Nathan Minns is the founder of Green Light Improv, a professional training company that cultivates resilience, enhances creativity, and improves communication, all while inspiring connection through improv comedy. Beginning as an actor in 2015, Nathan soon realized that his acting training was positively affecting other work skills, from creativity and confidence, to communication and decision-making. Ultimately, the change he saw in himself led him to create Green Light Improv in 2019. Green Light Improv inspires connection through improv comedy. The company doesn't teach improv comedy, but instead uses improv comedy as a tool to teach other work and life skills. In 2022, Nathan quit his job and is now working full-time to spread applied improv training. An Ohio State University graduate, Nathan has previously spent most of his career in the startup ecosystem as an employee and a 3x founder. How does this all work with his ADHD? Can Improv Comedy work via your ADHD too? Enjoy! 

In this episode Peter and Nathan Minns discuss:  

00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing!

01:01 - Intro and welcome Nathan Minns!

02:50 - So Improv is a cult right? What got you into it? What got you excited?

05:51 - Can improv positively affect your mental health? Focusing on 2 things tandem?

07:10 - What is the reason people with neurodiverse brains are drawn to the improv community?

07:50 - How do you feel on stage? Why do you continue to practice improv?

08:30 - What kinds of folks are you working with; what all is your  Green Light Improv company doing?

09:45 - Can you share an example you’ve experienced in where a new client ‘gets it’ for the first time, as you did?

12:40 - Is it about the 8 people you’re in a room with, or the eventual audience?

13:48 - Neurodiverse brains. Conversation engineering and management. Improv is a team sport.

14:48 - How can people find more about you? 

Web:  https://greenlightimprov.com  Personal: https://nathanminns.com

Socials:  @ linkedin.com/in/minns on LinkedIN and via YouTube

15:06 - We should talk about improv as a tool and subject again- than you Nathan!! 

Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you’d like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We’d love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! 

15:49 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits.

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TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:

[00:00:40] Peter: Hey everyone. Peter Shankman is with you today. Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal, the podcast where we talk about ADD, ADHD, Autism, Executive Function Disorder, anything and everything having to do with the neurodiverse brain, we here look at all of those things as gifts, not as curses, and we're thrilled that you're here. I am joined today by someone who I've been talking about improv both in my books and on the podcast and in my courses and things like that. As something that you kind of have to do. And why do I say that? Because improv allows you to focus on improving yourself from the inside out. An ex-girlfriend who used to do improv all the time, and I never really got it. And one day she invited me. She said, just come take class. And look, I was a drama major growing up. I went high school, the whole thing. I took this class and the simple act of having to think inside your own head in real time, massively, massively opened up my brain. and I was a fan, have been a fan ever since. So we're talking to Nathan Minns, who's the founder of https://greenlightimprov.com , a professional training company that cultivates resilience, enhances creativity, and improves communication, all while inspiring connection through improv comedy. He began as an actor in 2015, and he soon realized his Actor training was positively affecting other work skills from creativity and confidence to communications, decision making, things like that. So that's where he created Green Light Improv in 2019. It inspires connection through improv comedy. The company doesn't teach Improv. , but rather uses improv as a tool to other work and life skills. That actually, uh, resonates with me because I think that when I, when I talk to companies, when I go and speak to companies, I like to do a little improv just to get them to sort of break down those barriers that are inherent in business and inherent, I think in our brain. You know, a lot of companies, Nathan, um, more than ever before are focusing on, uh, employee mental health and employee mental wellbeing. And I think that, that you might just be at the right place at the right time type thing. That, so welcome to the podcast. First. 

[00:02:44] Nathan: Thank you for having me. I loved your podcast for a long time, so I'm happy to be here.

[00:02:49] Peter: So improv. So, you know, look, I, before I started going and started becoming a fan of it, I always assumed improv was kind of a cult. Um, you had to go, you had to bring 10 friends, you had to buy two drinks, you know, the usual, right? Yeah. And I was quickly disabused of that theory, uh, my first time there. So what got you into it? What got you excited? . 

