Changing the Game for Entrepreneurs with Dyslexia | Dr. Phyllis Books

Whether you're the boss or you're talking to yourself or you're talking to your kids, how you view the thing is like, there's nothing to be fixed because there's nothing wrong with you.

Our guest today has numerous college degrees, tons of certifications, and awards for her innovative breakthroughs in dyslexia and ADHD. For 30 years, she specialized in helping kids change the trajectory of their lives by removing obstacles from learning. For the last 10 years, she's been focused on entrepreneurs with dyslexia and ADHD. She calls herself the brain changer for game changers. Welcome to the show, Dr. Phyllis Books.

Thank you so much for having me. Delighted.

Yeah, very excited. I mean, I'm fascinated by the work that you do. Though I don't have a formalized diagnosis, I suspect I would be the individual in the category that you would most likely serve. And being a member of Strategic Coach, being someone who's Colby certified, I find there tends to be a trend almost to some degree with a lot of high performing entrepreneurs that maybe don't fit in the box. And I would imagine something must have led you into this work. And was it the feeling of maybe not fitting into a box yourself at some point in time in your life?

Good question. Well, first of all, 35% of entrepreneurs are dyslexic and 70% are ADHD. So you are all out of the box thinkers. And I grew up in rural Wisconsin where there wasn't a box to fit in or out of. But I grew up with, yes, with not. Not being so understood. And I always say I'm the living proof. I believe I'm the proof that there's hope, because whether it's dyslexia or adhd, whatever it is, I'm the living proof that change is possible. And if I made it through, so can you. And the fact is, because I made it through some pretty rough times, some pretty horrific childhood incidents like. And if I made it, I have great hope. And I. And I know deep in my heart that you can make it to the other side too. You just have to want to and be willing to. And be willing to do what it takes.

Amazing. And when did you start to realize that that possibility existed for yourself? Did it start to show up for you at an early age as you were going through challenges that you could almost manifest and create the life that you wanted by, you know, even being someone who was maybe a little bit different than those around you?

You know, I was one of those people that was very difficult to diagnose because I was a smart little kid, and, you know, you can work your way around things and you don't even know you're doing workarounds. You just do things and you have no idea why you did it or how you did it. And so it took a long time for anybody to figure out that I had any issues because I could cover them up really well eventually, as you know, with most entrepreneurs that I find is you can cover up and you can do what you do really well, but you do it at the expense of other parts of you. And eventually the other parts, like wear out and get tired, and those parts don't work very well. So I had a lot. I had a lot of allergies as a kid. Nobody knew they were allergies. I just had strep throat a couple of times a year. And, you know, nobody put the puzzle pieces together because I've been around the block for seven decades now. So there were a lot of things we just didn't know. And so.

Yeah, well, that's very interesting. And especially what you identify about, what you recognize in entrepreneurs. And how did your work begin with a focus on helping kids, because you spent a huge component of your life's work there, and you've kind of transitioned to, we'll call them the big kids, I guess the entrepreneur club.

The big kids. The big kids. I never had any intention of being a doctor. I never had any intention of working with dyslexia. People didn't even know what it was 30 years ago. However, my father was probably dyslexic. He used to say, I read a book once, and my first husband, who was a college professor one day said, I think he means that because from, you know, for my. For my professor husband, reading was like what you did all the time. That. The fact that my dad read one book once was just a world he didn't understand. So I grew up with him. He was in sales, but. Which is a very good place for people with dyslexia in adhd. He was really good with people, but he would call me from his office, hey, Paulie, how do you spell blah, blah, blah, hey, Paulie, how do you do this? Because he knew. He didn't know the answer, but he didn't know what it was. And he. And there was no place to turn. So I grew up around people with dyslexic traits. But, you know, and I saw the pros and the cons. I mean, there are a lot of con. There are a lot of pros. I Mean, you think outside the box. When other people are giving up, you're just revving up because you don't expect things necessarily to come easy because you don't learn the way other people learn. And so when other people are tired, like, you're going, oh, yeah, well, I know it's not this, and I know it's not this. So now I'm ready to settle down. And so it gives you a really good grit and ability to hang in there when other people have given up. You know, the smart kids, the ones who got it easy, give up a lot easier, too, because they never had to work so hard for something. So you get an incredible. You can get an incredible work ethic with dyslexia and adhd.

Wow, Very interesting. And so obviously, you know, you've been able to discover this over the years, but it sounds like you were very observant to it. You started to see almost like patterns to some degree in the people around you.

