PODCAST. An ADHD Journey of Coaching, Entrepreneurship, and Embracing Neurodiversity with Rob Hatch.
Our ADHD Adult podcast, Wise Squirrels, features an interview with Rob Hatch. Rob Hatch is the author of the best-selling book, “Attention! The power of simple decisions in a distracted world.” He coaches business leaders through critical transitions. Hatch is the co-founder and President of Owner Media Group. He is dedicated to helping individuals and teams improve their work through group coaching, courses, and business advisory services.
Episode Highlights:
Rob Hatch has a unique perspective on ADHD, coaching, and decision-making. Rob shared his experiences and thoughts on embracing neurodiversity, the power of simple decisions, and the challenges of staying focused in a distractible world.
Embracing Neurodiversity: Rob discussed his personal journey of discovering his ADHD and how it led him to embrace neurodiversity. He highlighted the importance of understanding and accepting oneself, even in a society that often values conformity. Rob also shared his insights into coaching individuals with ADHD and how he helps them leverage their strengths to succeed.
The Power of Simple Decisions: In this segment, Rob delved into the concept of simple decisions and their impact on productivity and focus. He shared his unique perspective on decision-making, particularly for individuals with ADHD. Rob emphasized that making simple decisions can help reduce overwhelm and increase productivity, leading to better outcomes in both personal and professional life. They also discussed the challenges of entrepreneurship, when to quit, and when to push forward.
Staying Focused in a Distractible World: Rob and Dave discussed the challenges of staying focused, especially in a world filled with distractions. Rob recommends preparing the night before using his “Success blocks.” They explored various techniques and strategies that can benefit individuals with ADHD, including Dave’s MIT (Most Important Thing) method. Rob also shared how he manages distractions and stays focused on his coaching practice and writing with his “Action Stacks,” which is a simple plan to keep you focused.
Navigating Multiple Interests and Passions: The conversation continued with Rob sharing his experiences with navigating multiple interests and passions. He spoke about his diverse pursuits, from coaching in various industries. Rob acknowledged that having multiple interests can be overwhelming but also found it essential to his personality and journey.
Reflecting on School and Learning Differences: The episode concluded with Rob and Dave reflecting on their school experiences and how ADHD impacted their academic journeys. They discussed how ADHD traits, like a dislike for tedious homework, can hinder traditional learning environments. Rob and Dave shared insights from their report cards and their challenges as students with ADHD.
Conclusion: In this empowering episode of the Wise Squirrels podcast, Rob Hatch provided valuable insights into ADHD, coaching, and decision-making. His journey of embracing neurodiversity and leveraging simple decisions offers inspiration to anyone facing challenges in a distractible world. Rob's perspective on coaching and learning from success will undoubtedly resonate with individuals seeking personal and professional growth.
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Hey, I'm not sure if you know about this, but I was a speaker and a trainer for Google for nearly six years. In addition to this, I've been a coach through a lot of my career, helping small business owners and entrepreneurs improve their businesses. But now with ADHD, I've learned a lot about helping other wise squirrels like me. Check out the link at wise squirrels.com/coaching
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and book a free session with me to see if I can help you. I have a feeling I can you.
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Dave,
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welcome to Why squirrels. I'm your host. Dave Delaney, my guest today is Rob hatch, the author of the best selling book, attention the power of simple decisions in a distracted world. Rob is not only an accomplished author, but also a renowned executive coach specializing in guiding business leaders through critical transitions. We kick started our conversation by delving into an intriguing aspect of Rob's life, his late adult ADHD diagnosis, and it was a revelation that shaped his perspective and propelled him on a unique path. Rob's educational background in human development and early childhood education, combined with his experiences as a preschool teacher and administrator of a child of child care centers in New England, laid the foundation for his career journey. In addition to his work in education, Rob also ran a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving children with special needs and their families, and it was during this time that he discovered his passion for coaching and human development, leading him to his current role as an executive coach. We dive into Rob's transition from the education sector to coaching and how our shared friend Chris Brogan played a pivotal role in connecting those dots, and we reminisce about the early days of Twitter or x or whatever it's called. Now, we talk about podcasting and social media. One of the key themes of Rob's book is the concept of gaining energy by removing decisions and relying on habits and setting oneself up for success. Rob shares practical strategies like his success blocks and action stacks. And we get into some really great tips for using free tools like Google Keep and Google Sheets. And we also speak about the power of meditation and using Transcendental Meditation specifically. And we explore the intersection of entrepreneurship and knowing when to quit versus when to push forward, as well as the challenges of having multiple interests and hopping from one passion to another. And finally, Rob gives us a glimpse into his upcoming book success frames, which promises to be another insightful exploration of decision making and achieving success. And so I began the conversation today by asking Rob when he first realized he had ADHD. I was diagnosed about 10 more than a decade ago, and got the diagnosis because we were pursuing a diagnosis for my oldest son and all of the things that teachers were saying about him and the experiences he was having just sounded way too familiar. And I started to see myself, and I thought about it like, wait a second, this is maybe I need to pursue it as well. Yeah, and I actually had a around that same time, had a conversation with a good friend who I went to high school with, and he graduated the top of his class a year ahead of me, and went off to Stanford, and
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he
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he, at the time we were chatting, had just, I think, just received an adult diagnosis because his son was being diagnosed, yeah, yeah. And same, same sort of thing. But he was recalling
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being at school, and not in an arrogant way, but he was saying, you know, I'd go to class and I knew I was as smart as the other folks there, and I get home at night and I'd sit down to do my homework, and it just seemed like everyone else could just sit down and get their homework done. And with me, he said, You know, I would sit there and I'd say, Okay, let's, you know, kind of do this. I crack open the book or whatever, and I'd start to study, and then some thought would catch his attention, right? And he'd start to drift off, or he'd get up or something. And this is long before there was a screen to contend with. You know, this is early 90s, yeah. And, you know, he then he'd sort of like, oh, wait, I gotta get back to focusing. And he maybe pull himself back and refocus and and put the effort in again, you know, trying to, like, through sheer force of will, make himself focus on.