[00:03:08] Nathan: Well, I started performing in 2015 and I saw my first improv show in 2016, and when I saw the show; they were just, their brains were working so fast. I knew that it was something that I wanted to do too. So I went out and auditioned for these two groups that I saw perform, and I felt like I was doing incredibly well. I was making everyone in the room laugh and I was having a blast. And the only small hiccup that came was that it seemed like I was the only person that thought I was doing well. Because, yeah, I didn't get in, so I did not get into either group and I said, okay, I know this is something I wanna do. I've seen improv, I've done theater. So I took a step back. I started taking some classes and trying to put in the work to be able to get up to that level. Then I went back later, I auditioned again, and I did so much better. And in the end, the exact same thing happened. Really? In total? Yeah. In total. I auditioned across the two groups seven times before I got into an improv group. 

[00:04:17] Peter: Wow. But you got into it. 

[00:04:19] Nathan: I did . I did get into one. Um, but I, I realized there that many people, like what you were describing, see improv as this thing that they would never be able to do. And it's a learnable skill. It's something that you can figure out how to do. There's training to be able to learn it. And I was very naturally bad at it, but I like to think I'm a little bit better these days than when I first started. 

[00:04:47] Peter: I love that. Naturally bad at some. Well, being naturally bad at something is the first step to kind of eventually being good at something, right? Yeah, exactly. Tell me about, um, you, you mentioned the, the brain working faster. Everyone's brain working faster in improv. You know, the thing about A D H D is that we're constantly, our brains are constantly working faster and, and while we're thinking one thing, we're making a joke about something else and we're thinking about something else, and you know, like four different things at the same time. And I found that the only place where that doesn't, two places where that doesn't really work well. One is in a relationship, um, when you're not entirely focused on the person. And yeah. The second one I've just discovered recently is in boxing because I'll be thinking, I'll, I'll, I'll be focusing on my punches, I'll be throwing, I'll doing it, and then something clicks in my brain and half a second later I'm four tangents away, uh, you know, wondering whether or not, um, beavers fall in love. And yeah. Next, next thing I know, I've just gotten rocked with a, with a hard right to the head, so that is, uh, something I'm focusing on, but, but talk about from an ADHD perspective or from mental health perspective. Talk about how improv can positively affect that.

[00:06:00] Nathan: Yeah. I, I find that improv is one of the only places that I have gone into that community where the traits of A D H D are often rewarded. So when I'm on stage, I feel very comfortable. I feel everyone's watching me. Of course, I'm performing. But there's something about that heightened feeling that makes me very focused. And also in improv, we have to be fully present in the moment. And I think the stress, almost stress of being on stage helps that helps us to stay focused. And while we're being fully present on stage, we have to be able to come up with a lot of creative ideas very quickly. And discern which ones are good, which ones aren't worth pursuing. And I find that my ADHD is very helpful in allowing me to come up with a lot of different ideas and see what works. So I feel like it is a incredible community where it is the highest percentage of people with ADHD that I have ever been a part of any group. 

[00:07:10] Peter: Interesting. Why do you think and and do you think the reason people with neurodiverse brains are drawn to it is because of the speed, is because of the quickness, is because it's, you know, it's, it's like that perfect place for a brain, for brains like ours. 

[00:07:22] Nathan: Yeah, I think that it's, it's rewarded. Some of those quick thinking skills are rewarded where it may not be rewarded in the corporate sphere, where we often do more monotonous kind of tasks in 80, in, in improv. we're doing a lot of different things and we have to come up with a lot of different ideas. So I definitely think that, um, that's a, that's a solid reason why we're drawn to improv. 

[00:07:51] Peter: Interesting. Tell me about how you're feeling when you're on stage. I mean, are you getting. . You know, when I get off the stage after a keynote, I'm, I'm just a wash with dopamine. Right. Do you have that same sort of feeling? Is that, is that one of the reasons you, you keep doing it? 

[00:08:03] Nathan: Yeah. It, it's an incredible high being on stage. I now feel more comfortable on stage when I don't know what I'm about to say next . And in improv than when I'm in a play, or I'm doing a keynote, something like that. I feel very comfortable. Um, when I just, I don't have a script and I can just float along with it. I find I'm incredibly focused. Yeah.

