[00:00:00] Speaker A: Like the reflection of what was I doing in the past that kind of made things work. And actually what I ended up realizing is I started observing everything that was annoying my wife, everything I did or other people around me that I felt was important.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Welcome back to the show. Our guest today is Andre Bresson, a professional engineer, an entrepreneur, and the host of the Impulsive Thinker podcast. Now, Andre has built three successful companies, including Objective Engineering, Inc. An engineering firm specializing in very niche markets. Now, interesting story. He was diagnosed with a severe ADHD and an autism spectrum disorder, also known as Asperger syndrome, at a later stage in his life. He credits this diagnosis in the ADHD as both a challenge and a strength in his journey. Something that we'll dive into a little bit today. Now, he supports ADHD entrepreneurs in embracing these unique talents and leveraging their symptoms of ADHD to achieve lasting success. Truly powerful stuff. Through his work, Andre has helped hundreds of people understand and harness the power of their ADHD to drive personal and professional success. Andre, welcome to the program today.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: Well, thanks, Richard, for having me. I'm looking forward to this.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Yeah, very exciting. Now I want to rewind the tape a little bit. I want to take us back to startup phase. When you think back and reflect on your very first business endeavor, because you've had a number of them and what were some of the things that you started to recognize? You know, at the beginning, there's a lot of excitement around starting a business. There's some fear, some apprehension. There's all these like, kind of chaotic emotional activity. But there's also this, like, fervor of energy that goes into it. So what were some of the things that you discovered early on as you began business One?
[00:01:49] Speaker A: So business one was, I call it Jade Engineers, and that was an acronym for just another dam engineer. Just trying to make a living and no better than anyone else. But yeah, hindsight's 20 20. So what I know now was I really enjoy startup phases.
When I started Jade in the basement of my. In the basement of my house to the team, I got up to a team of 12 or 15 at one point doing very, very well.
That was the fun part. You know, my wife was six months pregnant with our first kid. We just blew all of our savings on renovating this brand new house we bought and basically started with nothing. And I really had to, you know, if I didn't make this work, I couldn't feed my new family. And that fear or really kept me alive and trying, going, going, going. Yes, it was. Got into workaholism and neglecting families, just. But that's just. That was the drive. It was never a dull moment. I could work 24 hours, seven days a week and I would never lose interest.
And that was a good time. Getting new teams, team members, bringing them on, getting more works, expanding our capabilities and clientele. And then one day I noticed that I wasn't hustling anymore. I wasn't needing to constantly harass, quote, unquote, harass clients for work. It was just coming in and my team was taking care of it. And in a way I never realized, not thinking about it now is I never realized. I think part of the issue I had was the team never needed me anymore for these standard projects because they became standard. My thing was all these unique scenarios and what projects I would take on. I came up with a creative solution, get it going. But we're starting to get into regular work. It didn't meet my regular involvement and I didn't really. I guess I didn't like it. But I didn't realize at the time was the company was now successful and we're doing incremental growth that didn't require a lot of my input or help.
Instead of saying, let's take more time or pursue other interests, it was, I need to maintain that pace and that urgency and that. What I now recall as it being the startup phase of a company not knowing what's going to happen. It changes every day to day, but now it's showing up. I know exactly what's going to happen every day. No one needs me. And after a while, I start. The customers are starting to frustrate me to know how just no matter what they said, which is odd, they become dumb and the projects were really silly and stupid and like, what? And then all of a sudden, I'm putting out fires, I'm going around and around and helping things and feeling good. But I didn't realize I was creating those fires. So I was the arsonist in this case. And that really frustrated customers, that frustrated staff. So I lost good staff and I lost some really good customer. And in the end, it all had to do. The fact that I was bored and I thrive on chaos, I like to control that, Control chaos, but manage chaos on. On behalf of the customers and all that. And I wasn't getting it. And you know, we were. I think we're about roughly the same age. We were raised that you have one job where you do one business and you do that for the rest of your life. Therefore, I must maintain this job. And this business and not do anything else. So you're supposed to be the expert and do everything.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: And almost like a sunk cost bias in like this vertical. This is the thing that I'm supposed to do. This is my career path.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: I didn't know I had permission or I. I was able to say, okay, fine, I can. This is doing well. You guys take care of it. Maybe that takes 50% of my time and I can start other things. Like what I like now is coaching ADHD entrepreneurs or other engineering or just people who want to grow personally or solve some really difficult problem. Problems that people been staring at for months. And I didn't know I had that permission. And that snowballed into going to a bad partnership, which deep down I knew was stupid. But I needed a change. I didn't realize I needed that change. So I went anyways. I thought I could change the culture. And then that again. That's where I started getting my life tempest. I wasn't very happy losing my company, losing my team challenges at home, and just came to a big head of explosion where I was just yelling at my kids for no reason. My brain's going, settle down, dude. This is not an issue to be yelling at. I'm like, I don't care. I'm still going. And then when I saw the look on their face, I'm like, that's me as a kid. So I went, got help. And that's when I got the diagnosis of adhd. And with the Asperger's a little bit later.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Now, roughly how many years ago was this that this transpired, Andre, Just to get a framework for that.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: So 2007, I started Jade Engineers, and 2014 is when I got into the bad partnership. So I would say probably 2010, 11 to 2014 is when that they plateau from a steep startup phase to a plateaued incremental growth.