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Of the stuff that was going on. And that loop, you know, he said it carried on professionally, and that's when I sort of identified with how he was describing it impacted him as an adult, that constant loop of, Okay, I gotta focus, and I sit down and I try to get going, and might get into it for a little bit, but then something would catch my attention and distract me, and that constant loop of trying to have to pull yourself back and focus, okay, right? Got to get back to it. Got to get back to it. How exhausting that loop is, sometimes, all the time, honestly, yes. And so that's when the bells really started to go off. So I got a diagnosis around that time, my son did, and then many years later, my daughter was also diagnosed,
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and that was what it's, something I actually felt a little guilty about, because we missed it for so long with her. It wasn't until she was in her junior year in high school, I think that she received the diagnosis because it shows up differently for girls. It does, yeah, yeah, it does. It's interesting, yeah, it's, it's, it's very interesting how, yeah, how it does affect you, and how, you know your focus, of course, and, and so you were saying, so, so you were diagnosed, like, 10 years ago. Yeah, so and, and that's in my early 40s. Early 40s, okay, okay, yeah, and so I was just diagnosed at 50. And,
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yeah, it was, it was one of those, like, personally for me it was, it was, you know, my wife is a school teacher, and she teaches, you know, she's a librarian at a school, and she does, she teaches like middle school and elementary students. So she knows, like, you know kids, and she knows every different type of kid under the sun. And of course, they have training and in this, in this type of work. So, so she was always like, you you have ADHD, like she told me so many times, and I was like, Ah, whatever. And, yeah, it finally for me personally, actually, I'm in a mastermind with two other entrepreneur fellas, and the three of us, kind of, we meet once a week for an hour plus, and kind of, you know, riff on our businesses and challenges and blah, blah and and one of them knows me quite well, and I've known him for a long time. The other one I didn't know at all, and the one who didn't know me at all, or I didn't know at all, text me one day, maybe after about a month or two months of these types of meetings, and he just texted me out of the blue. He's like, dude, do you have ADHD?
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And I said no. And he said, I think you do,
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because he also has ADHD so so he's like, No, seriously, like, You should go see your doctor. Tell me a little bit more about your background, because I know you've you've worked in the sort of entrepreneurial digital marketing space for as long as I've known you. What? What was your background before? Before you're working in that industry. Specifically, I worked in the field of early childhood education. I went to school for Human Development and Early Childhood ed. I was a teacher in,
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you know, preschool classrooms, top other classrooms and classrooms for years, and then moved into administration, running childcare centers in and around Massachusetts and in in then overseeing some in,
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you know, out throughout New England. But I my last role before I left all that behind.
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And that was running a nonprofit that served children with special needs and their families. So I've been around it a lot, and I'm sort of surprised that I didn't catch it sooner. But I think with really young children,
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you know, just shows up in very different ways, and you don't, maybe you don't see, you know, like I said in the story I shared with you about my friend, I needed to hear it in the context of my work, you know, or something that sounded familiar. And
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I also think, at the time, 10 years ago, the way in which it was described,
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you know, it was stereotyped. It was this, you know, the overactive, talkative boy, you know, can't focus. You know, whatever you know, whatever stereotypes get laid on it, which is also why girls are harder to diagnose. It tends to be, you know, all the symptoms to get applied to boys and but I, for whatever reason, I just didn't see it in myself. But as soon as I actually, even after diagnosis, you know, I got diagnosed, I got treated, but I still didn't understand it. And really, it's only been in the last, I'd say, four or five years.
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That I've come to understand how it's impacted me more and more,
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just just in the way it shows up, and things that I thought were quirks of mine that turned out to be like, Oh, that's a very common ADHD thing, like having multiple interests, you know, for example. And
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you know, there was a funny little meme that was going around at one point, you know, going to tell me you have ADHD, without telling me you have ADHD. And this guy was, I'll give you my version of it, you know, walking around the house with his video with his phone showing them all right, so here's, here's all the fly fishing gear from when I was really into fly fishing for, you know, several years. Here's my triathlon gear for when I was really into doing triathlons. Here's all my archery stuff. And when I was into that for a while. Here magic cards. Here's my, you know, here's my comic book collection, whatever, yeah, and, and, you know. And I felt obviously very seen, because I, you know, I could see I have all that stuff gathering dust now, because the interest is there and really intense, and then all of a sudden it just goes away. Yeah, you know, like, as much as I want to do all of those things, like the spark is gone, you know, it's hard to restart. So, yeah, I that my background was in early childhood Ed and, you know, I bring that into the work I do today, which is more I, you know, I'm an executive coach, and
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I find that the, you know, the focus of human development obviously comes into play, and it's also very helpful now, knowing what I know about myself and my ADHD,
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one of the One example is that all of my coaching calls are done via audio. I am an auditory processor. I could hear
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inflections in people's voices. I just, you know, there's something about not having the distraction of having to watch them on Zoom or even be in person that I can just really focus on what's being said and really dive into, you know, asking questions and hearing, you know, oh, you said this in the first five minutes, but you said this, you know, 15 minutes later, and now you've just said this, you know. And I'll tie those threads together, my brain seems to work well to hold on to those things, is it? Are you? Is it? I mean, we're, you know, in this sort of pandemic, post pandemic, sort of era where you know everybody and their mother knows how to use Zoom. Do you find that your your clients are are asking or curious why you're not using zoom as opposed or video conferencing, as opposed to audio. I explain it up front, let them know that about I, you know, and I just usually stick to the, you know, I'm an auditory processor, and I can hear things better, and as long as they're comfortable, then we they. I've had no problem. There's been a few who've asked for video calls and I've done them, and it's been just fine. I can make that work. It just comes there's a cost to that for me, in terms of my energy that I have to expend to remain really keyed in on who you know what they're saying, and yeah, and so I just try, at every point throughout my day to arrange things so that I'm not expending costs that I don't have to, yeah, taxing
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my energy? Yeah. I mean, for me personally, as a, you know, as a speaker, and I do a lot of workshops and keynote presentations and things like that, a lot of you know, certainly virtually speaking. Of course, all of that is on over, you know, video, zoom, what have you. But I've actually learned quite a lot about using video. Well, first of all, I should back this up by saying I like your approach, and I think that's a better way to do it. And personally, speaking as a as a podcaster, I am a old school podcaster. I started, started shows, started podcasting in oh five and so, but it's always been audio, and I'm kind of a purist that way, like we're recording this right now over audio only and no video, and I think you just have a better you can have a better conversation that way. But I was going to mention with the video calls, one thing that I've learned, and something that when I when I teach people how to have better zoom calls or virtual presentations, it's to turn off your yourself view, turn off your own camera, or not turn off the camera, but turn off your view of yourself, because
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there's even studies now that show that that is part of what is soul sucking when you're on endless zoom calls, is you end up looking at yourself. And I use the analogy of like Flavor Flav, from public enemy with his, with his, you know, his clock around his, around his neck, like a necklace. And instead, picture like meeting somebody in a hallway. But even Flavor Flav, let's say, but instead, it's a mirror, and it would just be so biz.
