ADHD Secrets to Winning at Work & Life with Coach JM Ryerson

What if you could cut yourself some slack and still achieve massive success? In this episode, I sit down with my friend and leadership expert, JM Ryerson, to dive into the mindset shifts and practical strategies that help ADHDers—and everyone—stay focused, productive, and fulfilled. JM is a leadership and performance coach, international speaker, and best-selling author of Let's Go Win, Champions Daily Playbook, and Upgrade. He’s built and sold three businesses and now helps teams double their revenue while optimizing leadership and culture.

We talk about gamification, accountability, morning routines, and breaking free from self-limiting beliefs. JM shares how small changes—like shifting how you approach daily habits, structuring accountability, and using fun to stay motivated—can make a huge difference. 

Episode Highlights:

[0:52] – Meet JM Ryerson: Entrepreneur, coach, and leadership expert
 [3:38] – Simplifying focus and calming the nervous system
 [5:18] – The power of cutting yourself some slack
 [10:21] – Reframing daily tasks using gamification
 [14:55] – How competition and fun can drive success
 [22:22] – Rethinking morning routines (without rigid rules!)
 [31:24] – The brain-boosting benefits of MCT oil in coffee
 [35:41] – The role of accountability in making real progress
 [41:08] – Getting clear on your values for a simpler, more fulfilling life
 [46:29] – Final wisdom: Embrace authenticity and take off the mask

Connect with JM Ryerson:

🔗 Learn more about JM Ryerson: www.letsgowin.com
💡 Connect with JM on social: @letsgowin365

Thank you for tuning into "SuccessFULL with ADHD." If this episode has impacted you, remember to rate, follow, share, and review our podcast. Your support helps us reach and help more individuals navigating their journeys with ADHD.

Want to be ‘SuccessFULL with ADHD’ by Activating Your ADHD Potential?
Order our 3x best-selling book/workbook for adults with ADHD ▶️ http://bit.ly/activateadhd

Transcript

JM Ryerson: 0:00

There's a lot of things going on, and we need to give ourselves a little bit of time and a little bit of grace to say, You know what? Maybe my attention span is not as good as I want it to be, but you know what, I'm giving it my best effort. And when we give ourselves this grace, it's amazing how much more we start to be fulfilled, and it present, and all these great rewards come from it. So these shoulds and have tos, throw them out the window, because the only thing you actually have to do is breathe air. You should probably eat, although there's, you know, it depends, you know, some studies, how much you would need to do that you need shelter and sleep and you need to drink some water. It's like those are the only things you have to do.

Brooke Schnittman: 0:52

Welcome to successful with ADHD. I'm Brooke Schmidt, let's get started. Hey everyone Today, I have a friend and colleague, JM Ryerson. He has founded and sold three businesses, and now channels his expertise into helping leaders, like lots of you, listening and leadership teams, achieve similar success. So James a leadership and performance coach, and he's an international speaker, host of, let's go win podcast, which I was lucky enough to be hosted on, and it was an amazing conversation. So go listen and best selling. Author of, let's go win Champions daily playbook and upgrade. And if that's not enough, he brings over 20 years of experience in building companies and leading sales teams to empower business owners across various sectors. So recently, JMS focus has been on businesses looking to not only double the revenue in the first year through the core business principles he advocates for, but also to elevate their overall leadership proficiency. He's the co founder and CEO of let's go win. And his mission is to increase leadership, enhance culture and help teens achieve peak performance. JM has been driven by a passion for inspiring people to live their best lives and an unwavering belief in the potential within each individual. And he's dedicated to providing the tools necessary to transcend self limiting beliefs. So JM is a neighbor. He lives in Boca, Raton, Florida, but he's from Montana with his wife, Lisa, who's amazing too, and they're two wonderful boys, and he continues to inspire and motivate individuals to become open to the possibilities life hold, warm, welcome. JM,

Unknown: 2:39

Brooke, I every time I see you, you just make me smile, because you have that dynamic smile. And so yes, it's a pleasure to be here. I'm grateful to be here, and this should be a lot of fun. As you said, we had such a great conversation on my podcast, and every time we get together, it's like you bring you lift me up, as I'm sure you do all your audience members. So just thank you for the way you show up. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. And I brought JM on today for those of you listening, because he has such practical strategies in his book for all people. But it's even it's not specifically for ADHD, but it helps people with ADHD, like a lot of this stuff in there, I said, Oh, this is great. This is great. Gamification, accountability. How do we keep things practical? How do we keep things simple? So we're going to get into this. Because even though ADHD only affects 11% of people in the US,

Brooke Schnittman: 3:38

we know from Dr Hallowell that vast variable attention syndrome traits affects everyone with modern society. So how do we keep things simple? How do we keep things practical so we can increase our focus on the things that are intentional and calm our nervous systems at the same time? So very focused questions today, JM, and what I love about JM two is he and I are in the same mastermind, and we care about people. This mastermind is wonderful. It's a marketing and sales mastermind, and he and I just, like, shoot the shit, because we're like, all right, this is way over our head. Let's just talk about, like, how we help people. Okay, cool, go. So this is all about helping the listener. So JM, let's get into it. If you don't mind, in your best selling book, let's go win you talk about cutting yourself some slack.

