How to ACTUALLY Deal With Burnout With ADHD (with Krista Mashore)

Presented by Understood.org

You built something that works. Now you cannot stop working without everything feeling like it might fall apart.

Krista Mashore is a powerhouse in digital coaching. She built a $70M business after leaving real estate at her peak. She is the gold standard for fast execution and high-output growth, and her systems come directly from managing her own ADHD at scale.

We break down what burnout actually looked like behind the scenes. From selling 150+ homes a year to walking away overnight. Krista explains her “stop, snap, switch” framework, how she manages constant mental noise, and why ADHD makes fast decision-making a real advantage.

You will walk away understanding why success does not remove burnout, and what needs to change if you want to keep growing without breaking yourself.

What We Cover

• Why ADHD high performers push past burnout signals
• The moment she walked away from a $1.8M income
• How “stop, snap, switch” interrupts negative thought loops
• Why fast decision-making works with ADHD
• The real cost of building without systems

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

Connect with Krista:

YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KristaMashoreCoaching Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristamashore/ DM Krista the word BOT and she will help you find the real constraint in your business.

 P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The fear of continuing what I was doing, even though I was successful and staying that way, that fear was more scary than me taking the risk to change careers altogether. I was more afraid of being in the same place in 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Hello everyone, and welcome to this episode of the ADHD Skills Lab, brought to you by understood.org, the leading nonprofit helping millions of people with learning and thinking differences like ADHD and dyslexia. Today I am super excited to be joined by Krista Mashore. Krista is a top 1% national business coach, a former 1% real estate agent. She's a seven-time best-selling author featured in the Forbes of the Wall Street Journal. She was named the successor of the magazine, top 125 Leader and Woman of Influence. She has shared stages with Tony Robbins, Russell Brunson, and many others, and has built a$70 million digital coaching company. Today, Krista helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses using AI, video funnels, and social media. So welcome to the show, Krista. It's great to have you.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Hi Sky, thank you. I'm I'm excited to be here. I had you on my podcast last year. So now we're getting I'm getting to be on yours, so it's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

I know, it's so great. So last time I was on your podcast and we talked a lot about um we talked a lot about ADHD. For me, now I want to talk about it for you. So take me back to when you were first diagnosed or when you first found out you might have ADHD. What was that moment like for you?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

You know, I could not read. I couldn't read when I was in first grade. So in second grade, I was placed into a sp special education class. And later on, we found out that I have a central processing disorder and an ADHD and all of that. You know, they didn't really have a name for it back then. I'm older, so they didn't really call it ADHD. They just thought I was a troubled, stupid kid back in the day. That's how they dealt with, you know, people with those kind of things. And so I I was really blessed, got a really great teacher that helped me, and and I left in fifth grade, went into a normal class, and I ended up like being a straight A student almost ever since. So yeah, I just learned how to deal with you know with it.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

What what were some of the things that you you felt were really helpful for that transition?

SPEAKER_00 2:11

It was mostly the teacher, I think. The teacher just believed in me. And you know, my mom used to get really frustrated with me doing my homework because it was like really hard for me. And I think she just thought that I didn't I don't it's hard for parents, I sometimes think, to deal with kids that have that have learning disabilities. And he was just very patient and he cared about me and took the time to to teach me. And I think that was one of the main things. Uh, I don't consider having a DHD as a disability at all. I I I actually love it, I don't mind. I I've learned to deal with it. I mean, I've been able to concentrate very well, and and I think it's it's yeah, it's it's I've had to work harder than most people, I will say. It takes me a lot longer to learn things. Like I sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so difficult. But once it clicks, it clicks it and I have enough drag to want to make sure that I just keep trying, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Can you describe one of those moments where you did have to work harder? You mentioned that that's something right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

