitting in a cafe one day and the next day we're flying somewhere because I read an article about a waterpark or whatever. So I think. You know, you have to, you have to sort of know yourself, but yes, I totally get that.  [00:16:53] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Mm-hmm. , so, so again, this was based on a sample, a representative sample of Canadians prior to the pandemic. So I'm pretty confident that the way that data was gathered, it's a really solid national study. So I'm, I'm, I'm confident with those numbers. But I wanted to talk a little bit about what was a hindrance or a help. Apparently I looked at what, what we call the factors associated with A D H D. So what are the characteristics of those, sorry, factors associated with flourishing among those with A D H D. Okay. And so, alright, right, let's just talk about it. Physical activity. I know this is one of your things. If you were pH physically active, they were four times more likely to be in the state of flourishing four times.  [00:17:40] Peter: I'm sorry that that's just a, that's just duh. Of course you, you, you, you box for an hour. You go for a run, you're chock full of do you're high as a kite. Of course you're gonna be happier and at the very least you're gonna be happier. Cause, cause it's over, You did it,  [00:17:54] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: but our, our lifestyle is not conducive to exercise. It's an effort. It's an organi. You have to be organized, you have to get out, you have to do exercise. The, the way you know modern life is it's easier to sit on your couch and it's hard to get that momentum to get up and out, but, Boy, oh boy. Four times the odds. This is, this is a winner. do not pass Go without exercise. Right.  [00:18:21] Peter: Well, you know what's interesting and that brings up a whole nother series of, of questions. One of the reasons that A D H D you might argue, and again, uh, this could be an argument. One of the reasons a d ADHD has flourished in the past a hundred years, um, is because 300 years ago, 400 years ago, exercise was part of our daily life because we needed to exist. Right. We exercised cause we'd exercise, we wouldn't catch. The, the, the, the, the, the Saber tooth tiger and have dinner. Right? And then we discovered farming, and then we realized we didn't have to walk so much. So the the premise of, you know, having all your food delivered by a messenger, by a, by a, by a GrubHub, um, that's a relatively new concept for our brains. Our brains are, are very, very slow creatures. So that, that's a very, very big part of it. You know, I would be willing to argue that that ADHD or, you know, People were probably a bit happier back then because they had to exercise, they had to work out, or they didn't exist.  [00:19:09] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: Yeah, absolutely. So now it's an effort you have to put . Structured in your day that you're gonna get to exercise. But this is, you know, I almost never see odds this high, like do this four times. You know, usually something improves it maybe 20%. If you're really, really lucky, it doubles it. But four times. Wow. This is a keeper for sure. You know? Now. Um, the other thing that was really interesting, and I haven't done much research on it, but um, I'd love to do more people who use spirituality to cope with their day to day troubles. Were much more likely to be in complete mental health.  [00:19:51] Peter: Say it. Say that again, slower.  [00:19:53] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: So, people who use spirituality or religion, so it may be an organized religion, or it might be spirituality as well. Okay. And if it was very protective. So people who use spirituality were much more likely to be in this happy sat life, satisfied, mentally healthy space. [00:20:10] Peter: Okay. I believe that if you think there's something bigger than you, regardless of what it is,  [00:20:15] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: all right, now, the and. And also that you have something to turn to, right? So that you have some right, and it, it's concenter as well. I mean, I don't know exactly why. I just know when you had do these sort of survey research, you don't know the reasons, you just know the association. So, but, um, being married is very protective and I think that's getting back to the confidant, having people on your side, um, and possibly to stabilize you too .  [00:20:43] Peter: Well, and you know.. There, there are, there, there are outliers of all different studies. Yes. Some not as, some, not as accurate as others, but No, I hear what you're saying. Um, I don't, I don't fit into that. But, um, I would, I would argue the caveat of with the right person.,  [00:20:59] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: right? I would definitely, um, and also, and I mean, being married or being in a, in a committed relationship kind of thing is helpful. Um, if it's, if you're right, if it's with the right person. And the thing is, when you do rep representative samples, usually the ones who aren't with the right person may no longer be with them. So I you don't see them in your analysis. Right. Um, now, Not, again, this is another no-brainer, but people who were in chronic pain were less likely to be in complete mental health. Now that seems completely obvious, but I was surprised how many people, these are relatively young people with ADHD are in chronic pain, perhaps because it risk taking behaviors or i, I don't know why, but, um, that's worth getting treated. You know, you've got your mental health stuff going on, but there's, if there's physical pain, Life is really hard and it's hard to be happy with it. Right. Um, and, uh, again, my poor women with h d they're less likely to be flourishing than men with h d, which is in keeping with all the, the higher prevalence of the negative things that we talked about earlier. Right. Um, so they're less likely to be all, um, completely flourishing. , you know, still many women were, but it's just, um, women with ADHD seem to be struggling more. Um, but there's a couple reasons for that. It's because, so remember I, this study was done almost 10 years ago, so women with a d d were not diagnosed very often. So I have a feeling that the women in my study who were diagnosed with adhd, they were probably fairly far along the spectrum with ADHD to actually get the diagnosis. So they may be. They may be, um, worse off than the av the average woman who would be worse off than the average man just because the people with milder symptoms would, uh, women can often, uh, mask the symptoms better than men because, especially girls, and so they were less likely to be diagnosed. So I have a feeling the women that we have, We're, we're pretty far along, and maybe that's why they're doing poorly. But it may be, it's just there may be less acceptance for women with ADHD related symptoms in society too. Um, we're still working on why women are vulnerable and trying to get a picture of that. But, uh, when more and more women are getting, um, diagnosed, I think there'll be, um, There'll be more understanding and more interventions. And then the other thing I just wanted to talk about, and I, I plugged this ev every time I talk to, uh, uh, you know, people with, uh, ADHD and any mental health CRI crisis. So even though though two 42% were doing really well that means that, you know, a little bit more than half had at least one of these other problems that that wasn't flourishing to the extent that they would like to, or we would all like them to. So, um, I just wanted to suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy, it's also called CBT is relatively short, relatively in inexpensive. It's a, it's a form of talk therapy. You can have it in a group session, eight weeks to 16 weeks, and it's been shown with people with A D H D and people with depression and people with anxiety and people with substance dependence. It's really, really helpful and what it does is it helps you capture your dysfunctional thoughts. So if you're telling yourself negative messages, which you may have heard in childhood, oh, you can't do this. You know, you're never gonna achieve. You tell yourself these types of messages many times an hour, that is gonna pull your, your mood down, your ability to function. So it helps you grab these thoughts and look at them objectively and reevaluate. And it can, it's, it really is kind of almost like you're reprogramming your own brain with more positive messaging, and that is helpful for, for almost every negative mental health outcome and certainly promotes better mental health.  [00:25:02] Peter: No question about it. What a phenomenal interview. We're well passed our time but that was totally worth it. Thank you, Esme it's wonderful to have you back. As always, [00:25:11] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: my pleasure.  [00:25:11] Peter: You're welcome here anytime you want. Really, really good stuff. Thank you again for taking the time. It's, it's great to talk to you again [00:25:18] Dr.Fuller-Thompson: And thank you Peter for what you do for the whole community of people with ADHD. We all appreciate it.  [00:25:24] Peter: That means a lot. Thank you. Okay guys. Fast than normal is for you. And I got some good news actually. So it turns out that Faster Than Normal, the book, which most of you know about and have read and probably brought you here, um, is still printing. It's, it's gone into like it's fourth or something, printing, and I've written five books and all five books I've gotten advances on, right? Uh, progressively more and more money. And then this Faster Than Normal I get a really nice advance and I thought, wow, there's a really nice advance. There's no way I'll ever make it back because I've never made an advance back in any of my previous. I beat my advance for Faster Than Normal. So, so finally, like five years later, I am actually earning royalties and, and I owe that to everyone who has ever listened to everyone who has ever bought a copy of Fast Than Normal. Thank you. It means the world to me.  We will see you again next week. We actually probably won't because next week is a holiday. We're probably gonna take a couple weeks off and we'll be back in the new year. We have, uh, sponsors coming up. We have new sponsors for the for the podcast. Lot of cool stuff. New guests, amazing guests, amazing repeat guests like Esme. Lots of people coming on the podcast, so, so stay tuned. As always, Faster Than Normal is for you. A D H D. All sorts of neurodiversity can be gifts as long as you know how to use them. Have a safe and wonderful holiday guys. We will see you soon. Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you in January- Happy Holidays!! 

Melissa Finkelstein is a New Jersey- based author, lawyer, and proud mom of three. Melissa has been writing and rhyming since she could form words. After graduating from Fordham Law, she began her career as a litigator in Manhattan. Because rhyming has always been her passion, she created a custom poetry business, Designer Rhymes so she could maintain that creative outlet. Once she had her son (7), and twin daughters (4), each with unique personalities and needs, the stars aligned for Melissa to publish her first children's book. Picky the Panda and the Tickly Tail is the first book in a series of three to come from author Melissa Finkelstein. Picky the Panda is a heartwarming story about a highly sensitive panda, which shares lessons of embracing sensory differences, practicing empathy, and recharging when overwhelmed. Picky the Panda was inspired by Melissa's daughter Skylar who has sensory processing disorder. Picky the Panda is now available on Amazon and in select children's bookstores. Enjoy!  In this episode Peter and Melissa discuss:   01:20 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:39 - Intro and welcome Melissa Finkelstein! 02:48 - So from Law to Children's books; tell us your story! 05:40 - Isn't it amazing what kids teach us. Are you finding that people are familiar with the topics in your book? 06:57 - What led to getting your daughter diagnosed? 09:30 - How old is she now and have all of your children read the book? 10:15 - Do you think that she's beginning to, (or will), benefit some from advances in awareness, research, etc? 11:18 - What's been the reaction and feedback to your book outside of the family? 12:00 - Is the book being used to explain to your daughter's classmates about Sensory Processing Disorder? 13:30 - On possessing supercharged senses 14:25 - How can people find more about you? Web: Everywhere fine books are sold Socials:  @melissafinkelsteinbooks on INSTA 14:45 - Thank you Melissa! 15:02 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  15:41 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:34] Peter: Hey everyone, how's it going? My name is Peter Shankman and this is Faster Than Normal. I wanted to see if you expected me to say it, try to shake things up a little bit. Okay. It is a Thursday here in a very cold New York City. We have to say a fond farewell to fall, which lasted about. Two and a half days, and we are most certainly into winter. It's about 34 degrees outside right now, sunny, but cold as hell. So I am inside with a sleeping dog and with Melissa Finkelstein. She's actually in New Jersey, but we are talking today because Melissa is a New Jersey based author, lawyer, and proud mom of three. She's been writing and rhyming since she could form words. Her words, not mine. After graduating from Fordham Law, she began her career as a litigator in Manhattan. She created a custom poetry business called Designer Rhymes. So here she is as a litigator. Did you, I, I gotta ask you later, remind me to ask you if you actually rhymed during court cases. Cause that would've been awesome. Mm-hmm. . But why are we talking to her today? We're talking to her. She has a son who's seven and twin daughters who are four. They each have unique personality and needs. That's where she decided to publish her first book called her first Children's book called Picky the Panda and the Tickly Tale. It's a first book in a series of three and Picky The Panda is a heartwarming story about a highly sensitive panda who shares lessons of embracing sensory diff differences, practicing empathy and recharging when overwhelmed, and I think we can all relate to that Picky The Panda- on Amazon and everywhere you get children's books. Welcome Melissa. Good to have you.  [00:02:15] Melissa: Good morning. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for that intro [00:02:18] Peter: And just in case you ever think that nothing good comes out of divorce. Melissa came to me through my ex, let me get this right, my ex sister-in-law.  [00:02:32] Melissa: That's right.  [00:02:33] Peter: My ex-step sister-in-law. Right. [00:02:34] Melissa: I think you're stuck with her. I think she's just your sister-in-law still.  [00:02:37] Peter: Yeah. My sister-in-law, she reached out to me and said, you know, hey, have a guest for you. I'm like, I didn't even know you knew I had a podcast. So good to know . Anyway, it is great to meet you, Melissa. Thank you for taking the time. So from law to children's books, tell us your story!  [00:02:52] Melissa: Sure. So I've always been a writer and a rhymer, um, as I said, and that's really been my passion and that's kinda how I wound up in law. Um, I thought, you know, I'm really good at writing. I'm good at. Reading and problem solving. My skill sets seem to fit. I'm gonna go be a lawyer. It sounds pretty fancy and you know, I can have all this success and, um, I did have some fun and, you know, some fulfillment doing it, but I really missed like the joy and the whimsy of my childhood, to be honest. Um, so I toyed with the idea. Maybe I would be a preschool teacher. I know that couldn't be more opposite from being a litigator in Manhattan, but I really just wanted to use my creativity. My fun, you know, happy go lucky personality and doing like corporate insecurities litigation really didn't bring me that kind of joy. Um, as you might expect. And, you know, my life was all about disputes and I, I'm all about making peace. I'm like, what am I doing? Why am I fighting for a living? So this, this isn't bringing me joy anymore. Um, so all along, as you mentioned, while I was litigating, I had my little side gig, which just really was. You know, a passion project and bringing me happiness and it was creating custom poems for people for, you know, milestone occasions and that kind of thing. And I loved making others happy through my words. And so once I had my kids, I thought, you know, this is perfect. They're all so different. You know, they're, they learned so much from children's books and I think this would be a great outlet for me to use my words and. You know, I, I'm starting a series of three books, each of which are inspired by my three kids. So they're like my little muses at this point. Um, and in doing so, I'm focusing on what, you know, one of their biggest personality, um, pieces or struggles or challenges are to, you know, try to reach children like them. And in doing so, I wrote and published my first book, Picky The Panda and the Tickly Tale as you mentioned. And it is inspired by my little girl, Skyler, who has sensory processing disorder. And I didn't realize that by sharing her story, um, you know, I actually have become kind of a sensory processing disorder advocate and someone who is working. My butt off at this point to bring awareness to this condition and to what children like Skyler and um, like so many of your listeners might be experiencing. And that has been one of the most beautiful things to come from pivoting into my role as a children's book author.  [00:05:22] Peter: It's interesting because, you know, I mean, first of all, I had some nursery school teachers who definitely could have been litigators, but, but that's neither here nor there. Um, , it's interesting, you know, you made that switch. Kids do that. They, they, they have this uncanny ability to take whatever you think is your thing and just completely flip it on its head. Um, the concept of sensory processing disorder much like ADD, a ADHD executive function disorder. Not a lot is known. And so bringing, I, I'm assuming one of the reasons you wrote the book was to bring awareness to sensory process. Absolut, what are you finding, um, when you tell people about it, what percentage would you say understand, oh yeah, of course. I've heard of that. Or, or, you know, is it, I mean, are you, are you, is it a constant battle with the teachers? Is it, how, how, how are you finding that to be? [00:06:14] Melissa: It's becoming a much more wide spread. Um, you know, thing that people are aware of right now, but I think really the book shares this Panda's experience as being a highly sensitive, um, individual and what she goes through. And I think people are really relating to her experience more than they may have known or been aware of a diagnosis or a condition, um, called sensory processing disorder. So that's really been beneficial to me. Um, so yeah, I would say. I, I don't know. It's a smaller percentage than I would like for people to be aware of because it is a very real condition and you know, a very intense experience for those who go through it.  [00:06:57] Peter: How did you discover that your, how did you get your d daughter diagnosed? What was, what was sort of the key takeaways that, that made you say, Hey, we should look into this?  [00:07:06] Melissa: So she was in, so she's a twin. I'll start with that. So, um, I was constantly seeing her right next to her twin sister, and, you know, all kids are different obviously. So she was having a very different experience as a baby, a child than her twin sister was. So I think that helped make it more apparent to me that she was going through something and she was in an obvious discomfort and, um, just kind of unsettled a lot of the time. And, you know, I knew there wasn't anything medical going on with her because she, she was doing okay medically, we were bringing her to the pediatrician. Everything was fine, but I could just tell that she was uncomfortable. And my son at the time was in occupational therapy for a different issue that was going on. Um, and so I brought Skylar when she was one years old to this pediatric occupational therapist. Who I've come to know and trust and had her assessor and right away she said, this is something sensory going on. And to be honest, I was a doubter at first. Um, I didn't really know very much about sensory processing disorder or sensory sensitivity or any of that. And, um, I can tell you later that I've come to realize that I actually have a lot of sensory challenges myself, which I've learned through my daughter. So anyway, this pediatric, uh, occupational therapist evaluated her and right away she knew it was something sensory. Um, I watched the evaluation and I was like, you know, I don't know. I'm not really seeing it because she was, um, exposing to her to certain sensory, tactile, um, you know, things like sand and foam and, you know, different manipulatives that she could touch, and I thought she was fine. I'm like, you know, I see her getting her hands messy. But all along there were these little cues that were going on that she was able to pick up on. So just for one example, she showed me that while Skylar was, you know, digging into these Orbis, which are these like liquidy beads that children can play with, she was actually salivating and had like, Drool coming out of her mouth while she was doing it because her sensory system was just so overloaded, um, that while she was willing to do it, her system actually couldn't handle it. So that's just one example of how, you know, we came to be aware of it and then, you know, all the cues and clues just sort of lined up after that. And occupational therapy has been one of our greatest tools for her so far,  [00:09:22] Peter: I'm sure. How old is she now?  [00:09:24] Melissa: She's almost five. Okay.  [00:09:26] Peter: And has she, has she. Do you read the book to her? [00:09:30] Melissa: Yes. Yes. I, all my children have read the book and they love it. And my other two children wanna know when theirs are coming out and they are in the works. ,  [00:09:39] Peter: One of the things that I've discovered, um, uh, about sort of, ADD & ADHD when you're talking to kids about it, and so I'm assuming the same thing is, is truly is, it's all about how it's framed When I was growing. Um, you know, a ADD didn't exist. What existed was sit down, you disrupt in the class disease. And, and so I, kids our age, um, if they eventually got diagnosed had also had to overcome the stigma of 30, 40 years of being told they're broken. are you seeing with kids your daughter's age because of advances in research? Advances in, uh, awareness? They're not going through the whole concept of you're broken, they're not gonna have to heal from that. They can start looking at what they have as, you know, a difference as opposed to being broken.  [00:10:36] Melissa: Yeah, I really hope that's the case, and I agree with what you said. Um, and one of the purposes of this book is to frame heighten sensitivity or. Sensory challenges as a gift. And I know that that's something that you like to speak about, um, in terms of adhd and I absolutely agree with that. Um, so in terms of heightened sensitivity, you know, yes, it can present struggles and challenges, but it can also be your greatest gift. It can be, you know, the way you use your imagination and can be creative the way you are compassionate and empathetic and can show love. So it can really be a strength. And that's one of the things that I'm hoping to share with children who may feel like Skylar, um, as term in terms of their sensitivity,  [00:11:18] Peter: What's been the reaction or the, what's been the feedback to the book or the reaction to the book, um, outside of your family?  [00:11:25] Melissa: Oh, it's been wonderful. I've been hearing from so many families saying, you know, we have a little picky at home. Um, you know, my daughter like, wants to read it every day. She feels like Pickalina so it, that's been the best part of this. When I set out to become an author, I just wanted to use my words to make children and families happy and, you know, provide them with a good bedtime story. I actually didn't have these higher goals of, you know, bringing such awareness. and acceptance to children with differences, but like that has become the greatest gift. And the thing that I'm most proud of and most excited about in my journey so far. [00:12:01] Peter: Is the book being used, um, as sort of a way to explain to your daughter's, classmates about the different, because I imagine that much like ad although ADHD manifests in different ways, I imagine that sensory processing disorder must manifest itself in some ways that would make the kids go, what the heck's that all about? [00:12:20] Melissa: Absolutely. So there's a page in the book where Picky the Panda um, has become so overwhelmed that she's feeling dysregulated and she's hiding under the table in her classroom, and she is rocking and crying because she is so overwhelmed and her body feels such big feelings. And the students. Who are her animal friends gather around her and they yell Picky. It's ok because you know, they're just trying to be kind and they're like, come outta the table, everything's great. But for her, everything's not great at that moment. So that, you know, that doesn't work for Picky and it takes different strategies to get her to be able to recharge and calm her body down. So I think, you know, empathy and understanding and realizing that we are all different is definitely one of the biggest messages. So, yes, to make children, um, and classmates who encounter kids like Skyler or who have other differences to be accepting and empathetic.  [00:13:12] Peter: I like the concept of supercharged senses in the book because, you know, adhd, I consider it a superpower and I try to frame it as a superpower. So the concept of supercharged senses sort of seems very similar in the respect that you just have to, you know, if, if when I talk about adhd, I talk about the fact that. You know, most people are given Honda Accords for brains and we're given Lamborghini's, and so that's great, but you have to learn how to drive it, or you're gonna crash into a tree. You know, anyone could drive a Honda. You need training to drive a Lamborghini. And so I'm assuming it's the same premise with supercharged senses. I really love that term.  [00:13:46] Melissa: Yeah, thank you. And absolutely, I agree with that. Something we have to learn to adapt to and adjust to. But like I said, it, and like you always say, um, it can really be seen as one of our biggest gifts. Very cool. So my daughter can, she's, you know, the first one to smell something stinky or she can see something a mile away. She can hear that train coming, you know, 10 stops away. So, you know, she really does have supercharged senses, but it also can lead her to feel very overwhelmed and heightened at certain times. [00:14:15] Peter: Very cool. How can, so I'm assuming, yeah, it's available on Amazon, it's available everywhere. Um, how can people connect with you? Are you on Instagram? Are you on Facebook?  [00:14:24] Melissa: Yes. So I am on Instagram at Melissa Finkelstein books. Um, and that is a great place to follow me. I'll have information about Picky the Panda um, sensory processing awareness and about my forthcoming books, um, the next of which will be out in early 2023.  [00:14:42] Peter: Very, very cool. Melissa, thank you so much for taking time to be on Fast Than Normal today. I really, really appreciate it.  [00:14:47] Melissa: Thank you so much. It's been wonderful.  [00:14:49] Peter: Awesome guys. Check out the book. It is a lot of fun. Picky, I love, I love, I love the title Picky, the Panda and the Tickly Tale, talking about sensory processing disorder as supercharged senses. I love it. We back next week with another interview. This is Faster Than Normal. God, talk.. I mean fast- talk about fast, right? The entire year it's, it's almost Thanksgiving here next week in New York, it's gonna be Thanksgiving and I have absolutely no idea how that happened. And it's Christmas and it's New Year's and yeah, it's essentially summer already next year. So I dunno how we got there. But we will see you next week with another interview. Thank you so much for listening. Remember that neurodiversity is a gift, not a curse. And we are all on this train together. Talk to you guys soon. Stay tuned. Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Hey guys! Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/  DISCOUNT CODE:  SMFriends22 — Marc believes that finding your Vision and Purpose are the key to finding success, happiness, and fulfillment. Harvard-educated, he left a lucrative tech career for art school, founded the long-running online gallery Every Day Original, and has been mentoring and coaching creatives for over a decade. He now Coaches a wide variety of clients and helps them access their own creativity to fuel their next steps. He is now getting his Coaching certification and working one-on-one, in groups, and in his free online workshops to help people create a bigger vision for their life and career through Purpose-driven breakthroughs. He shares many of the how's and why's with us here today, enjoy!  ——  In this episode Peter and Marc discuss:   01:20 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:39 - Intro and welcome Marc Scheff! 02:40 - Why did you give up a lucrative career in Technology to pursue a career in Art? 03:51 - So where did you study; how did it go? 05:10 - Why do you want to help people and how did you land on “vision and purpose”? 08:06 - Is it really as easy as “find what you love doing and the money will come eventually?” 09:37 - Freedom in work, can feel completely overwhelming 10:20 - How can people find more about you? Web: www.MarcScheffCoaching.com (or via www.CreativeAccelerationCoaching.com) and https://www.marcscheff.com Socials:  @MarcScheff on Twitter INSTA and LinkedIN  12:02 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you'd like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  12:16 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  Hey guys. Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/ — [00:01:26] Peter: Hey everyone. My name is Peter Shankman. This is Faster Than Normal. You knew that though, cuz you're probably subscribed to this podcast and it doesn't really make sense for me to keep saying that, but I do it on every episode cuz maybe there'll be someone new today. Anyway, good to have you back for another week. Uh, we are going to start today's podcast with an interesting guest who believes that vision, finding your vision and finding your purpose are the key to finding success, happiness, and fulfillment. I wouldn't argue with that per se. He was Harvard educated and he left a lucrative tech for art school, unlike other famous people who have gone to art school, though he did not commit to, uh, doing bad things, he found the long running online gallery every day, original, and has been mentoring and coaching creatives for over a decade. I love that he focuses on creatives. He uses creativity to fuel their next steps. He's now getting his coaching certificate and working one-on-one groups and his free online workshops to help people create bigger vision for their lives and career through purpose driven bake, uh, purpose driven ba. Well, my God, what is going on?  [00:02:24] Marc: You're going faster than normal Peter!  [00:02:26] Peter: breakthroughs!! Geezus! Okay, that being said, say hi to Mark Scheff! Hi, Marc. Welcome!  [00:02:31] Marc: Thanks, Peter. Great to be here.  [00:02:33] Peter: Never interview someone. Friday at 5:00 PM this is what happened ! Nice to talk to you, so. What made you leave for, for Art school of all things. You just had this, this love and this passion for art, and you're like, Screw it. I'm leaving Tech.  [00:02:49] Marc: Well, I mean, I always loved art. Like, like probably every artist says, but, you know, um, you know, I had a, I I grew up in a sort of, I don't know what you wanna call, is sort of traditional, uh, productive, focused household and, uh, certainly not one that understood to things like ADHD and a, um, you know, so when I went to Harvard, you have to pick your major in your first year. And I thought, well, I'll pick something that'll make me money. Cuz you certainly can't have a career as an artist. That's crazy, right? Um, so I, I studied computer science and I went and I got a job and I, and I said, Okay, I'm gonna take the art classes that I said I was gonna take and I realized, Oh, I, I really like this. This is really great. Um, so I started taking more art classes and more art classes. And my manager at one point, this woman Amy, who I, I sent a thank you note recently, um, took me aside one day and kind of offered me a chance to be, it's funny, offered me a chance to be a part of some secret upcoming layoffs. And I took it and I took a little severance and I put a down payment on my art, uh, my Art degree.  [00:03:44] Peter: Wow. Wow. That's a, it's, it's always fascinating how those things happen because that's exactly how it always happens, right? It's always something out of the blue and random. Yeah. So where did you study? Where'd you study art? [00:03:54] Marc: I studied art at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. That's where I was listening and working in tech. Yep. Um, I had a, I studied illustration there. Um, I got my degree in the early 2000. Um, and you know, from there, and, and, and this is probably not unusual for your guests, I went on to do all kinds of things. I was a staff artist, I was a creative director, uh, you know, almost a founder of a startup. I, you know, I ran teams. I, I was on teams. I did a little bit of everything before moving to New York where I did a lot more, where I sort of discovered freelance and started doing more freelance stuff. And that's when I started really getting into kind of coaching and mentoring Artists. Cuz I was learning so much and I think, I think I read your book, um, which by the way, everyone should absolutely go read this book. It's, it, it, and you didn't pay me to say that. It's, it really was wonderful . I, uh, I got it and I, I actually listened to it and then I bought a copy and gave it to my wife and said, You have to read chapter six if you read nothing else. Um, you know, and, and so I, you know, when I go and I learn things, I, I get very excited about what I've learned and I wanna kind of pass it on. And that's essentially how I got into all this.  [00:05:00] Peter: Very cool. Tell us about, So a lot of our guests come to me, you know, they say, I can't find my passion. I have no idea what my vision is. I have no idea what my purpose is. What am I supposed to be doing? You know, they're, they're 30, they're 40, and they're like, you know, I've just been cruising along and I don't know if it's the right thing. So you seem to have it down where, you know, if, if you say believe, finding your vision and purpose like you to find success, you must have a way to help people do that. [00:05:19] Marc: I have a few ways, uh, . That's true.  [00:05:22] Peter: Well, let's chat about that. Why, why, why vision and success versus anything else?  [00:05:26] Marc: Um, well, vision and purpose. I, you know, vision and purpose, right? . I've been working, I've been working with this concept of purpose from way back in San Francisco when I started going to a, a weekly men's circle. And the purpose of the men's circle was to support men in living their purpose. Now, this wasn't some sort. You know, secret cabal. This was, this was really us all pushing each other to sort of bring our gifts to the world. And the way that we did that was we, we really worked hard to discover purpose, which we often boiled down to one or two words. What I've found, and in fact, I met with a client today who said, you know, who told me the, the work that we did, the work that we did, on discovering vision and purpose made all those other decisions that she was struggling with easier. Um, and as someone, you know, has someone who also manages, you know, ADHD or works with ADHD, you know, we have all these ideas. We have. We are like you say, faster than normal. Um, and sometimes it's like, it's like too much and it can feel overwhelming. So what vision and purpose does is it gets you down to really like the core of what you're doing on this earth in this lifetime. And when you're looking at, you know, literally what you should have for dinner, it can make that decision easier. Cuz you say, well, I'm the person. So, for example, my purpose currently is to unleash creativity. It's what I do in my coaching, whether they're an artist or a non-artist. I, I work with people to get creative around their, the solutions to, to their life. And so, uh, the, the way that. The way that I, the way that I work with people on that is I use various tools. I use various tools that, that probably a lot of different coaches know, but I focus in on that level of thinking because then when you come to these other decisions, you say, Well, what if my vision is this and my purpose is this? Am I really like a pizza guy or, or a fried chicken guy? I mean, it's not always that easy, but, but it can be [00:07:11] Peter: Very, very cool. You know, it's interesting, the, the concept of purpose is something I don't think people are taught right there. There's, there's, and I, I've talked to teachers about this because, you know, there's this premise of you go to school and you learn what you're supposed to learn, which is never the right thing. You don't learn how to bounce a checkbook or, you know, how to do taxes, you know, But, but, and they always, they always, there's that one joke where the, the guidance counselor says to you, you know, figure out you'd wanna do for free. And that's what you should do for a. Like what you'd love to do. That's what you should do for, you know, what you, what you wanna do, what you love. And it never seems to work out. I,  [00:07:41] Marc: I was, I have some, I have some issues with that.  [00:07:43] Peter: can't tell you how many things I was supposed to be doing. Uh, you know, but I think that, that, that for kids coming outta school, they don't necessarily know. They've seen, especially kids today, they've, they've, they've watched, you know, uh, kids that of nowhere make millions on TikTok and, and, and create, you know, and they're confused. Cause they know, in reality it's, it's very, very difficult to do that, but, Right. You know, they also haven't been told anything else. Right. Right. And they don't know what their purpose is. And I don't necessarily know, you're supposed to know what your purpose is in your twenties, but it, it does become that question of at what point should you say, Here's what I love to do, here's what I wanna do, here's how I wanna change the world. [00:08:16] Marc: Yeah. I mean, I think it is different for everybody. Um, you know, I have worked with people who have discovered that they actually wanna be doing something else for their work or something else with their free time or, or, or whatever. Um, I do think. And I'm in my mid forties. Um, and I do see a lot of people around this age starting to struggle with this question cuz we're, you know, if, if it's midlife, we're supposedly sort of halfway there and you start to think about, okay, well at some point I'm leaving. What do I want my legacy to be? And that's when I think a lot of people start thinking about purpose. I mean, some people come to it much, much earlier, but I have two, I have two kids, one's seven, one's 12. And you know, they don't , they don't grapple with that, you know, at all. So it's, it's quite. Thing to be dealing with at, I think at that, at that particular age. But at some point, like I said, you know, you, you know, you, you, you go so far and we don't live in a wor like, you know, my dad's generation and my dad included, you know, he, he, he's a doctor. He got a job. Somewhere, and he stayed in that job. You know, he maybe had a couple of jobs over the course of his career and did different things, but he was always focused on that, that sort of purpose, which, whether or not that was his core purpose, that's what he chose and that's what he stuck to. We now live in a world with the internet, with, you know, you can do, you know, you can do anything and be doing TikTok and Instagram and, you know, skydiving, uh, for example, um, as, as a, as a random example. Um, you know, and so we, we have all this freedom, which can be completely overwhelming. And that's where I think a lot of folks, at least in the communities where I work, we were start thinking about, okay, well if we can boil this down to something that is core to ourselves, and this is what I do in my workshops, it's what I do in my one-on-one coaching. It's what I'll be doing in my group coaching because I really, I, I've seen it over and it's not just a belief I've seen. The proof is is there, I've seen people and the people who do the work and, you know, do the writing and, and come and, and come up with something that is their purpose, that is their vision. They come back, you know, just really lit up and they say, I, I, I found focus, I found happiness. I'm like, you know, I'm like, I'm like dancing when I get up in the morning and I'm, you know, I didn't do that for them. They did it, but I, but I provide these, you know, these various frameworks for them to think through these. [00:10:20] Peter: No, I mean, it makes sense. Tell us, tell people how we can find you. You know how, if they want to, if they, if they like what they're hearing, they say, Hey, this is something I'd like! [Web: www.MarcScheffCoaching.com (or via www.CreativeAccelerationCoaching.com) and https://www.marcscheff.com  Socials:  @MarcScheff on Twitter INSTA and LinkedIN ] [00:10:28] Marc: Um, well, you can find me. Uh, I'm, I'm on the internet in most places as my name Marc Scheff . Um, I, I am also an artist, so if you can find, you know, you can find my portfolio at Marc Scheff , but my Marc Scheff coaching is my coaching website. If you can't remember. Spell my name. You can just go to Creative Acceleration Coaching. And that just goes to my website. And there's, um, there's an opportunity there for a free coaching session. I, I like to do these free coaching sessions, um, because it's actually a filter for them and for me, Uh, if someone, first of all doesn't take the step to book the, the, the appointment, then you know, that's probably a good sign that, that they're not gonna, they're not gonna do the work. Uh, but also when we meet, I actually, what I do is I just coach people for. 30 or 45 minutes and give them kind of an overview of some of the different tools that I use. So I've had people walk out of that and say things like, you know, there's, you know, I, I got, I got great value out of that 30 or 40 minutes, and now I wanna know more. If, you know, if they walk away and it sort of fizzles out for them, then, then that's, you know, that's okay too. But it's a great way for people to, you know, I don't, I don't push sales. I don't, you know, at the end of the call I'm not like, Okay, you can commit now and there's a special deal and all this stuff. [00:11:31] Peter: Right, right, right.  [00:11:31] Marc: Yeah, I don't do any of that stuff cuz I really, in fact, I've had people say, Send me a PayPal. I say, actually I want you to, if you, if you want, if you write me an email in a week and still want it, then I'll do it. Exactly. Cause I want you to really like see if this lasts for you. If you're really still making progress on the work that you did in that 30 minutes, then we should totally, we should totally keep going. Cause there, cuz you're, I love that. Yeah. There's a connection.  [00:11:53] Peter: I love that. Yeah. Very cool. Marc, thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it, that it's really kind of you.  [00:11:58] Marc: Thanks for having me. Big fan of your work and just really glad to be here. Thank you.  [00:12:02] Peter: Awesome. We'll definitely have you back. Guys as always Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We wanna know what you wanna hear. Shoot us an email. If you have any guests you think would work for us, peter@shankman.com, let me know. We'd love to get 'em on the podcasts. We'll see you next week. ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Stay safe. Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Hey guys! Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/  DISCOUNT CODE:  SMFriends22 We're visiting again today with Aron Croft who's made some changes since our last visit on Episode 240, “The Un-Squeaky Wheel: How Inattentive ADHD Goes Under the Radar w/ Aron Croft” including developing a new way to help the community; enjoy! In his own words: Aron Croft has always been obsessed with one question: “Why can't we get ourselves to do tasks that we WANT to do”?  That question was on his mind as he dropped out of college twice, failed out of his first 7 jobs and ended up broke, divorced, and earning minimum wage at 33. After an adult diagnosis of Inattentive ADHD and an M.S. in Coaching Psychology, he decided to abandon neurotypical productivity, and his life changed. He built a successful Fortune 500 career followed by a six-figure coaching business with over 125,000 followers. In his coaching business, he teaches ADHD'ers his contrarian 8% Productivity Habit, which helps them complete their top tasks in 2 hours a day and  never feel behind again. His work has been featured by  ADDitude Magazine, the Attention Deficit Disorder Association, and dozens of top ADHD outlets. To watch a 30 minute training on the 8% Productivity Habit, visit freeadhdtraining.com.  In this episode Peter and Aron discuss:   01:20 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:29 - Intro and welcome back Aron Croft!! 02:40 - Tell us what you've been doing since the last time you were on the show? Ref: 8percent Productivity Habit Method 03:20 - What is living in the country like for someone with a faster brain? 04:12 - Is spending time daily in the out-of-doors helping? 05:25 - How have you grown in this environment within the last couple of years? 07:01 - On embracing ‘measured' change 08:11 - Aron explains his 8percent Productivity Habit 08:47 - “motivation, willpower, and discipline” These may only be neurotypical confines! 09:23 - There are other ways to win!! 09:53 - How do professional Boxers become so fast? 11:16 - On willpower and habits. Skateboarding can strengthen you! 14:13 - How can people find more about you? Web: hiddenADHD.com ALSO  freeadhdtraining.com Socials: @aroncroft on Twitter  @HiddenADHD on Facebook  INSTA  YouTube and hidden_adhd on TikTok 15:07 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  15:30 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  Hey guys. Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/ —   [00:01:23] Peter: Hey everyone. Peter Shankman, another episode of Faster Than Normal. Thrilled to have you here. Welcome aboard. We gotta repeat guest today Aron Croft was here by a year or so ago, and since then he told me that after he, he heard hisself on this episode, he's had to upend his entire life and he moved to a farm. And like, I don't know, I've got 10 acres of land and a chainsaw or something. I'll let him tell you more about that. But Aron Croft has is he was a great guest last time we have him back, and he's always been obsessed with one question, which says, Why can't we get ourselves to do the tasks we wanna do? He dropped outta college twice. He failed his first seven jobs. He ended up broke divorce earning minimum wage, days 33. Then he got diagnosed and then he got an MS in coaching psychology, and he took his neurotypical productivity. His life changed. He built a Fortune 500 career, followed by a six figure coaching business. He teaches ADHD 'ers his contrarian. 8% productivity hat. We'll talk about that. He's at free ADHD training.com and welcome back Aron good to have you, man. [00:02:21] Aron: Thank you, Peter. This is, this podcast is always the most challenging one for me to be a guest on because it's like, it's so hard to be efficient and, and get everything done that you and I want to talk about in your episode. Cap.  [00:02:37] Peter: All right, so let's let you start it. Tell us about yourself. Tell us what you've been doing since the last time you had you on.  [00:02:42] Aron: Yeah, I mean, pretty much just buying 10 acres in a chainsaw. Uh, that's, that's pretty much it, that's taken up most of the last 12 months. Um, what have I been up to really, uh, formalizing, Um, my 8% productivity habit method. Which is really just about how do we get our top task done in just two hours a day. Like, we're not gonna suddenly become sort of full of motivation, willpower, and discipline. Like we've been trying that our whole lives and how do we do that so that we can just stop feeling behind? And, um, that's really what I've been focused on and working with hundreds of ADHDers and, um, now we're just, you know, expanding it out to more. [00:03:20] Peter: Very, very cool. And tell me that I wanna, I wanna talk about living in the middle of nowhere or on 10 acres or whatever. What's that like for someone with a faster brain? [00:03:28] Aron: Uh, it's so delightful because, you know, I can just, my brain is going a mile a minute all the time. It's so exhausting. I would love freedom and a break from it sometimes, but like when I go out, like we've got trails on the property and it's just, we're surrounded by just trees and nature and when I just, when I get outside, Um, it just quiets everything down, um, in nature. And so, yeah. So it's just been, it's been absolutely delightful. Um, and there's also like some mindless tasks like cutting, you know, cutting down branches with a chainsaw on the weekend. Like, I don't need to think. And it's very nice for me to not give myself like, cognitive tasks every once in a while. [00:04:10] Peter: Yep. Are you enjoying, So is there, is there, would you say you're getting more outdoor time than you used? And and is that helping? [00:04:20] Aron: I, you know, honestly I'd say that I'm getting about, I'm getting a little bit more outdoor time, Not a ton more, but the outdoor time absolutely helps. Like I, I mean, part of the reason we made the move is cause I was living in downtown Chicago and all I would do to leave the apartment was just go and walk in nature. And there was this cool nature path near us. So I'd say that I'm, I'm only getting a little more time in nature, but the other thing I really like is, um, space. Uh, so like you can't see it cuz it's off camera, but like, I literally commandeered the entire big, like what room would be a family room in our basement. I put up a 16 foot long whiteboard of just wallpaper, that's whiteboard wallpaper. Um, I mean, I've got like a studio set up with camera and lights and a nice microphone, and I've just got my shit everywhere. Like on the pasted it on the walls, the post it notes galore! I just love the ability to spread out and try to untangle this like super messy brain. [00:05:21] Peter: Very cool. And what would you tell people that you've learned? How have you grown in the past couple years? [00:05:27] Aron: I'd say, I'd say two things. So, um, one is just this idea of like, stop, like, like I, I, I've given up trying to be neurotypical. Um, and you know, that might sound obvious, but I work with a lot of ADHDers and they're still trying to be like what their parents and their peers and their teachers told them to be. And so one is just the freedom to give that up, um, and all the like self-compassion and acceptance that comes with it. And then on the flip side of that, right, and you know this in business, right? Is once I gave that up, um, And I was like, You know what? I'm not gonna be like, So you and I are a little bit different. Like I, I just have the inattentive ADHD symptoms. I wish I had some of the hyperactivity energy stuff, but like, like, I'm like a delicate flower. I burn out after like a few hours of like, I. Of like thinking work. And so I was like, Okay, instead of just saying that, that's like a weakness. How can I just build a productivity system around, around that? And um, so just doing those things and kind of embracing my limitations, quote unquote, has like, turned me into way more powerful than I've ever been.  [00:06:43] Peter: It sounds like it might have. Um, It's interesting. I, I know a lot of people with adhd, they, they change is difficult; , Right? They get into a routine, they get into a habit, and then change becomes sort of a, a, a fear, right? You embrace it.  [00:07:01] Aron: Um, I embrace, I embrace measured change. Okay. Um, because Right. It's, that's important. That's an important distinction. It is. Right. But like, but it, it's like so many things we don't realize that we're actually trying to. For two variables. And we're really looking for balance, right? We want, we want no change, but we also want lots of novelty and variety, right? And so we're, we're kind of, we kind of need to find that right balance. You know, I find so many people with their, uh, Productivity. They're like, I wanna get all my top tasks done. But I also don't wanna be forced into like Right. Having to do it. And I wanna like feel like doing them. Like I don't want it to be painful. And it's sort of like, okay, like if we can make explicit those like trade offs that we're trying to make, we can find a solution. That's the, that sounded theoretical. I feel like I'm just dabbling. Sorry, Peter.  [00:07:53] Peter: No, no, it makes sense. So with that, tell me about the, uh, the 8% productivity habit.  [00:07:58] Aron: Yeah, I know cuz clearly I'm obsessed with it. But , uh, I'm excited to have somebody to talk to about it that isn't my wife. Well, she's excited that I have someone you know today to talk to about it. Um, yeah, I mean, so it was really just, This concept. So the 8% is simply that like 8% of a 24 hour day is two hours. And I was like, All right. If I could just build a productivity habit, that meant that I could get away basically with just doing hard tasks for two hours a day, and then the rest of the day I can kind of just slack off and like wing it. Um, like if I could build something that would be effective, man, that would just give me so much freedom. And, um, so I tried to build it, and then the first phase of it is abandon neurotypical productivity. So all of us have been raised on this like diet of motivation, willpower, and discipline. And like you, Whoever wins is the one who wants it the most. And that's fine if your motivation pathways and willpower pathways work, you know, neurotypically. But for us, or at least for the inattentive, ADHD symptoms that I tend to work with with my students, um, it doesn't translate to action. And so we're left with, we're left with this really unfair conundrum. We either don't take action. Or we have a secret sauce, which helps us take action, which is we just flood ourselves with adrenaline, stress and anxiety, and suddenly we can do a bunch of hard tasks. Right? But it's like so mentally and physically and emotionally training, [00:09:33] Peter: I believe that. It's interesting because it puts us back into that premise of imposters, right? If we're trying to do things in sort of like that one way that's supposed to be done right? You know, like what you said about, about going out and, and, and you know, the person who wins, the person wants the most, there are other ways to win .  [00:09:55] Aron: Amen. My brother. Thank you.  [00:09:56] Peter: You know, I, I, I find that, Well, even this morning I was, I was in a boxing class and I was training. It was one trainer who was training two of us, and we'd each do drills, uh, alternate on drills. And I was watching him, you know, so like 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. And on my 30 seconds off, I'm supposed to be shadow boxing. And of course I wound up watching this guy. This guy is about. 10 years more experienced boxing than I do. And his punches were so fast, like, so fast, and, and it was like a blur. And I'm just staring at him. And of course the trainer's like, Yo, you wanna actually do something or you wanna just watch? I'm like, Okay, yeah, sorry, but I need to figure out how he got that fast. And he goes, he's trained, He's constantly repeating the motion and doing it over and over again and building those muscles and growing and. You know, so I, I hear what you're saying. It's, it's in that, in that regard. I'm sure he does want it, but I'm sure he is also lost a ton of fights. He doesn't want it the most, he's just doing it every day because it's something that makes him happy and excites him, and he is also getting better at it by default. [00:10:55] Aron: I love, I love that you said that because, um, so like, because I. And just, I'm, I'm just like on like, honestly, like, I'm literally like the most like unproductive person at my core. Um, and I just have like almost no motivational, willpower discipline. So the work around though is kind of, is what you were saying though, that I discovered. It was like, if I just build something in a habit, then it kind of happens without really any motivational will power discipline. Right. And so, It's been this like side door to like sneak into like productivity, uh, without kind of the traditional things is it sounds like you've got some, uh, interest in habits as well. [00:11:42] Peter: Well, I've always found that, you know, I always, because for ADHD I would always gravitate back in school. I always gravitated toward the things I doing because I enjoyed doing them and I. Specifically, One time I got off, I, I was up, I would always ride my bike, and then one time, one year I get into skateboarding, right? And I, I would skateboard, skateboard, skateboard for like a year and a half, two years, everywhere. I went to skateboard. Skateboard. And then one day case got back on my bike. And I was shocked at how much stronger my legs were. It wasn't that I'd been working out my legs, it's that I'd been skateboarding, I was working out my legs, but it didn't occur to me as that, Right. The things that you love to do are the things you naturally get better at because you're doing 'em so much because you love them. The the downside for ADHD is sometimes you have to do things you don't love and you still have to do them.  [00:12:27] Aron: Well, and so the, the upside, so I agree with you and the upside is, um, so look, I believe, and, and again, all with the caveat that a lot of the things I'm talking about are limited to people that have the inattentive symptoms or combined adhd, Right? Um, but. You know, the cool part is that I believe so many people, and this is entrepreneurs, this is working professionals I've talked to, like, we're looking for something that would have like the biggest bang for our buck. Um, kind of like on the entrepreneur where they're like, I don't want to just trade dollars for hours. Like, Right, or hours for dollars. Like, I want something that's scalable and like, I want, I want like leverage effectively is what? You know, working professionals and stuff are saying. And um, the cool part is that I found is. A lot of productivity stuff focuses on like overhauling your life, right? Like you're gonna write down all your to-do lists and write down goals in every area, and then you're gonna time box your schedule and you know you're gonna do all these things. You're gonna make this color coded thing. And the reality is that there's a lead domino in there, which is if you just push this one piece, all these other productivity things fit, which is the piece that you just mentioned, which is. We don't suck at all productivity. We're great at like fire alarm tasks. Exactly. We're even decent at like busy tasks. And the reason we're decent at them is because the area that we suck and that if we improve is the lead domino that knocks all the other dominoes down is in doing tough tasks. And if we can get, build a habit of doing tough tasks every day, suddenly they don't feel tough and our comfort zone expands.  [00:14:13] Peter: Yep, a hundred percent. Tell us how we could find you.  [00:14:17] Aron: Well, you could just drive out to Michigan and look for a house.  [00:14:22] Peter: Quit being a smart ass Aron, how can we find you? .  [14:13 - How can people find more about you? Web: hiddenADHD.com ALSO  freeadhdtraining.com Socials: @aroncroft on Twitter  @HiddenADHD on Facebook  INSTA  YouTube and hidden_adhd on TikTok ] [00:14:24] Aron: All right. Alright. Um, I would say, I would say just go to free adhd training.com. I literally was like, How could I come up with the easiest to remember URL in the history of URLs? Not that help a reporter out.com isn't also memorable . But anyway, free adhd training.com and uh, I go into like a full training. It's free on the 8% productivity habit, what it is, how you can do it, um, and really break it all down with like pretty graphics and all the, my pretty bald head and all these fun things. [00:14:57] Peter: Always love having you, Aron bald head and all. It was a pleasure. Enjoy your home, enjoy your 10 acres and your, your chainsaw. We'll have you back again.  [00:15:06] Aron: All right, brother. Appreciate it! [00:15:07] Peter: Guys, as always, we wanna know what you're hearing and we wanna know what you're seeing. If you have a guest that you think might be great, shoot us a note. Peter@shankman.com. Let us know, Tweet us, post us, Facebook us, whatever. If you like what you heard, leave us review. Thanks to Steven Byrom @stevenbyrom our awesome producer. We'll back next week, another episode. Stay healthy, stay strait on keep going on the path that is yours, and yours alone, and we'll talk to you. Bye  Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Hey guys! Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/ DISCOUNT CODE: SMFriends22 Currently pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Camille completed dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Systems Biology with honors at Virginia Tech in 2018. Breaking from tradition, Camille blew up the onstage talent competition with a highly engaging and entertaining version of the “catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide,” winning Miss Virginia in June of 2019 and then Miss America in December 2019 live on NBC. While competing for the job, Camille Schrier wanted it known that “Miss America can be a scientist and a scientist can be Miss America.” Through her time as Miss America and beyond, Camille has focused on advocating for her social initiative “Mind Your Meds: Drug Safety and Abuse Prevention from Pediatrics to Geriatrics” with a major focus on the opioid epidemic, as well as for exciting youth in the areas of STEM. In 2021 Camille launched her own science educational brand, “Her Royal Scientist,” which furthers her goal to inspire and educate youth and normalize females in science roles. She also works to raise awareness around Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a genetic condition that impacts her life each day. Today's episode is important to literally anyone who has ever been given a prescription. Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Camille discuss:   01:26 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 02:14 - Intro and welcome Camille Schrier! 03:30 - Ref: Margaret Hamilton's Apollo code 03:54 - Women in STEM [Science Technology Engineering Math/Medicine] 04:56 - On Imposter Syndrome and growing up in public education without many neurodiverse role models 05:47 - On a non “A+B+C= ‘this or that'” approach to goal-setting and systemic education 06:40 - There is no one ‘right way' for everyone to do something. We are unique. 07:00 - How did you wind-up winning Miss America, was it a goal? A note on risk taking 09:17 - How did your initiative “Mind Your Meds” come about and get started? 11:00 - Eyes open about medication use in the collegiate community Ref:  Safe-RX 13:53 - So much about prescription drugs has become perception, not actual awareness of what they may, and may not do!  15:40 - Adderall and co-morbidities 16:00 - Talk to your peers and kids, not everyone reacts the same! 18:00 - In the neurodiverse community we are even more at risk of addiction, if not misuse. 19:04 - How can people find more about you? Web: www.CamilleSchrier.com Socials:  @CamilleSchrier everywhere.  Twitter  INSTA  FB  YouTube  LinkedIN 19:20 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  19:40 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  Hey guys. Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/ — [00:01:26] Peter: Hey guys. Peter Shankman here. Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal, it is a thrill to have you as always. It is another Monday when I do all my FTN interviews for the month. We are talking to Camille Schrier today, and I will tell you a little bit about her in a second. Uh, as you heard from the ad, there is a conference coming up on November 11th. I would love to see you there. Um, there should be a discount code in the uh, show notes, use it. You'll get a hundred bucks off and hear from 12 amazing speakers and me, so if you haven't had enough, there's even me. So that'll be fun. November 11th, virtually wherever you are in the world. All right, cool.  It is Monday. It is gray and yucky outside, but that's cool cause we're talking to a ray of, of sunshine and light today. Camille Schrier is currently pursuing a doctor of pharmacy degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She completed a dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Systems biology with Honors of Virginia Tech in 2018. Oh, and she was Miss America in December, 2019. Uh, so yeah, there's that. She won Miss Virginia and June, 2019. Miss America, in December of 2019. You've probably seen her on YouTube where her, on stage talent competition was an entertaining version of the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Very, very cool stuff. I actually had seen that on YouTube before she came to my attention. Uh, it is wonderful to have you here, Camille. Thanks for so much for taking the time today.  [00:02:52] Camille: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for having me and making me sound way cooler than I really am in real life.  [00:02:58] Peter: So, you know, you sort of broke the mold in that regard. You, you, you came up and, and you said, Okay, I'm gonna show the world that girls can be scientists, right? That, that women can do these things and it doesn't, You can mix and match. It doesn't have to be one or the other. I always look back at. Amazing photo from NASA where I was, when I was serving on the NASA Civilian Advisory Council. They sent me this, they showed me this photo. They have framed, it's the woman who wrote the majority of the code for, uh, the Apollo 11 landing. And, um, she's standing on a, uh, next to a stack of code that's literally like taller than her, right? And, and it was just, You know, you never Yeah. A woman did that. And, and I love as a, as a father of a nine year old daughter, I love that, you know, I'm talking to you and I'm gonna have my daughter, Jessa listen to this podcast because you're showing girls, um, my daughter's age and beyond that there is so much they can do. There's nothing they can't do, and, and you're doing it a lot better than me, as her dad ever could. .  [00:03:54] Camille: Well, thank you. And I think even more than that, I mean, we know that women can be scientists. There's probably more women than ever Yeah. In STEM careers. But I think one of the things that I have realized as I've progressed through my own career is that it's not always normal to see a very feminine woman, exactly. In the sciences, and maybe women feel like they have to conform to kind of be like their male counterparts or maybe are afraid to express their femininity in a lot of those fields. And so bringing the science into something that is traditionally a feminine role like Miss America was a really interesting way to break that mold open even more, and show people that you can do whatever you want. And I think that's something that even defies gender is just embracing who you are and doing it on purpose and being fearless in every single thing that you do. And so hopefully it inspired, um, young girls, young men and beyond.  [00:04:54] Peter: Well, it's interesting you bring that up because one of the things about ADHD is imposter syndrome and, and this concept that, You know, you are consistently broken and no matter what you've done, it's all been luck and you don't really have the skill to do anything. And I grew up with that, um, uh, through no fault of anyone but my own. I mean, you know, my parents were, were constantly supportive. But, you know, I grew up in an environment, in a school system, uh, public school system, which was, you know, you're different. And so you're being, you're being, uh, uh, uh, you're disobeying and, and you're, you're breaking the rules and you gotta be like everyone else. And it took me probably till. You know, late thirties, uh, to, to sort of get over that. And I think that, that, um, the more role models we have who can show that there is no one way to do anything right, I think is, is better for the world as a whole. And I see that, I see that, uh, you know, with, with what you've done. I see that more and more today, which gives me a little bit of hope.  [00:05:47] Camille: I think we do need that because we're, we're taught to follow directions. Yeah. Right. And that's what we're seeing at, That's how we are shown success is, is you do these certain things and you get success. If you go through a certain amount of education, if you do these leadership activities and get extracurriculars and get a certain gpa, then you get X, Y, or z. And I think that often as young people working on this formula, that's not necessarily allowing us to embrace what makes us unique. Sometimes we can do that in that situation, but it's often really hard. And I've struggled because I want to do things the right way, but there is no right way to do things. I've always been really focused on doing things, um, at the most, at the highest level of achievement and success and getting to a certain level. Um, but I've forgotten a lot about what I want in that, and I think imposter syndrome is so real in what I have experienced. My becoming Miss America wasn't a longtime goal. I literally signed up for a competition that was two weeks away that went to Miss Virginia. And I was like, This will be fun. Let's do it. . And I won. And then eight weeks later I won Miss Virginia and six months later I won Miss America. And I was like, how did I end up here? Right? And did I deserve this? How? How did I. How did I successfully make my way through this in doing something that was totally different than anyone else had done before, but actually winning Miss America by doing something vastly different than anyone else had done was the best reward in taking a risk and doing something different than I had ever had in my life. Yeah, because I was always afraid to take a risk because what if it goes wrong? Right. But ultimately, if it went wrong, I would just come home as not Miss America. Exactly. So, The odds were pretty good to have a good experience, and it rewarded my creativity and my ability to try something new that then set me on a path to wanna do that more in my professional life. [00:07:48] Peter: Well, that's one of the things that I try to explain to, uh, people, you know, especially the kids. And, and you know, when they, when they read my book and then, and they, they reach out is, you know, the concept that, that, that being the, the, the worst, the biggest risk it said is not taking one. Right. And, and the concept. you can do something and fail or you cannot do it, and you'll be in the same place if you failed. Yeah. So the only option you have that breaks you out of that is to try it, you know? And I, I love, I love that. Cause I think that that, you know, again, I didn't have that mentality. It was funny. I didn't have the mentality as a kid yet. I was always different. So it was like I was, I was fighting, I was swimming upstream, I was fighting against that. And once I embraced it, You know, the whole world opened up and so I sort of think you're doing that as well. Um, so Miss America can be a scientist and a scientist can be Miss America. I love that. Tell me about, um, mind your meds. So, you know, when I was growing up and we talked about the offline, when I was growing up, the, uh, the concept of medication for ADHD or anything like that, really. Kids didn't really take meds. Um, they took medication if they were sick, I get, get penicillin, right? Whatever, you know, or Sudafed and I, but it wasn't, I, I grew up, I guess in an earlier time in the eighties we didn't have that. We had cigarettes and um, you know, I once I, and they were healthy back then, so it's fine. But, um, you know, I look at, I look at. Today I have, I have, I have friends who have kids in college and, and they're like, Yeah, the, the kids, the kids pass around, uh, Adderall, like it's candy. And, you know, that's not necessarily a good thing. Um, so talk about Mind Your Meds. Where did it come from, the concept? Uh, how, how'd you get to where it is?  [00:09:16] Camille: Sure there's such a huge problem related to pharmaceuticals and medications in the country. And as a doctor of pharmacy student, I wanted to choose a cause that I would represent as Miss Virginia and Miss America that was something I was passionate about, but also something that I felt like would affect every person that I came across, that would be relevant to every individual in some way. And I feel. All of us have either taken a medication or have known someone who's taken a medication in their lives. We all have kind of lived that or taken even just a over the counter medication at some point. And when I went through my pharmacy education, I started to realize how easy it is to make mistakes, to take things improperly, the dangers of medications that are even over the counter. Let alone things that are prescription or controlled substances, the risks that can come along with those things, and how we can really do things that are very easy to prevent, um, harm and misuse and things that damage our communities essentially. So I wanted to focus on medication safety as one big piece of what I do. But then on the other side, there's also an issue with substance use disorders in this country. With stimulants, with opioids and many other substances, um, both prescription and illicit. And I saw more and more of that as time went on. Now I spend a lot of time talking about the opioid epidemic, which is one that has just drastically increased over the past 20 years for a lot of different reasons, but is really running rampant, uh, in our communities and is, is killing people at a level that I've, I never would've anticipated, but is really sad. So, Looking back at kind of all of the things that I have gotten to do. You mentioned stimulants and when I was growing up, I can't really even remember a lot of my peers taking stimulants for, for diagnoses like adhd. Now I went to school, like elementary school, middle school, in the early two thousands. So a little bit after, but still not that long ago I do feel like as time has gone on, it's become more popular. Right? Um, and. I will say when I got into college was the first time where I really saw medications being misused in my, with my own eyes. And it was always stimulant medications. And I think as someone who's looking at ways, uh, That people can be proactive with medication safety. I feel like if you have a prescription medication, especially controlled substance like a stimulant, you have to be a responsible steward of that sub of that substance. It is your responsibility to take control of that and prevent others from potentially being harmed by that. And so I've actually teamed up with a company called Safe- RX who produces locking pill viles. Mm. And that's just like an easy tool that I can recommend to families to kind of secure these medications, either at home or or students taking them to college. I talk a lot about children accidentally taking medications because they don't know what they are. They think that they're candy, making sure that you are locking up medications, keeping them up and away from children, being a safe steward of medications. These are all things that can not only keep people safe, but prevent misuse, prevent substance use disorders from coming up in our communities. It's all a cycle, and I think that it needs to be talked about more. It's not really an educational topic that I heard a lot about when I was in school and that I still don't really hear a lot about. And so I think, you know, as a pharmacy student, pharmacists have such a unique perspective and role in being a medication safety expert, and that's why I'm excited to be a pharmacist as well. [00:13:06] Peter: That's a wonderful answer. I remember in the eighties, uh, you'd come home from school at like 3:00 PM and you'd watch like cartoons or whatever, and there was always a really, really bad. Like cringy commercial called pills aren't candy. And I don't know if you, I don't know if you had that in the 2000's by the way. I, I, I died a little bit when you said, you know, I, Yeah, I went to school in the two early two thousands. I just, I'm sorry. Died a little bit . Um, I had, I had someone I was watching, uh, TikTocs with my daughter and, uh, There was one where a woman goes, uh, you know, the, the older generation on TikTok, you know, the ones like born in the late nineties. I'm like, You, we, you're,  [00:13:39] Camille: I've seen that it even made me cringe  [00:13:41] Peter: everyone's app, right? Yeah. I'm deleting off everyone's phone right now, . But um, but yeah, no, I remember the we are not candy thing and, and it's, and it's true. I mean, as a, you know, I had the conversation with my daughter years ago, you know, this is anything in a bottle that looks like this or whatever. You don't, you don't take anything you don't know. You don't take anything. I haven't. Yeah. And, and, um, the interesting, interesting thing about the lock. You know, I wonder if it's, if it's also a peer pressure thing in the respect that, oh, you know, dude, can I, can I score that off you, can I tell, you know, score real, And it's a, kids that I've talked to don't necessarily look at it as medication. They look at it as a, as finals help. You know, there's a difference in, in, in how you look at it.  [00:14:20] Camille: I think that you're absolutely right and that's how I saw it used in students that were trying to stay up all night Yes. And study, and that it was really a commodity instead of a prescription medication that genuinely helps people Yeah. That have disorders like ADHD and is extremely effective in that. Um, I do feel like what you're saying is very true and, and potentially even putting something in a container like a locking pill vile could mentally even make that seem like less of a commodity and something that should be protected. Um, and obviously I don't think there's studies along what that impact might be for students, but I think just looking anecdotally, that would be something that I'm sure that my peers probably would think differently about when I was in college. Uh, instead of just this, Oh, can I get one of these off of you? Which really surprised me, even though I'm a little bit straight edge to begin with. But seeing students talking about in group messages of like, Oh, does anyone have an Adderall? I have an exam tomorrow. Um, Really bothered me to my core because I just felt like it was so wrong. Um, and so risky from a medical perspective as well, because patients and students that have comorbidities who maybe they don't even know that they have yeah, an issue, maybe they have an undiagnosed cardiovascular problem that they don't know about, and taking a medication could, could really be detrimental for them. There's so many things that go into making sure that a medication is right for a patient. But if that, that's why these medications are prescription, because there's a prescriber that's evaluating all these different things. And I really wanna stress if there's parents listening, to have those candid conversations with your students about what the, what the ultimate risks of this medication could be for them and for other people around them and the importance of keeping that to yourself. And the also the importance of not taking anyone else's medications. Especially I have to, to emphasize in the time of fentanyl. Yeah. When we are not sure what is in any pill that we take, we aren't sure that a pill that someone gives us is actually from whatever they say that it's from. It could be a pill that was produced, uh, not in a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility that could be cut with fentanyl and could lead to an overdose. There are so many risks taking any type of medication or any substance from anyone I believe. Playing Russian roulette right now. And so that's a continued conversation outside of just protecting your own prescription, but emphasizing to everyone, students, children, adults, and beyond that we have a huge problem in this country with opioids and with fentanyl that is now coming into other pieces of, of the, um, kind of drug scene maybe in the stimulant sector with, um, methamphetamines and beyond, which is a deadly, a deadly consequence that could happen. And I, I hate to be dramatic and I know that sometimes I sound like a broken record in that, but it's a one decision that you could potentially make that you cannot correct. Right. And that is something that I really emphasize to everyone that I meet because it's, it really. It goes beyond just, Oh, I made a mistake and I'm gonna apologize. And it's unfortunate. So, uh, I do think that it's so important for us to not only be safe stewards, but have those conversations, have candid conversations with people, um, because these medications are also really difficult to get, specifically when we're talking about stimulants, right? And part of those reasons that they're difficult to get is because people misuse them. And so, uh, not contributing to that and making it more difficult for people that need those medications to access them, um, that's not gonna help us.  [00:18:05] Peter: Well, what's interesting about that is, you know, especially, um, when you are neurodiverse, when you're a d d, when you're adhd, studies have shown you have much higher, uh, addiction prevalence, right? And, and so putting yourself deliberately, putting yourself into harm's way in that regard is something kids don't think about in their, you know, late teens, early twenties, and, You know, look down the road 10, 20, 30 years, where do you wanna be? So, there's no question about it. It's really, really cool. Camille, I, I gotta, we gotta cut it off for time, but I would love to have you back at some point. This is wonderful.  [00:18:36] Camille: Oh my gosh. I would love to come back and talk about this. Thank you so much for having, uh, a great conversation about, uh, these issues. And they're so, they're so prevalent and I, it really upsets me that we, we see this growing rather than getting better. But I think having conversations like these are the way that we end. [00:18:52] Peter: How can we, uh, how can people find you?  [00:18:54] Camille: So you can find me on any social media platform at Camille Schrier my first and last name. Uh, you can also find mr at www.camilleschrier.com.  [ www.CamilleSchrier.com @CamilleSchrier everywhere: Twitter  INSTA  FB  YouTube  LinkedIN] [00:19:04] Peter: Awesome. Camille Schrier, thank you so very much for taking the time. [00:19:07] Camille: Thank you! [00:19:08] Peter: Guys as always. We'll back next week with another amazing interview. Our thanks to our guest, Camille Schrier our thanks to Steven Byrom who produces this end every episode, and is just an awesome all around human being and I hope you have a wonderful week. We will see you guys soon. Take care. Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Hey guys. Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/. DISCOUNT CODE: SMFriends22 — Cool interview today with a content creator and health care provider who is recently diagnosed with ADHD, yet survived school without knowing what was going on with her brain! She turned to the internet to let people know that they are not alone, and to be helpful to others! A little more about our guest today in her own words:  Karrisa Cardenas is a mental health content creator, Singer songwriter, entrepreneur and the host of her very own podcast called “Finding Your Mind” and of course shares her life through the lens on her YouTube channel. She has faced many challenges in her life along side her ADHD such as depression, anxiety, daddy issues, abuse and so much more.  She has used all she has been through as inspiration to keep creating, creating for those who don't have anyone to go to and are facing these challenges alone. She shares her dark times to bring awareness. Letting those who listen know that its okay not to be okay and there is a light at the end of the tunnel, its just going to take a while to get there. Little back story on my life. I grew up very fast at a young age, had to take care of my mother most of my life and my father was never in the picture. Throughout my younger years I was faced with traumas that shape who i am today, which is why i create content around mental health and ADHD, i never had anyone to tell me what was going on with me so i had to figure it out all by myself. I didn't have the luxury of doctors to help me. I was simply on my own with my mind. How scary, but also so freaking beautiful. Those were some tough years to go through but man on man am i such a wonderful human because of it. I have had my fair share of jobs such as coaching cheerleading, installing stoves and pools, Retail, Fast food, Waitressing, Barista, Nursing Assistant, Assistant manager of a non profit, and no i didn't get fired from these jobs i quit because my ADHD was bored after learning everything in those positions. A few fun facts about our guest:  Never reads the last chapter in a book. Chocolate milk + popcorn always. Sits criss cross apple sauce in chairs. From a small town called Kelso. Left handed -which is a super power too. Enjoy!  ——  In this episode Peter and Karrisa discuss:   01:26 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:45 - A note about the Boxing command: “duck!!” 02:22 - Intro and welcome Karrisa Cardenas! 04:51 - What made you want to share your stories with the public? 06:20 - On what happened after she first shared 07:00 - Haters gonna hate. How did you press forward? 08:52 - Karrisa, wise beyond her years and dealing with bad words people say 10:20 - On wishing healing 10:48 - How do you come up with your ideas for content? 11:53 - How often to you post? You grew up “social”, but how much of your life do you actually share. How do you set up boundaries? 14:00 - You've had all sorts of jobs. How do you make a living, or how did you starting out? 16:00 - On having a back-up plan/safety chute 16:46 - Are you a night owl and why do you have to chase popcorn with chocolate milk? 17:49 - We are kind of unique in that we both are doing this to help others. Where does this come from in you? Why do you do this? 20:04 - How can people find more about you? Web: LinkTree  Finding Your Mind Podcast Socials:  @karrisamarieofficial on INSTA  Facebook and YouTube 20:27 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  20:55 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  Hey guys. Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/ — Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. I am thrilled to be joining you today. I am a little more hyper than normal. I just took, literally just came back from a boxing class over at Victory Boxing, Victory Boxing on 37th Street off of 10th Avenue and holy. Um, it's normally, I, you know, you get one of the coaches one of the day. No, this was the owner who's a pit, or, Hey, let's, let's spar for a bit. Kicked my ass. Into next week. So I am high as a kite on dopamine an adrenaline right now, but oh my God, in three hours, I'm not going to be able to move. He's like, you know, it's funny when you're, when you're, when you're boxing and you're thinking about that next punch, whatever you all you hear are like the punch calls. And he's like, you know, he's like, um, jab cross, left hook, right hook upper cut, left upper cut right. And then he throws duck. And you're staying like an idiot who goes, Oh, is there a duck somewhere? And you could hit in the side of the head. So it has been, it was a fun hour, but oh my God, I'm gonna be hurting in a few. So anyway, with that said, thrilled that you're here and I want you to meet Karrisa Cardenas, so I might be on Instagram. As you know, as a matter of fact, both my mother and my daughter's mother, I'm pretty sure called Child Protective Services on me this morning because I videoed with a 360 Insta Cam I video. I put it on top of my helmet and videotaped or, or, or recorded, uh, the 2.7 mile scooter ride that I take every morning when I take my daughter to school and. You didn't realize how scary that ride is until you look at it on a 360 video and you're like, Wow, that truck nearly killed me. That other truck nearly killed me. Oh, that's 17 trucks. Oh, there's a school bus nearly, and a city bus nearly killed me. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure that that Child Protect service is gonna bust in any minute and, and take my daughter away from you. But either way, it was totally worth it and great video. So I'm on Instagram a lot. I love creating content, and of course I love absorbing content, and Instagram knows this and they treat me, uh, incredibly well because of it. In other words, they, they cater to my wants and my needs because it means I stay on longer like a good little boy, which is exactly what they need for their advertising. Well, that being said, I came across Carissa Cardenas. She's a mental health content creator. Okay? She's a singer songwriter, entrepreneur. Hosted a very own podcast called Finding Your Mind, and she shares her life through the lens, through the lens on her YouTube channel. She's faced a ton of challenges in her life. She has depression, anxiety, and this is her words, Daddy issues, abuse, and so much more. And she's used all of this as an inspiration to keep creating, to create for those who don't have anywhere to go and don't have anyone to talk to and are facing those challenges alone. I love this. She shares her dark times to bring awareness, letting those who listen know that it's okay not to be okay. And even though it might take a long time to get there, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, she tells me, I'll talk to you about her backstory. I'll ask her about it and I'll let her speak in a second but she, she has a really interesting backstory, um, that has shaped who she is. And, and I think it's wonderful. And she, she put fun, I love when people do this in her bio, she put a bunch of fun facts. So we're gonna read the, the last five minutes, we're gonna two minutes. We're gonna read those out and have her define those. Karrisa, welcome to Faster Than Normal! [00:04:24] Karrisa: Hello. [00:04:26] Peter: I am thrilled that you're here. I love the videos you create. They're so honest, they're so straightforward, and I, I first found you because I'm, I look another ADHD creator and I'm like, Goddammit, another ADHD creator who's getting like 20 times as many likes as me, and this is pissing me the hell off. So obviously we'll talk about how you're, you know, what your, what your system is because you're, you're creating incredible content. But what originally drew you to say, Hey, I'm gonna tell my story in public and, and, and love it or hate it here it is?  [00:04:54] Karrisa: Uh, well, to be honest, uh, in 2015 is kind of where it all started and, uh, I started making video content on Facebook actually. And, uh, I started that because I was very alone growing up. And I faced all these traumas and these issues throughout my life that I just felt so alone and I didn't go to therapy and I didn't know what was wrong with me. Everyone told me that I like, had issues and I was so, you know, angry and all these things. So I just felt very alone and very scared. So I decided one day to pick up the camera and, well, it's actually my phone. It was my, I think it was with my flip phone to be honest, and I started recording on it. And I was like, You know what, I'm just gonna share like a diary. So I sat there and I shared all of my, uh, daddy issues and my anxiety and all that stuff in like different video forms. And this was when I was like, what, 18, 19. So I was like going through it and I, I recorded everything in my vehicle and and I sat there and I was like, you know, I'm gonna do this for other people because I never had help and I never, you know, got anyone. Relate to, and so I just decided one day I was like, I'm, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna scarily share everything that I've been through, even though it might be tmi. I just need someone else to hear it.  [00:06:18] Peter: And it sort of blew up from there.  [00:06:20] Karrisa: Yeah, so it went from that and then of course, you know, doubts and insecurities got into into my bloodstream and it decided to, uh, make me not post for a while. And then I decided, okay, this is really what I wanna do with my life. So I decided to start a podcast instead cuz it was just so much easier than having to edit video and I always have to look nice on video, so I just decided to do it, podcast, and then it started to slowly take off and then it did randomly and I was like, Holy moly, this is it. Uh, I really gotta, I really gotta do this now. You know? So it was really awesome.  [00:06:55] Peter: You know, it's interesting, let talk for a second about you stopped creating content when you started getting like, what haters and things like that. [00:07:01] Karrisa: Yeah, I, I stopped as people would just tell they were ugly. They were so ugly. [00:07:07] Peter: Now here's the thing, I mean, that's not, that's never changed. I mean, I, I posted that video this morning of the ride to school, and then I went and into my boxing class and I came out and they're like, About 20 comments and at least four of them were like, Oh, I'm never coming to New York. Fuck New York. There's a, you know, it's full of Democrats. Okay, well, you know, you're obviously meet people like that. And then you get the, Oh wow, you know, we gonna put your kid in the harm's way in the middle of the time, square traffic. I'm like, Okay, I'm much better scooter than you, whatever. But, you know, I, I feel, I feel like I'm 50, right? I, I've had 20 years of giving corporate keynote speeches in front of 20,000 people where I. I'm still kind of, I'm mostly over the haters, but you never truly get over them. You're a lot younger than me. Tell the audience what you did to get past it. Because that the haters and the, and the, and the, the, the, um, trolls, they kill about 95% of the, of the people who wanna create content and they just stop. And they don't wanna do that. And they, they, they leave a lot of stuff, beautiful stuff on the table, never wind up doing.  [00:08:04] Karrisa: Well, uh, yeah. I also was doing YouTube too, so I got all those like, hate comments. You should die. You sh you're ugly. You know, all of those beautiful things at a young age. So, um, I just kind of sat with myself and I really focused on what I wanted to do as a person and who wanted to be, and I had to realize that no one else's fucking opinion, excuse my language really mattered. And I had really had. Hone into myself and really believe in myself and really just not care at all about what anyone else has to say and just hyper focus on that and not even, I didn't look for comments like probably the first two years I got back into it because I was like, I don't need their opinions, whether it be good or not. I never replied to anyone's comments. I just focused on what I wanted to do.  [00:08:52] Peter: Let me ask you a question if you don't mind sharing how old are you? [00:08:54] Karrisa: I'm 28.  [00:08:56] Peter: That is, I gotta give you such props for that because I remember I started my first company at 27, 26. Mm-hmm. and I sold it, it was a PR firm. I sold it at 29 to a larger agency. And I remember even at 29 thinking like the news went out that it was sold and there were all, you know, Oh, he probably couldn't, he probably just sold it for like, for nothing cuz you know, he couldn't, couldn't keep it up. And his parents probably like, you know, gave him money to start it and it. I remember, I remember like it was yesterday, reading that comment and being like, Wow, I must be nothing. You know? And, and this took years. It took years. I probably, I'm 50 now. Maybe, maybe a couple years ago I really stopped caring as much as I can. But you're still gonna care a little bit. I mean, it's really, I give you a lot of credit for that. It's really impressive. At your age to be able to get past that. [00:09:42] Karrisa: Yeah. It's, it's a difficult thing though. And I mean, there it is always gonna be here. Like, it's even gonna get worse the bigger you get. Like it's just the way the world works. Yeah. But since I kinda, I grew up in, in social media, to be honest, uh, I started just to see, you know, these empty comments I like to say, because, you know, those people are going through stuff on their own and they're just using, you know, their hate towards you for comfort in a way. And it's just, it's an ugly thing. But I've, I put my. I mean, I put myself in their shoes to make sure like, Hey, listen, you, you know, they're probably suffering from anxiety, traumas, like all of these things. And you know, they're just hating. They shouldn't, but they're just hating. Cause that's all they know. [00:10:20] Peter: Right. Don't, don't wish anger on them. Wish, wish, wish, healing.  [00:10:24] Karrisa: Yeah. That's, that's just what I do.  [00:10:26] Peter: That's impressive. Again, that's really impressive. I still, I mean, I wish healing on them, but I still go to the boxing gym and beat the show to some bags every you, every day. Of course. Gotta do that.  [00:10:33]Karrisa: Of course. [00:10:34] Peter: So, let's talk about the kind of content you create when you, when you're posting mental health. I mean, there are a ton of mental health, you know, content creators out there and not, not the majority of them are not getting anywhere near as well as you. Um, So do you listen to your audience? Do you take advice from your audience? Do you, do you, do you listen to their feedback and incorporate that into future posts? How do you come up with your ideas?  [00:10:54] Karissa: Uh, I honestly haven't done that. Like I get a lot of, uh, messages about saying, you know, like all the things that I've posted that have helped them or, you know, opened their eyes or something like that, which is so amazing. But I kind of just focus on what I feel at the time. So I'll be sitting, let's just say I'm at, sitting at my desk and I just have this urge to talk about a specific topic. I'll just do it. At random. Like, I haven't got to the point where I, like, I take feedback yet just because I want to, I want to stay with this momentum that I've got, and usually feedback with my ADHD and everything makes my brain go freaking nuts. Uhhuh. Like, I just, I can't focus. So then I'm like, Oh crap. Did I say the right thing? Did I do the right thing for these people? Or they, you know, So I just hyperfocus on like what I need to say first, and then of course I, I listen to you know, comments later down the road and kind of incorporated into the next content I do create. But I mean, just hyper focus on, you know, how I'm feeling that day, to be honest.  [00:11:53] Peter: How often are you posting, uh, daily? So that brings up another interesting question. You, you said yourself, you're a child of social media. You grew up in this era. Um, you know, know, I, I thank God every day that camera phones and things of that nature didn't exist when I was in high school, I'd probably see somebody in jail and, you know, for you. You're, I guess it is perfectly normal that everything you do mm-hmm. is public. Yeah. Now, but here's a question. It looks like everything of what you do is public to what percent of things that you do are public? Like, you know, I'm sure you still have a private life that you don't necessarily share. [00:12:27] Karrisa:Yeah. Uh, I would say I only share about 10%.  [00:12:31] Peter: And how do you, do you set up boundaries for yourself so that you don't overshare or that you don't, You know, I, I remember probably 15 years ago writing a multi tweet Twitter rant, and this is before you could like, collect, connect, the tweets was much harder. And it was basically me bitching about something that I, I really didn't need to be bitching about, and I sent it and learned a valuable lesson that night. Right. You don't necessarily need to share every damn thing. Yeah. So how are you, how are you aware of that? What are you doing to make sure that you're, you know, okay, this is something that might be interesting, but I'm not gonna sit here and bitch for the next three hours about whatever. [00:13:04] Karrisa: Uh, to be honest, I . I wish I had more of a filter. Uh, but I don't, And so the only thing that I really set boundaries towards is talking about politics, to be honest, because, you know, it's just one of those things that I just don't wanna get into on, you know, the internet because I would just get wrecked to be honest. So I just kinda set boundaries with that and I just, Almost everything. I am very open. I'm an open book, and if people hate it, they hate it because there's, there's people out there that are suffering through things that, you know, if they don't have the connection with other people that they can talk to. So it's like, I'm gonna share all the ugly parts and this is more so when I. Was younger. So I'm sharing all of those issues, the abuse and stuff so that it could connect to the right people so that they can live a another day, to be honest. But, um, other than that, the boundaries I set are just political .That's it.  [00:14:02] Peter: Tell me about, so you've had several jobs. Yes. Right. And then I love this coaching, cheerleading, installing stoves and pools, retail, fast food, waitressing, barista, nursing assistant, assistant manager of a nonprofit. And no, and you make it clear, No, I didn't get fired from these jobs. I quit them all because my ADHD was bored after learning everything in those positions. So, yeah. And I get that. I had one job in my life and I'm like, No. But, um, you know, after, after the sort of magic wears off, right? At some point you gotta make a living. Yep. So what then?  [00:14:33] Karrisa: Uh, well, I, I guess I don't really share this, but I will. Um, so I do a lot of content creation, and I do get paid from all of that stuff, but, uh, I, I do have a core job, which is taking care of my mom, so I. Right now I take care of my mom and so I'm a certified nursing assistant. Okay. And that has been the, you know, the bill paying money, the I'm gonna be okay and I can step back and work on all of these things and Gotcha. You know, it, it's, it's a blessing to be honest, cuz not everyone gets to do this. Oh, totally. Or does a lot of people have to take care of their mom at a young age. So, I mean, like, that's kind of, you know, where, where I'm at, like, I don't work, other jobs anymore. I just create and it's so beautiful and I'm so blessed about it. [00:15:19] Peter: You know, it's interesting. I, um, I, I, I look at my, I I look at a lot of kids who are, who are, you know, influencers, whatever, whatever they wanna call themselves. I hate that term. And, um, you know, they're, they're, they're creating all this kind of thousands and tens and thousand likes and thousand likes. And occasionally they, they, they do a partnership with someone or whatever. And I know the, I know the industry. I know damn well. Yes. They're not making enough for a Starbucks once a day. No. Right. With that. And yet you'll never see that, You know, you'll never, you'll never, uh, hear about the fact that, you know, they're, they're also working, uh, you know, 8:00 PM to 4:00 AM as a security guard or doing whatever just to pay the rent. Yep. Right. It's like the, um, Uh, the real versus Instagram, whether, you know, the, the, the Instagram is like everything is beautiful and then the camera pans over to the other side of the room where it's just like a mess. Yep. Right? And so it, it's interesting because you have a lot of people who are out there trying to create content and I would never tell anyone not to do it and give it a shot, kick ass on it. But I would say have a backup plan. Yeah, I, And it seems, it seems like you managed to pull that off. You do have a backup plan. [00:16:17] Karrisa: Yes, I always do. I think it's just a security thing for me because, uh, growing up I didn't come from money, so having a backup plan has always been a thing. Like, I've been to college twice. I've been, you know, just thinking, Okay, what am I gonna do if this doesn't pan out? What if I'm, you know, like, but I have to also believe in it a hundred percent, or I'm not gonna give it my all. And I. So it's kind of like that fine line where you're like, Yes, I need to pay my bills, so I will work a nine to five, but I need to bust my ass doing the rest of this.  [00:16:46] Peter: Right. Are you a, um, are you a night owl? Yes. . I noticed that I, I saw the email came in around 2:00 AM so I figured, um,  [00:16:58] Karrisa: Yeah, Sorry about that, heh. [00:16:58] Peter: Why do you have to eat? And this, this goes to the, your last paragraph. Why do you have to have chocolate milk when you eat popcorn? That's a weird combination?  [00:17:04] Karrisa: Oh, . Well, okay, see, Um, I don't know where it came from. I've always been a, a child of weird combinations and, uh, I just, I can't have popcorn without it because I don't know. I need to wash it down with something sweet and chocolate like so amazing. And when you pair the two, it it hands down the best. No one would try it. No one ever tried it. They're like,  [00:17:26] Peter: I'm gonna try. I'm totally gonna try it tonight actually. I have some of my kids chalk the milk. I'm totally gonna try it. [00:17:30] Karrisa: There you go. I love that. Lemme know.  [00:17:32] Peter: And by the way, you're lefthanded as am I, as our most amazing people, so  [00:17:36] Karrisa: for real ?That's awesome actually. [00:17:38] Peter: I love that. I love it. Always drives my boxing coach crazy cuz he always says he, he takes his original position and I go left. God damn it. He has to switch around. Yep. So, so I guess I'll, I'll, I'll close it with this. I wanna be respectful of your time when you, you know, you're creating content and putting stuff out there in a world, especially in social, that isn't always that nice if ever, Right? Mm-hmm. and looking at the stuff that you're talking about, which is mental health, you know, from the beginning, um, tells people that yeah, you've had your share of hits in, in your life. You've taken some hits, you've had some issues, you've had some problems. Yet your goal in all of this, it's still to help people who, who are never able to get help for this on their own. Yeah. And that's really kinda altruistic. Right. Most people are kind of like, No, fuck you, man. I'm gonna get mine. And, and, and you know, I'm gonna get it. I mean, we live in a world right now where, where 15 governors are trying to stop, um, uh, student loan debt cancellation because everyone should pay their own share. I'm like, Well, that's a dick move, right? Yeah. So, so you're sitting here going, No, I wanna help people out. And that's the exact same reason I, I wrote Faster Than Normal and do this podcast, but there aren't a lot of us. So at the end of the day, Your value system is, is pretty unique, right? You're sitting there going, No, I wanna help people. And and does that come from anyone? Did that come from what, what, You know, based on, on the history that you told me about yourself that you shared, um, it doesn't sound like you were helped a lot. So where'd that come from?  [00:19:05] Karrisa: Uh, that's exactly why is because I wasn't helped a lot. I wasn't guided and I wasn't told that what I was going through was normal or you know, cuz my ADHD was, I, I did, I just got diagnosed with it in 2020. So like I didn't have help realizing that, oh my God. Like I went through school and stuff thinking I was so stupid because I learned a different way than other people, but I never knew that, so no one told me. And like I just had to go through the motions of doing things alone. So when I got a little older to understand what I was actually facing. And I started doing research on my own. I was like, there are so many other Me's out there that need help that don't have the finances for it. And I was like, maybe I can just share some of my stories and it could help. And it's just helped me too because it helps me get out of my head and it creates this community of amazing people that need help. And I'm just here and I'm just like, wanna give everybody a hug? And I just want people to be better mentally and understand that it's okay not to be okay.  [00:20:04] Peter: Yeah. I love that. I love that. Very, very cool. Very, very cool. How can people to find you? [00:20:10] Karrisa: Uh, they can find me on Instagram at Karissa Marie Official. You can find me also on YouTube as Karissa Marie and also my podcast, Finding Your Mind.  [00:20:21] Peter: Very cool. Leave all those in the show notes. Thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it today. [00:20:25] Karissa: Thank you so much for having me. You're awesome dude.  [00:20:28] Peter: Guys, Faster Than Normal wants to hear what you think. Let us leave us a note, shoot me an email. We've gotten a lot of guests because you guys have written in and said, Hey, talk to this person. So if you have any people, we should talk to peter@shakman.com. You know how to find me. We will see you next week. ADHD as Karissa has blatantly showed us today, is a gift, not a curse. And I will say that until the day I die. Stay tuned, keep in touch. We'll see you guys next week. Stay safe. Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Hey guys. Peter Shankman the host of Faster Than Normal here. I wanna invite you to something! I am hosting a Mastermind with 12 amazing speakers who are gonna be talking about everything from ADHD to mental health, from entrepreneurship, to just living your life better. It's gonna be on November 10th, It's gonna be virtual from anywhere in the world. Incredible, incredible speakers. The leading fitness trainer in Canada for all things. Me! A whole bunch of speakers- Scott Carney, who wrote the book which is to all about how he goes and takes ice showers every day. It's gonna be 12 amazing speakers, the CBS Early Shows' Jennifer Hartstein, really, really great people. And I'd like you to join us. Check out the link below in the show notes at ShankMinds 2022 and we will see you there. And a matter of fact, look for the discount code in the show notes as well, that'll take a hundred bucks off the cost. We'll see you soon! https://shankman.lpages.co/shankminds-virtual-2022/  DISCOUNT CODE:  SMFriends22 -- Southern California-born and bred Maitland Ward has quickly become one of the biggest stars in adult entertainment, after an-already successful career as an American model, actress and cosplay personality. After finding fame in the ‘90s on CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful and smash ABC sitcom Boy Meets World, as well as a plum role in 2004's cult classic White Chicks, Ward decided to shake things up with racy social media content, sexy cosplay and appearing at fan conventions before making the leap into the adult film industry in 2019. The statuesque (5'10”) all-natural redhead is unique in that not only is she beautiful and built for the adult biz, Ward's talent as an actress means she can also carry dramatic and comedic scenes with ease. Her playful energy, professionalism and open sexuality earned her an exclusive performance contract with Vixen Media Group and the famous face of the brand's blockbuster studio, Deeper. In 2020, Ward won three AVN Awards for Best Supporting Actress, Best Three-Way Sex Scene-G/G/B for her work in Deeper feature Drive and Favorite Camming Cosplayer. She also won three XBIZ Awards for Crossover Star of the Year, Best Actress-Feature Movie and Best Sex Scene-Feature Movie, also for Drive.  In 2021 she scored two AVN Awards as well: Best Leading Actress for Deeper's Muse, as well as Best Boy/Girl Sex Scene for Higher Power, plus two XBIZ Awards for Best Acting-Lead and Best Sex Scene-Feature for Muse, and in 2022 she took home two XBIZ trophies for Best Acting-Lead for Muse 2 and Performer of the Year.  Ward's recent mainstream endeavors include starring and co-producing a TV series, The Big Time, taking on a lead role in psychological thriller Just for You and releasing an eye-popping no-holds-barred memoir about her wild life in the entertainment biz, Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood.    ——    In this episode Peter and Maitland discuss:     00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:00 - Intro and welcome Maitland Ward!  IMDB bio 01:38 - So you're here in NYC promoting Rated X; let's talk about that! 02:00 - Despite all of your success at such a young age, you were not happy. Why? 04:00 - A lot of positive things have happened in the culture of Hollywood and beyond 04:45 - On hiding who you are, and why. A note on fear. 05:25 - When did you first realize, then decide you needed a change? 06:15 - About getting married an moving to NYC 06:50 - On figuring out that you're different 07:18 - Peter on how he explained to his father how he was quitting his day job 08:08 - When did you decide to make the switch from ‘mainstream to ‘adult' film? How did your peers react? 09:15 - About double standards 09:45 - Peter on breaking stereotypes for New Frontier Media at The Wall Street Journal 10:55 - How did it go when you started dipping your feet more into rated R, rated X Art? 12:28 - On building a fanbase in real time 14:00 - About her first full length feature and how that evolved  15:00 - How do you deal with the haters, how do you not focus on the bad reviews, trolls, etc? 15:55 - A tip about fan mail of any sort 16:55 - What's next for you? 17:35 - My how things have changed in twenty years, or even thirty! 18:52 - What do you do to get out of your head, to clear and re-center? 19:54 - Do you have any rituals or habits that must happen every day or else? 20:21 - How can people find more about you? Web: https://onlyfans.com/maitlandward Socials:  @MaitlandWard on Twitter  INSTA  FB  and @Maitlandtoks on TikTok Shout out to Brian at BSG Public Relations! @bsgpr on Twitter 20:57 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  21:21 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  [00:00:41] Peter: So Maitland, thank you for taking the time. I know you're on a busy schedule with your book tour in New York here. [00:00:46] Maitland: Yes. Thank you so much for having me. [00:00:47] Peter: How is New York, uh, treating you so far?  [00:00:49] Maitland: It's, it's been great. It's been a whirlwind, like, meeting with everybody and like, you know, just doing all of the, the. publicity, I guess you would say. It's, it's kind of like a machine. So I, I'm really having good time, but it's been very busy. I hope to have a little more like downtime to, to little freedom to go explore. More freedom. [00:01:03] Peter: Yeah. We're, we're a good city. We're coming back. You know, Covid was a bit here, but I did not, I could have least how many people are here now.  [00:01:11] Maitland: Yeah. It's definitely came back. Cause I had come, uh, to film something like a, I guess it was a little over a year ago, and, It was pretty bad. Yeah. Things were shut down.  [00:01:20] Peter: Still in, I'm at the point my daughter's, my daughter's class, like half the kids and their parents like went to their second and third homes and all that. Right now they're all back. I'm like, I'm like you. I kind of feel like you should pay an extra 50% tax on everything because you went down, left your most right. You left us right. But yeah, we're coming back. It's nice to see the city getting, getting back into form. We're, we're a good place. Um, so you're, you're here promoting burning rated X. Yes. Let's, so let's talk about that. So you have. The majority of people in Delta Entertainment, you have backstory, you have a history. You came, um, in mainstream media, right? Yes. You started Boy Me World. Yes. And, and of course White. It's one of my favorites because my friend Marlon's in it. That's so cool. And, and you know, you, but you weren't happy.  [00:01:59] Maitland: Yeah, it was an interesting thing because I started acting very young, uh, like 16 years old. I was on a soap opera and, uh, it was, it was a whirlwind experience at the time, but I really felt like I had to be a certain way all the time in Hollywood. Like I had to be a good girl. I had to, you know, be straighten narrow, like really, you know, be nice. That was a big thing. Be nice, and it, I think that was a dangerous thing for a Woman to be taught, like make them like you be nice. So, um, so I was, but I felt like I was always denying certain parts of myself to. You know, accommodate other people and, and Hollywood, you know, I got very lucky early on that I got a lot of jobs and, and high profile jobs. Uh, especially like when I got Boy Meets World and I was, I really wanted to like please everybody at Disney and the producers and everything. And I, um, but it was weird because on the show I was this sort of, not a sex object, but she was very, The U undertones were sexual, I guess. Right. And she was always the one dancing around in lingerie.   [00:03:08] Peter: And like you spoke about that, teasing the boys,you mentioned that in the, both the concept and your articles, the concept that, you know, Yeah. Here's Disney. Right. You know, pure, pure bread, Disney. Yeah. Um, the, the, the likes of which we all all know who comes from Disney. Everyone. Everyone. Wonderful and happy. And then, Yet they were putting you in situations that today, I think if we looked at them under the eye of 2022, right. We  [00:03:24] Maitland: question. Oh, absolutely. Like, like I say in the book, how I had to go up to the producer's office to try on lingerie for my lingerie scenes. So, and like not just once. I mean, there was 20 people in there, whatever, a big group. Mostly men. Uh, pretty much all men except for maybe one or, um, and then I would have to try on all of it and like, and I thought that this was my job to do this, and I never, at the time, I didn't even 0cConceptualize that it was a weird thing or it was ski or it was anything wrong with it. But then today you look at that, if that happened today and it went on the internet or anything, people would be fired for it Yeah.  [00:04:00] Peter: . Yeah. And I think that, you know, in a lot of ways, everyone, everyone complains about cancel culture and complains that, that were too high strung. But a lot of things, positive changes have, have resulted from not only people like you speaking out, but you know, all the way back to the Weinstein and, and things like that. Yeah. But at, at the time that you were doing it again, you were under. Let's just be a good girl. Let's just do the nice thing. Yeah. I didn't wanna, like, was it, was there a fear there that if you, if you acted the way you wanted to or if you acted the way you were, the way you thought you were supposed to, you'd be gone?  [00:04:29] Maitland: Yes, definitely. Oh yeah, always. I had very much anxiety about that kind of stuff, like very much anxiety that I wouldn't do the right thing, I wouldn't be the right way, or I wasn't good enough for the situation and I.  You know imposter syndrome. Yeah. May, Yeah, maybe. Yeah. . Yeah, I guess. But it was like, yeah, cuz I had to like kind of be this persona that I can't see all the time. I was not who I was like there, but in certain parts of myself, especially my sexuality and everything. And I had to hide like, Things that, you know, how I wanted to be exact cause I thought it was wrong or bad, or, you know, weird or, or they would judge me and come down on me. [00:05:07] Peter: Fear is a great motivator. Not necessarily in a good way, but fear is a, you know, I don't wanna lose my job, I'm gonna conform despite what it's doing to your mental health. Yeah. Right, right. So as you moved on and as you had different roles and, and at, at some. Was there a, I guess was there a moment where you just said, F this?  [00:05:28] Maitland: I mean, was it, was it, did it come all at once or how did it, And it's  interesting. Back at the time, I didn't think that it was having an effect on me in my mental health. Like I didn't conceptualize that. I thought it was just like there's something wrong with me that I. Wasn't doing things the right way, but, and looking back, writing the book, I really saw that in certain situations. Yeah. Um, so yeah, it was a long time, a long journey like finding myself, and it's interesting because of all, you know, pitfalls and disappointments that I had after I had a lot of success, like after white chicks and all that, when I was really typecast and things dried up and Hollywood would, they still wanted to keep me in the box that they had put me as a, like this good girl character, this, but they didn't wanna cast me cuz I was already a typecast character. Right. So, but they still wanted me there for like, whenever they needed a certain purpose for me, like a little episodic work or something like that. Um, so that became frustrating. So then I, I actually, that's when I moved to New York for a while. I got married and moved to New York. Okay. And it was kind of like a, it was a breath of fresh air to kind of get away from the Hollywood machine. I've heard that. Yeah. Because it was like, cuz when you're there you're just so caught up. Like, Oh, what, Who's going to this party? Right? What's this audition? Did you get that one? Like, did you book this one? And, uh, so, so getting away, I really like started to really discover myself and I started writing a lot and erotic writing. And I started really discovering my sexuality and stuff of, I guess not discovering it all the way Admitting it Okay. Is more of a thing because I think I knew all along that I, I, I just thought I was different and I thought I, like I say, I, I was a bad girl maybe inside , but, but I realized, you know, I'm not bad. It's kind of funny. My husband helped me realize that really. and he was very encouraging of me to explore this path that I really wanted to explore.  [00:07:17] Peter: I imagine so. I mean, I remember, and I, I guess I can't really equate much to it, but I've always imagined the, the day that I told my parents, I, I, I had one job in my life. I worked for, for America Online back in the nineties when, when a was the internet, right? Yeah. And I came back to New York and realized, They let us work anyway we wanted, which is why I did so well. My ADHD flourished cuz I was able to do, Oh, you wanna work at two in the morning? Great. As long as you get it done. Yeah. Yeah. Then I come back to New York and start working for a magazine and, and we have 8:00 AM meetings and 9:30 AM meetings and 10:00 AM editorial boards. And I'm like, What? This is Russia? And it, I, I quit within two. Yeah. And I remember telling my Dad, um, I'm gonna start my own PR firm and if it fails, and I actually said when it fails, when it fails, oh I'll get another. Cause I was so, who the hell am I to do anything, you know, entrepreneurial. And that was like 24 years ago. And I remember that was the scariest conversation I ever had have because I said, You know, I might need you to help pay my rent for a month or I might need what I didn't thank God, but you know, I got lucky and, and things were in. But tell us about the mindset when you decided you're gonna make this switch. You're gonna go from mainstream to adult, which to be, let's be fair, adult is kind of at this point, 2022, putting mainstream. Anyway, [00:08:20] Maitland: that's why it's so weird to say both things and I know we have to differentiate kind of, but, But it is weird that we have to differentiate.    [00:08:25] Peter: Right? So tell me about, Because you, you wrote a really interesting piece that I really enjoyed about your interaction with Elizabeth Berkeley. Oh, yes, I was Right. So tell us about that. [00:08:33] Maitland:  First, It was a very quick interaction. Yeah, but it was an interesting one. I, it was right after like the news broke that I was, Doing this big porn film and stuff. And I was in the industry and everything and I was, you know, walking out of the Whole Foods. And I saw her off to the side and she looks at me like, you know, our white eyes and they got wider. And I was like, and she had, I, I don't know, I think it was her husband at the time. I don't know if there's still, I don't know the situation. It was a man with her. Right. Um, and she, she just looks at and she turns to him and like whispers something like this and he looks, and it was such a weird like, situation to have them be like, Look at me like some sort of a, you know, beast down in the wild. [00:09:11] Peter: I'm sorry. And let's just, let's just be clear, this is Nomi Malone looking at you , right? This is the girl who, who went from Saved by the Bell, then Showgirls. So I'm, I'm not sure what she's actually looking at, where she comes off looking at you, everybody. So that really kinda pissed me off when I read that. The hell is she looking at you? [00:09:25] Maitland:  But it's a weird thing because once you go- when it's deemed adult, Right. It's different, right? Like in Hollywood films like now on like streaming shows and stuff, they go so close to it, of course.   [00:09:39] Peter: But, but they didn't go all the way. In 2003, um, I, I represented a company called New Frontier Media and, uh, New out of Denver, Ca, Boulder, Colorado, and New Frontier was the, this back in for porn was free, right? Yeah. Right. And, and, and they were the largest distributor of adult paperview on cable. Mm-hmm. . And I would go, I had my, I worked for them for four years and I took their stock price from like 99 to $10 because I forced my way into the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and Fortune. Mm-hmm. explaining, you know, I have a company who I'm repping, who is kicking the ass, their biggest competitor with Playboy. Yeah. By a factor of 10 x. Like, Oh, we great. They're adult. Oh, we can't touch that. I'm like, Why the hell not, not? It's so explaining when, and I got through and, and I remember getting New Frontier Media on the cover of Forbes was like, like the highlight. If that's my epi half right now. Yeah. The first porn company on Forbes. But, you know, but it was, it was the concept of, look, you, you, you're, it's one of those things that you're. Um, secretly. Yeah. Right. You're not gonna admit to it, but meanwhile, look at how much money is being driven. Yes. You know, let's, let's, let's look at something like Euphoria. Um, great show, but not really about the acting per se. Yeah. You know, there's, there's things we're looking at on that show that we know exactly what we're looking. Go onto Reddit. You're not gonna find, uh, uh, um, uh, reviews of the acting. You're gonna find one thing on your, you know, about your for. And so, so that being said though, it's a lot easier to say that then is to sort of tell us about, like, tell us about the day or whatever. [00:10:56] Maitland: It was, the moment where, All right, I'm doing this and, and  here we go. You know what, it wasn't like one certain moment. I mean it uh, it was cuz I started like exploring stuff on my social media sexy pictures and stuff. And this was along the time, by the time Girl Meet's World has spin enough appointments coming around, right? So there was a lot of attention and social media was really starting to really boom, like Instagram, especially in like Snapchat. And uh, so I started getting followers for like doing my sexy cosplay that I loved doing and doing bikini shots and all that stuff. Uh, but then I'd eventually. They started like taking down photos. Right. Actually, cuz a lot of people would complain for no reason to like these like fundamentalist types that watch, of course that are obsessed with like boy meets world being wholesome and wholesome and good and stuff. And uh, actually a lot of porn girls though suffer from people just, [00:11:46] Peter: Oh, of course for that question. [00:11:49] Maitland: Just taking their, I mean, look at the Visa MasterCard scenario. They had match  ridiculous. Um, so I kind of, my, my fans were like, Well, why don't you just sell content? And I didn't know what content was really at the time. I mean, I kind of heard of it, so I, but I said, Well, maybe, And I said, I'll start, I'll start a Patreon account, right? It's, you know, they patrons of your art. And I was gonna do like Playboy-esque type photos. I, I started the page and I, I didn't even like, Um, announced it. I just like did it one night and I said, ah, close it. Then the next morning there was like 20 people in there and then so I announced it and by the end of the week there was like 2,800 people. I was like, What? They're gonna buy my nudes, a create content.  [00:12:23] Peter: Holy shit! [00:12:24] Maitland: I know. And it was just like, then it kind of evolved from there. Cause I, I had been exploring like my sexuality and my writing and everything like that, so I was like, Oh, maybe I'll do. Girl, girl stuff then, and let's do this. And my fans responded and it was kinda like they were watch, they really were watching my journey along the way. Yeah. Like in real time. Um, and so then I, then I was like, What? You know, my husband and I had a big moment about when we said we're gonna have me do something with guys. So I, but I was so lucky. I found two guys in the porn industry who've been there so long, they were so professional. And they really like taught me along the way, like how would to do, this was a year and like almost a year and a half period before I got like a call from Vixon to do. Right. The black scene that went crazy viral. I might, might have been of, been , but it, but then I didn't even announce that to the press. It was all kind of just a internet moment.  [00:13:21] Peter: Oh, well by that moment you'd built, you'd built the audience.  [00:13:22] Maitland: Yes, but when I did. That's why everybody thinks I made this announcement. I just was saying I'm going to porn right now when I did the film drive for deeper.com. Mm-hmm. , which is Vic, one of Vic's brands. Um, but it was because I, the black team just blew up that, on that same day, Caden Cross, who, who is amazing performer and director in, in her own right, but she had started the brand deeper, right? Not very long before she had just, they just acquired the brand like four months or launched four months before, but she was doing her first feature. For it and, um, she lost her co-star on. The day my black scene came out. Oh wow. So, but she thought she'd have to quit the movie cuz you know, there's not a lot of people who can handle a lot of dialogue fast. And so, um, she went to Vixen and said, I think we're done with, we're not able to do it this year. And then they said, talk to Maitland. She just blew up and she can act. And then, so that really was, we did that and I decided, you know what, I'm really proud of this. I'm proud of the trailer, I'm proud of the whole thing of the feature, cuz full length features complete, you know, dialogue story. It was, um, so I did announce it to the press. That's went insane. And that's when everybody thought, Oh, she just made the switch all of of a sudden. It's always a backstory. Yeah. It's kind of like when people say, Oh my God, like they have a starring rule in something suddenly and they're like, You just showed up my imdb, but it's  [00:14:44] Peter: 30 years. [00:14:45] Maitland: I know I've been here forever.  [00:14:47] Peter: The everyone's like, You last company, you started this, sold it three years. It was 17 years of crap.  [00:14:51] Maitland: Yeah, no, that's what I mean.  [00:14:53] Peter: There's so much prep involved and so much time. Let me ask you this. One of the things that we touched on, and this is what I think my listeners can really relate to mm-hmm. um, being as out there as you. Right. Whether, whether it's it's on, uh, in Hollywood or, or in adult, there is a, how do you edit that out? How do you deal with the haters? How do you deal with the bad reviews? A lot of, when you're ADHD or ADHD or any sort of neurodiverse, yeah, be imposter syndrome is huge, but also, The premise that, I mean, I'll give a keynote to 10,000 people. Mm-hmm. , right? 9,999 of them will love it. There's one guy who didn't stand up for the standing ovation. That's all that I'm gonna think about for the next two weeks.  [00:15:27] Maitland:  I know. You know, what do you do? I used to be a lot more like that. Um, like I would get very, like, especially when I started doing sexier photos, like on Instagram stuff, I'd get those, like fundamentalist haters and stuff. I got very perked by it. I guess , that's the word. Um, but now I kind of. I don't embrace it. There's always like one or two trolls that just wants to attack you. Right? But I was actually told something early on when I was on the soap opera that the fan mail that we get, and I remembered this, like I really came to play with the trolls. No matter if it's good or bad, you're making an impact. If they didn't care, they wouldn't even be there. So it's, if you're not getting any attention or any feedback from people, that's cuz think about to be a troll, you have to be pretty investing.  [00:16:14] Peter: Exactly.  [00:16:15] Maitland: You watch people getting fired up about something, you're, you're making this connection. [00:16:18] Peter: Sounds like all the people who, who, when Nike came out to support Gay Rights, uh, everyone burned their Nike clothing. Okay. So yeah, just spend the a hundred bucks on sneakers and burn. Okay, cool. Cause you know, it's not like Maggie didn't make any money from that. That's true. That's true. But no, I, I, I've always said, if, if you don't have haters, you're not doing enough to change the status quo. [00:16:33] Maitland: That's, that's exactly good. That's, that's a perfect statement really. [00:16:37] Peter: So you just sort of put it outta your head. You're like, They're there, but  [00:16:40] Maitland: I try to, it means that I'm doing something. I mean, you know what always is kind of like, of course sounds the back. It's, Yeah, I don't like it, but, you know, but I try to, Yeah. Put it out my. And I do have some wonderful fans who will attack them, like nice backers. I don't even do all the work.  [00:16:52] Peter: There you go. Yeah. So  [00:16:54] Maitland: what's. You know what? I don't know. And, you know, well I really would like to sell the book rights and stuff cuz I, I think there's really potential there and we're working on that. And it's funny because ever since I have been in the Adult industry, I've actually had more opportunities, like people in mainstream coming to me and stuff. Like I shot a sitcom pilot last year. I'm like, yeah. So, uh,  [00:17:15] Peter: It's, it's, well, I think it's good timing for you also. I think that those barriers have definitely back from when I was repping in 2003, like it's definitely changed. [00:17:21] Maitland:  It's so changed and I really think it's because people have grown up with it on the internet. Yeah. Not grown up, but you know, when they get in there maybe.  [00:17:28] Peter: So, yeah, I remember. No, I, Believe me, I remember there was a bodega, um, on the corner where, where near, I grew up in the corner, I think it was 91st and Amsterdam with an owner who did not care what you bought or what you looked at, whether it was- that's funny- Beer or nudie mags. And I, you know, like the majority of kids in my, in my grade, like 86 to 90 in high school, 85 or whatever. I think we pretty much all found it through that mess, through that pod.  [00:17:50] Maitland: That's true. Yes. I know. I think kids today, they go online. [00:17:53] Peter: You don't have no idea how hard it was. [00:17:55] Maitland:  They just go online and that's so funny. But seriously, people in their twenties and thirties now, they're like, They're so open to it. And especially women. I am so surprised by the women that come up to me and they're like, This is so cool. I'm so glad you're doing this and making this change. And I, I think they feel like they can talk to me cuz I'm, I'm in, I was in their living rooms. Yeah. And I feel a little like a bridge or something between like, they can ask me questions. And people can feel a little safer talking to me about things they're curious about in the adult industry and stuff. But they all, Everybody watches it ?   [00:18:26] Peter: No. No question about it. But they, Yeah, I could tell you, I mean, I remember when I was wrapping the company had access to all their data and I could tell you what states and what cities and what towns in those states. Yeah. Um, spent the most money. Oh really? Uh, it was, yes. You know, little spoiler. It was always a red state. Yeah. Always. A And it was like the hardest portion of course. And then the hardest core stuff. Another the one- oh, this is terrible! Right. Then they go right home. They spend a hundred bucks. Exactly. Um, that's, So tell us what you do Last, last couple questions to keep this brief. Tell us what you do to get out of your head. So do you exercise? Do you, what is your thing when you, when you're like, Oh my God, I gotta, I'm, I'm, I'm gone. See an hour, see in two hours. See you here. What do you..  [00:19:03] Maitland: I actually trained to be a yoga teacher. Oh wow. I'd never taught, but I did it for myself. And that was actually after I came back from New York and I was really, that helped me discover a lot for myself too, to really like, get like out my head and really like, you know, meditate, I guess, and like do the practice. So I do do that. I really like to do that. I like to play with my dogs and stuff; most, the most innocent fun. I think that they just don't care. They just, they like, no matter what is going on in the world, they're just happy to be with you. And I think that's, Yeah. So I think I do, I like to do that, but um, and I like to, I like to read a lot and I like to, um, you know, I listen to music and watch them try to like, and not distract myself, but like, just to calm and relax. Yeah. Because yeah, sometimes I get stressed out with everything going on and stuff, so I really need to like, Just mellow down. [00:19:53] Peter:  Do you have any rituals or, um, habits that absolutely must happen every single day?  [00:19:59] Maitland: No, I don't think so. Not every single day. I mean, does coffee count ?  [00:20:04] Peter: Yeah, coffee counts.   [00:20:05] Maitland: Okay. Coffee's right up there with exercise. Sure. Why not? Yeah. And like exercise. Yes and no. I don't always get to do that, but I, but I do. But, um, yeah, I think coffee, coffee's my ritual. .  [00:20:17] Peter: I think coffee is a perfect way to end anything. So, So definitely this interview, Maitland Ward. Thank you so much. Um, tell us how people can find you? Web: https://onlyfans.com/maitlandward Socials:  @MaitlandWard on Twitter  INSTA  FB  and @Maitlandtoks on TikTok [00:20:23] Maitland:  Oh, on all of the social media is Maitland Ward, except I do have a TikTok now which I just started,  [00:20:29] Peter: listen, it's, I'm like the only person that, that Asia's not following their, you know, stealing their, oh my gosh, stealing their files. [00:20:34] Maitland: I, I'm so good at it yet, but we're It's MaitlandTok, because somebody had my name,  [00:20:40] Peter: Ah, someone took your name, you. You can probably fight and get that back if you want. [00:20:41] Maitland:  Yeah, I actually am working on that, but Awesome. Um, but yeah, it's funny. So yeah. But everywhere else is my name.    [00:20:52] Peter: Folks, the book is called. “Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood”. This is a wonderful, wonderful interview. Thank you so much, Maitland Ward for taking the time! Guys, as always, thanks for listening. We appreciate you being here. This one went a little longer. Normally we cap at 20 minutes because you know, #ADHD but we went a few minutes longer and I think that's awesome. And wanna give big shout out to Maitland Ward and to, Brian Scott Gross putting us together. Brian runs the amazing PR firm, uh, BSG Public Relations He's pretty awesome. He lives out in California. A really short guy though, but really nice guy, . And anyway, , thrilled that you took the time, and really, really grateful guys. We'll see you again next week. Thank you for listening. Talk to you soon. Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Katie's motto is "stop being a weenie", which speaks perfectly to her belief that anything can be accomplished with a little bravery. Katie had a lucrative - but unsatisfying career - in Sales and Marketing for years. Until one day she walked out to build the life and career she really wanted. She went on to get her training in Executive Coaching and Leadership Development at the Co-Active Training Institute in San Rafael, California. Now, she's a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach and an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. Katie built her successful business helping mission-driven entrepreneurs get out of overwhelm and into six-figure incomes - all while doing meaningful work that they love. Now Katie spends her time between Philadelphia and Cape Cod. She loves travel, her goofy dog Luna, and celebrating her clients' wins with good champagne. Katie shares her advice on how to find a good coach, tips and tricks she uses that you may never have heard about, and the importance of time management, among other goodness, enjoy! In this episode Peter and Katie discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:22 - Intro and welcome Katie McManus 3:05 - You've been through it. What do you do for clients who come to you saying they are just a complete screw-up? 03:53 - Upon hearing a new client's story… 04:48 - Treasuring the benefits 05:04 - the ADHD brain is always working 06:15 - On not using neurotypical advice 06:40 - We with ADHD do not have a built-in electric water heater; we have to pump-up the good hot water for ourselves. [Which explains getting up at 4AM today]. 08:01: How listing every single activity can in itself bring a sense of accomplishment/a dopamine hit  Ref: Canva App  08:40 - What are some of the other tips and tricks you've learned over the years? 08:43 - How to do time management when you've got something at 2pm and it's already noon 10:24 - What about scheduling weekend blocks of time? 11:33 - Neon colored index cards and an elliptical machine anyone? 12:15 - What would you say to someone who wants to work with a coach, but doesn't necessarily know that it's it's right for them? 13:44 - How can people find more about you? Web:  https://www.katiemcmanus.com/  Socials: @katie.the.coach on INSTA @katie.mcmanus.leadership on Facebook and @katiemcmanusleadership on LinkedIN  14:00 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  14:37 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  [00:00:37] Peter: Yo yo everybody what's going on. My name is Peter Shankman. This is Faster Than Normal. I'm gonna save you guys. I'm going to save you the usual spiel I give every day because today or every episode because today, my daughter went back to school and, and my daughter who sleeps in till noon, if I let her every day was up at 4:15 in the morning. Oh. Which is even before I get up this morning. And so I had my entire bike ride and everything else about an hour earlier than normal while talking to her and explaining to her that it doesn't matter that she doesn't know who's gonna be in her class because I'm sure she'll make tons of friends. And I was rewarded by bringing her to school and saying, so are you all set and realizing that she had already left to join her a bunch of friends. So feeling really loved this morning. It's. Good. Good place to be. So with that being said, meet Katie McManus. She's going to provide me the love that my daughter didn't give me. Um, Katie is a business strategist and coach, um, with a great motto or motto is stop being a weenie, which I love that. I, I say it, uh, I say it stop being a dumb ass, but it's sort of the same premise. It's like stop, stop worrying so much. Show a little bravery and get the hell out there. Jump out the plane already. She used to work in sales and marketing. Hated it. And she went on to get her training, executive coaching and leadership development and coactive training Institute in San California. She's a professional, proactive coach and associate certified coach, the international coaching Federation, all these things I didn't notice. OK. She built her successful business, helping mission driven entrepreneurs, get outta overwhelm and into six figure incomes while doing meaningful work that they love, she spends her time between Philadelphia and Cape Cod, which is just weird. Uh, she loves travel, which is cool. She has a goofy dog named Luna, which is cool, and she likes celebrating client wins with good champagne. So I'll take those and that's, that's a good enough reason to have you on Katie. Welcome.  [00:02:18] Katie: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Although the bar to be here to show you enough, love to make up for your daughter. That's pretty high.  [00:02:26] Peter: I was gonna say you got your work cut out for you. So let's get started. um, I fully expect to be loved the next, next, uh, next few months. So next few minutes. So, I mean, I, I, you know, this is a podcast for people with ADHD and then, and sort of sort of neurodiversity and things like. And so they've spent the majority of their lives. Most of our listeners spent the majority of our lives at least I have, um, you know, hearing that we're broken. Right. And hearing that, that, that it doesn't matter what we're gonna do, cause chances are gonna screw it up. Cause that's just what we are. And so, you know, you, you, you come from, you have that background, you understand sort of where that comes from. Um, you know, what do you, what are you doing? What, how are you working with clients who come to you and say, yeah, I'm just complete screw-up?  [00:03:05] Katie: Yeah. Um, well, it's interesting cuz I think there's a difference of when you are you're diagnosed. Cuz I was diagnosed when I was a kid. Right. And I lived in California and um, my parents actually sent me to a, a special school. They sent me to a Waldorf, um, which I don't know if you're familiar with Waldorf. It's kinda like summer camp all year long. Um, and they like neglect to teach you things like math. Uh, so I didn't learn like math until I was about six years old, but I don't know. I, I was able to integrate it into my workflow from a really early stage. Um, I actually didn't realize that. If, when you get diagnosed later, you have this stigma attached to you because you've spent so much of your life feeling like a fuck up and not knowing why. And I'm sorry. I, I hope we're allowed to swear here,  [00:03:52] Peter: here. Go for it by all means.  [00:03:53] Katie: Okay, great. So, um, when I'm working with my clients, it's, it's really interesting. Um, You know, they are coming to me freaking out about, oh, I fucked this up again. I screwed this up again. I'm getting this done late again. And on one side, it's like, okay, well, let's kind of deconstruct that story that you have, that you're screwing everything up all the time and that things are supposed to be done by a certain point. right. And then on the other side, like, you know, , you know, why not just make that part of your process? Why not just design that with your clients from the get, go that, Hey, I have ADHD and sometimes, uh, I'll send you emails the last minute. And if you need something from me before then just ping me for it. [00:04:38] Peter: And I think that, that framing the disabilities as a benefit. Yeah. Right. Is something that, that not enough people do. And again, not enough people do it because they've been told all their lives. It's not a benefit. It's a curse. Right. You know, you are broken. And so I think that that's a, it's a good answer. I think though it takes, it takes a lot of work to get there. Um, it's, it's hard to believe. that you have something good. Um, when, when you come from this world where it's not, yeah.  [00:05:03] Katie: You know, I have, I have this one lawyer, um, client and he's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He has ADHD. And I can't tell you how many times he tells me that he came up with this incredible idea to win a case in the final hour because he procrastinated.  [00:05:20] Peter: You know, like no, a lot of us do that [00:05:21] Katie: . Right. But procrastination, when we think of procrastination, like, yes, we're not writing the paper. Yes. We're not doing the project. Yes. We're not doing the thing. It doesn't mean we're not working on it though. I don't know about how your process is, but I know when I'm procrastinating, I'm cleaning my house. I'm sewing a costume for Halloween in three months, I'm taking my dog for a walk. My brain is churning on that project. Right? It's it's trying things out. It's creating arguments for this. It's getting organized. I I'm not physically actually working on it. You wouldn't, I wouldn't be able to hand you anything that I've done on it, but I've already done the work in my head by the time I go and put pen to paper, if I'm writing. [00:06:03] Peter: Right. I mean, I think a lot of that also is the fact that, you know, because we work differently, right. We do that in such a way where, you know, it might look like we're doing absolutely nothing. We're surfing the web, we're doing whatever, but there's, there's a, a candle that's lit back there and it is burning. [00:06:15] Katie: Right. Right. I think also we, we make the mistake of trying to take neurotypical advice on productivity and that's something that actually hurts us more than it helps us. You know, I don't know if you're familiar with that saying like eat the frog first thing in the morning. No, of course. Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't have enough dopamine, first thing in the morning to get self water. Right. I have to. Well, and that's right.  [00:06:37] Peter: Yeah. It's funny. It's funny because that, the whole premise behind that, you know, when people think of praise being up as early as I do, uh, to exercise it's because of exactly that, that is my version of. Yep. Right. I'm getting, I don't, I, you know, everyone, like, you know, do you think I really wanna get on the goddamn bike at four 30 in the morning and ride for an hour? No, wanna sleep. How's wrong with you. Yeah. Right. But you don't, you don't do that. Yeah. Because you know, what has to happen,  [00:06:59] Katie: right. Right. It's like, it's kind of funny, you know, we think of neurotypical people, it's almost like they have an electric water heater right next to their shower, you know? And when, when someone with ADHD or who is neurodiverse, it's like the water heaters down in the basement, were on the third floor. Right. Like we just gonna have to prime the pump. We have to like get all the cold water out before we can really tackle that big thing.  [00:07:20] Peter: Wow. That's a great way of looking at it. Right. That's I love that. I'm I'm blatantly gonna steal that. That's a great way of looking at that. No, it's, it's really true. That, that concept of priming the pump- you. Uh, people wake up, you know, I remember that I always thought for years that I was in high school, that I was awesome. Um, at first period, no matter what first period was, and it turns out first period was always English. Yeah. Or social studies, the two things I always loved. Yeah. Right. The senior year it was math. Well, I'm screwed. you know, all of a sudden my, my first period class, not a good thing. Mm-hmm right. So it's that it's that, you know, that premise of it? No, it comes down to the fact that, that I was getting my dopamine for the rest of the day from the first grade class that I enjoyed, right?  [00:08:00] Katie: No, a hundred percent for, for me. I actually went into Canva and I created a list of all the things I usually like to get done in the morning from drinking my coffee, to take my dog for a walk, to exercising, to meditating, to showering, to brushing my teeth. And I find the days where I actually cross those things off as I do them, not in any particular order, um, are days that I am far more productive later. Because I've given myself credit for all the little things that I've done and I'm able to feel a little more productive and it really does get that, that dopamine dripping, which helps me get more stuff done. [00:08:36] Peter: Yeah, no question about it. So tell me some of, some, some of the other secrets and tricks that you've learned over the years. [00:08:41] Katie: Oh, man. Um, I mean, time management is a big thing for me. Um, I had a really hard time with a coach I had a while ago who I, I stopped working with pretty quickly, um, The neurotypical way of organizing a day is like do 30 minutes of this and then do 30 minutes of that. I'm sorry, that just doesn't work for me. Um, if I'm going to start working on something, I know I'm gonna get into hyperfocus and I need like a good chunk of time to be in hyperfocus because there have been too many instances where I've gotten really sucked in on a project I'm really into it. And then I missed three appointments. Right. Right. So I get this time anxiety. I can't even get into hyperfocus these days if I have something two hours from now. Right. Because I know like I'm just gonna constantly check the clock and like, I'm worried about the interruption.  [00:09:33] Peter: So, what do you, so, so, so,  [00:09:35] Katie: so what I do is I honestly, like, I, I tell my, my business manager and my, my assistant, like, you're not allowed to, like, these are my blocks for creative time and they're five hour blocks. And the amount of work that I can get done in a good five hour block is unheard of . Yeah. But I wouldn't be able to do that if I were just plugging in an hour a day, right. The same amount of time, but the way it's organized, just my brain just can't get into it in just an hour.  [00:10:01] Peter: Oh, because the end of the day, you need to give yourself, you know, cause if you're okay, I have a meeting at two. Well now it's 11. All I gotta remember. And 12 o'clock and start thinking of one. O'clock exactly. And so, so you're not giving it the full capacity? No, I, I do the same thing. I block off, I block off creative days, right? Uh, no, one's allowed to schedule stuff with me on certain days of the week and that's just, that's just me to have, have a good time and create my, whatever I'm creating. [00:10:17] Katie: Yeah, totally. Um, I also , I don't know, like weekends are really hard for. Weekends. I, I don't know. I have this expectation that I'm productive all week and on the weekends, I have to be productive in my personal life. Like I have to clean and I have to do all these things. Um, for the longest time I would just sit in terror of like, I'm a failure, I'm screwing this up. Like I'm not getting everything done for hours on Saturday morning until I actually started prescribing a Disney movie to myself every, every weekend morning mm-hmm . And it's like, there's a point at which. I don't know, there's this, this active resting thing that happens when you're, when you're watching something, that's not a lot of work to watch. Right. Where you get kinda not bored, but you're like, I'm done with this now. I've had my rest. Now I get to go do something. Right. But for, for me, like I have to be for me to turn my brain off it. There has to be a story going on.  [00:11:13] Peter: Right. No makes perfect sense. And I think that's really interesting cause you know, a lot of growing up for me, at least it was, um, my I'd always wanted, I always wanted to be listening to music when I was studying. My parents would always say, no, it can't do that. Can't do that. Can't focus when you're doin gthat. Well, it turns out obviously, you know, now that, that would've actually been perfect. Right. That would've incredibly, incredibly beneficial.  [00:11:32] Katie: Yeah. Did you ever use like neon colored, uh, index cards for studying? Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh. Any trip, love that stuff. I actually got like a little mini elliptical and I'd be with, up with my geography book in front of me. I'd have a map, I'd have my index cards and I'd just be like pumping away on this little mini elliptical.  [00:11:52] Peter: That's funny. That's funny, but no, it is, you know, again, it's what works and we didn't know .God, when I was a kid, I probably would've, I would've benefited so much from having like a, you know, a treadmill desk or anything, any of those things, they just didn't, they just weren't there. Right. I have no question about it.  [00:12:04] Katie: Or like talk to text, you know, you walk and talk and you're just like figuring out your paper. And even if it's messy, you get to go back and edit it later, but you get all the thoughts out.  [00:12:13] Peter: Yep. What would you say? Um, at the end of the day to someone who's who's, you know, wants to work with a coach, but doesn't necessarily know that it's it's right for them or, you know, they, they feel things like that. [00:12:24] Katie: I mean, honestly, there are so many coaches out there that aren't gonna be a good fit for you. I would say, just go and contact a bunch of them and have, have a discovery call. Just see if they're, if you even like the person, right. Because that's half the battle, cuz you're gonna be spending a lot of time with this person. You have to trust them. You have to know that they're on your side. Um, Like the only way to figure, figure out if you wanna do something or not is to explore it and get the information that you need. Um, and that's what I, I always invite people. Like, if you're curious about working with me, just book up call, I'm not a high pressure sales person at all. I come from sales. It doesn't mean that I utilize all the gross tricks that they teach there. Um, but it's really ..Know what it is that you wanna accomplish through coaching. Really really important, cuz otherwise it's, it's really hard for a coach to support you when you're not even sure what you wanna get out of it. [00:13:17] Peter: Um, no, I understand. [00:13:18] Katie: And, and yeah, like find someone who, you know, you're gonna be able to be honest with, so not someone that you're trying to impress all the time, because you think they're cool. Um, and someone who you, you enjoy actually talking things through with.  [00:13:37] Peter: That makes perfect sense. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Very cool. Well, I appreciate you guys taking the time. This was, this was a lot of fun. Katie McManus business transcripts. How can people find you?  [00:13:46] Katie: Uh, they can find me at my website at www dot Katie. K a T I E. McManis cm, a ns.com. Um, and on Instagram at Katie dot the dot coach.  [00:14:00] Peter: Very cool. I will have people reach out. We'll put in in with the show notes. Thank you so much for taking the time. We appreciate it.  [00:14:05] Katie: Thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun and I, I hope you feel so much love. I'm sending it to you right now. You're channeling it through your daughter and all that.  [00:14:14] Peter: That was great. I'm trying my best. Gonna go pick her up, you know, hopefully she's a good first day and, and things go well. So all good. Guys. Thanks for listening to Faster Than Normal. We'll be here again next week with another episode, if you liked, you heard leave us a review uh, stick around fun stuff coming every single week this entire year. It's a new year. It's a new Dawn. It's a new day. The summer's over. Welcome back. We'll see you guys soon.    Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

A few fun facts about our guest today, Shawn Malloy: 48yr old Father of 2, a little trouble being ‘present' sometimes.Married 17yrs to a very tolerant and patient wife Meghan.Undergraduate degree in Biochemistry (after starting as a music major) from California State University, Long Beach (study abroad semester in Nottingham, England). 21 years at current employer, Biogen, 12 roles in 8 groups over 21 years. Hobbies: parkour (6 stitches), rock climbing (sprained knee), mountain biking (sprained ankle, lots of scars), and trail running, Yoga, meditation, swimming, racing midlife crisis Camaro, guitar building from scratch. “Poor student” all the way from kindergarten through high school – a few flashes of brilliance caught by the odd teacher throughout. Dangerous teenager and mid-20s kid. 25 jobs by the age of 27 and only fired once. Still struggles with honing in on 1 passion. In his own words:  “I've always preferred breadth to depth but I know that if I gave my full attention to one of my passions, I'd conquer the world. As with most ADD folks, I tend to be my own worst enemy in that regard. But anytime I've given something full attention I've had wild success – the guitar is one of my favorite examples. I had a desire to build a guitar for a while, a passion for artistic endeavors, creating things, and woodworking, and a goal of finishing it before Christmas as a gift for my dad. The end result was a beautiful piece of functional art, and it was the first time I ever saw my father cry”. Today we're talking mostly about Neurodiversity in the workplace.  ——  In this episode Peter and Shawn discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:01 - Intro and welcome Shawn Malloy 03:36 - You had 25 jobs by the age of 27. Let's talk about how you're not bored now, finally. 04:25 - "An ADD brain is like having a Ferrari engine with bicycle brakes" 04:55 - ADD can really be a blessing if you're in the right environment or you've put yourself in the right environment 05:55 - Growing at work under good, or ideal managing 06:55 - What happens when you get a dud for a manager at work? 08:05 - About Human Resources 09:40 - About recognizing talent and knowing how to utilize it in it's best possible ways 10:22 - Trust = Commitment 10:54 - On Managers and management 13:19 - On how purposeful planning is so important 15:00 - What do you tell the up and coming manager about how to manage folks with neurodiverse brains? 15:47 - “You don't manage to the role. You manage to the person”. 17:47 - On the power of diversity 18:42 - What is the one thing you've learned about your brain, that you wish you would've learned earlier in life? 19:12 - This bit right HERE on Imposter Syndrome and permitting your neurodiversity to work 20:00 - How can people find more about you? LinkedIN profile page is here: linkedin.com/in/shawn-malloy-3636696 20:22 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  [00:00:37] Peter: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal my name is Peter Shankman. I am thrilled to have you here today. It's great to be here. Its a gorgeous day outside its approaching the end of August as we're recording this. Couple more weeks to labor day, I am about to get outta here and take my daughter out for a week to Tenerife. If you don't know where that is, all need to know it's off the coast of Spain and it is the largest has the largest water park in the world. So you could make the argument I'm going to the largest water park in the world and taking my daughter with me. So it doesn't seem weird. Anyway, thrilled to have you for another episode!   We have a guy named Shawn Malloy on the podcast. Shawn is different than some of our guests, but also very much the same as all of our guests. 48 year old father to 12 year old boy Killion, 10 year old girl, Anna. He loves his kids to death has trouble being present sometimes .Sounds familiar, born and raised settled north of Boston, Massachusetts married 17 years to a lovely tolerant and patient wife named Megan. Here's the cool part undergraduate degree biochem okay, so abroad in England, 21 years, the past 21 years, he has worked at a company called Biogen, which is how I met him when I gave a keynote to Biogen about a month or so ago, 12 roles in eight groups over 21 years, loves adrenaline sports .Sounds, familiar, parkour, rock climbing, mountain biking. I love that he puts all this stuff in his bio and includes the number of stitches and injuries he got with each one, which I think is just so ADHD for all of us. He races a car. He has a midlife crisis Camaro on track. He built a guitar from scratch. Don't we all with that? Anyway, his story is like all of ours. He was a poor student. He was a dangerous teen, he, hit his stride stride in college. Let's talk to Shawn and figure out what turned him into what he's doing today. Shawn, welcome to Faster Than Normal man.  [00:02:37] Shawn: Thank you very much, Peter. Um, your talk at Biogen was definitely it hit home. Um, I was an adult diagnosed #ADHD or #ADD um, survivor, I guess you could say. Uh, and my teen years is definitely a survival story to some extent, um, But, yeah. Thanks for, thanks for having me on this is, uh, I'm looking forward to a fun conversation. [00:03:00] Peter: At the end of the day, we make it through, we survive it. Somehow we move on, you know, we become adults. I joke that, um, you know, I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago, but didn't really hit me until yesterday. When I had a wall unit delivered. I now own a wall unit in my living room, which is. What kind of bullshit is that right? That's how, you know, you're getting all that, a goddamn wall unit. You know, I used to just hang my TV on the wall, right? No, not I have a wall unit cause you know, I need storage. What is that? Right. Welcome to middle age.  [00:03:30] Shawn: Adulting. Um, it's horrible. [00:03:32] Peter: Yeah. So let's talk about ADHD. You had 25 jobs by the age of 27. You were only fired once you got bored, super fast, right? Biogen, you found a place that never let you get bored. Yes. Um, okay, so let's talk about that. Cause not everyone has the fortune to not always, you know, not everyone has a job where they don't always get bored. [00:03:56] Shawn: It it's been, honestly, it's been pretty amazing. Um, I think Biogen's been a place that. If you're performing reasonably well, you don't even have to be a top performer, but you're performing reasonably well. They'll let you try different stuff out. And I've moved from jobs that were somewhat adjacencies to jobs where I, I didn't know what I was doing. Um, And much to my surprise, each time I would be at 80% of my peers within a couple of months. And I attribute that to that ADD brain. Right. You've got this #Ferrari engine with bicycle brakes. Um, I. I was always able to assimilate information really quickly, put the pieces together, learn really fast, and it started to be intrinsically rewarded, rewarding. You talk about that dopamine hit, but the success profile that Biogen let me build over the years, just continued to add confidence to me as a person. Um, but also to the power of ADD. Like once I found out that I had ADD it started to click that this really can be a blessing if you're in the right environment or you've put yourself in the right environment. [00:05:02] Peter: Well, and that's sort of one of the, sort of the unexpected gifts of, or ADHD that we, we figure out, right? No one can tell you that, right? No one can say, oh, trust me. It's gonna be, you know, you don't believe it. It has to happen. And it has to show up naturally, but once it does. It's sort of that way of call, like, wow, I'm in a position. I, I, I have this job where I have ability to not only do my job great, but then I can create things within my job that give me that dopamine hit that, let me work harder and let work more and let do better. So it's almost like selfing, prophecy.  [00:05:33] Shawn: Yeah. Yeah. And in my time here, right, I've had 21 years. You can imagine I've had a lot of managers in that time. I've really only had two duds. And those were the times where there was such rigidity placed on me. And what I was allowed to do that I really did actually flounder. I, I was not good at the job, or I just couldn't get engaged with the job. And those were really hard and it got me to a point. You know, rather than looking for the ideal job, I look for the ideal manager and just make sure that the work's gonna be interesting. [00:06:04] Peter: That's an interesting point. Instead of finding the, the, looking for the ideal job, you look for the ideal manager. And I think a lot of that actually resonates because I remember, you know, the few jobs I've had, right? I, I, I, I worked for America online, back in the nineties. That was the last job I ever had. The only job I ever had. And I had a great manager who let me, who understood, like do your job, you know, do it whichever way works for you, but get it done. And, and that. I think for me, you know, for my first job, having that as a first job was a bit of a, a problem because, uh, I just assumed every job was like that right. I went to my second job and, and, and it totally was not. And, you know, there were 8:00 AM meetings. There were check-ins and like, you know, I quit in two weeks. So having that ability to find that, or to have a boss or to have a, a manager. Who understands how you work and let you, lets you go the way you want I think it's key. You sort of honed in on that and you said it, you only had two sort of duds. What happens when you get a dud though? How do you, how do you sort of handle yourself? Because it's not, you know, if you can't be yourself, if you're not allowed to do the things you want, be the way you want. It's difficult. [00:07:06] Shawn: It's very difficult and it, the problem that was just, it continued to get worse is I didn't stop being myself. I don't think that that's in the, a add profile is the ability to not be impulsive and not be yourself. Right. Um, that's so one of the things that defines us, so the relationship just deteriorated from not good to really bad. But what I did have was this long history of performance with a lot of people, I had a big network, so I was able to work through my network to find the next opportunity. Um, and really that was the only way out. I was not working my way out of this, this problem with the manager that was the dud or the managers that were duds, it just wasn't gonna work. Uh, one of the managers was removed, so they were a dud for everybody, not just me. The other one was the manager who was highly regarded and really was a brilliant man, but it was not a good personality match between how I needed to be functioning and how he wanted me to be functioning. And that one, the one where I network.  [00:08:04] Peter: That's interesting point. That's interesting point because you know, it's not all the time that, you know, remember there are a lot of times where you you're sitting there and you're going okay. It's not that the, the boss, isn't a good boss. He's not a good boss for me. Yes. Right. And how do you, how do you sort of explain that, you know, to, to the powers that be when they don't understand what he, not a good boss for you, he's a boss, you know, you deal with it. Well, it doesn't work that way all the time. [00:08:31] Shawn: No, it really doesn't. And you're very right. HR is almost always gonna side with the boss and they did, um, they didn't fully get it, but I wasn't in a unique position. This was, you know, maybe 15 years deep into my career here. I had built this legacy of everywhere I went, I did excellent. So it wasn't like, they just thought all of a sudden I'm not doing my job, but it was not a pleasant experience trying to, to escape if you will. I, there were a lot of things up against me, but I don't, I think there are gonna be a lot of people that don't have that benefit.  [00:09:00] Peter: Well, that's the thing that brings up a really interesting point is that, is that every, you know, for as long as you're in a job, whether it's 15 years or 15 days, you know, your goal is to create a, a sort of, uh, security blanket around yourself where people look at you and go, yeah, he's a really good worker, or he's a really, you know, smart employee or whatever and so if something's not working. Right. Let's not be that quick to blame him. Let's see what the issue and, and that doesn't necessarily happen all the time because companies aren't trained to think that way.  [00:09:35] Shawn: Not very often. No, I've what I got to know when I became a supervisor, is that there are very few people who don't want to do a good job. I would say it's bordering on none. Nobody wants to come in and be known as the crappy employee. Um, there's usually a barrier in their way, and it's whether it's a barrier in how the job is functioning or the training, or in my case, if you having a person with a ADD or some other, um, I don't wanna call it a disability, a different ability, a different brain, right. Um, you've gotta find ways to get them to be their best, cuz if you can find that for them; man, will they run through brick walls? Like if you're the person who discovers what that person's talent is after they've been, um, pushed down their whole life, what a connection seriously. Um, and had many of those over my career. [00:10:22] Peter: That's really a key point also, because if you are a manager and you're able to bring that out, Your in your employee. Right. And, and, you know, not only bring that out, but, but appreciate it as opposed to try and push it back down, you know, these employees will go to the end of the Earth for you. And I don't think enough managers- don'ts that, that. They don't realize the level of commitment that someone with a different brain will give you. If you give them that level of trust.  [00:10:54] Shawn: Oh, you I've seen it too many times to not believe it's true. Peter. You're, you're dead right. And. The not only that, right? The work side of things, but that personal connection that you get that personal, just watching somebody light up because they've been discovered for what they bring to the table. The, the trouble with managers is very few of them receive good formal training. It's kinda like when you're parenting, right. You become a parent. And then all of a sudden you've gotta figure out how to raise a human being. Um, when you're a manager, most of them are thrown to the, the, the job because they were good at a job, but not necessarily good at managing right. The good ones over time, come to realize that you manage the individual, you don't manage to manage your role. You manage to the people that you have in front of you. And, and that does get to you're managing to every individual difference. You're bringing out the bright spots and trying to minimize the deficits and it's not easy. It really isn't. So I don't, I don't fault always the managers who aren't good at it because it, it does take a, a really dedicated person to be able to do that. And you also have to have the bandwidth to do it. A lot of managers are given a day job as well as a manager role. So there's gotta be some patience for the manager as well.  [00:12:04] Peter: Isn't that, um, what you said earlier that, that, you know, most managers aren't born into, into the concept of managing they're they're they're become, they become managers cause they were given a job which isn't necessarily a manager job. Isn't that the Peter principle, the Peter principle is, is the object that basically states that every worker will rise to his or her highest level of incompetence. Yes right in that, in that you, you, you, you hire someone and they're good at their job, so you promote them and they're good at the next job, so you promote them again and they're good at the following job. So you promote them again. Then they're not good. If finally reach a point where they're not good. Well, you don't demote. But you don't promote them again. Right. So they sit there. Right. And they, it that's how bureaucracy happens.  [00:12:43] Shawn: yes. Yeah. It, it plays itself out over and over again in corporate America. For sure. I, I don't really have a good solution for it. Right. But I, I think, I don't know if there is one there really,  [00:12:55] Peter: I think we can make a lot, you and I can make a lot of money, but you figure one out.  [00:12:58] Shawn: No question. Yeah. I would agree. Um, I took a few notes as I was thinking about this podcast and, and the things I wanted to be able to convey. And we've talked about a, a great one, right? I think understanding how to navigate your career with ADD is important. But one of the things that I've I've learned throughout the years is, um, purposeful planning. As a person with ADD and activation energy. And I think they do relate to how I've navigated my career over time at Biogen. It wasn't just that I bounced around from job to job because I'm a ADD; I did all along have plans. Um, and for me, it's similar to the guitar that I built. Right. I had a, I finally had something that I could leverage my artistic capability, my engineering capability. I had a goal around it. Timing. And step by step of how to approach it. And I've, I've approached my career much the same way. And when I first started supervising people, I was in the manufacturing element of Biogen, very small little world. Okay. Very small little world. Right. But you feel like it's all there is because you're in the science, you're actually making the drug. But as I was developing people, all, I really knew how to develop them for were manufacturing roles. So I wanted to get out and see the broader thing that is biotech. I wanted to hop into some individual contributor roles, learn what different roles did so that as I came back to a management role, I'd understand how to develop people. Like when I saw somebody's passion to speak to what we were getting to before, when I noticed somebody's niche, I didn't necessarily know what to do with it other than maybe a small part in manufacturing, but now that I've come full circle with all this knowledge of all these roles, when I see somebody who's got a particular passion, I know where that fits in the organization. I know how to put them in a role that's gonna get them into that flow state. And that's good for people with a ADD that's good for people in life in general, but it all came because I had a plan that as a manager, I wanted to be able to develop people better, to be able to do that. I had to understand  [00:14:53] Peter: that brings up a great point. What do you tell, you know, if you had to. Sort of hammer that down in 10 words. What do you tell the up and coming manager about, I mean, managing in general, but obviously managing people with neuro diverse brains, right. Because you know, , you certainly do not learn this in school.  [00:15:11] Shawn: No, I think it's the first question I ask my people, um, when I meet them is- what is your passion? Where does time disappear for you? And then I'm gonna do my best to find the aspects of the current role that you're in and whatever future roles you wanna point yourself towards where that passion can come to bear as often as possible. Every job is gonna have crap you don't wanna do, sorry. It's work. Yeah. But the more that you can leverage those points of passion. The more you're gonna enjoy your work. The more you're gonna succeed. And the more you're just gonna really shine. And that's, that's what I would tell managers is you don't manage to the role you manage to the person. [00:15:51] Peter: Ooh, I like that.  [00:15:52] Shawn: If you wanna get the most out of the people that are around you, find out what drives them. Where does time disappear for them? You'll be surprised, right? You may hate analytics. You may hate looking at data, but I've had people under me who that is their passion. Mm-hmm they love working in a spreadsheet. They love seeing the story that comes out. When you start looking at the data and the numbers. If you have somebody who hates that, don't put them in a role that that's their main function. Find the person that that is their passion and oh, you're. Get such better work outta them, and you're gonna get better dedication, better loyalty. And you'll have people coming to you for jobs because they wanna work for you because you get it. You get how to place them in success. [00:16:35] Peter: You bring an interesting point because I think a lot of people, whether you're manager or not, you know, we tend to gravitate towards the stuff that we're good at the stuff we like. Right. I mean, you know, let's. As we're as we're growing up and we're in school when we're undiagnosed with a neurodiverse brain, um, it's no surprise that we gravitate towards the stuff we're really good at, right. For me it was, it was English or it was, you know, it was social studies or whatever it wasn't math. Right. And so math would be horrible. So I would avoid math as much as possible. I think as adults, when we're in job roles, we sort of keep that uh, in the back of our heads and we don't really let that go away. So that, so that, that, you know, we tend to gravitate sorts of stuff we like to do and try to avoid the stuff we don't. And so, because of that, I think, you know, we look at our, our, our sort of employees when we're in a managerial role and we put them in the same boat, but what we have to sort of understand is that, that we might have employees who love the very stuff that we hate, like love. Yes. The very stuff that we hate. And we have to sort of, I guess, embrace that. For them. Right. And let them under, you know, Hey, you, you have that math kick. Great. Go do math. you know, I, I, I look at along lines of, I, my assistant is awesome at the stuff I'm terrible at. She doesn't let me schedule stuff in my calendar because I screw it up, but she's great at it. She loves that stuff. And so it's that, it's that giving over that ability for her to do that. [00:18:08] Shawn: It's the power of diversity, right? We're talking about neurodiverse brain, but the power of diversity is everywhere in life. It's everywhere in work. And if you can work with people who are different than you, you're gonna be so much better off because everybody can bring a different strength to bear. Yeah. The hard part is a hundred percent. Different personalities that are there. Cause that can be a little weird. We are humans at the end of the day and sometimes we get a little quirky on the personality side.  [00:18:32] Peter: I think. We could do nine and a half hours on managing personalities. So I'm not even gonna start with that. but I will, I will end it with this. I'll ask you this. What is the one thing you've learned about your brain, whether it's, you know, in a professional setting or personal setting with your wife or your kids that you wish learned earlier?  [00:18:54] Shawn: That is a great question. I think you had mentioned it it's that the imposter syndrome, um, that it's very real, that it exists, but it really isn't true 90% of the time. The ADD brain, you are so good at so many things, and you can see the big picture better than so many other people. You're gonna be your own harshest critic. Yeah, that does not mean that you are not still better than 80 or 90% of the people who are doing the same thing. It means you're not 80 to 90% as good as you wanna be, or, you know, you could be, but stretching that extra mile may not be worth the effort. Your, your good enough is gonna be better than most people's best. So don't let imposter syndrome beat you down.  [00:19:46] Peter: I love that. [00:19:46] Shawn: Don't fall prey to it. Have faith that what you're doing is probably better than the majority of the people around you. [00:19:53] Peter: That's that's a phenomenal, uh, a phenomenal line. That's that's awesome. I love that. I love that. Awesome. Well, listen, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time, Shawn really appreciate it. I'm so glad we connected, uh, at the Biogen talk. Guys, Shawn Malloy , uh, how can people find you? How can they, how can they, uh, learn more about you?  LinkedIN profile page is here: linkedin.com/in/shawn-malloy-3636696 [00:20:11] Shawn: Uh, LinkedIN I am on LinkedIn. It's Shawn S H a w N M a L L O Y. Uh, and you'll find me as employed by Biogen. That's probably the cleanest and simplest way to find me.  [00:20:22] Peter: Awesome guys. We've been visiting with Shawn Malloy and you've been listening to Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman as always. We love that you're here. And if you had a second right now, go and leave us a review. I cannot tell you how those reviews help our uh, podcast growth, the more reviews the more it helps the website and the podcast is seen. It is really incredible, and we're able to help more and more people understand that ADHD is a gift, ADD is a gift, Any form of neurodiversity is a gift, not a curse! We will see you again next week with a brand new interview and a brand new episode. We appreciate you listening, and we appreciate all our guests, including Shawn, thank you so much Shawn for taking the time. Guys, thank you for listening. We will see you next week. My name is Peter Shankman. And remember the ADHD and all forms of neurodiversity is probably the best thing that ever happened to you. We will see you next week. Stay safe. Talk to you soon. Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Skye Rapson is an academic and coach with over seven years of experience working in adult education. Skye has studied in various fields, including Psychology, Sociology, and Public Health, and is now a Doctoral Candidate in Population Health. She was diagnosed with ADHD at the start of her doctorate. Since then, Skye has dedicated her time to researching and disseminating ADHD studies, founding Unconventional Organisation in 2020 to provide ADHD adults and managers with strengths-based, neurodiverse-friendly ADHD coaching and workshops. We're learning about how and why she began, today. Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Skye discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:01 - Intro and welcome Skye Rapson!  Ref: Interview with Sally Willbanks, founder of ND Renegade [actually based in Australia] 01:57 - So you were diagnosed at the beginning of your PhD program? 03:00 - What changed and maybe made more sense after your diagnosis? 03:39 - Ref: Interview with Rachel Cotton, another PhD student w/ ADHD 04:00 - How did your priorities shift? 04:27 - What Skye found of from her peer group at university 05:55 - Let's talk about your “Unconventional Organization” Ref: Her podcast: Unconventional Organisation with Skye Rapson and her coaching service: https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com 06:54 - What kinds of trends did you find when you started conversing with other neurodiverse folks? 07:42 - On changing the way we get things accomplished  08:40 - What would you now tell your 15-year-old self? 09:03 - How can people find more about you? Web: https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com Socials: @unconventionalorganisation on INSTA and Facebook  09:24 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  09:58 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  [00:00:37] Peter: Hey everyone, Peter. Shankman welcome. The episode of Faster Than Normal today is a PhD. We seem to be doing a lot of doctoral candidates lately. I don't know why doctoral candidates seem to get diagnosed, but maybe cuz they're smart enough to know that something's not, uh, normal, like other people. And they're like, Hey, let's figure that out. But either way we get another one here. Her name is Skye Rapson and Skye's an academic coach with over seven years of experience working at adult education, she has studied in various fields, including psychology, sociology. and public health and is now a doctoral candidate in population health in New Zealand. So we are a long way from home today. She was diagnosed with ADHD at the start of her doctorate. And since then, she's dedicated time to researching and disseminating ADHD studies, founding unconventional organization in 2020 to provide ADHD, adults and managers with strength based neurodiverse friendly ADHD, coaching and workshop. Skye, welcome.  [00:01:35] Skye: Hi. Yeah. Great to be here.  [00:01:37] Peter: Good to have you here. So ADHD, you know, it, it's interesting. We had, we have there's someone else from New Zealand who we've had on the podcast. Um, she runs, uh, oh God, what's the name, but neuro neuro it's line of t-shirts neuro… Oh, I'm spacing on it now. I have one of them. It's awesome. Awesome shirt. I'll remember it, but, and we'll put it in the liner notes, but yeah. Um, long way from home. So good to have you, you were diagnosed at the beginning of your PhD, uh, beginning of your doctoral research. Yeah.  [00:02:04] Skye: Yeah, no, I was diagnosed. I actually thought I had, um, dyslexia. I went in, um, postmasters. Um, so I'd done my masters and. It was good, but it was tough. And, um, right at the end, I thought I should probably go and see if I, if I might have dyslexia. I know it, you know, it's something that my family have talked about potentially having. Um, and I came out, um, several weeks later with an ADHD. Uh, you know, you probably have ADHD and a couple of other things as well.  [00:02:30] Peter: So you were surprised you were surprised at that.  [00:02:32] Skye: Yeah, it, it made a lot of sense. I mean, you wrote out, read out all the different things I'd studied, you know, tell me you have ADHD without telling me you have ADHD. I kept getting to the end of a degree and being like, well, you know, this might not be for me. I think I need to switch to a totally different area and learn a totally different subject. Um, and so, um, you know, in hindsight it made a lot of sense and I learned about ADHD, but I hadn't put the pieces together in, in. Fit my life.  [00:02:58] Peter: Amazing. What, tell me about what it was sort of like sort of the wake up call once you were diagnosed, what sort of started to make sense? [00:03:05] Skye: Yeah. So in terms of what made sense, I, I really focused on understanding why I was burning out because what I was experiencing was a period, you know, up until that point, I'd done a year generally at a time, you know? And so I would, I would study something really intensely for a year, work on it, stay up all night, you know, do weekends. And then I would burn out and I would need a break. And then I would be like, well, I guess maybe this isn't the subject for me and I'd come back and I would do something else. And that was very much how my ADHD was, was manifesting.  [00:03:39] Peter: Now I believe that we had a, another PhD on the podcast named Rachel Cotton. She was one of our first interviews and she always talked about how, uh, she thought it was perfectly normal to live on, you know, uh, 14 caffeine tablets away. Yeah. , you know, um, But no I get that. So, so talk about, um, after you got diagnosed and, and things sort of changing, what, how did your priority shift? [00:04:01] Skye: Yeah, so, so one of the first things I actually did was I, um, I created a community in my university of other people who were postgraduate, um, who were also neuro diverse. I had worked in adult education for a really long time. Um, I'd done a lot of tutoring in universities and I'd sort of told myself when I started the PhD, I'm not gonna do that. Cuz you know, I, I tended to take on too many classes and it was distracting from actually doing the writing. Um, and then when I found out I had ADHD, I was like, oh, but like, you know, one group won't hurt. And so I started I started a group and um, and started connecting with people and learning as much as possible, not just from the research, which. You know, later on writing about, but the very first thing I started to do was to talk to other people. Who'd had those same experiences.  [00:04:48] Peter: And what did you find out?  [00:04:49] Skye: I found out that people were kind of frustrated with the university system, um, in terms of, you know, how it fit and how it worked with how they worked. And I think that was really, um, really helpful for me because it meant I didn't spend too long sitting in that space of feeling like it was just me, which so many people with ADHD, I know had that feeling because I immediately was launched into the space of, oh, we're all experiencing these struggles. [00:05:15] Peter: And it was sort of one of those lessons. I remember sort of the same thing when I finally got diagnosed, everything started to make sense. Part of me was pissed off because, you know, I, I, I I'd spent so much energy. Mm-hmm over the course of my life fighting things that, that, you know, swimming upstream when I didn't really have mm-hmm I'd just gone with the flow. It would've been that much easier. [00:05:31] Skye: Yeah. Yeah, no, it's definitely, it's definitely, um, a tough thing. And, you know, there was a little bit. Sadness as well. I think to look back on my more was at that point, my twenties, um, and realize that, yeah, it had just been a different, if I'd known a slightly different way of working, it wasn't that it had to be hugely different, but just some adjustments, it could have been so much easier. [00:05:55] Peter: So let's talk about, uh, unconventional organization. Tell me about it.  [00:05:58] Skye: Yeah. So, um, I started on unconventional organization in 2020, um, after I'd, you know, worked with the universities, I started working with schools and then when, uh, COVID hit and we all had to go back to our homes. I was looking for an opportunity to keep doing what I really loved to do, which is connect with people and work with people. Um, and I found ADHD coaching. And so I started doing that alongside at that point, um, writing articles. Cause I really wanted to learn more if I was gonna do this kind of space properly, I wanted to learn about the research. And so I, um, started writing articles and challenging myself to put them up every week as a way of, of, you know, keeping myself accountable for that. And, um, those two things sort of ballooned into, into what we have now with, um, you know, people who are training to become coaches with us, um, who also have ADHD. And then also having that, um, that research space as well.  [00:06:51] Peter: And what did you, so tell me what, one of the interesting things I always, I always ask, what did you find when you started conversing with other people and being like, Hey, we share the same brain. Right? What kind of trends did you, did you find?  [00:07:02] Skye: I found that people were working a lot harder than people realize people with ADHD. I, I found that a lot of the people that I spoke to would come to me and they'd say, I'm not getting enough done. I need to, you know, and even the people that, you know, the coaches would often come to us as well. And, you know, say I haven't been, I haven't been achieving at the level that I want to, and then I'd ask them what they're doing, because that's part of coaching. We get very specific about what your day looks like and people were spending a lot of time trying to work. And, and in that way they were expending a lot of energy. It just wasn't necessarily, um, giving them the outcome that they were looking for.  [00:07:40] Peter: Right. And one of the things you learn is that, is that it's sort of a self limiting, uh, prophecy, because you wind up expending all this energy. You're not getting the results. So you try harder and it's still the same thing. Right. So you, so you, you're going down this rabbit hole and you can't win.  [00:07:53] Skye: Yeah, no, exactly. And then, and then the worst part, you know, at least for us was that people would say, oh, well then I don't deserve to have a break. I don't deserve to have fun. And so we'd end up in this sort of self-fulfilling cycle of just, you know, not getting the dopamine, working hard, feeling like you don't deserve to get a break. So you definitely don't get the Domine and you're continuing to keep trying. [00:08:13] Peter: Right. And so I guess one of the best lessons there is change the way you try.  [00:08:18] Skye: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And, and it's about, you know, we think about it in terms of experimentation. We often say, you know, if something doesn't work or it doesn't work for you, we just keep, we just keep adapting it. We just, we just check it out and go. That's interesting, that doesn't work. And then, you know, in, in the case of working with the coach, you come back and you say, Hey, that doesn't work for me. And they go, that's fine. Like we can adjust it.  [00:08:41] Peter: Right. What would you have told your 15 year old self, if you knew, if you knew that and what you know now?  [00:08:46] Skye: That's a really good question. I think I would tell my 15 year old self. It's not about finding the perfect career. It's about finding the perfect environment.  [00:08:56] Peter: Oh good. Oh, I like that a lot. That's a great quote, great quote. Oh, I like, yeah. I really, really love that. Yeah. Um, Skye, how can people find more about you? How can they get,  [00:09:05] Skye: yeah, you can find us, um, at, [Web: https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com Socials: @unconventionalorganisation on INSTA and Facebook ] um, unconventionalorganization.com, uh, with a Z or with an S depending on which country you're from. Um, we also have, um, a lot of articles about different strategies you can use on the website as well as. And then ADHD coaching as well.  [00:09:22] Peter: Awesome. Well, I love this sky. Thank you so much for taking the time. I appreciate it all the way from New Zealand. What time is it over there? [00:09:27] Skye:  Um, it is 5:40 AM .  [00:09:30] Peter: Okay. So either time to get up, or time to go to bed; I'm gonna assume time to get up. [00:09:32] Skye: Time to get up! [00:09:34] Peter: Skye, thanks for taking the time guys. Thanks for listening. You know, the drill, uh, fasternormal.com. Leave a, uh, review anywhere you like iTune, stitcher or Google play, whatever I'm at Peter Shankman, we're faster, normal on Twitter, faster than normal on Instagram, everywhere. And we'll be back next week with another interview of someone just as awesome because of that is what we do. We will see you soon. Thanks for listening   Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Gökçen Şahin, M.Sc., who successfully completed her master's degree in Genetics, has just registered for the PhD program to start her education this fall. Technological advances in the field of genetics in the last 20 years have brought with it a large pile of data waiting to be made sense of. Gökçen will do her PhD in bioinformatics in order to learn how to draw meaningful conclusions from these data and to find solutions for this purpose. Gökçen, who loves to learn new things and is curious, developed a machine learning model in her thesis that can predict the muscle heteroplasmy ratio of patients with given demographic features, family history, and clinical table caused by a mitochondrial DNA point mutation causing mitochondrial diseases. She made these by learning everything herself. She reviewed more than 450 publications fastidiously and worked with doctors to generate her data. Gokcen, who wants to improve herself in this field, wants to have a solid foundation. Therefore, she decided to take her education in this field. Gökçen actually qualified to enter another PhD program last year for the same purpose and started her education. During this period, she was diagnosed with ADHD in December and in January, she learned that she is autistic. While the diagnoses were a great shock at first, she shared her diagnoses with her supervisor in order to pass this period in a healthy way. Afterwards, she was exposed to various mobbing by this supervisor. The severity of mobbing had increased over time. And in February, she was fired by him from the PhD program in an e-mail. Not long after, her ex-boyfriend's family, who learned that she is autistic and ADHDer, did not want them to get married, and they broke up after a 2-year relationship, which was a first for Gökçen. She had many reasons to lose hope. But the opposite happened. The diagnoses resulted in her accepting herself. She faced many challenges throughout her life and she saw that the challenges she experienced was the result of not being accepted as she was. Realizing this, she wanted to go on further and apply for a new program, but she also had fears. She explained everything to her new supervisor before application. And she was encouraged by new supervisor to apply for the program. Now she's telling people that “Being autistic and ADHD is part of the diversity in nature and being able to live as ourselves, to be free of masks is what we have a right to do. The only thing that can hinder this view is when we begin to look at ourselves as people who do not accept us as we are. When we come back from this mistake, we start living a healthy life. Because not being able to be what we are, not being accepted is ignoring us and it hurts. Nobody has the right to this. We are a part of nature, just like everything else." This is a great one- enjoy!   In this episode Peter and Gökçen discuss:   00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:50 - Apologies for the near horrid audio- Peter is still in a hotel. 00:56 - Intro and welcome Gökçen Şahin! 02:45 - Your story is incredible; and it's frustrating professors would still be so ignorant! 03:21 - So you said that you wrote something out that you wanted to share with us, feel free!  03:35 - On being accepted for PhD programs 04:03 - On the first meeting with her supervisor/professor 04:51 - On the 2nd meeting with her supervisor 05:50 - What happened next? 08:16 - A little while later… 08:45 - Studying about ADHD 10:00 - On being diagnosed by a child psychologist and then given meds 10:19 - Her professor's reaction 11:05 - Back to the psychologist 11:51 - On being made a study and the discovery of Autism 13:00 - Amazing. A couple of questions… 13:15 - The fallout and heartbreak 14:00 - Did you go back to your former professor? 15:05 - What types of things that you used to think were negatives, do you now understand to be positives? 15:56 - Fun fact: Your subconscious mind controls about 80percent of what you think; be mindful in your self-talk/inner dialogue.  16:24 - On being happy inside and being kind to yourself! 17:44 - What advice would you give to someone who has been told that they are broken? 17:55 - THIS PART.  RIGHT HERE. 19:56 - What happened with her new supervisor? 21:30 - How can people find more about you? @GKCNSHN on Twitter 21:30 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  21:40 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  [00:00:40] Hey guys, Peter, Shankman welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. Unfortunately, again, I'm still recording from a hotel. Uh, we should be back in my apartment within a week or so, but oh my God, has it been not fun? Anyway, I do wanna talk about something fun today. I have an amazing story here I was on Twitter and someone tagged me in a post and said, you've gotta read what's going on here. And I was introduced to a one whose name. Uh I'm I'm despite my best efforts, I'm probably gonna screw up and I wanna say it's Gokcen shine and I'm pretty, I'm sure I'm relatively close there, but lemme tell you something about Gokcen was in a. PhD program. And, uh, she was doing her PhD in bioinformatics in order to learn how to draw meaningful conclusions from data and find solutions. She was, she loved new things; she's very curious. She discovered a machine learning model and her thesis that could predict the muscle hetero PLAs ratio of patients with given demographic features basically stuff way beyond my pay grade. Right. She's dealing with Mitocondrial DNA, uh, point mutation. I mean, incredible stuff. So what happens. She gets into another PhD program and gets diagnosed with ADHD in January. She learns that she has ADHD and learns that she's autistic. And while this diagnosis works a great shock to her, she shared a diagnosis with a supervisor, and guess what happened with her supervisor? Her supervisor fired her from her PhD program via email! Okay. That's like breaking up with someone over a text message, not cool! Okay. And then after that, her ex-boyfriend's family or her boyfriend at the time who learned that she was a autistic and ADHD, did not want them to get married and they broke up a over a 2 year relationship. Unbelievable. But despite having many reasons to lose hope the opposite happened and the diagnosis resulted in G accepting herself and saw these challenges for what they were through her life, realizing that she applied for a new program. Got in. And now she tells everyone that being autistic and ADHD is part of the diversity in nature. And being able to live as ourselves to be free of masks is what we have a right to do. I am so excited to talk to you. Thank you so much for being here today Gokcen.  [00:02:41] Gokcen: Uh, thank you so much for inviting me, Peter,  [00:02:44] Peter: uh, an amazing, an amazing story. I, I, I, I, I remember reading it on Twitter and just being blown away that, that, that, you know, of, of all things, professors could still be that, uh, closed mind truly, truly just incredible. [00:02:58] Gokcen: Actually leaving it was very hard, but eventually I just, uh, get something at you get new thing at you then .Right now I'm totally okay.  [00:03:10] Peter: Yeah. I mean, it sounds like, it sounds like you took this, you know, as, as, as difficult as it was, you saw this as an opportunity and, and, you know, used it to your, to your advantage. [00:03:20] Gokcen: Sure, sure.  [00:03:21] Peter: So, so you said that you wrote something out that you wanted to share with us, feel free.  [00:03:25] Gokcen: Yes. Okay. Uh, you can just, uh, cut me if I exceed the time.  [00:03:29] Peter: really not a problem. Go ahead. Okay, go ahead. [00:03:32] Gokcen: Uh, just let me mention about myself a bit. I completed my master on genetics in 2021. I am accepted to PhD program and I will, uh, start my education in the field of bioformatics and system biology in this semester. I was actually accepted to PhD program last year, too. Uh, three acceptance. Actually, I got three acceptance last year from three different universities. In the one that I choose I was fired after six months by my supervisor. Uh, I met with him on 6th of July, 2021. In the meeting I mentioned about my background, about my thesis, about my current knowledge in this field and I, um, What I want to do, et cetera. And he spoke very positively about my answers. Uh, and he said, a few people at your level can answer these questions so well, you know why you did what you did. Um, so I said to him that I didn't get any education on this topic. I. In my thesis, uh, I just did something learning on internet, et cetera, but I didn't get any, um, base education on this topic so I need someone to guide me. I'm looking for, um, my master and he said, okay.  In the second meeting, uh, he wanted me to prepare a project, uh, based on my performance. I will get a chance to apply. I finished my project and email, but he was kind of person that don't answer emails. Meanwhile, I was accepted by two other universities. I dunno why, but I see him as someone that I can trust, but I was totally wrong. Anyway, uh, I sent so many emails to myself, to him. Eventually he wrote something like this. Uh, you are a person who tries to do a given test properly. Is determined by technically needs to move forward. However, I think it will not cause any problems with study. So then I, I applied, accepted government accepted me, a university accepted me in the interview. Supervisor accepted me. So, um, let's start . Our courses was removed. Uh, however, I went to Institute for a journal club and was going meet with my friends, uh, my team friends. Uh, we were supposed to meet with each other. I expected that they will introduce themselves. Ask my name, myth[?] With me, ask about my background, et cetera. Just some friendly talking, but it didn't happen. They were really cold people. After journal club I went our teams room supervisor came too. Uh, he started to talk with his students. They got along very well in a kind of manner that I don't have any idea. Supervisor, um, open potato chips package. He offered to everyone in the room. I politely said that I didn't want, um, he asked why; I said that I have a high intolerance to lactose and I cannot eat packaged foods. Then very interestingly, he got very closer to my ear, very closer and started to eat potato chips there. It was not nice at all, but I thought that probably this was how they make jokes. Um, because I can't understand jokes most of the time. And I. even can't understand why they are made. Um, while he was eating chips. I, he wanted me to ask a question to him. I asked, uh, why he put advanced statistics in the first term while introductory statistics in the second term, he started to laugh again and with his students and said, oh, did I really do this? Oh my God. And last lovely. Um, In the period of this course choice he didn't say anything to me. Um, so these two courses actually was his own courses, but he didn't warn me. He accepted my course choices and not surprisingly, I couldn't succeed because I was almost your own statistics. And this course what was advanced, I said to him, I wish you would inform me at the beginning, but I will, uh, I said that I will fail in this course and take first of all the introductory course and take this course again later. He said, OK. Uh, one day he called me to his room, uh, take a white paper in front of him, asked me, do you know this topic. I said, no, he wrote the paper. Do you know, this topic. I said, no; he wrote the paper. Uh, he wrote so many topics that I didn't know about. And he said, okay, go and study them. You should be ready because you are here to do my job. I will do my job. Uh, you will do my job, then I will be able to look something else. Um, I didn't like this attitude at all. I didn't study, I couldn't study what he gave me because this is not the way that I can study. Uh, But eventually he started to get angry with me. Uh, these times I was wondering so much about ADHD, uh, because my psychologist thought that I have. She was, um, nervous because uh, she also got a diagnosis for a while ago and she told me about the common traits that we share. And then I started to study so deeply on ADHD in a kind of manner that hyperfocus . I was collecting my traits to tell all of them to my psychiatrist. Uh, the hospital that I'm going is a medical hospital of Istanbul for, of medicine of Istanbul university. So doctors are working there with rotation, for education. Each doctor see patients for just one month. Uh, when I went to hospital for ADHD evauation , this was maybe the only chance that I have got in my whole life because doctor was a child psychiatrist She evaluated me. It was the 24th of December 2021 I diagnosed with ADHD . Gave me a drug after this session. She said she wanted to see again, very soon. I thought that she will probably ask me whether the drugs work or not.  I told, um, my diagnosis to my supervisor, I was waiting some understanding, but instead he said that, um, a man without hands cannot be a Shoemaker and no matter how much he wants. But if he works hard, he can become a marathon runner. Maybe he [you] should try another sector. I. Trying to explain that ADHD is not a kind of attention deficit, actually. It's a problem of regularizing of pay attention wherever we can focus, whatever we do more than neurotypicals. But he didn't seem to understand at all. And maybe didn't listen at all. Um, it was 12th of January. I went to a hospital again, I told my psychiatrist that, um, about this, uh, supervisor's unpleasant behavior. And she told me to relax because she said no one had right to kick me out of the schools. I informed her about the effect of drug. Then she asked me tons of questions I didn't understand because these questions was not related with medicine or ADHD. After this session she just said that she wanted to invite me to their department community meeting with the justification of I was their patient for long and she wanted, uh, her professor also evaluate me. Then I said, okay, but this wasn't seem normal to me after going home. I checked each, each question and still didn't understand and what is them about? I Google check [unintelligible] five, watch videos, one thing, but I got shocked. Me? Autism? Is that possible? Then the face to face community meeting the professor who is the head of the psychiatric department of the hospital, and almost all psychs of the hospital was there approximately 20, 30 doctors. And this time professor asked me so many questions and all of them evaluated. I shared my bad language too, because I sit to someone, uh, after the meeting, my own psych took me her room and explained that I'm autistic. Uh, it was 26th of January this year. Uh, so, and my age is 29. It's surprising.  [00:12:55] Peter: So, uh, it it's, let me, let me interrupt just, just for a minute, because I, I, I am, I am grateful to you for telling your story. I have, I have a couple of questions that I, I think my audience would wanna know are on the answer to as well. What, what did you, when you were told by your professor that a Shoemaker cannot make shoes, if he doesn't have hands, how did that make you feel?  [00:13:15] Gokcen: Terrible because you feel like you don't have an ability to think, have an ability, don't have an ability to do something. Uh, you don't have a brain. You cannot think, you cannot be a scientist. Uh, these are, these are incredibly bad things. And, uh, you know what happens in after he said all this to me, I started to cry very deeply and he just look at me with a cold face and it was really horrible.  [00:13:54] Peter: When you let's fast forward to when you were accepted into your new program? Um, I'm I was curious, you didn't mention this. Did you at all, at any point, go back to this professor and tell him that you were, that you made into this new program?  [00:14:08] Gokcen: Uh, no, I didn't. I didn't.  [00:14:11] Peter: Do you have any desire to do that?  [00:14:14] Gokcen: Uh, actually, I have a really big desire to tell him, um, in a, in maybe I know government education department or something. I really don't want to see him again anymore. [00:14:30] Peter: Right. I understand that. It just seems to me that, that I think there's, you know, for what he's done and had the way he did it, uh, there should be some consequences for him. Um, you know, that's a, obviously a bigger story, but I do think that that's something you shouldn't, shouldn't just let go.  [00:14:45] Gokcen: Um, and I will tell, um, more about what he did. Actually. There is so much bad things too, and it's coming.  [00:14:55] Peter: Well, let's focus. Let's focus on the positives for a second. So let's fast forward to the point where you were accepted into the new program. Yes. What have you noticed? What have you noticed about yourself since your diagnosis? What types of things that you used to think were negatives are, do you now understand to be positives and things like that? [00:15:14] Gokcen: Uh, could you repeat the question again, please?  [00:15:17] Peter: Um, now that you're diagnosed, you know, for instance, I'll give you an example. My, uh, my ability to, to multitask I realize is a, is a positive, but when I was in school, uh, it was framed as not being able to pay attention. And so I thought it was a negative. Yes. Right. Once I was diagnosed with ADHD, I realized that it could be a positive. So I'm, I'm curious as to what sort of things that, that you might have thought of as bad things, um, have you since maybe sort of rethought of as possibly good things now that you understand sort of where your, how your brain works.  [00:15:53] Gokcen: Um, actually, there are lots of things like that until to the diagnosis I always thought that I am weird because everybody in your environment say that you are weird. And when they say until that age, when everybody say this, eventually you also believe them. Um, but I actually, without thinking them, I was already happy in my inside. I couldn't show it to the people, but I was happy too inside because I was, um, I love, uh, in, in a way that what makes me Gokcen and everything. Every trait of autism or ADHD, give me that they are my traits and this is, these are my parts. And I love myself. Uh, but after diagnosis, I can say it loudly that I love myself.  [00:16:54] Peter: I think that that in itself is an amazing story right there. The fact that you've been able to; understanding sort of how your brain works has allowed you to be kinder to yourself, right?  [00:17:04] Gokcen: Sure. Because I able to make this master thesis, which is very, uh, hard actually in that time, I didn't know any knowledge about machine learning and I apply and even I created my own data set. Uh, examining more than, uh, 450 articles. This was a huge job. And needs a really strong attention. So this is why ADHD is my superpower and autism, my superpower. Um, yes.  [00:17:44] Peter: What would you tell, what would you tell students or people who were in your position who might have been told that they were broken as well? What would you, what advice would you give to them?  [00:17:55] Gokcen: Um, the thing that really saved my life is, um, just accept yourself as you are, because you are incredible, whatever other people say. Um, And be always kind. This is for everyone. Uh, as Robin Williams said, this, the quote that I love so much: Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know, nothing about. Be kind, always. Because until the time of the diagnosis, I had so many tons of psychological problems. I even stay one month in mental health hospital, like a prison. I suicide twice, uh, heavy drugs. Therapies, tons of therapies. None of them worked. Everybody thought that you are not normal. You just want, don't want to be alive. But, um, but this is not true. Because if you can discover yourself, this is a gift, not a curse. Yeah. And after diagnosing all of the psychological problems just gone away. And I just right now use just one drug and this is for, to, to make it gradually decrease. Uh, and very soon that I will give up all the medicines I will take none of them.  [00:19:26] Peter: That is wonderful. What a great, what a great story. I love that, you know, when I saw your original tweet, I was sort of blown away about how anyone could be that sort of close-minded, um, especially in education where you're supposed to have an open mind, you're supposed to, uh, embrace that. But, um, it seems to me Gokcen that you've definitely come out on top of this, that you have, you have come out the winner in this story, and I hope that you keep writing and I hope that you keep tweeting and keep sharing your story with the world because you're an inspiration.  [00:19:54] Gokcen: Thank you so much. Uh, what happened lastly, I wanna share with you. I told my new supervisor about a bit about my situation, and she said; uh, you have had a bad experience, but, uh, don't be discouraged. I'm sure that, uh, you will be much more happier in here. Uh, there are bad peoples in the world, but fortunately they're good ones too. I am grateful to her. Uh, but when I said that I'm grateful she to accepted me, she said that I didn't do anything. You deserve it. We evaluated you as we did to all students. And you deserve it. This is so precious because people pity you uh, about your autism about your ADHD, and this is especially so in my country. But my dear supervisor treated me like she tries to everyone and she didn't show sympathy because I'm autistic. She said I was accepted because I deserved; this is so precious. [00:21:00] Peter: I love that. I love that. What a wonderful story. Gokcen, Thank you so much for taking the time. My pleasure. Give us your, give us your Twitter account so people can follow you.  [00:21:09] Gokcen: Uh, sure. Um, my, my, uh, name with, uh, letters, uh, G K C N S H N. This is my Twitter. Thank you so much.  [00:21:21] Peter: This. Awesome. Thank, thank you so much for taking the time. We're definitely gonna have you back in several months to talk about, to give us an update on what's going on.  [00:21:28] Gokcen: Thank you so much. You can.  [00:21:30] Peter: All right guys, as always, thanks for listening to fast than normal. We will see you next week with a brand new episode. Hopefully I'll be back in my office and not in our hotel room and we will talk to you soon. Stay safe, stay well.    Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Ashley Brown teaches Coastal Kayaking, Stand Up Paddleboarding, and Instructor Development at the College of Charleston. She has developed these paddlesports courses over the past decade to include Sustainability Literacy and a First Year Experience course with a Biology class. Learning about sustainability and sharing it with the students led Ashley to start a Masters of Art at Prescott College in Outdoor Education Leadership. She only has a few more classes before she finishes her degree. Ashley shares her passion for teaching kayaking at all levels and challenging people to test their limits while learning and having a ton of fun. She has been developing a curriculum in Kayaking, SUP, and Instructor Development at the College of Charleston, where Ashley serves as an Adjunct Professor.  Ashley is the recipient of the American Canoe Association 2019 Excellence in Instruction Award.  This award is presented annually to an ACA member for outstanding contributions to paddlesports education and instruction. She earned the prestigious Level 5 American Canoe Association Advanced Open Water Coastal Kayaking Instructor Certification and is also an ACA Level 4 Kayak Instructor Trainer, Canoe Instructor, and L2 Standup Paddleboard Instructor. Ashley serves as a member of the executive committee of the Safety, Education, and Instruction Committee for the American Canoe Association. She loves to travel and has gone from Canada to Mexico and beyond, sharing her talent and knowledge with clubs, groups, schools, outfitters, events, and symposiums. Residing in Charleston, SC, she enjoys welcoming guests from all over the world to paddle in Charleston's beautiful waterways.  One of her favorite venues is the “Edge of America”, the Atlantic Ocean off Folly Beach.  She provides paddlers an opportunity to have an exciting experience and widen their perspectives. Today we're talking about how and why she got diagnosed, how an ADHD/ADD brain can often serve as a prerequisite, and what being buoyant may do for the ADHD in you! Enjoy! ——  In this episode Peter and Ashley discuss:   00:45 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:50 - Apologies for the near horrid audio- Peter is in a tourist-filled lobby today. 01:05 - Intro and welcome Ashley Brown! 01:53 - When were you first diagnosed and how did it happen? 03:00 - What was the first big change you felt after your diagnosis? 03:56 - What inspired you to seek out aquatic sports & activities; and to teach them? 05:33 - Do you experience sort of a rebirth every time you go kayaking; like I do when skydiving or running? 06:00 - On the good kind of exhaustion and a completely focused flow.  07:18 - How does scanning a wave, being outdoors and on the water help your ADHD? 08:56 - I had never thought of ADHD/ADD as a requirement for something! For what else could ADHD possibly be a prerequisite? 09:40 - On the importance of physical movement! 11:30 - How can people find more about you? [Ashley isn't a public figure but you can check into her courses via Web: www.wavepaddler.com and on their Facebook page here] 12:34 - Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  19:08 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:38] Peter Shankman good morning. I am coming to you today from the lounge at a Hilton in Midtown Manhattan because, uh, my apartment was supposed to be finished two weeks ago for all my renovations and it's not, and I am living the Dylan McKay life here in New York Hilton in Midtown. For those not old enough to understand what the Dylan McKee lifestyle is? Well, look it up. Your parents knew. Anyway, welcome to another episode Faster Than Normal. Uh, I apologize in advance for all the background noise. Ashley Brown is joining us today. Ashley, get this we're going outdoors today, even though I'm sitting in a lounge in mid Manhattan, we're going outdoors. The great big ocean. to the coast. We're gonna talk to Ashley Brown who teaches coastal kayaking standup paddle boarding and instructed development of the college of Charleston. She's ADHD. She's developed these paddle sports courses over the past decade to include sustainability literacy and her first year experience course to the biology class. This is a very, very cool stuff. She got diagnosed when her kid did, as we hear so much about .Ashley, welcome to Faster Than Normal. Let's talk about some outdoors and how it relates to ADHD.  [00:01:39] Ashley: Hi! Hi, thank you so much for having me. And, um, I am really excited to talk to you. I've enjoyed listening to your podcast and I have to admit I'm a bit nervous. I hope that I hope this goes well.  [00:01:51] Peter: . You're gonna be, you're gonna be fine. Don't worry about it. So tell me when you tell me when you first got diagnosed and how did it happen?  [00:01:56] Ashley: Um, my daughter was in around third grade and, um, she had hit like unbelievable benchmarks in, in, in intelligence as a, as a little kid, you know, when they do those, pull you out, testing things to put 'em in gifted and talented and stuff. And then suddenly she couldn't read, you know, she wasn't reading, uh, at her, at her pace had had had just stopped. So we discovered that she had dyslexia and, uh, ADHD, and, uh, as we are moving through all those, those categories, I'm going, yep. That's me. That's me. That's me. And of course, this is something that, um, I, I understand a lot of adults have had that experience. So, so I got diagnosed when she got diagnosed and, uh, same thing, dyslexia, ADHD, and, uh, it's, it's interesting to hit it at, you know, 40 versus eight, you know, so  [00:02:55] Peter: I was gonna say, so you lived your life, not knowing anything about it, sort of similar to the way I did. I didn't get diagnosed in my late thirties and, um, what was the, what was sort of the first cha big changes that you saw in yourself once you, once you got that diagnosis?  [00:03:06] Ashley: Um, changes in myself, I guess, I guess maybe just like forgiving myself for being me, I don't know. Um, like suddenly. [00:03:20] Peter: That's actually a, that's a pretty huge answer. A pretty huge answer. Cause a lot of people don't realize that I, I went through the same thing. [00:03:25] Ashley: Yeah, no, I, uh, I always just, you know, why can't you do your taxes on time? Why can't, why do you have to work at a de at a critical deadline? Like, why can't you do this ahead of time? Like, um, so many of. So many other things that ADHD, people struggle with. Like, um, and I, I guess I cut myself a little more slack, not enough, not, not enough, but a lot more slack than I used to. Like now I have a reason, you know? [00:03:53] Peter: Well, we'll never cut ourselves enough slack that's for darn sure. But, okay. So tell me about how outdoors, how did you, first of all, how'd you get started in, in the classes of paddle boarding and kayak and all that, all that stuff outdoors. And what prompted you to say, Hey, there should be, there should be a school or classes. [00:04:07] Ashley: Well, um, so it, the, all the school and the classes are there it's, um, I didn't create that, but I just brought it in a different venue. So, um, I, um, I was, I, my first career was an artist and an art teacher and I was, uh, teaching. and it, it just, it just, you know, it, it's a pretty punishing, um, field. Uh, and I, I, I never was super successful with it. And then teaching children and then having children, it was just so many children and so much mess in my life that I, uh, I had a neighbor who said, Hey, you should come kayaking. And I went kayaking with a bunch of adults who I didn't have to clean up after. And I was like, ah, I can do this. And I, um, I just made some, made some major changes and I really went. Uh, full force into kayaking and stand and, uh, and then loved it. And I live in a place I live in Charleston, South Carolina, and, um, there is nothing but water around here. So there's so many places to explore and so many, uh, dynamic environments to, uh, get to know. So, um, I shifted from teaching, uh, children to taking people on kayak tours and all this stuff. And then, um, I met an instructor with the College of Charleston and, and. Uh, opened up some doors to me and I, I ended up with a full-time job teaching, uh, paddle sports at, uh, college level.  [00:05:31] Peter: I'm gonna go into a limb and say that paddle boarding or paddle sports or anything like that is similar for the brain as skydiving or running is for me. Would that be correct? Are you, is it a rebirth for you every time you do.  [00:05:42] Ashley: Rebirth. Hmm. I don't know. I don't know, rebirth and it, and it, and it is exciting and fun. And particularly when you do surf, so I'm guessing that skydiving and, and actually hearing that crashing wave behind you kind of stuff is this is similar. [00:05:57] Peter: Tell me how you feel when you're done. You come back to land.  [00:05:59] Ashley: The good exhaustion. Just space, that's it? Yeah. That's yeah. Um, so, and, and when I, when I bring people into it, I love their, uh, reaction to it. And I love the layering cuz. And I think that this is one of the things that I was that I wrote to you and the reason I wanted to, to talk to you, and I think that the layering of, of understanding the environment and watching the student and understanding where the student is is, has it. It it's that flow, right? Where you, where your brain is working on all the levels in the environment you're in. This is, this is probably the only thing I've ever done, where I wasn't also having a conversation with, you know, somebody from a year ago and writing a grocery list, you know, at all three going on at the same time. So, so it is the only place where my entire, where all of my attention is, is layered into there. So, so I love that. And then that puts me in that good exhaustion. [00:06:56] Peter: Well, there's a level of focus there, right? I mean, you absolutely, you have no choice. You have to look at what you're doing. You have to focus on what you're doing. You have to pay attention to what you're doing. You can't do a hundred of those things. It's the same thing with skydiving and, and for people with ADHD, we don't often realize that we realize that is the, the level at which we thrive!  [00:07:11] Ashley: Right. Exactly. Exactly. It's um, it is definitely the level where you thrive. [00:07:18] Peter: Tell me about, um, how it helps, how doing that helps your ADHD. Tell me about, uh, sort of how your brain reacts to that kinda stuff to, to being outdoors, to being on the water, to, to scanning the wave.  [00:07:29] Ashley: Okay. Um, so, so I came in to ADHD later, I did not understand the dopamine thing. Um, Prior to it, but now I understand and I, and I seek the, and I identify the things that give me that pleasure, that dopamine rush. So sometimes you're bored out of your mind of course, but then when you, when you can find the things that are giving you pleasure, like the, like moving very quickly through the water or looking at a reflection of a surface and, and, um, and so seeking those things has, or, or, you know, seeking that experience through somebody else's experience. So I'm watching, I'm watching 20 year olds figure out how to make their body work in a new way and how to make a boat, move, move through waves and stuff in a, in a, um, in a, something that they're not familiar with. It is, it is exciting in, and then that really does feed the, um, that dopamine receptor, I suppose. And, um, gives me a pleasure that, that, uh, I don't know that I, that I, I guess I had is with an art with art, but I had gotten so done with it with art. But anyway, um. [00:08:40] Peter: That's a good answer. I wanna read something that you wrote in, in your email to me, you said, I think that or ADHD is practically a requirement for outdoor educators. They problem solve on the go keep people safe while putting them in intentionally risky situations and manage their expectations to keep it engaging, but not scary. You know, I've never thought of it that way. ADHD is a requirement for something, right. We always look at it as a gift and, and, and something beneficial. I've never thought it as a requirement. I wonder what other things a ADD could be a requirement for? What do you think?  [00:09:08] Ashley: Um, gosh, I don't know. Um, the, the it's back to that multi layering thing, it's, it's, it's seeing some body and their process and a situation that needs your undivided attention as well. So probably teaching someone to skydive or teaching someone to do other things that are risky. Um, Ropes courses. Those are, yeah, those,  [00:09:32] Peter: I mean, I think, I think along the lines that, that, you know, one of the things about ADD & ADHD is we have that incredible power to hyper focus. Right. Right. When we want to focus on something, we are there 100%. And I don't think that a lot of, a lot of people, without ADHD, really understand how that works. And so I think in that regard, it's probably very beneficial for us. Um,  [00:09:50] Ashley: you know, and also the busy bodiness like the, the physical, um, Busyness is, is, uh, is key. So I think a lot of people that, that engage in that, like that come to an outdoor education experience and enjoy it, but don't want to be in it constantly. They need to think while sitting still or being still. And I, and I, I don't know how you are, but I never stop moving so it's a, it's a perfect thing for me to, to keep moving, to keep thinking. I,  [00:10:22] Peter: I think it's the same it's same reason. Yeah. It makes perfect sense. It's the same reason that, you know, my, my parents always told me as a kid, no listening to music while you're studying, but it turns out that listening to music is actually the best possible thing. Someone like us could do. No question about. [00:10:33] Ashley: Absolutely. And like, um, um, teaching kids. Well, my own children. Teaching kids like the multiplication tables or reading stories out loud or whatever, when they were tiny. If they, it, my, my little one was jumping around the whole time and, and I, and I would go, you know, what did I just say? And she could repeat it, back like just like word for word. But if I, you know, she just couldn't sit still to do that. So. No question. And, and I related to that, so I didn't try to get her to sit still. I went to Catholic school and I was required to sit still. So ,  [00:11:09] Peter: I went to school in the seventies and I was, yeah, in the seventies, it was sort of the same way. And lemme tell you something that didn't work really well for me either. No. And that was a public school too.  [00:11:17] Ashley: Not a big fan of the sitting still  [00:11:20] Peter: Ashley, how could people find out more? How can they find you? Do you have an Instagram, you have things where people could find your great, you sent me some great photos of paddle boarding and all that stuff. The places people could find this stuff? [00:11:28] Ashley: Um, so I have a website wave paddler.com and, um, I am, I, I actually am not I'm, I'm not a public personality in the, in this, in the way that you are. I don't have something that I'm trying to convey to people. [Ashley isn't a public figure but you can check into her courses via Web: www.wavepaddler.com and on their Facebook page here] Um, I just loved your show and I wanted to talk with you. And, uh, and, um, I don't know. I really do appreciate my ADHD! [00:11:51] Peter: Good enough. Yeah. As you should, we're trying to change the world. Not everyone has to be a celebrity and everyone has to be, uh, famous. We could be like, you know, regular normal people, just, just doing the best they can with the tools that they've been given. Ashley Brown. Thank you so much for sticking around and coming on the show and, uh, stay on the water and keep having fun! [00:12:07] Ashley: Thank you. You too! Come and paddle with me sometime.  [00:12:09] Peter: Most certainly will. Guys, as always, we've been listening the fast than normal. Sorry again about the background. Apparently every loud person, who's a tourist in New York happens to be in this lounge right at this very moment. But I'm hoping that the next time we talk, I'll be back in my apartment where it's much quieter. We will see you next week. If you like what you heard, leave us a review in any of the stations, any of the places you download your podcasts. My name is Peter Shankman  @PeterShankman all the socials. And thank you for listening. We'll see you next week. ADHD is a gift not a curse. Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