Unknown: 4:34

So how, yeah,

Brooke Schnittman: 4:36

how you used to be more rigid with your goals, and if you didn't do it the way that they were supposed to, you wouldn't do it at all, and you stopped putting judgment. Sorry, it's a really long question, so stay with me for a second. You stop putting judgment, and if you do 30 seconds a day of meditation instead of your 20 minute goals, it's still a win. And I love this, because. Is with ADHD specifically, like we have such all or nothing mentalities, and we very often look at the gap more than the gain. So I would love to know what got you to change that mindset and maybe share some success stories surrounding this concept.

JM Ryerson: 5:18

Yeah, it's interesting how we have these I should or I have to. I don't know who came up with these arbitrary rules, but at some point, we do it to ourselves all the time. And my example that I give in the book is I used to write down that I would do 20 minutes meditation a day. And there came days where I just look, life got busy. I didn't set 20 minutes aside, so I just wouldn't do it at all. Then I would sit there and beat myself up internally in my head, about, God, what a piece of shit you are. You didn't do this. It's so good for you. And if you think about it, it's actually kind of it's crazy to sit there and say, Well, why 20 minutes? Well, I'm sure at some point I read that 20 minutes is optimal for the for the brain and the body to do this. Okay, cool, and that sounds great, but instead of doing if I didn't do 20 minutes, I'm just gonna not do it at all. Once I started putting the logic. I'm like, that doesn't make any sense. What if you just meditated, forget putting a time on it. You just spent time with you. And once I did that, a couple things happened. Brooke, I felt so much more rewarded and fulfilled. I started to enjoy my meditation practice that much more. And here's what's crazy, I would go way past 20 minutes some days, if I would get lost in it. So I wasn't setting this again arbitrary time to say I'm gonna meditate for this. I would just spend time with my thoughts. And if you think about it, you know, everybody has their own definition of what meditation is. All it is is observing your thoughts to truly be mindful enough to say, oh my gosh, I'm thinking about this. Well, in my opinion, you're meditating. And so the moment that I gave myself some slack and some grace, it's amazing how much more I actually want to go meditate, because it feels good and it doesn't feel better if I do 20 minutes versus 20 seconds. It just feels good saying I want to meditate on a daily basis, and when I do, I feel good. Okay, cool. So forget the times that is just something that was made up. And here's the other thing that I think people need to cut themselves slack on again. I don't think I have ADHD. I've never been tested for it, but here's what I know about human beings. We've gone from having a 12 second attention span about a decade ago to eight seconds. So our attention span as a society is shrinking, and I think the point of that is to say, Gosh, it's really busy, and there's a lot of things going on, and we need to give ourselves a little bit of time and a little bit of grace to say, You know what? Maybe my attention span is not as good as I want it to be, but you know what? I'm giving it my best effort. And when we give ourselves this grace, it's amazing how much more we start to be fulfilled and it present, and all these great rewards come from it. So these shoulds and have tos, throw them out the window, because the only thing you actually have to do is breathe air. You should probably eat, although there's, you know, it depends, you know, some studies, how much you need to do that. You need shelter and you need to drink some water. It's like those are the only things you have to do. And sleep. And sleep, actually, there's fascinating studies, but yes, and sleep, so your basic needs once you just focus on these, that's the only thing you have to do. Everything else is like, yeah, maybe if I meditate for 20 seconds today, that would, that would feel good. Oh, I'm gonna continue to do that. But you don't have to do any of that, that is a choice. And I think the more that I said it's okay to not do everything perfectly, it's okay that I didn't do my morning routine exactly the way that I had come up with it, that's all okay, because it's really we all just want to be happy and we want to be healthy and we want to be wealthy. That's why my company, that's the values of the company, because that's what I figured out. There's three things people want. They want to be happy, they want to be healthy and they want to be wealthy. And I'm not just talking financially, I'm talking spiritually and in relationships. So if you think about it, you don't have to do anything you choose to do.

