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Magician and speaker John Michael Hinton grew up full of energy. As a kid, he lived abroad and stood out for his high energy. His parents noticed early on that caffeine seemed to calm him down, a clue that something deeper might be going on.
John Michael — who performs a few magic tricks in the episode! — talks with host Laura Key about how things fell apart academically in his freshman year of high school, leading to a 1.7 GPA. An ADHD diagnosis helped him get the support he needed. The biggest turning point came thanks to a mentor who encouraged him to stop living in “Ready, FIRE, Aim” mode and start thinking “Ready, AIM, Fire.”
Now a husband and father of three (all with ADHD, too), John Michael explains how ADHD fuels his creativity, curiosity, and performance style.
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Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(01:01) Growing up undiagnosed while moving around internationally, and being diagnosed in the states as a teenager
(06:19) College, rejection sensitivity dysphoria, and creativity
(09:01) Magic trick break #1
(11:15) ADHD and performing magic on stage
(13:15) Being remembered as the “weird kid” and using mentors to mature
(16:12) “Ready, aim, fire” instead of “Ready, fire, aim”
(17:50) Magic trick break #2
(19:15) Incorporating ADHD into his magic acts
(21:13) Home life with an entire ADHD family
(22:42) A message to all the other “spazzes” out there
(25:19) Outro and credits
We love hearing from our listeners! Email us at adhdaha@understood.org or record a message for us here.
Episode transcript
John Michael Hinton: I remember what one mentor told me. He said, you know, John, it's like you have this mantra of ready, fire, aim, which is backwards. It should be ready, aim, fire. And you just, if you're ready, you fire. And maybe we should take some more time with the aiming. And, I mean that's huge, right? Even just to take a breath, even in your ADHD brain when it feels like so boring and it's so much time, I bet if you record yourself and watch that back, it was only a split second, even though in your mind it felt like 5 million years to aim.
(Podcast theme music plays)
Laura Key: This is "ADHD Aha!," a podcast where people share the moment when it finally clicked that they have ADHD. My name is Laura Key. I head up our editorial team here at Understood.org. And as someone who's had my own ADHD aha moment, I'll be your host.
I am here today with speaker, magician, and redhead, John Michael Hinton. That brief bio coming from how you describe yourself on your website. Speaker, magician, and redhead. I love it. Welcome, John Michael. How are you?
John Michael Hinton: Ah, thank you so much for having me. It's awesome to be here.
Laura Key: I'm sure lots of people are listening on like Spotify and and Apple, but we are also on YouTube if you want to see John Michael's awesome hair, by the way. And I think that John Michael later in this interview is going to be doing some magic tricks for us.
John Michael Hinton: True story.
Laura Key: So, we'll encourage folks to hop over there to be able to see the magic tricks.
Laura Key: So you moved around a lot growing up. Can we start there? Can you talk about what growing up was like for you?
John Michael Hinton: Yeah. So, I mean, I was born in the U.S., but I in first grade moved to Saudi Arabia. First through eighth grade was in Saudi Arabia, then in Missouri, then college in California. I've lived in Paris, France, Malaysia. I've lived everywhere. But Saudi Arabia was kind of crazy. Third grade, I mean, not too many people look like me in Saudi Arabia with red hair and blue eyes.
But third grade was the first Gulf War when Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait. And so I got to carry a gas mask to school. Actually, I had a scud missile land within a mile of my house. I once was in a terrorist drive-by shooting when we actually, we were doing magic. My dad also does magic. That's where I learned this.
And, um, we were entertaining the troops, and we were out there at their barracks afterwards, just kind of hanging out with them when all of a sudden we heard a pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
Laura Key: Wow. That's an intense way to grow up.
Laura Key: And I want to talk about for now, what it was like growing up with ADHD, with undiagnosed ADHD, and then how you eventually came to get diagnosed with ADHD as a teenager.