André Brisson, P. Eng., is the host of The Impulsive Thinker Podcast, the podcast for the high-achieving ADHD entrepreneur. Andre owns an entrepreneurial consulting engineering company and recently started Tactical Breakthroughs where he is developing the ADHDTransformation Journey program. Diagnosed late in life with severe ADHD and mild Asperger's(ASD), the mechanisms and systems he created to overcome his undiagnosed ADHD havehelped him succeed. He credits his undiagnosed ADHD as key to his success and a factor in restricting success. Since discovering how to turn his ADHD into a strength, people havesought him out for help with using their ADHD as a strength to drive success. André Brisson has a special ability is devouring and learning complex information and simplifying for others to solve complex problems. Like most entrepreneurs, André has started multiple companies, the two of which failed for various reasons. Learning from those failures, André now operates three very successful companies, including a self-managing entrepreneurial engineering firm specializing in niche markets that require unique training, experience, and impulsive instinct to try new things. Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Andre discuss:   00:45 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:48 - Welcome Andre Brisson! 02:40 - What is your success key for imparting complex information to the neurotypical? Ref: Ringette 04:15 - Simplifying the complex 05:06 - On the differences between informing and teaching 05:30 - When did you get diagnosed and what brought all that about? 06:02 - On inventing a “character” for yourself to be perceived as “not abnormal”. 07:00 - On then importance of being unique  07:45 - You said you were beginning to scare your kids- can you go into details on that? Ref: emotional dysregulation 09:55 - Have you ever bought anything strictly on impulse? Tell us in the comments! ;-) 11:00 - Parenting with ADHD/mild Asperger's prior to a diagnosis 12:20 - So when you got diagnosed, what was the treatment plan? Ref: DBT, CBT Executive Function What is Time Blindness? 13:36 - On learning your strengths and maintaining, managing and delegating what's not best for you. Aka Peter's “life rules” 15:15 - A bit more on delegating and staying in the lane, on the road. 16:38 - How can people find more about you? Email:  andre@andreb.ca André Brisson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andre.brisson.1447/ LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrebrisson/ Twitter: @fatrol Website: www.andreb.ca Objective Engineering Inc. Website: www.objectiveeng.ca Tactical Breakthroughs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TacticalBTs LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tactical-breakthroughs/ Twitter: @tacticalbts Website: www.tacticalbts.com The Impulsive Thinker Podcast Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/impulsivethinkerpodcast LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/impulsive-thinker-podcast/ Twitter: @impulsivthinker Website: www.theimpulsivethinker.com 16:51 - Andre, thank you so much!  Ref: Faster Than Normal the book! 17:75 - Thank you. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  19:08 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:38] Hey everyone, Peter. Shankman welcome to the episode of Faster Than Normal. I'm thrilled that you're here. It is great to have you again, we have a fun guest today. I'm gonna start with his tagline because his tagline pretty much says everything ;it's simplifying your complexities, which I think is just the best description I've ever heard of someone who works with people with A D D ADHD, people who are. ADHD. I love that. It's just so clear. Andre, Brisson and I, I screwed it up. I tried my was really hard to get. That was good. Was good's the host of the Impulsive Thinker podcast, very similar to FTN. Podcast for high achieving ADHD entrepreneurs. He owns an entrepreneur consulting engineering company, and recently started another company called Tactical Breakthroughs where he's developing an ADHD transformation journey program. He was diagnosed later in life with severe ADHD and mild Asperger's and the mechanisms and systems he created much like the stuff I did to overcome his undiagnosed ADHD have helped him succeed and he credits his undiagnosed as a key to his success and a factor in restricting success as well. So that's ING to discover, um, Since discovering how to turn his ADHD into a strength people have out for help using their ADHD as well. You talk in your bio about how you have special ability for taking complex information and simplifying for others and first thought, when I heard that was something that happened with me. And I think my mom, like five years ago when she got a new iPhone and she was having a problem doing like four things. And so I just went over there. The their, my parents' apartment. And I'm like, here, gimme the phone done. Dun dun dun. She's like, great, but I didn't learn how to do it. Right. Right. And I realized I'm terrible at taking complex information that I understand and teaching people how to understand it. I just want to do it and get it done. That's an ADHD thing. So let's, let's start there. What is, what is your sort of success key there where you actually have the ability and the, the patience or whatever it is to take that information and simplify it down so other people can learn it as opposed to just doing it for them.  [00:02:55] Andre: Well, the, to me, that's the key difference is I don't do it for them. I've always helped people understand, break down something complex into simple steps or layman terms so that they can act on it. And then they can think about it differently to act on it at a future time. Um, like for example, and on in Canada here, we have Ringette. It's a, it's a, it's a sport on ice for women. So basically they got a rubber ring with a spear, their stick. And I, I referee then I was in an evaluator and, uh, an officially evaluator. So what I actually did was I always asked them what's. The rule, like usually you guys say this occurred, this occurred that I call it right or not. So I go by and says, what's the rule. The rule says this. And then we break down the steps of what occurred and apply the actual rule to those steps. So I step it out for people so that they can understand it. And if you don't understand the first way, I tackle it at a different angle until they get it. And what I'm trying to teach them is stepping out the thought process to come with their own conclusions, with the facts that they know they already had. And didn't realize it. Okay.  [00:04:04] Peter: That makes sense. Yeah, it does. It does. It's interesting. Cause that, that takes patience and, and that's one of the few things that most people with ADHD simply don't have anywhere near half of. [00:04:15] Andre: Mm-hmm yeah. The thing is a lot of times I can simplify that complex information. So someone understands it and so that they can act on it and I can make it real. So usually I, I I'm able to connect something that's in their life or someone else's life or mine. And that's what I do a lot on the podcast is this is a snare that happened. It kind of happened to me. And then people, once you make it real people seem to click with it better.  [00:04:39] Peter: Yeah. Makes sense. And, and yeah, I mean, that's, that's a, a, you know, my keynote speaking trait, you tell stories that people have people who relate to and all of a sudden, it's not some guy on stage talking about something foreign, it's something. Oh yeah. I get that.  [00:04:51] Andre: Yeah. I. I had a chat today with two different people. We, I kind of, I blurted this out and I thought it was pretty smart now to think about it now, but I think there's a difference between informing to understand versus educating, to teach. So if, and for me, I was talking about advocacy as you know, I, I stopped educating people. I just tried to inform people so they can understand adult ADHD and the differences.  [00:05:17] Peter: That makes a lot of sense. I think that also the more informed they are, the more they feel like they can have a handle on it, as opposed to. I guess educating. Yeah. Yeah. They might not necessarily get, no. That makes sense. Tell us about, um, your background. You said you were late, you were late, uh, diagnosed how late?  [00:05:36] Andre: Uh, about four years ago when I was 44. Oh, wow. Um, and then that was a, that was all because of a life Tempest. As I've been calling had three perfect storms collide at once. Um, got into a bad business partnership. I got bored with my first company once it got successful. So I S sabatoged that. Things weren't going well at home. And my Sy symptoms overtook me and controlled me for a couple of years to the point where my kids are just looking at me scared. And I said, I gotta get help. Huh. And got the diagnosis. I went actually to get the diagnosis to prove it wasn't ADHD. Cause I thought there was something worse, wrong with me. Because that diagnosis, like it was too simple of a solution to explain my last 44 years and develop a character that I became so I can fit in and not be looked as abnormal. And then, so I got really good at playing this character. Now I'm learning how to be me and to differentiate the two, because it almost became, you know, I almost, I brainwashed myself to believe that that was the person I was or shouldn't be. [00:06:38] Peter: No, I get that. I mean, it's, it's, you know, fitting in and not being, uh, you know, and not sort of ever really fitting in with the crowd or with, with, uh, any group in, in school, you know, and that takes a toll. I don't think, I think we're just starting to realize what kind of toll that takes on people, um, and how much, uh, that that's re you know, those early forming, forming years are really responsible for sort of right. The kinda stuff you deal with.  [00:07:03] Andre: And then I was overlooked because I was doing well in school. Like I'm also gifted. Um, and so since you're successful and you're doing well in school, you can't have it. You're just not doing what you're supposed to. You're not trying to hard enough for, you know, stop being unique. That was my favorite word. You're too unique to be part of this and I've always fought the right to be unique. And I always thought we should all, we're all different. I understood why we were always trained to say we're everyone's alike, but we're not. We're all unique. [00:07:35] Peter: So what, when you get, I'm curious, you mentioned something, you said, um, you said you had symptoms that were starting to, uh, that were starting to scare your kids. Ex can you go into detail on that?  [00:07:47] Andre: Oh, emotional dysregulation times 2 million. Um, it didn't take much to spark me off. And then all I would do was I'd just be screaming at them for something silly. And when I started being cognizant of a screaming at them, for being silly, my brain was actually saying, Hey buddy, you're overreacting here. You should stop. And then I got the other part of my brain going, eh, forget it. Let's keep going. I'm already into it. Um, so when I saw those look in their eyes, it gave me a. It scared me cuz I saw myself. Um, there when I was a child and that's when I said no, no more, no more. So I went and got help. So the emotional dysregulation definitely took over, um, and enforced, uh, and then my impulsivity and the no filter uh, aspect of my brain having no filter, just my impulsivity, my ver my words would just come out and I just started not caring anymore. And that's when I said that, that, that the symptoms took over, um, impulsive bias, impulsive business partnerships, knowing that it was not going to be good. Um, and for me, I realized with time, since my diagnosis, I have a fear of being idle and when I get bored, that's when I could become dangerous. And that's when, so my physical hyperactivity, even at, as an adult kicks in, if I'm bored and then what happened was with my other company, once the startup phase was done and we're successful in maintaining success and having good gradual growth, I was bored. The, the entertainment, the interest was gone. So I created chaos. Impulsively trying this, trying that in muscle dysregulation, continuing. Um, and, and then just going on with the inattention, not caring, I had a really great point and it just escaped me. It'll come back to that's yeah. [00:09:46] Peter: I mean, that's that happens all the time. You, you go down the route, press rabbit, home, like, wait, my original point was like five feet away from that. Yeah. Um, I think that probably, I think every episode [00:09:55] Andre: and the impulsivity of buying stuff. You know, spending sling money, losing cash flow, all that type of stuff. That was it.  [00:10:03] Peter: It's interesting. I've never, I, I, I, I understand that. And I get that. I I'm fortunate. I don't think it ever, I never went down that rabbit hole too much, but I've certainly made impulse. I mean, you know, mm-hmm, virtually everything I've ever bought in my life has been impulse by, I, I do you wind up doing research on the product you bought after you bought it? [00:10:22] Andre: um, No. I usually do all the research ahead of time. So I know what I'm buying is good is just deciding to do it. Like the one was, Hey, we got a bunch of cash in the bank account. Um, I've been looking at building a server. This is quite a few years ago getting a server for the office. We got a big team, so I'm just gonna blow 40 grand right now, rather on a finance plan. Um, cuz at the same time I didn't care. Um, which was part of it, which was the interest part. Um, but the other thing too Peter. I think that I think a lot of people are getting diagnosed later in life. And for me, I never realized this about two years ago was. It really started to take control. My symptoms. When I had kids, when they disrupted my, my rhythm at home, my routine at home, that was my calm down time. When I got home, I could rejuvenate and now having being stuck, cuz you're scheduled being disrupted all the time. Cuz kids just want to be with you. They just wanna last minute try different things and no, no, I like, I just sat down, I'm ready to do a bunch of stuff and now you're disrupting me. So that's when I think it started to steamroll the effects of these symptoms.  [00:11:35] Peter: I totally totally get that. It's it's a, having a kid. I got diagnosed before I had my daughter, but it was Def it's definitely a, um, you know, you sort of, you get this vibe where it's like, okay, uh, dinner's over, you know, I have an hour till I have to put her to bed, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna sit down and breathe and just whatever. And then it's like, dad play with me. And of course I, I will, but it took a while to sort of, uh, be able to focus entirely. Right, right. And  [00:12:01] Andre: not oh, huge. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you feel shitty as a, as a parent, cuz you can't give your full attention or you're always thinking, how can I get outta this? I , how can go back to what I was doing exactly. Cause I need to get that done. I gotta get it done. What's going on? Right?  [00:12:14] Peter: No question about it. So when, so when you got diagnosed, what, what was the, uh, what was the treatment plan? Was it medication? Was it, . [00:12:22] Andre: We, uh, tried medication, uh, I think I'm part of that 20% that doesn't work well. Um, but I think the, some of the medication I was on at that time, I needed it just to settle and almost had stopped my brain for a while so I can just catch my breath and take everything in. And then, um, Slowly got off of it. Um, but for me, the big thing is I just hyper-focused for a good year and a half on learning everything I could about ADHD interesting and simplifying it. And that's why I tell people like educating yourself the effects and then is huge. And then I was part of therapy group therapy. Now I'm just finishing up my dialectal behavioral therapy. I've done cognitive behavioral therapy, ah, even the group therapy on how to have fun. But it was a neurotypical direction, but anyways, um, a lot of talking with similar people helped. And then for me to simplify ADHD down to, I think it's its core, it's an executive functioning dysfunction and time blindness. Those two affects the, the, the, the DSM symptoms of inattention hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention. Um, that made a lot of sense to me. And then at the same time, shortly before my ADHD diagnosis, I got diagnosed with type two diabetes. And that's when I realized I can't get rid of it. Like I diabetes, I can't get rid of it. Nothing I can do can cure it, but I can manage it and extend my life. And that's what I saw with ADHD. .Manage the symptoms so I can work well. And I had a mantra my whole time for a long time saying your strengths can become your weaknesses. And when I put that together with my ADHD symptoms, as long as I can manage my symptoms, That's how, why I succeed as an entrepreneur and those are my strengths, but if I let them go be overutilized or underutilized and then become my strengths. And that's when I say ADHD can become a disorder, is when they're impeding your day to day. [00:14:23] Peter: I agree. I, I think it's another way of saying, you're saying the same thing that I say a different way, which is, you know, you have to have. These life rules that you can't deviate from because you know, you, your brain works a certain way. And so you put these right pro processes into place that allow you to utilize it to your best ability. Mm-hmm . And if you, if you deviate from that, you're gonna go off the road.  [00:14:42] Andre: Right. And, and then the other thing I discovered too, so for, I don't know, I can't do math. I'm an engineer. I need a calculator here. Um, so about a good 20 years, all I did was read all the self-help books. I've taken almost every assessment out there to identify strengths, but my therapist actually said you were doing all that to find out what was wrong with you to concentrate on what's not good enough to build on. So with my diagnosis, I took there's three good tools that I use that really identifies my talents and strengths. And. Take those. And I help people with these assessments too, to understand what's your unique strength and talent. So if we could just stay in those abilities, Then it's easy to hyperfocus and you're having a lot of fun and you're not, and don't waste your time on things you're not good at and you don't like doing that. So as an entrepreneur, it's handy, you, you got staff, you can have people, you delegate a lot of those, but I help people understand what their unique talents and strengths are, where they should be spending their time, where they can get a lot of energy and enjoyment every day, be creative and then have a team around you that just take care of the stuff you don't like. [00:15:50] Peter: That's a hundred percent given you, have you have someone or people to do the stuff that you're terrible at? I mean, that's, you know, for 14 years now, I've had, I've had my assistant, it's a game changer.  [00:16:00] Andre: Yep. Like we got a minimal limited brain mental brain, uh, energy, right. Every day. And I think ADHD, we just have a really good ability to effectively use it to run all day, or we have a really great efficient way to inefficiently use our mental energy and at the end of the day, it, so if we're starting to do things we don't like to do all day, then we're really, really burnt out at the end of the day. But if we can stay in that lane, man, you can do that seven days straight and not get, get tired. [00:16:29] Peter: It's a great way to put it. It's a great way to close too. I wanna keep us to our 20 minute mark. Uh, tell us how people could find you?  [00:16:36] Andre: Uh, you can find me at, uh, Andre, Andre, b.ca I'll take anyone's email. Um, but you can find me on LinkedIn. Our tactical bts.com is another source.  [00:16:47] Peter: We'll put all the, all the, all your links that you gave us. We'll put 'em in the, uh, in the podcast notes. Andre, thank you so much for taking the time. This was really, really informative. We're definitely gonna have you back, uh, at some point in the near future.  [00:16:57] Andre: Well, I appreciate you having me, Peter. And, um, like I said, like, I don't think I said this, but, uh, yet till now, um, you're Faster Than Normal book. I actually bought it five years ago, thinking it was one how I can work faster. then I bought it again, uh, and read it. And then I found the other book, but I think I really liked your aspect too, that, you know, it's not a disorder. It's our, it's a, it's a very unique ability of doing things and to not thinking as a negative. And, and make it work. And I really, a lot of stuff in there I re not reflected it hit me. I can, I understand exactly what was in there. And it was also comforting to know what I created in the past. Unknowingly. I was on the right track. So I thought it was a really good book and I do recommend it to a lot of people. [00:17:45] Peter: Thank you, man. That's a really, really kind of you. Guys as always, Faster Than Normal, We wanna hear what you're thinking. We wanna hear of any guests you might wanna hear from,  shoot us a, a email Peter@shankman.com. We're on all the socials. You know, our, our handles by now. Thank you for listening. We will see again next week with another guest, we appreciate you and know that ADHD and all forms of neurodiversity are gifts, not curses! We'll see you next week! [00:19:08]Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Gili Malinsky is a lead work reporter at CNBC where she covers labor and employment law, U.S. work trends, and mental health. She has contributed to outlets including The New York Times, NBC News, MTV News, the Village Voice, and many others. She's also a playwright, having written a parody of the D.A.R.E. program called “The Drugstoppers” and, most recently, written and performed a monologue called “This is My First ADHD Support Group” at the New York Theater Festival. The monologue is loosely based on her experience getting let go and fired many times before discovering she has ADHD. She's planning to expand it into a full-length play also touching on anxiety and depression. Gili is an Aquarius, thank you for asking. This is another good and fun one, enjoy!  In this episode Peter and Gili discuss:   00:45 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 00:46 - Live again from the flop house… 01:21 - Welcome Gili Malinsky! 02:22 - Welcome fellow BU Alumn! When did you get diagnosed? 03:06 - Our stories are a little similar; what was it like for you growing up? 05:01 - What if we had known we had ADHD during college? 05:28 - Would Peter change anything about his life prior to his ADHD diagnosis? 06:16 - Would Gili change anything? How about her work experiences? 08:21 - Gili's first ADHD epiphany about work, (via therapy) 09:20 - On finding her condition actually has a name; not alone in this! 09:45 - A note on self-forgiveness 10:38 - Peter's “leftover pizza concept” 11:44 - Once diagnosed, what changed, what were you able to do, how do you keep on track? 13:30: Ref: Books!  Smart But Stuck -Thomas E. Brown and Driven To Distraction -Edward M. Hallowell [Dr. Hallowell was Peter's first ever guest on FTN, you can hear his interview HERE!] 13:55  Ref: Peak Mind -Amishi Jha 14:36 -How do you handle deadlines? 15:49 - Talk about Imposter Syndrome? 16:55 - How can people find more about you?  On the Web: https://www.cnbc.com/gili-malinsky-bio/ Socials: @Malinskid on Twitter & INSTA 17:42 - Thank you. Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We'd love to hear. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  19:08 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits  TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat: [00:00:36] Peter: Peter Shankman yo, yo, what's up everyone. Peter Shankman here from Faster Than Normal . Another episode. I am thrilled to have you with me. I am doing this again from the flop house. Reason I began started telling you about the flop house with my apartment. I had the massive water issue and, and it's finally being renovated. Uh, so I, in New York, you can't just move your stuff to another room. You actually have to move it out of your apartment. So a bunch of men came and they packed up everything I owned ever in my life, and they took it to some storage unit in Queens. I threw an air tag into a couple of boxes and I, I, I look at the air tag and remember, like, I used to have a Peloton and I used to have a bed and I used to have all this stuff. And now I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm on a couch in a one bedroom down in . Battery park city. And it's, it's a little odd. Either way life goes on as, as does Faster Than Normal! Welcome to the stage today, Gili and I probably, I probably just pronounced that wrong, even though she told me 10 seconds ago ahead pronounce so welcome to a ADD, Malinsky who is a lead. Did I pronounce it wrong? Gili Malinsky is a lead work reporter at CNBC. All right, so we're talking about some business press today. She covers labor and employment law, US work trends and . Mental health. She contributes to outlets, including New York times, NBC news, MTV, the Village Voice, and many others. She's also a playwright. She's written the parody of the dare program, which I love because D.A.R.E did more to introduce me to drugs than ever keep me off of it. And that's called The Drugstoppers . And most recently she wrote and performed a monologue called This Is My First ADHD support group at the New York Theater Festival. I love that the monologue is based loose on her experience, getting, let, go and fired many times before discovering she had ADHD welcome to my world. She's planning to expand into a full length play. Also touching an anxiety and depression. Love that. And I love that she puts . She ends her bio with Gili's an Aquarius. Thank you for asking. welcome to FTN you're awesome. I love you already. [00:02:19] Gili: Oh, thank you so much. Yaaaay! [00:02:22] Peter: So I just also share with both Terriers, you went to Boston University, you graduated mm-hmm um, uh, 94 0 4, 14 years after me. Yeah. So, whatever . So you went to BU when did you get diagnosed? You get diagnosed at school or after school? After school? [00:02:36] Gili: No, I got diagnosed when I was 33. So I got diagnosed three years ago in that 2019. Yeah.  [00:02:41] Peter: That was about the same age as me. Um, yeah. Wow. But what was it like for you? Cause for me, everyone listened to this podcast knows I, I was. Had the social acuity of a turnip and, and, you know, barely passed by the skin of my teeth. I mean, I was at BU in the college and general studies with literally a D plus average until I got into, uh, college communications where it's like, oh, I Al I have to do is write? Okay. Here. And, you know, went to A's, but it was, it was brutal. I was on academic probation for like four years. How did you, what, what was your story like growing up? Tell us.  [00:03:07] Gili: Sure. So I, uh, I'm the listed three grew up just that's out of Boston in a town called Newton. My brother was diagnosed with ADHD when he was pretty young. I think he was like, it must have been when he was in middle school. Um, so it was sort of always like in the background as just. Something that we knew was in the family, but I, I didn't really get too deep into it. I don't think that he and I even really talked about it until the last few years. And, um, I was always like a, you know, pretty good student was always genuinely interested in school, kind of a big nerd, really liked learning things and was always really engaged, um, by what we were doing. So. I think, and, and I learned fast, you know, even if I wasn't necessarily always paying attention, like it just, I had a good enough brain to soak up the information and I was super engaged, uh, that I just like did pretty well in school. At BU I think, I mean, definitely the stakes got higher. There was a lot more work to do. I, I don't think that, um, The concept of working harder, really computed for me. Whereas like I did pretty again, I did pretty well in high school and I think that like I did all my assignments and stuff. I mean, there were certainly things that I did very, very last minute, which, you know, our people know all about. Um, but, um, at school at when I got to BU I think like suddenly they were like really piling on the work and I, how to get myself to do like. More work to be more planned about doing the work to not leave everything to the last second, I think was really beyond me. And then I was so far, you know, so far away from my diagnosis, but it certainly wouldn't have occurred to me that something was, you know, quote unquote wrong at that point. So I think I, I was like to be honest again, because I was genuinely interested in everything and, um, you know, curious to learn, I, I. Probably like a A's, B's some C's it wasn't as good as in high school, but it was, I wasn't a terrible student. I, I could have done better though. Like had I known, had I known, um, I definitely could have done better, but, uh, [00:04:55] Peter: I think that's the that's isn't isn't that though the, the catch phrase of anyone, with ADHD early lives I could done better. Had I known.  [00:05:01] Gili: Yeah, totally. And I it's so interesting because like now having reported on ADHD and adults with it, like I've, I've heard of this, this thing of sort of, um, the depression that the diagnosis sets on, because there's this looking back and thinking like how much better you could have done, how much more you could have achieved off until this point? I will say I did not experience that personally, but yes. Thinking back, like I know I could have done better.  [00:05:24] Peter: Um, you know, it's interesting. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, no, please. Yeah. What's interesting about that is I was, I was about to comment that neither have, I, I haven't either. Um, I am very much of the belief and look, maybe this is just something I've been telling myself to, to, to, to, you know, get through it. But I am of the belief that. All the crap that I had to put up with in high school, in college, almost failing out, having very few friends, being that awkward. I am a, I, I, everyone says, what would you go back and change? I wouldn't change a thing. Yeah. Cause I'm like the believe that everything that, that I got everything, I survived, everything. I learned how to do everything that brought me to this moment to is, is what got me to where I am right now. All that. I mean, it was a nightmare. I wouldn't wish some of those days coming home and just crying myself sleep from weeks on end. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but yeah, I, I believed that I wouldn't be anywhere near whatever level of success I've reached in my life had it not been for ADHD.  [00:06:16] Gili: Totally. Yeah. That resonates so much. Uh, yeah. And which I, and that actually like brings me to, um, the sort of work world, which is really where I started getting into trouble. Um, because I also yeah. Went through a lot of hardship when I came to that. So, so yeah, I think, um, went to school for journalism, kind of always knew that that the very least I wanted to start my career as a writer there. Um, you know, don't see an end insight right now, really love being a journalist, but, um, yes, I've definitely been dabbling with other things, but, um, I started, you know, I was like freelancing for a lot of these publications. Some of them you read in my bio and then, um, started getting staff, writing gigs at, you know, major media outlets. Um, and I kept fucking up, like, so, you know, I, uh, was just getting super overwhelmed. They were giving me these like very straightforward tasks and it was just like, my brain could not handle them. It could not organize them, you know, could not help me like do them in methodical ways. It would. So much information all at once. And like, all I could do was just sit in my computer and stare at my email or look at YouTube. Like it was just, it was so, too much, too much all at once. Um, you know, I would miss a lot of deadlines and, uh, you know, I would like prefer to do the easier tasks and the harder ones that were really like the crux of the job anyway. Um, and so, um, I ended up getting let go. You know, and it's, oh, there's, you know, you get, let go for lots of reasons, but, but certainly like looking back, I know that that played into it, um, because I can see the fuckups that I made along the way, you know, this happened time and time again. And like you said, like it, you know, It's really heartbreaking. I think like we live in this very individualistic society that tells us if something like that happens, it's only your fault. Um, you know, and if it keeps happening then, like, what is the, what is the conclusion that I can come to? Like other than that I'm a fuck up myself, you know, that something is deeply broken and wrong with me. Yeah. Um, and so, yeah, it was very miserable. I was broke, um, and I felt like an idiot and I, I, I hated myself. Um, and then I think after the, I don't remember what, how many times this happened before I finally, uh, was talking to my therapist and was telling her that I have this like motivation thing at work, or like four or five months into a job. Like I just lose all motivation and it's I want the job. I always want the job, but I'm just like sitting there. Like trying to force myself, trying to, will myself to do the work. And like, everything is slower. And I I'm like going home and reading productivity hack articles and like nothing works. Um, and she was like, you know, that could be ADHD. Like, have you been tested for that? Uh, and I said, no, uh, I haven't, my brother has it. Uh, but no, I that's. That's something that it, you know, I've gotten tested for. Um, and I did. And lo and behold, I have it.  [00:09:03] Peter: nice to put a name to everything that you've experienced  [00:09:05] Gili: Well, that's the thing, is that like, for me having a name, like even before I was officially diagnosed just that morning when she said that I might have it, like I cried the rest of the morning because it was. Oh like, yes, exactly. This has a name. If this is what it is, it has a name. Um, I'm not crazy. There is something about me because you know, you can see the people around you are functioning differently, that they're processing information differently from you and that you just can't get yourself to work in the same way. And suddenly it was like, oh, I'm not crazy. Like, there really is something in my brain that is making it difficult for me to, to perform in the, you know, in the same way that they are. And also like maybe I can actually forgive myself. Like that was the big thing for me. I think like it was less looking back and being really upset at everything you could have done and more like, oh, like maybe I don't have to have this growing anger inside of me, this growing self hatred. And I can kind of just start to let that go. [00:10:02] Peter: It's funny. I, I, I, I, I try to, I make light of that. Sometimes I make light of the fact that what you said specifically about how you are, uh, you know, other people do things and don't seem to have the same problems that you do, and you're watching them do these things. And I think that I've always had that and it's always been frustra, even knowing what I have and knowing that the things I do. Work. Right. Like, you know, I get up at four in the morning to exercise before my day mm-hmm so I have the Dopamine I needed, but every once in, so while I'm like, God damn it, why do I have to do that? Why do people do, why can people sleep in until six or seven, then just go to work and be on. And, you know, but I always make a joke out of it. I talk about, you know, I call it the leftover pizza concept that, that, that. Other people, they work a full day. They come home. They, I don't wanna cook 'em so they order a pizza. They eat order pizza. They have two slices. They put the rest of in the fridge. That's leftover pizza. Yeah. Never had leftover pizza in my fucking life. that's that's that's not a thing. I order a pizza. I eat the pizza. Yeah. And you know, for me, it's the same thing with alcohol, right. So I'm very aware. I quit for several years. I'm very aware of how I drank. I mm-hmm, maybe, maybe a few times a year in very specific conditions with very specific people. Um, because it's not one. Right. And so every once in a while I get a little frustrated, you know, how come they get to do this in I and I don't. Mm. Um, but then I think about it, I'm like, well, they also don't have the faster brain goodness. Right. They, you know, they haven't started and sold three companies by 40. They haven't mm-hmm , you know, done things like that. So, so, so, so ya try to find the benefit, but yeah, every once in a while, it's, it's very, very frustrating, but let's talk for a second because. Once you got diagnosed, right? Mm-hmm I I'm sure that you've been putting things into play. Same way. I did. Same way. Almost everyone does. You've been putting things into play subconsciously to allow yourself to get through, to, to work, to get on deadline and things like that. Once you got diagnosed here, you are on a high pressure job with deadlines mm-hmm um, once you got diagnosed, what changed and what were you able to do? Cuz obviously you're you let's see CNBC, they haven't fired you today and said, you're, you know, you can't do this. So tell us about the kind of things I think this will interest the audience. Tell us about the kinda things you put into play. What are your tips and tricks to make sure you don't go down the wrong road. I mean, for Christ sake, you have to do, you know, half your job is research, right? Mm-hmm half your job is there's a, how do you not wind up eight hours later on Wikipedia looking up Roman sewage canals, having nothing to do with your original story.  [00:12:10] Gili: Wow. That was that's like Tuesday. No, um, no, totally. um, no, no, no, totally. Um, so yeah, it's a great question. I mean, for me, I think the biggest thing was I just started learning about it immediately and like equipping myself with knowledge. And so I started reading. I read, um, there's one called smart, but stuck. Um, which I read and then, uh, driven to distraction is another one I read recently. And one thing that these things did for that these books did for me is by, is like, I, I was reading stories of other people who have this neurological disorder as well, and seeing myself in them and feeling again, like less alone and more okay. Um, and so I think. Again, that, that anger and that self hatred that I think in and of itself was a distraction kind of started to dissipate and created space for me to be able to focus better. Um, but that was the first thing is I just kind of started learning about what this is. Um, I think I kind of messed around a little bit with Adderall. Like I was like trying, I tried a little bit, but, but I think, you know, I was. The psychiatrist I said, said I have mild ADHD, you know, whatever that means. So, so I don't know if it was because the Adderall doses that I tried, like didn't really work for me or whatever it was, but I decided that I was gonna just try to make do without them, without that, you know, without medication mm-hmm . Um, but, um, yeah, I mean, so have always worked out but have started, um, but started doing it first thing in the morning. Um, I, I was, yeah, I was like, have always kind of messed around with doing it sometimes throughout the day, but that has always been part of my routine. Um, and definitely find that that's an amazing release first thing in the morning. Um, I, as of the last six months, I've also been doing some mindfulness meditation for like 12 minutes when I first wake up, I read, um, this book called peak mind, um, by, um, a researcher and professor in Miami at university of Miami. I mean, Amishi Jha and she, the whole book is about the attention system in the brain. Um, you know, and she touches on ADHD and of course, like there's no real fix for this brain, but there are, there are methods to, um, sharpen, I guess, some components of it. What meditation for me has helped with has just been, um, to have a growing awareness of where my mind is. And so maybe I can't stop it from going, you know, in a trillion directions, basically every 30 seconds. But at the very least I have more of an awareness of where it is and I. I can reel it back to what it needs to be doing. Like that's just something that, you know, that's a skill that has really helped me.  [00:14:35] Peter: No question. What do you, um, how are, how do you handle deadlines?  [00:14:39] Gili: It's yeah, also such a great question. Cause I have them every day. Part of it is the, you know, the, so I actually got hired at CNBC about four months after I got diagnosed. Um, and so at that point I had already sort of started the process of like learning what this isn't. How do I work with the brain that I have, um, It just worked out that I was in a really supportive system. And so my, you know, shout out to Kelly Grant, Esther Bloom, um, Jenna Goudreau , these are my editors and now Hannah Howard, they're, they're very, um, supportive. They're very open. They're very welcoming, you know, and. You know, having that external motivation is extremely helpful in, and getting me to continue to be motivated to get my work done. But I think what happened by nature too, is like the longer you do something, the better at it, you get. Right? And so I have learned, you know, by being in this environment where I'm super supported. To do my job very quickly, you know, to be a better writer to say, this is good enough, you know? Good enough is, that's what I have. So yeah. Good enough is super helpful for deadlines. Um, cause it's easy to be a perfectionist, like what you want is to give them the best, but it doesn't matter. Good enough is like that will just have to suffice. Um, yeah. I don't know. Does that answer? I can think of other things.  [00:15:49] Peter: Yeah. Perfectly last, last question. Yeah. Talk about imposter syndrome.  [00:15:53] Gili: No.  Imposter syndrome, you talk about, about syndrome, huh? imposter syndrome. Um,  [00:15:59] Peter: Hmm. Do you have it, does it affect you? How do you do? Hmm,  [00:16:03] Gili: I mean, sure. Of course. Like I see lots of people around me, you know, at a level of success that I would love that I would love to be at. Um, but. I, you know, I have been blessed with a very big ego [00:16:16] Peter: Haaah! Spectacular!  [00:16:20] Gili: No, I think, um, I think to be honest with you, like, um, yeah, I, I come from a very supportive environment. My parents are, are super loving and supportive. And so I think that I do have some level of like self confidence. Um, That has really helped, like push me through, even in the moments where I was really failing. Um, I mean, I, I get jealous of people. Of course I do, but, but I somehow I think my Ambi, my ambition, um, you know, and just my, like my hunger to, to, to create, um, has just, you know, pushed me through even whatever insecurities I might have had.  [00:16:54] Peter: Awesome. I love it. I love it. Yeah. Wow. This has been amazing. Um, how could people find you tell, tell us where you are, uh, Gil, where, where you go, what your Instagrams are, uh, whatever, your favorite type of pizza, whatever. [00:17:07] Gili: Oh, favorite type of pizza? Uh, well, I. I mean, I like French fries better than pizza. I will just say I'm a French fries person, even more than a pizza person. So you'll  [00:17:13] Peter: and we're done here guys. Thanks for listening. It's been a pleasure. We'll talk.  [00:17:18] Gili: sorry. I like pizza, but French fries would like too much ketchup. That's my go to junk food. I love it. I love it. People can find me on Twitter and Instagram, um, at Molin kids. So M a L I N S K I D. That's my handle.  [00:17:33] Peter: Yeah, a L L I I'm. I'm just putting it in for the M a L I M [00:17:37] Gili: M a L I N. S K I D so my last name is Malinski gotcha. And my, yeah, my handles in Alinski. Yeah. I, I post like all my articles and all my stuff on this, so  [00:17:46] Peter: very cool. Guys what a pleasure. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time. This was a great interview. Um, thank you. It gives people hope. I mean, I, I remember, um, My, you know, again, being a diagnosed I remember in college, I had a photo photojournalism professor who told me that I'd never make it. I should probably go to something boring like accounting. Said I'd never make it as a journalist. And, uh, when, when I was the first ever, uh, digital journalist to cover the democratic Republican conventions in 1996, I photocopied my press pass, uh, and sent him, sent it to him and said, kind of doing terribly .Hope you're well. That was a nice, that was a nice feeling. [00:18:21] Gili: Um, a nice little FU.  [00:18:22] Peter: Indeed really. You probably know the journal, the professor too. Isn't comp. Really appreciate you being here. We will have you back. Most definitely. This was a pleasure. We'll definitely have you back.  [00:18:32] Gili: Thank you so much. This was delightful. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Peter.  [00:18:35] Peter: Awesome stuff. Most definitely [00:19:08]Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Today we're catching up with Peter en route to Northern Italy where he and his girlfriend Gabriella have recently spent a few days away. We're allowed a candid peek into their serious relationship, and of course how ADHD plays it's part too. This is a good and fun one, enjoy! [Editors note]: It is not lost on their sound engineer that G&P are so ‘in the moment' that the windows of their vehicle remain down during the entirety of this recording. We'd like to say thank you for excusing the wind tunnel background ;-)  In this episode Peter and Gabriella discuss:   00:45 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing! 01:00 - Welcome to my wonderful girlfriend Gabriella Ribeiro! 01:44 - So why don't you tell us where we are, where we're heading, and what we just survived? 02:15 - Would you say it's more the journey or the destination? 04:00 - Why do you think my brain is doing what it's doing since we've been together; the good and the bad? 05:20 - The ADHD trouble w/ wanting the grandest of the very best, always for those you love 06:00 - We hate making mistakes and we assimilate to our surroundings in funny ways.. 08:00 - When you have ADHD you're your own worst critic, but by waaay much more than most.  09:00 - You can scroll to hear Gabriella's episode about Iceland's Evolving Seven Wonders here!  Ref: Gabby's photo @theexplorateur on INSTA 10:54 - So, [jokingly], is there anything good about dating someone with ADHD? 11:31 - A little about dopamine hits 12:00 - There is no accurate nor perfect matchmaking system for those of us with ADHD 13:33 - Some honest, important information for you about relationships, dear listener. 15:04 - One of Gabriella's greatest, if not most important moments with Peter 15:54 - One of the problems with ADHD that we're trying really, really hard to change is… 17:00 - How not to break-up in the Frankfurt airport 17:40 - A short story on ‘using your words' 19:26 - Gabby, what advice do you have for anyone listening to this podcast who's dating or about to date some with ADHD? 20:45 - How can people find more about you?  On the Web: The X8 Podcast also https://www.gabbyribeiro.com/about Socials: @theexplorateur on INSTA and Twitter and aka Explorateur Journeys on FB Buy her book “I'm Just Saying...: Real advice for real girls in a real world. From a real Mom” on Amazon  21:15 - Where are we going anyway? En route to Monterosso 21:16 - On trust 21:41 - Thank you! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  22:27 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:  Hello everyone Peter Shankman and welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. This one is interesting. I am recording this live from, um, a car, uh, in, uh, just outside Milan Italy, where I landed about feels like about three hours ago cause we. Uh, for two hours through immigration? No, it wasn't two hours felt like it, but, um, I wanted to have, I, I wanted this interview for a while. This is gonna be an interview with me and my wonderful girlfriend, Gabriella Ribeiro um, Gabby and I have been together now about three years. And, um, I don't know why I have no idea why she, why she continues to, to, to, to stay with me. Um, but she has, she has watched and, and, and in some cases, been a victim of my ADHD for the longest time and, um, I'm very fortunate that she's still here, but I thought it'd be interesting to talk to her and ask her no holds barred, sort of what it's like to, um, uh, love someone with the level of, of, of ADHD that I have. So Gabby welcome.  [00:01:42] Gabriella: Thank you. Good to be here.  [00:01:44] Peter: So why don't you tell us where we are and, and where we're heading and, and what we just survived?  [00:01:49] Gabriella: Oh, we survived a minor line, but to you, it was a big deal. And I understand  [00:01:53] Peter: it wasn't a minor line. It wasn't, it wasn't so much, that was a line. It was a line that kept, uh, we we'd be waiting in line. And then for some reason, 20 people would pass us cuz they were directed by someone else to go there. That's the part that frustrated me. [00:02:07] Gabriella: I understand that, but we pushed our way through. So actually we're going hiking for two days in Italy and that's kind of what we do, you know, we, we go on these short trips and that I think is, is what helps ground you. To talk about ADHD? I think that's one of the core things that I notice about you is that even though we're always on the move, you feel most grounded when we are actually are en route.  [00:02:26] Peter: I think a lot of that has to do with, well, the airplane, obviously being on a plane, you know, the, the, the place where you're most confined is really the most freeing for a lot of people. I think the, one of the things that you and I have in common is that we both enjoy the journey. The journey is the destination. As much as the destination is. You know, eight hours on a flight to, to Italy for two days of hiking. Most people think it's crazy, but it's perfect for us. It, it keeps us, uh, not only grounded, but it, it, it resets us. It resets us, resets our brain. Now that being said, travel, uh, is a huge part of your life. It's what you do for a living as well. Um, but it's also, you know, a huge part of what we do and we, how much we enjoy it and, and really, um, embrace, uh, the world as our playground. For lack of a better word. Now, there are times I think, and she's she has, she's laughing her ass off about this, but there are times when, when, um, for whatever reason, the, the, uh, travel goes awry or we wind up in certain situations. And I think one of the things that I've learned most from you is I don't have to control everything. You know, everyone I've traveled with previously, I, I was in charge, right. I was telling where we're going here, we're going this, we're doing that. And what I've learned is that when you're with someone who actually also knows what they're doing, it's okay to relinquish control. And I, I love that you're just, you're just it hysterics over here, cuz I'm sure you're thinking of many of those stories. So, so, you know, sh shared not only some of the funny stories, but also, um, sort of why you think my brain works the way it does when, when I sort of in the past have had that need to sort of take control for good or for bad. [00:04:08] Gabriella: Well, I think you've allowed yourself, like, you know, to, to enjoy and to be happy. I think, you know, and that's, that's a huge part and I think you've allowed, you've seen what can happen when somebody, when you trust somebody, maybe that's what it is. Maybe you trust me, maybe you trust, I don't know, expertise in, in what I do for a living, that kind of thing, but that's a huge thing. And I think that, you know, maybe it's part of your ADHD, but I don't think you trust easily. I think it takes a while. It took a while maybe for us to, and I think when you start to see things unfold the right way and you actually let yourself enjoy them, even if you didn't control them, you start to see things in a different way. That's what I think. But I think also one of the things I love most about you is that you always want things to be perfect for me. And sometimes things just, it, it's not even that they will be perfect for me, but in your eyes, they're not the perfect that you envision, whether we're getting lost in an airport or you're leading me out of security and back in, cause you're insisting, you know, one way and I actually know the other, but I don't fight with you. I just kind of let you do your thing. But I, I think it's, I think that's part of, of the way that your head works is that, you know, you, you have this design in your head and you want it to be like that, but you want it to be like that for me, most importantly, which is amazing, but I think it's, um, you know, sometimes. Have to just let things be, you know, there's air perfect.  [00:05:24] Peter: There's definitely an ADHD factor there in that we do. When you have ADHD, you want the grandest of grand, right? You want that, you know, and that, and that's one of the biggest problems is, is, you know, a random Tuesday could be the most incredible experience you've ever had when someone, you know, something shows up at your home or whatever, but it, it also. Um, it, it, you have to fight that sort of how to let other people take control sometimes .The incident she's referring to, we were in Frankfurt airport and, um, I was totally sure I knew the way to get to the lounge, uh, waiting for our connection. And it turns out I took us out of security. Then we had another 45 minute, wait to get back into security. And then I was just angry, but the irony was, I was angry at myself, right. I was angry at myself because I screwed up and I made the mistake and I hate that. Right. And, and of course I took it out on you. Um, but you know, it was one of those that was a learning moment for me. Like today we spent 45 minutes in line trying to get through immigration. And I just didn't say anything. I let you control it. I let you direct it. And we were there and eventually I wound up cursing at a cop, I think, in, in Italian, but, or Spanish, Spanish, whatever. Japanese, but that's one of the interesting things is also is that when you do travel with someone who's ADHD, they wanna immerse themselves in every aspect of where they are. Um, but their brains don't work as fast. So it is not uncommon to to see me go into a country and start speaking a completely different language than what is in the country. True. [00:06:48] Gabriella: Uh, true. And I think it's, it's part of like, I think you wanna impress me, you know, so you've got like a. A few like core words that you use no matter where we go, like in Iceland, you'll say Ola , you know, and that's, that's perfectly fine. But I think one of the, you know, I would say, you know, you said you wanted like no holds barred. One of the most frustrating things I think is when you get something wrong and we all do right. Cuz I get things wrong all the time, but you get really mad at me when you get something wrong. And I you've said that that's an ADHD thing. I don't know. I think we, you know, it's, it's been a, I. wouldn't say a challenge, but you know, it's something I've had to understand about you. I've had to come to understand. And I think it's, it's okay. You know, we all deal with it in different ways, but I noticed that that is a recurring, recurring thing. [00:07:33] Peter: Like I've been working on it. [00:07:34] Gabriella: You have been, that's what I'm saying, you know, you definitely have, but I do see, you know, it's, I, I see yourself frustration and something that is, is totally okay. On my side.  [00:07:46] Peter: One of the interesting things, I mean, there's a reason for that .When you're, when you are ADHD, you know, you do, like you said earlier, you're doing everything to be perfect. And when things aren't perfect because of something I've done, right. Because of a mistake I've made, I am my own worst critic by everyone is, but when you're heavy ADHD, you're your own worst critic by a fact of a million. Right. So you're sitting there and I'm like, okay. The one thing I had to do, I managed to screw up and I've ruined the whole, in my mind, the whole vacation's ruined, [00:08:09] Gabriella: but it's really not. [00:08:11] Peter: I, well, it's obviously not, but you know, in my mind, I didn't get this one thing right, now we have to wait 45 minutes to go through security again, I'm the worst. I'm terrible. She's gonna leave me. This whole thing. Right. And, and, and I think to. compensate or to make up for that. I just get angry. And, and unfortunately the person I direct the anger at is, is the person closest to me, which would be you. Um, it's obviously not, I'm obviously not angry at you for my mistake, you know, , I do remember thinking, uh, as we're waiting online to go back into security and in Frankfurt a couple years ago, I'm like, why didn't she stop me? This is totally her fault. Why didn't she stop? Totally. And, and the thing was you tried to, but then I'm like, no, I know where we're going. So you didn't really have a choice in the matter. Um, you know, and it's, I think it's also the, the, there is that aspect of wanting to impress the person that you love. Um, and when it doesn't work for whatever reason. Um, you, you, you, you, the ADHD sort of takes over, um, I'm remembering Iceland. Um, we had a chance to see the Northern lights you have understand in Iceland, they wake you up at one in the morning with like some alarm, like, like, like the Nazi's are coming to like steal the silver and, and, and you, they wake you up in the middle of the night and, and you have to rush out, get your clothes on, rush outside to see the Northern lights which prolly only last for like 12 seconds. And so I, I brought all my camera gear and everything like that, and I go outside and I, I can't get, I get nothing. I get absolutely just black images of, of black skies, nothing. Gab Pulls out our iPhone, like click and gets this, this like national geographic quality photo. I was so pissed it sucked. Tell, tell me how I handled it.  [00:09:42] Gabriella: You didn't handle it well, but it's okay. You know, I, I know you now. But again, you, you got really mad at me. You said, oh Gab, how nice, lovely shot on your iPhone 12? Or like, something like that. I don't know what the snarky voice and that's okay. Cuz, but I think also part of maybe it's the ADHD, but I think I've been seeing you definitely change on this is that sometimes you just have to get away from the phone. You know, use the phone a lot. I, I know that that's also part of, of being with you. You're on the phone a lot. Um, a lot of, you know, looking down, I think sometimes you have to let go of things and just enjoy, you know, like we did that. We went to South Africa speaking to travel and you were so in the moment and it was wonderful. You put down the phone, you were stopping taking pictures and watching lions and things like that. Sometimes you have to not always capture it, you know? So I think some of our best moments happen totally off of social media.  [00:10:36] Peter: What's something that... And by the way, I went out a couple hours later and tried to get their Northern lights again and totally failed again. Um,  [00:10:44] Gabriella: oh, and it got mad at me again. Yeah.  [00:10:46] Peter: what, you know, everyone's listening to this, like my God, why is she with him? And I, so, so that being said, tell, say, say a good thing about dating someone with ADHD.  [00:10:54] Gabriella: You asked, I just told you, I think you are so attentive. You want the world for me, you support me. You will give me opportunities. And I think that what I love about you is that you're just so creative. And I, I grew up with a prankster dad, right? So you spend your days. . Like either pranking me or, you know, you, you won't let one single day go by without making me smile or laugh. You send me things you think of me. And I think that's, that's maybe that's part of your focus too, is I love that you are so much focused on the relationship and you want it to work. And I, I love that about you. [00:11:31] Peter: Well, there's part of, part of ADHD is, is the constant quest for dopamine, right? And, and getting you to laugh or anyone to laugh and specifically the person you love; getting them to laugh is a dopamine hit. I'll get. dopamine and serotonin adrenaline out of that. And so, so as much as I enjoy doing it for you, cause I know you enjoy it. It's, it's a rush for me as well. Um, you know, the, the, one of the first things I remember one of the first pranks I ever played on you is I put, I put a roach on your suitcase. Yeah. Uh, at the airport. I don't know where we're going, but mal uh, Maldives, I put a, I put a roach your on your suitcase and, and I just re you know, you don't realize it's such a high, right. Watching you, no.  [00:12:10] Gabriella: oh yeah.. It's total high.  [00:12:11] Peter: You, you hated it. But, you know, [00:12:12] Gabriella: I loved, I loved it actually. And I said, Peter, you make me lose my shit every day. and that is, I would say one of the main reasons why I'm with you. [00:12:21] Peter: I mean, it's, it's not easy dating someone with ADHD without question and look, I mean, at the end of the day, your ADHD can only, only be blamed for so much. You have to take control of, of, of what you're doing. And I think I've, I've, I've been working on doing that. You know, my social acuity was never as strong to begin with, so I I've learned a lot, uh, from you and with you, but there's definitely, um, I couldn't, I don't think I could be with someone who couldn't accept a practical joke or something like that, just simply for the, the chemical high that gives me. Right. Makes me a better person. I mean, I, I prank you. I'm cracking up for the next six hours. And, and I'm the happiest person in the world, which is what you want. You wanna be with someone like that. So you definitely, you know, when you're looking to see who you're gonna date and your ADHD, think about the person who will understand, uh, the way your brain works and understand that, you know, they're not putting a roach in your bag or a rub. It was a rubber Roach, by the way, I should mention that not putting a rubber Roach in your bag to, uh, to annoy you or to bother you, but because they know if, if they. can make you laugh that's, that's happiness for them as well. It's, it's no different than when I was a kid and I would, I would speak out in class and make the kids laugh and, you know, get in trouble for it. I was trying to get dopamine to learn.  [00:13:33] Gabriella: I think when you date someone with ADHD, you also have to embrace that. There's certain things that, that they need to do. And you've always told me this, I need this. I need X in order to do Y and you've always been very straight up in the, you know, and since the beginning, I need to exercise in order to feel okay to get on a plane. I need to have a half hour to myself playing a game before I can go out to dinner or, you know, whatever it is and you have structure. And I think it's important that to have a, a partner, I would say, you know, from my vantage point and what you need to, to allow that, you know, and not to make too many demands on things and just say, okay, you know, yes, I know he needs this, or yes, we're we're out, but he needs to step away from a crowd for a half an hour. That's okay. You know, and I think, um, it's understanding all of that and embracing it that helps make a relationship successful.  [00:14:24] Peter: Think, I mean, I, I like to think there's, you know, the, the, the positives outweigh the negatives in that regard. Um,  [00:14:31] Gabriella: Absolutely!  [00:14:31] Peter: That, you know, we have, when we're together, we do have a blast, we have fun and, and we do support each other. I've always wanted a partner who would support me and who I could support as well. Um, you know, in life that's super couple as it were, um, that I think we are. Um, but yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't necessarily wish, uh, me on anyone. I think that know . I think that, that, you know, it takes a special person to understand someone with, with the kind of brain that, that, that faster than normal people have. [00:15:04] Gabriella: Well, one of my greatest moments with you and I'll show I'm gonna out you. Cause it was just so beautiful is that you, we were, I think we were in London. We went to go see a musical. We went to go see Back to The Future to and something happened where I think you, you, you took my watch charger overnight and I really needed to charge my watch, but you took it and you tried to convince me that my watch was already charged, which it wasn't, but you needed your watch chargeed, so that's fine. And then you sort of got on your knees the next day and said, why are you with me? I'm I'm ridiculous. I'm I'm this, like, you were beating yourself up so much, but to me it was just like, we share things. So it was, it was okay, but you, you always are questioning. And I, I, you know, just me to you, I wish that you wouldn't because to me, I think you're perfect and we're perfect. And we, we find our quirks. I think we find the, the beauty in our quirks. I have them too.  [00:15:54] Peter: One of the problems with ADHD is, and I'm hoping this is one of the things I'm trying to change with the podcast, with the book and everything and my activism is that, um, people with ADHD are told they're broken for years for their entire life. And it's when you come across someone who doesn't see you as broken, but sees you as, um, special and not like short but special, but special. Like, you know, as in, as in wow, this, this guy is really amazing. Um, it's hard to believe that. Right. And, and you're sure that every day you're gonna do something, you know, that is going to, they're just gonna be like, this is ridiculous. He's not special. He's a moron. What the hell am I with him for? Right. And, and despite your protestations, no, I I'm having fun with you. I'm enjoy that. It's, it's hard to, um, sometimes it's very hard to believe that, Or to allow yourself to believe that. And, and that's one of things, you know, the constant, my, my, my, my constant, why are you with me type thing, isn't like a, a ploy for sympathy or a ploy for, for a compliment. But rather it's, it's a real question, you know, it's, it's like, you know,  [00:16:59] Gabriella: I saw that, that day. I know [00:17:00] Peter: you've seen it many times. I mean, you've seen it, uh, you know, when we were waiting. To go back at the airport after I took us outta security, stuff like that, you know, it's like my God, why? And of course, because I'm mad at myself, cuz I know this is the moment you're totally gonna leave me. Right.  [00:17:13] Gabriella: I Yeah, in the middle of the Frankfurt airport,  [00:17:14] Peter: I wanted getting mad at you. Yes. Right? The, the classic favorite airport story ends with us finally getting back in and going to the lounge. And we had just gotten off a, a red eye flight to, to Europe. So we're waiting for a connection and we go to the lounge and, and they have showers and the, the woman looks at us. And she was so angry. She goes, do you want a, a suite, a shower suite for the both of you? And I go, I want my own suite . I took my own shower suite because I was so angry at myself and couldn't, and couldn't, uh, I had a, had a friend once who, who worked with, um, uh, high functioning, autistic children and like very young, like 2, 3, 4 years old. And her job was, she spent an entire year in school with them, trying to teach them to explain how they feel instead of hitting, instead of getting angry. And she tells this great story about, um, towards the end of the year, a kid was obviously upset and obviously angry at something. And she spent like five minutes saying, okay, Andrew, use your words, use your words. How do you feel? How . Are you feeling? What is the, what is the action that you're feeling right now? And he looked at her and he got really red in the face and he goes, I'm happy. right. And it's, it's literally how I feel. Sometimes it's like, I mean, like I'm so angry and I'm so happy that you're still with me.  [00:18:19] Gabriella: That is so you, but I think one of the things you don't notice so much about yourself is how, just how funny you make everything. And I think I'm just so I'm grateful because I that's, the person I needed is that every single thing is funny, no matter what, like we always find the humor and things. And I, I, I don't, I don't think that's an ADHD thing, um, necessarily, but I think, um, you know, I think the world should know if they haven't noticed that about you already. [00:18:45] Peter: It definitely comes from.  [00:18:46] Gabriella: You make everything fun.  [00:18:47] Peter: It definitely comes from our families and our, you know, I mean, my dad was, was all about using humor to deflect everything growing up and, and, and so was, I, you know, it's  [00:18:54] Gabriella: no, but you embrace it now. It's not as much of a deflection I, that I, I love when you, like, we were just laughing in this car right now until we were crying. Cuz you know, we rolled up and we're in Italy. So you should, you know, the driver's here and you should say chow and Peter goes Ola!! Like with the, with. The biggest sense of pride. Like the barrel chested, Ola, you know,  [00:19:11] Peter: but that's, that's classic. That's classic me, like, okay, I'm in Italy, let's for some reason speak Spanish and you know, but on the flip side, I once convinced you that I understood Japanese and got you going for like 20 minutes. Um, and you were totally convinced. I, I understood Japanese. So in the end, um, what do you want people are, who, who listen to this podcast? A lot of them are in relationships with people at ADHD and they, they they're frustrated. They don't understand, you know, why is this happening? What, what advice would you give someone who's who is either dating or about to date someone they with ADHD you're about take that plunge. What would you say to them?  [00:19:42] Gabriella: You have to open your mind and you have to talk, like, I think one of the things that saves us is that we talk about everything good or bad. And I think you have to be willing just, just like, you know, none, none of us are perfect. Right. And we all have, you have things that you have to adapt to about me that you necessarily don't like what you deal with. Um, you know, and I think that it's, it's a question of not getting so frustrated because what you think the person is doing is on the surface this is not what you believe it to be. Like. There are so many times where I see Peter frustrated, for example, and I immediately think it's me, he's got a problem with me. He's doing something, you know, whatever. And I think it's the understanding that you have to wrap your head around. It's not always about you and in a relationship that's really important. So you have to get to the core and also figure out what it is that helps them get through the day and embrace it, allow it, um, I hate that word, but you know what I mean? It just to let it be, yeah. And not get. so worried all the time that it's, that it's a reflection on you because that person needs to do that in order to be the best them for you. [00:20:44] Peter: Definitely. How can people find you? Cause you have actually a really interesting life apart from me, uh, even more so, even more interesting than, than just when you're with me. So how can people find you? What's your, what do you wanna get me Instagram or what.   [[ On the Web: The X8 Podcast also https://www.gabbyribeiro.com/about Socials: @theexplorateur on INSTA and Twitter Buy her book “I'm Just Saying...: Real advice for real girls in a real world. From a real mom” on Amazon ]] [00:20:54] Gabriella: Sure. I'm the @theexplorateur on Instagram um, I do a little bit of everything in tourism, but I,  [00:20:59] Peter: we host a podcast together as well.  [00:21:01] Gabriella: We do! Called the X8 and we'll be back in the fall with that.  [00:21:03] Peter: So that's a travel and a podcast where we travel around the world to beautiful locations and, and, and report on them. But awesome. Gabby, thank you so much. I mean, what the hell is she, you gonna do? We're in a car at 9:30' in the morning in the middle of Italy , trying, you know, driving to where are we going?  [00:21:15] Gabriella: uh, we're going to Monterosso  [00:21:16] Peter: Awesome! That's the other weird thing is that I have never been in a relationship before where I don't sometimes know, I don't know where we're going. Like there are two types people in the world. There's people who like plan everything out. And the people who wake up in the morning go, oh, what's the name of the hotel? Or, you know what airline? And, and it's, it's very strange to, to, to, to relinquish that control, but I'm starting to enjoy it. I'm starting to, I'm starting to like it. And, uh, at the end of the day, I'm I still have the, I still have the control over the airline. So that's, that's my thing. She can, Gabby can handle all the hotels. Guys thank you for listening, Gab thank you for taking the time to do this. Um, I'm at Peter, Shankman all the socials. As you guys know, we're at faster normal, um, you can file Instagram, Twitter everywhere. If you like what you hear, uh, drop us a review. If you have guests that you think might benefit from being on the podcast, let us know. We have a big shout out to Steven Byrom, our producer, who is gonna be so angry at me because I'm just recording the string in an iPhone 20 minutes of car sound. He's gonna have to delete, uh, he's gonna, he's gonna be, he's gonna be it's he's it's not gonna be good. He's gonna need therapy from this stuff! Steven, we love you. Thank you. [Love you too man! Hope this was at least legible!]  Opening, uh, words performed by Bernie Bernie Wagenblast. Opening and closing theme composed by Steven Byrom, [he says thank you too], and we will see you guys next week with another interview. Thank you so much for listening. Stay safe. Stay well Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

 Dr. Luisa Sanz is a psychiatrist with over 25 years of experience working mainly with young people. She is immensely passionate about her work, and at the root of all she does, is the drive to help others through understanding, acceptance, compassion, respect and love. Such passion and devotion are unquestionably the results of having two brothers with schizophrenia and living its consequences from the age of 7. Being originally from Madrid, Spain, she moved to England at the age of 26 to specialize in Psychiatry and still lives there. Throughout her professional career, Dr. Sanz has actively contributed to developing services, improving the provision of care for individuals with ADHD/ASD and their families, including developing pathways to optimize diagnosis and treatment. Her special interest has always been in neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly ADHD but also ASD, and this is where she's mainly focussed her work. During her recent career break working as a regional Clinical Director for Mental Health services in the National Health Service, Dr. Sanz founded Mind Yr Life for the purpose of eradicating the stigma around Mental Health (MH). Mind Yr Life does so by, firstly, sharing credible information on MH conditions/illnesses, secondly, having open and honest conversations about personal experiences with MH problems and, thirdly, adopting an attitude towards a) acceptance and love, b) humbleness with an open mind, and c) staying grateful and positive. Today we're talking about her organization and the path that lead her here. Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Luisa Sanz discuss:   1:12 - Intro and welcome Luisa!  2:17 - So what pushed you towards focusing your work towards ADHD, ADD, ASD? 3:20 - Talk about some of the challenges you went up against; how attitudes towards the neurodiverse and the environment there was prior to, and after your time at NHS? 5:30 - What have you noticed in terms of changing the conversation/ breaking the stigma? 7:22 - How to break stigma? 8:53 - Tell us about your organization Mind Yr Life! 10:00 - We don't exactly have a blood test for all things neurodiverse, do we 10:50 - Dr. Sanz on her family's experiences with mental health 11:20 - A bad attitude and ignorance are usually contagious  12:17 - When people don't know about mental health illnesses, or about most things for that matter they may feel fearful or threatened; and often times they try and put a person down because that makes them feel more in control, more secured. So.. there is a lot of work to be done!  12:54: How can people find more about you and what you're doing?  On the Web: www.MindYrLife.com Socials: @MindYrLifeMYL on Twitter  Facebook @mind.yr.life on INSTA and Luisa Sanz on YouTube 16:00 - Thank you Luisa! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  16:30 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT:    [00:00:38] Peter: Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. This is the number one podcast on ADD and ADHD and I'm thrilled that you joined us today. We have an unusual guest well all of our guests are a little unusual. This one is unusual, cause she's actually a Doctor. As you know, we have people from all over the world who join us at Faster Than Normal from, from professors to rockstar actual rockstars. Remember we had the band Shinedown. We've had politicians, we've had CEOs. We've had regular ordinary folk and occasionally every once in a while, we've brought in an actual doctor and today is one of those days.  Please welcome Dr. Luisa Sanz who is a psychiatrist with over 25 years of experience working mainly with young people, incredibly passionately. Her drive is to help others through understanding acceptance, compassion, respect, and love. She's originally from Madrid. She moved to England at the age of 26, specialized in psychiatry, still lives there throughout her professional career. She's contributed to developing services, improving the provision of care for individuals with a ADHD and ASD and their families, including developing pathways to optimize diagnosis and treatment. She spent good number of years as a regional clinical director for mental health services in the national health service, she also founded something called Mind Yr Life for the purpose of eradicating a stigma around mental health mind your life does so by sharing credible information on mental health conditions and illnesses. And by having open honest conversations about personal experiences with mental health problems, and thirdly adopting an attitude towards acceptance and love humbleness and open mind and staying grateful and positive. Well, we are grateful and positively thrilled that you joined us today. Dr. Sanz thank you! So for taking the time.  [00:02:10] Dr.Sanz: Oh my pleasure. Thank you to you for inviting me! [00:02:14] Peter: So, what pushed you towards focusing on ADHD and ASD  [00:02:20] Dr.Sanz: I believe that when I first went into specializing in psychiatry, initially I went into adult psychiatry, but I found it a little bit overwhelming because I, I have two brothers who had schizophrenia, and there was too much of the same outside and inside, you know, outside at work and inside at home. So I decided to specialize in children and adolescent, and I thought that I could possibly intervene early life. Uh, of these, of these people and make a bigger difference. And, uh, without a question of doubt, ADHD is the most common condition in mental health altogether, but much more in children and adolescents. So being such a common condition, I was just driven towards, um, to, you know, to, to these, these, these conditions.  [00:03:11] Peter: Interesting. And what was the attitude before you joined, um, national, uh, health service? I'm assuming you spent a lot of time focusing on changing the environment and changing the conversation. How was the attitude before you joined and, and, and can you cite, uh, sort of some of the challenges you went up against, uh, in changing that conversation?  [00:03:32] Dr.Sanz: Yeah. Uh, I think Peter that, uh, for me, because, because I grew up with mental illness at home, you know, through my brothers, I think I, from, from day one, when I became a psychiatrist, I was different in a way to many of the psychiatrists. Because I had believed mental illness from, you know, very, very close in the household. Uh, so my, my approach was different and I, from the very beginning, I always empathize the empathize, the, the, uh, you know, with patients and, and, and, and felt, felt them closer in my heart. And, uh, and you know, the conversations that I always had were, were around. Being more compassionate and, and definitely, definitely not judging, not making assumptions and just accepting people for who they are. Um, in, in with ADHD. I, I, I always believe everything happens the, the way it's meant to. And I was meant to specialize in, in know, neurodevelopmental disorders, ADHD in particular, because, um, more than anything ADHD. I realize that, you know, precisely we can't judge, we can't make assumptions because most of the times those are wrong and people with ADHD my daughter, Peter has ADHD, but people with ADHD are so incredibly creative, charismatic, uh, you know, gifted and, and because of, of others judging and criticizing, we tend to. You know, hinder all those talents and, and, and beautiful, beautiful personalities. So, um, you know, you, your question was how, how have I tried to change those conversations? How have they changed? I suppose that from, from where I stand, my conversations have always been similar. The response I've had is different because for people that know me now, they know they know the type of conversations they can have with me. [00:05:30] Peter: What have you noticed in terms of changing the conversation? I, I kind of feel sometimes, and I I'm gonna continue to do it, you know, until my last breath, but I sometimes feel like it's like emptying the ocean with a, trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. Right. It's it's, you know, for every person that we talk to and explain. That, uh, different does not equal bad or that, or that, you know, this is not a disability per se. Uh, we come across schools or, or doctors, whatever who, who treat this exactly as such as a disability. And, and when you're seven years old and you're diagnosed with ADHD, uh, and you're told the first thing you're told, the first thing your parents are told is that you are less than everyone else. That's a hard stigma to shape.  [00:06:10] Dr.Sanz: It, it is aweful and, and the conversations have changed because when I first started, you know, working in ADHD 20 odd years ago, um, the, I had to speak to professionals, to doctors about the fact that. It was a genetic condition. It wasn't about bad parenting. It wasn't about children just being awkward and difficult and naughty. And that those conversations were with professionals. I still occasionally have one of those conversations with a doctor, with a teacher, but not as often more often, uh, than not now people accept that it is a condition, that it is a genetic, uh, inherited, uh, condition. But generally people don't understand how it shows and how it really, uh, what it really means. And again, this, this very wrong assumptions about, you know, when people, don't people with ADHD, don't do certain things. This is still this assumption that they've just been awkward and oppositional, whereas, you know, they don't see what really is happening. In the brain in the executive, you know, function in the, in the brain and in the neuropathways pathways of the brain. So those conversations are still going on and will continue to go on for a very long time. But Peter, that is about stigma and that is about. You know, uh, you know, how, you know, lack of understanding because there's two aspects to the conversations. One is the lack of understanding of what it really means. And the other is, uh, seeing it as a, as you very well defined it as a disability, as a, as a, uh, people are less for having ADHD. So it's, it is both things. 1. People don't understand the actual signs and symptoms and how it really presents. And two then is, you know, very stigmatized and is very derogatory the way it's spoken about. [00:08:11] Peter: It's interesting because you know, other diseases, for lack of a better word, other conditions, you know, they, they don't seem. I guess they don't see it as stigmatized. Right. You know, you don't, you don't look at, um, I mean, mental health as a whole, it has always been stigmatized, but you know, you're never gonna tell someone with cancer. Oh, just pull yourself up by your bull straps or just pay attention more. Right. And yet when the condition is unseen, uh, like ADHD or any foreign mental health, it, it, it it's always seemed like it's much easier to, um, I don't wanna say mock it, but much easier to sort of dismiss it. Right. Which is, I think very, very frustrating for millions of people. Talk to us about, um, uh, Mind your life. I'd love to know a little bit about, uh, this, uh, organization you founded  [00:09:01] Dr.Sanz: well it's, uh, I'm, I'm incredibly passionate about it because the, the purpose, the reason why I created my new life was precisely to eradicate the stigma. And you very well just mentioned Peter, that, um, you know, with mental health, we, at this moment in time, we can't get away. You know, the stigma that is attached to it. And you're absolutely right with other physical illnesses. You know, people are much more understanding, supportive and, and caring with mental health, uh, is very difficult to get that genuine attitude from, from people in general. And the reason comes from the lack of, uh, uh, research and, and investigations with cancer. You can get, you know, some, uh, radiology, uh, Investigation to prove, oh, here there's a tumor. And you can see it is in your livers in here or there, you can do some bood tests and say, yeah, you've got anemia. And this is, this is how it shows with mental health. We can't really, we don't have any x-rays any blood tests or any other physical. Investigation that we can prove what the reason, what, the reason which leads to people, just having opinions. You know, we, um, I sometimes have to laugh when, you know, I hear conversations I'm on the, you know, on, on the cafe, whatever people are making, you know, diagnosis about anxiety, depressions, schizophrenia, even. And I, I think, gosh, you know, most of the psychiatrists you know, that struggle to really, you know, with challenging presentations to get it right. Nevermind people in the streets, but, but we all think we know more than we do. So mind your life was founded because I, I am, you know, uh, very frustrated when I. See in general public, uh, making assumptions about people with mental health problems. And I lived it. I, you know, I was seven years old when my eldest brother became ill with, with the first signs of his schizophrenia. And, and I, we suffered as a family, the stigma we had to move, uh, house because the neighbors were really harsh and, you know, and then, and then I was a teenager when my second brother became ill. So even more of the same. And I, you know, I was, I was a young person thinking, gosh, you know, why, why? You know, public professional services are making life so hard for my brothers and for myself, there's no need for that. And unquestionably Peter. And this is where my heart is. We make people, we make, conditions much harder, much harder because of our, our attitude, because of the way we judge him, the way we, we assume. And, and, and I know my brother one, my eldest brother passed away last January. And, you know, I had beautiful conversations with him before he passed. And I asked him, you know, what, what he would, you know, want to tell people that have mental health problems and, you know, and his words were along the lines of, you know, we we've got each other, we understand what we go through. We just can't take it to heart, what people say and assume about us, because that would kill us. And, and it's really sad when, when people with mental health problems live lives like that. So Mind Yr Life was created to really try and influence people's attitude towards anyone with mental health problem. In fact, Towards anyone that is considered to be different. Um, because when we, when we don't know, we feel threatened and, and people don't know about mental health illnesses about mental conditions and, and they feel threatened because of the ignorance most times. And then they judge and they try and put them down because that makes them feel more in control, more secured. So, you know, there's, there's, there's a lot of work to be done there about eradicating the stigma. But, you know, we, we can, you know, we bit, bit by day by day, you know, we get there,  [00:12:54] Peter: no question about it, Dr. Sanz how can people find, uh, more about you and, and, and where can they go to get more?     On the Web: www.MindYrLife.com Socials: @MindYrLifeMYL on Twitter  Facebook @mind.yr.life on INSTA and Luisa Sanz on YouTube [00:13:00] Dr.Sanz: I thought of the name. And I thought, um, you know, that mind obviously is about caring and looking after, and, and mind is about mental health and, and your, your is spelled with a Y and an R because I thought it's about you. It's about us, but it's about your responsibility and every single one, taking responsibility over, over mental health, over attitude and, and, and changing. And, and life is about, you know, precisely about why, why we live these lives, how do we live it and how do we, you know, live it in a way that is that we, we achieve happiness. Um, so mind your life spell, as I said, with the Y and R um, you know, I've got in the website, there's, I'm, I'm, I'm doing lots of interviews to people that, you know, very willingly speak openly about their experiences with, with mental health. I like to think that I lead by example. And I, I have an interview where I speak about what my experience growing up was, you know, when with, with mental health problems at home and, and, and we do do interviews and we, you know, I I've recently, um, wrote a, a journal, which is a wellbeing guided journal to help people. Particularly people, you know, with, it's not specific for ADHD, but people with ADHD tend to need more guidance, more support, you know, a little bit of a prompt. And, and this journal is to change behaviors. You know, that sometimes you think, oh, I wish I, I could eat more healthy or I could do more exercise or I could make my bed every morning or, you know, so, so it it's to. It's to, uh, support people in making those changes. And the journal starts with giving lots of information about why consistency is important, how, how the brain works and how this consistency provides the, you know, the, the, the, what is needed for, for changing behaviors. So in mind your life, we have. As I said, you know, um, interviews to, uh, to learn more about what people really experience. We have videos that I've, I've uploaded that I do them myself for, for everyone. They're not for professionals they're for everyone that want to learn a little bit more about ADHD, there are three videos on ADHD. There are some on autistic spectrum condition and that there'll be more ?___? We, we, we upload information, informa educational videos. We've got these journal as well. And we do loads of the things, um, that we keep, you know, uploading on the website to, to try and, you know, first make sure that people with mental health problems don't feel that they are on their own because we are all on the same boat. And, and, and second to help those that really want to understand mental health conditions better and support those with mental health conditions in a, in a healthier manner. You know, uh, we've got the information available as well. Excellent.  [00:15:58] Peter: Well, Dr. Sounds thank you so much for taking the time. We really appreciate you coming on faster than normal. And, uh, we'll have you back again.  [00:16:04] Dr.Sanz: Oh, I, I love that Peter. Uh, I would love that. Thank you so much for having me today.  [00:16:10] Peter: Always guys, as always, we appreciate you listening. If you like what you heard, you could drop us a review. I know I say that every week. I really mean it this time…. —   Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey (please, call her Jill) is a communications consultant, content strategist, writer, editor, voice actor, and yoga teacher based in South Philadelphia. No, she does not sleep. The thing that ties all of Jill's work together—yes, even yoga teaching—is storytelling. Jill has two degrees in creative writing that, contrary to her parents' initial reservations, she puts to use every day. She helps clients develop an authentic voice and works with them to create compelling narratives that resonate with their intended audience, and she helps her yoga students live the story their bodies tell. You can find Jill's recent essay, "The Very Real, Totally Hidden, Costs of Being an Adult With ADHD" on Medium. We're old friends, and this is what we're talking about today. In this episode Peter and Jillian Ivey discuss:   1:20 - Intro and welcome Jill!  1:40 - Jillian's article on Medium that inspired today's visit 2:18 - So tell us your backstory; when did you get diagnosed and all of that? 5:30 - About early morning risers and quiet time 6:00 - Tell us about what inspired you to write this article? 9:38 - About how companies will continue to charge us and how the 'fine print' is too often the ‘find print'. Ref: TrueBill.com  Ref: House of Lies 13:53 - So what's our answer, what's the solve; robots?! 14:80 - On activism 16:00 - Give us a couple of hacks that work for you which allow you to keep these kinds of things from happening? 18:30 - We honor Nancy Shankman's time-honed “task list scratcher” technique! Ref: https://www.followupthen.com 20:30 - Jill this was awesome! How can people find more about you and what you're doing?  On the Web: http://www.jilletante.com also www.JillianIvey.com Socials: @JillianIvey on all the socials except TikTok here:  Twitter  INSTA  Pinterest  and Facebook] 20:52- Jillian's consulting and new live story auditing service is at http://www.jilletante.com 21:35 - Thank you Jillian! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you; so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, anything at all; we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  22:41 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT:   Hello, everyone, happy day, whatever day it is, but it's probably a Wednesday. Cause that's when this podcast comes out and is actually a Wednesday here as well and I am recording live from New York city is a beautiful day out as finally. It looks like we're about to get to summer. The sun is shining. Birds are singing. People in New York are still assholes, but that's who we are. Anyway. It is great to have you on another episode of Faster Than Normal. I'm thrilled that you joined us as I always am humbled and love the fact that you're here.  We are being joined today by an old friend of mine, a wonderful woman named Jillian Ivey. Jill and I have known each other since God, the early aughts, I guess, as they call them probably around, mid. 2007 ish, 2006 ish, something like that, I don't know. Uh, I've known Jill; she started in PR and then she went on her own, she started writing. Uh, I, when I met her, she was working for Philios, which was a similar site of Gothamist. Um, and she does a a hundred million things I'll let her tell you about, but one of the reasons that I wanted to bring it on the podcast, other than she's a great friend and I love her, is because she went an article a couple of weeks ago on Medium. She's a very popular [does he say contributor on Medium?]. She's a phenomenal writer. And she wrote a piece about the untold financial costs of ADHD. Jillian does have ADHD; she's one of us. And she wrote a really interesting piece that I wanted to talk about because a lot of times we don't think about other things, other than oh Adult Hyperactivity Disorder blah blah, we don't think about the hidden costs of ADHD. And so with that- welcome Jillian!  Hi, Peter. It's so good to be here.  So tell us your backstory before we start, tell us, uh, when were you diagnosed and what was it like as a kid and, you know, the, the usual, the usual drama?  Sure. So I, um, I'll work backward. I was diagnosed when I was 36 years old. I'm 38 now. So this is a pretty, pretty new thing for me. And it was something that my therapist had been suggesting for a long time before she just kind of came out and said, you know, I, I think that this is something that, like you should look into more. I think that you have ADHD. And so she sent me some things and I, I looked into a lot of articles because for me, having, you know, having grown up in the 1990's is when ADHD was the thing that everybody was talking about, with like the hyperactive boy in the class, the boy who couldn't sit still and who was talking a mile a minute and PE was the only class they ever actually enjoyed. And so that wasn't me at all. I was a really good student. I have two degrees. I have a Bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's degree from Rutgers Camden, uh, in Creative Writing, both of them. So there, there are degrees that involved a lot of time spent reading. And so I immediately just kind of wrote her off until I started to look into how ADHD is often missed in young girls, because they don't always have that hyperactive sort of behavior. And so if they don't have that behavioral marker that's associated with ADHD, or at least was in the nineties, then it was, it was missed. It was missed really, really frequently. Uh, what I had instead was hyper-focus. And so the things that I, I chose to hyper focus on were reading and writing. I was a really good student because I loved doing those things. And I've learned that as students, if you can find that thing that you're really interested in, that's how you're able to kind of see that hyper-focus work to somebody's advantage. It just happened to be for me that it was that. For some people it might be interested in dinosaurs or it might be an interest in math. I have no, no real aptitude for math at all. And I think part of it was that I started to see the numbers and my brain just shut off. And so I started, I started looking into that and I also started to look into some of the behaviors that are associated with ADHD that they don't talk about in kids very much; things like staying up really late, uh, which I've always, always been a night owl. And one of the things I like about staying up late at night is that it's very quiet. And so I feel like I can get my work done without distraction. Um, my husband is not a huge fan of that behavior. Um, but I recently.. I was talking to my mom about ADHD. And my mother is a grade school teacher. So for her, it really is still about that hyperactive boy in her classroom she sees it's just, oh, Jillian, you don't have ADHD. And I was like, mom, think about how often I was staying up late at night to work when I could have done my work earlier in the day. And you know, some of it I was doing, I was doing theater. I was doing a lot of other extracurricular activities. And sometimes I couldn't start my homework until nine or 10:00 PM, but sometimes I just didn't want to. And my mother is also a night owl. And when I pointed that out to her, the line just went silent.. and she goes, oh, well, you've given me a lot to think about. I'l; t alk to you later. The only time I've ever talked to her about.  You make a really good point though, because I think that, that there's something to be said for people they need to see there's something to be said for silence. You know, there's something to be said for, um, for being able to shut out the rest of the world. Um, for me, that's early mornings and I was a night owl;  growing up college. I mean, I, I was, I don't, I didn't get it. If I didn't have a class, I didn't get out of bed till noon. Right. And then, but I was up to like three, four every, every night. And, um, you know, or in the morning or watching the sun come up and, and it wasn't until my late twenties, when I discovered exercise that I discovered getting up early and now, you know, but the same thing is a few hours. I'll get up at 3:34 AM and get on the bike for a couple hours. Um, you know, and no one's there and it's my time. Right. It's just our time down here, type thing. And so, so that's a wonderful, a wonderful feeling.  Um, so I want, wanna, I want to touch this article because I really was blown away by this. You, you, you, you put into words, everything that I think so many of us think of, but we don't really think about it until it's as need be. So, so you talked about you, you called the article the, I don't remember the actual title, but the subhead was, “another collections agency called today”. [The Very Real, Totally Hidden, Costs of Being an Adult With ADHD Or: Whoops—I got a call from collections again!] Okay. Great. So tell us about the article and then tell us sort of what prompted you to write it. I'm assuming, you know, obviously wrote it from personal experience, so talk a little bit about it. Um, so I, uh, I, I started it actually as a Twitter thread. I, um, to make a long story short, I do go into this in the piece. I used to see a therapist through a company called Thrive Works, um, and Thriveworks is a huge company. They have offices all over the place. They have a bunch of therapists, and I went to see them. I already had my therapist who I love, but I had a very specific issue that I needed to work on. And my therapist said, this is probably something you should go to somebody else for. So for awhile, I had two therapists, um, which was, was really fun. Um, but I needed somebody who took insurance and a friend of mine saw a therapist from Thriveworks, and she said, because they're so big, most of their therapists do take insurance. And so I found somebody who not only was local to Philadelphia because at the time it was pre COVID. And so I wanted to see somebody in person, um, but they took insurance and they had an availability the following week. So over the course of this. I was in distress. There was a lot going on in my life that led me to the point where I needed this therapist. And while I was being onboarded, while I was setting this appointment up, I'm sure they told me that, you know, part of being a member of Thriveworks, you have to pay a monthly fee to be a member. I don't know what the membership fee actually gets you. I still haven't quite figured that out, but whatever. So this would have been February, 2019, where I started, uh, started this process, started seeing this therapist by March of 2021. She had left the practice. And so I, I don't know. I just kinda forgot that I had this monthly fee because I'm not somebody who ever goes and looks at my checking account, which I know I probably, I look at the balance, but I don't look at the individual transactions. Um, and then when I was doing like getting ready to do my taxes at the beginning of this year, I saw that I was still charging, being charged with ThriveRx. And I thought, oh, you know, I must've just been on an annual plan where since she left in March and my, I started seeing her in February, I must just be on the hook for the next year. And in March, I get an email saying your subscription has been canceled. I'm like, great. Not going to worry about it. Uh, checking email is also not a thing I'm particularly great at, and I'm sure that that's a, that's a common behavior that a lot of us have. Um, so what I missed was the email that came up it was in my spam folder saying, oops, sorry, we didn't mean to cancel your account. You're still getting charged. And so when I saw that. Oh, I wasn't actually, uh, like this, wasn't an annual commitment that I'd made. This was a month to month commitment. So I contacted, Thriveworks, and I said, Hey, I'm going to need you to refund everything that I've paid since my therapist left the practice. And they said, oh no, we don't do that. It's on you to end your subscription when your therapist leaves the practice. And I added up what I had been paying since she left. And then I started to add up all of the other things that I have had to pay because I forgotten to cancel something, or because I've missed a deadline and then I've had to pay a late fee. And so it started as a Twitter thread and then I was like 11 tweets in it. Isn't oh, no, probably a out to move this over to a longer form where I can really start to explore it.  It is amazing, right? When you, you sit down and you think so, it's so funny, you, you, you, I feel very seen, heh, based on what you just said. Um, you know, I, I, I have a website, I have several websites that are hosted and. Recently, about a year ago or so I took my two biggest ones and I moved over to a separate host site that monitors them privately. And, um, it's much better, you know, if something goes down, I don't have to worry about it, they fix it. But, you know, I still have a bunch of others that they keep on this, on this other hosting platform. And I just randomly one day got an invoice and I think it was waiting for a flight, so nothing to do. So I clicked on the link and read the.. I was still being charged for the two big websites, even though they haven't been hosting my accounts over a year and you know, you get the notification that says, okay, your website has been officially taken off this platform. I think there's something about the ADHD in us that wants to assume it's going to be handled for us. Right. Because if I have to think about it and then deal with it. That's a whole process. Right. So, so yeah, I was paying like an extra $40 a month for like past year for absolutely nothing. And I can't tell you how many, how many times I've done that. I mean, you know, I think for, for us sites, like, uh, is it Truebill or whatever those are are, are, are godsends, but they're also scary as hell. It was like God, when they go through our, for their first run, this is going to be really depressing.  Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think that it's great that there are platforms like truebill and other services that allow you. I mean, I have, you know, there are, there are planners that are catered to people with ADHD. There are all sorts of reminders that you can set on your phone or your calendar to pop up an alert, like things that pop up once a month to, to remind me, you know, I have a subscription and if I don't want to get billed, I need to make sure that I tell them not to, not to charge me this month. Um, so, so that's all great, but at the same time with technology, there's really no reason that a lot of these companies can't do this stuff themselves. Like when my therapist left the practice. It would have been so easy for Thriveworks to go through their CRM and say, you know, pull all of the people who have seen this therapist in the last year and contact them and say, as you know, this therapist is leaving the practice. Exactly. Exactly. It's not the.. Company's bank on people like us, like on everyone, right, forgetting to do that.  Exactly. “It's not a bug, it's a ‘feature'”!  [fml] There's a great episode of, uh, I think the first episode of a TV show on HBO or Showtime called House of Lies with Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell. Um, they talk about how they're going to, uh, uh, they're going to re revamp a big banks image. Uh, you know, that during the housing crisis, all these people lost their homes and the banks made billions they're going to revamp their image by. Uh, offering lone amnesty and that the CEO was like, absolutely not. And they said, no, you don't understand you, you, your normal DQ, like 90% of the people won't qualify. 8% of screw up in the application. Half a 4% will die. You know, you'll give out a couple hundred grand back, you know, and you accept the award of the year because they it's exactly the case. They don't expect us to follow through. And normally 910 times when we won't.  Yeah, I, um, I have the, I live in, I live in Philadelphia and, uh, the state of Pennsylvania has a website where you can go and see if you have any unclaimed funds. So this is like refunds from a doctor's office, that for whatever reason, they didn't prescribe it to your account. And so I have for, now that you're saying this is probably two or three years, had money sitting, waiting for me with the State of Pennsylvania. And the reason that I have not actually been able to claim it is because it involves printing out a form AND GETTING it NOTARIZED!?! And yes, getting this and then putting it in the Mail. And so I have to go through all of these extra steps and like, that's, I have several things that just don't happen because they have, I have to leave my house. I can't do it online. I have, um, I have some, I overpaid, uh, on medical expenses last year. Like I hit my out-of-pocket max. And so I have to submit forms to the insurance company, which can only be submitted by mail. There is, you can't scan it and send it to somebody. I have a friend who works with this insurance agency in the Social Media department. And I was like, what, what the hell is this? I know, I know it's just, it is the way that they operate. And so there is, there's a lot of money, not only that I've paid, um, because of this, but I think there's actually a lot of money that I'm owed, uh, that I haven't pursued because of this.  So what's the answer. I mean, what do we, you know, obviously I, you know, Hey Siri, remind me of this, or, Hey Siri, do this is, you know, Hey Alexa, do this, that is great. But there has to be, I mean, look, we're not gonna, we're not, the companies are going to certainly not going to do it. Right. So at the end of the day, what's the answer. Well, you say the companies aren't going to do it, but I think we forget how important a role activism is in the disability community and then neurodivergent community. So I think that part of this is going to be calling your Representatives and talking about the unethical practices of the people who are charging these fees, knowing that people who are neurodivergent people who have ADHD, people who have Autism are not able to meet the requirements in order to take advantage of the system. This system is calculated against these populations in the same way that there are systems that are calculated against Women and against People of Color against people in the Queer community. And so the more that we can raise visibility here, the more we can say, no, this is a real issue a nd it affects a lot, a lot of people. And I think since, you know, the DSM has been revised and the way that we see Autism has really expanded in the way that we see ADHD has really been expanded. It affects a lot more people than you realize. And to create that visibility so that the system works for us. I think we shouldn't, we shouldn't forget that we at least for now, live in a society where we have representatives met as part of their job. That's true. And we do have that at least for another few months. Um, but no, I, I think, and I think it's interesting because, you know, I, I keynoted, uh, disability, the first ever disability confrence  for Adobe, and it was a global conference, uh, you know, 10,000 people online, all from all around the world. And the one thing that I got the most feedback on was the fact that. You know, upwards of 15 to 25% of the workforce is going to be neurodivergent in the next 10 to 15 years. That's a massive number! Right. And if you're a company and you're not A. hiring for that, but B. understanding your audience.. you're going to lose. Right. That's very, very true. I wanna be respectful of your time. Give us a couple of hacks that work for you that allow you to, you know, obviously, obviously it's not, uh, not in terms of, uh, paying, paying your therapist bill, but give us other hacks that work for you and tell us what you've learned and the kinds of things that you do to prevent these things from happening.  So to prevent these things specifically. Um, as I said, I have an alert that goes off on my phone the first of every month I have, I'm a yoga teacher when I'm not doing the writing and, and also consulting on, on a content strategy for folks. But, um, I have a subscription to a service called Fabletics it's Kate Hudson's active wear line, and you get invoiced every, uh, I think the fifth of every month, so that you get your monthly credits to get more clothes. I have more yoga clothes than I could possibly need. And so right now I have an alert that comes up on my phone the first of every month. And I see it when I wake up in the morning and before I even get out of bed, I go to Fabletics and I tell it to skip this month. And so I think that those alerts, as long as we see them, as long as they come through at a time where we're likely to see them are really helpful. Now, if the first of the month is on a Saturday or a Sunday, and I'm sleeping in a little bit, it's not necessarily going to be at the top of my phone. So it's not a perfect system. But it does help. Um, I think other things that I've done are, you know, I, uh, I can't always rely on.. my husband is probably undiagnosed ADHD. He's got a lot of the same behaviors that I do. So I can't always rely on him to remind me to do some of these things, but what I can do is put something on our shared calendar that says, you know.. Six o'clock tonight we're going to get this thing. We're going to be making dinner. And it's going to say, talk about whatever this, this bill is that we need to figure out or talk about our taxes. Um, so, so it's really helpful just to have those, those things pop up on our phone. Now, that being said, I know that a lot of folks who are neurodivergent, who have ADHD turn off a lot of those alerts on their phones.  Right?  So one of the other systems that I used to do, I, I now I work all over my house, so this doesn't work as well for me anymore but when I always sat at my desk at the same place at my desk, every day, I put post-it notes on my computer screen of things that I needed to do. It's just around. The edge of the computer screen. And there's, there's something really satisfying about the tactility of- when you finish a task, taking that note off of your screen, tearing it up and throwing it away. Because it's more than just like clicking a box on your computer. There's actually something there that like, yes, I can do this. I can, I can get this done and I can actually feel getting it done, which a lot of us don't have when we work fully digitally. It's funny. My, I used to make fun of my mother when I was growing up,  because she had a black book and in her book were all of her contacts, but she also had a calendar and every year she'd replace it with a new calendar. And she'd write down all these tasks that were do on the day. And she, when she was done, she would spend upwards of 30 seconds crossing it out. And, you know, like, like crossing it out, like, like you're, you're the, uh, woman in Hamlet trying to get the blood out of..  