I'm learning like Claude Code right now. So I mean, I've been just like I I study AI at least 20 hours a week, probably more, honestly. I kind of am a little bit of a workaholic, and so learning for me is sort of a hobby. I enjoy it, and so my focus right now is really AI. And so Claude Code came out, Claude Co-work, Claude Desktop. There, I'm learning all that right now, and it took, it's taken me a good, you know, week, at least 20 hours, just trying to understand like the manifest and building the brain in there, and even though I understand other types of AI, but the way it works, it works on your desktop, and you've got to go to folders. And so, like, I've just just lately I was reading your thing, the questions you were gonna ask yesterday, and I just started laughing. I'm like, right now I'm having one of those moments, like that it's just so frustrating, you know. Like, I'm like, oh my god, this is taking me forever. So right now.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah, yeah. So what is a typical day in the life of you look like? Because I'm gonna guess that it depends.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Yeah. I wake up every morning, usually around 5:15 or so, and then I I work out at least four days a week. Try to do five. So I'm pretty, pretty darn great at that. If I don't work out, I don't have as good of a day. And then I will start my morning day by, you know, visualization and I try to do this framework called Stop, Snap, and Switch or Thriving before I get up, which through the T stands for for thrive, is like giving thanks, right? The H is for just like reminding myself that I'm happy, being happy, smiling. The R is reminding myself like that I'm resourceful and resilient. The I is for inhale, like to remind myself to breathe and then to do it now, like to take action, and remind myself to take action. The B stands for visualization, right? So visualizing my day, visualizing whatever it is that I'm working on, whether it be a long-term or a short-term goal. And then the E is reminding myself to exercise throughout the day as well, like not just sit down all the time, try to get up at least in every hour and whether it's doing a few jumping decks or whatever it might be, or squats on my desk or standing instead of sitting. And then also the E is like I expect it and I have energy around my entire thrive process, like the visualization, my thankfulness, the gratitude, all of it. And then the S is for stop, snap, and switch, which is basically stop, stop like training your brain to work for you and not against you, reminding yourself like when you have a negative thought to turn it around. Like that's the stop stands for stopping and recognizing it. And then you snap the bracelet, and then you switch the bracelet to the other other side and you restate the negative thought. So that's kind of some practices that I do on a regular basis without even like really anyone even realizing me even doing it if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Yeah, it does because I know you said like, and I can see based on who you shared stages with mindset and thinking about, you know, staying in that positive energy has been really important part of your practice. And I'm curious, when did you realize that that was important for you in business?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

I would say, you know, I one thing I didn't share with you is like I haven't lived at home since I was 13. So my mom, who is a dear friend of mine, and I love her dearly, she's given me permission to share this, but she was physically abusive. So I started running away from home when I was 13. And then I ended up in Juvenile Hall, and then I ended up in a group home for troubled girls for a year, and then I went to a foster home through for the remainder of my uh high school. I've always kind of struggled because of the abuse, even though I always tell people it's kind of like I lived in I lived in two households. I had a really very loving mom and wonderful, wonderful dad with two great brothers, but then I also had my the same mom who was also physically abusive. So it was kind of like a you know a weird environment. So I've always had to struggle with like feelings of self-worth, feeling loved, feeling good enough. So I've I I knew that about myself early on. And so I just always worked on it. I've been reading books forever. So I would say mostly probably when I was in college was when the like I haven't I've read one book in the past like 20 years that was for pleasure. Most of them are always like self-help books or business books, sales and marketing books. It's it's all about actually two. I've read two books actually that weren't weren't uh in the past one, but that weren't like self-help or business. And it's just something that I've always had to kind of deal with. I always tell people it's like I've got two voices inside my head. I've got the good wolf that says like like realizes like somebody that brought a business from zero to 70 million dollars in seven years, and that has been like overachiever, like achieves things that most people can never. And then there's the bad wolf that's like, oh, but you're not good enough, and you know, maybe they didn't like you there, or maybe you don't fit in. And so I'm always, you know, I've had to really work that muscle of of self-belief and and confidence and feeling good about myself.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

It's an interesting one, and it's I guess I would say it's interesting that you got to it so early. Because I feel like for a lot of people, that idea of I have to be working on my my brain and and feeding the the good wolf and all of that kind of stuff. And I had Eric Zimmeron, the podcast host of The One You Feed, and that's his whole podcast. It's just that idea. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. It was his whole story, he tells the story at the beginning of every podcast because it's so important to him. But he, you know, as an example, he went through you know really intense heroin addiction and all that kind of stuff before he got to that place of like realizing he was gonna have to feed his his good wolf. And so it's interesting that you latched onto it so early. It was such a you were like, It was it maybe because you saw how other people experience life and you were like, nope, that will not be me. Do you think it was more of an inbuilt thing?

