Peter Shankman: Writer, Entrepreneur, Head of Shankminds
Peter Shankman, entrepreneur, author, social media strategy expert, and mastermind group organizer, talks of his thoughts and experiences with ADHD, social media, work, and more. With a busy lifestyle to match his ADHD, Peter shows how working with his ADHD has not just changed, but improved his work and life, while speaking of strategies that have worked best for him.
About Peter Shankman:
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Peter is an entrepreneur and social media strategy expert.
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He organizes and runs Shankminds, a worldwide mastermind series.
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Peter recently released his fourth book, entitled Zombie Loyalists, which discusses how businesses providing great service can also create great fan-bases.
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Amongst other endeavors, he founded HARO (“Help a Reporter Out”), which helps connect experts with press and reporters.
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Peter is a father to
ADHD’s Influence and Impact:
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For many years, Peter knew he had some sort of disorder, but just didn’t have a name for it.
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In developing strategies and methods to handle his ADHD, he asked himself how he could make his condition beneficial or useful for himself and others.
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For Peter, the concept of “down-time” doesn’t really exist. When he has extra time, he tries to fill it in by asking himself what he can accomplish.
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When working in Las Vegas, Peter’s contracts will mention that he won’t have to be on the ground, from his plane landing to taking off again, for more than twelve hours.
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“Vegas is a very dangerous place for me. At any given point, we’re all just one step away from humility.”
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If you’re aware of yourself and what your pitfalls and triggers are, you can avoid them.
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“I don’t see ADHD as a disease or as a limitation. You know, I’d much rather have a faster car than a slower car as long as I know how to handle the car.”
Strategies:
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If one spends most of their life with a negative self-image, it doesn’t just go away as success comes. Dealing with that negative self-image has been one of Peter’s largest hurdles.
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Peter read the book Driven to Distraction and found it provided both a nice source of top and tricks as well as a way for Peter to know that there was someone else out there dealing with the same issue he was.
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In terms of fitness, Peter has completed several ironman triathlons and more than twenty marathons. Though he doesn’t enter these competitions with the intent to win them, he does find that their intense demands – fifteen hours of swimming, biking, and running – will really teach you how to focus.
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Any information you can program, have presented in front of you, or add to a calendar of some sort, to inform you of what you need to do and how you need to do it, will be very beneficial to one with ADHD.
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For Peter, waking up very early and working first-thing in the morning helps him be his most productive.
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After his business began to really take off, he realized he needed to hire an assistant.
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His wakeup call to hire the assistant was mistakenly buying a ticket to Shanghai when he had meant to go to Singapore.
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Later, after scheduling two different dinners for the same night on different continents, Peter’s assistant asked him to hand over all control of his calendar to her, which he feels was a smart decision.
Peter’s Book, Zombie Loyalists: Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans:
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The book is about the ability businesses have to create love and fandom from their audiences and customers.
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If a business really does great things, goes above and beyond, and does the unexpected, they can, in return, receive tremendous value when their customers end up spreading the word about how great that company is.
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Peter writes all his books, and feels at his most productive, while on airplanes.
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Peter wrote his last three books while on planes. He’ll book flights to locations in Asia just to write books. On the flight over, he will write the first half of the book, clean up at the airport lounge for two hours or so, and take the same plane back to finish writing the book.
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Eric: Work doesn’t have to be hard and uncomfortable; the work you’re naturally talented at or like to do is what you need to do more of.
Other Topics:
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Being a dad with ADHD, you make certain rules for yourself: I will not be on my cell phone, I will not be working while my daughter is around me. With those rules, my focus can stay on my child.
Products and Services Mentioned:
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Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey
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Zombie Loyalists: Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans by Peter Shankman
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FollowUpThen: Sends an email to you at a scheduled time; it can be used as a reminder system.
Random Question Round:
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What invention would make the world a better place?
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If you could go anywhere in the universe, where would you go?
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If you found intelligent life on another planet, what would be your message to them?
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What is your preferred pizza topping?
Find and Contact Peter Shankman:
Other information:
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Help CHADD, an ADHD organization dedicated to improving the lives of those with ADHD through useful research and support, by donating to their fundraising campaign here: gofundme.com/oneof15m.
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Visit erictivers.com/audible for Carolyn D’Argenio’s list of her top Audible.com audio-book picks, complete with preview links.
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Connect with people virtually using Eric’s favorite video conferencing and connectivity platform, Zoom, by visiting erictivers.com/zoom – the basic service is totally free.
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If you want you hear your question or comment on a future episode, go to erictivers.com/adhdrewired and look for the comment form, or click on the yellow button for either “Be a Guest” or “Record your question”.
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Are you looking for a coach? You can schedule a free 20-minute consultation with Eric. Go to erictivers.com and click the blue “Schedule an Appointment” button
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Northern Illinois chapter of CHADD
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Third Monday of every month at 6:45 PM
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Grayslake, Illinois
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(CHADD does not endorse this podcast)