And then it took a year and a half. And I actually said to myself, I was kind of proud of myself because I'm used to just going, I commit, I'm going all in, no matter what? Usually you're the loser and you're at fault for everything, But I realized it wasn't me because I found a new definition of insanity. So was it Einstein that said, you know, trying different things, expecting the same results as insanity, but I actually discovered this bad partnership is trying to do a hundred different things, but hit the same wall is another form of insanity. And I just kind of said, I'm probably going to be dead in a year or two if I keep this. I just called it quits. And then that's when I got into objective engineering. Tactical breakthroughs.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: Amazing. Yeah, I mean, what a. You know, you covered so much, really a huge part of your human existence in, you know, less than 10 minutes and a major challenge. And you know, I've had other people on the show talking about similar experiences where they found themselves, you know, really, you know, at odds. And there was almost like a breaking point that happened often with a spouse or even their kids. And it was like, wait a second, what is going on? And you know, what's really happening in my life? And so it was a huge part of like reflection that took place and so going through the process, you know, was there someone that recommended you go and do. Whether it's some testing or something or did you just kind of intuitively know at that point? You know, that's at a point that about the point in time where the, I won't say the popularity, but the awareness of, you know, people and maybe adult oriented adhd things started to become more prevalent in people's awareness at that time. Would that make sense?
[00:08:44] Speaker A: I would say ADHD was always on my radar for a very, very long, probably from my early 20s and it's kind of whatever. So I think I've always kind of wondered and. But my first job, my only engineering job really supported my ADHD symptoms. They wanted to create something new. They let me have free if I wanted to try something. They said fin. So it really worked to tell actually they came to a stagnant growth. They were happy where they were and that's where it wasn't working for me because they wouldn't want to try something new or broaden their horizons. And being a learner, I just love devouring and figuring out stuff and I could do it quick and then become an expert. And then we got a new service. So ADC was kind of in the back of my mind. Um, but when, at that time, when I realized that, I looked at myself, said, something's completely, really badly wrong with you. You need to get professional help. I just remember saying that. And that's when I turn around, walked out and I did a call with my doctor and we started, got me to psychiatrist and we started talking there and he says, you got borderline personality traits.
And I looked it up. Oh, that person, someone with a borderline personality disorder. They are massively. Something's wrong with them. That sounds like me. And then after a few months, talking back for the psychiatrist, well, that's how you smirk and you laughed at that. And it's fine. I got nothing wrong with it. But that was the reality of it. That's how badly I thought about myself.
That you are screwed up. We got three letters now and you need to fix yourself. But then the doctor later said, no, no, no, no, it's just ADHD, you're fine. I'm like, no, there's no way those four letters could dictate or explain my last 43 years at the time.
And there's something wrong with me. Therefore still must be borderline personality. So it kind of evolved and rolled in. I wouldn't say it was my primary objective to get an AAC diagnosis, but it, it rolled out to that. Then once I researched it and nothing wrong with me, it's just my brain's wired differently and the world's not wired for my brain. That's why I stick out, that's why I stand out. That's why I can't follow the traditional ways of organization and project execution.
That's why if it's important for you or if something's important to me, Richard, I got a feeling you have no reason, you know, I want to support Audrey. It's important to him. I'll find the motivation, I'll help and I'll do it.
That's the importance based nervous system. That's the majority of the people. But the ADHD brain is interest based. I know it's important for you, Richard, but I'm not interested. It's not challenging, it's not novel, it's not urgent. It's nothing to do with my passion. I have to focus, to focus to help you. So people say you're heartless, you don't care because it's important to me. He says, I do care, I know it's important, but I just can't give it the oomph like everyone else would. And that difference I noticed because shortly before my diagnosis of adhd, I was diagnosed with diabetes. And I think I'm really happy I was diagnosed at first because I learned that that could be managed. It's not going to kill me. As long as I take care of myself. I'm controlling diabetes. So when I start to see it was a brain difference, I'm like, hey, this could be manageable. Because I look back said, strengths can be weaknesses. I always believe that. And that's when I started realizing the reason I did so well here, here and here was wow, it's my symptoms. My ADHD quote unquote symptoms were not symptoms at the Time, that was the reason, that was my strength. But the other times I got in trouble when the company stagnated, became the arsonist. Whoa. Now, that was the disorder side. The symptoms was because I didn't understand how it worked. That was my problems that got me into financial troubles or losing a business. Necessary. Well, if it's managed and I do well, and if it's not managed and I do bad well, it's manageable. How do I set up the environment? How do I set up my systems? And my doctor actually looked at me and said, you should not have graduated engineering on time or at all. You should not have successful companies. You should not have a wedding, you know, at the time, a marriage of 18 years.
