can't focus properly
Spark Entrepreneurship

Can’t Focus Properly? (Personal Case Study into Adult ADD & Driven to Distraction)

If you can’t focus properly, this is something I want to share with you…

This is sorta personal because most people do NOT know this about me…

And I’m sharing why I can’t focus properly so it may help you or someone you know.

I also see how MANY of the people I coach, consult and train can’t focus either.

I witness my clients in their everyday lives. Many distracted, restless, and sometimes challenged with self-esteem…

The reason you can’t focus properly could be as simple as Adult ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)

And by writing this, I hope it helps more people by shedding some new light on the subtypes of Adult ADHD and why they can’t focus properly.

As you may have guessed, I’m not an expert in the field of adult ADHD.

But I just purchased Driven to Distraction (Revised): Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder
for my own understanding of ADD and why I can’t focus properly.

UPDATE Feb 2020:  I also bought the new book: Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder

From these books, I did my own adult add diagnosis.  And I’m really happy I did. Because my biggest challenges are with organization, procrastination, failure to finish – (I call the 80% syndrome), and so on…

And here’s the kicker. I’m a business coach who TRAINS people on how to overcome ALL of that and more.

If I told you that I’m a master at it, I’d be lying…

Despite that I continue to struggle with organization and procrastination I have been able to get a LOT of it under control. Just by identifying my “problem.”

I tease myself all the time when I’m speaking to groups about my self-diagnosed ADHD.

We chuckle as I joke about my days and how I’m “all over the place”…

More often than not, 50% of the room or higher will nod their heads in alignment with my “symptoms”, because they too can’t focus properly…they “get it”…

In reality,  it’s not a funny (ha-ha) subject because MILLIONS of people struggle with ADHD and can’t focus at work.

And most are un-diagnosed.

First off, Adult ADHD isn’t a “disease”

– it’s not something “bad”

It doesn’t mean something’s wrong with you.

And for a long time, ADHD was heavily associated with “hyperactive” kids…

Many times, people with ADHD do well early in school, and then drop off later – or visa versa.  I included

People in these situations have had the WRONG DIAGNOSIS: “dumb”, “stupid”, “they just don’t get it”, “need to try harder”, and so on.

I know I sure felt the last two once I hit grade 9.  I had to go into BASIC math (lower than standard BTW).  And I STILL failed.  Numbers and I don’t line up.

Am I an idiot? Am I dumb?

Far from it. Just because I don’t “get” math, doesn’t mean I can’t operate a business, pick up computer programs as I wrote them, or coach people to succeed in their businesses for example.

It didn’t mean I couldn’t start and rock out a real estate investing business (which BTW is ALL about math).

So I want you to know, if you’ve been “labeled” a certain way all your life just because you can’t focus properly, maybe it’s an indication of how brilliant you really are…

Believe it or not, ADHD has some advantages…

One being able to HYPER-FOCUS. And if you do it, you know what I mean.

Or perhaps you “daydream”, lose interest in something very fast, you don’t get around to doing the things you want to do…stuff sits around, but you’ve lost interest, and you move on to something else.

There are SO many symptoms of ADD (although they have themes) that anyone can be labeled incorrectly.

So I wanted to learn more about my own challenges and why I can’t focus properly by reading Driven to Distraction (Revised) I told you about.

Adult ADD is very real; and for millions of people whirling around from project to project, struggling to express a part of themselves that often seems unraveled, they may have “challenges” such as these:

Adult ADHD Symptoms

– trouble getting organized
– having a sense of underachievement
– always procrastinating and having trouble getting started
– having many projects going simultaneously
– an intolerance for boredom
– easily distracted, trouble focusing
– trouble in going through established channels, following proper “procedure”
– impatient, low tolerance for frustration
– impulsive, either verbally, or inaction (like spending money, changing plans, new careers, opportunities, etc)
– tendency to worry needlessly
– a sense of insecurity
– mood swings (good mood, bad mood, back to good in the space of a few hours for no apparent reason)
– restlessness (nervous energy – tapping fingers, feet, shifting position while sitting, etc)
– Tendency toward addictive behavior
– Chronic problems with self-esteem
– Inaccurate self-observation

Although this is a “suggested clinical observation” list to diagnose Adult ADD – it’s accurate enough to understand how “DISTRACTED” you (and me) really are, why you can’t focus properly, and if you possibly have ADD.

