Boosting Mental Health. ADHD & More. Interview with our Chief Wise Squirrel, Dave Delaney.

Apr 8

Written By Dave

I am honored and thankful to my friend Steve Turney, who runs the Mental Health Marketing Conference, for inviting me to join him on his podcast, The Boost.

I shared a lot of my ADHD story that I haven’t shared elsewhere. We explored the importance of connection, community, and self-awareness. Plus, we chatted about pacing yourself and taking breaks, maximizing ROI at conferences, the creation of ADHD Wise Squirrels, the state of social media and media in general, the importance of in-person engagements, how to create meaningful connections, and much more. I hope you enjoy this.

Chief Wise Squirrel, Dave Delaney The Boost Interview Highlights:

Late Diagnosis and ADHD Advocacy:

Dave discusses his late diagnosis of ADHD and the realization that it explained many aspects of his life.
He shares his motivation for launching Wise Squirrels, a platform aimed at providing support and resources for late-diagnosed adults with ADHD (like you).
Dave explains how he uses his platform, including the ADHD Wise Squirrels podcast to share his experiences and insights, as well as to interview experts and high achievers with ADHD.

The Root Down Presentation:

Dave reflects on his presentation, "The Root Down," which focuses on self-awareness, self-acceptance, and building connections.
He highlights the importance of understanding one's strengths and challenges, as well as the role of networking in personal and professional growth.

Challenges and Strengths of ADHD:

Dave discusses the stigma surrounding ADHD and the need to educate others about it.
He emphasizes the creative and entrepreneurial potential often associated with ADHD, as well as the challenges such as hyperfocus and impulsivity.
Dave shares insights into managing ADHD symptoms through therapy, medication, and self-awareness, while also addressing the risks of untreated ADHD, including addiction and reduced life expectancy.

Navigating Social Media and Mental Health:

The conversation touches on the impact of social media and the news cycle on mental health, as well as the need for responsible legislation and regulation of tech companies.
Dave shares his concerns about misinformation and disinformation online and advocates for a more intentional and mindful approach to social media use.

The Importance of In-Person Connection:

Both Dave and Steve emphasize the value of in-person connections and the positive impact of conferences and networking events.
They discuss the need for intentional networking and follow-up, as well as the role of events in combating loneliness and fostering community.

In this engaging conversation, Dave Delaney shares his personal journey with ADHD and his dedication to raising awareness and supporting others in the ADHD community, fellow Wise Squirrels. From late diagnosis to advocacy efforts, Dave's story is one of resilience, growth, and community-building. Tune into The Boost podcast as Steve and Dave explore the power of connection, self-awareness, and embracing neurodiversity.