[00:08:29] Peter: That's very cool. Um, Where do you, uh, see it taking you? I mean, you're, you're working, what kind of companies and, and groups of people are you working with now in, in the company? And tell us about what the company's doing. 

[00:08:42] Nathan: Yeah, so I'm 24 right now and I started the company in 2019 in my senior year of college at Ohio State. And I found, at the very beginning that I found that working with colleges and universities, uh, worked very well. That has stayed something that's pretty consistent working with a lot of colleges, uh, university programs. Now we're expanding into more of the corporate sphere, small business sphere, non-university, university sphere. Um, I see it growing into a place where we can have, uh, a variety of facilitators doing this work at, at the same time, we can have the basis of the curriculum too, but I think that improv can be used for so many different things that we can start to have different branches from, uh, a law school, a social worker school and, and any other, any other groups that we think can really benefit from this kind of training. 

[00:09:44] Peter: Very, very cool. Talk about one of your, uh, talk about someone who came in with sort of that same attitude I did the first time. Oh, this is, this is bs, whatever. And talk about that moment when they sort of got it and you saw, you saw the change.

[00:09:59] Nathan: So I saw, I went into one group. There were 40 people, and I started my initial talk. It's about, usually the workshops are about 10 minutes of me talking at the beginning. And then the entire rest of the workshop is exercise debrief. And in the exercise we're doing paired exercises for about half the time and groups of four to six for the rest of the time. So I start this 10 minute talk of just what is improv? How are we going to use it today? Why are we doing this? And about 30 seconds into this talk, someone raises their hands, think, okay, this, this isn't typically a time when people raise their hands, . Um, I said, Oh, ok- , what would you like to say? And there was this woman, she was probably around 60 or 70, and she said, Nathan, I just wanna let you know that we are all introverts and we're gonna hate this. Ha ha. And I was like, I appreciate your honesty,., thank you for telling me that. It's nice to see where, where our starting point is. And in that workshop I knew; okay, this might be a tougher audience than my typical workshop, but as we started getting going, I told her, let's just give it 10 minutes. Just give it a little bit of time and we'll see what happens. Within 30 minutes maybe, she was volunteering in front of the entire group, which isn't a thing we force anyone. , but we just, I asked would anyone like to share or represent the group? And she started, started doing it because I, I think they realized that this isn't an activity that's only for extroverts or, um, only for people who like to speak up all the time. Um, this is an, an activity that we, anyone can do, we can use it for, for any group. Yeah. And they can do something and have fun and get something out of it. 

[00:12:07] Peter: You know what always interests me, the the introvert concept is interesting because a lot of people with neurodiverse brains are what you might call the most introverted extrovert you'll ever meet. In the respect that, you know, I love being on stage, I love speaking. I love doing that because it's me to many. Yeah. Right. But if it's me to a few, like at dinner party or whatever, I hate everything about that. Hmm. Right. You know, I, I, I, I love being on stage talking to thousands of people, or I love one-on-one, you know, having dinner with a friend or whatever. But the concept of, of, uh, you know, sitting with her in a room with eight people where we all have to make small talk. , you know, I'll be in the second bedroom playing with the cat. And so I think that one of the keys about improv is that it is a small group of people talking to each other, but in essence talking to an audience.

[00:12:52] Nathan: Yeah. And in improv it is very much a conversation with the audience, not in the way that we actually expect the audience to talk to us through the performance. But when we're, because in improv, just so we're all on the same page, it is often when five to six actors get on stage, they ask for a single word, and they use that word to inspire a variety of scenes that have never been done before. Never been written before, and will likely never be done again. So something that that we find is that we have to create all of those scenes live and we can use what the audience is giving us all, whenever they laugh, we can say, okay, that is a, a button that we just pressed. Right. That something was funny there. Let's dig into that. 

[00:13:42] Peter: That's really smart because you're, you're listening to the audience and you're, you're, you're letting them give you the cues not even realizing they're doing it. 

[00:13:48] Nathan: Exactly. Yeah. It, we're not performing in a vacuum. We're not writing in a vacuum, so it's a nice way to, to have a conversation on that kind of scale.