You did something, you figured something out early in life to overcome these challenges and that should be shared. And that's kind of what I've been doing ever since. So, yeah, I forget the question now. Now that's the other thing. I went on a couple tangents and lost track.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: Well, we're going to continue on that tangent when we get back after these incredible messages.
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We are back with Andre talking a little bit about adhd, discovering that at a later stage in life and really being able to unpack some of the past to start to decide how you wanted to go about building a bigger future. Now, before the break, we talked a little bit about your journey and you got into a partnership with your engineering firm, with someone, and there was a problem. Things didn't go as expected and somehow or other your ADHD played a role in that. So I'd like to unpack that a little bit. Tell us what were some of the things you started to recognize after that experience was over in how the partnership may be formulated and then what caused it to maybe deconstruct as you proceeded.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Yeah, well, that was the confusing part was the reason they approached me was because of my specific knowledge in that type of Equipment and the unique solutions I come up with. And the fact that I said, you know, Gene, engineers was built to what it was and I was starting to get a good reputation around it, that's what they wanted me for. And then when I got there, they're a corporation.
And then we had a lot of extra rules to follow. I wasn't able to just go do what I wanted. I started to ask for permission and the one thing they did is they wanted to improve the service center. And they gave me a long list of things they've been trying to fix for the last six years and they couldn't.
I guess my mistake was I did that in under six months. I fixed everything. I improved customer service, our revenue and they didn't like that.
That was too easy for you to fix. And we've been staring at it for six to 10 years. So I don't know if it made him look bad or feel bad and more rules start being placed on me. But the one representative for that company was also a great gaslighter.
Right. And the gaslighting with the emotional, you know, the ADHD brain, we sense and feel emotions, it's amplified. It's like there's some numbers out there, almost a thousand times more. We feel emotions quicker and intensify by 10,000 times and we feel immediately and they're raw. And since the brain can't really filter things effectively from, from feeling the emotion to outburst, that comes out immediately and that's. And it comes out raw. We have. The brain hasn't processed it yet. And then you say it, I say it also. It's like crap, I should have said that. Oh actually I did overreact, but it's already out there. That's the impulsivity side of the brain.
So there was a lot of that. But then realizing it was a gaslighter and then, you know, a lot we just want to serve and help people. And then when you find out people are trying to backstab you, it's very hard to take that, not personally.
And so. And a lot of it had to do with my impulsivity, my non linear thinking and problem solving. It didn't make sense then how I came up to the right solution. So I've spent a lot of my times explaining how I got to there. Thank you for the result. But we're giving you a hard time for the how. And that's been the story of my.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Whole life, the justification essentially. And it's interesting because, you know, with an engineering background and I, I've worked with a ton of engineers. I have a lot of engineer clients, so I completely get and understand generally, often there is very much more like a staccato step by step model of processes and thinking. And so you, you, you are not the normal engineer individual to even, you know, say the doctor indicated he was surprised you even able to complete getting your degree in that. So I could see that becoming a cause, a problem, a discussion, but the feeling of like, oh, why am I explaining this to you again? Look, we got, we got there. We're in the end zone. Why are we. We don't need to go hit the replay. What's the, what's the next play we want to run? I don't want to watch the replay.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: My biggest challenge in the engineering field are actually other engineers, right? I say, you know, don't insult me by calling me an engineer, because I'm not. But it's like, I'm not the traditional engineer. I'm very unconventional. The solutions I get to is like a buddy of mine said, he goes, the reason I respect you, Andre, is because, you know, you're not like typical engineers. You cross the road at different places because just because you did it the last time doesn't mean you have to do it again, right? And then my accountant buddy says, you know, why did the account cross the road over there? It's because they've been doing it for a hundred years and they won't deviate from that. So, yeah, it's unconventional thinking or non linear. Like year three follow through. In Colby, I'm a two follow through. I think that also throws off the engineering world, the professional world, because I'm very random and I can work on multiple things at once. And I will skip steps if I don't have to, because I'm all about getting to the end quicker, being efficient. It's not that I'm trying to shortcut and cut corners, just. Just efficiency. And yeah, I thought it really explained why I had to skip steps four through eight and not even bother with number two to get tet the result that we all wanted.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: So after all this kind of, I guess, you know, there's a buildup that happened here. More restriction, more rules, more. Almost like a diminishing of your. Your, your innate superpowers. Fundamentally, I can feel, I can resonate with the, what that feeling is like. I've been in that position myself to some degree, so I understand how that feeling comes up. So was there like a nuclear event here that happened to end the end the kind of Partnership, you just recognize it was time to exit stage left. And, you know, what was the aftermath of that?
[00:20:00] Speaker A: You know, ultimately, the nuclear happened at home, didn't happen at the office. So I cut myself off when things were getting nuclear at home, which is the unfortunate thing. In reality, in entrepreneurial world, it's the home that gets hit first, no matter what.