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so I started a podcast called ADHD wise squirrels and on the podcast I speak an
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interview uh you know with with both a mix of ADHD experts be it doctors or
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ADHD coaches but then also with high Achievers with ADHD people like uh Dr
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Bob Dempsey who is the former uh director of NASA's International Space Station for 16 years uh before being
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diagnosed with ADHD at 60 um and he has a pretty sweet job these days too so
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it's just interesting to to hear from from folks and to share their stories but also Inspire
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[Music]
0:47
others welcome to the Boost conversations with people promoting mental health and I'm here with a friend
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Dave Delaney and I can't wait to uh talk with Dave and for you to learn about so
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um Dave we'll just turn it to you how are you doing today I am good Steve thank you for
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having me it's a Friday it's uh yeah you know it's it's always good to catch up
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with with a friend so I'm uh I'm in I'm in good spirits I'm I'm glad I realized uh this morning that it is in
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fact Friday um that's what my calendar told me because it's been one of those weeks or maybe months
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where I've been a little foggy on like what exact day it is like I actually shocked my neighbor my buddy yesterday
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because he was like talking about what are you doing on the weekend I'm like oh I don't know I still got a couple days to figure that out I guess and he's like
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it's tomorrow or in two days I guess and uh I was like oh yeah of course and he was
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like no you didn't realize did you so anyway I know what day it is and I am
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happy to be here with you Steve I don't know that's partly a sign of a I'm glad to be with you too and it's partly a
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sign of like That's a classic entrepreneur signal for me is like the person who's like oh it's Friday I've
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got I've Got U maybe like 20% of my work week left you know versus like what are
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we doing tomorrow oh tomorrow is also maybe working some um but uh it's funny
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too because like my wife's a school teacher so she has like a regular job and and many people do and I have had
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them as well and when you have a regular job unless you work on weekends you're like Friday yeah yes I'm out of here you
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know everybody exactly thank you for the
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Canadian uh lover boy reference there as a proud Canadian I uh I will take it
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happily um but yeah so she's excited Friday's like ah for the weekend and I'm like really because I still have some
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work to do like so anyway yeah I've been playing around with this and maybe I
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don't know curious what you think about um like taking Wednesday off or like how
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do you how do you do it when there's so many priorities so much work you've got wise squirrels going on you've got
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future forth we'll get into all the cool projects you're working on and and the why behind it all but like how do you
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pace yourself when you could work seven days a week yeah it's a good question
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I uh or maybe you don't maybe you're like oh no I work seven days a
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week well I mean I I do I do work a lot but at the same time I also know when
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I've run out of steam in a day and and I'm not like a I am a hard worker
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certainly uh as far as like working on a computer goes I'm not like digging holes or something building things like actual
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real work um but at the same time I I struggle with taking time off to do
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things leisurely for myself because I always Envision my wife work working and
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she's a like a school librarian so she is dealing with endless like she gets if
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she's lucky she gets 20 minutes for lunch every day if she's lucky and she she is
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balancing you know faculty with technical problems because Librarians now have to do tech support um she she's
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struggling with you know children you know in and out all day and she runs some classes for them plus you know
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parents and and so it's it's it's an ongoing you know exhausting existence
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for her and she gets home and she's done and so I Envision her and then I'm like
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I I I struggle with it a bit I know I need to do it I need I need to take breaks and go for like walks and and do
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the things but at the same time I'm like picture I picture her and I'm
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like it's hard to give myself permission yeah 20 minute lunches man that's that's
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tough that's tough to fit into a system and a structure like that for me and
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probably a lot of people but yeah kudos to her doing that's hard work that's good work too U my w my my uh wife's a
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healthcare recruiter she's you know all kind of always on my mom was a librarian uh you know also you know kind
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of doing doing that good work and and um not getting nearly enough nearly enough
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Kudos and support for it so yeah yeah well let's get into uh let's get into a