SPEAKER_00 8:15

I think it was more like when I was in the foster home, it's like I didn't have a lot. Like all my friends had nice clothes, and I was, you know, I couldn't afford I just didn't have the money, right? And and so, and I remember always kind of feeling a little bit less than. Like I felt like people looked at me weird because I was in a foster home. And uh, you know, and also it's so funny that I've never put this together until now talking with you, but I didn't realize how much my learning disability when I was younger, not being able to read, like, like, oh my god, I remember when I had to read something, I would read this, you know, I'd count how many people and I'd read exactly what my section was gonna be, and God forbid they changed the section. Like I'm just like, oh my god, you know, like the sheer terror of being in front in front of people, speaking in front of people, reading in front of people. But I uh a lot of my self-sabotaging and doubt came from my learning disability. And I didn't, I've never said that out loud until just now, Sky. That's the truth. I never really realized that. But I mean, I remember being younger always just feeling stupid and less than, and like, you know, what's wrong with me? I can't figure this out. And I mean, I failed kindergarten for God's sake, because I couldn't, I couldn't memorize my phone number. And I remember like when you you got this little phone when you were a kid, and and I was the only one that didn't get the phone, and then they had this huge party where they had like every kind of cupcake and candy and cookies, and and I didn't get to go because I couldn't memorize my phone number. Put all that together, but so I I really I knew I didn't want to always feel that way anymore. So I knew that in order for me to to have more, to do more, that I had to like, I think I always kind of felt like okay, I needed to almost prove myself that I was good enough, you know, and that's where the self-achievement comes from. And um, yeah, and now like massive workaholic overachiever, I will admit.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

That's I get it. Actually, I did so badly in basic maths when I was in primary school that, or like early school, like about eight or so, that um they called my parents and they were like, This is the worst grades we've ever seen. Like, you have to come down and explain why your child doesn't understand maths at all. And it was a different kind of learning disability. So yeah, it is that thing. And then yeah, you do flip and you you try really hard. You know, it's not always the case, but for some of us, that is the direction that we go into. It's like burnout is just a state of mind. And, you know, we're we're working through working through that. Okay, I'm curious then. Books and you know, these books and nonfiction and and sort of self-help have been so, so important to you. What was the first book that you felt like really changed your life?

SPEAKER_00 10:41

I would say I think in Grow Rich from Napoleon Hill. I remember, you know, in the book, he I had been wanting to to coach for a while, and and uh I was really a successful real estate agent, you know, 47 years old at the time. Normal people wouldn't leave their successful career and go and change careers at 47, right? And so I was reading that book and it talked about how, you know, people have a calling, and when this calling comes to them, most people don't take it. And I just remember thinking, like, oh my gosh, this book is talking to me right now. Like, I've been wanting for like four years to get into coaching. People have been telling me for four years, like, oh, you're so motivational, you should be a coach, and you have such great business ideas. But I and it, and I just literally stopped where I was at, and I went on the computer and I made did this thing called Teens Lifting Lives, where it wasn't coaching adultship, but I started, I did this, made this pledge to coach teenagers. And the first book that we read was actually Think and Grow Rich. So, like with the first group of kids that I put through this program, where I literally paid them to read a book. So I'd pay them a thousand dollars to read a book with me. They had to commit for eight weeks of doing like paying it forward and random acts of kindness and not bullying and no social media and things like that. And it was because of that book. So, and that that then led into me having enough belief in myself to actually quit my career. And I did the same thing. I I text my brother and another gal, and I said, I'm done. I'm I'm stopping today, starting tomorrow. You guys are taking over the coaching business. If I don't do it, you know, the real estate business, if I don't do it now, I'll never do it. So I just like immediately made the decision to just go like all in, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Yeah, yeah. And that is one of the when we look at the research into ADHD, that is one of our strengths, is our ability to move fast and take that action. It's so amazing in many ways that you started out really struggling to read and ended up doing something where you were paying other people to read. That's such an interesting, like, turn of events.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh gosh, reading was so hard for me. It's funny though, is I remember when I was in the special education class, they would put these words across the thing and I'd have to read like one line at a time. And like now I'm a speed reader. I mean, I I I think it has to come from that, you know, like they of doing it, yeah. 100%, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

And it's also just I think different. We could get into like reading and how it works, but like there's some interesting stuff about like different people reading different ways, and they take in information in different ways. And yeah, it's once you find the way that works for you, it can be really, really helpful.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