In my experience. That's what I've observed and I've seen your home life, family is going to suffer first because, well, I'm doing it for them. The lies we tell ourselves, or we do it for the customer. If we can get this job, then we can go to Florida.
But in the end, it's kind of an ego thing. But, yeah, no, it became nuclear home. And then when I started noticing that my health was degrading, if I want to continue this, I knew. I just knew deep down I was going to die or heart attack, and I didn't want to do that. And in a way, it was the first time I ever stood up for myself. And I just went to him, it ain't working. I want out. It's not even a negotiation of here. Because I tried to fix things and it just wouldn't work. Because that cogwheel bureaucracy was just one thing after another.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: Interesting. You say the word bureaucracy and I have almost a visceral reaction just to hear I'm allergic.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: I got a severe allergy where I need an EpiPen.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: It'd be amazing if they made an EpiPen for that. I love that. That's a great analogy. So, I mean, the decision was made. You were able to move on. I'm sure it wasn't an easy challenge. And then that led you into this discovery of starting to go down the medical path and getting a diagnosis. Once you had that clarity, the diagnosis, you talked about your diabetes, how you were able to figure out, okay, I have an action plan. I can work this. I can manage this myself. You apply that same thinking to the diagnosis that you had, and how were you able to start moving things forward around, like you said, the home life, and then kind of starting anew in the business realm?
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Well, for me, it was reflection on the reflection on what was I doing in the past that kind of made things work. And actually, what I ended up realizing is I started observing everything that was annoying my wife, everything I did or other people around me that I felt was important. Like my hat. I'm a ball cap guy. Okay? So I never realized this, but I have a corner of the hutch. I need that corner Free, clear. Because I put my hat there and if, say, my keys and wallet, for some reason I change sets of clothes and they're not in my next set of change of clothes that night, I put it in my hat. Everything I need to bring to the next thing that's not my standard packaging or routine was there. And if you put a piece of paper on that hat, that thing's disappeared. Literally, it's disappeared. I can't find it. And it just drives me nuts. And my day is just derailed. Right. So I started to look back on. That's an ADHD thing. So my working memory is poor. I, two, three things I can remember and I would try to remind it. That's why I wrote things all the time. So I just created these little habits, routines that if I need this tomorrow and it's done in my standard thing, that it goes there so I don't have to remember in the morning what do I need to bring, because I'm not going to really remember clearly. And most likely my brain's already at work setting up the day.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: It's a mental shortcut that you basically created to, to save yourself time, efficiency.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Correct. And actually in the end, it was mental energy conservation. So if I don't have to remember this in the morning, then I got more mental energy and make decisions. Because that's one thing I realized with the ADHD brain is if we're, if we are in hyper focus mode or we're doing stuff that we really like, like, you know, interesting, noble, challenging, urgent. We have infinite energy. Right. In the Colby warriors, you're working with your grain, within your grain. It got infinite energy. But when you're starting to work against that, the ADHD brain just really becomes a diesel, banging, black smoke, puking bad engine. And you got a lot of energy wasted through that smoke and not going to the wheels. And that's where I really sit. So mental energy management is something I've always done well. And so my area is a little climb being a three follow through or to follow through. We, we, we like piles, but I can't have the clutter because it's overwhelming. So it's a lot of that. I started to reflect back on that kind of stuff that makes sense now. I do this that certain way and I started to communicate that to my, my family and friends and it's making sense. So in a way, I created GA Engineers as an ADH safe company because I created policies and procedures, things that help control my environment so there'd be no surprises. Unknown surprises. As much as I like to have surprises, urgencies, but I don't like surprises or urgencies that make no sense or just, or disrupts my day. So if I'm acceptable of them, it works. If they don't work, then it becomes a problem and then the emotional regulation just takes over. And, you know, people are, oh, you get a little testy or, you know, frustrated for no reason. Well, to me, it kind of is. And just because this is not normal or how it should be normally done doesn't mean it's, you know, it's, it works for me. So why can I have my, my little corner of the hutch?
[00:25:19] Speaker B: I just want my corner of the hutch. I'd imagine that being able to explain and convey that was very helpful for your family situation. We'll probably talk a little bit more about that when we come back to the messages. One thing I'm really going to want to dive into, Andre, when we come back, is more about how this line of thinking has created some really powerful innovation for you. It sounds like in the engineering, it's very clear how that's transp. But I'm really interested where you want to take these innovations and your level of thinking. And we'll dive into that when we come back after these messages. Are you looking for a great book to read? Turns out I have one for you. It's called Cash Follows the Leader. It's available anywhere books are sold, but if you want to get a free copy and you can download it right to your inbox, you can go to coachcanfield.com cash follows.
Well, we're back in an ADHD realm. We're having a great conversation with Andre and we're talking about the discovery, being able to start improving and changing things, recognize things in the home life, communicating that better with your family, and then starting, you know, down the business path again. So, Andre, what were some of the things that you found with your, your wife and your kids when you started to explain this that they became receptive to? Like, how are you able to start getting connection with them around your proclivities and, and, and, and, and making sure that you could also be more observant of what they needed relative to your own diagnosis?