John Michael Hinton: Yeah. So in Saudi Arabia, not too many psychiatrists and psychologists over there believe in ADHD. My parents worked for the Saudi Aramco, the oil company, my dad did. And my mom actually, I remember she's told me this that one time when we were visiting the U.S., she tried to get me diagnosed. But also this was in the early, early '90s and the guy didn't know me and he was just like, ah, I think you just need to figure this out, lady. And so then I went back.
My mom, dad were trying to figure out. They knew that I was super hyper, but also that I was having a hard time focusing. And it actually came down to, they realized if they gave me caffeine, then I was calmer. I remember one time we ran out of Pepsi in the house, and my sister literally, who's five years older and the extreme opposite of me, she grabbed her allowance money and took it to my parents and said, "Please go buy him caffeine. I will do whatever it takes to get him on some caffeine so he can calm down."
Laura Key: The relationship between ADHD and caffeine is so interesting. Just anecdotally, you're the third person I've talked to over the course of the last few weeks who has mentioned how as a kid they needed caffeine. It was kind of like their substitute stimulant. Not advocating for this, like, you know, just talk to your doctor, talk to your health care professional, but there is something there. There is a relationship there for sure.
You had this kind of like workaround, but I imagine that you hit a wall eventually, right, as you as you got older? Like that wouldn't sustain you. Man can not--ADHD child cannot live on Mountain Dew alone, right?
John Michael Hinton: That's awesome. That's very scriptural. Yeah, you know, luckily, I was given lots of smarts. I'm really intelligent, and so I coasted as much as I could through elementary. Middle school was hard, but I somehow got through ninth grade. I had a 1.7 GPA. I still remember one time trying to sleep in my English class and one of the other students was ratting me out and like, "Teacher, he's sleeping." And she literally said, "Just let him sleep, it's easier."
So my parents were trying to get me some help. So in between my freshman and sophomore year, got me diagnosed, got me on meds, which I know everybody has their different path. Meds was helpful to me. I've been on all the different ones. And literally went from a 1.7 to a 2.5, graduated with an accumulative of a 2.9, so I was able to pull my grade way up.
You say the aha moment. I remember my sophomore year, I'm on meds for a while and I read my first novel. And I remember telling my mom like, this is so weird. It's, well, it's like when I take my meds, it's like I only have two or three thoughts in my brain. And she was like, "What do you mean?" I'm like, well, normally there's so many, but it's like everything was like shhh. And it was like, oh, that's cool.
Sometimes that was annoying because I missed all my thoughts. I like all my thoughts. But for studying in a neurotypical directed environment, it was helpful.
Laura Key: Do you remember what in particular you were struggling with leading up to that? Was it, like you're talking about these middle school into early high school years, that's probably tons of executive function and organization.
John Michael Hinton: Well, I remember like my parents would work hours with me just to get math homework done or whatever done. But if I left it in my locker between hours, I wouldn't care. And it got to the point by the time, middle school was so hard. And by the time my freshman year, I think I started self-sabotaging because I was tired of, I don't know what's wrong with me, but obviously I can't do this.
So I was like, well, screw it. I'm in control if I'm going to fail, it's because I chose to fail, which is not healthy. But that's where I was — my freshman year of high school.
Laura Key: When you got to college, were you worried that you were going to fall into like kind of a spiral similar to high school?
John Michael Hinton: Oh, of course. Actually, halfway through college, I remember it was getting so hard and so I went to the guidance counselor. And the guidance counselor, and I think she meant this as a good thing, but how it came out, she said, "Wow, I just can't believe that you've made it this far." And to me, I was like, oh, I heard it as, you suck, obviously. I can't believe you're even in college.
And also, I stopped taking ADHD meds halfway through my freshman year because I ran out, and it was too much to figure out. I was going, I was out of state. I couldn't think of how to go to a doctor unless it was an emergency. I couldn't think of how to make appointments. And all this--and then after that, we joke in our household that we all need ADHD meds to remember to go get our ADHD meds.