It's still, I have to read things a lot, like this whole Claude Code thing. I'm I'm just like, I was literally saying to myself, I'll stop snapping switch, but I was like, why can't you get this? Why do you have to do this? Like, why is this taking so long? It's it's just been a weird one for me. It you know, my brain keeps going, why don't we just keep using ChatGPT while this is so different? So it's like I'm I'm I haven't probably had this much difficulty with something like I have this past two weeks in a while. Yeah, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Before we get back to the ADHD Skills Lab, I want to share a podcast I think you're gonna love. It's called Sorry I Missed This from the team at understood.org. We know that our executive functioning challenges don't just stay at our desks, they follow us into every part of our lives, including our most intimate relationships, whether it's dating or longer-term commitments. Hosted by Kate Osborne, the show explores strategies that will actually respect how our neurodivergent minds are uniquely wired for love and connection. I listened to an episode called Oh Baby, it's an ADHD pregnancy, which I've been through three times now, and I loved what they said about sensory struggles we can have, how we remember, and all of those little differences you don't realize until it gets there. So to listen to Sorry I missed this, search for sorry I missed this in your podcast app. That's sorry I missed this. You're on this journey, you're doing these, you know, you're reading these books, you're you've decided to do coaching. When was the moment for you where you were like, oh my god, this is this is taking off. This is really growing. Like, what was that moment for you?

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Well, we can talk about before the moment when I was in my kitchen crying, like, why do you think that's a good one? Yeah, tell us about that. Like when I left real estate, I was doing I I'd sold 154 homes the year before. I was I had I had did like$1.8 million in commission. It was so hard in the beginning, right? So, but what I didn't realize was like it was working when I didn't realize it was working. So as a real estate agent, it took me 14 years to hit the million dollar a year mark. In fact, when I left at 17 years in, I had 1.8 million that year. When I was a when I went into coaching, I hired the right coach. I um joined a mastermind and I hit seven figures in 11 months. So I hit the million dollar mark in 11 months, and then I did like two months later, another million, three months later, another million. Like I did like four million dollars in like 18 month time frame. And so that was when I was like, okay, this there's something to this coaching thing, right? And then my best year in in coaching, we did, I think it was 2023, we did 18 million in in gross sales in coaching. The past two years have been way rougher because my real estate agent, real estate agents are my avatar, one of my main avatars, and they've they've had the the worst, yeah, industry, the worst time in real estate for real estate agents in history. So it's definitely affected my business. Yeah, I would say I would say when I hit the million dollar month mark, and then it was funny. Yesterday I was taking a quick little nap. I was doing a power nap or day before yesterday, and I heard my my team member on a coaching call, and I just took a minute minute, and even though my business isn't doing, you know, anywhere near what it was at our peak, I just I there was a minute of gratitude. I was like, Christy, you built this company and you're still here. Like you, I just gave myself a little bit of a pat in the back, like, good job, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Well, that's the idea, right? Cash flow or you burn out. Those are the two things in business, the biggest threats. Actually, that reminds me, you mentioned workaholism. I think also I burned out so hard after my master's that I worked in a bakery as a cashier for a year and went to art school. So I know on my podcast. Yeah. I yeah, I know what that looks like. So I want to know from you like, did you have a moment where you felt like you pushed yourself too far in the real estate or in the coaching?

SPEAKER_00 16:37

In real estate for sure. That that's when I tell you that I just was like, I'm done. I mean, it didn't matter how much money I was making. I got to a point where I missed, like, I was a teacher before getting into real estate. I taught third grade for six years. I actually have a master's degree in curriculum and instruction. So my goal was gonna be to be a principal. Well, I remember I my husband, my first husband, um, had an affair on me, and I had just left my teaching job just to be a stay-at-home mom because my daughter Keely had gotten really sick. And all of a sudden he left, has a new girlfriend, the new girlfriend's picking up my kids. Like he's she's driving my car, my bank accounts were drained. So I had to jump into real estate. And so I jumped in like and sold 69 homes my first year out of pure desperation, quite frankly, to keep my daughters in their home. And so I I was but I was on that like that fear roller coaster, you know, for for 17 years. And I was at a point where I'm like, I cannot, the thought of the fear of continuing what I was doing, um, even though I was successful, you know, and and staying that way, that the that fear was more scary than me taking the risk to change careers altogether. So the I was more afraid of being in the same place in 10 years. So I just I took, I took, made the change. I was at a burnout at that time. I did not realize how much I was working. I was averaging 133 homes a year that I was selling as a solo agent with just a transaction coordinator and a and a and a uh an assistant. And I mean, that's a lot of homes for one person in New York. Real yeah, real estate is very, you know, the the year I left, I did 154 homes that yeah myself. And I did not realize just how burnt out I was. And I mean, to just like literally go, I'm done, you guys take over, like that's what I did. So I guess that was the moment you could say that was your one, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Well, then I guess my next question is okay, so you burn out, you're in that space, you're like, I'm done, we're out, and you go and you have this massive success with your coaching business. Do you feel now that you are making steps to have more integration in your work? Do you feel like you work maybe as much as you always did, but now you love it? Like, what do you think that shift is?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