Well, so the joke is really, you know, God is such a comedian sometimes. He. I was on the plane on the way to Spain. I was engaged to a Wall street attorney getting ready to live the good life. And this male voice out of the left side of nowhere says, so, aren't you a chiropractor? And it was like, you know, that made zero sense to me. I never consciously considered it in my life. And yet there was no human being that said that to me. And I. And I got on my yellow pen, I wrote down all the reasons it actually fit, because I'd been doing financial planning and estate work. And so I understood a lot how people outright. But I. I never. I never thought about. I never thought about going into healthcare. It was not my paradigm at all. I didn't want to be a doctor as a kid. I didn't want to be a nurse as a kid. So this meshes this. And so, you know, eventually it's easier to do what you're told when the big guy's talking. And so it meant that I had to go back to school. I mean, I had to go. So then I had to go back to school. And I already had a master's degree, but it wasn't in anything to do with science. And so I had to go back and I had to learn a whole different way of learning and a whole. And I couldn't. You know, the thing was, I couldn't explain to anybody why I was doing it. I mean, it didn't make any sense to me. And yet it's one of those Things you can't not do. And then when I started learning the chemistry and what was going on, it was actually my master's degree in communication. That was my toggle, because I had this degree in communication. And so I would be working with somebody from Pillsbury or AT&T, and they would have that same quizzical look in their face, some of them, as the kids did in the classroom. Like, you knew darn well whatever you were talking about was not getting through 98% of the people. Yes. But there's always a couple that just like. And I'm going wonder why? Why are they not getting it? And so I had all these very sophisticated verbal strategies. But what I learned was that wasn't where the problem was. And so. But. But I had. But I had to go, if I just been a chiropractor, I never would have seen it. If I just been a teacher, I never would have seen it. I had to. And look at, like, what system isn't working? Like, what. Why isn't Johnny. Why. Why are they not getting it? And is it a problem in the brain, or is it a problem in the immune system, or is it in the musculoskeletal system? The problem was that where. Where everybody thought it was is not where it was. And so when I could come back and look at it from a very different perspective, the answer became very obvious. Is just not obvious to most people because you have to think outside the box to come up with a solution like this. And most people are much more comfortable in their boxes. And big institutions like education and medicine do not like to be messed with. They want you in their paradigm. Even though it may not work, they would rather have you stay there. So that's another thing about being an entrepreneur. You gotta have kind of tough skin because you know you're gonna go up against opposition. And you have to be tough enough to just weather the storm and believe in it enough to do it anyway. And that's. That's what I've done.

Amazing. That's absolutely incredible. And it sounds like. I mean, it's been a pretty incredible journey. I would imagine there's been a number of challenges facing. Let's call it. We'll use air quotes for conventional wisdom.

Yes. Central dogma.

Doing things unconventionally, against the grain, going against the grain. And, you know, I'm curious, where did you start to begin to see traction as you went down that road? Because I'd imagine there was some heads smashing against the wall experiences and trying to communicate to people how you would be able to help and serve them in the way that you realized it was possible.

Yeah, you know, it's still an issue because people still. Even I've been doing it 20 or 30 years, and people still go, but that's not possible. And I'm going, it just happened. Just look, what happened is. And you know, Albert Einstein, who was such an innovator when it came to quantum physics, he said, I know it's there. I know all the facts are there. I just don't want to believe it. And that's true with a lot of people. When they get. They get a belief system or they get a way of looking at something, they don't really want to change it, even though it could help them. I had a lady who's. She worked. She was a stuntman in Hollywood, and her son came in and so the. All the kids were, you know, all of his classmates were. Were sons and daughters of actors and actresses. And the mom came back and she said, look, look, we got. There's a solution. Your kid doesn't have to be dyslexic. Like, well, could happen to my son. And they went, no, it's okay. We'll just keep going to this school. They had three or four kids and the tuition was like 50,000 a year. It's like, it's okay. We'll just keep doing what we're doing. It was like, there's a solution right there. But that doesn't mean people will do it. So, you know, my biggest frustration is still just getting people to open their belief system to that change is possible. And, you know, I understand because people have been disappointed a lot when you've been told you're dyslexic or you're getting, well, punished in school because you're not sitting still and it looks like you're not listening, but you really are. And you get all these things as eventually you just go, that's the way it is. And I'm going to figure out how to make this work within this system. And then I say, just a minute. The system can change. You go, oh, no, no, no, no. I don't think I can handle another change. So the change comes from the system. It also comes from people who've just been beaten down or worn down or just don't want to get their hopes up anymore. They just don't want to be disappointed again.

Yeah, I can see that. Absolutely. Well, and I'm excited to talk more about this when we come back after this commercial break. Are you looking for a Great book to read. Turns out I have one for you. It's called Cash Follows the Leader. It's available anywhere books are sold, but if you want to get a free copy and you can download it right to your inbox, you can go to coachcanfield.com cash follows we are here talking with Dr. Brooks all about her incredible journey of helping people with a variety of symptoms around adhd, dyslexia, what she's learned over the timeframe from her observations. And you know, thinking about it, it's very interesting. You know, it's a very popular topic and maybe there's some degree of that where as an example, social media, I call it the Tic Tacs, people would call it the TikToks, but there's channels dedicated to adult onset or people as adults finally realizing or getting their adult diagnosis and these kind of things and how it appears differently in people and so on. And so there's a degree of the media allowing more information to be shared about these topics that might be expanding its prevalence. But it seems to me that, you know, reflecting on my own life, this is something that didn't exist to now. It's something that exists to now. It's something that is ever present almost everywhere you go. If you have kids, you have parents, you're in the school system, you see these things on a regular basis. So how do we go from a non existent type of a diagnosis situation to now? Everyone's talking about it all the time.