Laura Key: What has stuck with you about that experience in high school and college that was maybe is hard to shake when it comes to ADHD?
John Michael Hinton: I can't remember the proper term for this. My wife does all the research. My wife has ADHD. All three of my children have ADHD, and we've had many tears of, what do we do? Um, and one of my biggest struggles is I feel like I suck all the time.
Laura Key: Rejection sensitivity dysphoria.
John Michael Hinton: That's it. I have that all the time. I literally have checks that haven't been put into my bank account sitting right--I have four of them right there that all I need to do now is open the app and do it. And for a normal person, it's like, just do it. I have three invoices on my computer right here that I need to write invoices and send them out. And all the time, it's just like, OK, you, you suck. And it, it just over and over, you just see that. And so that's just hard because that's not fun.
Creative stuff is fun, which by the way, is one of the best things I think that we can tell a lot of ADHD people, um, is find something creative that you enjoy doing and then do it. My hours are creative. I'm one of the lucky ones. I literally set my hours. I, most of the things I do are at night, so I get to go be the life of the party and get paid for it. Who knew that was a thing? But somehow I pay my mortgage by putting on magic shows and speaking and, but also that means it's project-driven, if you look at my job. It's, I have to do this big thing here.
Now, I do have to do these other small things like math homework, like cashing checks, which that, that most people would hear that and be like, you, what, what do you mean you're not cashing checks? Because it takes executive function to do it. And it's, and until I need the money, it's easier. Like, oh, it's just right there. I have the money. No, it's good. It's not in my bank account. Um, which is so stupid, but it's...
Laura Key: Do you want to do some magic tricks now, or do you want to save that?
John Michael Hinton: Yeah, yeah, I can totally do some. Let's see. Here. I'm known in the magic community for what I do with Rubik's Cube, which, by the way, if you just go, I was on "Penn & Teller: Fool Us." So if you can't see this, go onto YouTube. You'll find this trick. So you can see this is mixed. Um, watch very carefully.
Laura Key: For those listening, there's a Rubik's Cube. It's all appropriately mixed up.
John Michael Hinton: And John Michael hasn't taken--what!
(John Michael solves the Rubik's Cube in one second)
Laura Key: That, OK. So what I just did for everybody listening, that was 20 moves in a second. Here, let me show you what I mean. That's, uh, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. So right now, you can verify we are 20 moves away.
Laura Key: He's done 20 moves on a Rubik's Cube. It's all mixed up. OK. And now he's...
John Michael Hinton: And here we go. 20 moves in a second. You'll probably hear every move. Watch. Or listen. There it is. Uh, 20 moves in a second.
Laura Key: It's perfect. And now the Rubik's Cube is perfectly, like, all the blues on one side, all the whites on one side, the green, the red.
John Michael Hinton: That was wild. This one...
Laura Key: Is that a trick Rubik's Cube?
John Michael Hinton: No, it's a normal Rubik's Cube. I'm just a geek who practices way too much.
Laura Key: I love that magic so much. That's so cool.
John Michael Hinton: Well, here, here's this one. This one's fun. This one's more magical. That's skill.
Laura Key: All right, let's, let's describe it. Let's describe it. That one was a skill one.
John Michael Hinton: Well, here, I have a little bit of cash. Um, and, oh, what are these? What are these? I'm showing you.
Laura Key: One dollar bills. OK.
John Michael Hinton: And it's front and back, right? Like, this is legit. I'm not, I'm not cheating yet.
Laura Key: Real money. Yep. George Washington.
John Michael Hinton: I have one, two, three, how many dollars?
Laura Key: Four dollars. Four one-dollar bills.
John Michael Hinton: Showing this straight to the camera so you can see, like, that I'm not cheating yet. Uh, if I snap.
Laura Key: OK.
(John Michael snaps and turns the one dollar bills into 100 dollar bills)
Laura Key: Those one-dollar bills just became $100 bills.
