Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.  Our Guest today in their own words:  As a visionary team leader from Delaware, Zachary has leveraged the power of social media to build his own successful brokerage, Loft Realty. With a robust following of 1.6M on TikTok, coupled with a significant presence on Facebook and Instagram, he has elevated Loft Realty to the pinnacle of Google reviews in the state.  Now, Zachary channels his passion for mentorship, regularly sharing his blueprint for success. From gracing stages as a distinguished speaker, coaching budding agents, to hosting inspiring masterminds, his mission is to empower others to make their own mark in the industry. Enjoy!

[You are now safely here]

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

00:41 - Introducing and welcome Zachary Foust!!

01:42 - So what’s your backstory?

03:35 - “Where there's consistency, there's redundancy” -Zachary Foust

 5:55 - Talk to me about some of the lessons that you pulled out of those dark times?

06:15 - On meditation and the change is made in Zach’s life.

07:32 - How on Frozen pond do you Meditate@!?? On ADHD!? Ref: MindValley.com Ref: Wim Hof Method

09:00 - On wanting to resume disciplines and hobbies. 

12:32 -  How do our subscribers find out more about you if they are at the lake? 

Web:  https://www.loftteamde.com   https://zacharyfoust.liftoffalpha.com

Socials: @zacharyloft on TikTok  @Zachary.Loft on INSTA and Loft RealtyDE on FB

00:00 - 00OhHello hello? Hello there! YEs, yoU.  We are so happy that you are doing good, here & listening with us!! I’ll say it till I die.. 

ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. -Peter Shankman. And ooh-ooh now.. and just by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number #1 One bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you’re looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman

13:15 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. 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!  All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky. 

[Ed: I will siphon -in BlueSky and learn about that next week!! If not, in October when Twitter stops eating itself and we figure out hash^tag threads or whatever it all the Newnew is, cooL??  -Ed]

[Also Ed: This is still a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we’ve missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb] 

—

TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat. 

You're listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast, where we know that having Add or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Each week we interview people from all around the globe, from every walk of life in every profession. From rock stars to CEOs, from teachers to politicians who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their add and ADHD diagnosis and used it to their personal and professional advance edge to build businesses, to become millionaires, or to simply better their lives. And now, here's the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, the man who doesn't understand how anyone could have leftover Pizza 

Peter Shankman [00:00:40]:

Hey, guys. Peter Shankman. Welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. Thrilled to have you here. Every once in a while I'm browsing Instagram or a lot. And not just once in a while, but like constantly. And every once in a while I do come across someone who is worth following. And I found someone named Zach Faust who does a billion things. I'll tell you, he sent me a bio and he managed to put a billion things into two paragraphs. He's a team leader from Delaware. He's levered the power of social media to build his own successful real estate brokerage called Loft Realty. With a robust following of 1.6 million on TikTok. Coupled with his significant presence on Facebook and Instagram, he has elevated Loft Realty, the pinnacle of Google reviews in the state. Now, Zachary channels his passion for mentorship, regularly sharing his blueprint for success, gracing stage as a speaker, coaching agents, hosting Masterminds. He likes to empower other people. He's also massively ADHD. At 29 years old. Zach. Welcome to past the normal man.

Zachary [00:01:35]:

Thank you, Peter. Man, I did not write that. My lovely assistant Adrian did. And yeah, he did manage to somehow sum it all up.

Peter Shankman [00:01:42]:

Well, it's pretty much everything you need. It turned out pretty well. It turned out pretty well. So tell us your story. You tried to tell me offline. You were diagnosed when you were a kid. Tell us what happened.

Zachary [00:01:51]:

Yeah, I think probably the typical history book for a lot of ADHD was, hey, if only he applied himself. Right? If only he would apply himself. If only he could pay attention, being a distraction. And so it eventually just led to teacher after teacher saying the same thing. Doctor appointment schedule came out at around eleven or twelve years old, was given the Adderall medication for several years, body just wouldn't take it. Nothing was really helping in that regard. And it led me toward pushing toward the inevitable difficulty of US. Structure and consistency and had been for so many years.

Peter Shankman [00:02:30]: Right.

Zachary [00:02:30]: And it took me a good twelve years of adulthood to finally accept that and just accept than that's how it's going to be Add. We're all just kids that grew up. We just happen to be kids that wanted to fidget every time.

Peter Shankman [00:02:42]: What was it? Because a lot of entrepreneurs. A lot of ADHD people are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur people, ADHD. What was it that sort of woke you up and said, okay, I don't play well with others in that regard?