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Yeah, it was that, first of all, education is your first thing with any, any diagnosis, but especially adhd. Just learn about it. And as I was learning about it, it's a brain thing. It's not a moral failure. You're not messed up, you're screwed up. It's just your Brain is wired differently and treats input differently. And the one thing that I think people don't realize is everyone has the prefrontal cortex that filters out all that information coming in. The brain will automatically say, who cares? Who cares who? Maybe we'll keep tabs on that one. Oh, I need to pay attention to that one. Who cares? Who cares? The ADHD brain takes it all in. It doesn't filter out. So that's why a lot of times we can get overwhelmed quicker since there's too much coming in and we have to. It's almost as we have to cognitively filter it.
And so once I started learning more about that, and first of all, when it's not a moral failure, it's just a brain thing, I was able to just start explaining, this is why instead of saying, this is my adhd, stop doing that, which I just hate. Like, I don't like the labels, because if people use it as an excuse, I'm really about the labels, about explanations and to help explain. So instead of saying, it's my adhd, don't do that. It's, hey, my brain works this way. Therefore, that's why I need the hutch. I will not remember it in the morning. I'm not. I'm already concentrate on 400 different things at once while everyone else can do two.
400 is what I'm doing. I'm already. My head's already at work. It's just having that communication then to be aware, and they start observing, you know, and after a while, I think my wife started. Realized that she actually triggered a lot of my symptoms unknowingly and started to see it, but it took time. You know, ADHD is still.
It's. It's still diagnosed because it bothers other people, and it's still treated for you to fit in. And it's not normal. So I think once she got over that little thing, okay, it's the way it is to start, she accepted it that the. The other people in the family have to accept it too. And not just to keep judging you about it, especially the important thing, you know, it's like, oh, it is important to me. It's not that I don't care. It's just I have a hard time engaging. And then with time, you start to observe and you start seeing how it is, and, you know, it's a compromise. You can't completely say it's an ADHD house, therefore, too bad we come to a compromise. And then at the same time, I'm starting to see where I do not pay attention to certain things or like just knowing that I have to explain. I understand it's important because I can't demonstrate it if it's something I don't find interesting. So, yeah, it's all about communicating amazing.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Well, and obviously you started to see some improvements there. And as you were going through that process, you know, your brain tends to recognize patterns. I think differently than most people. So you probably started to see some things with the combination of reflection, having these conversations with families, you know, interacting with other people that are in your circle. You ended up developing a process that you now help entrepreneurs with. So let's talk a little bit about that and the innovation that you've helped, you know, been able to now through the podcast and through the work that you do, helping entrepreneurs who are discovering similar traits like you share with us today, walk us through how this process has been helping them and how did it, how does it even helped you? Just being able to put it together.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: Yeah. So in a way, what I ended up doing a long time. And I think even as a kid, I created like an ADHD structure that kind of manage my symptoms unknowingly. And then when I did, when I deep dive deep, I dive deep. So I think the first year after diagnosis, I did about 30 books on ADHD, varying from small novels to a couple textbooks. And I'm starting to look at this and when I realized it was not a. It's a brain thing. It's not a personal failure. You're like, you're not stupid or dumb or lazy. It's just the brain reacts differently and, and everyone's trying to make it too complex. It's a dopamine, serotonin. You gotta figure all that stuff, the brain stuff, well, even though scientists don't understand how it works. So why are we trying to figure that out? And then I looked at it, just start screaming at me after a while. It's three things. So it's what I call the ADHD simplify model. If I just manage these three things, everything else will work. So in the end, ADHD is an executive functioning difference. I don't even use the term disorder because it's a difference in executive functioning. We plan, we strategize, we organize ourselves completely different. It's not as for the status quo, but it's different. Working memory is a big one. Most people can remember seven to 10 things. That's why phone numbers were seven to 10 digits. Most people can remember that number.
But for me, I guarantee you two, maybe three at most, I can hold something in my head. That's why I had to start writing. Or that's why I forget. You know, honestly, I will forget if you give me that fourth piece of information. Because it's gone from my head. I'll remember it five days from now, because now it's in my long term. But immediately the working memory is poor. So the executive functioning differences is one of them. We have a time frame difference.
Okay, now or not now, not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow, not next week or two months from now. Like it's now or not now. And we're very blind to time.
So if you say my time horizon. So as time horizon is like, how far in the future can you see and have a good control of timing, scheduling. Okay, I'm a week. If you say let's meet in two weeks, three weeks, no problem, Richard. Not a problem. That's like a hundred years from now. Only it'll work out, right? So long term, financial planning, whatever, I don't care because I'll make it up later. It's too far away. So the time blindness has its effect. And it's now or not now. So if I'm not doing anything now, it's gone. I don't care about it. Whatever I'm doing now is important, and that'll do. So that was a big one for me, the time blindness. And then now and not now and then. The third one of the model is it's just a brain inhibition difference. The brain inhibits different things differently for me. Impulsivity, my filter. Everyone says on, you don't have a filter. You're right. My prefrontal cortex is not doing the same job as everyone else.