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couple things um because there's so much to cover here I mean you've got you
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you've been podcasting since 2005 since like before people knew what podcasts
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were you were doing it you were blogging uh way ahead of time uh you and I
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connected through an email marketing service provider where we both work together for a while uh but you've got a
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book and a new one on the way you've got uh 10x conference speaking um coaching
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and so there's a lot to touch on hopefully we get into it but I want to give you the kind of the floor to do
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that so let's do the the two questions we do here which is the virtual hug which is your moment of gratitude
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somebody or something you're thankful for and then the Shameless plug where you can tell us what you're working
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on yeah so I mean the the hug is uh will materialized into an actual real hug uh
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because of course it's my wife uh you know just uh setting the stage there you know uh it is my wife I mean she she's
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uh she's an incredibly hard worker she's incredibly dedicated both to to the
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family and and to her work as well teacher of the year again this year well done so you know they they do recognize
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her for her hard work but um yeah so uh I'm I'm very thankful she's a a great
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mom a great a great partner great friend that is a great one yeah that's awesome
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celebrate that and your Shameless plug tell us about the work you're
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doing yeah so you you mentioned a couple things there so um I have a company called future forth and at Future forth
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I do many keynote presentations workshops all around communication skills and I developed something new
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called the 10x conference coaching which has really taken everything I've learned over the years from exibit exhibiting at
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trade shows and conferences being a keynote speaker developing my own content I was a speaker for Google for
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nearly six years um so I've taken all of that all of that and packaged it up in a
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way that I can coach companies to maximize their Roi of sponsoring and exhibiting conferences based on you know
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what is in that sponsorship package um extracting stuff from my own book new business networking so how to you know
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the I talk about the three UPS of of networking showing up following up and catching up and how to do that the right
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way uh so ultimately you know companies spend hundreds thousands you know
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Millions uh exhibiting and sponsoring conferences and so I've dedicated a big
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part of what I do to helping those companies affordably uh maximize those that Roi
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and measure it too um so there's that and then I I'm also doing that that
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little podcast uh I call uh wise squirrels um at WISE squirrel .c and uh
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or the podcast is called ADHD y squirrels but you can get it at Y squirrel. and uh I'm sure maybe we'll
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chat about that too yeah for sure um so the 10x work is uh
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fascinating to me you know I run a conference you spoke at it last year a coup in a couple ways on a panel about
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podcasting and then about ADHD and late diagnosis ADHD which we'll
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get into for sure with wise squirrels but it's cool that you're going to be uh
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helping my conference get better this year by hosting a dinner for sponsors
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the night before things get going because you know we kind of expect
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sponsors to just show up and be ready to roll and ready to go and um and and at
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the same time you know like working that exhibit hall and doing it in a way that
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effective that doesn't always happen and you know sometimes it's down to staff sometimes it's down to strategy um but
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you're going to come in and meet with our sponsors the night before and just give them some some tips and and tools
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and tricks so maybe if there's anybody out in the audience right now like what are some of the basic blocking and
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tackling or the S the basic mistakes that kind of people make when you because you've done so many events and
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and at a high level like what do you see it either the mistakes or or where is it
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done well yeah uh I see it a lot I see really
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I mean a common mistake is just a lack of preparation a lack you know you
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you've done all the things and and this isn't on the conference planners because the conference planners try to arm and
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give the sponsors you know what they need ahead of time but as it gets and
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it's also important to be empathetic to the conference planners too because as you as as you get closer to the
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conference if I've if I'm sponsoring the conference I'm I'm flying my team in I'm
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paying for you know the sponsorship package whatever that includes I've got maybe a booth exhibit hall you know that