Brooke Schnittman: 10:00

Do these things. If it feels good, yeah, it's almost like a privilege, right? So if you get your basic hierarchy of needs taken care of, which lot of us have a hard time doing, because everything is should have, right? We should ourselves all the time. If we take care of the basics, everything else is just a luxury,

JM Ryerson: 10:21

yeah, 1,000% it's like that. If it feels good, you should probably keep doing it. Now, there are some things where it's like, I love drinking tequila. However Should I drink tequila at 8am and then go off day? Probably not like that is a privilege. I should probably reserve for, I don't know, on a Saturday evening with friends cool, but yes, it's a privilege. And so I think it is just giving yourself the grace to say, You know what, I don't have to do anything other than the hierarchy of needs. And then, if meditating in the example, if that feels good and I feel better, yeah, find a find some time to do it. But forget the arbitrary rules, man, because I've created them for myself, and it just leads to disappointment and judgment and shame versus just saying. You know what? I like to meditate, so I'm going to do it on a daily basis. Yeah, it's like the household chores, right? Let's say we, quote, unquote, have to do them, right? Well, the dishes, the laundry, I mean, they're always going to be there, right? Even if you do it all in one day, they're going to come back tomorrow and there's going to be dirty dishes and there's going to be dirty laundry. So everything is in a cycle. It's not an all or nothing, and we're not always going to be 100%

Brooke Schnittman: 11:42

in anything.

JM Ryerson: 11:45

So I give the example actually in the book of doing dishes, because it's one of the responsibilities in my house that I often get tasked with. Well, I don't like doing dishes, so we're clear. It's not something I'm like, Yes, I get to do dishes today. But you know what I do? Love to do. I love to dance. And so what I do when it's time to do the dishes, I throw on some music. I'm not doing dishes, I'm dancing. And it's like, but I end up doing the dishes, having a great time, and wow. What do you know next time the dishes come up, I'm just gonna throw on some music and have some fun with it. It's interesting. If we just flip the narrative of like, oh, this is something I have to do to this something I get to do, and I get to actually dance and have a good time. It's crazy how much more efficient we become, and we got the same task done, just in a better, better way, in a more fun way, yeah, and I love how you go into that gamification. People with ADHD love gamification, and in this specific example that you mentioned, it's pairing a daunting task of doing the dishes that I don't know anyone who says I love doing dishes, and you're you're pairing it with a dopamine inducing activity that gets you going and gets you to make it fun. Like you said, gamification is amazing. I teach this for people that are in sales all the time. So making phone calls, right? If you are in a business where you have to, quote, unquote, but let's say your job requires you to make 100 sales calls a day. Most people aren't like, Yes, I can't wait to go make those sales calls. I've met literally in my time, I think I've met on less than one hand the amount of people that say that they're the outliers. Most people don't love making phone calls. But to your point, gamification, I do the same thing every time I'm like, Look, I want you to go get two big vases, and I want you to fill it with 100 marbles. And as you make the phone calls, just move that marble into the empty vase. And you keep doing this, well, what happens is you start to feel excited, because now it's not about making the phone calls, it's about moving the marbles. And I have watched people literally go from, I can't be in sales. I don't enjoy this. This is the sucks. This is the worst job ever to literally, they don't even think about the phone calls. They're like, Dude, I moved my marbles by 11am and I'm like, fantastic. What'd you do with the rest of the day? He's like, I went and moved him back. I literally, I made 200 calls that day. And I'm like, That is so cool, because again, the task was done, but the focus was on having fun. The focus was on that gamification, so it's something that you can apply in every facet of your life. So instead of losing their marbles, I have to say this, they're moving their marbles. Absolutely. Yes,

Brooke Schnittman: 14:55

I like I really love the gamification, and I think also attaching. It to like, why they're doing it as well, right? That intrinsic motivation of, okay, what is this? Besides the gamification, which is an amazing thing for things that you don't really enjoy doing, what is the purpose behind it? So if that person can find the purpose behind the sales call and bringing an income, and that income supplies food to put on the table, and that food on the table supplies happiness and health and the family, and that makes them feel good. That also attached to the gamification can hopefully bring on a longer success rate with that as well. Because if we don't know why we're doing something, then we usually quit anyway.