Zachary [00:02:55]: So I was six years military. I joined the army at 17 years old. My parents, dual military, they didn't force me to get in, but obviously just the influence and from their perspective and from mine, the consistency and the discipline required just to be a part of it seemed like it could help, and it did, and I learned so much. But one thing I definitely learned was that where there's consistency, there's redundancy. And that redundancy for me especially, I just couldn't do it.

Peter Shankman [00:03:25]: That's a great line where there's consistency, there's redundancy.

Zachary [00:03:29]: Yeah. And it's tough to not bleed those lines together. And we have to be consistent, especially in the entrepreneurial world, but that also leads to that. Oh, it's the same thing, chicken and rice. So I eventually bled into accidentally becoming an entrepreneur by when I not back from my first deployment or actually my only deployment to Afghanistan, I wanted to play soccer again. There were no adult soccer leagues that weren't like either 40 year olds or 40 year old or older or for kids 18 younger, Add. So I was like, let's just start an open gym. And then we had 10, 20, 30 before we knew it was uncontrollable. So we're like, let's turn this into a league. And before I knew it, I was profiting off of something we created. And I discovered entrepreneurship, and I quickly found out that even though I was making no money off the venture, it was like 40K in, 40K out. I was like, this is what I need to do. Meeting with different people every day is different. New problems to solve, something different, some new fire to put out. I fell in love with it. And that's what led us into led me to finding real estate, which is just every single day is definitely different. And now running a team here in Delaware of 17 fold problems, fires to put out, and loving every day of it.

Peter Shankman [00:04:38]: What is it about the constant? Not, say the constant fires, but the constant you never know what you're going to get when you wake up in the morning that excites you?

Zachary [00:04:45]: That exact thing. The never knowing what's going to happen. I'll put our podcast, for example, I put your book in the morning when I went into the gym by noon or 01:00 p.m., I'd finished it. DMG said I liked it. And here we are in a podcast together. I love that about life. I love that about the universe. I love that about just the life I get to live with my beautiful daughter and wife, that every day is different. And I love that because I've seen the redundancy just lead to a dark time for me where my brain is just not being stimulated and part of that for me was immaturity and not knowing my brain. Add not knowing that just like a muscle in my body being worked at the gym, so too did my brain need to be stimulated. Even more so for us to continue to grow and not grow stagnant and frankly, dark and went through a lot of dark spots before I really started learning about what I was and how my brain operates.

Peter Shankman [00:05:43]: Talk to me about.. so that's an interesting point. So you went through dark times. Talk to me about some of the lessons that you pulled out of those dark times, because if you're talking about the now in the past, you obviously learn from them.

Zachary [00:05:55]: Well, I would say the fall of 2021 was my darkest time. I've had, I had fallen into it on so many different levels. But what got me out is what's really important and what got me out was understanding what my brain was doing add how it was operating. And that every time I went into a consistent pattern of good, I felt like I was met with water on the other end time period of doing bad. Like I could go two weeks, no alcohol, no sugar, no caffeine, and then boom, four weeks laying on the couch, getting to work late, not taking care of myself, things like that. And that wave was just compounding, it seemed, every single time. Add it was like a drug. Higher the high, lower the lows. And so finally I met meditation and I sat and I finally learned and I sucked for a while. I sucked for a while. Add I finally started to learn how to actually be in a moment. I never knew what that meant. And then from there, it was a little easier to start the little tiny self care things back again, just doing what I need to do, the routines of making my bed. I started getting back into the gym for the first time in years and then a fitness journey took off and real estate grew from being just myself and as part of our team to now it's the top brokerage in the state. And all that was based off the little consistencies that really just started with getting my brain involved and giving it a moment to breathe. Man, it's like our engines are on hyperdrive all the time.

Peter Shankman [00:07:32]:  Yeah, talking about than brings up an interesting point though. You said you learned to meditate. People with ADHD usually equate meditation with something else. Whether it's for me, I meditate, my bike is my meditation, right? I look at people who sit there and sort of become one with their brain and one with the universe and can do 30, 40, 50 minutes of, of just, just Zen. Add I just don't understand those people, right? And God bless them, it's amazing what they can do. But it has never come easy to me and I just assumed it's because of my ADHD, you seem to have cracked the code there. And I guarantee you a lot of my listeners, a lot of my listeners are like, sitting there going, how the fuck did you do that?