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kind of thing maybe I have a speaking gig as well as part of that
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package it oftentimes what happens is suddenly as you're getting closer to the event the sponsor is thinking oh gosh we
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should probably do something should probably plan this and then it gets closer and closer and closer to the
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point where like it's either too late or you just haven't done anything and you just sent your team and just hope for
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the best but I mention it because for the conference planners as I said they often like will
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provide some value but but as it gets closer to the event the conference planners you know your hat spinning on
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your head while you try to like Bal figure everything out and put out all the fires and and you're incredibly busy
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as it gets you get busier and busier and busier as it gets closer and closer not to stress you out like oh god um but you
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know you get busy as and so it's really on the sponsors to to take care of this
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and so often they don't plan so you know when I talk about networking I talk
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about the three UPS of networking showing up following up and catching up and just planning around those three
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things and even preparing ahead of time of course but thinking through like how are you going to show up you know what
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do you need to do to show up and then once you're there what are you going to do and then after the fact how are you
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going to catch up with or excuse me how are you going to follow up with the people that you meet and what does that
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entail and then finally like how are you going to keep in touch with those folks because networking is a two-way street
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it's it's it's planting seeds and if you approach networking like you know I'm gonna sell something to you and you and
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you and you nobody's G to like you nobody's gonna ever want to return your calls or emails
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or anything so it's about providing value but and and like any relationship
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it takes time to build relationships and so you know catching up is part of that process from time to time of just
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checking in and sure yeah we all want to maximize our return on investment of sponsoring conferences but at the same
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time yeah if you approach it in just like you know the the icky you know used
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car car salesperson or whatever like that's that's not going to fly so it's about building relationships and so
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that's what I help yeah there's there's like two ways
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to really swing that pendulum and it's fun to talk with a pro like you because you you know how to do this and how to
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work it but there are um there's like the the lazy uh salesperson approach you
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know they just kind of like kick back in their chair not really engaging maybe they're afraid or nervous which which is
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understandable it's kind of like it's kind of you're exposed out there you know hoping somebody comes and talks to you while you have these incentives
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behind you which are I need to sell something so you know you have these like needs and then you have you know
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your own social dynamics or there's like the pendulum too far which is like very
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aggressive you know uh treating everybody like they're a qualified buyer when the customer journey is very
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different than that you know like some people are just becoming aware of your brand and as an extension of your brand
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and your marketing how do you meet somebody in that place versus somebody who's maybe a a loyal customer and
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looking to Reby or somebody who's thinking about you in the consideration
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set of a of a near-term purchase you know you treat somebody like that very different um so it's important to meet
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people kind of where they are on that Journey uh but it's also true like the
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conference planner like me right now I'm like why
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has not everybody bought their ticket and like you know yeah right why is not
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everybody ready for this conference like well it's seven months away so yeah
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right yeah you want it done you want results oh yeah I want it all done I want like all the speakers to be like
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all ready to go but then like last year I was on a panel and I was like flying
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out I was like oh I should I should probably get a little more prepared you
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know right because I'm going to land in a few hours and then the next day is this conversation and I was ready for it
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but I was like yeah it was just like two different people approaching an event you know so it depends on where you're
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coming from yeah yeah that's true so tell us about um tell us about
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wise squirrels let's get into that um because that's I I think that's really fascinating and maybe just as much as
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you are comfortable sharing kind of what that's about and where it's going yeah I'm uh I'm an open book about
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it so no worries uh so last year um I was last year I was diagnosed