JM Ryerson: 15:41

No, see, you're absolutely right. It's, it is finding, look, the reason people don't succeed in things is comes down to, in my opinion, really one thing. It's two things, I guess, fear, right? They're fearful of whatever thing that it is. Like I, for instance, you mentioned that I work with businesses. There's not a company that I haven't been a part of that hasn't doubled or tripled their revenue in the first year, literally. But here's what's crazy. You think people would be knocking down my door to be like, Dude, I want to work with you. Got to do this. What people typically do is they're almost afraid of that either that success or it's too good to be true. And so that fear stops them from even having a conversation with me, right? I literally, I've, I've had people reach out, and I'm like, yeah, absolutely, I'd love to be a part of it. I believe in what you're doing. And then they're like, I don't feel I'm worthy of it. So there's a fear. Well, what happens is, then people don't actually act on it, right? So if somebody came and they said, You know what, dude, like my most recent client, he is out of Oklahoma. He is what I call an early adopter. He jumped, you know, not feeding. I mean, it was head on in with me, and in the first six months, he made over $600,000 more than he had made the year before. Well, the only reason that happened is because he got rid of that fear, or maybe he doesn't have the prefrontal cortex of his brain that shuts it down and he decided to act. And so the gamification part, the what I'm trying to explain is it removes that fear and it allows you to act. Because instead of focusing on whatever fear of making that phone call, now I'm just focused on move the MARC and the action is what allows people to grow great businesses, you know, lose 30 pounds. It's the action piece that really stops people from achieving their goals. Well, why did that happen? Because it became fearful. And to bring it all back, if you gamify it now, the whole thing, it becomes easy, because we are wired to love games as human beings. We love to compete. I love that. And ADHD ers really love to compete. That's amazing. So not only are you gamifying it and they're getting and building that momentum and removing the fear, but now it becomes easy, like you said, and there is no fear, because they've proven that they can do it. So it almost becomes innate at that point. So if the gamification goes away, because, like for ADHD, we have to make micro changes sometimes, so like that, moving the marbles would be really exciting, maybe in the beginning, and then it would lose

Brooke Schnittman: 18:41

the excitement, because it's not novel anymore. So let's find another way to compete. Well, maybe we don't need to find another way to compete, because it's innate at that point.

JM Ryerson: 18:52

Just a thought, no, it's interesting. I mean, look whether you have ADHD or not. People love incentives, right? We want to be rewarded for whatever we're doing. And so for instance, when I first started in my sales career, I remember I had when you say, No man, I had$0 in the account, like nothing to my name. And yet, the guy that was also working next to me, his name was Nate. He didn't have much either. Well, that didn't stop us from competing with each other. The reward was just different. So instead of running a contest for like, Hey, if you beat me, you owe me 100 bucks. We didn't have 100 bucks. So what we did is we it became more of a pride thing, if I beat you, you wash my car and vice versa. So I think it's literally just finding simple ways to compete. It doesn't have to be these extravagant prizes. In fact, one of the worst contests I ever ran as a business owner was for the most. Expensive. It was this beautiful Rolex watch. And I was thinking, Man, my team is going to run through a brick wall for this thing. Our sales went down because the truth was, nobody gave a care about that Rolex watch. Now you want to watch people run through a brick wall. There's only one and anybody listening that your business owner run your contests on this I'm telling you, it has literally never failed, is for a TV. And you go, Well, really? JM just run a contest for a TV. Yeah, here's why, if you win that contest, you don't just win X amount of dollars and go spend it and it's gone. You take that TV and you put it on your wall. Now, Brooke comes over to hang out, and I'm like, you know, we're watching TV. She's like, is that a new TV? And I'm like, yeah, actually, I'm so glad you asked. I won this at my job for being a badass in this thing. And so it becomes this source of pride. And so it's, it's these simple things that if we just tweak what we're doing a little bit, and we're clear on what is the reward, the reward isn't the TV. The reward is the recognition. The reward is being able to tell, tell my friends that come to my house that beautiful new TV. I won that because I did so good at this contest, and it is crazy. How again, whether you have ADHD or not, when it comes to the human psyche, when it comes to incentivizing people love to be recognized, they want to be seen. And that's what ultimately, that TV on their wall is showing. It reminds me, yesterday we got this big Nespresso package. Of course, we spent a lot of money on our Nespresso pods, and they rewarded us with this rubber popsicle maker with a stick and these really nice coasters. And my husband's like, oh my gosh, these are so cool. And I was like, Yeah, we got it because we spent a million dollars on espresso.

Brooke Schnittman: 22:10

But we love it. We were incentivized for spending just, you know, a certain amount of money to get this small little prize. But we did because we got that.