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Are to talk to somebody while looking at yourself, and that's exactly what's happening. And so these studies have shown that they do like looking at yourself all day. Can certainly make you lose energy, and it's especially difficult for women, apparently, from studies that have shown that because women typically generalizing. But according to the studies I've read it, read about this, women are more judgmental of themselves, more self critical and from their appearance. And so either way, you're staring at yourself. And so instead, like of your you know beforehand, yes, you can turn it on, check for the spinach in the teeth, turn it off, and away you go. But yeah, having it off is definitely a big, a big benefit, so you're not staring at yourself. Yeah, I only learned about that in the last year or so, I'd say, because I do lead work, some workshops virtually and obviously having to be on video, that's it's not that I can't do it or won't do it, like
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I said, there's a cost to doing it that way, but energy costs. But I, and I lead a monthly mastermind with with a group of small business owners, and that, you know, twice a month I'm on video that way, and you're right, turning that off has been a game changer, for sure, just the amount I can really feel like I can put into watching reactions of other people, rather than just catching a glimpse of yourself. Yeah, and tell me a little bit so at some point you made a pivot out of, you know, Child Services, or, you know, early childhood development, into sort of more of your your coaching and entrepreneurial work. Tell me about, like, what that that was like, and did ADHD play a part in that transition? Obviously, it was part of your operating system, and still is like me. But Did, did that was the timing around that time that you did, like 10 years ago, or tell me about that. We'll be right back. Why squirrels is brought to you by 10x conference coaching from future fourth Have you ever attended a conference with no plan at all, only to return after the conference to your office and you have a pile of business cards sitting there on your desk for months. You might have some down there right now. I get it. We get busy when we get back to work. We're catching up from being out of the office or being away. There's a whole lot of money that's spent in attending and sponsoring and exhibiting at conferences and trade shows and summits. If you want to maximize the return on your investment of your next conference, check out 10x conference coaching. Stop wasting your money by learning everything you need to know before, during and after your next big event. It's 10x conference coaching from future fourth and why squirrels get your first free session today at 10x cc.com that's the number 10x cc.com and now back to the show. No, it was a little before the diagnosis. Actually, I was pulled away by my good friend Chris Brogan.
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He was really taking off after his his first book trust agents with Julian Smith, and, you know, getting busy and on the road, and we were, we've been friends since grade school, and we're chatting. We've been kind of coaching each other for years, and he approached me to see if I would come help him run his organization, as things were kind of taken off. And at first I said no, because I loved what I did. And then eventually, just I needed to find a way to
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be able to embrace kind of a mission or a focus to it, rather than just sort of leaving something, not, you know, what I loved, what I did. I love the mission of what I what I was doing. I loved the organization. And so it really had to have some meaning for me. And I was able to figure that out. And and then, yeah, I worked with Chris for about 11, you know, 12 years, I think, and,
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and so we ran a business together, and, you know, created courses and webinars and all of that stuff. And I started doing more writing myself and and created courses of of my own and coaching and things like that. Chris and I go way back as well. And, and
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we met in oh seven, no Oh, oh seven or oh eight at the podcast New Media Expo. I, I mentioned earlier being kind of old school with podcasting, and certainly that was definitely one of those old school events. And we, we, we knew each other on Twitter, I think, and then met in person at the.
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Conference for the first time, and, and you know, Jillian Smith, his co author of trust agents, was also there. And I've known Julian since oh four or oh five, because we're both Canadian, and also we're pretty heavy into the Canadian podcast community there. So yeah, yeah, both, both are those early days of Twitter,
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just to fit, you know, like Chris used, they used to call Chris the mayor of the internet at that, you know, yeah, he used to wear that hat, yes, when you go to events and and there was just, it was such a, I mean, there's still people like you said, you there's so many relationships from just that time period, you
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know, where where we ended up getting connected. Well, I do think, too, like reflecting on, on that time of, kind of the early days of of social networks and so social media, when it was, you know, social networking and, and, you know, new media, and even before that, with BBSs, but I'm really dating myself now, but, but I found a lot of it was, you know, kind of lonely nerds online trying to find people to connect with and find communities. And we were excited. Certainly, speaking for myself, I was excited about this new these new ways of connecting and meeting people. It
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was just such a cool thing. And then, you know, for them, from those early days of like Twitter, and I'm I started on Twitter in February, oh seven
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of doing like meetups and tweet ups and and going to these conferences where you would meet your your virtual Twitter friends, or your podcast listeners, or, you know, the podcast hosts of the shows you listen to, and you'd meet these people in person for the first time. And I'm a big believer in how proximity builds the relationship, or takes that relationship to the next level. So you can have, like, lots of you know, quote, unquote friends or really, acquaintances online, but once you meet up in person with the hugs, high fives, handshakes. Suddenly that takes that relationship to the next level. And suddenly you're like, oh, in real life,
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it's it really is fascinating. And to see how many people you know, we're so connected in some way, you know, everyone's gone to do gone on to do other things, yeah, you know, so many folks
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you know, can trace their, some of their deep friendships, back to those early days, you know, in professional relationships. And, yeah, it's pretty it's really remarkable. Well, that's, that's definitely something I miss it, you know, in the morning, you know, first thing when I was still working in that organization, getting on Twitter in, you know, like you said, I joined in, I think was February of Oh, seven as well, yeah. And just getting on and doing a like, morning water cooler, you know, and talking with Becky McCray and Jeff bulver and Chris and, you know, you know, CeCe Chapman, just having all these conversations was really fun, yeah, yeah. And all of them have appeared in the many presentations I've delivered over the years talking about this topic specifically. So it's pretty cool. You've written a book that just came out, and it's called attention the power of simple decisions in a distracted world.
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Tell me go first of all, congratulations on writing the book. Yeah, and I must admit, I haven't read it yet, but I'm excited to to grab it and dig in soon enough, tell me a little bit about the book. And yeah, what? Yeah, what are some of the some of the cool things that you've learned and share in the book? So one of the things that I talk about straight away is something I wrote down on a little scrap of paper, and I sure it's still around somewhere, because it was something I sort of hit me and I saved it, and it was just this phrase, put success in your way.
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And the idea being that
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I wanted to
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find a way, you know, if I have to think about
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if I'm in bed, for example, and I want to get out the door to go for a run, the hardest part for me is the space between the bed and the door. Once I'm outside, I'm absolutely fine. And so I wanted to figure out how to
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basically put success in my way and eliminate all the decisions I had to make to get out of the bed and out the door. If I had to think at all about, where's my Where are my shoes, where's my you know, where are my headphones? Where's this, where's that? If I had to think at all about that, my brain would get derailed. If I checked anything, you know, if I picked up my phone and started checking email or social media first thing in the morning, my brain would kind of get derailed. So I started breaking down what that needed to look.
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Like and why that was. And I basically put success in your ways kind of based on three core elements. The first is that
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willpower is is our willpower is limited, that it can deplete throughout the day, that we don't have this endless source, it can be replenished, but over time, throughout the day, it can get taxed. And if I'm going to apply any willpower in a situation, I want to apply it when I'm running, and it's hard, rather than using my willpower to get out the door. And the same with decisions, the more decisions we make, the our ability to make subsequent decisions depletes throughout the day. So when we tax our brain with all sorts of little, tiny decisions,
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we're we're using up our decision making energy, and I'd rather apply those decisions to that decision making energy to bigger things. And the other is just, you know, the power of how, you know, just how, how powerful our ability to form a habit is. It's part of our biological makeup to be able to form habits. And, you know, trying to figure out, how do I make this as simple as tying my shoes, I don't have to think about, you know, do is it? Oh, you know, oh, do I go over the top? Do I go under? You know, I don't just do it, yeah. So the idea of put success in your way was just to eliminate as much of that as possible, remove decisions, remove the need to exert willpower and to make something as
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possible.