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with ADHD so 50 years old it was before my 51st birthday uh so at 50 I was
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diagnosed with ADHD and of course that that makes a lot of sense in so many
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ways right um and in true ADHD form uh I uh launched a website called y
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squirrels to like open i' I've always been very transparent and and a big uh fan of the open web and and being online
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forever as you mentioned so I just wanted to share what I was going through for other late diagnosed adults so that
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they could you know learn from my experience as well and so I created Y squirrel. and being an early adopter in
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podcasting and a nerd that way I was like I got to do a podcast you know I got to add to this so I started a
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podcast called ADHD y squirrels and on the podcast I speak and interview uh you
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know with with both a mix of ADHD experts be it doctors or ADHD coaches
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but then also with high Achievers with ADHD people like uh Dr Bob Dempsey who
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is the former uh director of NASA's International Space Station for 16 years
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uh before being diagnosed with ADHD at 60 um and he has a pretty sweet job these days too so it's just interesting
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to to hear from from folks and to share their stories but also Inspire others
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and this is how the the presentation The Root Down uh that I did last year uh uh
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uh and uh yeah that that presentation which has come a long way and it it it's
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I developed it to help anybody regardless of their neurotype um and
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it's it's three sections of knowing yourself so understanding your strengths but really there's some strategies there
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of knowing yourself and then respecting yourself and that includes self-acceptance self-love and then the
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third section is connecting yourself and a little bit of networking fits into that as well so how to do the three the
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content from those three sections are for anyone however the threadline story
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of this curriculum is my own late diagnos nois of ADHD sort of my journey
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in life with this um and a big part of it is to help educate people about
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ADHD so that um so that I I can help remove some of the stigmas that are
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involved or hopefully all of them but also celebrate the the strengths of adhders and and also share some of the
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the challenges that we Face uh at work especially um and the I learned
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something not that long ago and I was mentioned it to you Offline that I I I
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learned that for the average person with late diagnosed or excuse me with
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undiagnosed and untreated ADHD not the average person but somebody with
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undiagnosed and untreated ADHD can have a life expectancy of up to 13 years
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less and learning about this made me realize that like what I'm doing is is
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has it's more important than I I even realized and so uh but the podcast is going going great
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and and I'm getting amazing feedback from folks and it's definitely become a labor of love for
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sure that's amazing I mean you yeah you extrapolate this out a
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little bit you know you you help a hundred people in the course of your life and you might
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save 1300 years of life in theory yeah
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Theory yeah I me even if it's an average of that like you're saving you can save hundreds and hundreds of years of
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people's lives by doing what you're doing yeah and not just not just that but also like the the stress that that
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can come with undiagnosed ADHD and I've experienced it firsthand and I know it well which might be the kill might be
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part of the killer right is the stress it is part of the killer yeah it's it's it's so ADHD is a
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comorbidity of or excuse me uh uh like stress or more specifically like anxiety
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and depression and even like bipolar to an extent and OCD to an extent but certainly anxiety and depression are
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both comorbidities of ADHD but often times people go and get treated for the
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let's say it's anxiety they get diagnosed with anxiety they get treated for anxiety but the doctor or whomever
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don't realize that there's a root cause of this and so you can treat the anx all
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you like but it's going to keep coming back because it's it's it's the ADHD
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that's causing the anxiety it's the same with addiction so adhders are pretty prone to addiction and excessiveness and
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that could be excessive eating which can lead to diabetes and poor health um or
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excessiveness in alcohol or drugs or cigarettes or whatever and you know
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obviously that can lead to bad places as well um and so it's it's understanding
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yourself and and and getting treatment whether it's therapy or medication or a combination of both I'm doing the combo
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I got the combo package uh um but doing that can help you understand yourself or
