ADHD a Superpower with Maneesh Sethi

He was told as a boy that he had a disorder called ADHD. Today instead of sharing his business expertise, he has joined us to share his story about how he turned ADHD into Super Power. He learned how to build a team, use his creativity, and start a successful company. Today he enjoys location independence and the opportunity to serve and help thousands of people wake up in the morning, reduce cravings, quit smoking, and defend against distractions.

There are people that are good at executing and getting stuff done and people that are creative and have difficulty getting stuff done are often labeled as mentally Ill and morally bad and that they are suffering from a disorder.

He could magically get stuff done when the deadline came up and wasn’t good at doing it consistently. He ended up suffering from massive imposter syndrome because he was able to get the same results as others that studied on a regular and consistent basis. It made him feel like he was a bad person.

He went to Stanford University and worked in a Habit Lab with Professor BJ Fogg  https://www.bjfogg.com and learned how the brain works to change habits.

He learned there is no typical brain or correct way to be. There is no order and saying ADHD is a disorder doesn’t really make sense. American society puts out factory workers. It is a superpower of being able to be creative. The more focused you are the less creative you are. It’s not that ADHD is a disorder of attention; it is a superpower to be creative and think of better solutions.

Maneesh left college, started a blog, and began to travel the world. He began to do experiments and tried to make himself more productive for a month.

He hired a professional slapper, a person that would slap him each time he began distracted. In less than 4 days he had written 4 months of content.

It worked so well that he wrote an article about it, without realizing the term, “Professional slapper” meant, “prostitute” in England. He ended up going super viral and became hyper-famous for three days and then it stopped.

He met with his team and brainstormed on how they could go viral again. He decided to make a shocking device out of a dog collar and realized that it may be bigger than a blog post. It ended up being the start of his product Pavlock. He realized that it was making a fundamental impact on the way that people do things.

How it works

It rewards you when you do good habits and gives you an electric shock or beeps when you do bad habits.

It is no longer about relying on willpower. You program in your tasks and goals; you receive a vibration when you are doing a good job and beeps or shocks you when you’re not. It only takes days to make changes to behavior. Beliefs follow the action, the action is motivated by external rewards much better.

By creating an environment that reinforces and enforces positive habits, the beliefs, and your own internal mindset naturally change all on their own.

They discovered that negative reinforcement alone doesn’t change in the long term. Positive reinforcement makes lasting change.

They created a points system that allows people to earn points to be rewarded for good behavior. They have a betting pool and every day they fail they lose the money they bet, and they get paid for doing the good habits. An example is getting up early and doing the morning routine.

We talked about how he made the product, the wisdom to ensure that it would be successful and the building of the team to launch it. Tune in to the interview where ever you listen to podcasts.

How has his life changed since his company became successful?

He realized his strengths and built a team to do the things he is not strong at. He gave himself permission to use his strengths, made himself a visionary and leader, and allowed for freedom in his life. Instead of viewing his life as someone living with a disorder, he focused on his superpower.

One of the ways he built success was by bringing his vision into an area that didn’t previously exist. By approaching it a different way he was able to experience success. He referenced the book, Zero to One https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18050143-zero-to-one

He had an opportunity to have Kevin O’Leary on Shark Tank invest ½ of a million dollars into Pavlok and he declined the offer for ethical reasons. 6 years later, Kevin is still making fun of him on his Instagram feed.

Maneesh trusted rich people and advisors in the past and came to realize that he is not dumb. He thinks he was an entrepreneur since he was a kid. The mindset that really grew in the last few years helped him to evolve and realize that he is different from what he used to be.

How Did He Go From Seeing ADHD as a Superpower?

He changed his habits by hiring someone to slap him in the face, then made a product to help others do the same. He said he got lucky, he is an ENTP and his brother is an ENTJ. That letter is about finishing and starting. Maneesh tells us he is a starter, ENTP is the lowest of personality types. He believes it is because most people with that personality type start things and don’t complete them. They need to find a team and integrate their ideas into something real.

Once they implemented his idea, he was able to ratch it up to the next level or layer. People that have a creative mind, he tells us, find a creative partner or assistant that can help you take your idea to the next level.

Fav Book

Antifragile https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13530973-antifragile

Parting Guidance:

If you would like help shifting your habits you can go to Pavlok.com and schedule a free call to get a habit road map to change your life.

Links:

• Website: http://www.pavlok.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msethi
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/maneesh?lang=en

Gina Johnson