Who gets access to your heart, and who gets a little more distance?

→ Free training: https://www.think-time.com/free-training

After an Adam Grant event in Nashville, a group of us from Brand Builders Group shared a car ride and a conversation I wished I had recorded. So we recreated it. Jennifer Marcou, Carrie Chandler, Stacy Sherman, John Lentini and Zach King join me to talk about their missions, from first keynotes to book launches and coaching programs.

We talk about using AI without losing your voice, speaking from the scar, not the wound, and sorting relationships into pals, allies and companions. We also get into capacity, boundaries and generosity.

Every brain deserves a plan that fits. Try the 30-day free trial of the Think Time membership. Or hop on a free call with me.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:08 Welcome and introductions

06:05 First keynotes

17:04 When the slides don't animate

21:36 Using AI without losing your voice

24:18 Origin stories

29:13 Speaking from the scar, not the wound

32:33 Pals, allies and companions

36:20 Capacity and boundaries

41:06 Generosity with boundaries

Listen & connect

Jennifer Marcou (Introverted Leadership): JenniferMarcou.com

Carrie Chandler (Authentic Leadership): carriechandler.com

Stacy Sherman (Customer Experience): doingcxright.com

John Lentini (Character Under Pressure): johnjlentini.com

Zach King (AI Agents): ZachPKing.com · LinkedIn · Instagram

Sweta Vikram (Grief & Wellness): swetavikram.com

Srijata Bhatnagar (Setback Leadership): srijata.com

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

Think Time®: Website · Free Training · Instagram · YouTube · TikTok · LinkedIn

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for individualized medical, mental health, or professional care. Every brain is different, and results will vary.

SMART goals can be helpful. For many of us, especially those with ADHD, they just aren't enough on their own. → See how your brain naturally approaches planning in my free training: https://www.think-time.com/free-training

In college, the only things I put in my planner were lunch dates. I was top of my class, and I didn't have any planning skills. None. I didn't even know I wasn't planning. In this solo episode, I share that story, the question I asked a student leader in the computer lab, and the years I spent reading book after book on productivity that I couldn't actually do.

Then I walk through SMART goals and why they're not enough for ADHD leaders and creative high achievers: they lead with logic over motivation, they don't leave room for life to happen (as a mom of six, I know a little about that), and they focus on the result instead of the process.

From there, I share six things to try instead: dream before you decide, find your big why, break it into micro goals, use habit stacking, create a flexible framework, and celebrate your progress, not just your results. I also explain the reticular activating system, the natural filter in your brain that I like to think of as an executive assistant.

It's not about being perfect. It's about being present. If you'd like support planning in a way that works with your brain, try the 30-day free trial of the Think Time membership, where we plan weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly together. Or book a free 30-minute clarity call with me and we can talk through what you need.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: when lunch dates were all I planned

02:27 "How do you do it?" A little and often

07:07 What SMART goals are, and why they're not enough

09:34 Being pivot ready, and having a North Star

14:22 Step 1: Dream before you decide

16:46 Your brain's executive assistant

21:34 Step 2: Find your big why

26:18 Steps 3 and 4: Micro goals and habit stacking

28:46 Steps 5 and 6: A flexible framework, and celebrating progress

35:50 What to try today: draw your goal, ask why, take one tiny step

Listen & connect

Follow me: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

Think Time®: Website · Free Training · Instagram · YouTube · TikTok · LinkedIn

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for individualized medical, mental health, or professional care. Every brain is different, and results will vary.

My friend John Mabry has been a leg amputee for more than 25 years. He's a former Hollywood actor and stuntman, an inventor, a public speaker, and a life strategist. In this conversation, he shares how he spent most of his life performing perfectly in public and perishing in private.

John walks me through the car accident that changed everything just before he graduated from Baylor, choosing to amputate his leg a year later, and the pain pills and the Adderall prescription that was written at three times his dose. He talks about Hollywood, finding his brother after a drug overdose, his marriage ending, and the night during COVID when he wanted to check out. A friend sat with him and asked one question: can you start with a shower?