JM Ryerson: 22:22

It is amazing. It's it's kind of like when my wife comes home from shopping, she's like, Do you know how much money I saved? I'm like, oh boy, how much money. That's so good. It's so good. I love it. I love it. So you also talk about practical morning routines. And I know there's a lot of buzz around morning routines. Miracle Morning took off as a great book, but, you know, it's very rigid in the Savers method. Do this, do this, do this, do this, do this. So what do you talk about, or what do you recommend to create a practical morning routine. Yeah, so the 5am club and the morning miracle. And how's idea how Elrod was the author, that it makes sense, but to your point, it was so rigid that if you don't get up at 5am you're just, you're wasting and you're you're just not a good, disciplined, motivated person. Well, a that's complete garbage, right? Some of the most successful people I know stay up till two and 3am and get up at 11am and then they may or may not do a morning routine. There is no set time, because we are all wired differently. So Tim Ferriss would be the example. He is incredibly bright. He is absolutely shredded, and he wakes up at, you know, typically

10: 23:53

11am, he does, and he works four hours a week. And he works four hours a week. He's all about doing the absolute minimum to get the maximum result. And so that's the example where it's like, Look, I am a huge fan of my morning routine. So we're clear, my morning routine is, like, two and a half hours long, but that's for me that does. I don't coach any of my clients to do what I do, because I know, literally, I'm setting them up for failure. And you know, honestly, my wife thinks my routine is silly. She's like, you need to simplify this. And I'm like, Yeah, I get it, but I actually really enjoy every single bit of it. So what I coach people on is three things on a daily basis, you need to take care of three things, your mind, your body and your soul, that is it. And if you do that, what I coach my clients on is, look, I want you to give five minutes to your mind so that could be reading a book, listening to this podcast. It could be. Be doing brain games, which is actually what I love to do. I love to do various brain games. Lumosity is one of the apps I've used in the past. So for five minutes, just commit that to work on your brain. Because like a muscle, our brains need exercise. When it comes to the body, there's nothing I need to say. You guys have heard it plenty. We need to move, right? You need to exercise. Okay, cool. Yeah, I get it. The body's meant to move. What I tell my clients is, look, just go sweat once a day. Figure out a way to sweat, and within five minutes, if you're doing burpees or jumping jacks or anything, you're going to be able to sweat cool. So the body's taking care now the soul, the or spirit, that work terminology kind of goes back and forth. That's such an individual thing. Where some people it's reading the Bible, some people it's hiking a mountain, walking on the beach. For me, it's meditation, right? And so again, I said, Don't commit to to a time limit. I'm not saying do five minutes. I'm saying just spend time on your soul so but what I do coach my clients on I'm like, Look, can we just commit for you so that you pour from a full cup? Let's go ahead and take care of your mind, your body and your soul for 15 minutes a day. Now, if you happen to get up at 5am and you knock it out, congratulations. If you wake up at noon and do the same thing, great. If you wake up at 8am and you don't get it done till 6pm I really don't care, because, again, this isn't a have to do thing. It's something that it feels good. It's good for you overall, but stop putting judgment on it. Is what I would say. So I know how much people like well, if you get up earlier, you're more productive. I get it. I do and I like to get up early. My wife lays in bed till 9am every single day, and she is on her phone, man, she is one of the most productive people I know. Literally being in bed on her phone good for her, like there's no judgment. It's literally, it makes her feel good. I feel good moving a little bit earlier. But the truth is, just find something that works for you. Yeah, I love that. It's interesting. I'm re interviewing the sleep doctor after this interview, and our first interview, he talked about how a woman

Brooke Schnittman: 27:24

like she was on her way out of her job. She didn't know it, but her boss was going to fire her, and she was underperforming because her optimal focus time was actually 11am not first thing in the morning. So he asked the boss if he could work with her and shift her hours and do like, 11 to seven instead of nine to five. And he said, Yeah, it's fine, but I'm gonna be fire in two weeks anyway. Not only did she keep her job, but he optimized everyone else's jobs, because we don't all have the same focus and we don't have all the same productivity methods and rates, right? Like, what works for you doesn't work for Lisa, what works for me doesn't work for you. So how can we say everything is a one size fits all solution that we read about in self help books, right? Like it's just not one thing doesn't work for everyone.

JM Ryerson: 28:15

Yeah, I don't know who you're interviewing, but Matthew Walker, who is also a sleep doctor, talks about this like we are setting up our kids for failure. Literally, the circadian rhythms of teenagers is so different than an adult. They literally, they've done the studies, they stay up much later, and they wake up later. So our kids, and again, I know this because I've heard so many kiddos. One of our good friends has been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD, and which I know you and I talked about some of the differences on the show, but anyway, his name is Daniel. He's a sweet little boy, but it's really, really, really difficult for him to go and be still and be paying attention at 7am Well, guess what? Daniel's not alone. We really need to consider schooling differently. So the Norway currently is dominating every test you can imagine under the sun, and they only go to school three hours a day, and they have zero homework. And literally, if you look at the tests, it's not even close, they are kicking the living shit out of every other country, going to school three hours a day with no homework. And so I love the your sleep doctor, what he's saying there is no no one fits in. One thing, right? You cannot put and say, This is the carbon copy of what everybody's scheduled. It doesn't exist. Yeah. And the more that we're able to just accept that and be cool with it, it's like, yeah. That doesn't mean you're good or bad because you wake up early or you go to bed late at like that doesn't mean you're better than anyone else. It's just what works.