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certainly helps you understand yourself in that way and and again yeah that life expectancy can be affected by by
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addictions and things like that and even and the connect uh the connection part
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of the root down and is about helping to cure loneliness
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and helping to connect people and building and I've got a I have a lot of experience in in building events over
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the years and and networking events and things like that but I've also experienced and do
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still loneliness um a lot and have realized that that loneliness and the
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effects of loneliness are have the same health effects as smoking 50 cigarettes
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a day um so that alone and and again this stuff is a lot of this stuff is
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stuff that we all experience of course um and the difference is that if ADHD is
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causing problems in managing relationships for example or building relationships or sustaining friendships
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or whatever um that can also play a role in this adverse health effects and then of course suicide is also um something
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but I don't know the numbers on that specific [Music] so a big message I'm hearing in there is
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that it's important and not always easy to figure out what's the symptom versus
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what's the disease or what's the cause the root cause um it's not necessarily a disease but I I see that a lot in
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biological health and we're you know moving through this phase
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of of awareness and engagement in mental health like we've never done before and
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so we're learning our way uh and we're learning what's what's wagging the dog
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and what's um what's causing things you know so for anxiety to be something we
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point out be like Oh I'm anxious I'm I have anxiety or you know I have some
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addictive type behaviors that I maybe not controlling or understanding you
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know we could look at the industry and say oh well it's it's a addiction and anxiety is what's going on and not that
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this applies to everybody but what you're saying is in the in the case of some people with
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ADHD that you know those are more or less the symptoms of something that's
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got its roots in something deeper yeah I mean some of it could be hyperfocused right where like it often
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gets misunderstood first of all like ADD and ADHD are the same thing um so that's
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that's one thing that that gets confused and and that people think like the H is like hyperactivity and so if I'm not
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hyperactive well I probably don't have ADHD but but it can include hyperfocus because as a kid you might be more hyper
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hyperactive certainly with boys um uh and and so you're you know I I certainly
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was a case study of that of Class Clown and goofing off and all that um but uh
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so being so being hyperactive as a kid you learn to you know it's called masking or or you know even unknowingly
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doing so without it being diagnosed that as you get older you find other ways to
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to REM to be sort of hyperactive or hyperfocused on things so for example you know you know everybody like
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creators especially are always looking for flow we're always trying to get into that flow state right where you just
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lose yourself in the work well adhders do that a lot not all but a lot of them
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do so but but the difference is that they may get so into the Weeds on
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something that they forget to eat or that time goes by or that it's not the
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thing that they should be focused on today it should be on the thing that's gonna like actually make
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money um that that's part of my story
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uh um so I'm definitely guilty of that but you end up like spending all this time hyperfocused on something that like
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maybe you should cut back back and then the other part of that is is you hit these weird walls of of like knowing what you need
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to do but not doing that thing for whatever reason it's it's it's
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interesting it's like this block of of stopping you and so for years I go back through all my old journals and things
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and it's like do this this and this to grow my business and written in different ways over the years and never
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really doing like one or two of the things um so anyway yeah there's a lot
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there's a lot there and so really my goal and again it's not all like Doom and Gloom and oh you know we're all
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going to die uh or anything like that I mean you know I'm I'm uh I'm an open
26:11
book in the podcast and my you know it's a lot of we have a lot of laughs it's it's often very funny and um yeah
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because you know a lot of my my story is is pretty hilarious tragically hilarious at moments I guess but uh but knowing
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what I know now it it all all it all makes sense well you're you're funny you
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just have natural humor um and uh and