Again, I want to stress that it’s not a “bad” thing…

According to the book, here’s how you interpret this list:

More than likely, you will identify with 1 or 2 of those…heck, maybe even a few… (my wife looked through the book and marked off a few), which means you probably don’t have ADD.

However, if like me, and millions of others, you identify with at LEAST 15 of those symptoms (more detail in the book) combined, welcome to the club!

NOW you know why you can’t focus properly.

Because like I said, if you ask ANYONE if they “procrastinate” or something like that, the answer is more than likely “yes”.

Even though I’m not finished reading Driven to Distraction (Revised) as I post this, so far I will tell you in the first 100 pages I’ve read today, I feel a sense of RELIEF!

I’m not saying this will CURE me or you…but it WILL help you identify why you can’t focus, and how NORMAL you are.

So I hope this information about adult ADHD helped you and if you have anything to add, or comment, ask, let me know!!

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making life choices
Spark Entrepreneurship

You’re making life choices in ONE of these 3 ways – GUARANTEED

When you are faced with making life choices, challenges, decisions, problems, whatever you want to call them…

There’s only 3 possible choices to deal with them.

And I guarantee – yes – guarantee you’re already making life choices in one of these 3 ways.

There’s VERY little someone can guarantee in this world…but read on and I’ll prove this to you.

Because it’s not just about your business – it’s about your life too.

I use this “technique” with ALL of my coaching clients and students in my mastermind sessions.

And borrowing the labels from Gino Wickman, I now know what to call it.

The result?

They make a concrete choice to better their lives and keep their business moving forward.

They’re not held back by indecision – which is an epidemic among so many people.

So, without further delay..

Here are your (ONLY) options for making life choices:

Live with it, end it, or change it.

Simple right?

Here’s how this works.

If you can’t live with it, you only have two choices left: end it or change it.

That’s where the people I work and hang around with live.

They are no longer willing to “live with it” – whatever “IT” is.

Sadly, there are WAAAYY more people who “decide” to live with it when making life choices.

And that sucks.

They know it. I know it. But they’re unwilling to do anything about it.

They’re the ones complaining (to anyone who will agree and listen – misery loves company) about how their life sucks.

And I gotta tell ya, that’s the least desirable.

Wouldn’t you agree?

So what about ending it?

No doubt, this is hard when you’re making life choices…but when Arianna Huffington told us “one of the best ways to finish a project is to drop it”…

I knew the “ending it” strategy was just as important as the “changing it” strategy.

Here’s why:

The natural instinct of a human being is to “finish what we start.”

We hang on to things even though it no longer serves us.

You know what I’m talking about, we’ve ALL started projects that sit on our hard drives for years…

We have relationships that need attending, but we avoid the (most of the time hard) conversation…

There are so many other “monkey’s” I’m sure you can think of.

These are what I call “open loops.”

Several of us hang on to things because the loop is still open.

For example, we started painting the picture because we love the idea of learning how to paint, but it’s been sitting for years, and “we’ll get to it when we have more time.”

Maybe it’s time to end it.

Close the loop.

Perhaps you’re never going to “have the time” for it.

You follow?

And no, this isn’t giving up.

It’s about aligning what the most important things are in your life RIGHT NOW and actually doing them.

That’s why living with it is the least desirable when making life choices…IMO.

And honesty, nothing pisses me off more than watching people make that “living with it” choice – especially when all they do is complain about it.

Believe me – I hear it ALL the time.

“When X happens, I’ll get to it.”

But there’s nothin’ I can do about it until they step up and make one of the other two choices.

And it’s just as simple for you.

Live with it, end it or change it.

Your choice – I hope you make the right one this week!

Let’s get a conversation about this going below! I’d love to know your thoughts.