No, I think it is different because the there's a big shift actually. I probably might be working more like at my desk, but like I I stop work usually at five o'clock at night, you know, like or six, but I I do work on the weekends, but it's more like I'm learning, right? So, like like last week, I spent 16 hours learning Claude Code and doing all the all that, right? So it's it's more like a fun type of a learning. So I think now it's just I love it so, so much. And I was sick and tired of real estate. Like I don't I hate to say that because they're my avatar and I love them, but it's just a hard profession and people are crazy. So when you're dealing with them and they're selling and buying, they're even more crazy because the emotions are so so at peak. But now I, you know, I I guess what I'm working on now in my brain is that I have worked so much for so long that I have to, I have to stop myself, which is hard still from working because I don't want to look back because I'm 50, you know, I'm 55 in about five months. I don't want to look back and be like, oh my gosh, you just you worked your life away and you didn't go on a vacations and you weren't present enough. So that's what I'm trying to like work on more now. And it's still really hard for me, I guess guy.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

I get that. I mean, a lot of times when I'm talking to entrepreneurs with ADHD, it's about what do we do? Yes, obviously there's a struggle of you know getting to a place where your business is working, but then once it is working, it's like how do we how do we get dopamine from something else? Because so often the dopamine is from the business and from making things and and doing things and and that kind of stuff. So do you have any idea about how to rest in an active ADHD friendly way?

SPEAKER_00 20:05

I don't know if that if I'm if I've gotten there yet, you know, and I especially if I've been here. Like I've I've probably the past years because I mean, like we were doing so well. Like I said, our my peak was 18 million and last year we just did just under 8 million, which might seem great, but like that's kind of like my expenses are that, you know. So I've been like trying to like adjust and modify and new ideas and how do I make this one better? And so I've I've been kind of back a little bit on the hamster wheel of just keeping everything open and and doing well. So it's been it's been harder. Now I'm I'm at a point where it's like, okay, yeah, yeah, I'm I'm not there, Sky. I'm working on it. I'm on YouTube. My friends are right now, it's 12:30 and they're they're all taking the day off and they're they're having lunch and girl time, and I'm I'm not.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Yeah, well, I appreciate you being here talking to me. And is there anything else where you feel like ADHD gets in the way of your business? And then we'll talk about the strengths as well.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

No, I don't think so. I mean, I have to like remind myself, people say that when you multitask, you get more done. Well, research shows that the more you multitask, the less you get done, and also the less you're able to actually complete, right? And the and the less you're able to stay on task for multitasking. So there is times where I have to like, okay, Krista, hone it in. Like you you don't you you just went here and there and there and forgot to do that. Like I have to remind myself, like hone it in. You know, so I my assistant will tell me I'm always like, You have too many tabs open. Those tabs are not, you can't have 87 tabs open because you just went to the same tab 10 times and it was the wrong tab. Like minimize your tabs, you know. So and so my brain has to work work that way.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Except sometimes you turn off all your tabs because you're overwhelmed and then you lost the thing.

unknown 21:40

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

That is one thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Finding it is like, I need a good organization system, you know, because it's yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

And then on the other side, you know, I mean, I think we already have one of the strengths, which is that ability to go, nope, that's it. We're changing and actually make those changes. Do you think there have been any other strengths for you having ADHD and growing this business?

SPEAKER_00 21:59

I think because. The disability and having to work so much harder has given me a very good kind of drive and determination about life. And so I've practiced to learn the development. Like I believe in myself that I can do anything, like anything that's humanly possible, right? Like I just I've had to really get this, I have the strong belief of okay, and I that's how I talked to myself too. But I I mean I'm a very fast decision maker, and research there's a lot of research on dis fast decision makers. Most successful people are very fast decision makers. And so without overthinking everything, you know, not not not in a destructive way at all, but that's definitely helped me, right? Like I and I don't think it's been a bad thing at all. And moving quick and being able to accomplish a lot and just the drive of like I had to be that way younger as I was younger, you know, and I I did it to move everybody else, like I'm not stupid, you know, and think I was really trying to improve myself the whole time, not everybody else.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Yeah, yeah. No, I completely understand that. And I guess it's interesting because you know, you said moving quickly and making decisions quickly. It does feel I don't know if this is the case, maybe you would know better than me, but it feels like moving quickly has become almost like a requirement now. It used to be like a benefit, and now it feels like everything is changing so much with AI and the internet, and it feels like things are going fast. So being able to go fast is really important.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Yeah, I think so. I mean, it's it's almost been overwhelming lately. Like I I can't imagine how the normal normal people are. I've been wondering that too. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, I mean, seriously, because I have been just obsessed with learning about this stuff, and I feel overwhelmed. I'm and I feel behind. And I know I'm like a thousand times higher than most people, right? So, like the anxiety because of it, and like it's something that we all need to be careful of of because it's this constant, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

