From War-Torn Childhood to Business Triumph (w/ John A. Brink)

What if your toughest childhood experiences fueled an extraordinary entrepreneurial journey? In our latest episode, John A Brink takes us through his harrowing memories from Nazi-occupied Holland and how the resilience born from those times became the bedrock of his stunning success. From going hungry and cold to the life-changing moment of his village's liberation by Canadian soldiers, John’s story is not just about survival—it's about the unyielding pursuit of a dream that led him to Canada and ignited his remarkable career.

As we celebrate John’s 83 years of life and nearly five decades in business, you'll hear about his incredible rise from a struggling furniture maker to the helm of a multifaceted business empire. John’s ventures span the lumber industry, real estate, and media, demonstrating his relentless work ethic and undying passion for his craft. His journey is a powerful testament to the impact of hard work, goal-setting, and staying true to your vision, even when the odds are stacked against you.

But that’s not all. John shares his deeply personal experience with ADHD, a condition he has come to view as a superpower, thanks to Dr. Edward Hallowell's influential book "Driven to Distraction." Inspired to help others, John authored "ADHD Unlocked," aiming to change the narrative around ADHD and highlight its potential as a unique strength. Tune in to gain valuable insights on leveraging your own unique traits for long-term success and fulfillment, and be inspired by John's unwavering passion and work ethic.

CONNECT WITH JOHN!
https://www.instagram.com/john.a.brink/
https://www.youtube.com/@JohnABrink
https://linktr.ee/johnbrink

Chapters

• 0:02 From Childhood Hunger to Business Success
• 8:23 Thriving at 83
• 24:42 Unwavering Passion and Work Ethic
• 30:24 Embracing ADHD as a Superpower

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

This is Wealthy AF, your ultimate guide to understand what it truly means to be Wealthy AF. Today's guest is John A Brink. And. John was born in Nazi-occupied Holland at the beginning of the Second World War. From the time he could walk, his days often consisted of foraging for food with his brother and sister. His mother was left to raise the three kids alone when their father was drafted into the Dutch army. They wouldn't know if he was alive until the liberation of their village by Canadian soldiers on April 12th of 1945. This was the exact moment John determined he would make his life in Canada the land of his heroes. He was only five years old.

Speaker 1: 0:47

At 83, John continues to succeed in his role as president and CEO of the Brink Group companies and 10 plus other companies. I commend you for that, sir. 83 and still going. I love it. I need to model you. John is the author of four books and the host of the On the Brink podcast series. He is also a fierce advocate for erasing the stigma surrounding ADHD, something John has lived with his entire life. Today's topic is going to be from $25.45 to leading a business empire. Mr John, sir, welcome. It is my pleasure to have you on the podcast, Looking forward to this conversation and learning from you.

Speaker 2: 1:32

I am also happy to be here, Martin, and look forward to the podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:36

Perfect, my friend. I want to start with as I was sharing your story there. Do you remember what it was like when you was five and your dad got sent to the Second World War? Do you remember what that was like and what that emotion was?

Speaker 2: 1:53

Yeah, so I was born in November, the 1st, 1940. I had a brother one year older two years older and a sister one year older. The three of us, and it's just the one year old, the three of us. And then my mom and, as you already indicated in the intro, my dad, on April 1940, was drafted into the Dutch Army. The last they heard from him is when he was seen just before the bombing of Rotterdam. That killed thousands of people, and so from that point forward they didn't know if he was dead or alive for the next five years and he would come back after he was liberated, actually.

Speaker 2: 2:31

But what I still remember of the war were three and a half when I was three and a half, four years old was thousands of hundreds of planes, 300, 400 planes in the air, allied planes bombing Germany in particular their infrastructure that was building weapons. And again, for all our guests watching, is that Holland, relatively small. I was born in the northeastern part of Holland, within 10 or 15 minutes from the German border, so I remember that part and my mom was three kids. She would take in the evenings outside and the planes were over hundreds of them, not for the purpose of looking at the planes, but she felt safer outside than inside. But she felt safer outside than inside. And in the distance we see cities burning like Bremen, wilhelmshaven, kiel, hamburg. In the distance the sky would be red. The next thing that I remember is that the hunger winter of 1944-45, that it was the coldest winter on record and the Germans had cut out all the food supply into Holland. And every morning my brother, my sister and myself would go into the railroad yard with gunny sacks, pick up anything edible and burnable. And so the reason that we did as kids, because the Germans wouldn't shoot us, they'd put us one in the back, but we'd be back the following morning regardless. And then I remember, even now still, martin, I still can feel the hunger, even 80 years later, the feeling of hunger and the feeling of coal, and we'd be sitting around a little stove that only one little part of the house we could heat, and so all of that still is with me.