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So that's part of the premise of that, and it really came to light for me, when I was away working, actually, it was only on vacation with my family, because it's early on, when I was working with Chris, we said a lot going on, a lot of courses we were launching just, you know, so I still had some even though I was on vacation, I was still having, I still had some work that I needed to get done. And I would get up so as not to, you know, disrupt my family. I got up super early and and
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just chose, like, I just gonna work on these three things. I'm not gonna do anything else. I'll get up early. I won't disturb my family. I'll knock them out. Not gonna check email. Just get those done and move on.
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And I got so much done that week during those little small chunks, they came home, and I worked with a good friend of mine, Becky McCray, who I've been coaching with for years, and just kind of broke down why that was, what made things go so smoothly, why did I feel so productive in that two hour time block, and How can I replicate that at home? So I started to to look at, well, it was, you know, I limited the amount of time. I limited the amount of projects I was working on. I said I would work on three, you know, three for 45 minutes each. I turned off all my distractions. I, you know, made sure there were no interruptions. And
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so I started setting up my day that way as well when I came back. So each night, I would prepare ahead of time, like I I still do this. I at night, I make the decision. I make decisions the night before about what I'm going to work on, what I'm going to start, what are the three most important things. I call it my success block. And in doing that, the decisions made for me I've already I'm not making an emotional decision
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or a decision that's, you know, been distracted by an email that came in because I have a rule not to open my email until after my success block. Ah, nice. So I get, and I call it my success block, because if I get those three things done,
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then even if the rest of the day goes haywire, I will have I determined that that is what success looks like for me. For that day, I still do lots of other work, but at least I've got those three most important things worked on and moved, you know, moved a project forward, or whatnot, so that, you know, that's kind of, you know, in a nutshell, it's a lot of what the book is about. And what I didn't realize at the time, even when I wrote it, is, it came out in 2020
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and even from 2020 to now, understanding my ADHD, I realized that the book is, in many ways, a collection of coping mechanisms
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for keeping me focused
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and and the some of the biggest response were ADHD communities and people who are coaches for ADHD folks. And,
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you know, it's, it's, you know, people who coach on organization and helping, particularly those who are challenged by organizing, like folks with ADHD,
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you have gravitated and spoken highly of the book as well. So at the time, I even though it was called attention.
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And
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I didn't, I still didn't even quite make the, you know, realize, I guess, the how much it resembled, just all the coping mechanisms that have helped me to stay focused. Yeah, I would love to actually do a study or something and find out, like, who like the the ADHD diagnosis, or, of all the of like, all the productivity
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experts you know, like, from David Allen, you know, Mike Varney and Eric Fisher and all these folks to Yeah, to get an idea of like, whether they do or don't. Because, yeah, it certainly seems. It certainly seems that way, because, yeah, I've written quite a lot of, you know, blog posts and newsletters and things over the years. And even in my book new business networking, I write about it too, about different, yeah, like, habit forming, stuff and and focus, and ways to focus and ways to eliminate distraction. And then, yeah, but that was like, like, you or, you know, I didn't really I, it was before I even considered I had ADHD. So it was just kind of, as you said, like coping mechanisms without even realizing it. And what, what I, I would love to hear the results of that study as well. Yeah, I think I mean, and honestly, who better to learn from than someone who struggles but has found something that works and because, and I've had to time and time again, I've written, you know, a weekly newsletter for going on 1213, years now, and I I try really hard to make sure that people don't think that this is easy for me, that I don't have everything figured out. My desk gets messy. My life is not completely and utterly organized. Yeah,
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it's it. It's because it's hard that these things are in place, and is so many little systems that I use to keep me focused. One of my favorites is in this is in the book as well. It's called Action stacks. And Chris and I kind of came up with this together. I'm not sure you know when we did it, but we were chatting one day. And for action stacks is really simple. It's just a simple
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plan to keep you focused on, like, a checklist. Basically, you think of it as, you know, a pre flight checklist, basically, if you're a pilot, right? And for me,
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if I'm, you know, just like with your podcast, I'm sure you know how to do all of the setup, but, and when I was, you know, when we were producing more webinars, I knew how to set everything up and send out all the, you know, set up the automation sequences and send all the notices out and all that. I knew it inside my inside and out. And I could do it,
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you know, from memory. But the way my brain works, I would go step one, step two, step seven. Oh, wait, wait, step step three, step five, you know. And eventually I get it all done, and it would be fine, but I'm expending all this energy trying to remember and make sure and double check. And so I just started creating these little action stacks that anytime I have to do something, even if I know it really well, I just pull it up and I just check the item off as I'm going use Google Keep, because you can use, I don't you know you can use anything, but
33:34
Google Keep has this feature where, as you check things off it, it removes, crosses them off, and drops them to The bottom, and then at the end I can uncheck all and just restores the whole checklist back to the way it was, oh, nice and, and so that, for me, is really helpful. And again, just a way to stay focused on and not turn it into some creative, you know, like setting up a webinar. It doesn't need to be a creative endeavor where I'm like, you know,
34:01
thinking about, Oh, how do I want to do this? This, you know, this time? Like, no, it's simple. It just, just do it in order set it up and move on to more interesting things. So do you do a search on your machine? Or do you have these, like, bookmarked or something where you have, like, webinar action stack or blog post action stack, or what have you? Yep, it's, it's all in Google Keep and they're all labeled and or, you know, or tagged or whatnot. And I just, I do a little type in the name of what I want, and it comes up that's great. Go through it. And I just started, I learned this from, from some folks adding the links to the software. And so instead of just saying, Open zoom, you know, go create the webinar and zoom, I put the link right next to the words create. Let you know. So everything, every piece of software I use in this, in each step, the link is right there to what I need. So just having, it's just such a treat, honestly, yeah, to have what you need available and you.