[00:13:57] Peter: It's interesting cause that's what people who understand their neurodiverse brands tend to do is they, they tend to, uh, engineer the conversation in the respect that I can go in and start talking about something with someone knowing full well that I'm leading them, uh, down a path that I want to go to get to somewhere I wanna talk about, but making it seem like it's their idea.

[00:14:16] Nathan: Yeah. And, and in improv, you know, we, we all have, I have a ton of ideas when I'm on stage, my scene partner has a ton of ideas and that's where the connection happens. Because in improv we're not doing just what I'm thinking. We're not doing just what they're thinking. The ideas very much meld together, and that's much of the basis of how we use it for connecting and trust building. Because improv is a team sport. It's not like standup where it's just you on stage. You win and lose as a team. 

[00:14:53] Peter: Totally. How can people find out more about, about you and about, uh, Green Light Improv? 

[00:14:58] Nathan: You can go to https://greenlightimprov.com

[00:15:02] Peter: I love it. I love it. Nathan, thank you so much for taking the time today to be on Faster Than Normal. Really appreciate it. Improv, I think, is the subject that we, we should touch on again. Um, I think, I think it, it, it is an underrated tool for those with Neurodiverse brains; so I really appreciate you being here, man. We'll have you back. For sure. 

[00:15:17] Nathan: Thank you for having me!

[00:15:18] Peter: Guys, as always, we wanna hear what you think! Shoot me an email, peter @shankman.com. Let me know about a guest that you think might be great on the show. Uh, we'd love to know. You could follow us on all the socials and I'm gonna give you all a little, uh, piece of secret news that haven't really announced yet. Children's book .Coming in February. I'll leave it at that. Thanks for listening. We'll see you guys next week here on Faster Than Normal. 

Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week! 

Welcome back and thanks so much for staying with us here in 2023! So today we’re catching up with our former guest, Sharon Pope. [her first interview focusing on Shelpful and Instant Human Accountability can be heard HERE].  Sharon is the co-founder and CEO of Shelpful, the instant accountability service that pairs you with a real-human buddy to help you build good habits (they nudge you and hold you to big habits like getting exercise, or small tasks like taking out the trash on time). Prior to starting shelpful, Sharon was a startup executive for 15 years, running marketing and product. She advised startups at the famous startup accelerator, Y Combinator, and was Chief Marketing Officer at ZeroDown, Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT), GoBank and Loopt. Prior to that she managed PR and content for a range of tech companies at leading San Francisco-based PR agencies. Today we welcome back to talk about how her super helpful company Shelpful has changed, if she’s still using exercise as medicine, and what new important things she has learned since our visit last year. Happy New Year! Enjoy!

In this episode Peter and Sharon Pope discuss:  

00:40 - Thank you so much for listening and for subscribing!

00:50 - Intro and welcome back Sharon Pope!

01:48 - Since our last visit HERE, she has been up to a lot! Let’s talk about rituals- 

02:17 - On dealing with your tasks, habits, routines 

02:45 - About your brain and habit formation

03:41 - A note on keeping perspective and overwhelm

04:05 - On becoming a certified habit coach

05:43 - What can we do right away to begin feeling a sense of accomplishment of achieving a goal?

08:18 - What is it with people start/stopping on very specific dates? Does that even work?

09:15 - On bursts of motivation and will power

10:52 - What have you learned that might surprise people in regards to accountability and habits?

11:00 - ADHD getting small things done, asking for help when you need to, and not feeling bad

13:28 - How can people find more about you? 

Web:  www.SHELPFUL.com  

Socials:  @shelpful on Twitter  INSTA  Facebook & TikTok

13:39 - A little more on how Shelpful works.  Ref: Oak Journal and method 

14:38 - Thank you Sharon!

Guys, as always thanks so much for subscribing! Faster Than Normal is for YOU! We want to know what you’d like to hear! Do you have a cool friend with a great story? We’d love to learn about, and from them. I'm www.petershankman.com and you can reach out anytime via email at peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterNormal on all of the socials. It really helps when you drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! 

15:00 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits.

