Episode #022 — Unlocking Potential with Katie McManus

Melanie Branch: Hello and welcome to another episode of Trailblazers Rising with me today I have a mutual TikTok friend who I've never actually met in real life which is kind of rare for me or at least met one on one in a call situation so I'm very excited to welcome a fellow ADHD coach Katie McManus katie say hi.

Katie McManus: Thank you so much for having me

Melanie Branch: oh we're so excited to have you on I'm sure we have a lot to gab about so I won't even waste any more time let's dive right into the question on everybody's minds what sparked your entrepreneurial fire what was it was there a moment in time where you said I can't fucking work for anybody else I got to do my own thing.

Katie McManus: I mean there were so many moments it was it was like a culmination of thousands upon thousands of moments it was really I was in sales and marketing for a really long time and what I loved about those roles is that I got to help people what I didn't love about those roles is that my bosses didn't understand that I was there to help people.

And so you know the hardcore closing tactics that were really gross and pushy they were not what I was about I would usually over perform but on really tough months like you know I wasn't going to push people to make a decision that they weren't ready for and I'd had career coaches and life coaches throughout my twenties.

And every time I I finished a session with them I'd be like Oh my God I want to like that has to be something that I do but I'm like Oh but I'm in my twenties no one's going to listen to me and it actually took me getting in a very serious car accident I actually had a minor traumatic brain injury where I couldn't read for a month like the part of my brain that deciphered what my eyes were.

Perceiving couldn't decipher a word like if you sent me a text message with just one line of text I could read that two lines got very blurry three lines or beyond like everything just floated out of space and I ended up having to be on leave from work for about eight months I'd imagine yeah.

Yeah especially when you're in sales and you're constantly in Salesforce like I wasn't allowed to look at computers or TVs I wasn't allowed to listen to the radio if I went for a walk I had to have earplugs in because my brain was just working so hard to heal that even perceiving or hearing any ambient noise.

Took like brain energy away from me and so as I was going through the healing process I had been stalking this coaching school for for years and I knew that all their classes were in person and that it wasn't like a hardcore studying situation where you had to do a ton of reading it was more experiential.

And you know I just decided it's now or never cause I have all this free time right now and I signed up and the rest was history

Melanie Branch: wow you know I we have a member at the Neurospicy Academy who is a survivor of a traumatic brain injury a TBI and not only does it hinder or not only does it affect her you know.

For I don't know maybe the rest of her life in terms of like she has to have the yellow screen protector on her phone or on her computer so it doesn't trigger migraines right and even then we'll be sitting on the academy on the virtual campus because she's there just about every day and I'll hop on.

I said what are you working on she tells me what she's working on and I say okay well how are you feeling how long have you been here all that sort of stuff because she can't be there for too long she'll push herself and be there for a long time and then she'll need days of recovery yeah

Katie McManus: yeah no it's insane.

You don't realize how much work your brain is doing just in day to day life and then when you're you're taxing it again with with healing itself you know little things like you know even having music on in the background while you cook that can be too much you know and the crazy thing about your brain is that it doesn't have any time.

It doesn't have any downtime except for when you sleep yeah so you know if if you spend if you use all your spoons in one day doing all this stuff like it also doesn't have any spoons to then heal so you can actually set yourself back in your healing journey really easily

Melanie Branch: yeah you know I do not have a traumatic brain injury that I'm aware of but I have taken a couple of blows to the head just you know being not graceful.

I'm athletic but I'm not graceful and I'm sure there's a lot of other neurodivergent people that can identify with that my brain goes so fast that it's hard for the body to keep up you know how many times do you run into the furniture the it's like pro separation pro separation there's a word for it.

Where your body understands where it is like in space and relative to other things so like if it's a dance class at the gym I'm aces I'm good at it but if I'm just trying to get out the door really fast I'm going to slam my hand into the door I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that so when it comes to.

Managing your executive function and managing I get irritable from sounds I also have misophonia so you know the sound of my dog licking a paw or like sitting there at dinner and eating with everybody if I if I'm not chewing and all I hear is other people chewing there's a rage that comes up inside of me.

And it's because your brain as a neurodivergent person our nervous system is extra sensitive right so did you have or were your doctors aware or warning you I don't know if this is a thing but intuitively it feels like a thing that because you're neurodivergent your healing was going to be either a little bit more difficult or would need a different protocol.

Katie McManus: You know I think at that point there were just so many things that they were telling me not to do that and there were so many things that I was experiencing with my TBI is that you know there was nothing really that they wanted to incorporate with ADHD because you know I was already going through so much and it was already so sensitive you know with the brain injury that you know anything that I was experiencing previously just having ADHD like was exacerbated.

Exacerbated times a thousand yeah

Melanie Branch: so wow yeah but it it's funny I've had some oh sorry I just I had somebody with a stoma bag on who's incredible and then you with their teeth you just I'm so lucky you don't think about how many things you're taking for granted who who did you have as

Katie McManus: with a stoma bag?

I think I know her

Melanie Branch: jess Bruno yeah she's

Katie McManus: she's my social media manager oh my god I love

Melanie Branch: her I love her so much she was actually my first guest I'm no kidding

Katie McManus: yeah she's my favorite she actually is the one that told me about your TikTok account because I kept having like these false starts on TikTok and she was like you know you have to see this lady.

She's incredible she's so much fun she has so much personality and honestly I saw your account and I was like oh my god that's so intimidating

Melanie Branch: oh no listen here's the thing people what what I love about TikTok so much is that we're really just looking for a real experience we're really just looking to feel like we're sitting down having a drink in somebody's kitchen with them.

You know like we really just want to feel included and we really want to have to see things that resonate or to like I have really worked my FYP to teach me about stuff and you know inspire me with stuff and to really keep me I don't know what's the word that I'm looking for I find all of my clients from TikTok some from Instagram but TikTok primarily and now that I'm branching off into LinkedIn I find my I find myself heading back to TikTok where it's fun

Katie McManus: quite often.

It's so funny because I started off in LinkedIn and I have that experience on LinkedIn it's so much fun for me and then on TikTok it just feels like this different language and it's fun but it's also like I it's different to it's a different experience to to interact with everyone only in written form versus interacting with people in video and in the in the DMS and in the comments.

Melanie Branch: Yeah absolutely absolutely but you're doing great I love your you've been all over my FYP I tell you what you've been all over my FYP I use my I use the anything with an algorithm in life is such a great way to help you understand like your communication from the universe from your spirit guides.

Mm-Hmm you know all the signs that are out there and all that sort of stuff because really once you can get into the mindset and you know this being a coach once you can get into the mindset that the the universe is conspiring for you yeah nobody is conspiring against you at least nobody that has any real influence or power over your life.