35:00
Have to search for things. And I always feel great when that's the case. It's like, I always say it's like having a little robot butler and program this to serve me what I need. Yeah. And I like what you were talking about earlier, too, about like, those three things, you know, your success block. I came up with something that that's worked well for me again, yeah. I mean, with, with the, you know, with the note that, yeah, some days I'm, I'm out the window,
35:28
like, distracted by whatever. But it's, I use Google Sheets, and I have a spreadsheet, and I have, like, Monday through Friday on the spreadsheet, and then I have three columns or three rows,
35:42
and it's like, I call them like, my most important thing of the day. So there's three MITs, so there's three most important things, and I write them in, usually the night before, sometimes the morning of, but I'll write the three important, most important things that I have to do in the day. And then I color the cells, like, I fill each cell with like, red, and it's like, you know, in Google Sheets, it's like blood red. It's so dark. And then if I start working on it, I turn it yellow or orange, uh, almost like street lights, right? And then once I, once I've knocked it out and done it, I turn it green to note, to indicate that it's been done. And sometimes, and, you know, I don't get to, I don't get the orange thing finished. So I dropped that down as orange into the next day, until I am able to turn it green. And then I have some other rows for additional notes and some other stuff. But, and I, yeah, I found the the visual, the visual, and it's also bookmarked as my main tab. So when I open I use Chrome, and so when I open the Chrome browser, that's the first tab that opens. Also, I find that helpful. But I like your your method with it. And I also like that the idea of something that I've I've been working on and continue to work on is not checking my email in the morning, which, or, you know, which, because, I mean, talk about, talk about a danger. It's like the swamp of and especially for ADHD minds, it's, you know, I mean, I do all my work, or so much of it in the inbox, and so it just distracts me so badly. So I'm trying to be more proactive there. It's, it's hard. And I, you know, as we've both confessed, not perfect at it, yeah, you know, there are days when I don't follow my rule or whatever. But the other thing that I try to do in there is, you know, I used to work with a guy. His name was Ron hood, and he, you know, he said, If it happens more than more than twice, it needs a system. And he was a natural systems guy, he could build, and just the most elegant, beautiful systems.
37:55
It was, it seemed almost easy for him, but in saying that, you know, I kept thinking, okay, so if I'm, you know, if you and I are emailing more than a handful of times, you're gonna get a label, and you're gonna, you're not gonna hit my inbox anymore. I'm gonna filter you to a place. And so if I get, you know, I had one for Chris when we were working together, and so any emails from him would just they wouldn't even hit my inbox. It would go right there, and those were my priority inboxes. I would check anything from clients, check something from Chris, check something from my wife, but I skipped the inbox entirely so that I didn't have to, because it's about the decisions for me. Every single line that I'm reading, I have to decide, am I opening this or not? Is this important? Is it not? And think about, you know, a line of 20 of those. And even if I'm just glancing, I am making some decision to open them or not to address it now or address it later. And I don't want to do that. I want to, you know, so I keep trying, every month or so, I'll go through and refilter and make sure that everyone's put in their place, and
39:07
just so that it serves the most important folks for me. What stuff still hits the inbox, but fewer? Yeah, so what are some other tips that from your book about, you know, managing, managing time and sort of overcoming decision fatigue, which is something that, you know, I think a lot of us experience in a day.
39:27
My favorite one actually, is the lowest tech one, and it's something I learned from years ago I was taught Transcendental Meditation, the the idea there was, you know, there are thoughts that are going to come up when you're trying to focus, right, you're trying to clear your mind, or whatever, but you there are going to be thoughts that come to your head and and it was this idea of, like, just let them bubble up and let them go, and then kind of gently return, instead of trying to fight it away, yes, just kind of let the thought pass through. And.
40:00
And bubble out of your head. Well, aside from my device or email or notifications, the biggest intruder of my attention is my own mind going, Oh, don't forget to call your mother. Don't forget you've got to make a doctor's appointment. Don't forget you got to call about to call the school about your daughter's meeting, whatever it is. And so as I'm working, I would say to myself, Oh, let me just do this right now before I forget.
40:27
And I
40:29
so I'd end up just jumping around doing all those little, tiny things all day long, and never get to my success block stuff before I had one. Never get to those important, most important things. Now I just so the the taking that concept of letting the thought bubble up. I have a blank piece of paper and a pen next to me, and so I use my blank page to capture those thoughts as they come, so I don't forget them, because I will forget them. Oh, I do the same thing. This is funny. Yeah. Keep going. Sorry, just Yeah. So no, it's, it's so great. Just to, I capture it. And then when I have a free moment, I either put it in, into my little, you know, onto my daily sheet, or wherever I'm going to, you know, to get to, or I'll take care of the call then. But I find that I'm able to return to what I was supposed to be working on,
41:23
rather than, you know, being distracted by the thought, because every time you break attention, you're the cost of what you're what you've lost, and the energy required to get back. Yeah, is so great for me. I think many people, even without ADHD, so yeah, I capture, I'm glad you know, so you do the same thing. It works for you. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. So as I, as I said, because I had my own sort of daily meditation practice, and have have had that since, really, I've dabbled with meditation and mindfulness over the years, but in 2020, with when just that pile of stuff was stressing me out. Decided to go full on and among other things. But yeah, so I started, I got really serious about it, and it's interesting, because I've read how meditation is thought to, you know, thicken your prefrontal cortex of your brain, and so then that's the part of your brain that's involved with focus and planning and impulse control, so and apparently it also raises dopamine levels, which, of course, you know, for those listening with with ADHD, you know, like we're all we're all craving that dopamine that that neurotypical People tend to get really easily, and we're kind of craving it so but I found, yeah, one thing I found, and I talked to friends sometimes. I mean, I never, I'm not preachy about it, but I'll, you know, if I'm talking about meditation with friends, or I have a buddy, and you know, he, he always comes back with the thing that you as a med, as someone who practices meditation, you hear a lot from others, which is, you know, ah, yeah, I tried it, but I couldn't, I couldn't, you know, focus on my breath long enough I couldn't get the thoughts out of my head. So, you know, it just didn't work for me. And to your point, there was a revelation for me in the the guided meditation that I was doing at the time. The the guide explained. He said, You know, if you, if you, if you have a thought like, let it play out like a movie in your head. And what happens when you do that is, rather than then getting annoyed with yourself for thinking about whatever, you just let it roll and let it play out. And what happens is, typically that thought just kind of like a movie, just kind of plays in and ends, and you're like, oh, okay, and then you can just return back to the breath. And it was a revelation for me, because you realize, like these, these deep thoughts that are distracting you from your practice are really just thoughts, and they last mere seconds at that and, you know, and then, yeah, you can just, you can just move on from there.
44:07
And I love that, you know, it
44:11
in the same way we both sort of were given permission, like this is normal, yeah. And I find that's actually been one of the most helpful things about people talking about ADHD and how it shows up for them is, is normalizing. You know, there's certain things that that are frustrating. There's also some things that I love about it,
44:31
but hearing that it's normal, and then it, for me, it stops the
44:41
the self talk that is so negative, the negative self talk, you know, that comes in when you're fighting like, I can't meditate, I can't think, you know, you know, it's not that you can't as you're pointing it out. It's just that, I don't know about you, but I get caught up in this. Here we go again, you know? Yeah, you, you didn't, you didn't follow through.