—

TRANSCRIPT via Descript and then corrected.. somewhat:

[00:00:40] Peter: Hey everyone. Welcome back to Faster Than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. I am thrilled that you're here for another episode. We are talking again to a recurring visitor, Sharon Pope. Who was on about two or so years ago runs a company called Shelpful, and I love the concept. It's the instant accountability service that pairs you with a real human buddy to help you build good habits, like big habits like getting exercise or small habits like taking out the trash on time. I could use one to remember to walk my dog, but actually we can do that too. the dog. The dog reminds me to do that. I could, I could use my other thing, but, um, awesome. You are, I mean, Sharon, Sharon has tons and tons of, of awesome background. We've had her on before. Um, she ran marketing products. She was a, she, she advised startups at Y Combinator. She worked at zero down Green dot GoBank Loops. She managed PR back in the.com boom for a bunch of tech companies. So she's, she's been around the block quite a few times. So Sharon, welcome. At the beginning of the year here, 2023. Tell us what's been going on in the world of she and, and, and what, what new and interesting things you're doing and how, more importantly, how can our listeners take away some advice on building good habits, good rituals, forget about resolutions, let's talk about rituals. 

[00:02:00] Sharon: Yeah. Resolutions, I feel like is the hot topic right now, but it's really about those big goals that I think people try to set. Right. Um, and we at Shelpful a lot of that, right? So Shelpful obviously the place where people can go to get support on whatever they're trying to get done. So tasks or habits, routines. Um, and so we often have people come in and say, I want to do X, Y, z. You know, like a giant list of things and a whole overhaul. And our, our response is always, you know, let's start smaller. Um, and not just because. That helps in a text message conversation or in a workshop setting, which is often how we're helping people. But it's because the research proves it out, right? So you know, the actual habit formation that happens in your brain happens when you feel successful. And if you have these giant goals that you set that are almost unachievable, then after a few days you, your brain, literally, Push against the habit because it's not feeling successful and doing it. So we like to have people really lower the bar, not because they're lazy, but because in lowering the bar, you're actually setting yourself up to feel successful, number one and number two to do the habit the next time. So whatever it is that you're trying to do, whether it's. You know, get movement in every morning. Wake up when your alarm goes off, do gratitude, take your dog for a longer walk, . Um, all these things are, are habits, and if you can work on wiring them in, you know, it, it can help, it can help you feel more successful the whole year instead of just, I don't know, the first month of the year, for instance. 

[00:03:41] Peter: So, so basically what we're looking at here really is the concept of eating the elephant one bite at a time.

[00:03:47] Sharon: Oh yeah. I think that's a great analogy. I think, and it's, it's, I think people often get, stir that analogy up when you're talking about tackling a big thing. because it's, it's what seems logical to get it done piece by piece. But what's been really enlightening for me as I I, so I became an actual certified habit coach in this path after starting Shelpful to solve my own problem, which was feeling completely overwhelmed with everyday stuff, right? The little things would just follow from my list, like getting movement and getting fresh air. Yeah, like you mentioned, taking my dog for a very long walk instead of just like having go to the bathroom. All these things that were important to my self-care were just falling off the list. So completely geeked out on habits became a sort of a habit coach through Dr. BJ Fogg who wrote the book Tiny Habits, um, and is kind of one of the preeminent. Behavioral scientists in the field, his research backs this up, that if you shrink something down to tiny, tiny, tiny, not only are you making it harder to not do, but you, it's that feeling of success from that small, small action is what wires the habit into your brain. So that's something we spend a lot of time. We have kind of a workshop now that we try to teach people those skills of feeling successful for the smallest thing. Cause it actually is a skill. You kind of have to learn that and, and especially for an ADHD'er who's very comfortable and a shame spiral situation. Yeah. I think that it, it's, it's hard to accept that the smallest version is okay, but that it's not only the reality and something that would be helpful for self-compassion, but the research backs it up! 

[00:05:26] Peter: Yeah, no question about it. So tell us about, tell us a little more about that, because the, the premise of, you know, oh, it's the new year, we lose 30 pounds in January. No, you're freaking not. Right, right. You know, we, we, let's, let's be honest. No, you're not. Um, so you have to sort of start at the beginning. Um, what can people do just off the top of their heads, you know, what can we do right, right away, um, to sort of give us a little confidence that we can achieve these goals.