A hundred percent. I was having a conversation with my clients yesterday about AI and being like, this is how it's good, this is how it's a trap for ADHD. Like, we have to have that balance so that it's like we're using it, but we're not like it's not using us.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yeah. Oh yeah. And I look look with taking this AI, one of the things that I'm trying to teach is and to apply myself is okay, is this helping me fix a constraint in my business and making that in fix that gap? Or is what I'm learning or doing, is it gonna help me become more, you know, save time is something I do a lot. So I try to make sure that whatever I'm doing or learning or working on, if it's if it's doing one of those things, I'll pursue it. If it's not, I won't get a shiny object kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Yeah, there's a lot of shiny objects around about the around now. Do you have so you have an assistant, an EA, who's helping you manage everything?

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Yes, I have a full-time Haley, she's right there that works with me. And then we've got I've got I've got about 40 employees with team members. You know, half are in the US, half are in actually more like 65% are in the are in the US and 35% are in the Philippines. And then I have like man managers that oversee eat departments. You know, surprisingly enough, I'm pretty good about knowing like what's going on in in all the departments and a little bit too much, probably. It would probably be better if I was able to kind of free my brain up a little bit and not have to be to know so much. It's kind of like we're a we're a really small, big company, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Like, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

So yeah, yeah, I guess we have still wear a lot of hats.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

So take me through like what does it look like in your week? This is often what a question I get from CEOs is like, how many meetings are you having? Like, how are you you doing that oversight and and keeping everybody mission focused, you know?

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Well, what happened with us is we grew so fast, and my solution was like throw money at it, hire this person. And then without like the proper at the time systems in place and SOPs, and really kind of it was like we were almost like throwing lipstick on a pig kind of a thing. So this past year, I've been unraveling this rats. We actually call it Operation Rat's Nest. So we've been unraveling this problem of people not knowing what everyone's doing, people taking just small pieces of of things and not owning the whole thing. So I've hired like an operations person to help me with that. And then I've hired an AI person to help me like look at what people are doing and say, okay, we can all these steps can be removed, as well as these people. Let's let's give them higher level activities, kind of a thing, or just people all together, quite frankly. I've I've had to realize this past year, like kind of to hone it back in, if that makes sense. That's what we've been doing over the past 12 months, and we're getting so, so close. It's been it's actually kind of a little bit of a breathing fresh air right now. But I've also realized that I do have to even as much as I hate to say this, but I I think some people do need more management, right? Like you need to have the right managers that know how to manage, because if somebody just says, Oh, I'm doing X, Y, and Z, and it's like, well, that's been on their list for five months, like the manager should have caught that, right? Yeah, and then notice the managers need to be managed, and so you can't assume things. So it's hard when own owning a business. There's there's what is that is the heart that wears the crown or whatever. It's very true.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Yeah, yeah, it is very, very true. Just on a very, very mechanical level. Are you meeting with the entire team once a week? Do you do like meetings with the departments?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

I meet with the managers. So on management, we meet every Tuesday for 90 minutes. So all the all the team leads, and then I'll have you know a meeting with my uh CFO about once a week. Okay. Nothing we talk kind of a lot. Um, so mainly just no, just once a week, and then I'll have meetings also with like the marketing department. My marketing manager will bring me in sometimes to those or not, just so I kind of know what's going on. So mainly it's just one 90-minute meeting a week. I coach three hours a week where I'm like in-person coaching, coaching the team or coaching. Yeah, no coaching my students, yeah. On Zoom. And then I'm creating content a lot, writing scripts, studying AI, learning AI, really honing in on strategy type of thing, as far as like researching what's working right now for my students and figuring out the best solution so they don't have to. So a lot of my time is spent honestly researching and learning on that.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

So then take me through, you know, what you do with your EA. It sounds like you guys are working like together quite a lot. How is she kind of helping you with because you know, we've got working memory problems, we've got organizational problems. Like, how is she helping funnel all of the information into the right places?