45:00
Because not only is the meditation frustrating, but then when I quit something like that, I'm frustrated by, you know, frustrated with myself for not following through. And there's so much negative self talk that comes with ADHD that now that I know more about it and understand it more, and I have my systems to support me, I get less frustrated with myself for not being what I think is like everyone else. Or why can't I just like my friend who was saying, you know, how is it that I can't do this homework when everyone else seems to be just doing it easily? Am I, you know, am I not as smart as I think I am? Or, yeah, well, and you know, when we talk about, like, like, self doubt and that kind of thing as it applies to folks with ADHD, especially. But anyone listening, yeah. I mean, I wrote my first book in 2013 and that was a long time before I was diagnosed and treated for for this so and man, like, it was brutal, like, because I was, I mean, I, I had a contract with a publisher. I had, you know, I had chunks of my book due at certain dates, and I was contractually obliged. And, man, it was, it was brutal. It was a really rough not to mention the the natural self doubt and imposter syndrome that that occurs for authors of all stripes and shapes and sizes, you know. And I to the point that I spoke with other friends who are other authors, and I also Googled stuff about self doubt and for authors, and it's very common, but of course, they would all say, yeah, just push through, you know, don't worry about it. You're okay, and that kind of thing. But man, like, yeah, I was without my wife, I never, would have, never would have published or finished the book, let alone that. Tell me a little bit about
46:49
the meditation side. So how did you get into
46:53
meditation, or TM, as it's called, when did you I haven't practiced TM, but, but I have been intrigued by it. I was
47:04
young, 16 or 17 years old, and I had lost my father the age of 15 suddenly, and I my mother,
47:16
you know, very just, unbelievably kind, loving soul that she is, just gave me so much room to explore. And I, you know, I moved out for a little bit, lived with an aunt and and so what part of that she's like, you know, you can do this, but I'd love it if you went to therapy as well. And so it was going to, it was going to therapy, and getting that sort of support and being introduced to it and
47:45
that. So that's when I learned it. But I've not, you know, I go through these sort of fits and spurts of practicing. It comes in handy. I remember what it you know, how to do it. And I, I will return to practice over and over again, but it's not something I still do every single day. You know, without fail, some of the things that are frustrating about it for me is, ideally, you're supposed to do it twice a day for 20 minutes. Wow, and it's, it's always been a very big roadblock for me
48:14
that that idea that there's an ideal rule actually, is always that, not just with meditation, with anything, anytime you must do this, this way, you I can be sure that I'm not going to do that. Yeah,
48:31
and which is why, you know, so I'll finish the answering the question, which is, that's when I learned it, and I've maintained my practice off and on, you know, over the years.
48:42
And it does, you know, when I do it, it really does. It's remarkable the impact that it has when I can find the space and I
48:52
I can feel the shift, you know, after a few, even a few days of getting back into it, I just feel immediately more relaxed. And because, you know, with ADHD, the other fun side effect is it comes with a nice big helping of anxiety. And yeah,
49:08
you know, my brain is you, our brains are always working and working on some problem imagined or otherwise.
49:16
So, yeah, it helps. It definitely helps me to come to mind and stay focused. How does it differ? Oh, sorry, go ahead. No, I was just gonna ask, How is it? How does it differ from, you know, your your standard,
49:32
you know, meditation practice, like you mentioned, and I do understand that it's, yeah, it's two sessions per day, 20 minutes per that or per session. But there is, there's a mantra involved in that mantra is assigned to you, or tell me a little bit about that part there. And I don't know how they do it, how they choose it, but there's this, like, I think there was a gender element, there's an age element, and they have certain
49:58
mantras that are.
50:00
Signed and and I still remember mine, and still use mine.
50:04
And it changes, changed. I've looked them up online, you know, that just to remind myself what it was at one point when I felt like, Am I sure that it was doing the same one, right? And there it was. It wasn't mine individually. It was, you know, there are other people who have that mantra, because they were assigned it at this time. They were of uncertain age or gender or whatever the rules were, but the teacher has taught how to assign that and,
50:32
and so you just, you don't repeat it out loud. You really are just saying it in your mind over and over again
50:41
and and it the idea for me, the way it was explained in both in the teaching. And then I read a book by the founder of it, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I read it around the same time, and that's where I got that description of the, you know, the thought bubbling up. So if you think of it like surface of water, you know, it's kind of rough at the, you know, at the top, with the wind blowing and everything else. And you go down, and then the thought comes up, and you just kind of let the bubble take you to the surface again, and then you gently re enter. And the the key for me has always been the gentleness, because I am, as we were just talking about, I'm very, I can be very hard on myself.
51:23
And so being gentle, returning gently, every time you return after that thought dissipates. It you you go a little deeper, you seem to go a little deeper. And it just gets calmer and calmer. And so that process of letting go and returning, and letting go and returning is just a very gentle process, and you're just saying the mantra in your head over and over again, yeah, it's, it's, it's definitely very interesting to me. And then, you know, I've seen a bunch of ads online lately for David Lynch, the film director, has Yeah, yeah. And I keep seeing these ads, and I'm like, and I love David Lynch's work. So I'm like, Hmm, maybe I should practitioner, yeah, and, and Jerry Seinfeld, yes. So a famous practitioner, yeah, yeah. He speaks very highly of it as well, yeah, yeah. And,
52:16
you know, it's all also where, you know, the Beatles famously visited with
52:21
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi way back in the 60s. I don't know that they continue to practice or and any of the survivor beetles continue to practice that. But,
52:31
yeah, it was very popular for a while,
52:35
and a lot of famous folks, it seems, have found their way to it. Well, I'll let you know. If you know when I'm speaking with Paul McCartney on the podcast, I'll let you know what he says. Yeah. Someone said, Hello. By the way, it's been a while, so a little while back, you mentioned, you mentioned what you know, what you love about ADHD, tell me. Tell me some of the traits, or the the things that you that you do like about ADHD.
53:07
Well, I
53:09
it actually goes back to the way that I like to coach too, which is, you know, being an auditory processor, like, when I can really focus on what someone's saying, and I'm, I'm working with someone,
53:22
it's, I don't know how to also describe it, other than to say it's just, it's exciting, and things light up when I'm hearing people say things, and the connections that I'm seeing in what they're saying. And I attribute that to my ADHD and just sort of being able to
53:42
think broadly or
53:46
not be confined to one way of thinking. I think that's that's an aspect of ADHD is because you have a lot of interests,
53:58
or I do because it sort of has driven a lot of interests. I feel like I can step into a room and have a reasonably
54:08
meaningful conversation with anyone, just or listen to them and kind of understand what they're talking about, even if I don't know a lot about the topic. Yeah, I can get there pretty quickly. And it feels I attribute that to just the ADHD mind, and it's always been very fun for me to do that and just be able to sit in there in a space and just listen, you know, a lot with my coaching practice, I just sat down recently and listed
54:38
all the different industries that I've coached in, and we're crawling up towards 80 different industries, like, I don't know, you know anything about these in just, you know, many of these industries, you know. And yet, you know, we I can help someone you know, and you know, in make a decision, yeah, or put them in a.