Zachary [00:08:24]: I can't sit here and say there's one secret. I will say getting my own brain is very on the logical end of things. Emotion doesn't get mixed in a ton. And so for me, I need to know why I started ice bathing because I learned why it was helping my I i started going to the gym more because I started learning more about it wasn't just about my body. It's what my liver is getting from it. It's what my bones are getting from know. It's what I'm going to be as a grandfather type deal. And so with the meditation side of things, a man by the name of Joe Dispenzia, dr. Joe Dispenzia and a company named Mindvalley both were really good at breaking down why we're doing it, why being in the moment matters, what are the studies? What's the reality behind the science? And from then, I discovered that what I thought was keeping me from being able to meditate, I was actually given a little bit of a superpower behind it. It's just like your book, being able to operate on hyperdrive, being able to go in super fast mode, it seems like the worst thing in the world for when you're told, hey, shut your eyes and think about nothing, right? But the way that, like Dr. Joe Dispenzio puts it, is meditation is focus. And we have this innate superpower that we can unlock sometime called that hyper focus, where we can just lock in, where you're on a plane writing a book for 8 hours, right? And so meditation has become my plane in a way where I can now focus my energy instead of focusing my thoughts, because we're really good at focusing on something, add just going into it. But what if we could transition that insane amount of hyper focus into, say, hey, just focus on the top of your head. Just focus really hard on the top of your head and just on repeat or focus on the tip of your nose. How does the air feel going in and out? Is it warm? Is it cold? What do you smell? How are your nostrils moving? How do your eyes feel? Because doing that body scan type stuff where it's like feeling your toes and your fingers, I feel we have such a superpower with that because we can lock in now. When I'm locked out, don't expect me to be able to knock out more than seven to ten minutes, right? But like any form of exercising, I'm continuing to get better. And that was definitely the start because I wasn't listening to me. And especially when we have 19 different voices and messages and emotions and stressors and, oh, by the way, I forgot to say Happy birthday to Gabrielle six weeks ago. Got to get to that all going on at the same time. Giving the opportunity to breathe was just something I had to learn how to do.

Peter Shankman [00:11:15]: I understand. It makes sense. It's one of the simplest things in the world, and yet the hardest thing in the world to master.

Zachary [00:11:20]: There's no question about it. Yeah. And this thing that named itself between our ears, we don't even take the time.

Peter Shankman [00:11:29]: I love the fact that you're an ice bath guy. I fell in love with ice bathing about probably ten years ago. It's so funny because I go for me, everyone's like, oh, how do you survive the cold? I'm like, It's not about the cold. It's about breathing.

Zachary [00:11:43]: Yeah.

Peter Shankman [00:11:44]: It's not about the about I know that if I get dumped into Coney Island on New Year's Day for the polar bear plungers, I do almost every year that I'm not going to drown because I understand how to control my breathing. The fight or flight scenario of hitting that water, I don't say I control it, but I don't say I own it, but I definitely can control it.

Zachary [00:12:09]:You're aware of it.

Peter Shankman [00:12:10]: Yeah, and I understand that it's going to take five to 10 seconds. Push through it, and you'll be breathing again.

Zachary [00:12:18]: Exactly.

Peter Shankman [00:12:18]:

It is literally a metaphor for life. I've yet to meet a problem that might take some time. Bu. You just push through it, and then you're onto the next thing.

Zachary [00:12:30]:

Onto the next side. Yeah.

Peter Shankman [00:12:32]: Really true. Zach, how can people find you? I know that you have a ridiculous Instagram following or Twitter following all that. No TikTok followers. How can people find you?

Zachary [00:12:40]: Yeah, it's at Zachary Loft. On most platforms. Just Loft Realty is the company. Zachary is the name. So just combined it and ended up sticking. So it's at Zachary loft. Instagram is the best place for DMs. That's in my opinion. I'm not a big Twitter guy. I know. It's good over there, too.

Peter Shankman [00:12:54]: No. Canceled myself off Twitter about three months ago. I just don't see the point anymore, but awesome. Zach, thank you so much for taking time. I definitely want to have you back in a few months. I'm going to make a note to reach out to you, and we'll do this again in the fall, but I have a feeling you have a lot more stories to share and a lot of value to give, so we're definitely going to have you back. I really appreciate the time, man.

Zachary [00:13:13]: Of course. An open book for you, my man. I appreciate you.