Brooke Schnittman: 30:00

For you exactly the sleep doctor is Michael, Dr. Michael, Bruce, and I love what you said about Norway, though, because in my former profession as a teacher, we learn there's no scientific evidence out there that homework helps children. And my husband lived in Norway for many years. It's a socialist country, but it works. The crime rate is down, and I'm not talking politics or whatever. They just have their shit together in every way possible, like the homework, the school, the they get along, they, they, you know, it just, we need to learn. That's all I love. I could talk. It's so, so good, because rote memory stuff, who cares? That's not the way our world works. By the way, we have this little thing called the cell phone with all the information in the world available to us. Remember when we were kids and we were told, You're gonna have to remember this. There's not gonna be anyone telling you this, and then now it's like, all right, there's AI, cell phones, pretty much everything is at our fingertips. Now we need to learn how to problem solve. That's all so true. So going back to the practical morning routine, one thing that I love that you mentioned in your book, that I also do is MCT oil in your coffee.

JM Ryerson: 31:24

So good, so good. I love it, because people usually go for coffee first thing in the morning before they eat. But we know that we need a protein and a fat and or else we're gonna spike our energy and then crash, and then we're gonna need another coffee and another coffee and another coffee. So can you tell me, like, what was the reasoning behind adding that in your book? Yeah, yeah. So Dave Asprey, who wrote bulletproof, the Bulletproof Diet, I think, was his first one. Bulletproof coffee is where I learned it from, which may or may not where you did but what he found is, look, our brains feed off fat. Okay, and often you're we, we've gone in this low fat society where it's like fats, bad, well, no, actually, bad fats. Bad butter, ghee, MCT oil, that's not bad. Avocado, yes, like it's the Wonder food, like the superfood right? Eggs and all of these fats, well, they're not only good for our body, but they're really good for our brain. And so if you think about it for a second, if our brains thrive off fat. And again, I am not a scientist, so if anything I say is slightly, you know, look, man, I'm also not big into details. Honestly, it's what I know is how my brain feels when I add the MCT oil to your question, when I add the oil in my coffee and the butter, and when I, you know, put it in my blender a when I drink it, my brain feels like it's on fire, in a good way, like it is just boom, I am awake and I am alert and I'm excited, and to have something like this coconut oil, essentially to do that for my brain, I'm obsessed. Now here's the other good news, it actually helps me maintain weight and not be as hungry and be more satiated like these are some of the the benefits. But the truth is I do it because how good my brain feels. So if you're not giving yourself enough fat are arguably, you're starving your brain of exactly what it needs and desires. So literally, I just finished a rook like just before our podcast, and I just I feel so damn good after doing it, it's my favorite thing to do every morning is to get up and I do my butter, I do my MCT oil. I use key butter and MCT oil, and once I blend it, I mean, it's just like Christmas in a cup. Every single morning It feels so good. It really does. It really does. Thank you for sharing that you also talk about accountability, and we know that accountability is everything we could have the best lead plan. But without accountability, nothing happens. And I'm not going to make a generalization, that this is just for ADHD years. We know that everything that's good for ADHD years is also good for everyone else, right? We just sometimes need it in a different way or more. So what are some ways that you recommend accountability? Yeah, accountability gets kind of a bad name because you hear accountability, you're like, Oh, I gotta do this. Well again. Go back to what we started with. You don't have to do anything whenever you're setting yourself up for accountability. It's something that you have chosen because you wanted to perform better in your job. You wanted to feel better weight wise. And so if you flip it on its head and say, okay, accountability is not bad. It's just supporting where my dreams and what I want to accomplish. So the best way for me is twofold. I write down everything my goals, what I want to stay accountable to. I put it in my bathroom mirror, which allows me to look at it at least twice a day, when I brush my teeth in the morning, when I brush my teeth at night. But the biggest trick, in my opinion, is giving permission to those closest to you to hold you accountable. Now you have to be clear on giving them account. You have to excuse me on giving them permission that I want you to