I don't care if it's because it's underdeveloped or whatever. I just think my brain was meant to do this. And you know what? My impulsivity has solved a lot of problems, has created a lot of opportunities for me because of it. So, you know, the fight, I'm a fighter. So a lot of the basic instincts, the fight, flight, freeze or fawn is this to me as a. I'm a fighter. I fight, and that's immediate. And those emotions are. So the brain inhibits things differently. And that's the model. So if we create systems and processes around those to manage those with your NHD structure, then that's managed. So that's the ADHD structure against three things. One is environment, control, people around you. Like my office here. I don't have a lot of things that can distract Me in my office. Well, only the only things I need to work on this project at the time are here.
Once I realized that, I got everything out. Now, I used to have this open office concept because that's the way it's supposed to be and it's cool, but I was distracting to them and they're distracting me. So I'm in this office where I got no less distraction. Oh, I remember that. That textbook's only an arm's length away. I remember that. I was looking up that two months ago and you just never get done. So the environment control. So that could be people, your physical environment.
Like even so far, I got three different reading places in the house at home. One is just novels, enjoyment stuff. The other one's a little more my thinking corner. And the other ones, if I just want to hide from everyone and do some pondering, right. So they just. Those are little subtle changes. Like an environment can really set the brain. And it also has to do with transition. The ADHD brain has a problem transitioning from one thing to another without the appropriate time. And that's when I realized I was actually smoking because it was my transition. Once I get this done, I'll have a cigarette, then I'll come back. Then my brain's going, we're ready for the next thing. Then I quit smoking. It was one thing after another. And the brain can't shift that quickly for the HD brain. So that has a lot to the environment control to say, hey, you're here. Your brain goes, oh, it's something different habits, routines is huge for this to happen very well to get you in proper environment and then personal rules. And you have to create these personal rules so when you can buy in and that you have to follow yourself. Like, I will not look at my emails till 10 o'clock in the morning. Or if, you know, I'm not going to, I'm going to go home at a certain time or after 7:00pm I'm never going to look at my emails or think or that kind of stuff.
And they're all rules for you to follow so that it keeps you in check. Right. If I'm in the office and someone knocks on the door and I'm in concentration, the rule is saying, no thank you, stuff like that. So we get that structure in place to manage the executive functioning differences, the time frame differences in the brain inhibition, then you're really harnessing that strength because we want to minimize distractions, you want to minimize impulsivity and just be right in the you're in the zone. And if you follow that interest based nervous system analogy, keep it interesting, keep it challenging. Urgency is good, but sometimes we can default that to where everything becomes urgent to be fired and becomes a, a drug and becomes addictive. Challenge.
I'm missing one, but the passion one.
Interesting. Challenging, urgent and competitive.
[00:36:45] Speaker B: Amazing. Well, it's, I, I think it's fascinating and thinking about, you know, people that I know, people who have similar traits myself. You know, you, you're, you're giving me a roadmap to some things that I, I certainly will be implementing. And I recognize again, especially around, like the time tense component, the, the sense of urgency. And so from a Colby language perspective, being an initiating quick start with an eight quick start and you know, you're a member of strategic Coach Dan Sullivan's a 10 quick start, you know, we, we tend to incorporate our circles around a lot of other people who have some similar challenges. So, you know, I know on your podcast, on your show, you're getting an opportunity to interview so many people and entrepreneurs who have had similar components of their journey. Maybe they don't have a formal diagnosis, but they have, they exhibit all of the similar types of traits.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: The Colby quick start is you have an instinctive need of urgency. So it's not a choice. You need urgency. Like if I was going to delegate to your project, that'll take a couple days, but it's due in two weeks. I'm going to tell you two days before, I'm not going to tell you now because you're going to forget about it and not be doing it till the two days before. So you have an instinctive deed. But now with the ADHD brain, we thrive. Sorry, I can't use the word thrive because that's a Colby term. But our brain lights up, engages when there is urgency and it's slightly different. So then in a way it compounds it. Urgency, urgency, a little more. And the one thing I learned with some of my clients is it was a protective, in order for us to do important stuff for other people, we left it to became urgent. So we can just get it done quick. And now and then, since we're doing it last minute, people accuse you of not caring. That was important to me. It is. But this is the way I work or a lot of companies. Like for a while, my company was set up to be urgent. I think 15 years straight, I created urgency every day so I could be able to get up on time and get going and find the energy. And that became a problem because You're a workaholic. You got no sleep, and you're not taking any. You don't. There's no self care, no holidays. And then once I realized that, now it's kind of like, take a look at it. How can we reduce the urgency? How can we keep it interesting or don't do it at all? Delegate it or get rid of it or say no.