55:00
Position where they feel confident about a decision just by listening to what they're saying. That's a lot of fun for me. Yeah, I find that interesting too. You know, a lot of the, a lot of the advice you hear in in entrepreneurship and, you know,
55:15
public speaking, certainly, as well as kind of niching down and finding your niche and all this stuff. But at the same time, you know, I've kind of landed on, sort of ultimately helping people with communication skills, but and that could become, that could come through multiple ways, through like presentation skills or public speaking, or whatever it is,
55:34
but I have, I have found that, like my message my messages, while I do hone my presentations and training for specific industries. Still, it's, it's, ultimately, it's pretty agnostic to industries. You know, I'm kind of pretty broad that way. And I think, yeah, to your point, I think, I think that's part of it, something else that I was that I've struggled with and actually mentioned online a few times to folks and never really got, never really heard what I wanted to hear, which was, and this is pre ADHD in the conversation, but
56:10
you know, I will, I'll go to a restaurant and have a great meal and be like, Man, I want to learn how to cook better. Like, I want to improve my cooking skills and and get home and then, and then I'll put on the TV, like, even as a little kid, I would go see like, let's say, Superman, and I would be running around after like, Superman, learning, trying to figure out how to fly. And, you know, and yes, and I'm like this all the time, where I see something of interest.
56:36
Last year, I did six open mics, comedy sets in six weeks and started experimenting with stand up comedy. Comedy has always been something that I've done in improv, like I've done a lot of improv, and that plays into some of the training I do. But, you know, I never done stand up, and so I started doing stand up, and then I kind of fizzled out a little bit. And I find this happens with me all the time. I start something and then it kind of, I get bored of it, or I get distracted, and then it's gone again, and then it's like, up and but when you when you work for yourself,
57:11
part of the the challenge of running your own business is letting your friends family network know what you do, so that they can recommend you. And when they don't know. I remember, I was on a panel once with another digital marketing name,
57:26
popular fella on the panel, and he had come, we were doing a panel, and he had commented, like, look at his. Like to me, look at his, his Twitter feed. Like, nobody knows what the hell he does.
57:37
And it was true, because I'm yeah, there's so many facets to me and so many interests and things. So I don't know if there was a question there, but what are your What are your thoughts there? Well, I think it goes back to, you know, what I sharing with you, that idea is like, I've got fly fishing gear and my canoe over here, and my triathlon stuff. Yes, you know, I hop around from interest to interest in the same way. And I've, I used to be myself up for not following through. There's another one of those sort
58:04
of negative self talk things like, wow, how come I just can't stick with one thing. And then when you start to realize, like, No, this is something. It's a positive, I embrace it now.
58:15
It I think it is. It's what keeps it really interesting for me. And I struggled with the same thing for years. My mother could never describe what I do now that I can just say, you know, most of my focus is being an executive coach and, you know, writing books. So that's that that's given her something to talk about.
58:36
Yeah, it certainly helps. But for years, you know, what do you do? Again, you're online with something, and you do courses and maybe some market, you know, yeah, yep, yeah, whatever you want to make, yeah. And you're like, What day is it? Okay today? I'm, uh, yeah,
58:50
and, and I, I've questioned the same thing about sort of niching down. And I, you know, for me, it was about with the coaching in particular, is just, I want to help people make, you know, good decisions. You know, I want to help them do their work better. That's really how I sort of talk about it now, is, is all my writing? Is I do that in a number of different ways. I do it through writing. I do it through coaching. You know, it's, it's just what I do and putting people in a position to make good, you know, make the best decision for them. You mentioned something about being agnostic about, you know, many things like, I, I don't care what software people use
59:33
when you were describing your
59:36
your system for staying focused on your MITs, I love that you created it as something you know, you studied productivity. You said you have followed and read about it and written about it. But it's for me, none of the systems that other people created ever worked. I could never do things the way that people described.
1:00:00
Them. And it took me years to kind of create, you know, it's not that it's, you know, completely and utterly unique, but I had to find something a way that would work for me, yeah. And that, to me, I think, is also at the core of a lot of folks who are neurodivergent, you know, whether it's ADHD or even folks with autism, that being told exactly what to do sometimes gets in the way. And so we need to, we need more space to kind of figure out our the best way for us and and have a hand in creating what works for us. I think, you know, in the workplace, that's something that I've been focusing on a lot. And the next book that that will be out at the end of this year is called Success frames. And it's really about creating rather than a very rigid formula. Following a formula has never worked for me. But a framework, I can build, a framework, you know, kind of general supports. And there's a flow to what I do, and there's a, you know, I approach things. I can approach certain things in a similar way, and I can adapt that framework to work for me in multiple scenarios. And I find also that I learn more about myself from what went well, yeah, then what went wrong? Like, there's more lesson in success than there is the failure for me. Like, okay, that worked great. I'm gonna keep doing that because it keeps working, yeah, until it, you know, until I need to adapt it in some way.
1:01:37
So, yeah, that, that idea of not being locked into one system, giving people, particularly those with ADHD, some flexibility and some say in the matter of creating something that works for them based on their strengths, their interests, that's when you're going to get the most out of someone. Are there in a workplace, are there? Are there points, especially with somebody with ADHD, are there points to identify when you should quit, when something's not working, or should you stick it out and be patient and keep trying? Like, at what point do you like, you know, take the boat to the dock and call it a day. And, you know, forget about the fishing gear. Like, do you have any any thoughts there on when to when to call it quits?
1:02:24
I That's a it's a really great question. I don't know that I have a trigger for when to call it quits, other than when the interest sort of weans. But I mean, there are times when I know that I need to persist in something, and so I want to give up on something.
1:02:45
You know, if it's a difficult project, my job, my my focus is, how do I how do I make this at least a little bit easier and more enjoyable, particularly if it has to get done? So I don't want to abandon that. But I've never been afraid of just walking away from like, if I'm not interested in something anymore, I'll switch I've switched careers, I've switched jobs, I've switched, you know, you know, you know, passions or interests.
1:03:11
That's always been kind of easy for me to to make that switch, because it's just I find the next interesting thing.