hold me accountable because I want to lose 30 pounds so I'm more active with the kids, or I feel better I fit into this dress, whatever your reasoning is. So when I set goals, I put them in my bathroom mirror, and then I share with my family what those goals are. Now a good example that I have right now, I'm on a mission over the next 90 days, to lose anywhere between 30 to 40 pounds, depending where I'm feeling at that time. And so I've given my wife permission when that alarm goes off, if I'm not wanting to hop out of bed, that she can say, hey, Tubby, get out of bed. And you think, Gosh, that's cruel. Yeah, I get it, but it's something that is important to me. And why is it important to me? Is because my best friend was diagnosed with diabetes, and I committed to following this regimen with him for the next 90 days, so that he is off diabetes medication. That's the sole purpose. Now the benefactor is I'm going to lose the weight with him, I'm going to feel better because I'm eating slightly differently, but but the point of the accountability is sharing with my loved ones to say, look, I'm giving you full permission to call me out on this. I'm asking you to call me out on this, because this is so important to me. When you do that, here's what happens, that accountability partner now also becomes your biggest cheerleader. So when you're doing it, they're like, that's awesome. High five, hug, whatever it is. And so now you're getting those external rewards again. So I think it's just a matter of finding somebody that you trust that can be your accountability buddy and let them know you give them full permission. Now, if you put up a goal and you don't give them permission, and my wife's like, hey, Tubby, get out of bed. Totally different conversation. I'm like, Dude, that sucks. That's not cool, man. Why are you calling me that? But because I gave her full permission. Now it's like, yeah, okay, let's let's get moving. So it's just one of those funny things, is where you find your accountability person and give them permission to help you. Because ultimately, whatever you you wrote down, you wrote it down because you knew it was going to make you feel better. It was going to help you accomplish your dream. So just let them support you. Yeah, I love that. So you are writing it down so you can see it. And we have very often issues with object permanence with ADHD, so seeing it activates our working memory and then perhaps scheduling it, so we have that 40 to 70% more likely of doing it and then asking that external accountability with your why behind it. I love that. Yeah, it's interesting. I You said, object permanence. Is that? What you said, Yeah, it's really interesting. I love the way you said that, because, look, life is busy and complicated, and the dog will, you know, die and the girlfriend's gonna break up with you and your truck broke down like the country song plays in our lives, and that's when we don't accomplish our goals. But when you have it up, even if my girlfriend just broke up with me, guess what? I'm still looking at the goal. It sucks. I lost my girlfriend, but you know what? I still wanted to accomplish that goal with or without her, and so I it reminds me that okay, life happened, but I really this was important to me, so I hadn't heard that terminology the way you used it, but I love it, and it makes total sense. Yeah, the object permanence and that external accountability, I actually pay like we very often know what we need to do, we just don't do it. And so either you know, whether it be a family member, I pay someone who I work out with right now to just text me about my food choices. Just text me like I know what I'm comfortable with as body weight. I still haven't gotten down to my pre pregnancy weight. I go up and down. I yo, yo. And I said, You know what I want to do. This the non. Way I want to lose weight in a healthy way, and it's X amount, just keep me accountable. And so I paid her, and it's working. You know? It's just these little things that wrap the bow and make life little bit easier. Yeah, I love it. If you want to put that on steroids. Just take a picture of every meal you you do and send it to her and to him or her. It's the the studies on this are wild. How much more effective, even than a food diary, if you just take a picture, what happens is, you have to look at that, and you may say, Oh, didn't need the french fries today. And it's literally, even though it's visual on my plate when I'm sending it to my accountability buddy, nope. Next thing you know, fries get removed, carrots get put on new picture, and it's just making some better decisions. It's crazy how that works for us. So I like that terminology. I'm gonna have to use that with my class. I really like that. Yeah, thank you. What other tips would you say

Brooke Schnittman: 41:08

are helpful for business owners or just people in general who want to make their life simpler and more productive?