Peter Shankman [00:13:15]: All right, guys, as always, fast and almost for you. We want to know what you want to hear. Shoot us an email. Know it's the beginning of summer now, and my kid is at summer camp. She's at sleepaway camp. So I got a shit ton of time in my hands. Let me know what we're talking about. Find me a guest. Bring the on. We'll have them on just like Zach. Stay safe, stay healthy. ADHD add all forms of neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. We'll see you guys soon. You've been listening to the faster than normal podcast. We're available on itunes, Stitcher and Google Play, and of course, at www.fasterthnormal.com. I'm your host, Peter Shankman, and you can find me@petershankman.com and at 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? The more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast is shown and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were performed by Steven Byrom, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagonblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week!

—

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! 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.  Our Guest today in their own words:  Dana Sproule, is a passionate teacher and literacy coach who loves learning about “neurodiversities” and loves working with students who have them.  She was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and suddenly her impulsive, hyperactive, obsessive and passionate behaviour and thinking started to make sense.  Dana is now grateful to have a good awareness of ADHD, and realizes you can only recover with awareness and knowledge.  Recently she has noticed connections between ADHD and individuals who are in 12 step recovery programs.  Looking ahead to the future, Dana believes there should be a substantial increase in ADHD testing and support in our educational systems, so hopefully this could help our future generations avoid the pitfalls individuals with a little less dopamine can run into. Enjoy! 

[You are now safely here]

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

00:41 - Introducing and welcome Teacher and Literacy Coach, Dana Sproule!!

01:45 - So what’s your backstory?

ADHD traits in children and people attending AA meetings and thinks AA should acknowledge the connection.

06:50 - Ironically hyperactive people love singing, dancing, sports, but struggle with small talk and team sports.

09:35 On Breaking the stigma: ADHD acceptance and progress towards destigmatization

12:00 - Hope for a future without stigma.

00:00 -Ever want to pursue a degree in Psychology? Here are some other good topics Dana Sproule and Peter Shankman discussed today.. that you will learn more about if you will tune-in :)

- Dana's personal experience of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult

- Discussion of the connection between ADHD and addiction

- The need for more research in the area of neurodiversity and addiction

- Correlation between neurodiversity and incarceration rates

- Personal experience of being open about their ADHD and its positive impact on their job search

- Progress in society's understanding and acceptance of ADHD

- Sharing knowledge and observations with teachers and principals

- Criticism of negative stereotypes and misinformation surrounding ADHD

- Advocacy for play-based learning and outdoor time in schools

- Discussion of ADHD testing in schools and the potential benefits

- Comfort and relief in realizing one has ADHD and eliminating shame

- Importance of openness and the harmful effects of secrets and shame

- Noticing ADHD behaviors in students and personal associations with ADHD

- Observations of ADHD traits in participants of Adult Child of Alcoholics and Al-Anon meetings

- Connection between ADHD and partners attending Alcoholics Anonymous

- Suggestion for incorporating a brain-based component into the twelve-step program

13:00 -  How do our hot subscribers find out more about you? 

Web:  Ms. Sproule is not a big fan of socials, but if you have a question you may email her dana@donotemaildanasproule.whatevs.ca or you can contact us for her address. 

[Ms. Sproule did not verbally share her email address -Ed]

14:11 - Hey, hellooo from Earth!!@ ERF!  YEs! You right there with the cool earbuds and big grain Golden brain! Yes YOU dear!  We are THrr~rilled that you are here & listening!! Repeat in forward and to your kiddo’sx!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. -Peter Shankman. And ooh-ooh now.. and just by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number #1 One bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you’re looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman

0000 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. 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!  All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky. [Ed- I will siphon -in BlueSky and learn about that next week!! If not in two or so, cooL??  -Ed]

[Also Ed here. SorryIFneedbe: This is still a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we’ve missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb] 

Having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Hear from people all around the globe, from every walk of life, in every profession, from Rock Stars to CEOs, from Teachers to Politicians, who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage, to build businesses, become millionaires, or simply better their lives.  Our Guest today in their own words:  Phil is an innovative memory coach who transforms learning by tapping into the mind's hidden potential. Leveraging techniques honed from history's greatest minds, Phil has helped over 2,000 students worldwide to learn languages in just 15 hours. His own ability to learn and teach a language within a month showcases the power of his methods. He is on a mission to learn 30 languages and teach them to 500 million students and we’re going to learn several of his techniques and tricks today- enjoy!  

[You are now safely here]

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

00:41 - Introducing and welcome Philippe Arseneault!

01:45 - How did Philippe start his career; what’s your backstory?