That's Macbeth.. Ah Macbeth! That's what I meant. And I knew if anyone, if anyone would correct me on that'd be you!  But you know, like ripping the page as she crossed it out. And I always asked, Mom, why are you crossing so angrily?! She's like I'm not angry, I just did it! It's done! LOL And I totally get it now!  Um, you know, I, I praise these guys all the time. I have no connection to them other than the fact that they've saved my life many times www.FollowUpThen.com. Um, I I'm sure I've told you about before Jill. Follow up then.com is this free service where you create an account and then you send an email to any time period. I followed them,,,?So 10 minutes had followed them to come four hours about, then it comes Thursday, March 28th, 2023. It followed that and it will simply send it back, whatever you wrote in that email to you. And so, you know, on, uh, for your thing where you have to do your Fabletics. Um, I do the same thing with certain things that have to be paid or have to be looked at, you know, um, January 5th, February 5th, March, I send one email to all 12 months and every, every fifth of the month I get an email, Hey, check your subscription or whatever it is. So yeah, those kinds of things are, are, are game changers for people like us.  Absolutely. Um, I think, I think while the system doesn't work for us, it's up to us to figure out what we're able to do to kind of hack the system. So, so, you know, apps like that, uh, offerings like that, just make it a little bit easier to exist in the world that is not really always made for us. This was awesome. Jill, how can people find you? [http://www.jilletante.com also www.JillianIvey.com and on the @JillianIvey on all the socials except TikTok Twitter  INSTA  Pinterest  and Facebook] Uh, so a couple of ways I'm on social media, all, all platforms, except for tick-tock because I'm old and I still don't understand it, uh, at a, at Jillian, Jillian with a J and IVs IBE, Y um, I'm also, you can find me at Jillianivey.com. Most of my work is archived there so you can find the link to the Medium article that way. And I also, in my consulting work and I am at Jill Aton, like dilettantes. Spelled with two L's and one T because two L's and two T's looked weird. Uh, so Dillatant dot com. And I'm actually about to launch I an offering where I'm doing live story audits with people. So going through their website, kind of helping them to figure out whether there's story works live in the minute I send them a recording. And I find that this actually works really well with my ADHD, because I don't have to remember to do any followup work after I send them the recording. And that is that is it.  That's awesome. I, you know, that's funny. I never, for the life of me knew how to pronounce that until just now, haa! I love it. I love it.  Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today. I really appreciate it. This was a great interview. We'd love to hear what you think. And we'd love to know if you know, more people like Jill, who would want to be on our podcast. We are always looking for guests. We record a couple of times a month. We'd do like six or eight interviews in a day. So if you have someone that you know, or maybe yourself, shoot me a note, Peter@shankman.com. And we would love to hear your story and perhaps get it on the air. We get about 40 to 50,000 downloads an episode. So people definitely, definitely will hear your story. And, um, we'd love to help share that. ADHD is a gift, not a curse.  Jill, thank you so much, guys. Thank you so much for listening. We will see you next week. Big shout out to my producer, Steven Byrom, the best producer in the world! [Thank you Peter!! :-)] Uh, opening theme recorded and composed by him and closing theme recorded by him. And The Voice you hear at the beginning of every episode is none other than Bernie Wagenblast the same man who says, at Newark airport. “The next stop is terminal C. Airlines at terminal C include United, United Express and United International departures.” We'll see you next week. Thank you so much for listening!  Stay safe, be well. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Miles Mendoza is an author and freelance writer living in New York City. His writing often draws upon experiences as a veteran and various other emergency service roles he's occupied. His poetic essay, “Escape From Harlem,” was published in The Void magazine's December 2020 edition. Another, “Exotic Fruit,” was featured in the AT THE PITH art exhibit at the Nook Gallery in Oakland, California. Most recently, the author collaborated with artist and Professor Tiffany Lin to develop a satirical news story highlighting workers' rights issues (www.tlinart.com/fight-santorg). In September of 2021, Miles published his first book. "Speaking in Midnight Tongues and Other Symptoms of Neon Fever" is a collection of poetry, essays, and short stories that address themes of addiction, trauma, and creativity. When not freelancing, the author maintains a poetry and fiction website: www.MilesWrites.Blog. His work can also be found on his Instagram account: @mileswrites. Today he's sharing about hyper-vigilance, a different- maybe more observant side/speed of the ADHD brain, and advice on how your anxiety can kind of direct you towards being more efficient, if not productive. Enjoy!   In this episode Peter and Miles discuss:     1:17 - Intro and welcome Miles Mendoza! Ref: “Escape From Harlem” 3:20 - What's it like to be a freelance writer and be working on everything all the time & have ADHD? 5:49 - Ref: Ten Ways to be Happier When You Live/Love Someone Diagnosed With ADHD 6:09 - When were you diagnosed? 8:00 - upon joining the military 9:20 - What did you learn in the Marine Corps that you still apply to your daily routines? 11:00 - Ref: FTN episode with Jack Walston 12:25 - on processing everything at the same time 12:33 - on processing speeds 14:05 - on hyper vigilance 15:10 - about the effectiveness of flash cards 16:24 - Tell us more about how you processed the Will Smith slap? 17:42 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? Web: [17:42 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? Web: www.MilesWrites.Blog  Socials: @mileswrites on INSTA  18:21 - Thank you Miles! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you; so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, anything at all; we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  18:55 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT: Oh, hellooooo-Ladies and gentlemen my name is Peter Shankman and this is Faster Than Normal. Welcome to another episode! I am your host. I said that already. I am exhausted. I flew in last night from Montana. Boy are my arms tired. It was a three-hour delay on the flight. Um, I got home around 2:00 AM. I had to be up at six to get my kid to school. Um, oh. And by the way, I'm in the middle of an 120 hour water fast. So I am about 60 hours in and I am just exhausted. So don't come near me. I will kill you. But that being said, we have a phenomenal guest.  Y'know.. there are some sites out there on the internet that are just amazing in terms of knowledge and things you can learn. And then there are sites that are just cesspools of filth and depravity. And I was on the cesspool side of the coin a few a month ago or so, and I was on Reddit and I was reading about it. It was right around the time of the Chris Rock Will Smith slap. And I was reading an article about it or a story about it, and I read it and I saw this quote that came from a guy and ran into his quote, said, dude, I have ADHD. So maybe this is just a me thing, but do you know how many of my day-to-day interactions slash reactions are autopiloted while my brain is working on a delay to process what was actually said. So.. what that told me, first of all, the brothers from another mother type thing, but what was amazing about that is that there really are two types of ADHD. There's the ADHD that says, oh my God, someone's not even halfway through their sentence, but I know I have to respond. I know what they're gonna say. And let me just respond right now and lemme interrupt. And then there's the other half. That says I'm just going to watch this because I, my brain has to catch. Everything is moving so fast and my brain moves so fast. But in this situation, I'm going to catch up and make sure I know all the facts. That is what our guest was talking about on Reddit. His name is Miles Mendoza and Miles is an author and a freelance writer. He's living in New York city. We met on Reddit. He lives like 20 blocks for me and his writing draws upon experiences and various other emergency service roles he's occupied. His poetic essay Escape from Harlem was published in The Void magazines' December 2020 edition. And another exotic fruit was featured at the, At the Pith Art exhibit at The Nook gallery in Oakland, California. He's from the Bay area. He lives in New York city and in September of 2021, he published his first book Speaking in Midnight Tongues and Other Symptoms of Neon Fever: Poetry & Essays, which is a collection of poetry, essays, and short stories that address themes. Trauma and creativity; pretty much sounds ADHD to me. Every single theme in that, in that, uh, book of short stories is something that we've all dealt with as ADHD and that whole brain thing- we're in talk about it. Miles. Welcome. Glad to finally have you on the podcast, buddy.  Nice to meet you.Thank you for having me.  So talk let's let's go back. So you live in New York city. You're married. Um, you're a journalist slash a freelance writer slash author. Let's talk for starters about what it's like to be freelance and to be working on any given thing at any given time when you have ADHD.  Well in many ways, it's great. You, um, you're working on a bunch of different things. Your brain is stimulated on a bunch of different subjects all the time. I wouldn't be able to do this 10 years ago though, because I had to develop a bunch of different skills that I.. like to overcompensate for what would have been a very messy approach to business. So I, I, I work off of, I think I have multiple to do lists every single day and in a lot of those to do lists, uh, have to do with like, Take my dog out for the second time today, you need to go up three times. So I need to put that on the list. You need to go up three times. So every single, I didn't hear everything from like haircut to have lunch is on this to-do list. And if there's not enough yellow check marks on that list at the end of the day, I know I did a bad job. Uh, so, but then there's the great thing of like, I get to research different subjects which is. Essentially, I've tried to commodify what I did with my days anyways. So I I'm the kind of person who falls into, um, an obsession on a new subject every other day, I'll fall down rabbit holes. So I try to like, to really kind of take that momentum and just try to commodify it. And, uh, for my own business, it has worked to a certain degree. Um, I do get myself into a lot of situations where I am, uh, I over-packed myself at work because I feel best when I don't have any idle hands, idle parents for at least myself, as some of the ADHD tends to lead to trouble. And, uh, and that's what I was kind of writing about. Um, I wrote a, uh, an essay about, um, what it's like to live with a wife who does not have ADHD in any way, in fact, a very, she's a great student. She's about to finish her, um, nurse anesthesiology master's program. And when she picks up a book, that's what she's going to read until it's time to put it down. Whereas I have hundreds of books I've read most of them, but I have not finished..most of them, you know, that's, that's just kind of how my brain works.  It's funny. You mentioned that I wrote, uh, one of them when I was going through my divorce success at 16, one of the most read articles I published on medium was, um, Ten Ways to be Happier When You Live/Love Someone Diagnosed With ADHD. You know, it was, it was the whole premise that, you know, there'll be times when I have this great experience and all I want to do is share it with the person I love and I'll call and they'll be in a meeting, but they're not answering their phones so obviously it's because they know that I'm calling they don't want to talk to me and they hate me and in my mind I've already broken up gotten divorced moved on with my life um, you know, and then they call me back and they're like, you know, th'f*ck's wrong with you? So yeah, I totally, I totally get that. But. When were you diagnosed? You know, interesting story on that. I, uh, I came, I come from that generation where like, it seemed like every other kid in the class was diagnosed, uh, right about right about when I was in middle school. So what was that; in the late nineties, early two thousands. And I was already. I clearly had it, but I don't think it was just coming into the national conversation um, so, you know, I, I did well on tests. I was a nice enough kid with my family. I just didn't do my homework. I'd either forget about it or just could not get up to the point of performing it. And as I got older, that became more and more of an issue. And so I think that somewhere around fifth or sixth grade, I went to a doctor. And that was a pediatrician, but the problem was that I was? able to keep up with  conversation with him. He put me down in like the lower range. He was like, if he has ADHD that he's like, I, I can give you the prescription, um, on the diagnosis, but he's on the lower range. And so I remember getting Ritalin when I was a child and it, it, I, it didn't react well with me. I, I don't know if you've ever seen the episode of the King of The Hill where Bobby gets a Ritalin.  Oh my God favorite show!  Yeah, exactly. So like, it was pretty much that I was like, I was just sitting, staring at a wall. My parents freaked out. They were like, no, get him off of this. Uh, so I never really thought about it too much.I kind of knew that I had, it was in the back of my head. Um, but it really didn't become an issue for me because, uh, my approach to school was all over the place, but, uh, it didn't become an issue until I impulsively joined the Marine Corps. And then suddenly having your ducks in order is very, very important. And yeah. And there were a lot of moments where to this day, I think back to bootcamp, I, I'm not a religious guy per se, but, uh, I almost turned to Jesus in that sense, because there were these moments where. I did not know, like you have to have your things, like, they will tell you, you need, you know, here's the 10 things on the gear list and you have to have them when you had asked for. And I was like, cool, I've got my 10 things. And then there would just be nine things and like, okay, now w where is it? And like, I need this right now. And then something would just appear. So I, I, I remember at one point I was like, there is a supernatural force looking out for me. I now realize it was probably some dude next to me going, I got to help this idiot. But, yeah, so I thought  I want to stop. I let's stop and talk about that for a minute.  Of course.  So you joined the military, [[microphone rustles across entire frequency spectrum]] and I have said multiple times on this podcast that if I was smarter about what was actually going on in my brain when I was younger, because ADHD didn't exist when I was a kid. Right. You're disturbing the class did.. and I have a feeling that if I had been smarter about this and been more knowledgeable, I might've done the same thing because today my life is entirely based on rituals calendars alarms, set ups, do this, then do this. Then, you know, when COVID hit and I had, I would give a speech on zoom and then have the three days of travel that I'd normally be traveling busy to do nothing it was, it was hard, right? The calendar had to be full. So it seems me like Tell me what you learned. I'm fascinated by this. Tell me what you learned in the military that you were able to then apply, especially in the Marines, they were able to apply to life everyday. I mean, is that where you got the concept of the to-do list and the calendars and all that? Yeah, exactly. So what the military does is it creates like a huge amount of consequences for when you screw up. So suddenly you're kind of always in a fight or flight reflex, and I'm not just talking, I'm not talking about combat or anything. I'm just talking about day-to-day life about living in the fleet is you need to, you need to be places 15, sometimes 30, 45m early. And so you start building buffers into your life and you start realizing like, okay, I don't want to spend my weekend on duty, or I don't want to get my ass chewed out by a staff Sergeant or something like that. So you start to like build in all these things, so you can live a decent life and not everything comes out of the military with you. You do relax a bit. I certainly relaxed quite a bit, but, um, And you do keep these certain things. Like I have like internal timers that tell me like, Hey, you're getting close to that meeting per se for like for today, I knew I had to be at a certain place to do a certain thing. And I started having like internal alarm clocks go off before and it's like, you should be ready 15 minutes beforehand, because what if, you know, you get mugged on the way back to your apartment and you're, you know, now you're late for the worst thing possible is to be late. And you start to worry about how you appear to the world around you because that perception and military.. is often “perception is reality”.  Right? Wow. Okay. Interesting. We do a lot of the same things and, and it, it, it, it. Back in 2001, a former Navy seal who's since passed away a man named Jack Walston, I've had him on the podcast. Very, very, influential man in my life, he started a course, uh, for civilians, uh, where he'd come to.. he was based in Houston and he'd bring it to New York for two weeks or two weeks, four times a year where you'd basically just go and play in central park from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM and get your ass kicked. Right. It was basically bootcamp. And, you know, for someone who you know, up until the early two thousands, you know, only ran by pressing X on a joystick, um, you know, and to the store for cigarettes, like wanting to do this and actually enjoying it and needing it in my life and doing it like 15 times was massive for me. And, you know, they're totally unexpected, but I get it now. And then the more I talked to the people like you, the more, I totally understand it. You, these rituals, these things that, you know, I'm a free spirited, are actually what ground you and what allow you to be creative because you're not worried about, okay, I'm going to miss this meeting or that miss this appointment or go down this rabbit hole. Uh, absolutely. It's uh, to me, I, I think we live in a pretty anxious society and I I'm sure part of that internally. Uh, but I it's like weaponizing your anxiety. Like let that anxiety kind of direct you towards being productive, or at least being efficient.  Very cool. So let's talk for a second about sort of that slower brain.  Do you think that the concept of ADHD is faster than normal? It's faster brain? The, the, the, the premise that we are always thinking 20 steps ahead and, and that's what we need to control because otherwise, you know, we're going to crash into a tree, um. In your, from what I'm hearing from you, you're actually sitting and processing the reason you might have a, you mentioned something that, where you said, uh, you know, there'll be times when when you know, you've been called out or you're about to get into a fight and you don't, you don't even flinch and everyone thinks that oh wow, he's so, he's so brave, but no, you just haven't really processed what's been going on yet. Yeah. So for me, it is still an issue of like doing too many things too fast. A lot of times when I'm having a conversation, I, I have like, uh, I've been diagnosed with hyper vigilance, so I'm paying attention to everything in the room. I'm listening to conversations next to me. I'm watching people walk into the room. Uh, and, and I know that that sometimes comes with ADHD. You don't necessarily have to have like, Uh, trauma necessarily to spark this, but it is, it's an over-processing, it's like more Ram than, than hard drive. It's operating with one and not the other. So it's, I am, I am paying attention, but it is possible that I may have rehearsed inter-reaction already. So like, I mean, you know, I'm going to go meet with a friend for lunch. Uh, I know how long it's been since I met that friend. I know the questions that I should ask. I am then applying like I am, I'm now deploying that social plan or that social plan while interacting with them.  And then as I'm doing that, I am also getting dragged, congratulating myself for deploying that correctly and not listening to the answers. It's not that I don't want to; it's not that I don't value what they have to say; it's just that my brain is sometimes applying more focus on some background things that are going on as well.  Well, I think that happens in, in terms of, you know, we're constantly, when you're able to see a lot of what you're doing also is figuring out what the next question you ask is what the next, where the conversation is going. Um, and I've noticed that happens to me when I meet someone for the first time and I ask them to name right as they're about, tell me the name I've already moved on to think about what I'm gonna say next and I will never remember the name. Ever. Absolutely. Uh, the names, uh, spouses names. If I, I I'm sorry. A lot of my friends is, uh, third spouses.. I probably will never truly know their names. I will always be asking other friends or my wife, what is that person's, uh, girlfriend or boyfriend's name, you know, or before we even get there.  That's funny. You're very fortunate to have a wife who's a, who's got your back like that.  Oh, she's incredibly tolerant for someone who just learns.. that's what I've noticed is that, um, a lot of ADH deers are, I don't know how we describe ourselves. Um, we, we absorb information. We can interact with it very intensely and then five years later, have no idea how to do that again, like our brain dumping abilities are quite impressive almost. Uh, and, and.  No. It's funny, many times I remember in school, one of the things that was was, you know, I hated tests and things like that, but when I had one, I would sit down.. once I discovered flashcards, right  my life changed. I'd sit down. I've learned it. I get tested on it, I'd pass and then puke it up. It's gone, right?  Right? It's like, it's like your brain does a deep fragmenting and it just like just tosses it and there might be shreds of it there, and you can fall back on it. But for me, I, it, it meant that I needed for a career to rely on internal skills that were actual, like baseline talents that I would always kno. For me, that was always writing so I that's what I, what I ended up going to ultimately, I also have, had I had a very adventurous personality. So for a long time emergency services for EMS, all of that, I loved it because I was just excited to be out there on the street and see what was going on right now that I'm, I'm calming down a little bit and I want a little bit of a safer career choice it's I had to go back again to the thing that never left me. It was my ability to write, edit and whatnot, but, uh, learning actual new skills and then just holding onto them for years at a time. Never really been my forte.  Interesting. Tell us about more about the slowing brain. You, you can use Will Smith as an example. You're watching it happen in real time and yet  you weren't processing. I, I think in all fairness, millions of us watching in real time didn't process it.  Uh yeah.. It's one of those things where it's like, I, I identified mostly because like in real life, when, when events like that happen, they don't, they don't make sense. And they don't make narrative sense. If you're making a movie, the first thing you're going to do is show Will Smith, like getting angry at the joke. Right. But in real life, yeah. He's going to laugh with you. Uh, people react to things illogically sometimes. And I just identified with that for me. When I, when my wife's telling me a story, I sometimes I I'm trying to process and keep in mind everything that's going on. And it makes what her words coming out of her mouth it's a little like watching a washout VHS tape. And it's you kind of, you know it because you've seen the, you've seen that video so many times, but you're not getting grasping all the details in the weight of everything that's going on. So you kind of have to say either stop or say that to me again, or in my case, I often am able to replay back events. So I'm just operating on like a 15 to 22nd delay before I fully understand what's going on.  Very, very interesting. Tell us, uh, I know you have a website that I mentioned earlier. Tell us again, tell us where people can find you things like that.  [17:42 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? Web: https://www.nontradaccelerator.com/academic-coaching Socials: @mileswrites on INSTA www.tlinart.com/fight-santorg ]  In September of 2021, Miles published his first book. "Speaking in Midnight Tongues and Other Symptoms of Neon Fever" is a collection of poetry, essays, and short stories that address themes of addiction, trauma, and creativity. When not freelancing, the author maintains a poetry and fiction website: www.MilesWrites.Blog.] Oh, uh, Myles writes DOB blog is where I post, uh, I try to curate the best of my material at the mind, poetic essays, um, poetry, uh, some fiction I write in a broad spectrum. And then, uh, you can also find me at miles writes on. Instagram, uh, which is where I usually, that's more of my, my rough draft contents are, you'll hear me scream about some political opinions here or there, but for the most part, you can find all my best material on mileswrites dot blog right.  Awesome. Very cool. Well Miles, thank you so much for taking the time!  Guys. You've listened to Miles, man. I really appreciate you coming in and being so honest and you know, that's, I guess that's the one, my one, you get one shot a year where you find something worthwhile on Reddit. So I guess that was it, um, for this year. So I appreciate you taking the time, man. Thank you so much. Of course, thank you.  Guys, listening to Faster Than Normal as always you know the drill. If you like what you hear then leave us a review. If you want more info or advanced a dog just jumped in my lap oh hello Waffle. And we would love to know more, feel free to share uh what you're thinking. We will see you next week with a brand new interview. Thank you for listening. Stay safe, stay well. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Camille Roney is a certified Academic Life Coach whose work has appeared in the New York Journal, Quizlet, MD Femme, Motivate MD, and more. She empowers students to earn competitive grades while actually ENJOYING the process and overcoming obstacles that may be impacting how they show up in their academics. You can learn more about how Academic Coaching can transform your high school or college student at her site: https://www.nontradaccelerator.com/academic-coaching. Today she's sharing ways you can identify within yourself, via the use of a data, how to identify your, individual, best learning techniques! Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Camille discuss:   0:57 - Intro and welcome Camille Roney! 1:28 - How do you get kids to enjoy it no matter the subject?! (i.e. Math)  4:18 - Ref: Yerkes-Dodson law 5:15 - On being in the zone of focus/flow 5:30 - Q&A for Peter about how he gets into and stays in the zone/flow 6:52 - On teaching students to be bored 8:26 - Tell me about first time college students and their study habits? 10:10 - Success leaves clues. These clues may present as follows… 11:38 - Give us some quick tips. i.e. I have a test tomorrow and I haven't started studying, what can I do? 14:13 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? Web: https://www.nontradaccelerator.com/academic-coaching Socials: @RoneyCamille on Twitter @thelearningmom on INSTA and @thelearningmomnet on Facebook 14:26 - Thank you Camille! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you; so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, anything at all; we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  15:23 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits TRANSCRIPT:  Hey everyone, how are you doing? My name is Peter Shankman, you are listening to Faster Than Normal the internet's best, number one, most listened to podcast on ADD & ADHD and neurodiversity and it's because of you. I'm glad you're here. Thank you for that. Makes me happy.  We're talking to Camille Roney today. Camille is a certified academic life coach whose works appeared in New York journal Quizlet MD Femme, Motivate MD, and more. Here's the thing she empowers students to be to earn competitive grades while actually enjoying the process and overcoming obstacles that may be impacting how they show up in their academics. I'll repeat that: she teaches kids to enjoy learning. All right. So Camille, you're obviously lying, um, welcome to Faster Than Normal. It's good to have you!  Thank you for having me Peter! So, so you teach kids to enjoy learning the problem with ADHD is that when you enjoy something. You get dopamine from it. If you're interested in it, you get dopamine from it when you explore it, if you don't enjoy it, you don't get domaine from it. So when, you know, if it's English class or something that I loved great, all the dopamine in the world, math or science, not so much. So you're telling me that you figured out a way to get kids to enjoy no matter what the subject let's talk about that. Absolutely. Yeah. I'd love to, I'd love to dive in. Um, so in my experience, There's a few different ways that we can approach it. One is how we're approaching studies in general and the expectations that we have around it. So many students. In fact, I would say the majority of us humans come to school with the expectation that we're about to be bored out of our minds.   And therefore we have, we create the evidence to support that. And a lot of us are just thrown content at regardless of whether it has anything to do with anything that we as individuals care about at all. So what I like to do is invite students to consider what's important to them. What are their personal values, their interests, what are they into? And then there's a few different approaches that we can back; that gives us a bit of a compass with how to approach the studies. Do we need to integrate aspects of those into school? Um, what, you know, relating those values back into the, what the content that they're learning. So if they, um, decide that let's say peace wellbeing, global, um, like global warming global wellbeing. If we're approaching that with say social studies, we can say, okay, how was this really? How did this stuff that happened way back? How could that have impact a global warmingm, or how could that have impacted global wellbeing? How did this impact the wellbeing of others- that kind of invites us to get creative with the content and play with it because some content you really, really have to get creative with- how am I going to make this interesting? And if you, if you assume, let's say a student sits down for physics class, and the first thing that runs through their mind is I suck at physics. It's going to be awful. Rightfully so. But if you can say, if you're thinking throughout the course, um, man, I can't like I'm mesmerizing these formulas so that when I sit at the dinner table tonight with my family, I just get to brag about it and man, I will look so smart and like that we'll feel good. That's their motivation. That's totally fine. That's great. Also, um, you're you, are you familiar with the The Yerkes-Dodson Law of Performance?  No. Tell us. Okay. Beautiful. Beautiful. Imagine that this charge, if you will, on the, this graph on the X axis, you have stimulation. So low to high stimulation; and on the Y axis, you have performance. If this bell curve shape and on the left-hand side, we've got like, so you're under-stimulated therefore your performance is low. You're bored. You're not having fun in the middle the peak stimulation level you've got focus. Engaged energized, genuinely having a good time. And then on the far end, you've got anxious, stressed, restless. I like to consider both internal stimulation and external stimulation and considering how the classroom itself plays into that curve. I also like to invite students to consider. And I'm curious what your answer to this here is Peter; what's an example where it's a case where it's really easy for you to get into flow. Like you just, you don't even realize how much time has gone by, you're just your blinders are on your in the zone and it's just, it's amazing. You're completely in flow.  When I'm on an airplane. Gorgeous. Tell me more.  So when I get on the airplane, I'm flying to Asia. I have 14 hours with nothing but my laptop in front of me and I started working. Next thing we've touched down 14 hours later and I, I mean, I wrote my last two books entirely on airplanes.  Okay, cool. Can you give me another example with a completely different example of when you're in flow? Umm… looking at the dog park and there were other dogs playing. I can, I can go to work for a while and let the dogs just have fun and get lost.  Gorgeous. Okay. So what are, what are some of the common themes between those scenarios? Headphones. Allowing myself to focus on the task at hand. No distractions. Beautiful. How can you apply that to your school? Work life, something that you don't want to do?  I would assume to get into the same zone when I'm doing something I don't want to do. But of course, the problem is, is that the problem is, is that you get bored with it. And then you wind up looking for distractions. Is there something wrong with being distracted?  No, there's nothing wrong being distracted. Unless it leads you down a rabbit hole that then prevents you from doing the work in the first place.  Yeah, exactly. One of the most incredible skills that I wish we were taught in school that took me  just way too long to do, to figure out, is I teach my students how to be bored. We're often taught that boredom is like this awful negative experience. When in reality, it's just one of many human experiences that we have and there's nothing wrong with it, reframing it from negative to a positive. And what I see in so many of my students is that where again, when you approach school with the expectation that it's going to be boring. Yes- we create that. If we come with the expectation that it could be fun; that shifts things like a bit. We can actually create different behaviors so that we are enjoying the experience more. So let's say, um, to sit down to study a student suddenly starts bringing their favorite drink every time, some type of like fizzy soda or something that they genuinely enjoy, or like this pen that just like it glides so smoothly on the page that you think that you're going to die. Like, it's fun. Like enjoy the experience. It doesn't have to be awful for us. Like honestly, if you want to. If coming to school and like a Hawaiian shirt and a wearing a lei and sunglasses, if that helps you like have more fun in school, that's a win, right?  No, that makes sense. I mean, when, you know, when you think about it, does it make sense in terms of how you.. It's essentially what you're saying. It's a different way of looking at things.  Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Tell me about the college student, who's in college for the first time and is on their own for the first time. And you know, whether they're neurodiverse or not, and all of a sudden they don't have a parent watching over them and then no one watching over them and they never, they never really learned that study to learn to do it. Now they're stuck in a thing where it's like, oh, no one can tell you where and when I can go out; no, one's going to stop me and they get kicked out, right? Well, let me first say, there's nothing wrong with going out. I encouraged students to enjoy the college, the university experience, like what a magical time in someone's life. But when else are you going to be surrounded by so much diversity of experiences and people? Fantastic. What I like to suggest is. sorry, let me, let me take a step back. What I often see is people falling into this trap of, oh shoot. The expectation suddenly skyrocketed on my performance levels in academia, but I haven't, we haven't like we haven't had a class called how to read since like the third grade, yet the expectations of our reading skills are completely different since then. So what I, the tracks that I often see students in is they look around I what everybody else is doing and they just do that. So they're copying word for word what's on the lecture slides at the cost of not paying attention to the lecture. They're apt to suddenly sit still in a class for three hours at a time, which is a huge shock for a lot of students transitioning from high school. They've got all these things on their plate. And frankly, it's too much for a lot of people when you just try and do things the way everyone else is doing. What I like to say is success leaves clues. So let's look at the data, look at your information completely objectively, something that is so fantastic about academia is you do some work and you get a result. You get a specific number grade. So what you can do is take track, like keep track of as much data as you, as you feel comfortable with such as, um, how much sleep did I get before a test? Was I hungry while I was studying? What methods did I use? How many, how long did it take me to read this content that I read every word, consider the data and then look at the results of those yields because, but students often, like what I often say to my students, if you've mastered a very specific way of doing things. And you now have, are starting to collect the data of what type of result that yields. whether you like it or not is up to you. But this is a fantastic time to experiment and try new things and see what works and what doesn't. And the key isn't to do everything. The key is to do what you know, works best. Finish all the rest. You don't have to, like, you can get through your entire degree without taking a single note. If that doesn't work for you, stop taking notes. You're wasting your time. Use it in another method for studying and really comprehending information. I think give your brain a break!  Makes sense. It does make a lot of sense. Tell me about, um, give us a couple of quick tips. Um, other than the ones that you've given us are great. A couple of quick tips. I have a test tomorrow, um, I haven't started studying, what can I do? I'm not saying that's what they should do every time, but.  Right. This is such a good question! Okay. What is your favorite- to go from short-term memory to long-term memory for this specific type of content, because you should be studying, you know, how you study for Calculus, for example, should it probably looks very different from how you would study an English class. So that's my first question. How you go from a short-term memory to long-term retention. Just do that. If you get time to do anything else, that's gravy. Fantastic. So, um, I like, I get really into things like techniques, like speed reading or different memorization techniques. The high yield thing is to, sorry. My recommendation for you is strictly focused on the high yield content. Master that. Use your course syllabus or, um, a professor teachers outline on what's going to be covered on the test, how that, how the content is going to be tested matters, like how you study for a multiple choice problem. Uh, exam, it looks different than how you would study for an essay exam. So again, that's a matter of data collection. What works for you for that specific type of content and work with that. Um, my, if I had to give you just one, one quick takeaway from this is: As you're reading your textbook, never go beyond a single paragraph without asking yourself. How would Mr. Jones test me on this content?  That's really good!! And you would think that that takes you longer to get through the content, but because we're strictly focusing on the high yield content, you're not reading every word in the whole, you know, in the assigned reading and because you're really giving yourself that time to get curious and play around with the content. Oh okay. I can see this being a multiple choice question. What would some of the potential answers be? And like really getting curious and creative with the content. Chances are, you don't have to review at all before the test. You've taken the time to really master it the first time, bringing it from short-term memory, to long-term retention, applying it based on how it's going to be questioned, know quizzed or examined on. And then you move on.  Excellent. I love it. Very cool. Um, Camille, thank you so much. How can people find you? [[ Web: https://www.nontradaccelerator.com/academic-coaching Socials: @RoneyCamille on Twitter @thelearningmom on INSTA and @thelearningmomnet on Facebook ]]You can find me on Instagram. I'm at the learning mom or on my website, a non-trad accelerator.com.  Awesome. We will definitely link to all that. We will have you back. There's a lot of fun. Camille Roney, thank you so much for taking the time! I really appreciate it.  Uh, guys, as always Faster Than Normal, we try to bring a new and interesting different ways to learn and think about, ADD and ADHD and all forms of neurodiversity, as well as fun stuff. I know recently we've had some interviews about. We interviewed someone who, um, works with drug addiction, we talked to an accountant to is helping people with ADHD   in their math. If you know anyone who you think might be a good interview for us, let us know. We would love to have them on the podcast. You can find me at, at Peter Shankman. You can find past episodes at FasterThanNormal.com or anywhere that you get your podcasts, including-“Alexa”. I have to say her name very softly, because if I say her name..And if I say it three times Jeff Bezos appears in my apartment and tries to sell me something. So thank you guys for listening. We will see you next week. Camille, thank you for being here. ADHD is a gift, not a curse as is all neurodiversity, stay safe and stay well. — Guys you've been listening to Faster Than Normal. We love when people come to us and say, Hey, I would like to be on the podcast, or when they have a great idea for a great story. And they have a great story themselves. If you're that person who knows someone who has let us know, we're always trying to find new people. We have a plethora!! of new episodes that we've recorded that are in the can that are coming up. The next three months are already filled but if you have someone to let us know, we'll record you and get you on the podcast as well. And you can find me at Peter@shankman.com  The podcast is FasterThanNormal.com on iTunes on Stitcher, Google play anywhere you get your podcasts. Thank you so much for listening and remember that ADHD and all neurodiversity is a gift, not a curse. And we will see you next week with a brand new episode. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you soon! — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Kristin Wilcox has a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Mississippi Medical Center and has spent over 20 years in academia as a behavioral pharmacologist studying drug abuse behavior and ADHD medications at Emory University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  She has authored several manuscripts published in peer reviewed scientific journals and presented her research at international scientific meetings.  Her book “Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain” shares her son's experiences with inattentive-type ADHD, and her insights on parenting an ADHD son.  Dr. Wilcox serves on the executive board of the Inattentive ADHD Coalition, hoping to increase awareness and understanding of the inattentive subtype of ADHD in children and adults.  She lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons. Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Kristin discuss:   1:00 - Intro and welcome Kristin Wilcox! 1:40 - Cocaine for research whaaahht?? 3:00 - Talk about inattentive-type ADHD? 4:45 - On adrenaline junkies. Ref Type T ADHD 6:50 - Is there a nature versus nurture component there? Ref: OneWheel & Multi-Access Trainer 9:00 - Tell us about the book! 10:30 - There was not much research in existence on inattentive ADHD in boys 10:52 - Does it occur in girls as well? 11:14 - What specifically are you studying in terms of drug abuse and behavior & things like that? Tell us a little more about your background? 12:15 - Is the book available everywhere? 14:15 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? @ADHDAdventures on Facebook And you get get the book from Here and here-> on Amazon! 14:25 - Thank you Kristin! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you; so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, anything at all; we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  15:15 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT:  — Yo, yo, Hey everyone. It is Peter Shankman. It is Faster Than Normal! It is another interview. It is a great Wednesday. Uh, it's a great Thursday, Thursday? Oh my God the weeks are rolling into one. My daughter goes on a field trip for three days overnight and I no longer know what day it is. Ridiculous. Okay. Welcome. My name is Peter. Shankman. Said that already. We're talking to Kristin Wilcox today. She's a doctor. She's a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Mississippi Medical Center has spent over 20 years in academia as behavioral pharmacologist studying drug abuse, behavior and ADHD medications at Emory University and John Hopkins University School of Medicine. In other words, she's much smarter than any of us. It is great to have you here Kristin. Then she has written a book called Andrew's Awesome Adventures with his ADHD Brain, where she shares her son's experiences with inattentive type ADHD and her insights on parenting an ADHD son. She's on the executive board of the inattentive ADHD coalition of an increasing awareness and understanding of yet attentive subtype of ADHD in children, adults. She lives in Maryland where there has been two sons, Kristen. Hi, welcome.  Hi Peter. How are you today?  I am great. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Um, it's funny. I remember probably in 2005, I dated a woman briefly who was doing her second PhD at Rutgers, I believe, and was also studying drug abuse. And the thing I found so amazing was that when you are studying drug abuse in a university setting an academic setting, I guess, for a PhD or better, or whatever, you basically can call the government and they deliver you drugs like illegal drugs, like they delivered through cocaine to her or to her lab, I guess. And I was just shocked by that because my first question was, so can you.. and she immediately shut me down and said, absolutely not! But it was an interesting question.  They do actually, um, the, uh, the cocaine that we used to use in our, uh, experiments with. Cocaine that was confiscated off the street and then purified by the DEA and that's how we got our cocaine for our research.  Unbelievable. The DEA was purifying their own cocaine. That is brilliant. I love it. That's awesome. All right. I just need to throw that out there.  I remember she sent it to me. She goes, yeah, this stuff is like a hundred percent. Yeah, you wouldn't want to use it or something like that. That's crazy. Unreal. Well welcome. I'm glad, glad you're here. So tell us about, um, you know, we, we think of ADHD as both, um, you know, going down the rabbit hole of hyper-focus and also, you know; Hey, I'm bored. Give me some dopamine.  Talk about inattentive ADHD? Um, well,  I think the most important thing is that, uh, there's very minimal hyperactivity and impulsivity. So a lot of the times when people think about ADHD and especially ADHD in a boy, they think about a boy who's bouncing off the walls, who can't sit still in class, who's constantly fidgeting. They don't really pay attention to the boy that maybe, you know, kind of dreamy and forgetting to turn in his assignments and has a desk that's stuffed with undone worksheets. So that's probably the biggest thing to know about inattentive ADHD. They do also have the, uh, like, you know, the inattention and the forgetfulness and the disorganization, which also occurs with, um, the commonly thought of combined type, which does have the hyperactivity and the impulsivity, um, you know, and these kids are also, uh, they're very smart. Um, inattention has nothing to do with intelligence. Um, they're very creative. They're outside the box thinkers. They're great at problem solving. Um, they love risk-taking and adventure. They're adrenaline junkies.  Yeah, that totally makes sense.  Yes, my son actually wanted to skydive when he graduated from high school. Well, tell him to give me a call and we'll make that happen.  Haha! I'm glad somebody will go with him because it's not me.  So that's interesting. I remember there was a, there was a study. I wish I could remember the guy's name, but it was, there was a TV show, probably the learning channel or something 15, 20 years ago, when I first heard it, got to me and it was talking about someone who came up with this concept of type T. T positive and T negative, where T is this adrenaline junkie right? And empty, positive T is someone who gets their adrenaline in positive ways based on upbringing. You know, they be able to do public speaking, whatever. And T negative is those who find it in negative ways, you know, drug addiction, um, um, you know, crime, things like that. And so, so in ADHD are they are adrenaline junkies.  Uh, they are adrenaline junkies, but it can also go both ways they can. Um, you know, like you mentioned before regulating dopamine, they can regulate dopamine by jumping out of an airplane, but they can also regulate dopamine by taking drugs or driving fast. Um, so it's kind of a, it's a double-edged sword. Like the, the risk taking is, um, you know, can have complete benefits and be fabulous and, you know, kids with ADHD are not afraid to do something and jump right in and they, they live life. Um, you know, cause they don't think about it. We'll just think about the concept and we'll deal with the consequences later. There's no thinking about them. Um, but you know, they, they do get into problems with drug abuse and crime and driving fast cause that's also stimulating domain. So, um, you know, it, it, it is kind of a plus and a minus of having an iteration of inattentive ADHD.  But is there, I mean, is there, you know, I think that, that for a lot of us, you know, especially when we're not diagnosed, it's just okay: Sit down. Right? And we don't realize that the things were drawn to come from this concept of…? but for me, for instance, you know, I never got into, I didn't get into drugs at least not in high school or as kid, um, you know, the worst thing I ever did was smoke. Right. And this was the eighties where smoking was good for you. But, um, you know, it's the premise that it is there. Is there a nature versus nurture component in there? Where, if you know, you, you, you, you look for positive things, or look for things to give you that dopamine, that aren't necessarily negative things.(?)  Um, yeah, I, I, I would probably agree with that. Um, my son, as, as well, uh, hasn't gotten into the drugs in high school, doesn't go to parties and, and drank, um, you know, he finds his stimulation in other ways. Um, you know, like, right. He has a Onewheel, I don't know if you know what a one wheel is.  Yeah, of course.  So, so he just got a one.  Yeah. For those who don't know what's next generation Segway with just one wheel on it and and, and you.. He just got on that thing and just took off, you know, he, he went to space camp when he was in seventh grade and they put you in this thing that, um, you know, turns you all around  A Multi-Access Trainer. I know exactly what it is. I had a very bad experience with… And he was the first in line to do it, you know? So he's, he's seeking his im, adrenaline out in self-regulating and positive ways. He's not self-regulating with, with drugs and alcohol. Um, is that partially because of the environment that he's in? Uh, probably he's, you know, we have an open dialogue about things like that and, um, you know, so we're kind of steering him away from that type of behavior, but, you know, um, if he wasn't in that type of environment, maybe if my husband and I were constantly gone; working all the time and stuff like that, and he was left on his own, you know, he might try to, you know, get into some of that to help self-regulate.  And I think that, that, you know, that's one of the interesting things is that you look at, you look at, um, uh, prisons, you know, it's a 65 to 70% of um, incarcerated males are undiagnosed ADHD. And so it does come down to that question, you know, I mean, for me, you know, my, my being undiagnosed by parents just assumed, okay, he's hyper, let them run around so I'd take my bike after school everyday, and I'd ride around for hours and hours and hours. Right. And then, you know, I don't know if they ever noticed when I came back, I was much calmer. but obviously it was absolutely helpful. Okay. Tell us about the book! Ok! So, um, so the book is in two parts. The first part of the book is my son's story with his inattentive ADHD and the ADHD elephant that lives in his brain. Um, and the second part of the book My experiences raising an ADHD son and I kind of, um, put, you know, some of the science behind ADHD and how that relates to my son's behaviors. And, um, the reason I wrote the book is because there is virtually no information out there on inattentive ADHD and boy s. So, um, when my son was diagnosed, fortunately, he was diagnosed in third grade, which is young for inattentive ADHD. Most of the time, these kids are diagnosed after nine years old, sometimes not until their teens, because, you know, it's what I like to call the silent ADHD, if they're not disruptive and, you know, creating chaos so they're not really noticed. Um, and we were fortunate. He had a teacher in second grade who recognized his symptoms because her son at the time was in high school and he had inattentive ADHD, so we were fortunate that he had that teacher. Um, and at the time is when I was working at, um, Hopkins on the ADHD project. And I was talking to a psychiatrist who was consulting on our research project. And he actually said, there's nothing out there on boys with inattentive ADHD. And of course I went home and started to look and do some research and he was right. So, you know, the purpose is just kind of to increase awareness that this occurs in boys. Um, you know, get it out there.  Uh, it does occur in girls as well?  It does occur in girls and adults and it's, um, most often discussed in girls and more recently in adults.  Okay. And, and obviously it's, it's being discussed more in adults because adults are taking their kids to get diagnosed and they say, huh, it sounds like me. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.  Interesting. What, um, talk for a second about, uh, about your, about your background. What are you, um, what specifically are you studying in terms of drug abuse and behavior and things like that? Um, well, when my son was diagnosed, I stopped working to focus on him. So I haven't done research in quite awhile. Um, but the majority of my research was looking for therapeutics for cocaine abuse and finding cocaine taking behavior. Um, and it was preclinical studies. Um, and then when I worked at Johns Hopkins, Uh, the ADHD study was looking at long-term effects of ADHD medications, because at the time there were no studies on it; long-term effects of ADHD medication. So we looked at, um, physical features. Um, we looked at cognitive functioning. Um, so that was, uh, was the nature of that study.  Interesting. That's fascinating stuff. Um, is the book available everywhere?  Uh, the book is available on Amazon. Um, and it's available on the, uh, publishers website, um, MSI Press, LLC. Cool. Did you self publish it?  I did not. Okay, cool. Excellent. A lot of our, a lot of people are, um, I've talked to a handful of people who've written ADHD books down and they're all self published. Um, just like, yeah, whatever helps people whatever gets it out there. I'm a fan of.. No, yeah, I was very excited. It was picked up by a publisher. I didn't, I didn't have high hopes. And I thought that if it wells, it's never really published, hopefully it made me a better mother to my son because it helped me to understand his brain and to work with him instead of working against him, because he doesn't think the way I think. Yep. Now it's it is, it is, you know, I think that's one of the biggest things that the parents need to understand. I mean, I remember growing up, my parents just didn't understand the difference, you know, why, and then they still treated me a hundred percent wonderfully, you know, and, and I had a great relationship with them and I still do, but they weren't the way I was and it was just a, it was a very, they just never got it. They never really got it.  Yeah. Now I asked my son before I, um, but while I was writing the book, I said, tell me what it's like to have ADHD, because I don't know what that's like. And here I'm writing this book about ADHD and I don't really know what it's like to have ADHD. And so he describes it as an overstuffed garbage can where the lid doesn't stay on and everything's falling out on the floor.  So that's how he describes his ADHD. Yes!  I couldn't come up with a description nearly that eloquent.  I love it. I love it. All right. Well, very cool. Um, how can people find you?  