[00:05:50] Sharon: Sure, and let's, let's play out your example, right? So if the big goal is to lose 30 pounds or, um, improve your health, then I think the first step would be, first of all, trying to think of an ongoing habit you can work on that you actually want to do. So if you love. Paddle boarding, then maybe pick a habit, like an exercise that you wanna do regularly that helps improve your balance, that would help you with that habit or that that activity that you really, really love, um, or that you're cooking more. If you love to cook, then maybe we're working on a habit that involves meal planning or um, meal prep on Sundays. Things that you genuinely want to do because like we, we talked about, we're working on kind of hacking the brain and so we have to like the thing. That's why bad habits are formed too, because cookies are delicious and and I love them, then I can form that habit. So picking something you really want to do, I think is key. And it might sound obvious, but you know, starting with box jumping, if that's not your thing, is probably not the way to go. Right. Um, And then the second step is making it super, super small. So, um, instead of, I'm gonna work out for 20 minutes every morning, there's, we can make it tiny. Like, after I walk outta the bathroom, I'm gonna put on one walking shoe. Or after I put my toothbrush back in the cup, I'm gonna turn on my Peloton. Right. Literally just, and that's it. And that's, and, and then we actually say the hack is to celebrate that small thing. Because on the craziest busy day, maybe sometimes you'll try on the Peloton. and literally have to just walk away from it. But you can still say you did your habit. Yep. Um, and so that's, I mean, those are the key things is, is making it smaller and attaching it to something you already do. So I mentioned like putting your toothbrush away. This is something that, um, is an existing habit so we can kind of hack the brain a little bit to, to stack those habits together. Right? So just like when I walk through the door as an adult, my hand goes behind me to pull it shut. That's what we're kind of trying to create is this habit, muscle memory. By making it small, by making it part of your existing routine. Right. That can help you form that. And th this is the type of thing that I would define as success, Peter, that if you told me that you turn your Peloton on every day after you put your toothbrush away, I would say that's something to celebrate. I would have no follow up question that I, I assume that some days you would've gotten the workout in too.

[00:08:08] Peter: Right. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. You know, it's interesting I think that, that people tie and I, I'd be curious your, your opinion on this. People tend to tie. Whether it's resolutions or rituals, to specific dates like, oh, dry January, or mm-hmm. , or, um, you know what, whatever, whatever those are, uh, the month before Memorial Day to get in shape. But why does it have to be tied to something? Why can't you arbitrate? I mean, when I quit smoking back in 2015 mm-hmm. , I mean, I quit years and years before that, but every once in a while I'd bum one, but the last time I had an actual, honestly got cigarette was March, fif March 17th, 2015. I just, I. no tie to that date whatsoever, I'd say, you know what? Screw it. I'm done. 

[00:08:49] Sharon: Had a good, had a good St. Patrick's Day, and you're done. 

[00:08:52] Peter: Yeah. Why is it so hard to just go to that, to go say, you know what? I wanna do something and make that change today, but, oh, you know what? I'll do it in February. I'll do it March 1st. Why? Why are we so stuck on tying it to something?

[00:09:07] Sharon: Yeah, I, I think that, I mean, in smoking obviously has other addiction elements that I'm certainly not an expert on, but I think I can definitely relate to this Diet starts Monday mentality or, you know, big nears resolution, those things. And I think it, it's related to our tendency to have these bursts of motivation and willpower, which don't sustain, like you can kind of map it, right. You can see. Okay. Big burst of motivation and willpower, especially for an adhd, right? These things can't be dependent upon. So we have these moments where we kind of, um, we put a lot of our kind of motivation eggs in one basket of, okay, this is gonna happen. I'm doing it big, go big, go home. Never say die, right? Keep up the streak. All these things. And our culture. Our culture stokes this, it it, it makes us feel like it has to be all or nothing, which is why I think we have to put a start date on it. But what we always, I mean, what we work with people on, and as you know, we have, we kind of have our habit coaching, but we also have these accountability buddies that you text with. And the big part of what. I've seen from our members is that, start today with something small. Celebrate your small successes, and that adds up to something big. And if, if it's small enough, you can always start today. Usually, you know, like unless it's something that depends on you getting some piece of equipment or something you have to get from your Amazon order. But generally you could start if it's, if you make it small enough, you can start today. And if you can't. It's probably a sign that you're not starting small enough. 