04:41 - Speed learning unlocks dormant potential for all people, but especially the Neurodiverse

08:28 - Imaginative networking scenarios 

14:56 - ADHD students benefit in multiple areas. [i.e. A student with ADHD had an 800% memory increase in 15 hours using memory tricks] 

15:00 - How does Philippe view speed learning?

16:00 -  How do our hot subscribers find out more about you? 

Web:  https://speaklikealocal15.com/

Socials: LinkTree  @speaklikealocal on Facebook or info@speaklikealocal15.com FREE MINI COURSE JUST EMAIL HIM!! Don’t forget to mention Faster Than Normal! 

00:00 - Hey, hellooo from Earth!!@ ERF!  YEs! You right there with the cool earbuds and big grain Golden brain! Yes YOU dear!  We are THrr~rilled that you are here & listening!! Repeat in forward and to your kiddo’sx!  ADHD and all forms of Neurodiversity are gifts, not curses. -Peter Shankman. And ooh-ooh now.. and just by the way, if you haven't picked up The Boy with the Faster Brain yet, it is on Amazon and it is a number #1 One bestseller in all categories. Click HERE or via https://amzn.to/3FcAKkI My link tree is here if you’re looking for something specific. https://linktr.ee/petershankman

11:56 - Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits. 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!  All right, guys, as always, than you for listening. Love that you're here. Any news, shoot us a note. Petershankman.com go to fastennormal.com everywhere but Twitter. We are on Blue Sky now at Peter Shankman on Blue Sky. [Ed- I will siphon -in BlueSky and learn about that next week!! If not in two or so, cooL??  -Ed]

[Also Ed here. SorryIFneedbe: This is still a relatively brand new experiment in editing show notes, transcriptions sort of; so if you notice any important, or significant goofs we’ve missed here or along, please do let us know @FasterNormal  Thanks! -sb] 

—

TRANSCRIPT via Castmagic.io and then corrected.. somewhat. 

Speaker A [00:00:00]: You're listening to the Faster than Normal podcast where we know that having Add or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Each week, we interview people from all around the globe, from every walk of life in every profession, from rock stars to CEOs, from teachers to politicians who have learned how to unlock the gift of their add and ADHD diagnosis and used it to their personal and professional advantage to build businesses, to become millionaires, or to simply better their lives. And now, here's the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, the man who doesn't understand how anyone could have leftover pizza, Peter Shankman.

Peter Shankman [00:00:41]: Everyone. Welcome to their episode of Faster than Normal. My name is Peter Shankman. I am thrilled to have you. This is the world's number one ADHD podcast. Add. We are glad that you are here. Add neurodiversity is a gift, not a curse. We explain it every week. Add. Hopefully this week will be no different. I would love to mention our guest today. Want to talk to you about Phil. Let's Talk About Phil. Phil Arseneault is how do we put him? He's a memory guy. I think he's the best way to explain this. All right. What the heck is I'm thinking? Well, Bill is an innovative memory coach who transforms learning by tapping into the mind's hidden potential. He's helped over 2000 students to learn languages in just 15 hours apiece. His own ability to learn and teach a language within a month showcases the power of his methods. He's on a mission to learn 30 languages and teach them to 500 million students. That is pretty impressive. He began his career with law enforcement, but he wound up going down this fascinating path when he discovered his fascination with memory. He learned Spanish in a month to secure a managerial position at a high end restaurant in Playa del Carmen at the age of 22. I love that. Sounds like he's ADHD. He loves exploring shipwrecks without oxygen tanks.

Philippe [00:01:53]: Interesting timing considering what's happened in the past couple of weeks with the Than, he dives the depths of the human mind. So there's definitely diving here. Phil. Welcome to fast add normal.

Philippe [00:02:02]: Hey, Peter, thanks for having me.

Peter Shankman [00:02:05]: First question. How did you discover that your memory was incredible and you decided this is what you want to do with your life?

Philippe [00:02:12]: Well, I don't have an incredible memory bu. I've been harnessing these very powerful tricks which have unlocked my ability to remember things. But before we even get into that, I want to just show some appreciation towards you. Thank you so much for writing that book. It completely blew my mind when I discovered that I had ADHD through this book. And I don't know, nobody else in my life was surprised except for me.

Peter Shankman [00:02:42]: Thank you. Than means a lot. That's usually the case when you come out with ADHD. People like well, yeah, duh.

Philippe [00:02:49]: Yeah. A student of mine, a friend of mine, he needed to learn Portuguese in a month, so I had to learn Portuguese and teach him Portuguese. And at one point, he just casually mentioned the fact that I have ADHD, and I was like, no, I don't. And he's like, you got to read this book. And I'm like, I'll read the first chapter, but there's no way I read the whole book in the day, and I was just completely so just thank you so much for having made that beautiful piece of content.