No so the more we can stay focused on what do I wanna be doing how do I want to be feeling right cause then you're able to tap into who makes me feel like shit what foods don't make me feel great you know so then we can really be like all right well I know that I can't I actually just found out today from tick tock.

Thank you very much I read an article quote unquote that I have a really high histamine response to certain foods and that there's some foods you know whether you have MCAS or the motherfucker gene or all these other You know scientific medical things that are comorbidities for ADHD especially I when I eat peanuts and chocolate.

So there's this chocolate covered peanuts that I really really like and I don't know if you guys really like but I really really like and if they're here then I'm eating them all day breakfast lunch and dinner it doesn't matter but I have these sneezing fits where it's like if I'm in a car if I'm driving I have to pull over because I really see things my whole body like and I feel it coming and it's like this.

It's rude it is not a nice nobody wants to be around I don't even want to be around it and I found out it's this high histamine response from chocolate peanuts can do it so chocolate peanuts and then all this other stuff and I was like this makes sense as to why I had a sneezing fit in my bathroom three mornings ago.

And I one of those sneezing fits for like all of your like nasal passages and stuff all the way through your body feel different and you're like well that was that was a lot of energy so you being an ADHD coach I assume you're ADHD and I have met people before that try and coach neurodivergent people and they say they're not neurodivergent.

And I find it weird I don't like it I don't like it at all so tell me about how you figured out and identify that you are neurodivergent

Katie McManus: well I think my parents figured it out when I was a kid I was lucky you know and I have so many clients a lot of clients who come to me they you know just recently got diagnosed with ADHD in their thirties.

And it's mind boggling to me that they got this far without a diagnosis like there just had to be someone not paying attention you know earlier on in their life I also find a lot of my female clients are just getting diagnosed because a lot of the diagnostic criteria when they were a kid was focused more on how ADHD shows up in boys.

Right so they just didn't check the boxes which is infuriating to me so and also a lot of clients who say that they're not ADHD when they start working with me and then they start working with me and then they describe how they're getting stuck on stuff and I'm like you know that is a common thing with my clients who have ADHD.

And they're like really and then they start delving into the literature on it and they're like Oh Oh my God I think they have ADHD and it's funny I actually didn't I didn't start being a business coach specializing in ADHD it just I just naturally attracted cause I was so authentic and normal about who I am out on the interwebs that I just naturally attracted people who saw that I would understand them.

Melanie Branch: Yeah! Listen we have to naturally especially for all of us late realized right for all of us that are late realized we've been flocking together for the most part right I can reflect back on my friends in you know middle school high school elementary school they were not neurotypical all the people in my life that I've ever thought wow they're cool.

I want to be around them they were definitely not neurotypical right and then anybody that I looked up to as a kid or a younger person in like real life they were definitely neurodivergent you know if the only teacher that you ever really liked growing up was the art teacher I hate to tell you you're probably neurodivergent.

Yeah mm hmm

Katie McManus: yeah I hate to tell you or the teacher who's really like the history teacher who's really really good at telling stories and making things real for you and bringing different like weirdo details alive in class those were the teachers that I really vibed with

Melanie Branch: mr tuttle at Gulf Coast High School in Naples Florida if you're listening.

He also drove an old Volkswagen bus

Katie McManus: oh like like in what's the movie with you know no sunshine yeah

Melanie Branch: yeah yeah the old the old thing I was like now that I think back and I'm like he didn't live in it did he I hope not anyways let's get this train back on the tracks so how long have you been in the.

Business coaching game like how long have you been a coach

Katie McManus: I've been a coach for five years and I actually started off as a dating coach for men so this is the most ADHD hold

Melanie Branch: on you can't just skip over that you started as a dating coach for men

Katie McManus: yeah I was living in San Francisco Bay area and I don't know if you know anything about dating in San Francisco but it is.

And I'm sorry I don't know if I'm allowed to swear here anyway no fucking way

Melanie Branch: please keep it clean thank you okay

Katie McManus: thank you yeah anyway so I you know I was going through coach training and I'm like okay well what problem do I want to solve in the world and I was you know currently dating and I was like I just these guys don't understand.

They don't understand how they're screwing it up and so I just I want to fix them which isn't isn't like a great place to start with a coaching niche so you don't want to go out and fix people you want to help them become the best version of themselves so go out and I start networking and and marketing myself and I get all these people who are interested but they're all women.

And so I ended up being a dating coach for women and then all those women except for one ended up wanting like leadership coaching because how they were showing up at work was directly getting in the way of how they could be in a relationship and so I ended up doing leadership coaching with them which I'd also been trained in.

And and then all my coaching friends from school are like wait a minute how how did you how did you do that how are you getting clients how how do you sell how do you market how are you putting offers together how are you putting together your back end systems and I'm like wait you guys don't know this.

Cause I just completely took for granted that I had all this business experience that no one else had and so I started showing them and kind of tripped and fell into it and I I loved it so much more because I feel like I teach magic I feel like I teach outcome like how do you turn words into money and then do something that you truly enjoy doing every single damn day?

Yeah so yeah that's I kind of I tripped and fell into it honestly so I've been doing I've been doing business coaching for three and a half or four years

Melanie Branch: all right listen we all start somewhere and then it'll naturally progress you know I as a mindset coach as an energy healer and also as a psychic intuitive my foyer into running my own business was really much more intuitive based and focused more on you know cause I am woo woo.

That is one of my titles at the Neuro Spicy Academy is that I help people in the woo and woo adjacent space but it just when you can tap into your own intuition and when you can trust it and when you can really Get your your neurodivergent brain out of The state of fight or flight fawn or freeze and out of rumination and all of that because I mean we were raised I know I personally was raised to Be hypervigilant for a myriad of reasons and I identify with human giver syndrome which is something I've talked about in another episode which is essentially how you can Google it.

It's basically how women are raised to be hyper aware of the relation the condition of other people around them right so think about how you feel at Christmas time when you have the family over and the kids is everybody having a good time I'm not responsible for anybody else's emotions or thoughts or feelings or actions.

And that has been the one thing that I have to help my clients like instill in themselves because neurodivergent or not if you are raised female if you are an AFAB human being especially in the Western world you feel responsible for everybody around you

Katie McManus: a hundred percent you know you're basically describing my therapy sessions for the last two years.

Listen

Melanie Branch: listen therapy is so helpful somatic therapy is so helpful really as a neurodivergent person doing your research and then sticking it out of like something is not right with how I'm dealing with X Y or Z and I'm going to be the only person that can advocate for myself and I can have a coach.

I can have you know a mentor all of that that will help me stay on this path but you know as well as anybody else it's your own responsibility

Katie McManus: oh a hundred percent and I also want to like tap in here that sometimes we know stuff because we are so in tune with everyone around us and and whether it's our you know our intuition as female or as women our intuition as people with ADHD whatever.