Um, well, I have, um, my author Facebook page is Kristin M Wilcox PhD, or they can find me at ADHDAdventures on Facebook. [same page] And you get get the book from Here and here on Amazon! Awesome. Kristen, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today. It's been a lot of fun. We will definitely check out the book and we will link to it on your Amazon link and in the show notes. And we really appreciate you being here today. This was great.  Great. Thanks Peter. I appreciate it.  Guys you've been listening to Faster Than Normal. We love when people come to us and say, Hey, I would like to be on the podcast, or when they have a great idea for a great story. And they have a great story themselves. If you're that person who knows someone who has let us know, we're always trying to find new people. We have a plethora!! of new episodes that we've recorded that are in the can that are coming up. The next three months are already filled but if you have someone to let us know, we'll record you and get you on the podcast as well. And you can find me at Peter@shankman.com  The podcast is FasterThanNormal.com on iTunes on Stitcher, Google play anywhere you get your podcasts. Thank you so much for listening and remember that ADHD and all neurodiversity is a gift, not a curse. And we will see you next week with a brand new episode. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you soon! — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Lissy Abrahams is passionate about helping people create healthier lives for themselves, as well strengthening the connection for partners in couple relationships. She is a leading psychotherapist who has dedicated her career to helping her clients navigate life's obstacles and challenges. When our lives or our couple relationship goes off the rails, for whatever reason, we can all feel distressed and anxious. Lissy helps her individual and couple clients not just get back on track but also to thrive again. Lissy believes we all have the capacity to improve our lives and couple relationships with the right knowledge and skills. Her mission is to help as many people as possible transform their lives by creating happier and more connected relationships. Lissy completed her Masters at the internationally renowned Tavistock Relationships, a unit of the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology in London. She has held positions on the British Society of Couple Psychotherapists and Counsellors (BSCPC) and was Vice President of the Couple, Child, and Family Psychotherapy Association of Australasia (CCAFPAA). Lissy is available for speaking opportunities on podcasts, radio, television, expert panels, webinars, and corporate wellness programs. Lissy runs a Sydney-based therapy clinic, Heath Group Practice, and works therapeutically with clients here and around the world via online sessions. She has recently launched an online course, ‘Learn to skillfully communicate with your partner and decrease conflict'. The course explores the real reasons why couples fight, provides guided activities for participants to identify why they are having difficulty communicating, and teaches the vital skills needed to break repeated cycles of conflict. Today we're going to talk a little bit about balance and a little bit about strengthening the connection for couples who are trying to find that balance, as well as a few tips on more effective verbal communication in general. Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Lissy discuss:   1:25 - Intro and welcome Lissy Abrahams! 2:55 - As ADHDer's, we're a bit trigger happy in our communication(s). What advice do you have to manage that fire? Ref: Rejection Sensitivity 3:15 - Sometimes when we don't feel we're being heard, we raise the volume. 5:12 - Sometimes we're present but not really ‘there' with our partners. How do we stay present and how can our partners help?  7:00 - We can be a little like the Road Runner to be around from time to time. 8:10 - What would your advice be on verbal communication & amount of content therein in our relationships? 10:50 - Is the basis of your relationship good verbal communication? 11:50 - A basic tip for better communication 12:10 - Our ADHD brains are usually going super fast; what is your advice on how to calm down for better communications? 13:39 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? www.lissyabrahams.com and on the Socials: @AbrahamsLissy on Twitter,  @ lissy-abrahams on LinkedIN and @LissyAbrahamsCourses on Facebook and get her FREE E-book here!  14:04 - Thank you Lissy! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you; so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, anything at all; we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse!  14:29 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT:  Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal! My name is Peter Shankman.  Happy Monday, wherever you might be. It's probably a Wednesday when you're reading, when you're listening to this, but it's a Monday here. It is a gorgeous day in NYC. A little cold, but finally starting to warm up into what we hope will be two days of spring before we get into 90 degrees and humid for the rest of the summer. Anyway, we are going to talk today about healthier lives. Now I say that as someone who has two speeds, as most of us with ADHD do, which is either eating tremendously healthy or eating six pizzas and a box of wine. So knowing that we're going to talk a little bit about balance and a little bit about strengthening the connection for couples who are trying to find that balance as well. We're talking to Lissy Abrahams. She believes that all people have capacity to improve our lives and relationships with the right knowledge and skills. She completed her masters at the internationally renowned Tavistock relationships, even of Tavistock Institute of medical psychology in London, she's held positions on the British society of couples, psycho psychotherapists, and counselors, and was the vice president of the couple child and family psychotherapy association of Australia, Asia CCA, F P AA That must be a lot of fun to say. Lissie runs a Sydney-based therapy clinic, a therapy clinic called health group practice and works therapeutically with clients there and around the world by online sessions; she's launched an online course called learn to skillfully, communicate with your partner and decrease conflict. Welcome to the podcast.  Hi, thanks for having me.  Great to have you. So one of the key things about add and ADHD is sort of that we because we only have two speeds. We, I think one of the things we need the most work. Okay. Sort of decreasing turning down the volume. When we get into an argument, get into a conversation, it's hard for us to just listen. It's hard for us to just, you know, we hear something we immediately want to respond and if we respond and it's not the response that someone expansion that there's not someone wants and may con they come back with it, we feel like we weren't heard. And that's what causes massive fights for us. So I think the first question, you know, in terms of creating a healthier life and sort of allowing our brains to chill and to calm down so we can actually hear the other person.. when you're ADHD and you're up against that times 10. What are your thoughts there? Right? From the beginning?  I think the biggest gift we can give ourselves is a pause. If we could just take a moment to, even if it's just two seconds to pause before we react, because we're so trigger happy as ADHDer's, we are so quick to just become little firecrackers. So one of the things I tell all of my clients with ADHD is that just taking a breath and pausing is our best friend. If we don't, we're just going to get ourselves in so much trouble. We we're quite a sensitive group as well. Um, a lot of us have rejection sensitivity as well, so we can very easily feel slighted. So. If we can just slow things down. So in fact, as speeds, slow and fast, we could do really well with that. But I think just slowing it down and breathing; because so often we'll jump in before someone's even finished a sentence and we're not even necessarily grabbing the full context and content of what they're saying, that being a firecracker, we can get ourselves into quite a bit of trouble with that.  Um, most definitely. I think one of the things also is that, you know, when we, when we're trying to talk and we're consistently, we need to feel heard. Um, and so we're not feeling heard. We raised the volume, which doesn't help.  It doesn't help at all and one of the things that happens there is that our partner can be quite confused and they often don't know what to do with that volume. Whereas someone with ADHD they're quite, they can be quite used to it. It's not as startling for non ADHDer's who don't have that register necessarily. It can be quite a shock to their system and they, that cause a lot of defensiveness on their side and they'll come in and be quite triggered in return. So I think that level of that volume that we can, we can project can be quite frightening at times.  Definitely. Definitely. What do you, um, so how do you work with people when, you know, a lot of times I remember when I was married, um, and I'm still, you know, very close friends with my ex, but when we were together, one of the things that she, she, she comments on a lot was that I was, I was there, but I wasn't really there. I never had any, you know, if the house was burning down, you wanted me there. I would, I would take control of the situation and fix everything, but the day-to-day stuff. You know, I had more of a problem dealing with the, the, for lack of a better word, the boring stuff.  That's a really common one that day, but not there. And the way I see that is that we can become the person with ADHD becomes quite a tantalizing figure when someone's physically present, it's an invitation to connect with them. But if they're not really there in their minds and somewhere else, it's a, they become tantalizing and quite elusive at the same time. So it's a confusing proposal for a partner to, to know whether to do with that because they are wanting the connection. But then the message that's often given off is I'm in my own world and I can actually stay here quite happily thanks.  I think that, that one of the things that you learn, um, as you're going through that. And it goes back to what you said about a pause, is that anything can really be sort of fixed if you're just able to give it time and stop and listen and think.  Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don't know. Did you get, you get the cartoon Roadrunner?  Of course!  Yeah. Yeah. That's the way I, I, I think of ADHD, I think a Roadrunner who buzzes around and beep-beeps and there's all that dust. And I think that if if ADHD is and I'm one, so I totally relate to road runner. If we can remember that we are causing a lot of dust at times as well. So we might be really confusing in the sense that we run and scurry around and beep-beep over the place. But then there is that other part that you're talking about, but we can leave our partner out and get so much into our own zone. And when we've got our hyper-focus on, that's incredibly compelling for us to stay there. So w we can be a bit of a confusing partner at times. And, uh, and really quite rattling. I mean, I know in one of my, with one of my couples that I see when Trump came in, there were four years of that there but not there experience because this person was so obsessed with Trump and what was going on, watching every video that came up and every news article was read and attended to, it caused so many problems in the relationship, but that is the power of the hyper-focus. So it, it, it is a confusing picture because that there but not there is really not there at times. And this went on for four years.  Yeah, definitely. Very good point. Um, talk about communication. So a lot of times I think that the, you know, the best relationships are the ones that have free communication and yet, no matter how much you love a person or how much you're, you're, you're involved with the person you're close to the person. Sometimes talking to them, especially when you're ADHD becomes difficult, right? Whether it's that you can't get the words out or what you're trying to say, or in the case of study, what can you tell people who might be going through communications issues? You know, I know that that, um, There's sometimes there's so much stress in a daily relationship, right? Just this day in-day-out that the concept of talking and really just having a conversation that doesn't revolve around: Oh, did you make the kids' lunches or, oh, you know what time is the play date?” You know, it sort of goes out the window. It's a really good question about that one! The difficulty in communication, it can, it can be that they either don't know what to say or how to, how to speak to their partner or what to communicate that difficulty in it. But it could also be that there's an excessive amount of content. You know, if you're, if you're in your hyper-focus, I don't know about you, I can, I can go on for quite a while when my ?height and stuff that I'm really, really interested in. And sometimes I actually need to just check in with my partner to see if I'm just bombarding him with information. I mean, he also has ADHD, so he can come along for the ride to a certain extent, but sometimes I can say, you know, the eyes are going darting around because it's too much information and my intensity and excitement might not be matching where he is at times. So that's another form of it. Um, but I think.. if looking at the other side of what I often say in couples and communication is, you know, what you were saying about the kids and you know, that the logistics and there's also a very critical component that happens in couple relationships and I think that's what really gets into part of the problem communicating; because the person with ADHD has often really annoyed their partner, especially if it's been undiagnosed. And there's a lot of.. the partner can be quite, uh, um, they can complain a lot, they can be critical, they can nag and nitpick because they feel that their partner with ADHD isn't pulling their weight. I mean, they often don't know how hard they're really trying. Um, but the, the communication is really tainted I think if the ADHD isn't well-managed between the two of them.  Most definitely. I think that it's a lot of, you know, it's not something that you go e., you know, you don't think about going into a relationship knowing that you have to talk.  A-hah! I think that's been a problem. You know, everyone's had that at some point, they go into these relationships and they don't, you know, you think, okay. Yeah, I'll be a good guy, I'll bring flowers. You don't realize that that, that the entire basis, most of the time is based on communication! Yeah. And I guess the thing is when we first meet somebody it's less on, it's not always necessarily around the talking because we can always take off another tangent into the sexual arena whenever and it's all so compelling in that area too. So yeah, I guess there, there. I haven't come across as many people who struggle with the talking part so it's interesting hearing you say that  I think it's combined with the listening.  Okay. Yeah, definitely the listening part. And of course, it's very hard to get somebody's attention all the time. And that's where it's important for communication to show; I've got a rule that you've got eye contact telephones down, I make a rule that I don't talk to someone who's staring at their screen because I know they're not listening properly. So. Try not to do that as well. Um, cause we've yeah, we can't, if we're not attending, we're not going to hear anything so it doesn't matter what's actually said.  One final question. Um, give us, you know, our ADHD brains are usually going 500 miles a minute. Give us two or three really quick strategies to help us calm down.  So the first one is to pause. That one is the most important one because our brain really won't deal with anything if it loses the capacity to think so, once we're triggered we're in trouble. So that's the first one. The second one is really about breathing. I think if we just do 5, 5, 5 breathing that's five seconds in- and you can either hold it for five seconds or not hold it for five seconds and then just breathe it out for five seconds, just very slowly. And repeat it five times. F or me, that is the absolute game changer or ADHD is. And I would say that's one of my top tips actually, um, for calming down. And then the other one is to just be able to go into a place that's just your own. And to really go inside your own mind, join up, what's upset me, what is it about this that's triggered me and to be able to do the work because it's so easy just to blame our partner for what they've done to us or in that moment. But actually so much of what we get upset about is actually our own stuff. So it could have been childhood stuff that we could have been told that we were lazy or selfish as a kid or misunderstood, whatever that was but it doesn't mean that our partner is necessarily saying it in the present, but it often has more impact because of what we've gone through as kids undiagnosed or diagnosed. Yeah.  Very cool. This has been great. I really appreciate you taking the time Lissy, and, and, and more importantly, giving us your advice and valuable advice on this. Um, how can people find you? [[13:39 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? www.lissyabrahams.com and on the Socials: @AbrahamsLissy on Twitter,  @ lissy-abrahams on LinkedIN and @LissyAbrahamsCourses on Facebook]] Uh, people can find me at my website. It's you see Abraham's dot com and I've got some blogs on there and I've got my course on there as well. And I've got a book coming out in August, so feel free to contact me! Awesome. Very cool. Lissy Abrahams, thank you so much for taking the time! Guys, as always, we want to hear what you think. If you like what you heard, leave us a review. If you have anyone you think would be a great guest, shoot me an email. Peter@shankman.com We would love to hear who that might be and get them on the podcast. We are Faster Than Normal. We believe that ADHD and all neuro-diversity is a gift rather than a curse. And we will see you next week with a brand new episode. Thank you so much for listening and have a great day! — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Corey Berrier- The Sales CEO has over 25 years of experience training individuals and teams on high performance sales processes. The Sales CEO is a boutique coaching firm specializing in sales development with a focus on ADHD. Using his ADHD superpower Corey has developed systems and processes that allow business owners to maximize employee experience and revenue. Corey uses a proprietary system to guide businesses to higher sales results, focusing on every aspect of the process. A hands-on approach is used, with feedback provided throughout the entire process, which helps clients to achieve results faster. Our proven results have helped hundreds of professionals across multiple industries achieve improved sales results. Corey is a Keynote speaker, International Coach and Consultant and hosts the Top Rated podcast “Successful Life Podcast” and he co-hosts the only ADHD Sales Podcast in the world called “ADHD SALES LEGENDS', with Callye Keen. Corey is writing a book on ADHD Sales and Entrepreneurship that will be out later this year. Today we learn how he's begun using his ADHD superpower, better. Enjoy! In this episode Peter and Corey discuss:  1:40 - Intro and welcome Corey Berrier! 2:16 - Corey, why..why why why are companies so stupid?! 5:30 - How can you now better things for clients via your, and possibly their, ADHD? 7:20 - Tell us what it was like growing up as a kid, where you're from, when you were diagnosed? 9:15 - After a few minutes into an interview, do you ever ask clients “so.. are you ADHD too”? 12:21 - On rejection sensitivity 14:04 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? www.CoreyBerrier.com and on the socials @CoreyBerrier on INSTA  Facebook YouTube and https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreysalescoach/ on LinkedIn Also via his podcasts: “Successful Life Podcast” and ADHD SALES LEGENDS 14:54 - Thank you Corey! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you; so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, anything at all; we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! 15:25 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT: Yo, yo, yo what's up! Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal! My name is Peter Shankman. This is the one day a week, but I try to do as many interviews as I can because ADHD. I don't know, interviews and in the middle of that, and I'm answering emails. I get an email from someone who says hey, sorry for the slow reply. Um, we're pausing for now. So we'll be in touch. This is a client, this is a company who I've been trying to hire, not to give me money. I wanted to give them money, right. And after like two weeks, three weeks, four weeks of back and forth of contracts and everything, Hey, we're pausing guys. If you're an entrepreneur and you run your own company, there's absolutely a reason you can make money. All you gotta do is be slightly, slightly better than idiots like this. What I'm trying to give you upwards of 500,000. And you're gonna pause. You're a moron. Okay. I got that in my system. Anyway. Literally it just happened like 30 seconds before I started this call so hey, got it out of my system with apologies to Corey Berrier who's our, who's our guest today who did not sign on to hear me ramble, Corey- thank you for being here. Corey started his business coaching in 2014. When he got tired of business, struggling to make sales and not have the ability to offer solutions. It's all shit. I have a company you should probably talk to; I just got off the phone with them. Anyway, Corey, working with his training clients who owns a small plumbing company and the owner asking you to talk with the sales team. That led to where he is today. He's based in Raleigh. He was diagnosed at age 8 and his services extended to wherever he's needed, whether it be online on the phone. Corey has excellent guidance and excellent coaching and he is going to talk about his ADHD journey starting right now. Corey welcome! Sorry about that random intro, but oh my God. Why are companies so stupid? So it's a great, great question. Peter you're so right. You have to be a little bit better, right? You just have to be a little bit, so you're you're right. Your company does need to talk to me because they're making very bad decisions, but a lot of companies do that. Peter. I'd love to start this out by tying this to exactly why we're on the call, which is, you know, I've, you know, the thing that you ran out about me is changed just a little bit. So I don't work just with plumbing companies now I work with, well, I work with a lot of different companies. I work with consultants all over the world, and I also work with a lot of trades companies, but here's the. Really the biggest thing that I want to drive home. And why I'm on this call with you is, you know, about five months ago I realized I had no fucking idea what ADHD really meant for me. And I've been taking medicine Peter for 36 years, 36 years. And so I just, I had no idea that, you know, I forget shit all the time. I, you know, I lose stuff; my phone's in my hand and I'm looking for it. Like all the things. I you thought that, you know, I burnt my brain up doing drugs years ago or drinking. That's the truth. That's what I thought for years. And so when I, so one of, in one of my entrepreneur groups, I noticed, I noticed a guy did a post in the word he used the word neurodivergent. I have never seen this word in my entire life. And when I saw it, I'm like, damn, that is such a cool looking word. That was the first off. And I'm like, I got to figure out I'll let me just ask the guy what it means. Well, he didn't answer me. And so I'm not certainly not going to wait for him to answer me. So I just went and figured it out myself. Of course. Yep. So I Google it and it takes me to YouTube. So I like, okay, well I'll just watch one of these videos and see what it is. This guy is literally talking about me! And I'm like, holy fucking shit. What the fuck is going on? How I just, how am I just now understanding this. And the truth of the matter is, is guess what he was like. I didn't have a reason to look at. I didn't know. I didn't know. You know, you never put two and two together, right? Yeah. And so the reason that I believe I am so much better in my job now at working with these companies is because you know] this; most people are ADHD. Business owners, most people that are sales, right? Those are the two people I worked with. So imagine how much more money they're going to make. If I can shore up those areas where they don't even see the problem. In other words, if they've got half her and she's not following up well, you and I both know the reason for that, but he may not. He or she may not know the reason for that. And if they do know that. What's that going to do for their business. Holy cow. Right? It might, it blows my mind. It really does. No, you look at, and then look, there there's two types of, of, of, of sort of companies that are mistaken, right. Because the type of companies just take it because exactly what you said, they don't understand how to better target their brain, how to better use the functions they have. Those are the ones that you can help. Then there are companies that are just stupid because they're idiots, right. And, and they just don't see the value they are leaving on the table. And Unfortunately, I think it's a lot, a lot more of them, a lot more out that they're just run by idiots. But no, I think that, you know, one of the things when I went out on my own as an entrepreneur, probably 20, 20, whatever years ago now, um, you know, I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew there was something I could do. And that's, I think a key thing that.. like, you realize the same thing right. In that, in that you're not sure what it is, but there's something out there there's some way that you can better things. Right. So give us some examples of that. Well, I think this, I feel like this is the example, and I'll tell you, Peter, for years, I've been, you know, I've owned multiple businesses and I've done great, but some of them, and I had failed miserably with some of them. And at the end of the day, like here's the deal. I went through all of those businesses and all of those things. To lead me to where I am today because I can serve the people that I work with at such a higher level, because I understand the things that they're going through. I understand I can look at somebody. I can ask, you know, this people, you can ask somebody one or two questions and, you know, If they're not just like you are not right; by the way they answer. And so that's where I feel like my superpower lies is that I've taken my love for sales. I've taken my ability to connect with people and to connect people with other people, collaborations and harnessed that into I guess you would say the 88, I guess you would say that I use my ADHD to yeah, to better serve the people I work with because I can see things they can't Tell us about when you were diagnosed. Tell us what it was like growing up as a kid. How, how did you grow up in South Carolina, where are you from? So I'm from North Carolina. That's a great question. I'm actually from Mayberry, Peter. Yep. Yep. Good old freaking Mayberry going up, you know, I didn't have a bad childhood. I didn't, um, And in ADHD, where now looking back where it affected me was, you know, I made terrible grades. I hated school. I would rather be doing anything other than that. Outside of that, I mean, I was never put into a special ed class, which I've, I've interviewed now. I'm writing a book about this, uh, ADHD sales and entrepreneurship. And so I've interviewed, um, close to 50 people now that are professionals in the field. And. And what I'm finding is there's a lot of people that do get put in special education classes, they get put in, you know, they get labeled and I'm sure I got labeled, but I never got labeled quite like that. And so you didn't really ask me that- you asked me how my childhood was, was pretty good. I mean, I think it was a good childhood. I got into a lot of trouble. I mean, I was constantly doing something. But, you know, but I'll tell you what, I think one of the things that I think would have helped me more than anything I think is probably if they, if, if teachers then could have understood what they understand now, I think, I think my journey with school would have been a little easier. I think. I don't know that for sure. No, I believe it. I believe it. There's definitely a, a, you know, there's a level of, I sort of the same way and that in that, you know, sit down and you disrupt the class disease was not what I had, but it's, it's what teachers knew. It's all the teachers. Right. And, and, and to, to an extent it's crazy as it is, it's something important. Unfortunately, it's still going on that way. Right. There's still, it's not as, I mean, there's a little bit more understanding, but it's not as big as it ever was. You're right, Peter. So let me ask you this. You're a perfect person to ask this question to. So when I bring this up to people, um, you know, when I, when I'm talking to another entrepreneur or business owner that I'm starting to have conversations to work with, how would you, you know, if you've noticed this about somebody, is it something that you would bring up in that setting? Well, you know, I can tell immediately if someone's ADD or ADHD and I call it ADHDdar, right. It's similar to Gaydar. Right. I, I also believe that, um, you know, there are a lot of people who don't appreciate it to the same level that I do. I have this, you know, I love my ADHD. Right. I think my ADHD is the greatest thing in the world and I love what it can do for me and how it can help me. (I didn't get the entire phone ring removed). But there are a lot of people who have not had that experience yet. And so they sit there and they're kind of like, uh, this is the worst thing in the world. So I don't necessarily bring it up unless the conversation brings itself or lends itself to that. I think a lot of times there, you know, until you know, that answer. Until, you know, that answer. I tend to be a little quiet. But not labeled probably because there is, I mean, you know, this was a lot of into negative labels around ADHD and delight you because I understand my ADHD it is a super power because I understand what I really suck at. I'm getting what I am just not going to need no matter what, the reason behind it, there are certain things, Peter, I'm just not going to do period. No, a hundred percent. And I think that we get used to what we know and used to what we're good at. And, and we learn to be what were we learned to do what we're good at better and ignore, you know, or, or in this case pass off what we're not good at. But you know, so my wonder and I'm, like I said, I've interviewed a lot of people and I, I found, and this is just my observation, that a lot of people in a lot of people that I interviewed, just feel like that the information they have about ADHD is really not worth a whole lot because they have ADHD themselves. And I think it's a common misconception also outside that with salespeople is same thing. Right? A lot of people think that salespeople are shady or shitty or are slimy or whatever you want to call it, but that's just a common misconception. That's just not the truth. Well, except, I mean, there are certain, there are look there's there's truths to every reality and there's false. There's falses in every reality right? There are a lot of people there a lot. I've met a lot of sales guys who are incredibly slimy and I wouldn't wanna work, but I've also met some of the nicest people in the world. So I think it's the same thing with ADHD. I mean, I've met people who use ADHD to their advantage and they're still assholes. I think people use. Right. So it's, you know, there's two sides to every single conceivable coin in the world. I think that that labeling people in any capacity, right. Call me ADHD, but I'm so much more than just that. Right? I think everyone is so much more than just that. So at the end of the day, you know, I don't know if the labels help. I don't know either, but I tell you one label that did help me and you'll find, you might find this interesting is; when I uncovered what rejection sensitivity meant. And I didn't know that that's not even a, I saw even a medical term. I don't believe, uh, I don't think it's in. I don't think you would know the answer to that. I would not. I identify with that shit boo, big time, big time. I don't, I don't get to, I'm not a victim, but I understand now why sometimes I might receive what, what Peter says to me, to hurt my feelings. So to speak. And if I know that, guess what, I can be prepared for that and I can handle it with more emotional intelligence. I agree. I agree. I think a lot, again, also understanding sort of the way the brain works in that regard. Not everything is going to be an insult, or even meant as an insult. And there've been countless times when I have been in situations where I'm like, okay, I think I, a couple of. Um, I'm walking down the street. I'm not feeling great about myself and I, I I'm looking at my phone. I could see me as I passed some guy. I don't even look at him and him go Jesus. And my first thought is, oh, wow. He really saw how fat I feel today. Right. That's ridiculous. It totally didn't happen. But our brains are designed in such a way that yeah, we're gonna go to the worst possible. So, no, that's not always the case. Yeah, that's, that's a great point. That is a great point. And you're right. There are always, everything is subjective, right? It just depends on who's looking at it and how they're looking at and how they're feeling that day. It could always be a different answer, you know? A hundred percent, a hundred percent. Very cool. How can people find you and get more about you? www.CoreyBerrier.com and on the socials @CoreyBerrier on INSTA  Facebook YouTube and https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreysalescoach/ on LinkedIn Also via his podcasts: “Successful Life Podcast” and ADHD SALES LEGENDS— Sure. So you can go to my website, CoreyBerrier.com. You could follow me on all the social channels @CoryBerrier And I'm going to, uh, I'm going to send you a link. Uh, Peter, I don't know if it's okay. I need to ask you before. If we can, if I can send you a link to a download it all it is it's just a competence is for ADHD people just to help your confidence. That's all it is. It's as part of the stuff that I work with people on, uh, it's a very, very small part of what I work people with people on, but I would also argue that it's maybe one of the most important things that I work with people on. Please do. We'll we'll include it in the show notes. Sure. Thanks my man. Well, Peter, thank you so much. I really appreciate this. It's been great. The pleasure was mine. Corey, thank you so much for taking the time. I appreciate it guys….leave us a review. If you think you want to be on the podcast, shoot us a note peter@shankman.com We will see you next week with a brand new episode. It's so great to have you. And it's so great to be back recording again in the studio. Talk to you guys soon, take care. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

Nicki Maher has made a name for herself through her can-do approach to business. Her reputation as a “people advocate” is apparent, as are her main beliefs are a in the power of human connection and the ability to form meaningful and lasting bonds in business. Maybe this is why she's become such a successful voice on social media. Today we learn why and how Nicki Maher made her pivot- Enjoy! A bit more about Nicki:  Nicki's management career started in the travel industry where she earned the title of “top business development manager” in Travel Agent Magazine while representing global brand, Royal Caribbean International. In 2010, she began a rewarding career with jewelry and lifestyle brand, ALEX AND ANI, at their vice president of sales, serving as the right hand to the founder, creative director and CEO. Under this title, Nicki was responsible for building the foundation for a soon-to-be exploding omni-channel business. Along with focus of sales strategy, Nicki led efforts around strategic partnerships, licensing and all corporate social responsibility efforts. During her time at ALEX AND ANI, the company grew from $2.7 million in 2010 to more than $500 million in 2014. This growth was soon recognized by Forbes Inc. 500, Digiday and many other publications. Under the leadership of Nicki and her peers, the company grew from one retail location to more than 90, supported over 1,500 nonprofit organizations, and led more than 1,300 employee volunteer hours. The company also donated more than $48 million to charity through the award-winning CHARITY BY DESIGN division, which Nicki led and grew from its infancy. Nicki was promoted to senior vice president in 2015, just after returning from maternity leave with her firstborn, Leila Louise. Under her watch came company-wide partnerships, community relations, corporate social responsibility and employee engagement efforts. Today, Nicki is the founder of Nicki Marie Inc, where she works with brands and thought leaders whose mission is beyond the brand or product that they are selling. She serves as a brand advisor and offers services in social impact programming, digital storytelling and internal culture strategy. She is also a social media digital influential creator with over over 1.8M organically grown followers. Here, she shares daily bits of life, humor and home within her modern day world of "motherhood reinvented" after divorce, loss of job and overall change of direction. Here, she is stripped down from all "titles”, reminding others that it doesn't have to be the seat in the board room, or the nuclear family that defines you, but the foundation you have build at home when everything else fell apart, that matters most. The rest is the cherry on top. In this episode Peter and Nicki discuss:  00:46 - A slider 1:42 - On traveling recently 2:03 - Intro and welcome Nicki Maher! 3:48 - So why the career switch and how did you did you make it? Ref: Alex and Ani 7:15 - When were you diagnosed, were you diagnosed? 9:09 - Where did you grow up? 9:28 - A lot of parents don't want kids to just be themselves- they want them to fit in; how have you been relating to your own kids? 11:00 - On a mesh of parenting styles 11:58 - Parents have to grow too.. 12:38 - Less perfection, more acceptance 13:05 - What do you tell other parents if/when they get misunderstood or misrepresented on Social Media? 15:13 - On handeling comment sections 16:20 - On the foundation of family 17:30 - Knowing your strengths and communicating with your kids 18:00 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? @NickiMarieInc on Twitter + INSTA @NickiUnplugged on TikTok and on her podcast Homebase with Nicki 18:40 - Thank you Nicki! Guys, as always, we are here for you and we love the responses and the notes that we get from you; so please continue to do that! Tell us who you want to hear on the podcast, anything at all; we'd love to know.  Leave us a review on any of the places you get your podcasts, and if you ever need our help I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! 19:10 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits — TRANSCRIPT: ‘Sup yo! Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal! My name is Peter Shankman. We have travel on the agenda today, which thank God, because I tell ya I.. pre COVID man, I was doing about 350,000 miles a year. Uh, and then it just stopped. All right. If you use a skydiving analogy, when you, when you open your parachute, you go at like 120 miles an hour, you open your parachute and they have this it's called a slider, and a slider comes down the lines of the parachute buffered by the wind. So it's slowly comes down because the wind is pushing you. And it sort of slows you down as the parachute opens, because if you didn't have a slider, you'd go from 120 miles an hour to about five miles an hour in about half a second. And that would hurt. Imagine doing that in the car. I've done that before in a parachute, broke two ribs in the process. So what.. up because when COVID hit, it was essentially like opening my parachute without a slider. I went for 300,000 miles a year to zero overnight and that shit just sucked. That was truly horrible. I don't recommend that at all. Fortunately, travel seems to be coming back now. And I think we are at the point where we can safely say that people are traveling. I've been on planes I was in, I was in the hell, was that I was in South Africa a few weeks ago. And it was like, people hadn't even heard of Covid, so they were wearing their masks, but you know, flying down there 14 hours, 16 hours on the plane was, it was kind of like normal. So it felt pretty good. Anyway, that's where we are right now. And we have someone on the podcast to talk about that we're talking to Nikki Mayer, my pronouncing that right. It's Mar Mar Nickie, Maher. All right, cool. That's all right, Nikki. So Nicki Maher has been in travel forever. Um, she's a reputation as a people advocate. I love that. S he started in travel. She started out Director of Development manager, travel agent magazine. She was at Royal Caribbean. We all know them, cruise people. Um, she worked for Alex & Ani. What else do you do? She founded  NikkiMarieInc. She works with brands and thought leaders, her mission is to serve and beyond the brand of product they're selling. She's a brand. She's a social media influencer. Ooh, stop using that term. You're hurting America when you use that term. Oh wait Social Media influencer, it gets even worse. You've got over 1.8 organically grown followers. Organically grown followers is like something out of the Matrix where they're literally like you're growing people. You have 1.8 million. Yeah, you didn't buy them. I didn't buy them. Nope. She talks about she, she has daily bits of her life, humor and home with her modern day world of motherhood reinvented after divorce, loss of job and overall change of directions here, she is stripped out from all titles, reminding others that it doesn't have to be the seat in the boardroom where the nuclear family defines foundation you built at home when everything else falls apart. Now, this is granted an ADHD podcast and ADD podcast. And we talk about that all the time. I think sometimes it's fun to bring in someone else who may or may not be neurodiverse, but has a different perspective on life. I found you, um, I believe, cause I was following you on, on, on one of your socials, right? Yes. Yeah. Somebody connected us. Somebody said you two have to meet because I was doing some ADHD mama content. That's right. So Nikki, tell us what it was like. You're working in corporate, you're working for global tourism boards, things like that. Major tourism companies. Now out on your your own ADHD, mom running content, things like that. What prompted the shift? How'd you do it? How scary was it? And talk to us about how that happened. Okay. I mean, it was, so I love the question because it does sound show massive. It sounds like, oh, she went from corporate life to motherhood to, you know, influencer and I'm with you on that word, by the way, we need to reinvent the wheel on that word. Um, so I was just, I mean, I'll just jump back to 2017. I was working for a very fast growing jewelry brand. I was with Alex and Ani. I was one of the first six employees there. So very, um, homegrown family business to all of a sudden, within my four years, first four years there, we were on red carpets. We were sitting with celebs. We were, you know, our founder was on the cover of Forbes and I was one of her right-hand girls. So it all, um, went fast and furious. I had my daughter in 2014. Go back from maternity leave after having her and got a big promotion. And I was like, wait, this isn't the stuff they write about in the books. Right? Like Sheryl Sandberg is talking about like lean in. And, uh, as a woman and going for the, the seat and I'm it's happening for me. And then jump ahead to having my son, my son was a twin. Um, we lost his twin sister Gracie a week before delivery. It was a really difficult time in my life. And, um, listen, it's what made me the mother that I am, I was back in the corporate seat, doing all these amazing things I had, like the dream job. What people think is the dream job. You've got the, you know, the big seat, you were leaning in. And, um, I just wanted to be in that home. I wanted to be with my kids. I didn't want someone else to be home with them on sick days. I didn't want somebody else, you know, getting to pick them up and getting the hug at the end of the day at daycare. So I made a huge shift. I shocked a lot of people. Um, cause when I got back from that maternity leave for my son, it was a complete 180 from what I felt when I got back from my maternity leave with my daughter. Um, the changing of was becoming more political. There were more big, bad, you know, um, resume people in there and it was no longer for me. So made the jump, um, started consulting and I was like, see, I'm proof. You can, you can consult. You can create your own world of magic with your business knowledge and make just as much money as working for the big dog. And, um, and you know, jokes on me then came a really, really difficult divorce. Um, a really difficult COVID and I all of a sudden was home with a three and five-year-old went on to good old tech talk just to learn the app because some of my clients business-wise would ask about it and, um, just started sharing myself and a lot of my add ADHD-isms. And, uh, here I am with a following and able to kind of reinvent myself in the world of digital today. I guess. I still haven't figured it all out. I sound so much more buttoned up than what this originally is in real life, but that's specific. Talk about the ADHD aspect of it, because here you are, um, you know, right-hand person to a, you know, a multi-million dollar company is growing and growing, growing. When were you diagnosed? Did you use it to your advantage? How did you know you have it? What kind of response was it? Yeah. So I was never, I mean, I was an 80 blue collar kid eighties, right. So our parents weren't like, oh, you're, um, you're having trouble focusing and you're having trouble in school. It was more like, this is who you are, girl own it don't let anybody tell you or, or, or sit down and disrupting the class. Yeah. And I'd get social butterfly and chatterbox on my report cards. And it was like, my, my grandparents would laugh about it. They'd like, okay, really? Like, we didn't know that already. So, um, jump ahead your grad school. And I, I had, um, I had a lot of trouble with school, actually jump back. middle school. Seventh, eighth grade really started having a hard time. Ninth grade. I failed D's and an F in every single subject. And what, in my mind, What did my mom do? Took away basketball all this winter. You know, like the Italian mom, like. Worst thing you could do to a kid. take all the dopamine away now you're really in trouble. So, um, I just was more social driven and more sports driven. I ended up, um, being able, why I got through school so well was I was able to dive fully into my athleticism. Um, so she took away basketball, but it led me to track. I became, um, I was second in New England shotput thrower. Yeah, all state, all state track, All-American softball player and Allstate field hockey player. I had a full ride to UConn for field hockey. So tell me about, I mean, ADHD, you got to find what works for you. Where in Massachusetts are you from? Um, Somerset, Massachusetts. So Southeast. Yeah, I was a BU kid. So small town and, um, sports was my. Social, friends and sports was what made me thrive. And I just dug in and luckily I had the type of family that let me try all different things until I landed in something so that's how I'm trying to be with my kids. It's like, you've got to find your shit. And talk about that for say, because a lot of parents, especially growing up and even today, right? A lot of parents are afraid to let their kids be themselves. Right. There's still this aspect of it's changing a little bit, but there's still this aspect of, of, oh, if you don't fit in, that's going to cause you trouble down the road you know, I think you and I are living proof of the fact that not fitting into will be the best thing that ever happened to you. But, you know, I'm seeing, I see in my daughter school, for instance, there are, you know, and it's just, it's just, I think it just continues throughout time. There are cliques and there are the cool kids in there, the, the, the nerdy kids and their, this and that, you know, and, and I keep telling my daughter, it doesn't matter what you are, be yourself, you know? And that's a hard lesson to teach, especially when you have a child with ADHD or ADD or anything like that, where there, or where you are. And you try to say, well, you know, I know I'm weird, but it's okay. You know, what have you been telling your kids about that? I wouldn't even say, have you had. So I just, I, I just get a TikTok relate it to a TikTok because when a Tiktok talks go viral or whatever, they get the legs behind them, it's because they're relatable. Right? So I yesterday did a post where my daughter is seven years old. I was the biggest tomboy Peter. And, um, my daughter was wearing these like, press on glam nails. I'm talking like the nails, like the Cardi B level nails. And I have a video of she's doing her homework and she's clicking the nails on the pencil and my face and my hot mom, mass bun and my coffee cup and my like no makeup. And my hoodie. And I take a screenshot of myself with the face, like what is going on and the whole thing. And I put, as the caption, I said, when the tomboy mom gets to raise a glam squad daughter, that's right. So I left, I absolutely I'm here to keep them alive and to teach them right and wrong. I am not here to teach them who to be or what they're into. So I not identify with any one parenting style. I identify with a mishmash of everything, including the way I was raised. They're not going to be eighties kids. They're not going to be in the neighborhood, playing with everybody, solving their own problems after school every day. But if it's the new modern day of, Hey, you're going to watch some Ted talks, innocently, and you're going to identify with some people or some creativity that you'd like to be part of, then go put the damn nails on as long as you're not wearing them to school. Go ahead. Do mom's makeup? Do the wings get crazy. Make me look like Amy Winehouse. It's all good. I love that though. I mean, that's a great, it's a great attitude to have. So how did you know? I think that, that, again, the issue is you're, you're chill enough that you can have that a lot of parents don't and I think a lot of parents need to understand that there's nothing inherently wrong with that. That's cause a lot of parents haven't found themselves, right. A lot of parents are insecure, that their kid's doing something that they're not sure they're comfortable about. And that's really takes a lot of self love and a lot of self identification to be a parent. In terms of times I flip out at my kids is because it's something that else that's going on in my life. Right. That I didn't think what would make me look like a good mom, but in the grand scheme of things, I think, you know, the positive side, Peter, that I'm seeing on social media is that it's less perfection and it's more acceptance. We're all Artists, and we're all trying to do our best. We're all trying to raise great kids. And I think two years certainly haven't helped. Absolutely. It hasn't helped, but at least it's let us see a different side of social media. That's not the cookie cutter family with the matching outfits on the perfectly decorated front porch. It's like. That's very true. Very true. So, so what do you tell, you know, what do you tell, I guess, other parents, other than just, you know, go for it. What do you tell the parents when they; do you get crap for being the way you are, have you been outed yet for being on TikTok, but you know, at school or whatever. And I know, I know a couple of parents, um, I'm friends with a woman who lives on the west coast, who, uh, was a lot of trouble. She had her job basically evaporate during COVID. She lost her Only Fans and she was making a fortune and she had, you know, on the flip side, she was also a mother. She was running the PTA, all that she was, and she got found out and it was very, very difficult for her. Right. And she's recovered and she's fine now, but you know, there was a time when, when she's like, oh my God, we have to move etc. What, what have you gotten discovered? Have you gotten, are you that weird mom? I mean, I know that I'm the weird dad, I'm the class parent in school and, and, and, uh, you know, none of the parents it's been two years now, none of the parents. So what the hell? That's so funny. Um, the only things that I've gotten mis.. you know, um, I guess, I guess where I've been misunderstood are only two things. One, I sometimes do these, um, I call it like drunken Dunkin. I say hot mess moms run on drunken Dunkin. Right? So. But like a nip in my coffee as just entertaining. And I think when there's people that, that take social media literally, and they take that set 10 second snippet and they ident, they make it my identity, it's like, oh my gosh, I can't believe there are people that would take a cent 10second grain of salt. That's two weeks. It's a ten second out of my two weeks. I barely drank. Yeah, your making me as this, you know, drunken mom, or when my son said he needed help with the F and jam, he was three. He didn't know. I thought it was obvious that he didn't know what the word meant. Hence why I thought it was funny. And I did get a lot of heat for that. I can't believe you staged your son to say that for clout. It's like, really? You don't know me, but I will say if people follow me and they see the whole story, they see there's as much heart as there is humor. Of course. Well, it's funny. I did one of the, um, I did one of the, you know, uh, Instagram rail that was going around for awhile, um, recently about here's how, y'know when you hate someone, everything they do for this job, it says, look at that beach, eating chicken. And it's, it's a very funny bit, and I happen to be recording my daughter. And she said something at the same time, as you would laugh when you heard that, if you were an adult hearing that and it worked perfectly. And so I submitted it, I posted it and it went crazy. People loved it. Right. And the irony was it it wasn't her hearing that she's eight years old. Right. I'm not gonna call my daughter a bitch ever, but it worked perfectly. And so to shut off the comments because everyone was, everyone was liking it and oh my God what kind of .. But then they're gone. Listen, Every song put on Alexa has explicitly or X rating is literally the least of my concerns. If my kids are treating people well, if they're treating their teachers with respect, if they're treating the other players on their sports teams, you know, with inclusivity, like my job's done. Yeah. They say at home or what they hear at home, like that's our private space. Leave us alone. Yeah. I agree with that. So yeah, I am laid back, but I also, you know, I've also got a lot of that old school, which I think people agree with. I've got enough traditional in me, I believe still in traditional family, whether it's nuclear or not. I believe in the tradition of family being your main priority and what you do everything for. And then I'm a modern day mom where it's like, listen, get with the times. I want to be a cool mom. I want my kids to identify with me and come to me on whatever the hell it is in their life. And I think I represent a good balance of both. Um, my friends in real life say that when they're around me, they're like, I need like more of you in my life. I need you to influence me. And what I say to them is my super powers are different than yours in parenting. We all need each other. We're all good at different stuff. So don't compare because then you'll really be depressed. So I'm never going to have the organized Marie Kondo, stocked fridge and the organized cabinets. It's just not me, but I'll play a mean game of Barbie with you. Exactly. I think at the end of the day, that's what, that's what we have to teach our kids is to understand that, you know, everyone's different. And just because we're not what people think is perfect doesn't mean we're that way, Absolutely. Absolutely. And you gotta, you gotta know your deficiencies, right. And if it's attention span, I say to my daughter, I go, did you have a really hard time when the teacher was explaining this? Because I understand when I was in first grade, I had a hard time with this. So let's talk about it. It's I think to talk and to communicate with your kids is the number one most important parenting tip that I have so much more than we give them credit. Yeah. Very, very cool. All right. So how can people find you, tell us your, tell us your socials. *18:00 - How can people find more about you and what you're doing? @NickiMarieInc on Twitter + INSTA @NickiUnplugged on TikTok and on her podcast Homebase with Nicki So Nicki Marie Inc is my Instagram and it's NIC. K I M a R I E I N C. And the Nikki unplugged is my TikTok handle Well, because I didn't expect to have anybody find me on Tik TOK place. Um, so yeah, that's, that's where I'm at. I'm I'm starting a podcast and trying to do these cool things. And then I'm also getting my feet back into the consulting game. So a little bit of everything, which is how us ADD people thrive. Get me on everything coach put me in. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Very cool. Thank you so much for taking the time. Truly appreciate it guys. We were talking to Nikki Maher. I'm gonna screw that last name up no matter how I say it, but we love having you come back again. We'll definitely have you another time. Guys, you've been listening to Faster Than Normal. As always, if you liked what you heard, drop us a note. We'd love to have you on the podcast. And if you have a fun story to tell, ADHD story to tell if you wound up working in corporate and now you're like a TikTok Mom, let us know. We'd love to talk to you. We'll see you guys next week. Thanks for listening as always ADHD, it's a gift, not a curse. If you know how to use it, take care. — Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!