Speaker 2: 4:29

And then, before we got liberated by the Canadians April the 12th 1945, we saw far too much as the Germans were pushed from Normandy through Holland, through the northern part of Holland, through our province, before they got back to the German border, and things got pretty tough. We blew up all the bridges behind them and a lot of people died and we saw far too much that we should not have seen and, as a result, still PTSD was part of my life. And then the fear of losing the only parent, because everybody had their own issues and she was the only mother who could take care of us. The three kids are trying to take care of us and so the inner child always stayed with me and I got counseling for that, actually into my 50s Very emotional.

Speaker 2: 5:24

So those are the things that I remember. Far too much that had happened and was seen. But probably the most significant part was being liberated by the Canadians. And then I knew I was so impressed by the Canadian Army that I knew that when I grew up I would go to the land of my heroes, canada, and that always stayed with me.

Speaker 1: 5:50

So I want to go into Canada in a moment. Before we go into that, I want to ask you you said, 80 years later, you still feel the hunger, the cold. You know what that feeling is like. Yes, you remember that feeling is like. Yes, you remember that feeling. Yes, how does that feeling if there's any correlation, I'm just curious drive you have driven you to your success in business, right? Does that feeling have anything to do with that drive that has led you to your success in business in any way? You know I'll share this story. My grandmother is 80. She just turned 87.

Speaker 1: 6:38

And one day a friend of mine is visiting. I'm in New York City, I live in Florida, but it was a few years ago, I'm going to say like four years ago. I'm in New York and my mother's home, my grandma and my friend that grew up with me in Dominican Republic I was, I lived there the first five years of my life. We were very, very poor, right, and my mother is sharing with us about my grandmother she lives in the Bronx and my grandmother she goes to these churches where they give free food. Right, she goes to these churches where they give free food and she goes every weekend and she accumulates so much food all the time like canned foods. She doesn't need it, but she accumulates it.

Speaker 1: 7:27

And I said, and so my mom is bothered by this and I said, ma, you forget how poor we were. You forget, like I remember, living in Dominican Republic and my mom and not having running water right, not having running water. If that was our poverty and my mom was in the us sending dollars, us dollars, back home for us to live better, how must it have been for her, her generation and, um, I, I, I was trying to explain to my mom that maybe that poverty she's still in fear, unconsciously, of continuously not having money for food or not having food, that she just goes and get more food and more food. Unconsciously she might feel I don't know, I'm not a, I'm a, I'm a hypnotherapist, I'm a coach, but I'm not a, I'm not a, I'm not a psychiatrist. That's my hallucination.

Speaker 1: 8:16

So I I wonder if, I wonder your take on that and I wonder if your drive has anything to do with that. You're 83 years old, right, 83? 83 years old, 84, right now, and yet you're still working, which is amazing, amazing. I respect that and honor that so much. It's so awesome, so awesome. You're still driving man, good for you.

Speaker 2: 9:24

I'm not just working, I'm the hardest working individual that I know. I get up at 5.30 in the morning every morning, I always make my bed and I'm always in the hurry. I always think I'm late, and so I still work. 60, 70 hours will follow is success, and so that already and this comes to your question about the war I'm not exactly sure what was left over from that, but part of my life is still today because of it or in addition to it, is that it gave me.

Speaker 2: 10:09

I always said that I always was entrepreneurial. Even when I was a little boy, I would collect papers, sell papers, get bottles, anything to make a few dollars, and so that's what I did. And when, academically, I was not a success story, I failed grade three and I failed grade 11 three times. And then they said what are we going to do with this kid? And so my parents were beautiful people, and so some people said well, send him to the mentally challenged group. He said, no, we're not going to do that. So at 13,. So they said what are we going to do with him? Well, my dad was in lumber and my grandfather was the master carpenter, and so they said let's send him to a furniture factory, make him a furniture maker. I loved it at 13. And so I went to the furniture factory and then I became a furniture maker.

Speaker 2: 11:03

But I was always entrepreneurial. Even then I would go out of my way to try to find speakers that had successful lives Not only in entrepreneurship, but a lot of it was entrepreneurship related how to become successful in life in many ways. And so I did that already then. And then you still kind of felt kids are hard on each other, right? So when I left grade seven, again failed grade 11, the friends that I had that went on to college and university kind of looked at. Yes, I became a laborer. I'm proud of that today. But then I was kind of looked down at and so I felt I had to start over again.