We know shit and it could be our spirit guides telling us stuff it could be any downloads from the universe and we live in a world where people want to see evidence why we know it they want they want to know like well how do you know this is happening and I don't know I feel like there's just a lot of gaslighting that we do to ourselves because we're like well I don't know how I know what I know.

You know it just came to me and so maybe it's not true so let me just like shove that part of me down and not acknowledge it and don't let it breathe I think for a lot of us who are kind of doing this work for ourselves you know later in life we're really acknowledging okay wow I actually know things that the universe is just uploading to me in some way shape or form.

And I don't have to justify how I know this

Melanie Branch: yep yep that's one of the reasons actually that I don't work with men really I have just a few times in the past as a coach and you know I have in my home it is me my husband my two sons and my two male dogs I am surrounded by men so don't come at me and get mad at me for anything that I'm about to say but we are conditioned As women to have to explain herself and men for the most part are conditioned to expect an explanation.

So when I have a conversation with an AFAB human being and I say you know I've been I've been a business coach for this long I have a business degree yada That's not something that I have to explain to women every single time I open my mouth right if I say something that resonates with a woman she's going to go absolutely.

She may go later and say Hey you know how do you know this la la la but with a man instantly it's what do you you know you have to back it up like you have to every single sentence that comes out of your mouth instead of them just accepting it they're like well you know how it's like I'm not willing to validate myself anymore.

I'm not I'm not here for that I know what I know I've done all my research I've done all my reading I've done all my understanding and I'm here now to help ambitious neurodivergent women reach their goals when things like executive function get in the way imposter syndrome get in the way rejection sensitivity get in the way because I'll tell you what.

Your ADHD your neurodivergent your autism your dyslexia anything that you have and identify with it's not the problem not masking is your problem and not accommodating it is your problem right so how do you hold on my computer's being my computer's being slow there we go okay okay we're back what do you have to add to it?

Katie McManus: Well it's funny you know I attract a fair amount of men to work with me and they all have this intuition and this trust and I think they I don't know I I I have a very different experience of working with men I I don't know I think I think maybe the men that I attract into my business tend to just be very open to a different way of doing things.

Because they've seen how you know the bro guys out there who are telling people how to run businesses kind of run over each other like they're they're very shame based they're very negative they're very like dog eat dog and they don't want that they want to be in a very supportive loving environment where you know they get to be themselves and they get to be accepted for who they are in a way that you know isn't really modeled by a lot of men out there.

Melanie Branch: Yeah you know the concept of modeling is really transformative especially when it comes to coaching you know high achieving executive level business owners entrepreneurs and whatnot because when you transition from high masking and you know low support needs or what you think are low support needs and we have to transition you into unmasking and really supporting your needs.

We do have that fear of like oh well I'm not going to be able to take care of everybody the way that I always take care of them but you can continue taking care of them if you model the behavior that you expect from them right right you know so you know when I first started this healing journey back in 2020 when you know the world stopped and my mom died after an 18 month battle with stage 4 head and neck cancer huge spiritual awakening all the you know I if I could.

Go through everything that happened to me you wouldn't even believe it but I said right to my kids and my husband I said listen I am here for you to help you I'll love you and I want you to succeed but it is not my responsibility to know when you're going through something it's not my responsibility to read your fucking mind.

It's not my responsibility to constantly say to myself oh I wonder if they need anything I hope they're doing that's not on me so I will take care of myself to the nth degree and so when you have yeah when you need my help you can come to me and say hey mom or hey wife I could really use your help on this and I will have energy to give you.

Right but it's your responsibility to tell me hey I need some help so what are some of the challenges that you help your clients get through that pop up all the time cause I know that is a big one for my clients

Katie McManus: oh I mean for my clients it's a lot of shame with money you know like shame personal shame around believing that they're bad with money or believing that you know they're never going to have enough for that.

You know they have to be really really conscious of everything that they invest in or spend money on because you know they've had experiences where they made the wrong choice in the past and also a little bit of what you're naming like doing the emotional mental work for their potential clients.

Right I have I have many clients in the past who've come to me because they were way under charging right and they were under charging because they were like well I feel guilty charging more because my clients can't afford more and I'm like cool who told you that yeah who told you they can't afford more?

And they're like well I just know and I'm like cool like you know let's actually go and ask them yeah you know go and ask them what they can afford you know you have no idea what someone's what someone's financial situation is how much money they make you can make a whole bunch of assumptions I remember I so I used to work in the solar industry.

I was basically like the cable guy who came to your house and you know design a system and I remember I was in a ride along I had just gotten promoted into this role and I was in a ride along with this guy who had been with the company for years and we went to two different houses and one house the first house was.

Owned by this guy who is a cosmetic doctor I can't remember exactly what he specialized in you know he had all this beautiful custom furniture as a mansion his wife was gorgeous had had like very well done work done on her wearing all designer clothes and I'm like Oh my God this is going to be so easy.

Like they're they're going to close they're going to definitely sign up for this you know and neither one of them could pass a credit check because they both had had to declare bankruptcy twice and the second place we went to was this house where you know it was four generations in one roof you know all their furniture looked like it was from Costco.

Their clothes all looked like it was from Costco you know blue collar and like this guy had the best credit score of anyone that my colleague had ever seen and if I was talking to him about it he's like how did you get such a good credit score and you know what's your financial situation and this guy was a multimillionaire right?

You cannot assume shit about people and their their financial situation and also you know we're raised from a very young age from before we can even speak or understand what's being said to understand the energy people carry around money and the shame and the fear and the judgment that goes along with it.

And I mean when you're starting a business and when you have to start asking people to pay you dollars for the thing that you're doing that you're that is your gift and you're putting out into the world you have to untangle a lot of that crap so I spent a lot of time on relationship with money because You know you're never going to be able to build a six figure business a multiple six figure business or a seven figure business.

If you're not working on that first

Melanie Branch: absolutely scarcity mindset lack mindset limiting beliefs you know and they affect every part of your life and business not just not just money it's everything and there are ways you know throughout your day and every area of your life and your business that you can start rewiring that you know when you go to the grocery store everybody knows how expensive the grocery store is right now.

Everybody's aware of the inflation of the unreasonable inflation that we are nobody more than me with two teenagers in the house let me tell you and to boot I know you've probably already heard two snack sessions while we've been on this call anyways it's fine either here or there the kitchen's right there.

We live in a tiny home so you know when I am sitting there dropping a lot of money at the grocery store multiple times per week cause I also have ADHD and refuse to remember to bring my list you know I'm sitting there and when I'm cashing out I remember I say to myself I'm so happy grateful thankful and blessed that I can drop this money and get this food and not worry about a thing.