SPEAKER_00 27:57

I uh also have another helper that she's all kind of like helps with like my lifestyle, if that makes sense. Like, for example, today she made a she made me uh this great rice and she made like spinach dip yesterday, and she made all that, and then like she returns things for me. Like, oh, can you purchase this for me? Can you return this? Can you buy this? Like, she does all you know, schedules my flights, does all that. That's one role. And then, but we work, we work very much closely hand in hand. My assistant isn't as much of the as the organizer of myself as as the other person is. It's more of a content type of a strategist, but yeah, they help me. I mean, they don't get mad. It's like, guys, I'm sorry. I know I've asked for this stupid link five times. It I don't know where it's at. And people just, it's like, that's not my gift. And I just tell them that and they're fine with it. It's like my gift is being in front of people, inspiring, encouraging, motivating, and teaching. It's not organization, it's like I own it and I I don't feel bad about it.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Yeah, yeah. I had um, I had Tucky Moore on a couple of weeks ago, and we were having a very similar conversation, very similar energy. And it's true, it's true. Like, I think he calls it jazz hands. You're like, get it, get at that, and um, and 100%. So, so you mentioned using AI and coding to build things quickly, right? So, even in a couple of hours, a glass of wine. I heard you're talking about that. Can you talk me through what you're building that you feel like is really supporting your ADHD specifically?

SPEAKER_00 29:12

I wouldn't know how like the exact answer as far as what's how it's helping with the ADHD, other than it's giving my brain something else to do, if that makes sense. I mean, it's so amazing with AI. Like I like I'm not afraid to sit down and figure things out, right? And it just takes me longer than most people. But once I figure it out, it's like, oh man, like you're in trouble because I'm I'm going for it, right? Like I did, I built this amazing app, you know, it's called a constraint bot, where it will identify someone's constraint in their business and then give them the solution. And the solution just happens to be what I coach, right? Like sales, marketing, funnel, lead generation, lead literature, all that. I did it while like my husband was racing, like drinking a bottle of wine, you know, on a like on all day on Sunday. And it was so fun because to me, like I don't, I don't like just sitting around. I and but I was still able to sit around and like in between you just talk to it and then it builds it for you. So you have to be a coder. So I would say that really is actually helping me, and I I look forward to it because it's not really like work. It's like, I mean, I I blew through like a month ago, you know, four dollars in credits on on Manis building this app for for my students to be able to use to become what I call a community market leader in their areas. And I just had so much fun. Like to me, it's like this is fun, like this is my hobby. I'd rather do that than go racing, or my husband's racing right now, right? Like, I'd rather do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

So yeah, yeah. And I really love that idea of that kind of thing as a hobby. I think it really frames it so nicely because it kind of takes a lot of the pressure out of it, a lot of the like, oh my God, we're already behind open claw and you know, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

It's true though. I don't I I think I kind of it's like it's scary the way the world is right now. You you know, I I think people with ADHD too, they they really have to, you know, ask themselves this question Am I doing more of what I know is already working? So how can I do more of it, right? If I know something is working in my life or business, how can I do more of that? Or how can I do better of what's working before I do a bunch of new? And when in this world of AI, they need to ask themselves the question is it helping me with a constraint or is it helping me alleviate time or something I do all the time? You know, is this really going to help me in my business or am I doing this for fun? And and be careful because we can go down rabbit holes where it's like, oh crap, it's already been eight hours and I've been doing you know vibe coding.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Especially when the AI is like, Do you want me to build it? Do you want me to make this? Do you want me to like it's always kind of bringing us things? Yes. It's like, oh my god, nope, quit asking me the questions. I'm done. Like, stop asking me to make something else. Yeah, and that's the idea. You suddenly become the EA to the to the AI. When we're talking about ADHD, then in general, like, is there anything that you feel is counterintuitive and opposite from what people expect that you use to help manage your own ADHD?