Speaker 2: 11:53

This gave me the chance to go to Canada. I wanted to go when I was 17. My parents wouldn't let me then and I was drafted into the British Air Force for a little bit more than two years and then finally I went to Canada when I was 23 in 1965, and I took with me one suitcase, three books, two sets of clothes, a little bit of money and I knew I would go to British Columbia, and you know so, and build a sawmill. That was my next dream. And so in British Columbia is all the timber. So I took the plane to Montreal, took the train across Canada four days, five nights, and my God, that's a long way.

Speaker 2: 12:40

So I arrived in Vancouver, bought to the immigration office. I couldn't speak the language, didn't know a soul, didn't have a job. Fortunately, there was a direct caller there and I told them I wanted to build a sawmill. He said Prince George, east Columbia, that's where you have to go, that's a boomtown and that's where all the action is happening. So that was 60 years ago. I'm still in Prince George today.

Speaker 2: 13:03

As we speak, for all our guests watching us from around the world, they say okay, we know Vancouver, we know British Columbia, we know Canada. Where is Prince George in relation to Vancouver? Well, it's 500 miles north of Vancouver. It is the center of British Columbia. Or, for our European friends, 800 kilometers north, south, east, west. No-transcript attitude.

Speaker 2: 13:49

Even then, I always think positive. The passion no matter what I do, I give it 125%. And then work ethic. I said earlier, I work harder than anybody. And so that's how I started as a cleaner man, limber, pilot and with a year I now had control, more control over the language. I became a supervisor in a sawmill and then in a year and a half I was a superintendent of 100 miles of mills in Prince George. And then within two years I bought a little piece of a mill lumber mill in all places the Yukon territory and again, for our guests watching, it's right next to Alaska, north of Prince George, another five-legged mouse. So that's where I was for five years managing and becoming part owner of that little sawmill.

Speaker 2: 14:45

So then, another five years after that, I started this company, the Brain Group of Companies, with very little money and then with a whole new concept, a whole new idea. And so now, nearly 50 years later, 1975, when I started it 1925, it will be my 50th year. At the time that I started it was a whole new concept. I couldn't find any investors in it because they said, oh, they will never work and all that kind of stuff. But I did it anyway on my own and then after a year or so everybody wants to invest and I don't need them anymore. So I'm still the sole owner of all my companies. So I have actually four silos. The one silo that I have is lumber manufacturing. We got about three or four mills and then the second silo is warehousing, distribution and logistics. And the third silo is real estate residential, commercial and industrial and the fourth silo is media. I'm an author, as you already indicated, working on my fifth and sixth book, and then I do media. I'm a speaker and doing keynote presentations and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1: 16:02

I got to tell you, john, I love it. You're 83, 84 years old man. That's amazing. Look at you. You're sharp, you're working, You're doing, you have a vision. Man, this it's amazing. Look at you. You're sharp, you're working, you're doing, you have a vision. You still, man. I absolutely admire you. I admire your energy, I admire what you're doing, sir.

Speaker 2: 16:23

I showed you a copy of my last book that just came. It's my fourth book and this is the book.

Speaker 1: 16:30

Wow Look, and he's full of muscles too.

Speaker 2: 16:35

Man book. And this is the book. Wow, look, and he's full of muscles too. Man, I'm the oldest competitive bodybuilder in north america. So in in 2018 I qualified for the arnold's and then I was qualified for the nationals in in canada and also for the arnold, but then COVID came and so I didn't do the Arnolds. But again, I'm competing to again compete in the Arnolds in 2025 in Ohio and I'm getting ready for that. And this is what I look like today and I'm still training regularly.

Speaker 1: 17:10

For those that can't see. I mean, he's shredded. If you're just listening to this podcast, he is shredded. It's a great book. What's the name of that book? So people can, maybe they can. If they're listening, they can Google it and see the cover Living Young, dying Old how to Thrive to your Mid-80s. That's John A Brink. Look it up, you can see the picture if you're listening and not watching this. My goodness, just super inspirational. Go ahead, go on, sir.

Speaker 2: 17:37

Success in business is all part of being physically healthy, mentally healthy and being able to have the energy. And in order to do that, you have to have a fit body, a fit mind and you have to have a destination. And so the benefit that I had from the time that I was a child or already, I knew my dream was to go to Canada. Then, before I went to Canada, I wanted to build a sawmill to prove to me that I was just as equally successful or bright as the other kids that I went to school with. That went to college and university, not for the benefit of showing it to them, but for me to feel that way. And so, starting with nothing, pulling it out of the ground, really and I wrote a book about that as well is that? You know, it was tough, and a lot of people said to me hey, john, you're so successful.