1:03:18
So I don't know, I don't know how to answer the question, I think, as directly as you're asking, yeah, I mean, it's an interesting thing, right? Because, like, we I've brought up podcasting several times here and, you know, and as I mentioned, my wife and I started podcasting, you know, five and we had this parenting podcast. And we did, we did the show on and off for like, three years now, there were some other reasons why we decided to stop doing the show, mainly because our babies were becoming people, and we didn't, we didn't really have their consent to talk about them before they could talk, at least, and so kind of wound things down. But beyond that, I mean, I sometimes think like, you know, there's a lot of different things. I think, like, Oh, man. Like, if we had kept the podcast going since 2005 we'd be like, sitting on a mountain of money right now. We'd be like, Pampers would be paying for our kids to go to college. And, you know, dang, why didn't we, like, why don't we stick it out with that? And, you know, rinse and repeat that, that mind frame for, you know, all sorts of different things that I've done over the years. But, yeah, I'm, you know, I have a few of those as well. And I'm sure
1:04:31
there's an argument to be made for sticking it out, like you said, you know, you could be maybe more financially well off having done that at the same time. You know, at the time you were making that decision, it seems like you, you made it based on the best available information. You made it around, you know your you made it together as a family, yeah, with the interests of your.
1:05:00
Kids in mind, you know, and what you wanted to talk about. And can we, can we continue to do this? And so to me, as long as you can
1:05:10
look at the decision you're making and all the available information is sort of confirming your decision, then what? Why would you persist and force yourself to continue to do something that really isn't, either getting you excited anymore or you've got all indications are that you should probably walk away
1:05:30
and that honestly, that's part of the coaching process that I do is I want to, I can't make a decision for someone, but I want to put them in the best possible position to make a decision with confidence. What information do we need to gather that would help you make a good decision here and and even if the result of the decision is bad, and this is something I've been talking to my daughter about, like,
1:05:56
you can you still might have made the right decision the result, just the result. Is not necessarily an indicator that the decision was bad.
1:06:05
It's just the result, yeah, but based on the available information you have, you could have still made the right decision. Yeah, that's true. That's a good point. Are there any topics or questions that I might have missed asking you as as we wind wind down the conversation today. Rob, oh, we could talk about so many things. I
1:06:26
really appreciate that. Just the opportunity to chat and to talk with someone else who's sort of discovering this at this age and figuring out what what it means for them, I guess I'm curious about you know if, like many folks with ADHD your report card when you were younger, I don't know what the system was like in Canada. Was reflective, and you did you have in a moment where you went, Oh my gosh, this explains so much of my early, you know, early childhood years, not just, you know, the struggles as an adult. Yeah, it's funny. You should ask that actually. So my mom kept my report cards from kindergarten all the way up to high school, or some of high school. That's a different story. I
1:07:13
think the schools probably burn the I might not have lasted in the school long enough to get a report card, but I digress. Yes, all. And so I've had these report cards in a box in my office closet
1:07:26
for 16 years, since we moved to Nashville and and, yeah, my wife and I went when I was diagnosed recently, pretty recently, I was going through some stuff and happened upon them, and so cracked them all open, and we are like laugh. I mean, the poor, poor teachers that I had, but we were just laughing our heads off at the comments, because the comments are all exactly as you would expect. You know, Dave makes bad decisions. Won't sit still. Class Clown, yada yada yada, very bright student, yes, but yeah,
1:07:59
yep, yeah, that was a Robbie is a very I that was a Robbie is a very, very
1:08:03
bright focus. I was just telling
1:08:07
someone yesterday that I was the kid who was moved all or every position next to the teacher, sat by myself, sat with the quiet kids, sat with the talkative kids in the hallway. Didn't matter, yeah, anything, yeah. And there were certain teachers who were more patient than others, but there were a couple along the way that really just had no patience for me, yeah? And i Yeah. I
1:08:32
For them, yes, yeah, no, it was, it was the same for me. In fact, I I failed. I think I probably failed all seven years, and the teacher just put me in the next grade so that they could be done with me. And it was finally my seventh grade teacher, Mr. Riley, Pat Riley, who finally held me back. He's like, he's like, All right, hold on a second.
1:08:56
And he was actually great. He was the type when I first had him,
1:09:01
where I had a detention with him and and it was like very early on, and he'd give me detention for whatever reason. And I thought, I don't know, I don't remember whether I it was like disrespect. And I just said, forget that I'm going home, or whether I actually forgot, which is possible too. But I did go home and skip the detention. And this is, of course, the 1970s so next thing I know, I'm in the basement of my house with my brother watching, you know, Three's Company, probably, and the doorbell rings, and I hear upstairs, my mom answered the door, and she's like, surprised. She's like, Mr. Riley, what can I do for you? And He came in and he said, Oh yeah, David forgot his detention, so I'm here to pick him up. And he drove me back to school.
1:09:48
So, yeah, yeah, school. School was definitely an interesting ride. Her name, yeah, well, I mean it's yeah that. I think a lot of kids with ADHD, just the for me, it was always the.
1:10:00
The busy work that I objected to. Or, again, this sort of gets to the sort of formula stuff, like geometry, like I could get it. I got the concepts, but I had no patience for writing out all the proofs and the work, showing my work and things like that. So kind of like, No, you know, I don't want to follow this rule. I got it, I got it, I got kind of got it, yeah, you know. And of course, they were somewhat right. They were, you know, like, if I, if you get it wrong, I can't show you where you got it wrong, but if you don't show your work, but I hated anything that had to be done that was that didn't make sense to me, or, you know, to do, like, a tedious, you know, homework assignment, busy work, yeah, I never did that, so my grades were not the best, yeah,
1:10:47
yeah. It's, it's funny, when you look back and you're like, oh, yeah, that that does explain a lot. And yeah, certainly that is, that is part of my journey right now.
1:10:57
Rod man, this has been awesome. How can people get a hold of you learn more about what you do buy your book. Yeah. Well, the easiest way is Rob robhatch.com.
1:11:09
Is where I set up shop, and the book is called attention the power of simple decisions in the distract world. You can get that in all the all the Amazon e places and books, other places you buy books, yep, and you know the next book is called Success frames. Why? Learning from success is the key to what motivates and inspires us. So that'll be out, I think, before the end of the year. That's great. Well, thank you so much. This has been a pleasure, and I'll include links to stuff that we talked about here in the show notes so people can click over and check you, check you out. All right. Well, Rob, thanks so much. This has been fun. Dave. Thank you. Thanks for listening to why squirrels. I'm Dave Delaney. The music to the show is unyielding conditioning by the one and only fishbone. And you can find that song and all of fishbones music wherever you stream music. We thank them for this. We love fishbone. Are you a wise squirrel? Visit wisequairls.com to find out, and let's keep the conversation going. I'll see you there. You
1:12:20
it.
1:12:38
Hey, I'm not sure if you know about this, but I was a speaker and a trainer for Google for nearly six years. In addition to this, I've been a coach through a lot of my career, helping small business owners and entrepreneurs improve their businesses. But now with ADHD, I've learned a lot about helping other wise squirrels like me, check out the link at why squirrels.com/coaching,
1:13:06
and book a free session with me to see if I can help you. I have a feeling I can't.