[00:10:43] Peter: Yeah, no, that's a really, really good answer. That's a really good answer. What else have you learned, um, as you've been going through? So, so you've been running the company now for a few years. What, what else have you learned? What would you, what would surprise people, um, about whether it's habits or about whether it's accountability? . 

[00:10:59] Sharon: Yeah. We started this company in early 2021 as a response to my own frustration. And I, I've obviously, through that journey, I've found out or was finally diagnosed with my own adhd, which explained why so many people with ADHD were signing up for our service. Um, and I think, I think the main thing, it's, it's been interesting. I have, I've had this parallel path of learning a lot about myself and learning a lot kind of what, what support needs to exist in the world? Um, on my own track, I think being able to instantly see when I launched this service that I wasn't alone, that a lot of people felt a lack of support on the little things in life. Just felt like they were completely alone in these tasks of taking care of everyone in their life and taking care of work, but not taking care of themselves. It was, I wasn't alone in that. Which for me was not only enlightening and exciting from a business perspective, but just made me feel this immediate sense of community and and gratitude to be able to help people just like me. Yeah, and I think the other thing I've really learned is, As I, I've had this parallel path of understanding about my ADHD as I've been helping people with adhd and I've found it transformative. So the advice I just spat out on starting small and not falling to the shame spiral, that was advice I would not have been taking two years ago. And so I've had this kind of personal journey of being able. to number one, name a specific thing as adhd, like, I didn't pay that bill. I have adhd. I'm not a horrible person. , let me reach, let me, you know, I, I have a shelter. That's our, that's our name for an accountability buddy. So I, I literally texted her last night like, please, please, please make me cancel this fitness subscription that I haven't used and I like, and they're making me call, which is complete paralysis for me, of course. And so instead of blaming myself and being like, I suck as a person because I can't pick up the phone and cancel subscription, I mean, you know, you, I'm sure you can completely relate to this and a lot of people can, someone making me call them is like, oh, the worst thing in the world, the literal, worst thing in the world. Like I, I'd rather start a company. I'd rather learn to fly a plane , like there's a million things I'd rather do than c all a person to cancel something. Right. So I, I have, I've had this, I think, journey of self-compassion that I, I'm accepting support, that I know I need help on little things, and I'm not a bad person for that.

[00:13:23] Peter: Yeah. I love it. I love it. Very cool. How could people find you? 

[00:13:30] Sharon: Yeah, we are at www.Shelpful.com S H E L P F U L. Rhymes with helpful. Um, and we have all sorts of services you can find there. Our most popular thing is that one-on-one work with your own real human buddy who will remind you of your crap , basically, and help support you on any habits or tasks you're trying to get done. But we also have groups where you can be put in a group with four, with three other people and work on the same thing. So we have, we actually have folks with adhd. Um, we have groups, people working on all trying to get movement in, drink more water, anything under the sun, and we actually have some specialties. Um, in partnership, there's a company called Oak Journal that we're partnering with, and they have this kind of daily method where you do gratitude every day and set your top priorities every day. So groups are kind of going through that process together so they can stay on track and work toward bigger goals. So that's been really fun to do as well. 

[00:14:26] Peter: Very cool. Well, Sharon, thank you as always for joining us at Faster Than Normal. I love it when you come by. It's great to hear from you. Glad things are going well, and we'll have you on again towards the end of the year. We'll see how we're doing with our, our, our, our rituals.

[00:14:37] Sharon: Thanks for having me Peter.

[00:14:38] Peter: All right, guys, as always, listening to Faster Than Normal. We love that you love us. Have any ideas for great guests like Sharon, let us know. Shoot me an email peter@shankman.com we'd love to include, and we will see you with another episode next week. Stay safe, stay happy. Bye bye :)

Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at shankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!