JM Ryerson: 41:17

So I would get quiet as you can again. I know again. You've taught me so much about, you know how busy our brains are. And my brain, by the way, is non stop. It doesn't shut off. My My wife was like, I don't get it. Mine's always on, like, chill mode, and you're just non stop. But what I would suggest is spend some time with you and just ask yourself some really important questions, what's important to me, right? So for instance, when I asked that question and I sat with it, there's, there's three things that came back, and they, they continue to be in my life, freedom, love and abundance. Those three words just have come to me now. Why is that important? Well, if freedom is my number one core value in this world, which it is that's going to simplify all the decisions I make. So for instance, if a buddy calls up and he's like, Hey, man, let's, let's go watch the game and and, you know, hang out with, you know, Tom. Well, let's just say I don't like Tom, and that's not to me being free, because now I'm I want to hang out with the buddy that called me, but I gotta go hang out with Tom. Man, this is really cutting into my freedom. Well, I'm gonna make the decision that, you know what? Thank you. I'm just not interested. That seems like such a simple thing. And yet, if I'm not clear on what I most value, I probably go have some beers with Tom, and I kind of slog through the night. And I'm like, man, 1,000% and we all do it. I watch it. I watch it with my wife frequently where I'm like, do you really enjoy being around those people? No, but, you know, we have a history or whatever. I'm like, okay, but it is a choice that you're making. Like, you don't have to. And she's like, Yeah, you know, I guess. And I'm like, Yeah, dude, this is your life you get to choose. So to your question, get real clear on what you value most, and again, mine are real clear, freedom, love, abundance, if it doesn't fall in that bucket, I'm really not interested the have TOS or the should haves or all the guilty stuff like that comes along. Like I was raised Catholic, that Catholic guilt is real man, where it's like you have to do this, that life is gone. For me, if I want to do that, I will do that. If I choose to, I will, but I'm not going to, because you you think I should. So I think the more that people can get clear on exactly what you want out of life, and then ask these quick questions, does this support, you know, freedom, love and abundance, and if it doesn't, then the answer is a hell no. If it does, then that it's a hell yeah. But if it's in the middle, I'm probably saying no, and I'm just gonna spend time with my family, the people I love. So I think the more that you can get clear on exactly what you want, it will help your decisions, in your relationships, in your your career, in what you choose to do with, with your family. That, for me, has been really, really helpful and creating those boundaries where, look, it's okay to say no, because every time you say yes, for those of you out there that are like, well, I can't say no, so I say yes all the time. Well, here's the truth. Every time you say yes, you're saying no to something else. And when I learned that lesson, because I used to be that way, I'm people pleaser, man, I'm just gonna Yep, I'm gonna say yes, well, guess what. Now I'm saying no to my family. I'm saying no to my. Health, I'm saying no to the things I truly love. So saying no for me is not hard. I'm like, nope, not interested. And people like, really? I'm like, yeah, man, that's it's just it's not personal. It's just not for me. I think the more people get comfortable with that idea and set their boundaries, the more simple life becomes, and the more fulfilling and and rewarding the things that you really love to do become, yeah, I love that, the power of choice, when you reframe it in a way that, hey, yeah. I might have had this friend for 20 years, but I outgrew them.

Brooke Schnittman: 45:37

I'm a different person. Some of my values have shifted. I choose to choose me and my current life more than I'm choosing that. And there's no you know, there's no shame, there's no resentment, right? You don't feel like, oh, this token economy. It's like, nope, my my choice is me, and that's okay.

JM Ryerson: 46:06

So good, yeah, yes, yes, it's so good. I choose me. I love that. Yeah, I love that so much.

Brooke Schnittman: 46:15

So that is an amazing way, in my opinion, to end. But do you have any other last one liners that you want to share with our listeners? I

JM Ryerson: 46:29

don't know if it's a one liner, but here's what I would say, be 100% okay with being just being your authentic self. Take your mask off because it's masks are meant for parties. They're not meant for real life. And at some point in life, we all put on a mask to fit in, because everybody wants to be liked. Of course, you want to fit in. The truth is, the most powerful way that you can show up as a human being is when you're authentic, and the more that you can become comfortable just being authentically you. It's amazing how rewarding it becomes. So I guess that would be my final thought. Is that person, that authentic you, is the most beautiful, amazing form that you can show up as, the more you just take off the masks that you know, get rid of that stuff. Just be you and the people that see that beauty, keep them around those that don't shed them and yeah, man, just just live it, because we're not on this earth that long. You may as well enjoy it while you have time. Amen. All right, so if people want some business advice, if they want to talk to you, get to know you, learn more about you. Where should they go? Yeah, let's go win.com if you go there all there's free resources, all sorts of stuff. Obviously, I would say go listen to the podcast, because Brooke was an incredible guest. And, yeah, just hit me up. You know, let's go win 365, on any social media platform. But if you're a business owner and you want to double your revenue, we may or may not be the right fit, but I'll tell you what, if we are, it's a hell of a lot of fun, and it creates this amazing win, win. So I love what I do with amazing human beings. And you know what? It's just so much fun working with people that are in you know, incredible like yourself. So thank you for having me, and yeah, certainly hope to hear from some of your audience members. Definitely. Let's go win.com and let's go win 365 JM, thank you so much. Thanks for listening to this episode of successful with ADHD. I hope it helps you on your journey, and if you need any additional support for you or a loved one with ADHD, feel free to reach out to us@coachingwithbrooke.com

Brooke Schnittman: 48:53

and all social media platforms at coaching with Brooke, and remember, it's Brooke with an E. Thanks again for listening, see you next time you.