Peter Shankman [00:03:12]: I love that. Thank you. Fast and normal helps again. I love that. I need to understand this. So you started what you started as a cop?

Philippe [00:03:22]: Well, I worked in municipal law enforcement for five years in Montreal, but it was completely depressing, and I knew I was destined for greater things. So I was very happy to have shifted or manifested this opportunity in Mexico. And then the only obstacle that was in my way was the Spanish components.

Peter Shankman [00:03:41]: Yeah, I imagine managing a restaurant in Mexico would kind of require you to speak Spanish.

Philippe [00:03:45]: Yeah, well, I managed to make it through all the hiring process and made it down to the last two until that finally came up. And then I had to convince them that I was going to be able to learn Spanish within a month and that if I was not able to do that, that they would have that time to find somebody that's much more capable and competent than the other guy and me. But in the meantime, I'd at least solve all of their logistical issues and I'd train all their staff. So that was the whole goal, is basically just a month. They didn't think that I'd be able to do it, but they figured they'd get a month of training, add optimization of their new hotel restaurant, and I guess I surprised them because I succeeded. I stayed there for over a year.

Peter Shankman [00:04:30]: Unbelievable. So what is it what is it about language that makes it this sort of tell us your secret?

Philippe [00:04:41]: For me, it all boils down to speed learning. Speed learning or accelerated learning methods. And this, for me, I kind of see it as like the Green Lanterns ring. I think when you have focus and determination but you don't have a solid way to utilize it, it gets pretty much wasted. But when you have a way to focus it. So, for me, the speed learning has been something that has unlocked so many things throughout all my entire life, and it has given me this feeling of having a superpower. So I use it in school to memorize 510, 15 pages of notes the night before the exam. Obviously, I had to build up to that. I started off with just a couple of little dates and a couple of little bits of information, and then over years, you develop it into 15 pages verbatim in an hour that you can memorize. But I also use it in the restaurant industry to memorize 20, 30, 40 people's names every night and then their orders and their drink orders and what their bills were. And again, it started off with a table of two and a table of four and I'd make a bunch of mistakes. But over a period of time using these really powerful tricks, it made me feel like everything is possible. We have 256,000,000,000 gigs of storage capacity, which is like 1.2 billion computers. So we have all this potential. And I didn't understand why people can access it. And then when I started going on this rabbit hole of memory competitions around the world and there's thousands and thousands of people that are utilizing these really powerful tricks, they're memorizing over 4000 digits in an hour and like 30 to 60 decks of shuffled cards in a couple of hours, which is like 3000 individual cards. They're doing all this. Why are we struggling in school? So it was really serendipitous that the language element came into play with this challenge. And as I was learning it with these tricks, everybody was so surprised by how quickly I was learning and I just felt like it was normal. So I was teaching them along the way. And then when I realized that my natural gift to perceive patterns and to simplify things. And all the years that I've spent very passionately curious about the mind psychology, personal development, flow states and speed learning, it all couples together and fits in perfectly with languages in a way that I don't think that anybody else has ever really tapped into. So people just started getting really excited with because most of my students don't have ADHD. And I've noticed that the students than I've taught that have ADHD are able to outperform and they really take all these tricks and these tips and they run with it and it's just so much more powerful. But even with the people without ADHD, they're accessing parts of their brains and capabilities that they thought never existed, but they were just lying dormant. So it's just been incredibly rewarding. The language is just basically the path that I'm choosing to spread the knowledge of speed learning and unlocking people's dormant potential.

Peter Shankman [00:07:55]: Give us an example of one of those tricks because look, it sounds amazing. It sounds like, oh my God, I need to do this. Give me an example of something that you learned that allows you to sort of tap into that potential.

Philippe [00:08:07]: Okay, so the beauty about the speed learning tricks is it's a very simple fundamental core, right? And then you use it in different ways that you can use it for numbers, for names. When you go to a networking event.

Peter Shankman [00:08:22]: Give me something with names. I'm terrible names. I meet someone, I forget the name 2 seconds later. Give me something with names.