Speaker 2: 18:39

I didn't feel that way, you know, because it went all through ups and downs and so, and they said, you should write a book about it. And, as you know, you, as a speaker, and you, an author, is saying that, and, as you know, you're a speaker and you're an author, is saying that writing books is not easy. So I stopped, I started, I stopped and started it. And then I knew five years, six years ago, if I didn't do it now, it would not happen. So I wrote a book against all odds, and that's not only about hurrah hur, how successful john is, it is more about going through all the ups and downs, falling downs, dusting yourself off, starting over. Never, ever give up. Stay the course and and and. So the book very successful.

Speaker 1: 19:26

And so, uh, you know the uh yeah, man, I look at you and I'm hearing you. I'm just so impressed with you and I look at her that the current president of the United States. It's possible that you can be in your 80s and be a sharp and be sharp and have drive and still go. It's possible. You are a living example.

Speaker 2: 19:49

Age is just a number. It's quality of life that counts, and and so, hence, and and like with me. Uh, you know the. I've been training for probably 15 years. I've gone through all the ups and downs too. At one period, I drank more than I should have. At one period, I didn't go to the gym or did not look after myself. My wife is vegetarian and I didn't listen well to her gym or did not look after myself. My wife is vegetarian and I didn't listen well to her. I was not bad, but I was not listening to her as well as I should.

Speaker 2: 20:19

And it took me to nearly dying at one point in 2008, when I had a case of diabetic colitis that ruptured and put toxins inside all the healthy organs and you have about 48 hours to attend to it, and I came this close to not making it. And I knew from that point forward that all the things that we do at year end and I'm sure you do it is that you know I'm going to do this, that, that and the other thing and I'm going to buy a membership to the gym. That now I'm going to do this, that, that and the other thing and I'm going to buy a membership to the gym. That's what I'm going to do. And then, two weeks later, I can find 100 reasons that's why I'm too busy to go to the gym. But then I knew I better start attending to my fitness and my health. And so that was when I was, you know, in 2009, after I recovered from, you know, having a piece of my colon taken out and I recovered from it. Then I said diet extremely important. So I started listening. I became a vegan and then going to the gym in earnest and getting it trained. That's what I did.

Speaker 2: 21:30

And so then, in 2017, after doing this, learning for six years, somebody came up to us and said hey, john, have you ever thought about competing? I said Me yeah, you. I said why not? So that's what I did, and I got then ready for competing. And then I competed in Northern BC. Bodybuilding and physique came in second, bodybuilding, third in physique, qualified me for the provincials, came in third and second qualified me for the nationals and the Arnold's. And so then, obviously, covid came and, as I said earlier, now again I'm training for again to meet and go to the Arnold's. I've been trying to contact Arnold Schwarzenegger and he's not responding to me, and all I want to say to him I'll be back.

Speaker 1: 22:24

I love it, man, and all of this while you're running a successful business, multiple successful business, all of this, writing two more books, publishing two more books next year, and, man, I love it. I got to ask you, though you mentioned when you left Holland at 18, you had three books. What were the three books? What were the title of those?

Speaker 2: 22:46

three books that you was reading. I like the question. The one was Menacement by Drucker.

Speaker 1: 22:53

Wait, menace menace men Like a menace. You're a menace, like someone. That's a menace, menacement.

Speaker 2: 23:00

By Drucker, okay, and then the other one's Logical Thinking, also in Dutch. And then the third book was about Canada, because even then already, I knew and that's why I tried to attend and listen to people that did presenting that made them successful. I wanted to know what made them click, why were they different than others and what was unique about them, and I found that determination, staying in the course and a number of other things were critical to them being successful. In my case, though, the challenges that I had in Holland is Holland is this way is that at some point then, you grow up, and you then get a house, you get married, you have kids, you want to start a business or get a job someplace. They say where are your diploma? I have no diploma, so I went to Canada, and then, when I came to Prince George, off the bus here with my $25.47, no job did not sew, and I started as a cleanup man. I spent even 10 days without food, stood in front of the Salvation Army. I still died by that. It was too often Too proud to go in, which is unfortunate because that's why they are there. So you know, but I still remember that. But I knew, I knew I would succeed, and so then, gradually, I built it up.

Speaker 2: 24:42

And then now you know, after being here for 60 years, I'm still looking at my silos. The limber side we will double in size in the next five years. I'm convinced about that. And then the housing, distribution, logistics that will double in size. And then the real estate side residential development not building houses but developing subdivisions commercial and industrial will also double in size. And then media is obviously very interesting to me. I'm a writer, I'm a keynote speaker, but, even more importantly, I do a lot of podcasting, both hosting and guesting, and I love it. Then I'm looking at building a platform I love it.