I'm so happy grateful thankful and blessed that my kids can open that pantry or open that fridge and if we're low on something that they want they say Hey mom you know I need more of this and I can just go get more right so reprogramming and reframing is so incredibly important it's been one of the most powerful tools that I can introduce into my clients lives and into the members of the Neuro Spicy Academy but there are also things to really help with organization.

And I'm looking at what I imagine is an organizational tool right behind you and wondering if you can help us with some organization organize organization tips and tricks geez Louise that was

Katie McManus: hard I didn't wanna just tell on myself I wish I could but honestly I filled this out about three weeks ago and I've never gone back to it.

Like honestly like I tracked my habits for two days and that was that week and you can see like my to-do list like I've gotten most of this done but I haven't gotten back to you know tracking it I so it's funny I used to do bullet journaling before I had my brain injury and I don't know what changed but I used to be able to map out information in a way that I'd be able to like track it and understand like what needs to happen next.

I can't do that anymore it's really interesting how your brain evolves as it overcomes trauma and different circumstances but yeah I organization is something that I really struggle with it's something I'm really good at for my clients yeah like I can I can be organized for them I can know how they should structure stuff.

But for me I'm way too close to it yeah

Melanie Branch: yeah so I have a few tools that have really helped me and they're available you know in all of my links so I have an energy optimization planner and I have a self care planner because what I have found is that there's so many elements involved in how good or bad I feel.

From tracking my fem cycle to the foods that I eat to the people that I spend time with to the tasks on my to do list or my agenda I'm not even calling it a to do list anymore it's just my agenda for the day and really assigning what times of the day what times of the week what times of the month what times of the year things are going to get done.

Right so like I don't want to Film content at 10 o'clock in the morning I'm just not there yet right and the lighting's not right in my kitchen where I film most of my content so naturally it has evolved that I'm going to film content between like 12 and 2 PM because that's when the lighting's the best.

That's when my energy is the best for it so to be ready to film content around those times like when I'm done here with you we're filming on a Sunday I'm going to take these lashes off I don't even have a bra on and I'm going to go lay down and I'm going to write down in my phone in my notes app.

Ideas that I have for the videos that I want to make this week so when it comes to a routine I hate that word they're so boring what's your routine nobody wants to talk about a routine that's gross and you're not going to be good at it if you have ADHD because it's not going to continue giving you dopamine once you get good at it because your brain's going to go well we mastered that.

Get to something else that we have to master right really having like systems standard operating procedures of like all right so when I wake up on a Monday and I haven't slept well but I have three calls this is what I do that has been so tremendously helpful so how have you found your energy?

Fluctuates based on how many people you have to work with how much content you have to make that sort of stuff

Katie McManus: yeah I mean so I block out my week so my clients can really only book on my calendar Tuesdays and Wednesdays and sometimes Fridays right so I find like you know stacking it that way so by Thursday I can kind of recover and do any admin stuff is really helpful.

I also have my group program BYOB build your own business on Thursdays love it I know I love like my my podcast called is called the weenie cast you know my money mindset program is called wealthy weenies I just my whole tagline is stopping a weenie and start your business already I love owning my own business so I can just name the shit completely weird.

But anyway so I block out my week in that way but I also just give myself three non negotiables every day you know the first non negotiable is visibility and I don't really care how I show up and I'm visible if it's commenting on 10 people's posts on LinkedIn that's fine if it's creating like a Tik and a LinkedIn post.

Wonderful you know but however I choose to show up that day I just have to like make sure that people know that I exist the second non negotiable is something to feed my soul and my spirit so it could be you know doing a tarot card session for myself it could be meditating it could be you know doing some casting.

It could be going for a walk with my dog and then of course something to take care of my body and so this is where I really read my energy because you know I think we all get on these tears of like I'm going to be super fit you know I'm going to hold myself to this really high standard and for me it's okay well if I'm my energy is really low then sometimes taking care of my body is a nap in the afternoon right?

And sometimes it's going to the gym and doing a cardio session and weight training and sometimes it's just driving to the gym and walking on the treadmill for 10 minutes and driving home yeah you know it's really it's paying attention to my body and not shaming myself for not sticking to the plan whatever the

Melanie Branch: plan was.

So one of my so I have an ebook called stop blocking your success and it is based on some of my no no words that are it's it's a list that you'll get when we start working one on one together and because when it comes to mindset work I was struggling with oh I want to be more positive but I don't know what the fuck that means right?

Like I don't know like I know that I'm not supposed to complain about things but there's sometimes things are so shitty like how do you not complain like it doesn't feel authentic if you're gonna do it right so I have a list of words that you want to eliminate or replace and one of them and the reason for this one One word that you will very rarely hear me say or you'll hear me correct myself if I say is should because shame lives in should.

Yeah

Katie McManus: I agree a hundred percent

Melanie Branch: and nothing good comes from you sitting around saying well I should have done X Y and Z today because first and foremost how do you know how do you know can you go back in time can you redo it can we did we not benefit at all from the choices that we made today?

Because it's really invalidating to say well I should have done you know I should have showed up more today how do you know right you know so really what what are some of the mindset hacks especially for a neurodivergent that you find the most beneficial

Katie McManus: oh I mean really tuning into my intuition I think so.

You know in our Western world we are trained that we have neurons in our brains and we do a lot of thinking there which we do we store a lot of memories there we also have a lot of our fear based parts of our brains there we have you know our language centers but we also have neurons throughout our hearts and throughout our digestive tracts.

Yeah right and so but the beautiful thing about your heart and your gut is that they don't have a lizard brain they don't have that brain that's like looking for the dangers in the world and so what I find is when I'm getting way too much in my head and getting freaked out and getting negative and I'm starting to spiral is I just kind of imagine like there's this ball of light that is just floating around in my skull and I draw it down and I plant it firmly in my heart and I let it just kind of like you know pulse there.

And I might like breathe and just imagine my lungs are like you know hugging my heart just tending to it and feeding it really yummy oxygen and I just asked my heart you know what do you know for me right now yeah and then I'll do the same into my gut and I firmly believe that you know it's very coachy language but like your inner leader lives in your heart and your intuition lives in your gut.

But I think as women we really have to give ourselves credit that when we know something in our heart or in our gut it's true

Melanie Branch: yeah your brain is on control no your brain is not calling the shots no you are not your thoughts you know you are the observer of your thoughts so when we can detach I found this to be most beneficial for a neurodivergent person when you can detach from your brain and say well my brain wants me to think this.

And then you can say well this isn't going to help me right so one question I ask myself all the time is who benefits from this great right so whether it's an old limiting belief or mindset you know there's a lot of it in you know the the fitness world and the wellness world right there's a lot of preconceived notions that really perpetuate lifestyles that are no longer something I'm interested in you know?