Philippe [00:08:28]: All right, so here's an example. I meet you at a networking event and you say hey, my name is Peter Shankman. So as I'm shaking your hand and saying hello to you, I'm imagining you dressed in tights like Peter Pan, and then you never wanted to grow up, so you have a shank in your pocket and I'm shaking your right hand always, because I know that's your shanking hand and I know you're always looking to shank a man, right? You want to be a boy forever. Peter Pan wants to be a boy forever. So you're always looking to shank a man. So I shake your hand and I neutralize your Shanking hand because you're Petershankman. And then in the beginning, you say, well, that takes a long time. How can you do all that while you're shaking somebody's hand? Well, in the beginning, it takes a bit of time, but as you practice it, over a couple of weeks, couple of months, that whole story just pops into my head in terms of concepts, not in terms of specific words. And then I immediately lock you down as Peter Shankman. I can give you another story for numbers, if you like. Yeah, I'll summarize it, but normally it's a little bit longer, add more wild. But basically, you want to imagine yourself as a spy sent to murder Hitler. Now, this is Germany, kind of like where the movie Unglorious Pastors ended off, where they're trying to kill Hitler and he's in his office yelling, nine, nine, nine. Right? He's getting very, very angry. So you reach into your pocket and you're there as an undercover spy, and you pull out this little tiny, mutated squid, octopus assassin creature. And as it goes onto the floor, it starts to shift and mutate and grow into the giant assassin octopus. He's killing Hitler. He's killing everybody in the room. You start running away. The octopus starts chasing after you. But luckily, you have a secret pill that's hidden in your teeth. So you clamp down and you break the hidden tooth. You hope that it's not cyanide, but it doesn't taste like cyanide, so it actually transforms you into a car. So you look down and you look down at your hands and your feet, and you got four tires growing out of your extremities. You have four tires growing out of your extremities. And now you transform and you drive the hell out of there and you go down to Amsterdam for your extraction point. Now, when you get to Amsterdam, the first place you go to is the brothel, obviously. So as you pull into the brothel with your four tires, you transform back into human shape and you try to get into the brothel to call. Now, there's this little short bouncer that's blocking the way, and he's not letting you into the brothel. He looks kind of like the famous rapper $0.50. But he's vertically challenged. He's a dwarf, so his friends jokingly call him $0.25. So you pick up air. He's not very intimidating, and you smush him into your hands and he transforms into a 25 cent quarter, right? So now he literally is as you walk into the brothel, there's this giant, like, blockbuster gumball machine. Like those giant gumball machines. You put twenty five cents in the gumball machine, and you turn it around and the ball comes out. But you didn't get a gum. You won a prize. So you open up the little piece of paper and you read it, and it says, you have won a complimentary 69 in this establishment. Complimentary 69. We get 69. Amazing. So you run in, forgetting about the extraction point, just running in to collect your reward. But when you get in, there's this giant jigsaw from the movie the movie saw this giant jigsaw puppet riding the Tricycle and he's so freaky and he's giant Tricycle, and he starts chasing you out of the brothel. So you've got this Tricycle just hauling ass behind you, pardon my French. This giant tricycle chasing you? And you try to bite down on your teeth again, but you can't turn into a car anymore. But luckily, there's this giant pink Ford pickup truck. It's a four x four with two pink with a couple of pink unicorns in the back. For some reason you jump in the car, the keys are in the ignition, you haul of, and then you're driving, and the Tricycle is gaining on you. But luckily, you see the button for the four x four. You unlock the four x four. You have enough torque to escape. So let's go back to the beginning of the story. Where are you?

Peter Shankman [00:12:34]: In Germany.

Philippe [00:12:35]: In Germany. What is Hitler yelling?

Peter Shankman [00:12:37]: Nine. Nine. Nine.

Philippe [00:12:38]: Perfect. So the first number is nine. So we got nine. You reach into your pocket. What was in your pocket? How do you kill Hitler?

Peter Shankman [00:12:45]: An octopus.

Philippe [00:12:46]: Octopus. How many legs does an octopus have? Eight. So we got nine. Eight. Perfect. Now, how do you escape the octopus?

Peter Shankman [00:12:54]: I bite down on something in my tooth

Philippe [00:12:57]:

Perfect. And then what grows out of your limbs?

Peter Shankman [00:13:00]:

Two wheels.

Philippe [00:13:02]:

Out of all of your limbs?

Peter Shankman [00:13:03]:

All four wheels.

Philippe [00:13:04]:

Perfect. We got nine, eight, four. Perfect. And then where do you escape to after Germany?

Peter Shankman [00:13:10]: Amsterdam.

Philippe [00:13:11]: Amsterdam. And when you get there, who's blocking your entrance?

Peter Shankman [00:13:15]: Twenty five cents.