John Michael Hinton: Yeah, that's Benjamin Franklin. We're much bigger fans of him. Which now look, that is 100, 200, 300, that is $400. Um...
Laura Key: So wait a minute. It's OK that you don't remember to cash your checks, because you can do that.
John Michael Hinton: If only this wasn't an illusion, that would be awesome.
(Podcast music plays)
Laura Key: Do you have any specific examples of your ADHD either getting in the way of a performance or enhancing it? Like while you're in the moment?
John Michael Hinton: Well, so, because I've studied, because I've done everything, I love improv. And improv and ADHD go hand in hand because we have so many things that we're thinking of all the time. It's just picking the right one. And so honing in that improv, honing in that creative, um, there was once when I was on, when I was on stage and so every show is a good show, almost every show, because the show must go on. I figure it out.
But there was this one show, it was one of the greatest shows I've done in the last 10 years. The audience was in my hand. I mean, there was probably 3,000 people there, like, and everybody was just hanging on every word. It was fun. And in the middle of it, I do this dollar bill trick. And my wife is my camera person, and she's seen this trick over and over. She knows what's supposed to happen. And so in the middle of it, I literally grab my hair and, if you're not looking at this, my hair, I don't know how, how many inches is that?
Laura Key: That's like, that's like five inches. Yeah, five inches. That's like, it's like a Louboutin. All right?
John Michael Hinton: Yeah, it's crazy and weird. But literally, I just grabbed my hair in the middle of it, and I started doing this. And my wife's like, "What is he doing?"
Laura Key: He's twisting his hair in his fingers for those listening.
John Michael Hinton: And then it's like Moses with the Red Sea. We split it, and I looked at the camera with the biggest eyes I possibly could, and then I grabbed the bill and I did the magic motion, and then I did all--and my wife was like, "What are you doing?" And then I, you know, fixed my hair, and it was, it was stupid. Absolutely stupid.
Laura Key: So random. Yeah.
John Michael Hinton: Completely random. My wife was like, "What made you think to do that?" And I was like, "I don't know." It sounded fun.
Laura Key: Did it work? Did it get a reaction?
John Michael Hinton: The audience lost it. Now to the point that after I did that once on a whim, it's in every one of my shows. I did this trick on TV just so I could do this hair split. And that was simply because I was in the moment. I was like, this sounds like fun. Luckily, it worked because playing with your hair at all is, is awkward.
Laura Key: So the impulsivity working in your favor in this line of work. Were you a class clown growing up?
John Michael Hinton: I wanted to be a class clown, but I wasn't. I was the annoying, spazzy kid. I used to work with youth, and the other youth leaders were talking recently. One of them's still one of my best friends. The other one I hadn't heard from him in 10 years. So he called the other guy, the guy I hadn't heard from forever, and called my best friend. He was like, "Hey, do you remember that spazzy red-headed kid who did some magic tricks? Dude, I just saw him on 'Penn & Teller: Fool Us.' Apparently, he's been on there a couple times. Dude, he got good. Like, he, I mean, he's a spaz, and he's weird, but he got good."
And that's like, that's what everybody remembers me as. Even if you saw me the first three years of my six-year journey in college, because I needed all the time in college, if you knew me the first three years and then you talked to people who knew me the last three years when I had a little more maturity and I figured out some more stuff, you would think they were describing different people. Halfway through college is when I really started, I had some good mentors who were like, dude, maybe let's work on this, maybe let's work on this.
And honestly, that's one of the best things, is having people, because we don't know how to self-regulate. And so having those people to say, maybe try this instead, that you trust, that was a huge eye-opener for me.
Laura Key: Are these like life skills mentors or, or magic mentors?
John Michael Hinton: Life skills, life skills for sure.
Laura Key: And did you seek them out, or did they find you? I don't know how that would work.