So you know when you catch yourself saying you know Oh well I shouldn't eat that or anything like that who benefits from you thinking that yeah you know if it's not you then let's change up the game because if you are the only one responsible for your wellbeing on this planet it's nobody else's responsibility right?

Katie McManus: You know and and bouncing off of that you know what is good and what is bad you know my relationship with food is something that I have been working on over the last 10 years and you know it evolved from well this is good food and that is bad food to all food is good it's all energy it's all something that if your body needs something.

You can give it to it you know there are foods that are more nutrient dense there are foods that you know have higher protein there are foods that you know have you know great amounts of fiber you know and it's important to give your body what it needs in those capacities but no food is bad and the same with habits you know like some may say it's lazy to take a nap in the middle of the day.

If you're an entrepreneur you got to hustle and fuck that like for me to be the best for my clients I have to be alert and I have to be creative and I have to have all my faculties if I'm too tired to do that then I'm not useful to them

Melanie Branch: yeah absolutely and you know there's so much you know what's the word not self help because that's not the term we like but there's so much personal development information out there.

That is not for neurodivergent people for 100 percent foremost something that I just found out the other day and changed my life is that our ADHD brain needs a level of stimulation to be able to fall asleep and I will give you the example I saw a tick tock video from a creator she's new to me I don't know if she's new to the world.

I wish I remembered her name but she was talking about how if you need the TV to fall asleep it's because it's that perfect amount of stimulation that your brain because when your brain when the when your your bedroom goes quiet or you turn on the rain sounds or whatever it is which is something I was always trying to do or turn on that guided meditation.

Right and you're listening to that your brain will start stimming right and that is what the you know replaying all of your failures from the past 25 years or figuring out the you know the the life changing routine that you're going to start tomorrow morning or

Katie McManus: that embarrassing moment that happened like 17 years ago that you.

Still turn red whenever you think about

Melanie Branch: it still right that's just your brain stimming so if you and we're all told if you want peaceful sleep your bedroom needs to be black and dark and there needs to be no light and there needs to be no sound you put me in a fucking vacuum like that bitch my brain my brain's going to go into overdrive.

It's going to be like there's something going on there's something going on did somebody break into the house is something happening here ah ah ah no so now I just have my phone playing with my I have sleep headphones that are like a headband and I just watch one of my emotional support shows like Veep or Downton Abbey whatever it is.

And I'm just going to sleep and when I wake up it's going to be on and I'm going to go Oh it was four episodes of play that was some good sleep let's go back to sleep now right because everything else that's out there it doesn't work for our brain

Katie McManus: yeah it's so funny you say that because my my go to shows are Downton Abbey and West Wing.

And then I also let Audible play on my phone to like the Harry Potter series oh I never thought about that yeah it has to be something that's like calm enough like drama enough that you get sucked into it and you can pay attention and like but you have to know what's going to happen next yeah.

You can't be

Melanie Branch: worried about like what am I going to miss though you have to be like it'll be here when I wake up

Katie McManus: oh yeah but it also can't have like big bangs and loud sounds it has to be kind of like calm

Melanie Branch: you know absolutely absolutely so let me ask you this okay oh my God I'm so glad you're here and you know Downton Abbey.

Oh my God I'm so excited hold on I have to try and okay so so all right bates on Downton Abbey and I apologize to anybody listening if you don't know down Abbey but I have to get this answered so I figured if this was a well known fan theory then I would have seen it on TikTok by now so maybe it's mine.

Maybe it's not that's why I haven't talked about it on TikTok yet cause I don't want everybody to be like everybody knows this so bait yeah on on Downton Abbey I think he is the most incredibly selfish man I've ever seen before in my fucking life and I hate him so much and I'll give you examples as to why.

Okay please so when his wife Anna has the baby in Mary's bed right and then the the Lord and lady of the house come in and they say Bates you know and he doesn't say my wife did so good my baby is so great la la la la he goes I'm a dad now I have a son ho la la la honey what'd you do there what'd you do there?

Really what was your role here you hobbled up the fucking stairs when it was all said and done everybody knows you're a dad he just doesn't bring anything to the table when he comes home from prison the second time I think it was the second time and they're all at Christmas celebrating and he just takes her like he almost puts his hand over her mouth to surprise her and then like takes her and whisks her off in the corner.

My husband's in the Navy I get it I know what a homecoming is like but like he's just so selfish am I the only one that sees it please tell me you

Katie McManus: know I agree with you I agree with you but I also think it was just men of the time you know because if you look at a lot of the other men in that show a lot of them are really fucking selfish like Carson you know autistic much

Melanie Branch: somebody in an autistic crowd.

Katie McManus: Yeah but when he and you know not miss O'Brien oh my God miss why Hughe first name hug Hughes Hughes thank you when he and Mrs hughes get married and he's like expecting her to cook dinner all the time and she has to pull that whole trick on him where she like pretends to sprain her wrist.

Yeah and then he has to

Melanie Branch: cook and then he has to clean he is you know

Katie McManus: so tired that he is like falling over in this chair all that and also you know let's look at Lord Grant them and how selfish he is you know as when the war ends he expects his wife to then just drop everything that she was interested in and just be at his you know his back and call.

Thank you that's the term and no she's she has a job now and she's excited and she wants to be out in the world and she has you know people out there who see something in her yeah who who wanted to value her opinion yeah yeah I mean I think I think all the men in that show are super fucking selfish.

And I think it's just a sign of the times yeah also can we just acknowledge you know Anna's young and hot I'm sorry Bates is not I

Melanie Branch: did not understand how everybody was so okay with that and I don't understand like and she's not a dumb girl but they really are trying to make her play simple

Katie McManus: right right right

Melanie Branch: right.

So straight you know what I really love about Downton Abbey so much and I don't talk about it nearly as much as I would like to one of the reasons that I love Downton Abbey so much is that I think it's such a wonderful metaphorical representation of what your relationship with your spirit guides are like and so the people that live in the house the lords the ladies all that like so I identify most with Mary not surprising.

And Mary has you know Carson who runs the house and is always working on her behalf behind the scenes whether she knows it or not and he also has opinions about how she should live her life but he can't tell her all of those and expect her to do it because that's not his his place right?

Spirit Guide anna always at her beck and call works directly for her loves her has her own stuff going on right so when we go to sleep our Spirit Guides go fuck around and find out they're not just sitting here waiting for us you know they have their own stuff to do but they're playing their role and trying to influence the turns that you take without being like this is what you have to do.

So and I like that you can see it's such a good metaphor for that the universe is always conspiring for you whether you can see it or not right you don't always have to go downstairs into the kitchen and see all the hubbubaloo that's happening to know that your dinner is going to arrive at 8 PM or whatever it is.