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how to run a company
Spark Entrepreneurship

How to run a company with (almost) no rules

I just “met” Ricardo Semler, and he taught me more about how to run a company with (almost) no rules.

Because a student  (thank you Marc) from my talk last week sent me this video after he said I was one of the most authentic talks he’s heard in a long time.

And the talk I did was about “real estate investing.”

I think it was authentic because I really do give a rats ass about people doing something with their lives…

But I’m not about to stand up and wave pom-poms cheering them on when their not doing shit.

Know what I mean?

So my talk was more of a “kick-yer-ass” motivation, rather than “hey-you-can-do-it-if-I-can-do-it” speech.

So I took 20 minutes out of my “busy” day to watch this video of “How to Run A Company with (almost) No Rules”:

[ted id=2182]

Here’s why Ricardo inspired me to write this post about how to run a company:

In 2005 I SOLD my “stake” in the family company…

The decision was based on a LOT of what Ricardo says about our jobs having control over our lives.

I was only running the company for 2 years after returning to it when I shut down my music business.

In all honesty, it was my “fail-safe.”

But here’s the thing, I didn’t run my other companies with that thought in mind.

In fact, when my father was dying of cancer and begging me to take over the company, I still refused.

Imagine how that felt.

But two years after he passed, I went back.

I didn’t want to run the company from “his” chair.

In other words, I only wanted to do what I do best.

I wasn’t my father.  I didn’t have the charisma and people skills he did.

But I knew I could build the company from the back-end; not from the golf course, or at the fancy dinners…

I was a master at marketing, putting in systems to make things run smoother, easier, open up new niches, and so on…

AND, I wanted to ‘humanize’ the way we dealt with our employees.

Here’s where the “how to run a company with (almost) no rules” comes in:

I didn’t see a problem having our staff do their piece work ON THEIR TERMS.

If they wanted to come in an hour late and stay an hour later – so be it.

If they wanted to take an afternoon off so they could watch their kids play soccer or see a school recital…

Go enjoy.

As long as the “widgets” were completed by Friday, I really didn’t care WHEN they were done.

See as the owners of the company, I really didn’t feel it was “fair” that WE could do all of that and more.

And still expect our employees to “punch in and out.”

I argued that THEY were “humans with families and lives” too.

Aside from that, I believe we have “flow zones” – I know I sure do.

There are certain times of the day where I rock…

And others where I’m totally brain-dead.

No motivation. (By the way, those are the times I’m actually napping – that’s for another post)

And I don’t think I’m alone.

So why do we need to FORCE people to work inside OUR flow zone?

As you can imagine, I was met with A LOT of resistance…

This ‘crazy’ idea did not go over well with my family “board members” and the other heads of departments.

“We’ve done it like this since day one.”

Ever heard that one?

I won’t bore you with the details of our weekly Friday (shooting gallery) meetings (which quite oddly I started when I got there as part of my implementation strategies to reduce the redundancy of every day operations and meetings about meetings.)

But what I will say is that it got so bad, even I WAS expected to “punch in” at the same time my siblings and other board members did.

In other words, inside THEIR flow zone.

“F that” is what I said.

In fact, I got MORE done sitting in my pajamas at home waiting for the morning traffic to die down, just so I could have the “privilege” of  driving  45 minutes to the office to “officially” be at work.

And when I finally arrive around 10am,  I had only two choices…

Leave at 3pm to avoid the rush hour…(so it wasn’t worth starting anything in-depth)

Or stay until 7 or 8pm to avoid the rush hour which meant I would never see my family.

Can you see the problem?

Guess which one I chose.

Now you may be thinking “Joey, you had it MADE, those are some cool hours!!!”

On the contrary.

I got LESS done because of what I just told you, AND that I was always stressed out about what “others” would say about me walking in so “late.”

Our Company Had Rules:

That I wasn’t prepared to follow.

I wanted desperately to change those rules with the onset of our ‘new world’.

I really don’t know what my dad would have thought of it if he was alive.

But I can promise you he figured out that work ISN’T your life.

Even if you LOVE what you do – and he DID.

All I know is that cancer told him “you better start living your life my friend – you’ve got three years.”