Well, yes. When I started doing this work back in the 80s, people didn't even know what dyslexia was. They couldn't spell it. A lot of them still can't pronounce it.

I still can't spell it.

Yes, well, and it is pronounced very interestingly by a lot of people as well because it is kind of a tongue twister. But yeah.

So there's some kind of a cruel joke in that though, isn't there? That?

Oh, there's totally. There's dyslexia with it. There's so many twists that go on inside the central nervous system that shows up as twisted words and twisted thoughts and twisted things. It all comes from deep inside. But yes, it used to be. We know when I started out I had a M.A. my master's degree was in communication and I understood marketing. So it's like I knew I had to do something where I had to a niche where I couldn't do the same thing as everybody else. And dyslexia was new. It was, it was this, it was A neurological, I mean it was a neurological, it was a brain based condition. We didn't know very much about the brain or neuroscience either. And so I was just like I was way back in the beginning on the neuroscience end of it. But so first people didn't know what it was. Then I lived in Europe for a few years and I taught around Europe and ADHD was almost non existent in Europe. Non existent until the last 10 years. Very interesting, especially in Germany now because I have friends over there and they'll go now because the drug companies have gotten involved. And so now it's much more diagnosed and much more treated. But for many years it didn't exist. And in France there's like hardly any. But you look at their diet, it's very different from an American or Canadian diet too. So there are a lot of factors that come into that. But the other thing that's different is it's only in the last few years, like with social media that some of the stigma is gone so that people dare talk. It used to be that people didn't even want to admit that they couldn't read because people make this ridiculous assumption like if you're a slow reader, that you're slow mentally, which isn't true at all. It just means there's a little problem with the words. But the word dyslexia itself is also a bad joke because the root word of dyslexia, which means words, but words are just one place it shows up. You can be not very coordinated, you cannot multitask, you can confuse right and left, you can do a lot of things which are all very part of dyslexia. But, but the standard way of looking at it is only with words. So anyhow, so there was a big stigma attached with nobody wanted to look stupid. You get asked in front of reading, in front of the class and they by seventh grade the kid will say just give me an F rather than be humiliated one more time to do the same thing you couldn't do before, but now, you know, with social media or just whatever. It's not that it's in to be adhd, but it's socially acceptable. It doesn't mean you're a bad kid. It just means you're pretty smart and you're pretty clever and you're, don't expect you to sit still. But it, but it's not, it's not a bad thing anymore. It's just this is, you know, part of who I am. So I think the stigma, the social stigma has been a Big part of, and that's social media. Just making sure that, well, the people know about it. People still don't really know where to go for help. Yeah, yeah, they'll talk about it now and they'll use it as their excuse now. Sometimes it becomes a crutch. Oh, that's my adhd. But you can't expect me to do that. That's not how I'm wired.

Yes, yeah. Using it as a way to get out of work or minimize challenges and stuff, I do see a trend of that happening. And so it's interesting, as you're sharing this, I'm reflecting back on coping mechanisms like you mentioned, the shortcuts. The brain's going to create shortcuts for you. And you know, I can think of many of those just in my own life. As an example, I'm a recovering electrician by trade. And so when I would have to go into school work and do the practical aspect of doing the education to pass an exam so that I could go back and go back and do the fun stuff, which was using my tools, you know, we had electrical code class and code is basically reading like a legal document effectively on how you need to do things around electrical code. And so I would go, I would leave the classroom and I would go and do push ups or inverted things in the hallway so I wouldn't disturb the people around me, but to create the energy that I needed to make it through the class. And I realized, reflecting back, I did that sort of things all the way through any type of school. And even today when I go to a lot of live events, a lot of great events, I love to be educated. I'm a constant learner. But if I go to a large conference, there's some people who want to go sit at the front. I always want to be at the back. But the reason I choose to be at the back is because I know I'm going to get up and move around. I have to be in an end seat so that I don't have to run past a whole bunch of people to disturb their learning process. Because I know I'm going to need to move. And I try to make it show that I have one, one leg can be bouncing the whole time, you know, so. So I'm always creating an environment that allows me to succeed.