John Michael Hinton: Maybe both. Um, some people are like, dude, let me help you, buddy. No, I did seek them out because of that rejection dysphoria thing that you said. I also heard this, and I know every ADHD person's heard this: he has so much potential, but. And I was tired of hearing that. So I'm like, well, apparently I have all this potential, but I don't know how to get there. And so I started looking at people who I admired, like, how did you get there? How did you get there? How did--well, you know, maybe not do this, or maybe try this.
And I remember in college, early, I would say, well, one day I'll be able to be like this. Like, I even was trying to just speak that into myself to the point that I remember a friend of mine was like, maybe just try to be it instead of saying, well, one day. And it was me apologizing. It was me trying to let that rejection dysphoria, like, ah, I know I'm not good right now, but someday, just hold on. Just hold on, I'll be OK.
And then now that I have a little more maturity, honestly, I love recognizing it in other people and pouring into them. I remember there was this kid when I was a senior in college, and people just could not stand him. And I was like, just give him some time. He annoyed the crap out of me. I didn't know what to do with him, but I, I recognized all of me in him and all the ADHD and not being able--and I was like, hey, dude, what if we tried this? He's like, oh yeah, that's good. Oh, that's--and by the way, if you met him now, he's amazing. He's incredible. Why? Because he just needed a little bit more maturity.
Laura Key: Yeah. ADHD brains kind of take a little longer.
John Michael Hinton: We're a few years behind, especially socially. And it takes us a little longer, and that's OK. And it does suck going through it.
Laura Key: What was something that somebody told you that really was a difference-maker?
John Michael Hinton: One mentor told me he said, "You know, John, it's like you have this mantra of ready, fire, aim," which is backwards. It should be ready, aim, fire. And you just, if you're ready, you fire. And maybe we should take some more time with the aiming.
And, I mean, that's huge, right? Even just to take a breath, even in your ADHD brain when it feels so boring and it's so much time, I bet if you record yourself and watch that back, it was only a split second, even though in your mind it felt like 5 million years to aim. And that's, I know that's really hard, but that is something that I try to do all the time.
Even if you have to like have that moment where you go, I've seen myself do it in this interview, but it's my brain's working so fast that I, I, I have to think of what the words are, which is another reason I'm so scripted when I do my magic shows, because I know exactly what I'm supposed to say.
Once in a while, if I'm feeling really good, I know I can have those extra split my hair moments. But mostly, even though if you watch my magic show, it's going to feel very ADHD, it's going to feel very chaotic, it's going to feel like everything's just coming off the cuff. It was created that way, but now it's scripted that way.
Laura Key: I love that. That's such a great shorthand, the ready, fire, aim, like you can, yeah, it really kind of packs a punch of, wait, oh yeah, this doesn't, because when you first said it, I was like, wait, he's saying it wrong. And now I'm like, oh wait, I get it. So, I was a little behind on that one. It took me a second.
John Michael Hinton: Yeah, I go a little fast. Keep up. Uh, oh, here, here, I'm going to find the…
Laura Key: Shots fired without aiming.
John Michael Hinton: Let me show you the trick. This is the trick that literally in my show is designed with ADHD in mind.
Laura Key: I feel so special right now. This is a dream come true for me.
John Michael Hinton: OK, how many cards do I have?
Laura Key: Four cards.
John Michael Hinton: Four. What color?
Laura Key: They're blue.
John Michael Hinton: Blue. And oh, let me show you the other side. It's important what the four cards are. And what are the four cards?
Laura Key: There are four Jokers.
John Michael Hinton: Four Jokers. True story, the other day, uh, because I, in my show, I use a camera because I do close-up magic for the stage. So I use a camera that's projected onto a big screen or a big LED wall or whatever. And I was doing this trick, and I took one of the Jokers apart from the rest of the cards.
So I'm holding the, one of the Jokers. You can see the Joker away from the rest of the cards, and I took it near the top of the screen, kind of like I'm taking it near the top of the screen here. And this 12-year-old boy yelled out. He said, "Hey!"