[00:39:06] Speaker B: Amazing. Well, we're going to talk more about some of the incredible innovations you're planning on with this work and with some of the other things you've got up to right after this important break.
Okay, Richard, I keep hearing about this thing called the Colby A Index. You talk about it all the time on the show. What is it? How do I get information about this thing, and why is it so important?
When I first got my Colby done, it totally revolutionized everything for me. I finally felt like, oh, man, this is what I was looking for. All the things I'd been doing that had been working for me and all the frustrations I'd had, if I just understood this at an earlier age, boy, oh, boy, would my life be different.
[00:39:48] Speaker A: Years.
[00:39:48] Speaker B: You can take that step. If you want to learn and understand how it can change things for you and the way you communicate with others, you can go to coachcanfield.com and download your free report.
All right. What an incredible conversation we're having with Andre. So much good value that you're providing to our audience. I'm curious. You know, I've asked a lot of our entrepreneurs about things like Strategic Coach, just coaching in general. For me, I consider that an innovation and that a lot of entrepreneurs often wait till the problems are just too high and too big before they seek coaching. So, you know, you're, you're, you're involved in some of these organizations. What, what is the Strategic Coach organization done for you, and how have you found that to incorporate into some aspects of your life?
[00:40:32] Speaker A: The one thing Strategic coach was good for was that we were in a room of equally messed up people called entrepreneurs, where we all had skin in the game and we all had the same challenges. And it was first I was in a room where I felt accepted or not out of ordinary, because I think an entrepreneur versus someone who's working on a corporate job is just two different mindsets. And being a room of other visionaries when you're told the way you're thinking is ridiculous. But even though that's the success for the company, it was nice to be around there. And I was referring to the pod into the Program by a friend of mine in the, in the nearby town. I was where I first started, and he was, you're hitting the ceiling of complexity. Because I just, no matter how much more time I put in, I wasn't making more money. I was just putting more time and hit the ceiling complexity. So he says, join coach. So, you know, two years later, I got interviewed as it finally bit the mud, bit the ball. It's a lot of money. But I went into it and it worked very well. I got this very comfortable. It was all. What I liked about the most is no one told me what to do.
They just asked questions about how you were thinking about things and gave you the permission. Like the entrepreneurial time system, we don't work the same way as anyone else, therefore, you have to take time off. And that was the first time it was logically explained to me. I'm not good at it even 14 years later, but it's a lot better than it was. So that helped me. I got better delegation, how to stick in my role, like Colby. That's where I first got introduced, got, you know, I got certified two years after that. And I've been working a lot with Kathy Colby ever since then, since 2014. So the print is another big one. And the more and more I worked into it, it was working well. I was making more money, I was having more time, free time. And then I got mad. A strategic coach, actually, because that's where things started to unravel.
Knowing what we know now, I was mad at them because they did exactly what they told me they're going to do for me, help me free up time, have a more successful company, have a bigger team that can take care of stuff for you. But that created boredom for me and I was no longer having fun because it was a startup. So I got really upset with them because they did exactly what they were supposed to do. But that's hindsight.
And I'm, you know, I'm still in it to this day. And it's always good because the big thing is it's not necessarily the coach in front of the room, it's the people who are in the room with you. That makes it the big difference, because we share experiences. If I have a challenge, if you've had something similar in a breakout, you share what you did or recommendations, and, you know, it's very important. And I'm getting advice and points of view from someone who's in the trenches with me or, as you know, you, maybe you're 10 years ahead of Me and you're higher up in the ladder, but you've went through the, the mud where I'm at, and that helps me get out of it quick.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: Yeah, you, you're, you're leveraging the experience of others to create shortcuts or at least have the ability to see what a shortcut could be. You know, the experience of others is just so valuable. And that, that's really the format of this show, is to share these experiences like you're doing with our audience, so that anyone watching this can, can say, oh, oh, I see. Oh, I know what I can do now based on what Andre's experience was, here's some things I can implement for myself.
[00:44:04] Speaker A: So if you say that, it's because you got an open mind, because the only thing you can be valuable is if you're open to it. While some people might be saying, oh, I see what he's saying now I got a new excuse to not do something or doesn't make sense or they're just talking. So, yeah, you have to be open as well for that to be valuable as well. You know, sometimes, sometimes these harsh words are told to you or that, but you need to hear it. And it's like, oh, okay. But it's. In the end, we got to get out of our own way. We're the, we're always the hurdle, we're always the problem. But for some reason, our brain convinces us it's always someone else.
[00:44:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Absolutely incredible. Now, when it comes to, obviously you're still very active in the engineering realm. Had a number of other things going on. What are you most excited about as you think about the bigger future that you're building out in front of you? What are some of the things, whether it's technology, just things that you're really finding yourself, developing a lot of interest in and exploring moving forward today?