Right right

Katie McManus: well and can we also acknowledge you know Mary and Edith I mean they're terrible to each other they're awesome why I never understood why I mean do you have sisters yeah,

we didn't we didn't get along until the pandemic literally it was wild so I mean I saw I saw them and I'm like well yeah I kind of get it but let's acknowledge all the ways in which they fuck each other over leads to them both being happiest at the end right being in the right place with the right people having everything that they could possibly want that they didn't even know that they wanted.

Yeah right I mean I don't think Edith would have a career as a writer or own the magazine or you know be a doctor mary the highest ranking person in the land! I know! She wouldn't have any of that if Mary hadn't you know interfered in a lot of what she did early on

Melanie Branch: yeah absolutely oh God she'd be married.

Alright get the I just I love going off on tangents with you and to anybody that doesn't know Down Abbey just go ahead and give it a watch I didn't watch it until these past couple of years it had been out for a very long time and I had tried to watch it before and it just never it never took and then when it did take I can look back on what I was going through emotionally and and all that.

And it makes sense why it started right then and there so all right so you and I together can work on a TikTok series about this is what we can do

Katie McManus: that is absolutely next do you have have you seen the guilt gilded age

Melanie Branch: on HBO yes and it only has one season and it's pissing me off it needs to come back with another one.

Thank you very much let's go yeah is it oh yeah that one was a real mind fuck for me yeah it's the relationship between old money and new money is so just gross to me it's so gross to me that people and you know I've seen I've worked at a country club and you know done some other stuff in the service industry and you know people that really feel entitled to things but could never tell you like why.

That irritates me or people that feign interest in you know quote unquote the help or their employees or their staff whatever the correct term is people because I saw that a lot at the country club that I worked at for a blip you know like Oh so where do you live do you live on the island do you live over there?

It's like so you're instantly trying to measure me up cool oh do you have any kids oh you're instantly trying to figure out how young I had kids how old are they la la you don't give a shit about me why are we talking about this can we just talk as though I'm an equal but I also have the PDA profile of autism.

So I don't do well with authority

Katie McManus: well it's interesting because it actually has a lot of correlations to like old guard diagnosing of ADHD and ASD right like like if you talk to people who are old guard they want to stick to all these you know criteria that really don't match a lot of people who actually have ADHD and ASD.

But it's because they only did studies on you know hetero cisgender men white men for the most part who you know were able to exhibit their version of ADHD and ASD they never did research on how it shows up in women and young girls and people who aren't white and people who aren't straight you know?

And you know and you see how it it poorly impacts the whole world

Melanie Branch: oh yeah I mean can we use can we talk about the fact too that the diagnostic criteria in the DSM is written from how we are experienced or or or perceived it's not written from how we experience or perceive the world so of course you know if you say that it's these hundred lists of things make you autistic but it's written not from how I experienced things but how somebody would see it and somebody else I'm not going to identify with that.

No

Katie McManus: no no no no not at all right not at all I don't see myself as distractible yeah I I am focused I'm probably not focused on the thing you want me to focus on but I'm focused you know

Melanie Branch: yep yep that was one of the mind fucks for me too when I was actually taking medication for my A DH ADHD probably about 10 years ago or so.

Mm-Hmm and I do believe that everybody deserves the right to take medication mm-Hmm to figure out if it's right for them right but I do know it's very hard to get in with doctors to convince doctors that you need it there's so much that goes on with it but I remember I would take the medicine and be like yes I'm going to be able to get done my to do list today.

And I still had no control over what I would focus on

Katie McManus: yep

Melanie Branch: it's like okay well we were going to clean the house but now I'm somehow over here you know writing a thesis like what are we talking about so you still I want everybody to know it's not it's you don't just take a pill and everything's easy.

Yeah yeah your brain will quiet down a little bit and you'll be able to focus easier and for longer but you might you're still not gonna be in control of what that's going to be

Katie McManus: on right you could you could make a whole quilt but you didn't plan on making quilt that day I don't know if you experienced this cause I've actually struggled to utilize ADHD meds as an adult because as a kid like I it really helped me buckle down and do homework that I wasn't interested in.

But as a business owner who's utilized all of the ADHD strengths and the creativity and the ability to connect all the dots and all these wild ways whenever I take meds like all those voices go away I don't have access to them I tried taking those I'm in the middle of writing a book I've been in the middle of writing a book for forever now because I just can't finish it.

And I tried taking you know my meds one day and it completely quieted all the voices and I couldn't do anything

Melanie Branch: yeah it turned I stopped taking it because it turned off my creativity and I was like Would I rather have a clean house easily or easier than I ever have before and not have my spark?

Or would I rather have my spark and figure out how I can keep a cleaner house yeah

Katie McManus: but I mean to your point you know the DSM 5 is acknowledging how other people are experiencing us the medication they're giving us is making us easier to be experienced by other people it's not making our experience better.

Melanie Branch: Absolutely absolutely I don't you know I think that self diagnosis is incredibly powerful and here's the thing about self diagnosis to anybody who is either gaslighting themselves about it or is experiencing any sort of pushback from the people in their life when you get the flu or you get a cold you self diagnose and then go to the doctor for medicine.

And then you know you get the you get a cold you go to the doctor you say hey I got a cold they're gonna you know probably swab you or whatever to make sure it's X Y or Z or and know what the course of action is going to be but like it's the same thing with a sprained wrist right you know you had to have the idea first and say something does not feel right.

Something is going on here and then not for nothing I Did an episode with dr alicia who is a naturopathic doctor and she had explained there was another doctor that she really looks up to and I Could remember her name and find it in this book in front of me But i'm not going to and she really discusses how a medical doctor is there To keep you on the line of fine right?

So if you have a disease you go to a doctor a medical doctor right they are not the ones that are responsible for you to thrive right right that's right that's naturopath that's getting your Dutch test that's getting your blood work that's getting it from you know Oh well you look you look in the normal range and the normal range is 200 points.

And you're like I still have a problem though right right so really recognizing and advocating for yourself and doing your research I'm a huge proponent of supplementation for A DHD and I have a whole list of supplements that I have research and that I take every single day and really help me because again like you said the the voices they're not always bad.

Yeah yeah you know the the the the spark and the creativity it's needed when you're an entrepreneur right especially when you're

Katie McManus: anybody else entrepreneur especially when you're an entrepreneur supporting other entrepreneurs yes I guess

Melanie Branch: yeah you you can't absolutely and I mean can't buy without that spark.

You can't because marketing right I saw somebody else say this on TikTok so I hope I don't butcher it but like marketing for an entrepreneur is everything it's your relationships it's your sales ability it's your social media like marketing is what you're doing from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep.