Laura Key: Was, was his voice cracking? Was he going through puberty?
John Michael Hinton: Apparently. He said, "Hey!" He said, "Somebody above him switched it." It's just me here in the office, but I did switch it. Was that too fast?
Laura Key: Oh, he flipped it from the Joker side to the other side, and now it's a red card and not a blue side. OK.
John Michael Hinton: So yeah, um, I have three blue, but one red, but if I just snap, I can make all of them turn into red.
Laura Key: Stop. Now they're all red. You know what? They're red.
John Michael Hinton: If you're going to switch the backs, why don't you switch the fronts? So instead of Jokers, we can use, um, Aces, right?
Laura Key: He's snapping his fingers and now they're not Jokers. They're aces.
John Michael Hinton: Not just one ace, but let's make all four of them Aces.
Laura Key: Oh my gosh. If you were playing pinochle right now, as I like to do because I'm an old lady, that would be a great hand. Yeah.
John Michael Hinton: So, in this trick, when I'm doing it, I say, was that too fast three times? Saying it kind of is a joke, but what I'm saying is, was that too fast? Was that too fast? The next trick, I say it one time. The next trick, I say, I'm sorry, I have ADHD and it's, it's fun. Try to keep up. And then I'm like, I'll try to go slower. And then I literally say, nope, I guess I can't go slower. I'm sorry, you're just going to have to keep up.
And literally, that's designed for two reasons. One, it kind of says who my character is in my show. Hey, I have ADHD, this is fun, this is chaotic, this is crazy. But also it's saying we're not in a neurotypical environment. And if you're neurotypical, I'm sorry, you're going to have to come up to where I am. It's not trying to be mean or whatever, but it's literally saying, I play in your world, play in mine.
Laura Key: You know what I like about what you just said? You said, "you have to come up to where I am," not "down to where I am." And I think that so many kids with ADHD are probably feeling like, oh, I'm, I'm a step down, right? I'm getting, like, I'm having trouble keeping up in school, blah, blah, blah. And you're like, no, no, you're the one who's not keeping up. Come up here with me. I love it. Ooh. I love it.
John Michael Hinton: I don't know if you did that intentionally, but I'm holding it. No, I didn't. Maybe even up is the wrong thing. Just come to my world.
Laura Key: Yeah. I like the up though. I think it sends a message. Yeah.
John Michael Hinton: It is up in so many ways, right? Like, I remember being told once I was diagnosed, well, these actors have ADHD. Oh, OK. Oh, this person has ADHD. Well, actually, most of the people who founded companies probably have ADHD. Now, they can't keep them running, and they have to have an executive under them to make it happen. And it's that creativity, it's, it's awesome.
And again, I love that I have a job that I get to play with creativity. Maybe it's because I believe my parents when they told me that I could be anything I wanted to, and, um, I went for it and became a professional magician. Me.
(Podcast music plays)
Laura Key: All right. So full family of ADHD. Three kids, all with ADHD. Wife with ADHD, but a different subtype of ADHD. What's it like in your house?
John Michael Hinton: Oh, it's chaotic and loud. Um, it's crazy. Well, and this is, I think, one of the hard things for people who have matured who have ADHD, is we get very easily annoyed with those who have not matured because I think we recognize the things that we don't like about ourselves, that we were rejected for or whatever.
And so my older kids to my youngest, they're just like, "Come on, Jude." Nope. I, "Oh, Jude, I get it. You want to run around. I used to too, but you have to sit down." And it's like, "Hey, let us parent. You were just like that."
"Well, I know I was, but it's just he, we're trying to eat dinner." I'm like, "Uh-huh." And then they're like, "Well, I just want him to be quiet." "Oh my god, it." And you're like, "OK, now you're being loud." "But I, but I'm being loud appropriately." "No, you weren't." But I'm glad you thought so.