Philippe [00:13:16]: Twenty five cents. Excellent. Now, when you turn it into 25 cent, what do you get in the gumball machine?

Peter Shankman [00:13:21]: A prize.

Philippe [00:13:22]: And what's the prize?

Peter Shankman [00:13:24]: Free 69.

Philippe [00:13:25]: Perfect. So we got 69. And then when you get into redeem, your prize, who attacks you? 

Peter Shankman [00:13:31]: I don't remember that part. Who attacks me?

Philippe [00:13:34]: Okay. What was his vehicle of transportation? What was he riding? Some creature was attacking you on this weird children.

Peter Shankman [00:13:43]: Was it a bike or something like that?

Philippe [00:13:44]: Yeah, it was a bike, but it was a Jigsaw from that's right.

Peter Shankman [00:13:48]: Jigsaw from Saw. Right.

Philippe [00:13:49]: So he's got a tricycle. Right. So the tricycle number three. And then how do you escape him. There was unicorns somewhere.

Peter Shankman [00:13:58]: That's right.

Philippe [00:13:59]: Okay, and then how do you get enough speed to outdrive the tricycle? You hit a button. What did the button say?

Peter Shankman [00:14:07]: What did the button say?

Philippe [00:14:09]: It unlocked all the torque if it was a pickup truck. Yes. Okay, very good. Four x four x four. So that's my phone number, 984-256-9344. When it's in the format of numbers, I can't memorize a single phone number. But when I transform it into these stories, I can do in one night, I could do 1020 people's phone numbers, and if I need to sit down to memorize them for an event that I have, it takes me ten minutes, and I just get 1020 phone numbers locked in the form of these stories.

Peter Shankman [00:14:46]: That's amazing. I imagine that people with neurodiverse brains would even have an easier time learning this stuff because they're already creative to begin with.

Philippe [00:14:56]: Like I said, I've seen 800% increase when we measured it once with I had a student ADHD. This is one of my first students when I beginning. For a month, I was teaching everybody for free, and then I just started going with referrals. But this guy, he was always known as having a crappy memory. Maybe it was partly due to ADHD, but his brain was just not able to make memories. His mom, as a gift, as a gag gift for Christmas, bought him a little kids memory game. So there's 70 cards in them, and it's like a picture of a pacifier, a picture of a bicycle, et cetera. And he could never memorize more than five or ten, depending on how he's feeling. And then within 15 hours of working with me with these tricks, he was able to memorize the whole deck, and we ran out of cards, so we didn't even reach the limit of its potential. But that's an 800% increase in 15 hours. So ADHD students that I've had, they just take this and fly, not only for the languages, but for numbers, for information. They use it in their work now. They use it in their relationships. Their girlfriend's favorite color is blue. They just imagine the girlfriend listening to blues music every anniversary, so now they always remember it's blue. If it's red, they imagine them as a raging bowl. If they forget the favorite color, and then the red connects with the bowl. I love the it connects everything.

Peter Shankman [00:16:18]: This is brilliant. All right, we're out of time. I want to have you back without question. How can people find you?

Philippe [00:16:24]: I'm on Facebook. Speak like a local. Or they have my phone number now. It's plus 52 area code or email info at speaklikealocal15.Com. Web:  https://speaklikealocal15.com/ Socials: LinkTree  @speaklikealocal on Facebook or info@speaklikealocal15.com FREE MINI COURSE JUST EMAIL HIM!! Don’t forget to mention Faster Than Normal! 

Peter Shankman [00:16:37]: Amazing. Just amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time. This was awesome.

Philippe [00:16:41]: See? And just to show you a bit of gratitude for rocking my world with this book, and I mean setting me on this path of optimizing my brain, add removing all the obstacles that I've had in my path. Happy to give all of your listeners a free mini course. So if anybody wants to send me a message, seven Spanish verb tenses in 1 hour. Or if they just want a memory, I have a little intro to memory hacking. I'll give it absolutely for free. Just send me a message. If you have any questions, just mention Peter Shankman or ADHD and happy to send off some cool free content.

Peter Shankman [00:17:19]: I love it guys. You also know this guy on his zoom. His name is Dr. Phil. Your brain I love that. I love that, Phil. Thank you so much for taking time guys. If you listen to Faster Than Normal, this is fun to do. We'll have Phil back.  As always, we'd love to hear what guests you want to have on the podcast. We always have room. Let me know and we will see you guys soon. Keep having fun, stay healthy. Neurodiversity is a gift, not a curse. And we'll talk to you guys later.

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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!