Yes, I, I know. And I'm one of those people too. Like I always sit in the back of the room because I also have to move around. It's how my brain stays awake sometimes. If you make me Sit still. Like I'm going to zone out, but if I can be moving, I can take in the information. So, yes, I understand that. I had a guy who was an entrepreneur and who, he was a terrible reader, good athlete. But he came in to see me. A lot of people fly in and they spend a week and I work on, off and on during the week. And by the end of the week, he said, I've never been so tired in my life. He's like, I'm just lying on the table. I'm not doing anything. But I'm so tired because I'm going into the really old parts of his brain and I'm just working, working, working. But when we finish, he said, his wife said, well, I can tell the difference. When we go to a conference, he, he, he actually listens. I mean, he can sit still for a few hours and actually pay attention. Now, you know, sometimes it takes a wife or your people you're working with to notice some of the things because, you know, you don't notice, but other people do. It's like for her, it was really, you know, it was a blessing. It meant because they were in a, you know, they started their own business and they did, they had to do a lot of shows. And, you know, he, he wasn't always helpful in the past, but he said too, he, he like triple or quadruple is income the next year after he and I work together. Wow, that's pretty cool.

Yeah, that sounds fantastic. I mean, who wouldn't want that?

Bottom line counts. Yeah.

Yeah. Amazing. Well, and I'm curious with what you've seen develop over the years now that, like you say, the stigma is removed. And I really appreciate how you said that. That makes a ton of sense to me. You know, the prevalence of it, hearing about it more frequently, it's becoming more, I guess, acceptable to share these ideas. You know, you've delved into moving to work with entrepreneurs versus shifting from doing, you know, the kids type work. There must be a reason for that. What, what called you to go that direction?

Oh, I'm glad you asked because I love, I've loved working with kids because when you get a little kid before the age of eight or nine, before they've made this big decision about who they are and you know, about age 9 or 10, kids make, they go, that's who I. And they make this internal decision that I'm going to be a slow learner, I'm not going to do this or that. So if I can get in before then, or even you know, much later too is like they can, you can flip that. So their self image is much more intact when they're, when I work with them as teenagers, you know, we work a lot. Mostly what I care about is self esteem because you gotta believe in yourself. If you do, you can, you can run, you can move mountains, but if you don't believe in yourself, you could be the smartest kid in the world and you're not gonna do anything about it. But so anyhow. So I loved working with kids, but I started working with more. And I don't know how I got with entrepreneurs, but I love. It's my new, it's my new playing field because you guys are the game changers. There wasn't. You are already think outside the box. You've made it through, you've already been successful, you've already made through a lot of rules. You know what you're skills. But you also know things could be a little better. You know, like you most. For a lot of entrepreneurs I work with what one of the reasons they come to me is because they're, they can't keep going at the same pace they did at 40 or 50. They'll go, you know, I'm losing my edge. Or at 50, it's like my brain's not as sharp as it was. Or I have 40 year olds who have other health challenges. And I've got one guy who was a CEO, he said I had to give up. I had to turn the CEO to my company over to somebody else because I have to be CEO of my health this year. Because he couldn't get out of bed in the morning because he'd pushed for so long, for so hard. And you know, a lot of my entrepreneurs were athletes and they're used to just push. They're just pushing through. They know like everybody else can quit, but if I just knuckle in there and stay in the game, I'll come out okay. And you do for a long time, but eventually your body takes the toll and eventually your adrenals are shot. I've had, you know, I love Dan Sullivan and I, yeah. And I worked with a lot of his people and they'll, and I'll. Look at their nutrition. I'll go, man, you can't keep this up. Like you're running on empty. And they'll go, I can't drink any more coffee. I, I know I'm running on empty. And I go, you, you know, you're, I don't know how long you've been doing this, but you're just about out of steam. And, and they agree. So I like to be, because I, you know, because I, I can do the neurological part, but I can also look at the nutrition in the brain to come in and really help them, how to feed the brain and how to come in and get that better. But when I can get them back, the one thing that most entrepreneurs say is like, just don't kill my creativity. No, that's my strong suit. Just don't get. Because I say like if there are eight octaves on the piano and right now you've got three of them, you're playing real strong. But there's like five that you could be playing well if you didn't have these obstacles in the way. So let's just open them up so that you have a bigger, bigger range of skill sets and which people really like. You know, that's that. So that opens them up. But what happens is when we take so much extra pressure off of the brain because the brain has worked so hard and you're, you're overcompensating in a lot of things. And so when you, when, when the brain is so relieved like it usually people get more creative, they actually end up starting another company or two or three because their brain is working so much more efficiently.

Fascinating.

So that's, that's fun. Why would I not want to be part of that? And you know, like one of my guys said, you know, if you help me, you help my 3,500 employees. So if so I'm working on one person. But I'm not starting at the bottom of the ladder, I'm starting at the top of the ladder. And so that what I'm doing then has a much more far reaching effect on society.

Well, we're going to continue that far reaching effect when we come back after this quick break. There's certain moments in our life where we know that things are going to change. That happened to me in August of 2009. My life completely and totally changed forever for the better. I learned about this incredible concept called the infinite banking concept. Becoming your own banker. It was created by R. Nelson Nash. Nelson became my friend and my mentor. I loved him dearly. I now have the blessed life of being able to teach his incredible message, his incredible concept to the people I love to serve. You can learn all about it by registering for a free webinar@learnibc.com Go ahead, take the initiative. Start your learning journey.