From that moment came the framework John uses today: acknowledge something's going on, choose somebody to tell, and tell them now. He also shares how Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered 12-step group, gave him the consistency and accountability he'd never had, and the HERO check-in he now uses with the leaders he coaches.

This episode includes discussion of addiction, a fatal overdose, and thoughts of suicide. If you're in the US and you're struggling, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Every brain deserves a plan that fits. If you'd like support building rhythms that work with your brain, try the 30-day free trial of the Think Time membership, where we plan weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly together. Or hop on a free call with me and we can talk through what you need.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:20 Who John was at eight

05:40 Class clown, Baylor, and the entitled side

10:40 The crash, and crawling back in for his friends

15:20 Choosing amputation, grad school, and numbing out

19:06 ADHD, Adderall, and a prescription error

24:00 Hollywood, and performing perfectly in public

28:26 Rock bottom, and starting with a shower

32:53 His brother, silence, and Celebrate Recovery

37:28 HERO, and where to find John

Listen & connect

John Mabry: Website · Instagram · Facebook · LinkedIn

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

Think Time®: Website · Free Training · Instagram · YouTube · TikTok · LinkedIn

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for individualized medical, mental health, or professional care. Every brain is different, and results will vary.

In this solo episode, I walk through the early warning signs I watch for when someone may be heading toward burnout: executive functioning that starts to slip, trouble starting tasks, harder emotional regulation, a weaker working memory, less creativity, leaning on urgency to focus, and a body that is communicating distress. I also name the one that's easy to miss for ADHD visionaries: when the strategies that have always worked for you stop working.

This episode matters to me because early in my counseling career I cared for brain injured patients, some in rehabilitation after a stroke linked to unmanaged stress. Burnout can happen to the best people doing things they genuinely love, not only to people doing something hard or misaligned.

I close with five questions to ask yourself, and I'm clear that I'm not diagnosing burnout, acute stress, or ADHD. If burnout feels real, I encourage you to reach out to a healthcare provider for a personalized assessment. For anyone craving silence or less stimulation, I also recommend Stephen Porges' Safe and Sound Protocol, offered through Unyte.

Don't let it become your story. If you'd like help building structures that keep renewing your energy, try the 30-day free trial of the Think Time membership, where we plan weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly together. Or hop on a free call with me and we can talk through what you need.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: living on a cocktail of cortisol and adrenaline, and the early signs

02:53 Executive functioning, and losing the ability to start

05:47 Burnout can happen to the best people, and emotional regulation

09:11 When creativity disappears

12:07 Living on urgency, sensory overload, and decision fatigue

14:56 The body, withdrawing, and when rest and your usual strategies stop working

17:52 Overwhelm or burnout, and five questions to ask yourself

21:39 Productivity with peace, not pressure

Listen & connect

Follow me: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

Think Time®: Website · Free Training · Instagram · YouTube · TikTok · LinkedIn

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for individualized medical, mental health, or professional care. Every brain is different, and results will vary.

Christine and Bekah close out the launch series by recapping the last four conversations: Cindy Garrard on joy as a performance strategy, Zach King on being polished but parked, Jamie Maglietta on being visible without waiting to feel polished, and Joy Forrest on coercive control and the ADHD/CPTSD overlap.

Christine also says what comes next: more from her on what you can do with your ADHD symptoms, and experts, but not so many at once. They end on imperfect action: reach out for a quick call, join the membership, or take a first step without having the whole plan figured out.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: closing out the launch series

01:25 Recapping Cindy Garrard: joy as a performance strategy

11:05 Recapping Zach King: polished but parked, crappy but committed

14:25 Recapping Jamie Maglietta: visibility without waiting to be polished

23:15 Recapping Joy Forrest: coercive control and the ADHD/CPTSD overlap

35:05 Final takeaways: living on mission

36:20 Taking imperfect action

Listen & connect

Join the Membership: think-time-u.teachable.com

10% off a Neuroplanner

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

Think Time®: Website · Free Training · Instagram · YouTube · TikTok · LinkedIn

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for individualized medical, mental health, or professional care. Every brain is different, and results will vary.