And then, of course, my wife and I are being really loud all the--it's, but again, we recognize the how other people need to mature, and it drives us nuts. And that's a lot with at least the siblings in my household, because I have a 16-year-old daughter, a 14-year-old son, and a six-year-old son. And so, I mean, they try with their brother, but my daughter often just will check out. Like, I just can't handle him right now. My son tries to help him and give him ideas, which he's going to be a great mentor. Like, someday when he is ready to mature, man, his older brother's going to be perfect for him.
Laura Key: Is there a message that you want to send out to, and I'm going to put this in quotes, to all the "spazzes" out there? But you on the spot, I realized that.
John Michael Hinton: Yeah, it's really hard because when you are somebody who thinks you suck every day, you have to stop believing the lies. And actually in my show, I say that. I look, you need to stop believing the lies, whatever those lies are. The person who lies to me the most is the guy who watches me brush my teeth every morning. It's me. It's not some creeper dude in the mirror. But no, he tells me all these things that all of the kids told him when he was a kid.
Um, going back to third grade, I talked earlier about how I was living in a war zone literally. But if you were to ask third grade John or fourth grade or fifth grade John why he would cry and beg his mom not to make him go to school, it had nothing to do with the war. It had nothing to do with the bombs landing near his house or the drive-by shooting. It had everything to do with all the kids bullying him and calling him a spaz every single day to the point that honestly, not to get too dark, but I had self-harming thoughts in elementary school, in middle school, in high school, and just a few years ago.
It echoes so much. And finding that, no, surrounding me with good people. Like luckily, my wife loves me and she's my biggest cheerleader. I'm her biggest cheerleader. And just finding that community where you can say, OK, even if I don't believe it right now, I know my wife believes it. She literally put on my mirror, she printed out something that says, "Shut up, you look great." Um, so that while I'm brushing my teeth, I can look at that and like, OK, I don't know if I believe it, but if she, I, today I'm going to believe her.
And that's sometimes what you have to do, is say, OK, can I make myself better? Yes. Can I work out? Can I work out my mind? Can I do all this? Yes. But sometimes you just got to stop believing the lies. And maybe if you can't believe it for yourself, take other people's belief about you.
Laura Key: That was gorgeous. I'm really grateful. John Michael, it's, your website is johnmichaelhinton.com.
John Michael Hinton: Yes. Or you can find it by going to johnismyfriend.com.
Laura Key: I love it. I love it.
John Michael Hinton: And my show, I give out friend stickers. I literally ask people to be my friend and I then give them a sticker that says, "John is my friend," because I grew up with not that many friends, and so if I can be somebody's friend, that'd be great.
Laura Key: I would like to consider you a friend from this point out. John Michael, I'm so grateful that you came on the show today. This was so much fun, but like also your story is very poignant and very important too. So I want you to know that I take you seriously and I think you're hilarious. I think both exist at the same time. And just really grateful that you came on the show today. This was a blast. Thank you.
John Michael Hinton: Thank you for having me. This was a really good time.
(Podcast theme music plays)
Laura Key: Thanks for listening today. As always, if you want to share your own aha moment, email us at adhdaha@understood.org or send a message to our voicemail inbox. You'll find a link in the show notes along with resources and links to anything we mentioned in the episode.
This show is brought to you by Understood.org. Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give.
"ADHD Aha!" is produced and edited by Jessamine Molli.
Jessamine Molli: Hi, everyone.
Laura Key: And Margie DeSantis.
Margie DeSantis: Hey, hey.
Laura Key: Samiah Adams is our supervising producer. Video is produced by Calvin Knie and edited by Alyssa Shea. Our theme music was written by Justin D. Wright, who also mixes the show. Briana Berry is our production director. Neil Drumming is our editorial director. From Understood.org, our executive directors are Scott Cocchiere, Seth Melnick, and Jordan Davidson. And I'm your host, Laura Key.
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