Speaker 1: 25:34

I love the drive, man, you know it takes one to know one. I love the drive. Someone asked me the other day um, are you, when are you going to slow down? When are you going to retire? I'm like, retire, I'll probably be 80, 90, coaching, speaking, training, doing something I'm going to be doing to retire like man. You're doing what, like I'm going to be. There's always going to be a goal. There should always be a goal, and that's what I wanted to ask you.

Speaker 1: 25:56

You know, attitude, passion, work, ethic, these are your, these are your principles, your core principles that you live by. What would you tell a young person? Let's talk to the young people. Let's coach us, coach us, coach us, john, coach us, coach us, john, coach us, give us some coaching here, give us some wisdom. What are you telling us? The secret to having the right attitude, that passion, that work ethic? How do we? You know, we live in a culture where this phone, these things right, didn't exist when you were coming up, when you got to Canada, didn't exist. And now we have fear of missing out all the time, because we're seeing someone might be listening to you and saying, oh my goodness, he's so successful, but they don't realize what you did at the time. Coach us how do we do that? How do we develop the right attitude? How do we develop the passion? How do we live by those principles that work at it?

Speaker 2: 26:55

I do a lot of presenting to young people but others as well on different issues ADHD is one of them, but also entrepreneurship and other things in life. And so I heard on the program of the US program I don't know if it was ABC, CNN or one of the other ones they said that in the United States and I believe Canada is the same that 75% of the people that work do not like their jobs and 70% of that 75% are looking for an other job. That's troubling in a way. The other part is that I do a lot of presenting to young people in particular, either high schools, college, universities, and then I say to them a lot of times respectfully that after you're finished, what are you going to do in a direction, or where do you want to go? And most of them say I don't know. And I say, well, it's important to know, because the sooner you get a general direction, then you can focus on that and then go step by step by step forward. So then I felt I had to do more about that and saying that find your passion is the critical part, and so I felt I had to write a book about it. So the book that I wrote, is Finding your Passion, Living the Dream, living the dream.

Speaker 2: 28:37

And so what I did, as an example, is that I already knew from an early age, five years old, that I would go to the land of my heroes, Canada, because it's a huge country, lots of opportunity as I looked at it, and it was always on my mind and then I refined it even further that when I left school at 13 and at grade 7, I started working in a furniture factory and I love lumber and I love working in an industrial setting and I always knew that likely would become part of my life. And the further I did that and I started then working, already in a larger lumber company, and then the next dream that I had is to own my own lumber mill, likely in Canada and likely in BC. So that then became part of my dream when I was, even before I was into the Air Force and even during the time I was in the Air Force, I would go to Canada, I would build my own lumber mill and that gave me direction. That gave me direction and even all of that became my passion, and with all the adversity that I had still with me, is that looking back at my academic failures, if you wish, but it's not failure in my mind, but it was still with me. I'm saying well, why am I different than the other people? And so, even when I was already successful, everybody said you're so successful. And I didn't feel that way.

Speaker 2: 30:24

And so the next thing that happened to me that was very, very important is that I was in a bookstore and I picked up a book and the book's title was Driven to Distraction by Dr Halliwell. And Dr Halliwell is ADHD and dyslexic. So am I, and he has written 18 books, five on distraction, is known internationally actually for knowing not only ADHD but also other challenges along the way, and has been very, very successful as an author. That when I knew that part in the book that I bought I still have it today I bought it in 1997, January 1997. If I had it here I would open the book and inside the book in Dutch, I wrote because I was ashamed of it, because it was implied that this may be a mental disorder.

Speaker 2: 31:29

I just totally disagree with that and I wrote in it. Now, finally, I know who I am, and so that changed my life, and the more I found out about it, the more I become knowledgeable about the fact that ADHD and ADD, if you wish is not a distraction. For me, it became the superpower and I felt I had an obligation to share it with a lot of other people in the world, because there was still and still is not as much as there was before stigma associated with it. So I wrote a book about it. Adhd unlocked and again very, very popular, and so it became a big part of my life.

Speaker 1: 32:21

Okay. So I have a lot to unpack there. So ADHD became your superpower. I need you to unpack that for the listeners. How does ADHD become your superpower? I need you to unpack that for the listeners. How does ADHD become your superpower? And before you answer that one, let me go first because you shared two books and you shared your other book where finding your passion? So finding your passion, we always talk about that. You know success. You know in the success in the other successful circle. I'm going to say in the personal development space, we always talk about that. You know success. You know in the success in the other success circle. I'm going to say in the personal development space, we always talk about your passion, finding your passion For young people.