SPEAKER_00 31:47

No, I wouldn't say no. I mean, I just think I've just gotten so used to it and I don't think of it as a disability. Like I my daughter has it, and I'm like, you are lucky because people with ADHD, you know, we have once you can learn how to stay on focus and on task, you know, like your our brain works differently. Like we're in in a good way, like right, you have the energy, the excitement, you know, that's it's a good thing. So I mean I'm I'm Sky, I am almost 55 years old, so I've learned how to live with it and live with it well. And live with it really well. Yeah, that's awesome. Exercising has definitely helped me. I will say that, like I need to exercise, like standing up and you know, using either as much as I can throughout the day, that those kind of things really do help me.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

That is so true. I I, you know, I don't usually say something is like you have to do this, but there is so much gold standard research into ADHD and exercise that we can basically say that exercise helps your ADHD. Like it does.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

I I feel like I'm way more organized throughout the day when I exercise, and I I have like better, more focused energy. It's like if I don't start my day off like that, it's like my whole day's off.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

Yeah, 100%. And that's moving. Do you have anything that you any ways you get movement? Like, do you have walking pads and other things you use while you're working?

SPEAKER_00 32:59

I've got a standing desk and I've got I'll show you. Where's my glasses? Yeah, I've got like a skateboard that has a ball on it. Oh, nice. Yeah, it's right here. And it I love it. It's like it's a core balancing thing. It really gives you your background. Yeah, yeah. I use this right here. Oh nice. Yeah, it's awesome. And it's like, I mean, now I can I can roll roll on the thing and everything so that I can stand up this while I'm getting on it. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I don't want to do it when I'm moving on a podcast or whatever because it it can be a little, you know, a little uh irritating, but I love I love it.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Yeah, I always consider it a really good podcast if the guest goes and gets something halfway through.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Like Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I always consider it's a good podcast, or whenever I have an event, it's like if somebody cries, I know it was good.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

No, I love it. So I just got the same three questions I like to ask everybody, which is uh, what is one professional achievement that you are the most proud of?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

I would say like writing my mindset books. So like I write a book called Stop, Snap, and Switch. And I I just finished one called The Thinking Effect. That is, and it that's not a money achievement at all in any way, because you know, they aren't money makers for me, but it's like I'm just so obsessed with the belief in the power of the mind and what you can achieve if you just change your mindset and are aware of what you're thinking and saying to yourself. And I I want to get those in like everybody's in the whole world's hands because I believe in it them so much. So that's my my best business achievement.

SPEAKER_02 34:21

And then on the other side, do you have a professional embarrassmental failure that sticks out to you? And how did you handle that?

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Oh gosh. I mean, how what one? It's like, geez, I think one of the things about being uh somebody who takes action fast, there's a lot of failures, right? So it's like for every two things I did do right, I've done eight, you know, wrong. But the reason why successful people are are successful is because they've they've gotten two done where people while someone else is still thinking about it, even though they got eight wrong. Oh man, one time this is funny. So I was on stage speaking, I was at a Tony Robbins event, and I guess I looked at my friend, I don't remember this, but she I said to her, I'm gonna be on stage one day with Tony Robbins. And so I was asked to speak on Tony and Dean's challenge, you know, like I think there's like 30, 40,000 people online and everything. And I was wearing this really pretty blue jacket, and I was like, Oh, I don't you don't need a bra because I have this jacket on. Well then I didn't realize that I talk a lot, my hands are so I look and I've got like full-on nipple hearted, you know, because because as I'm moving the I'm like, oh my god, like who is how could I have been that dumb? You know, I didn't think I needed to wear a bra because I had the jacket. But you move and talk, you know, full on move everywhere. So that that is definitely the most embarrassing thing that I've ever done. And probably the time I wanted to make the best impression.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Yeah, well, I appreciate you sharing that, especially because I know that you went on to do lots of other things and and yeah, it was it was all good. So if you had to pick a quote for your life, something you like to say often, like what would that be?

SPEAKER_00 35:48

So I always said we'll do it now, like uh money like speed. One of the one of the sayings that I say also people before things and the things will come if you treat people well. Uh before the money, the money will always follow.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

Yeah, gosh, I love that. Well, Krista, it's been amazing talking to you. It's been such a fun conversation. Tell the people where you're at and how they can find you.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Ah, thank you so much, Sky. I've it's it was a great, great, great. You can just look up Krista Mayshore. Obviously, one of my passions is my book Stop, Snap, and Switch. And we have the thinking effect coming up. So if you go to Krista Mayshore.com slash forward slash switch, then we can get you information about our book three downloadable uh information about how to how to use that to and have just the best life ever.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Amazing, amazing, awesome. Well, thanks so much, Krista, and I'm sure everyone's gonna come and find you and find your book.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

Oh, Sky, thank you. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the ADHD Skills Lab. If you liked it, leave us a five star review. It helps other people learn more about us. And thank you so much to our wonderful team for making us sound good, look good, couldn't do it without you.