Which brings up another point.

I really can’t understand HOW people can trade away the moments of their life for something they HATE.

Think about it.

I hear all the time how they have to wait for X to happen so they can X to finally do X.

Screw that.

I HAD IT MADE.

A company handed to me with new cars every year, a nice salary and whatever other perks you can think of.

And I gave it up.

Why?

Because it was KILLING ME.  And it was ONLY two years.

It wasn’t who I am.

I was no longer willing to trade my life for the stress, anxiety, debates, misalignment of values and so forth just because…

I know this post will probably raise a few eyebrows and have differences of opinions..

That’s cool…

We’re human.

But when it comes to the topic of how to run a company with (almost) no rules, Ricardo Semler NAILS it.

So take a few moments and REALLY watch the video.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised that it’s not just about how to run a company…

There are MANY life lessons in here that I truly believe you need to hear.

One last point

When you watch the “how to run a company with (almost) no rules” video, you’ll understand why I am so grateful for the “little” things.

Such as taking any afternoon to watch the new Star Wars movie in FULL iMax, without navigating the crazy crowds.

I STILL feel very strongly about how we DO our work.

I don’t CARE when or even “how” you do it…as long as it’s done to the standards of the company.

And that’s about giving up some control to the people I delegate stuff to.

Which of course, was really hard because I’m such a control freak.

But think about it.

The more ‘control’ you need to monitor, the LESS free you are.

Isn’t that true?

Listen, I’m not saying let everything go to hell…

But what I AM saying is to look at what it is ALL for…

And to STOP waiting for the day “when this happens.”

Whether that day is GOOD news or BAD news.

Let’s start a conversation below and let me know your thoughts, comments, opinions…

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marketing your product
Entrepreneurial Mindset

What I learned from the digital marketing industry

Here’s the transcript from my podcast about what I learned from the digital marketing industry

~ begin transcript ~

For the past two years, I’ve been learning & ramping up my online marketing.

I’ve taken almost every course out there (in the digital marketing industry).

I’ve studied with the best in the world.

I’ve sat in highly paid masterminds with some of them.

In other words, I’ve been able to get inside their heads to see how they think.

Then I deployed everything I learned.

And just like my real estate investment business…I had to tweak things.

And I’m still tweaking things.

Is that new?

To anyone who is an entrepreneur … the answer is no.

But the point is, I’m still learning. Even though I’m teaching marketing, business development and so on to the masses.

Here’s what I ***learned*** from the digital marketing industry

  1. The market is always right. We are not. We THINK we’re right…but until the market votes with their money / approval, we have no clue.
  2. SPEND MONEY to find the answer to #1. That means unless you are putting your stuff in front of the people who will potentially buy it, you have no idea if your marketing is working. Asking your buddy or spouse if it’s a “good product or service” doesn’t do you any good.
  3. Do you have the right audience to test #2 with in the first place? For a LOT of entrepreneurs, the answer really is NO – even though they think they do. So how do you FIND that market? Refine your search…narrow it down to a specific problem. And then go looking for data. Google Analytics, Alexa, etc…And yes…PAY for the data.

I can’t tell you how important it is to invest some money into your business. Because otherwise you’re just guessing your way through.

Here’s an example: for a niche I was targeting to advertise on Facebook, I THOUGHT it was a male dominated market and had an age range from 25 – 55. For the record, that’s a big range.

After I spent some money on ads, without any response, I finally took my own advice and paid for research.

I was COMPLETELY WRONG. The market was dominated by women aged 18-24 and 34-44. BIG difference right? So you can see why an ad needs to be VERY specific to talk to the market you want to target.

The point of all this is to encourage you to do your homework and put some money into your business. In my early years of business that’s exactly what I did and it worked.

In today’s day and age with “free” internet, Facebook, twitter, linked in and so on…entrepreneurs are growing up in a world where they believe they can market for free.

Even though some of that may be true, for the most part, you STILL have to invest time, energy and money into your business to grow it 10x.

Otherwise all you have is a cool little self-made job.

– Joey

~ end transcript ~

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