Now.

We are back with Dr. Books talking about her incredible work and you know, I'm curious, as we think through people who, you know, they're learning again, they're learning about whether it's through social media, the news, a relative, a friend, someone that's got a diagnosis of adhd, some people maybe have a desire that they want to fix this thing within them or that it, or that it could or should be fixed. And, and maybe that isn't necessarily the case. So I'm curious what your thoughts are on that and how, how you would, I guess, take that conversation from someone who brought that to you. How would you expand upon it?

Well, that's a, that's a really good question. And a big one. And a big one, because when, for the years that I worked with children, you know, I would say, I would take the parents of aside and say, I'll only work with your child if you're willing to see them in a new light. You have to be able to look for differences and not. You can't use your old eyes and see them the same way they've always done, because then they're going to fall back to what. Because what. That's what you expect of them. So our expectations as adults are really important for how in the teacher, what effect the teacher has on a child when the, you know, there was a study done, oh, probably 40 or 50 years ago where the. They, on purpose, they told one teacher that the IQs of the children were very high, but they weren't. They were just normal kids. And another teacher, they said just the opposite. These kids are, they were very, they were very, they were very, very smart. But they, they were told they were just in the normal classroom at the end of the year, the kids exactly lived up to the teacher's expectations. And so you know, what we, what. Whether you're the boss or, or you're talking to yourself or you're talking to your kids, how you view the thing is, like, is nothing. There's nothing to be fixed because there's nothing wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with you. There's. We, we all, you know, are like snowflakes. We have these places where we sparkle and there are places where we're not so hot and nobody's good in all of them. But to find out where you're really good, which is like, if you've done the Colby index or something, you find out, or the strength finder, you find out. These are my superpowers. This is what I do. Well, these are not. Doesn't mean that I have to fix them. It means they're not my strong suit, but I have other things that people who are not so good at this area, they're good at something I'm not. They're not good at something I'm good at. So I think it. It behooves us to really know ourselves and to accept. We have to accept ourselves. When I'm working on people, because I've been through. I've been through hell and back in my own life, and a lot. And a lot of abuse and a lot of other stuff, and. But because I came through it, it's like when. When we're working, like my heart is saying to your heart, listen, kid or guy, I know you've got what it takes. All I, you know, I just love them through it. And so you just see you. What is not nothing that you say, it's. It's this total acceptance of who they are and who you know they could be that you. They don't know who they can be yet. And sometimes you don't know either, but you just hold out for them that something really special is in there. So there's nothing about fixing, but it is about allowing.

I can see that I was having a conversation with someone just the other day, actually might have been right after we finished a recording, and they had their Colby, and they were a nine initiating fact finder on the Colby index. I'm like, wow, that's. That's a pretty high fact finder. That sounds very interesting. And she'd indicated, you know, I'm not sure if my Colby's right. I've had some people tell me I should do it again. Well, I said, well, do you mind if I ask you a few questions? So we went through a bit of a questioning process, and. And it turns out she. She agreed that, yes, it is all correct and based on everything that we went through. But I had her do the exercise of writing her name, signing her name with her dominant hand, and then I said, okay, here's the fun part. Now I need you to switch hands and do it all over again. And. And we did it on a zoom call, so I couldn't see the piece of paper, but the, The. The noticeable look of physical frustration on her face. And, And, And. And the. And the whole physical demeanor was a complete change. And it took her about three times as long to do it. And she was laughing, but it was almost like a nervous laughter because, you know, we have that, like, it's an uncomfortable feeling. And it was such a really good experience for her. And we had A great conversation about it. So if anyone's watching, if you haven't done that, write your name with your dominant hand, take a pause, take a break, and then on the same piece of paper, switch hands and do it the other way and notice how you feel. That's the impact of working against your natural instincts.

That's a real good example.

And it's a visceral physical reaction as well as a mental one. And so if you think about that, and I think about people with add, adhd, these types of things, and, and so they often, and it's not always the case, but often there's physical connection or response to things, and I think that they feel things often in a very different way physically than other people do. And so I think if people are able to identify at an earlier age what their Colbia index is, which is not about personality but about instinct, and if you know what that instinct level is, it allows you to, for lack of a better term, I'll say, double down on what already works.

Yeah, yeah. And I'll say, you know, with people, a lot of times, if they're really, really good at math, they may or may not be good at spelling or something else, but I say you don't have to be brilliant at it. You just have to be good enough to get by. So, like, if doesn't mean that you have to really play all the octaves of the piano. You just have to know if your math is not your strong suit. You just have to know you're not going to get shortchanged when you go to. When you get your change back. You have to know, like, basic concepts and stuff. So, you know, and there's a Colby for kids too, isn't there?

