Hyperfocus & High Performance with Christine Howe

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

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

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

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

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

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:20 Who John was at eight

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

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

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

19:06 ADHD, Adderall, and a prescription error

24:00 Hollywood, and performing perfectly in public

28:26 Rock bottom, and starting with a shower

32:53 His brother, silence, and Celebrate Recovery

37:28 HERO, and where to find John

Listen & connect

John Mabry: Website · Instagram · Facebook · LinkedIn

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

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

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

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

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

Timestamps

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

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

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

09:11 When creativity disappears

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

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

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

21:39 Productivity with peace, not pressure

Listen & connect

Follow me: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

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

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

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

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:28 Who Randy was at eight

03:47 Why he works with the whole family

09:27 Perspective: a distress signal, not defiance

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

28:38 Connection without dropping expectations

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

40:42 The cost of untreated ADHD

48:30 Late diagnosis, shame, and EMDR

52:21 Where to find Randy

Listen & connect

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

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

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

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

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: closing out the launch series

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

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

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

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

35:05 Final takeaways: living on mission

36:20 Taking imperfect action

Listen & connect

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

10% off a Neuroplanner

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

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

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

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

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: who Joy is

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

04:36 Defining success at KPMG

09:04 The car accident

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

20:33 Microdosing your anger

27:34 Noticing the signs before they build

29:57 The EDGE framework, explained

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

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

Listen & connect

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

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

Christine and Bekah recap three more conversations: Karen Conlon on what she calls emotional real estate, learning to own your own emotional space instead of living on someone else's, Mark Ruegg on choosing gratitude and healing strategies through a cancer diagnosis that later returned, and Don Rauzelle on applying corporate strategic thinking to your own life instead of just your career.

The thread running through all three is agency. Whatever you didn't ask for and can't control, there's still a circle of what you can, and that's where the actual work happens.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: recapping round three

00:20 Recapping Karen Conlon: emotional real estate

07:47 Recapping Mark Ruegg: healing and gratitude through cancer

15:39 The serenity circle, and your circle of control

16:30 Recapping Don Rauzelle: corporate strategy for your own life

20:20 Zooming out instead of narrowing in

24:56 Closing thought: your dreams still matter

Listen & connect

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

10% off a Neuroplanner

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

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

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

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: recapping round four

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

04:37 Christine's own nine-year story

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

16:57 What Think Time adds to nervous system regulation

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

23:54 Why relationships are the actual performance strategy

26:12 Closing thought: listen to all three together

Listen & connect

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

10% off a Neuroplanner

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

Christine and Bekah are back with round two, recapping three more conversations from the podcast's first month: Beatrice Tokayer on designing spaces that actually work with your nervous system, Tia Graham on asking for help before you hit total burnout, and Adam Cruz on what's really underneath addiction and hustle.

The through-line this time: healthy support isn't a sign something's wrong with you, it's what lets you keep growing instead of quietly collapsing under old coping mechanisms that stopped working.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: recapping round two

02:16 Recapping Beatrice Tokayer: nervous system and space

08:25 Recapping Tia Graham: asking for help before burnout

17:38 Recapping Adam Cruz: what's underneath addiction and hustle

22:06 The healed hustle, and building a parallel strategy for growth

29:08 Closing thought: you have permission to ask for something new

Listen & connect

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

10% off a Neuroplanner

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

Christine and Bekah are back with round two, recapping three more conversations from the podcast's first month: Beatrice Tokayer on designing spaces that actually work with your nervous system, Tia Graham on asking for help before you hit total burnout, and Adam Cruz on what's really underneath addiction and hustle.

The through-line this time: healthy support isn't a sign something's wrong with you, it's what lets you keep growing instead of quietly collapsing under old coping mechanisms that stopped working.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: recapping round two

02:16 Recapping Beatrice Tokayer: nervous system and space

08:25 Recapping Tia Graham: asking for help before burnout

17:38 Recapping Adam Cruz: what's underneath addiction and hustle

22:06 The healed hustle, and building a parallel strategy for growth

29:08 Closing thought: you have permission to ask for something new

Listen & connect

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

10% off a Neuroplanner

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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

To celebrate one month of the podcast, Christine and Bekah sit down to recap three of the season's conversations: Nicole Santiago on unconditional love and boundaries with ADHD kids, Dr. Joseph Andrews on why an accurate diagnosis matters before medication, and Lucas LeFever on slowing down enough to actually process what's happening in your life.

The through-line: we don't do this alone. Each guest offers a different piece of the same idea, showing up, getting clarity, and letting the people and processes around you carry some of the weight.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: one month of the podcast

02:20 Recapping Nicole Santiago: unconditional love and boundaries

15:46 Recapping Dr. Joseph Andrews: why an accurate diagnosis matters

29:59 Recapping Lucas LeFever: slowing down to process

37:09 Identity, journaling, and the cost of growth

44:15 Where these three conversations connect

46:35 Closing thought: you're not alone

Listen & connect

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

10% off a Neuroplanner

Christine: Instagram · TikTok · LinkedIn

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

Hyperfocus & High Performance: Listen Here

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