Speaker 1: 32:59

It's very difficult when you're young. I remember being a young person and saying okay. And asking myself what am I good at? What am I good at? I'm good at this building rapport, talking to people. I'm really. That is my, that's God's gift to me my ability to connect with other human beings. How can I? And I would often ask myself okay, so I can talk to anyone, I can be friendly to anyone and people just gravitate towards me and me towards people. But how do I like, how do I turn that into something? That took me a very long time to figure that out? How does a young person find, or a person that doesn't know hey, I don't know what I'm good at, I don't know what my passion is. Is there a process that you can give, or you can coach them to help people find that? That's question one, and then the other one on the ADHD superpower, and I'll let you rip, I'll let you run with it.

Speaker 2: 33:53

Okay. So again, following up on finding your passion. So what I then say to young people that I make presentations to and they say, well, I don't really know. Then, when I'm there, then I say respectfully, my recommendation would be this that if I want to become a truck driver, I'm going to talk to truck drivers. Tell me what it is like, what are the pluses, what are the minuses.

Speaker 2: 34:21

If I want to be a contractor say building houses I will talk to a contractor. What is involved, how did you get started? And all of them love to talk to you. If you say this is important to me, I respect you for what you have done, Will you share that with us? If you want to be a lawyer, talk to a lawyer and they will be or an entrepreneur, or a successful author, or all those other things, or a successful author, or all those other things. It gives you your meaning, the young person, a direction. What are the pluses, what are the minuses? Blah, blah, blah. How do I get there? And all of those things. So that's what I share with them.

Speaker 1: 35:05

And true wisdom. That is true wisdom, by the way, that is wisdom at its core. I mean, go to someone that's doing it and ask them and ask questions. That's the fastest way from point A to point B. Go to someone that's there, find out how they got there and then reverse engineer it.

Speaker 2: 35:19

And they love to do that. Approach them carefully, obviously, but they would love to share, because everybody is delighted by people that are looking forward and want to follow maybe some of their ideas. So that is the one.

Speaker 1: 35:35

And then the other question was about the ADHD. You said you turned it after reading the book from that author. I forgot the guy's name you mentioned, but after reading the book you said you decided to turn. You realized that your ADHD was going to be your superpower. Talk to us about that. How? Because there's many of us out here, me included, that have been told ADHD you can't. You know, I was horrible in school as well Couldn't concentrate, barely made it because of my attention span, barely graduated, but has turned out to be not to mean much in the real world as it's for my business.

Speaker 2: 36:15

Martin. But I say again respectfully, and people say to me when I do presentations, which I do a lot of, I'm a very, very good presenter, and I can say that myself because I know I am, and so amazingly and we'll talk a little bit about that villain as well so the key is to be able to. Now I lost the train of thought, the superpower, the superpower ADHD.

Speaker 1: 36:47

How do you take ADHD and turn it into a superpower, how you did that?

Speaker 2: 36:53

I had to find out and I, you know, I was very good at school, you know, and reading or writing, and and I was very good at numbers, but I was not very good at the other things. And then, yeah, so that was let me make this other point that I was just thinking about, and is that I get so excited about this stuff? Oh good, so a lot of people say to me when I make presentations, they say to me do you feel bad about it that you left school? You failed grade seven three times and does it still trouble you? I said, yeah, it does, and I should have left earlier, and the point that I'm making it was not the right setting for me.

Speaker 2: 37:38

If I find things that have my interest podcasting, for one, writing books, managing companies and doing all the other things then I give it all that I got. If there are areas of that I lack interest in, I do not focus on those, but whatever I focus on and that is including business and entrepreneurship then I'm very, very good at that because I give lots of energy, and so that is probably the advantage that I have. The other advantage that I have, I believe, as an entrepreneur and again, thinking superpower is that a lot of people that have been trained into management. They have learned to work in a box that fits the typical structure of managing entities, whatever they may be.

Speaker 2: 38:29

With my ADHD and my self-training, I usually have been involved in all kinds of boards and all kinds of companies and on and on and on and on. But I usually do it makes them uncomfortable because I go outside of the box and say how about this, how about that, why not this, why not that? And that's what I still do, and that's what I do all the time. And so when I discovered that ADHD, in fact, for me, gave me the ability to do all the things that I'm doing, even now I get people say to me how do you do all the things that you're doing? How can you do all that stuff? I say ADHD. That's why.