There is. There's a Colby youth. They recommend doing it at around age 10, as, as the earliest, but, you know, hugely advantageous. There is some reading comprehension and stuff necessary to take it. And you get the same color bars, but they don't put the numbers on them, so it doesn't look like a score, because people see numbers and they relate it to a score, and so they just use the color bars, which is really smart. And I know for myself, I've thought frequently about this, which is one of the reasons I chose to go become Colby certified as a consultant, is, you know, in 2013, when I, when I got the Colby Index for myself personally, it was a real revolution for me. And it finally put words. It put, it put words to explain the things that I already knew to be true and the way that I created. We talked about those shortcuts that you develop over time. I had done those, but this helped me understand them. And I'll tell you, one of the key things, and you may resonate with this doctor Books, is that I was always told throughout my life at various stages that you shouldn't multitask, multitasking. You need to focus on one thing at one time. And I'm like, okay, well, that makes sense, sure. But I never was able to do that fundamentally. And the Colby Index, for me was the first time it said, you're designed to multitask. You should be doing that. I'm like, oh, really?

Wow.

That. That. That makes sense. And. And one of the things I always come back to for myself, you know, my. My colby index is a 3, 386. So I have a. The. The final bar is about implementers of physical space and tangible world. So I. I'm a very physically engaged individual. I like tools. I own a lot of them. And. And I. It said that one of the things that I should start my day with is a not doing list versus a to doing list.

Oh, interesting.

And that made such immediate sense to me that I couldn't even describe it to another human being, how important that one thing was. I'm like, well, that's perfect. That's exactly what I need. And I had this conversation with someone else recently who. Theirs would indicate that they need to start their day zoning in on their absolute top priorities. The reason those things are different is because the way we solve problems is different.

Those are great examples. My son, there's a disc, which is another profile, and my son is a multitasker, too, and actually, it would drive me crazy. He loves having, like, seven different really complex tape problems on the table. He just shines. It would drive me nuts, but that's where he's most comfortable. Yeah. So it's good to know. It's good to know your strengths, and it's good, you know, to know the strengths of the people that you're working with so that you bring out the best in each other instead of harassing each other.

Yeah. And I think that goes to hand in hand to something you mentioned earlier. You talked about expectations and having a clarity on those expectations and being able to make sure that we're not oversetting them necessarily. And it's easy to have too much expectation of another relative to what your own bar is. And I think that's where we start to see, especially in young kids, there's a striving that happens, and Sometimes they're striving again now against their. They're striving at someone else's bar, not their own bar.

You know, I don't want to stereotype, however, you know, dyslexia is much, much more common in boys than girls. It's not. Is both places. But one of the biggest problems I have is with daddy, who also had it, and he says the same mean things to his son that the teacher said to him. Totally counterproductive, but because he has not, he's not owned, or he transfers that. That pain onto his son instead of healing his own issues.

I can see that. Very interesting. I'm glad you. I'm glad you shared that. And I think that's a great lesson for our listeners to, again, maybe they know someone and that. That's been their experience. You know, I know growing up, it wasn't common to hear much about dyslexia. I can't think of any particular, you know, kid that I had that. I knew that had that. But, you know, in, in, in retrospect, I probably think, you know, maybe there's a degree of which to which I've, I've had it and I just never noticed before, and maybe it manifested a little bit differently. And so I'm really aware that, you know, we're always constantly sharpening the saw and whittling away at the stick. That's carving us into the best version of ourselves.

I like the way you say that. I like that. Yeah, we are being constantly whittled and we can go willingly and something. But there's a great masterpiece in there. Just, you know, whittle away until you get down to the really, like Michelangelo. You carve away everything that wasn't David. And then David's in there.

Yeah. Absolutely incredible.

Yeah. You can't give up on David, even though he's not pretty obvious. Especially when you're working with kids or an employee who is just difficult and you go, I know there's a David in there somewhere.

Well, we're going to carve away at more of that when we come back from this next commercial brand. Okay, Richard, I keep hearing about this thing called the Colby A Index. You talk about it all the time on the show. What is it? How do I get information about this thing and why is it so important? When I first got my Colby done, it totally revolutionized everything for me. I finally felt like, oh, man, this is what I was looking for. All the things I'd been doing that have been working for me and all the frustrations I'd had if I just understood this, this at an earlier age, boy, oh boy, would my life be different. You can take that step. If you want to learn and understand how it can change things for you and the way you communicate with others, you can go to coachcanfield.com and download your free report. So where exactly are we finding unique ways and innovation around support, supporting the individuals, both the families, the children and the entrepreneurs, which is where we spend a lot of our time talking about and certainly the focus of your new work. What are the things and support mechanisms that are available or you see developing in the areas of dyslexia, adhd, how they can be supported? I would imagine there's some nervous system work that's involved there. So I'm curious, you know, what do you see as the future unfolds, how we can assist people more in this space?