Right it really is and if you're not getting that messaging right if you're not authentically showing up right and that also goes the other way around of knowing when to not show up right you know if you're tired baby don't try and go live and don't try and make fun upbeat content if you feel like shit.

Mm hmm yeah people are going to see it

Katie McManus: yeah I mean I'm a firm believer that you know words carry energy you know and so who do we attract when we're you know saying the words but with the wrong energy we attract like really dissonant people who aren't the ultimate great fit for us

Melanie Branch: yeah oh my God.

I'm so in love with you I'm so glad you're here all right before we get to the lightning round of fun ADHD related questions I'm going to have you plug your spot and tell everybody listening where they can find you where they can follow you and what all of your offers are and

Katie McManus: how they can work with you.

Yes so you can find me at katimcmanus com K A T I E M C M A N U S dot com you can also check me out on the weeniecast com my podcast is specifically for those of you who are starting businesses and need to know all that you need to know and you're not sure what you need to know I talk about all of it there.

And what else do you want me to say I forgot

Melanie Branch: what your current offers are how they can work with you yeah

Katie McManus: so I basically work with beginner business owners so if you're wanting to build your own business you can check out BYOB and that's all on my website and I train everything in a way that is very ADHD friendly.

You know I hate my pet peeve is those online courses that are 40 fucking minutes long each video and it's all just like fluff it's the person talking about their life story and like what their their dog you know Pogo did you know one time and taught them those lessons like fuck that no teach me teach me what to do.

And teach me how to do it and have me go do it so everything that I do in that program is is like that you know here's what you need to do here's why you need to do it here's how you do it go do it and I do group coaching with that program as well and i've just recently wound down taking one on one clients.

I'm full at this point yeah

Melanie Branch: We love that yay all right all right So and everything will be linked here for everybody to go straight to so are you ready for the lightning round I'm ready bring it All right and these are just stream of consciousness we're not going to overthink them great first and foremost what's your favorite social media platform?

LinkedIn ugh all right we'll talk about it afterward I need you to spark that joy in me we'll talk I've been trying so hard I did not I'll get there one day I

Katie McManus: think the key is you have to have like cool people that you're interacting with so often people get into this vortex of people who are just boring.

Yeah you have to you have to get connected up with some some interesting people how do you find cool people what are you searching on LinkedIn I'll I'll send you I'll send you

Melanie Branch: some people it doesn't make me any like I lit and I'm like I know how to use social media I I was around since MySpace like what are we talking about here?

It's not it's not a hard thing for me to understand how to navigate a platform but it's just like it's and it's so many people on LinkedIn that are reaching out to like just instantly try and sell you and I'm like yeah I hate that I don't even know who you are and I have the PDA profile like if you email me Hey I looked at your website but it could be better.

Or you email me Hey I looked at your Instagram but it could be better I will fuck it the first thing I say to somebody when they talk to me like that is they go what's the what's the what are we getting at here and then what's the end goal what's the end goal because I'm not I'm not gonna not gonna fucking be here for that.

So all right if you can give me the tips and tricks we'll talk about it after all right second question what is the most recent rabbit hole you've gone down oh

Katie McManus: Oh that's that's a hard

Melanie Branch: one other than task tracking behind you yeah

Katie McManus: right I didn't I as you can see I did not go deep into that it's interesting.

So I'm actually going into a lot of rabbit holes recently of of the like the female experience as it's specifically sexually so like you know in history whenever women misbehaved it was called hysteria huh right and and there's just been all these fucked up ways that people have been telling women that there's something wrong with them for forever when it's just how our bodies are.

It just us you know humaning with other humans and it just didn't make the other humans happy yeah I'm also obsessed with the fact that they didn't fully map out the clitoris until like I graduated high school it was 20 20 2007 like that's when they finally mapped out the clitoris like this major part of the female human experience.

Like they mapped out the penis they mapped out everything of course they did who was doing the mapping oh my God like I I'm really deep into that not to you know not intended I've been going down that particular rabbit hole

Melanie Branch: yeah listen first and foremost I saw again I read an article I saw a Tik Tok.

And this guy it was one of those you know they're filming a bunch of people it was a questionnaire sort of thing five against five that sort of stuff and a guy was like well I you know I just feel like men take on the most dangerous roles you know we're the most people that you know are in the army and we're the most people that are in the police and la la la la.

And we really have to and this woman she had the best fucking answer and she said who created that system so first and foremost don't come at me bro all right yeah third question and we've kind of already talked about this a little bit what is your emotional support show

Katie McManus: ooh okay so West wing.

West wing especially the first five seasons you know the later ones like they're on the campaign trail that kind of stresses me out downton Abbey yeah big one gilded Age again like where they're having like calm conversations and the drama is playing out in the conversations yeah those are my top three.

Melanie Branch: So I'm going to really encourage you to watch Veep

Katie McManus: you know I've seen it I've seen parts of it and here's where I struggle is there are moments that like I experienced embarrassment for other people so I

Melanie Branch: hate secondhand embarrassment too yeah

Katie McManus: yeah yeah yeah there are moments where I literally have to like get up and like walk away and be like no no no no no no no.

Like I can't watch Bridget Jones diary the office I really want to love the office there are some really fabulous fabulous funny moments and I just I can't do it I can't do it

Melanie Branch: sexist too I can't do it yeah

Katie McManus: if you haven't seen jury duty that just came out on prime I

Melanie Branch: can't take that on I can't take that on.

I feel so bad for the boy I feel so bad for him oh

Katie McManus: I mean really

Melanie Branch: that's it's so fucked up that they would do that to anybody that makes me so like they put James they put James Mardsen in there I can only imagine what my brain would be saying to me if they expected me to believe that James Mardsen was just going to do.

Like like I would it would just hurt me so bad I just can't watch it I think it's like I get it but like the clips I see of the boy's face where he's like and I recognize that emotion and I'm just like no I couldn't I absolutely can't but like for Veep what I really like about it is that there's so much neurodivergence baked into it.

And I can just see like her the Julia Louis Dreyfus her character is the most oddie HD person I've ever seen without a diagnosis in my fucking life and the way that she handles or mishandles in certain situations misreads certain situations and that sort of stuff but because everything is stacked for her in her favor right?

You know it all it all ends up working out but like if the intermingling of their relationships and stuff too I like neurodivergent coded characters right so I like to be able to be like okay well this person you know that sort of thing okay but you know I get if that's not for you it's not for you.

I am going to get into the West Wing though because you're not the first person to talk about it in these past couple of days with me and it's an older show so I know that's a sign all right have you consumed water today and do you want to share your emotional support cup with the

Katie McManus: class this is my emotional support cup.