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then yeah sometimes you know some of the best standup comedians like you peel back the layer and it's like oh wow it's
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like really some tough times that we're uh doing some masking that way maybe
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with like the pain pain we're dealing with in some cases well yeah and it's
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interesting too with ADHD because adhders tend to be quite creative um and and you look at like and they
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take risks right good or bad so you look at like a lot of standup Comics um like
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Howe Mandel's a big one that that you know he's he's gone on obviously to other things but he's very open about his ADHD Jim Carrey is another one very
27:15
open about his ADHD um and so there's plenty of like you know actors and
27:20
creatives um who have ADHD same with Entre entrepreneurs um so there's plenty
27:25
of entrepreneurs Who start business businesses they're they're they're risk adverse they just do it and then you
27:32
look at like Richard Branson from Virgin or you look at like Jeet blue or Ikea or all these other you know many Brands I
27:39
believe Bill Gates I think but I can't remember if he I can't remember if he does or doesn't but um but anyway yeah
27:47
so so many like successful entrepreneurs uh also have ADHD and so
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because they get hyperfocused on uh on on some idea and and and because they're
27:59
sort of risk averse they just go for it and and again that that's you know there
28:04
there's there's some studies recently around like the like the and I'm gonna
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butcher this but something to the effect about like early man and how you know we
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really couldn't have evolved or survived without the the adhders and that and that ADHD was
28:22
actually a like a huge plus uh for like you know the Andals or whomever and I'm
28:30
totally butchering anthropology so I will apologize and shut up I always make the point that like I
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do not I am not a doctor nor do I I play one on the internet I I I do not know
28:41
Fair that's the whole point I'm learning along with everybody else but these things exist and they exist you know
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maybe there's a reason or a purpose and uh you know we're sort of seeing like a
28:53
a grand macro Evolution away from people who can carry
28:58
heavy stones to people who can you know program AI you know it's like okay well
29:04
that's very that's very different skill set maybe there's quite a bit of overlap between like the Stone Cutters and the
29:11
AI programmers but more likely like some different skill sets are being used at
29:16
different times um so and I like the idea of just sitting on a beach with a
29:22
cocktail while the AI just does all the stone cutting and then I get a cut of
29:27
the money for that that's isn't that where work is going it's all going to be Ai and so then we can just reap the
29:35
benefits well that's that's kind of like Elon musk's worry right is like the
29:41
worry becomes what are all these people going to do when they don't have to work anymore and that sounds a little bit
29:47
ridiculous given the state of where we are but somebody who's a futurist and looking far enough out you can you can
29:54
make that claim like oh yeah things have gotten quite a bit easier in some in
29:59
some regard um yeah but I also I also think like be careful where you get your
30:07
your uh information and and Elon Musk not only is a poor source of uh
30:13
information he's also happens to run a social network that that eagerly
30:18
distributes disinformation and misinformation distributes the information which is part of the reason why I haven't tweeted uh in in a long
30:26
long time and don't plan on it again I don't even know what it's called anymore Xing uh whatever so be careful where you
30:33
get your information that's that's an important thing that's important so you're not on Twitter you used to be on Twitter pretty heavy yeah yeah oh yeah
30:41
yeah yeah I started on Twitter in February 07 um and yeah I've i' I you
30:48
know I wrote a lot about that in my first book in new business networking about using different social networks to
30:53
to find people and build connections but um uh these days I've become
31:00
quite concerned jaded about the state of of social networks and while I'm on many
31:06
of them um I am concerned about um
31:11
everything from Bots to trolls to as I said to to misinformation and there's
31:16
plenty of that out there but then also disinformation and how social networks and algorithms and nefarious people are
31:24
using them to uh to to do bad things and
31:29
you know you look at the state of of this country and many countries and how people are infighting
31:35
and so much of it is because of social network it's also because of like the
31:40
24-hour news cycle and and the monetization of of news and and clickbait and if it bleeds it leads and
31:47
all that stuff uh and you know this G be a whole other topic but I definitely
31:53
have a lot of insights and thoughts around s the the state of of media
31:58
and uh yeah I think uh it would be good for everybody to get out of their homes and go and talk to somebody in person
32:06
shoot I mean that's um yeah we're not going to have the time for all of that but we should Circle back to that but we
32:12
have time for some of that which is um yeah yeah yeah there is sort of in
32:17
this in I'd say a a a co-ord of people who are like pretty hyper aware about
32:24
what things where things are going and people who can see maybe a little farther down the road um yeah you know
32:32
you've always been somebody like that um where sort of like Out outdoors is the
32:37
new luxury like offline is the new luxury and it's always LED if it's bled
32:43
you know since like newspaper days but absolutely but the problem I think the problem with any tool or
32:50
technology it could be a financial instrument or it could be a chainsaw is that like you over leverage that thing
32:57
and and uh it can do a world of damage you know and we've seen that with uh
33:03
overleveraging uh you know debt instruments to um overleveraging all
33:10
sorts of things and I think the media is in that place and it sounds like you you probably agree and it's a good thing
33:15
you're you're actively unplugging from some of that absolutely yeah I think uh
33:22
yeah as it pertains to like Media or or social networks or what have you or a
33:28
even um I Heard a quote a while back that's always stuck with me which is uh whoever built ships built
33:36
shipwrecks and that that's pretty impactful when you think about all the stuff so it's not to down downplay the
33:43
severity of or the potential severity for things I really do believe that
33:48
we're in a in a state now with technology where it's time