Sure. Well, of course, AI is going to be an asset if it's used well, because you can just ask, you can just ask ChatGPT or whatever questions and they may or may not be totally truthful, but it'll help get you off dead center, gets you started on a path. And so one of my. I have a patient. Well, he was, he was 54 when he flew over from England to see me. He, I, my first book was 165 pages and he read it sentence by sentence on his computer, but it was the first book he ever finished. And I went, really? You did that? One sentence at a time? And he said, yes. And I, when I was reading it was like, oh, she must be dyslexic because she really understands me. And then the next sentence was, well, she probably couldn't be dyslexic or she wouldn't have written the book. But, but now that, now that we're finished with it, he's we. So this is like five or ten years ago and now, but we still are on the phone. And he said, listen, I have to teach you about AI because you need to, because he's. For him, it was God said now, since we worked, he's read 400 books and he's read them sometimes twice.

Wow.

And now he has Ms. And he says, I can't tell you how grateful I am that I can read because my body does not cooperate with me, but my brain works and I can still read. And so he's eternally grateful for all of that. But. And he said once, once you worked on me. He said, I under. Once I understood that dyslexia, he said, it's really like a brain synchronization and processing issue. It wasn't that I was slow, it was, it's just my, I wasn't synchronized and why don't you took care of that like in three days. I was just reading. And so he said it just, it just changed everything in his life when he had that available to him. So now he says now. But now he was now he said now let me help you. Let me help you with AI Let me teach you how to ask the questions because I'm working on another book right now. And he said, let me show you how, how this can help you write your book faster and this can help you organize it and this can help you with that. And so of course AI is, is going to be there. But for, you know, biohacking is another, a new modern thing. You know, David Asbury started it, but you know, it's Ben Green. There are lots of people doing. Dan Sullivan is pretty good with all his biohacking.

I saw an X ray of Dan's or an MRI scan of Dan's regrown.

Cartilage in his knee, which is they say doesn't happen. That's awesome.

Absolutely phenomenal. That was unbelievable to see.

And so that biohacking, that same principle applies with our brain. I mean, the biohacking is like, what do you do to keep your body from aging or how do you get it younger? Well, you do that with your brain as well. And you do that with your brain by, you know, whether it's doing wordle and crossword puzzles or it's doing cross, you know, doing new sports that cross the midline. Any, any game that's got a net in it is good for keeping your brain and keeping your eyes working well. And so there are lots of things in the health world that will that really apply to entrepreneurs to make them be sharp longer. So biohacking and then you know, to be in a good relationship is a good thing and to get along with people is a good thing. But really in treating your body like it's your best friend because you, you know, if you, if you really understood, like your body loves you so much, it does so much stuff for you without ever knocking your door and say, listen buddy, you're over taxing this. It just goes in there and it keeps helping you. When you realize how much work it's doing on your behalf, if you would treat it like your best friend or your little kid, you would be so much nicer to yourself. And actually, now that I'm getting Older and I'm learning to slow down just a little. Not much, but a little. It's like I didn't even know there was a medium speed. For most of my entrepreneurs. There's fast and there's stock, but modulating in between there not very easy for us. So. But I'm thinking, you know, it's not such a bad place. You can do a lot of reflecting and a lot of observing and you get a lot done. When it looks like you're doing nothing, that's actually a very productive time. So looking at the world differently so you know, for growth. So AI is one thing, biohacking is another. Standing back and reflecting and giving yourself some quiet time is actually very productive in the long run. And looking at your kids without judgment, looking at your kids like, who is this wonderful person inside? How do I bring out the best in them? And the same thing with your employees. What's their real skill? How do I be honest with them? Build them up and don't cut their wings. You know, you don't want, you don't want to ever do that because you don't know. You don't know what, what's really that's in there, hiding, waiting to come forth.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I love that, you know, the entrepreneur time system with Strategic Coach is really focused on free days and the need to have those 24 hour periods disconnected from anything work related. Yeah, yeah. I can confess that I'm like, say I'm slow, but I'm worth waiting for. So, uh, yeah, yeah, I, I've, I've developed my free days, but I, I don't, I'm not scheduling enough of them as I would like to have. But that's, I'm a work in progress.

And I know free days are so.

Wonderful, but I do recognize that you know, you know Dan Sullivan and also my mentor, Nelson Nash Nelson, his fifth rule was you got to rethink your thinking or ruminate. And Dan Sullivan, very much the same. And are you challenging the way that you're thinking? Are you thinking about things the same as you've always thought about them, or are you thinking about them with a new set of thinking that you haven't considered yet? So those types of questions I find very powerful. And you need to have presence of mind to do that. You can only create the presence of mind when you take a moment to stop and you're not distracted by all the other things and the bells and whistles or the little pieces of technology, the miniature computers that are available to us and so, but when you do have that moment of time, and for a lot of people, that's why they get our ideas in the shower, or they get their ideas because they're disconnected from everything else.

Yeah, it's exactly when it happens.

And so it's amazing how just a few moments of space can create such a incredible potential that has yet to come into being. Because everything that exists in the planet was created, but it was first envisioned in someone's mind.