Speaker 1: 39:12

Yeah, writing six books working out being top of your game for your age Amazing. Running multiple businesses Amazing, amazing.

Speaker 2: 39:25

The most important part, martin, I tell you, is living.

Speaker 1: 39:30

I want to talk about that. I want to spend the last, the the last few minutes we have together here talking about, uh, your longevity. Right, let's talk. I want to know how do I selfishly so hopefully the listeners will get it, but me 46 year old man can what do I need to do now? What should I be doing today to be as energetic as you are and have the stamina and the drive that you have when I'm 83, if God allows me to live that when I'm 84, if God allows me to live that long and God gives me health and the grace to live to your age?

Speaker 2: 40:11

Okay. So when I bought the book Driven to Distraction in 1997, I was 57 years old, so it took me five years before I even talked to my personal doc about him, who was a personal friend, had to live with our two daughters Five years and I came into his office and said hey, john, why are you here? I said I think I got ADHD and so we diagnosed and yes, I do was 68 years old, I was born in 1940. So in 2009, I was not fit, I was not healthy as I could be and all those other things. I started listening more to my wife and vegan and she's a vegetarian. I became a vegan. I called her 19, 90, 20, or 80, 20. Now I'm probably more like a 90, 10. So, and then I took working out serious At the age then, you know, in 2009, of being 69 years old, 2009, of being 69 years old In 2017, after working out for six or seven years, I was competing bodybuilding and physique in northern BC, provincially, and then qualifying for the Arnold's.

Speaker 2: 41:45

From there on in my life became I have a whole different perspective on healthy living, and I'm not a doc, I'm not recommending, I'm simply in my book, sharing with people what I do what worked for me, and so I'm very careful with my diet. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't use chemicals. I avoid chemicals as much as I can. I work with as much natural as I can. I work with docs of different description naturopathic doctors, medical doctors but I am in charge of knowing, together with my wife, about what fitness and what health is, and I'm interested in knowing what we can do. So I'm very proactive about my body, my physique. I go to the gym, I work out hard and I love it, and so what I recommend first and foremost to most people don't abuse your body, and the obvious ones are smoking, drinking and all the other thing on the stuff, and they should need no dialogue. But the other part is give exercise to that body that is so precious and so forgiving, but only to a certain extent, because with most people, what happens is the last decade of their lives. They are fighting and struggling, hands full of chemicals and dealing with illnesses that likely and I'm not a doc from my experience could have been avoided if you would have known, and so that'd be the first one. Then, even if you go for a walk every day, gradually start the process. You don't have to become an Olympian or a bodybuilder like me. You can, but you don't have to. Simply what I'm saying. If I can do it, then anybody can do it at that age. It's a matter of A understanding. My book will be helpful in that process. And then the other one is then saying this is critically important because in another three months from now I'm going to be 84. And I want to be in Ohio with Arnold's at the Arnold's when I'm 85. And it makes me the oldest competitive bodybuilder in North America. I'm not suggesting anybody should try for that, but I'm one of those individuals.

Speaker 2: 44:09

Whatever I do, it comes again back to attitude, passion, work ethic. Once I have the passion, I give it all that I got. That's what I do. I love it. In terms of being a speaker, again, I'm a good presenter. So are you? I have the natural ability I never knew I did 100%. So are you? I have the natural ability I never knew I did.

Speaker 2: 44:31

But up to the time of probably 1990, I was already successful. Everybody said you're so successful. I was not good at interacting with anybody outside of my companies. I was good at acting here with two or three employees, but not beyond that. I was not a good communicator. I didn't have the self-confidence, even if my supposedly was so successful.

Speaker 2: 44:58

And then what happened is somebody an ex-sister-in-law said to me why don't you come with me and we'll go to Toastmasters? I said Toastmasters, what is that all about? He said it's communications. And I said are you going to ask me any questions? He said no, you know, you just sit there and watch it. So I did and I watched these people in the Toastmaster Club going through it and in the middle of the meeting somebody said to me hey, john, tell us all about you. And I said oh my God, I can never come back. But I did.

Speaker 2: 45:32

I stayed there for 10 years and I became a distinguished Toastmaster, the highest level. It gave me confidence. It taught me how to think, first and foremost, saying what is Toastmaster all about for all those people watching us? Well, probably, as you and me sitting here in North America, probably 450,000 people are in Toastmaster clubs. In your city, many and mine, probably three, four clubs, and they are all around the world. And probably 10 million people around the world have been involved in some level of Toastmastering but have fitted them for what they wanted to acquire skills in. I stayed the whole 10 years and that made me a distinguished Toastmaster. Less than 1% of them would go to that level by choice. For me, that was important, but it changed my ability. It gave me self-confidence.