Randy Free is a psychiatric counselor who helps families of kids with ADHD find peace in the middle of the storm. He started teaching Sunday school at 20, and found that he could coach a child and then send them right back to the same family situation. So he started working with the whole family.

His framework, peaceful parenting, has five pillars that spell PEACE: Perspective, Ease, Attune, Connect, and Empower. It starts with one reframe: "They're not giving you a hard time, they're having a hard time." Randy and Christine talk about meltdowns as a distress signal, why a day of transitions leaves a child with no energy left to contain big emotions, and what changes for a family when they stop seeing defiance.

They also turn to the adults who were never diagnosed, and what Randy does with EMDR for the inner child who was told they were stupid or lazy.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:28 Who Randy was at eight

03:47 Why he works with the whole family

09:27 Perspective: a distress signal, not defiance

19:11 The five pillars: ease, attune, connect, empower

28:38 Connection without dropping expectations

37:51 Floor play, groups, and the family intensive

40:42 The cost of untreated ADHD

48:30 Late diagnosis, shame, and EMDR

52:21 Where to find Randy

Listen & connect

Randy Free (Coach to Resilience): Website · Instagram · LinkedIn

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

Think Time®: Website · Free Training · Instagram · YouTube · TikTok · LinkedIn

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for individualized medical, mental health, or professional care. Every brain is different, and results will vary.

Joy St. John spent 25 years climbing the corporate ladder at places like KPMG, HSBC, and E*Trade, becoming a managing director along the way. Her core belief, the thing that made her successful, was that she could always just push through.

Then a rainstorm in North Carolina, a gust of wind, and a concrete barricade changed that. She and her mother were driving to Florida when the car hydroplaned and hit a barrier, then another car. Both could have been killed. She still tried to make her Monday morning regulator meeting.

She and Christine talk through what she learned in the aftermath: just because you can carry it doesn't mean you should. Joy also walks through her EDGE framework (Evaluate, Design, Go execute, Elevate) and the concept she calls microdosing, gradually testing your limits and your comfort zone instead of forcing a giant leap.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: who Joy is

02:14 Who Joy was at eight, and at eighteen

04:36 Defining success at KPMG

09:04 The car accident

13:40 The first time she had to take short term leave

20:33 Microdosing your anger

27:34 Noticing the signs before they build

29:57 The EDGE framework, explained

38:48 The weight loss journey with Dr. Cody Golman

44:36 Where to find Joy, and the free vision sketch gift

Listen & connect

Joy St. John (The Joyous Edge): Free 30-Min Consult · Website

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

Think Time®: Website · Free Training · Instagram · YouTube · TikTok · LinkedIn

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for individualized medical, mental health, or professional care. Every brain is different, and results will vary.

Christine and Bekah recap three more conversations: Dr. Cody Golman on why healing, not punishing, is the actual path to a healthy body, Jason Alan Bohrer on regulating your nervous system before you try to push harder, and Chad Becker on what changed the moment he realized winning wasn't actually the point.

Christine also shares her own story here, nine years of a body that wouldn't respond to a healthy lifestyle, until she stopped treating weight loss like a discipline problem.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: recapping round four

00:20 Recapping Dr. Cody Golman: healing instead of punishing your body

04:37 Christine's own nine-year story

13:26 Recapping Jason Alan Bohrer: regulate before you evaluate

16:57 What Think Time adds to nervous system regulation

21:39 Recapping Chad Becker: the Lego castle and what winning cost him

23:54 Why relationships are the actual performance strategy

26:12 Closing thought: listen to all three together

Listen & connect

Join the Membership: think-time-u.teachable.com

10% off a Neuroplanner

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

Think Time®: Website · Free Training · Instagram · YouTube · TikTok · LinkedIn

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for individualized medical, mental health, or professional care. Every brain is different, and results will vary.