Yeah. But there had to be space in the mind for it to come.

And I think that's where the uniqueness of the entrepreneur community exists and why I so love being around an environment of people who are thinking at that type of level. And they're always wondering. There's a book called the Obstacle is the Way. And they're excited about the obstacle because without the obstacle, there's no solution that can be invented on the other side of it. There's no product or service that can be created. There's no new business idea that exists without that obstacle.

Yeah. Yeah. I call it our diamonds and our pearls. The obstacles are just. When you get that solved, you got something shiny and wonderful. Yeah.

You mentioned AI, and I find that interesting because I'm really glad that you made those two connections. I don't think I would have made that myself, so I'm really glad that you did that. I had a gentleman I interviewed recently, Darrell Sutherland. Amazing fella. And he has, you know, he had dyslexia, et cetera, a number of things. A strategic coach, individual. And he's developed an AI platform. Really, he built it for himself. And fundamentally, it's. It's a way to help him create his second brain. And it's. It's. It's a treasure trove of dumping in ideas. But then it. It's created prompts to automate what happens once those ideas are dumped in, so they don't just go to the idea graveyard and really phenomenal idea. And so it's something I just learned about recently. I'm going to be playing around with it myself personally, and I'm excited about that because, you know, you might find this interesting. I used to share that. You know, fundamentally, I would explain to people, you know the movie Twister, where there's like a cow and a tornado, there's like, there's a. There's a truck and a telephone pole and a barn going by. Well, like, that's what's happening in my head all the time.

Yeah.

And it's constant until there's a chance where I can turn it off. I. Usually the way I turn it off is by watching television. That's my guilty pleasure. It helps me kind of exit from my own brain a little bit and create some space.

Yeah.

But being in an environment where, you know, there was always ideas, and I used to be frustrated that I couldn't write my ideas down fast enough. And then I. I realized it was a point in time in my life where all of a sudden it hit me. It's like, wait a second. Why am I even bothering writing these ideas down? I don't even need to write these ideas down because another one's right around the corner. It's an endless well of ideas. So what's the point of this idea if the idea really mattered? Another one's coming.

Yes. Oh, that's so good. Because some people. Please don't give me any more ideas until I've handled the ones I already have. That's almost a prayer of some people's, like, please don't give me any more ideas.

Well, now, when I can't finish the ones I'm doing now when I'm on a meeting with someone or a client or something, we come up with an idea, we're workshopping something, and something comes out, and they're like, oh, that's really good. I'm like, you like that? It's yours. Go ahead. I've got another one. It's right around the corner. Don't worry about it.

And, you know, that's so yeasty when coming together because the ideas just pop out that way. Yeah.

Yeah. Incredible. Well, Dr. Books, this has been phenomenal having you on the program. I would love to get some final thoughts from you for our listeners. What would you indicate? Maybe someone who's, you know, diagnosed with ADHD or whatever, dyslexia. How would you recommend, you know, what, that. What's some next steps for them to be. If they wanted to investigate that a little bit further or. Or see about doing some work that might help them moving forward.

Yeah. Well, first of all, if everything in your life is perfect, you wouldn't. You would just keep doing what you're doing. If you. There are some glitches, there's some things you'd like help with. We've just talked about, you know, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, all those basic things that everybody should be doing, but we're not those lifestyle changes. But if there's really neurological issues, what I call these obstacles, sometimes they're little obstacles, sometimes they're big. And they're just like, here's like, here's your nervous system, and it's like a road, and there's just a big bump there. It was like, well, just come and get it taken care of. Let's defrag your computer, defrag your brain, and then install some programs that are much more efficient in your brain. And so that's, you know, when you look at computers, it's like the master mechanic is sometimes that's just the most efficient thing to do, is come in and get the old programming deleted, put in some new hardware, and you'll go forward. So when I first met Dan Sullivan, I said, you know, I think I had the program. I work with kids. They fly in for five days. And I said, I think I can do entrepreneurs in seven days. And he went, you're serious? You could do that in seven days? And I said, well, I'm pretty sure because grownups have a little more baggage and stuff. And he went, oh, my God, it's exactly what entrepreneurs want. Go in, clean it up, fix it, and send me back out. And so that's what I do. So if people want. If they really want it, step up and raise the bar. Then you come see me. And otherwise, you know, you read books or you watch me on podcasts and. Or you use me as a resource. You can. You can always. I have a website, drphyllisbooks.com which I'm sure you'll put in your stuff. And so you can always just contact me and say, you know, do you have resources for this or that or do you have ideas? Because at this age, you know, at 78, I should have retired. I've tried to retire three times. I just blunk at it because I love what I do. And so as long as I'm around, consider me a resource.

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being with us. Thanks for sharing your wisdom, your knowledge base, and for providing such incredible value to our listeners. And for those of you tuning in, make sure you stay tuned for next week's incredible episode as we continue to unpack the amazing journeys of entrepreneurs and how they are overcoming major challenges and innovating into the future.