33:54
for uh it's time for um legislation uh you know I think about
34:01
like being from Toronto originally I remember when Toronto went nonsmoking I do because two things one I
34:09
smoked and also I worked at restaurants back then um I was working at a bar and I'm like oh my God like this is gonna be
34:15
the worst and you know all these things and as a smoker I'm like ah man you know six months of winter I'm gonna have to
34:21
go outside and freeze my butt off smoking a cigarette but guess what happened people quit
34:26
smoking people quit smoking you know and you can look at studies of like road
34:32
safety and the number of fatalities have dropped dramatically in this country since seat bels were introduced and seat
34:38
Bel laws were introduced and so we and you know motorcycle helmet law and and
34:44
these things that we need we C it can't just be Anarchy right like it's we do need like rules in place
34:51
and these companies Facebook or meta and you know Google and all the rest or
34:57
alphabet they all need to be properly uh they
35:02
need to be properly legislated by people who actually are knowledgeable enough to do that and you know not the it's a
35:09
series of tubes or or you know anybody like that so it's important I think it I
35:14
think we need we definitely need that otherwise it's just going to be a race to the bottom um and and that's what
35:20
we're already I think we're moving in the right direction with AI as far as
35:26
knowing as far as like course correcting where the problems were with social
35:31
networks and social media because social networks and social media were fantastic at the beginning that's why I was an
35:37
early adopter um but over time when business models shifted and and you know
35:44
money was the number one thing and is and I get that um you know even even I
35:50
look at like podcasts now like some of my favorite podcasters I don't listen to anymore
35:56
because they're bringing on guests who are despicable and they're not pushing
36:02
back or and instead because they have such huge platforms they're they're literally giving these people megaphones
36:09
and when you listen to a podcast that's you know even short form but if you listen to a podcast it's like an hour
36:16
two hours three hours which some of those are most people are don't have the time to go and fact check everything
36:24
they hear yeah and and because they hear this information these facts regardless
36:30
of whether even if they hear it it's not true the fact Still Remains in your head and there's psychological studies and
36:36
all that to back that up so yeah anyway I am I am concerned about things like
36:42
that but I you know getting back to your conference I think it's such a good conferences in general are
36:49
fantastic because they're an opportunity to come connect in person and nothing
36:55
Well AI can AI all you like nothing replaces handshakes hugs high fives um
37:03
and and you know impromptu conversations getting a coffee or waiting in line to the bathroom or whatever that's that's
37:10
often where the magic happens but knowing ahead of time how to prepare for
37:16
conferences uh and how to follow up and and why you should follow up and catch up are really important and so you know
37:23
you're you're giving the opportunity for people to to get together and share and experience and uh and that's way better
37:31
than anything you can get online Thomas Insel talks about that a
37:36
lot Dr Insel he wrote a book called healing and he talks about people place and purpose and I do believe conferences
37:43
are one of those uh antidotes to loneliness what I call um and we have to
37:49
be intentional about it um you know some some guy in my town we happen to like
37:54
connect through kind of a circle of friends like invited me out you know
37:59
just for like a coffee or whatever the other day and I was like wow that was like so great of that person to do for
38:07
my life like not I wasn't going to do it I didn't didn't even cross my mind and I
38:12
walked away from that one hour two hour meeting thinking man that was so net
38:17
positive in my life um and I Tred to do that with the conference and then how do we stay connected in between and this is
38:24
a you know you and I are connecting right here this is one way to do it but it's tough to beat the inperson
38:31
engagement yeah I mean I I I started you know the event so like I I you know as
38:37
you well know I I co-founded a couple of tech conferences in Nashville good ones the but yeah but I created like two
38:44
monthly networking events between those two conferences in order to like keep the community together and give them a
38:50
place to go and congregate and hang out um I've recently started a new thing
38:56
called nice maker uh nice maker like which are basically just casual coffee
39:02
meetings uh hanging out um and I've kind of you can find that at the footer of Y
39:08
squirrel. but the nicem maker is my newsletter and U and I I'm doing a cof I
39:14
just did a coffee this week in Nashville I'm doing a because I'll do them while I travel too so I'm speaking at an event
39:20
in San Diego next month and so I planned an event there and and already have a
39:25
few people registered and you know I I I wanted to do something like that but then I I kept spinning my
39:32
wheels on it because I was thinking well what about a cocktail hour what about a meal what about a movie what about a
39:37
hike and then I decided like what the hell let's let's just right now they're they're nice maker coffees but I'm
39:44
kicking around an idea of doing like go to a movie and then grab a beverage after the movie to talk about it um and
39:50
and I might even be doing that like probably in the next couple weeks uh I'm a big movie nerd and I like supporting
39:56
the Bell which is the best movie theater in Nashville the only movie theater in Nashville um so uh yeah anyway nice I
40:05
love that idea um maybe we could collaborate on that I was just talking with somebody who has got a really
40:11
powerful like mental health Focus documentary that I would love to screen or show and do some kind of panel or
40:18
post convo um all right we got a wrap um this hour just flew by Dave it's so fun
40:24
to talk with you in this format yeah you do and you're a great guest a great host
40:29
too so uh you know Dave delaney. me wise squirrels or is it
40:36
squirrel it's plural squirrel for I got it squirel sr.com um where can people find you where
40:43
should they connect with you and how yeah I mean if you're listening to this podcast or watching it uh you know
40:50
and you like podcast ADHD y squirrels is uh just search for that and you'll find
40:55
it or go to y squirrel. if you're interested in in exploring stuff around
41:00
uh my conference coaching uh or anything else around you know hiring me to do a
41:06
presentation or a workshop uh that that lives at Future for.com excellent all
41:12
right thanks so much Dave I hope we connect soon but uh thanks for being on
41:17
yeah thanks for having me Steve it's been [Music]
41:26
fun