Speaker 2: 46:31

What is Toast medicine all about? First and foremost, to become a good listener. The second one is to think on your feet, and especially when you're ADHD. Those are traits that are critically important. That are critically important and then you know at the same time. It then gives you that confidence that you can. The greatest fear, greater than death, for people, is to have to give presentations or speak. I'm actually writing my next book that comes out next July. It's about communications and it deals with not only Toastmasters but communications in general. It's something that is not well taught in our classes and it is critically important, not only in your personal life, in your careers, in business and to become successful. In particular. The more effective you are as a communicator, the better you can think on your feet and articulate ideas or responses, or being able to become a good listener critically important.

Speaker 1: 47:42

Absolutely. I want you to wrap us up with this, john. You said success in business requires you to be physically and mentally fit. Have you found that you're working, you're working out regimen? It's giving you the edge at your age, gives you that edge in business because you're so focused and in your physical and taking care of your physical, you know you're writing books. You know that's you're taking all of your mental experiences, all of your life experiences and all of your experiences and putting them in writing for others to benefit from them. Do you find that a good part of what keeps you going, you know, makes you so sharp, is you're working out? Could you elaborate a little bit on that?

Speaker 2: 48:36

There is no question about that, martin, is that you know. The other thing that you may find interesting is you know my wife is a vegetarian, very strict about it, very, very committed to it. And now obviously I'm vegan, so not quite like she is, but I do all the shopping for her and I go in a store and I work on the outside, inside the store, because I don't like prepared foods, because I don't know what is in it in these cans. So we base our diet mainly on plant-based foods and everything that we look at and that we put into our body. I need to know what it is, and I was not always that way, but that's the way I am right now, thanks to my wife and a lot of extents and so being fit.

Speaker 2: 49:25

I cannot do what I want to do unless I'm fit and healthy, and so it's become critical For all those people that think about it. I only started to do that. That's why I said earlier when I was in my 60s. So I hear so often these people say, well, I'm too old now and I can't do it, blah, blah, blah. No, you know that this is critical. Your body is extremely forgiving, but only it lasts for so long and then you've gone too far. And once you start taking care of it in terms of diet and exercise, then quality of life becomes critical at any stage, but in particular as you get older. And that's why I'm saying this book it's not a doctor's approach, but it's from somebody that is living the life. Now. The other thing that, before we go, I want you to look at the back of the book and see what is the price of the book.

Speaker 1: 50:19

I think it's $25. You got it too high. You got to bring the bottom $25.47. That's the exact dollar amount that you went with. Canada Love it.

Speaker 2: 50:32

That's all. My books are 47.

Speaker 1: 50:33

Beautiful and, uh, my, my, my last question is you know, how do people connect with you? How do people find you? John, If people wanted to connect you, they're inspired by you. Maybe they want to go and check out your next keynote. Where's your podcast? Where can they want to go and check out your next keynote? Where's your podcast? Where can they find your books? How can people connect with you?

Speaker 2: 50:56

JohnABrinkcom, and then we are our books on all the major medias Amazon and United Media are all over the place. I'm a very active podcaster, john A Brink, on the Brink with John A Brink, and we are on YouTube. We are on all over the place. I've done about 300 podcasts where I'm hosting, I'm guesting. I've done about 150 or so, 160, I don't know exactly, but I'm being very, very active and I love it. It's the new media and, as far as I'm concerned, it's just at the beginning. Now it's going to go much further and if you're sitting likely in New York, I'm sitting in central British Columbia and be having a discussion, martin, about all those things that are important to us, sharing it with people around the world, and I already know, as you do, that tens of thousands of people will be watching us. That's amazing. A lot of times, the keynote presentations that I do now in North America, it takes me two days to get that. So I still do them selectively, but not as much as I did before, because this media is much more powerful.

Speaker 1: 52:12

Thank you so much, john. I think, with the time that we spent together was not enough for the list of questions that I still have that I want to unpack with you. I'm going to do it publicly here in the podcast. I'd love to have you come back and continue to share, because I have so many more questions, but we're out of time. Thank you so much. Love to have you come back and continue to share, because I have so many more questions, but we're out of time. Thank you so much. Love to have you come back soon. I'll have my team reach out or we'll figure it out right after here. Love to have you come back and continue to talk with you.

Speaker 2: 52:42

Thanks, mike, it was a pleasure to be on your show.