I will get one of these a week until it gets gross and I know I know you're supposed to get like and you know this is this is the programming that the world has done to me I'm an environmentalist I care about the world I don't want you know unnecessary plastics and yet I can't drink water unless it's out of like a bottle.

That's particularly this size sensory that doesn't have BPA and I reuse it as much as I can until like the water really starts tasting gross listen yeah I know I'm happy

Melanie Branch: for you I'm happy for you

Katie McManus: I'm yeah this is it essentia you know

Melanie Branch: so Bye as long as we get the water in Yeah I'm here for it.

Absolutely listen you buying one of those a week is better than however often I remember to clean my straw ha ha Not for nothing so no judgement here I'm just glad that you're getting your water in thank you and then your last question what is your current dopamine snack or meal

Katie McManus: oooooooh okay so my current dopamine snack.

You Oh my current dopamine meal is these protein waffles from their Bertrand Bender they're like you know two waffles is like 12 grams of protein I get really stubborn about eating in the morning yes I wake up and I'm hungry but I get bitter about the fact that I have to go and do something I have to go and like take action and then I have to chew it and then I have to swallow it.

And this is like the easiest thing that I've been able to figure out just pop in the toaster and then you just like eat it with your coffee and it doesn't taste like anything I don't know if you experienced this but anything that has too much flavor in the morning like is overwhelming to me I can't.

I can't have anything that's too salty I can't have anything sweet I need something that just has no flavor whatsoever and has no work attached to it so that's my dopamine meal and then oh dopamine snack I mean I'm kind of coming off of one right now so I Oh that's the worst

Melanie Branch: when you don't have a replacement on

Katie McManus: deck.

No I know I know so I'm like kind of cycling through what my old ones were but my my the one that I'm cycling off right now was like a bowl of berries you know specifically raspberries blueberries and blackberries together cause I kind of like how the tart and sweetness kind of you know cycles through and I mean you know it's like you have to have the raspberry first and then you have to have the blackberry and then you have to have the blueberry and then you can just kind of have to go around that way.

Melanie Branch: I'm a firm believer and I sometimes I can't fuck with blueberries cause you never know what you're going to get yeah right mm hmm yeah you never know if I'm in the tart mood I have been very pro grape lately and I'll just wash them and put them in a bowl with a little paper towel underneath them and then not even cover them.

So every time I open up the fridge I can just grab a couple and keep it moving I will tell you as a person who is just now finding out like the difference between like Um an ingredients household and not an ingredients household and the stigma that comes along with it I would take it a step further and say we are a dopamine meal household.

So lately I've done some weird stuff like the public's brand garlic bread that's almost like the Texas toast but they're not as big right so like the slices of garlic bread that you can either get with the stuff all of them or with the cheese on one side of them right you can put them in the air fryer and then cook them until they're good and crispy.

It only takes like 10 minutes total with the preheat not that I have this all memorized or anything and then to get my protein I put cottage cheese on them and a little bit of avocado and like some sesame seeds and some salt and I just go to town on that but because it's a thick crunchy bread you can put a lot of that soft mushy stuff on there and you're right.

You're full for hours right right right right hours you're right and then I've also learned recently and this is something I just tell anybody that's willing to listen about avocados the avocados with the big pit are the round ones the ones that are pointy are the ones that have a tiny pit because it's the female and the male one.

So when you're getting your avocados you got to get the oblong ones not the rounder ones or that's why you're going to end up because I've seen some pits before that I was like I just feel like there's not even any meat in here no no it's all pit yeah it's frustrating yeah because you can't eat that.

I mean you can if you like but it's like I'm here for the the meat yeah

Katie McManus: right have you have you done the everything but the bagel shake from trader Joe's

Melanie Branch: not specifically from them but everything but the bagel is usually too salty for me I have to just use individual ingredients because I like my salt but not if that's like the only or there's like a lot of onion in them.

And I'm like

Katie McManus: I like my seeds yeah yeah fair so for anyone who likes avocado toast like Dave's killer bread with avocado on top that and then if you want to add a little more protein like a boiled a soft boiled egg on top Oh it's to die for yeah that might actually be my new dopamine thing my new dopamine

Melanie Branch: meal.

Listen take a picture on your Instagram and tag me in it and then you can thank me for it because I'm I'm headed to a new dopamine meal myself and I just have to figure out what it is today actually recently I've been doing grits or polenta with cottage cheese put inside of it cause you can't even really tell it's there.

And it's like gonna pack all the cause I need my carbs that's it same I'm not doing no carbs ever again and now I understand that carbs just need some protein and some fat and everything's you know kosher easy peasy lemon squeezy yeah mm hmm yay! All right Katie

Katie McManus: no go ahead no when did we decide that carbs were bad?

Our brains need them keto our brains literally need them keto did it for

Melanie Branch: me okay got it keto did it for me yeah keto did it and from like 2017 to probably about 2019 keto really did me in and listen mm you got to know what works for you right cause there's if there's histamine in food that may be interacting with you right?

Some people need the FODMAP diet some people need this some people need that it's your responsibility to fuck around and find out and figure out what works best for you right you know and we have the hopefully you have the time and the freedom to do that if not you know hit up me or hit up Katie McManus over here to coach you into the lifestyle and business that will supply you with that

Katie McManus: ability.

Lifestyle to Melanie I'll take the business I don't like the lifestyle bit what

Melanie Branch: no it's a business too but lifestyle is intertwined when you're an entrepreneur a hundred

Katie McManus: percent but I would rather prefer someone else get my clients get their lifestyle stuff from someone else because we do so much business building in my work with them.

Yeah that I just I only want to focus on that I feel like the

Melanie Branch: new business owners and the new business starters I remember the concerns that come with that and it's so lovely because they still you know it's like the difference between college football players and professional football players.

There's just a different there's a different drive in them it's just like oh I want to do this and I want to do that and you know when you're when you're doing what I do and you're taking somebody from on the rise to super well known that's a whole different oh yeah tana issues

Katie McManus: you know well there's mindset for being seen but then there's like Oh well how how do I manage my workout?

And like my relationship with this like that is welcome in my sessions but I find that sometimes that becomes a delay tactic to not do the work in the business they're like Oh well you know I'm having this disagreement with my friend let's just talk about that and well you need other support then.

Yeah

Melanie Branch: absolutely there's so many and there's so many great ways to get support nowadays and we have access to so much more support if you simply know where to look and you say you know consistent with it of like I deserve

Katie McManus: this yes yes yes yes

Melanie Branch: all right katie McManus I love you so much for being on the show and thank you for being here.

And I can't wait to pick your brain about LinkedIn and other stuff as soon as we stop recording

Katie McManus: sounds great thank you so much for having

Melanie Branch: me all right love you guys equally and for different reasons