[00:45:02] Speaker A: Well, for me, the podcast has been a big one because the high achieving ADHD entrepreneur, you're successful. There's still a lot of people out there that don't believe you can be successful and have adhd. It's kind of what I call a silent suffering. You're silently suffering, trying to keep up to the status quo. So there's not a lot of research and a lot of the stuff that's out there as to how to make you fit in and normalize yourself to the world. And I'm really allergic to that too. I hate, you know, just because it's that therefore you must make no sense to me. I, I'm anti conformist. That's another one I needed epiped that word. So conformity is just that makes me shiver all the time. So I've always like that's part of my unique abilities, people protecting people's rights to be accepted and valued as unique individuals and allow them to be unique and allow them to be themselves at no fault or charge. So that's why I like the Colby, the print. And anyways, since there wasn't anything out there for the high achieving industry entrepreneur, I said I'm going to start bringing in smart people because the other thing I realized I need things to be intellectually interesting, to get engaged. So I just started bringing on smart people so I can learn. I wanted to learn this stuff and if I'm learning, everyone else is learning and they get to eavesdrop on the conversation. And now I just started season four and it's going strong and it's a lot of fun and I'm learning lots. And then with that knowledge, a better understanding, more things are connecting better. That's how I was able to refine the EHD simplified model, the structure to where I created the ADHD Transformation Journey program where we're working for you to understand how your brain works. I got a simplified model, very simple. This is how it is. Here's your ADHD strengths. We figure out your unique adhd, manage those strengths to always be used and then we work with your non ADHD strengths so you get a big picture of yourself because it's not only you, it's part of you. So if you understand all this stuff, I hope I create a value statement says this is why people consider you valuable because we've never looked at ourselves as valuable in the past.
And then, and then after that we just work together as a, on an ongoing basis and in a group setting that's kind of like coach where we just get together. It's nice to be in a room where we don't have to justify our symptoms. It's just we laugh because I get it right and that's what I've part. So that's giving me a lot of energy and at the same time in the engineering world try to find those other non traditional engineers to help them get through this traditional magma of.
Of. I can't even think of the word right now. That's how chivalry has given me. But yeah, that's what's giving me a lot of energy and the use of AI. I think that was part of your question. It just hit me probably a little too late, but the use of AI is using my own stuff, but creating efficiencies in the use of it. So I don't go to ChatGPT. Write me an article about this right Either I will talk out loud, my idea all randomly, all over the place. Now I use AI to summarize that gibberish. So something that makes sense and if it's in line with what I'm saying, then I will write a blog.
But the input was still me. It wasn't asking the Internet to just grab stuff from all over the place and make something up. It was based on what I just said. Write, write it out in English so that it'd be better understood while using my voice. And I've been doing that a lot more lately.
So like I do an interview every Monday and every Thursday I have a short thought and I've been reflecting. Usually I reflect on the conversation I had that Monday.
So now I use one AI to say, hey, we talked about this. This is what I. And I just randomly talking about observations of that. Now that AI will take that and give me a pseudo script for me when I actually record my short. So it's a little more structured, it's a little more.
Has a process in an order. Rather than go 1-72359, it'd be 1 2, 3, 45 for. For people to follow.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: Yes, you're creating, you're using AI to create the shortcut. That makes it simpler for it's digestible for your recording so that you're. You're not so much following the script, but you're following the bullet points and you're making sure you're covering the things that are actually important to you rather than maybe forgetting it in the moment as an example.
[00:49:43] Speaker A: And then for me, I don't like scripts for some people works well. So you can create the script. And I'm not saying you don't want one. It's just that's what works for me. That's why I call it the pseudo script. So it gives me my bullet points to maintain. If I agree, I can change it, but then I could just follow that.
And that's one way of doing it. And so I've been using AI to that extent, but it's using my content that I created, right?
My podcast, interviews I have with guests. I convert that using AI into a blog. It's stuff from there. It's so I don't think that's cheating or making stuff up. It's just instead of me typing and rethinking all that stuff, it's just there. And it's a first draft, right? It's not the final. It just pukes it out on paper for me, and then I can work it from there. Because my. Sorry. The one thing was, because the delay was from my brain to my fingertips, I realized that was the delay. And I would wait and wait and wait. And then when I realized and I took ownership up, I do better audibly talking out loud. It goes quicker. Now the technology is there. I can trap it, record it, transcribe it, have them organize it. And if you don't like the way it's ordered, you just tell it to change it around and it's boom, boom, boom, Right? So it still requires your intelligence and the way to ask and reframe questions to make it work.
That's how I've been using it.
[00:51:08] Speaker B: I love that because to me, what you're sharing, Andre, is a tactical application of using technology tools to give your brain the ability to move at a level of speed that it wants to move at. And it's removing restrictions that sometimes your brain may place on you that you don't even know about. The idea of, oh, I need to grab a pen to write this down. But you don't even want to write it down, so you don't even finish the action. I 100% get that. And I think a lot of people watching this will also interpret that. So I want to thank you, Andre, for sharing your journey, sharing your story. You're learning about your own adhd, its impact on you, and I have no doubt it'll impact many of the people to get a chance to watch this episode. Thank you so much for being on the show.
