Professional coach and performance nutritionist working with execs and athletes | 1:1 or Group Coaching | Book A Free Consultation

I work with male founders who are making money but quietly losing themselves at home, 

Drinking more than they want to admit.

Health sliding.

Head constantly running worst-case scenarios about cash flow, performance, and keeping everything afloat.

One client closed a £700k deal in Q3 2025. 

He went home buzzing.

His wife looked at him and said,

“Our daughter asked me today if you even like her.”

He had spent three months chasing deals.

Late nights.

Trains to London.

Eight days at home in total.

That is not rare.

That is normal in founder life.

Here is what most men miss...

You will spend hours preparing for a meeting but you won’t spend three minutes asking your kid about their day.

You track revenue daily like a crazed addict yet you can’t remember the last time you sat down as a family to eat dinner together. 

Then you wonder why success feels flat.

He asked me,

“Is it possible to feel proud at home the way I do at work?”

Of course it is. 

You don’t lack the skills to get sh*t done. You have a plan, set goals and then execute. 

They just point them in one direction and aren’t extended to your loved ones. 

We turned that around, and family time went in the diary as a non-negotiable. 

He took a break from alcohol and introduced some healthy habits. We unpacked his fears that were holding him back from being the best version of himself. 

Three months later, his daughter ran to the door when he got home.

He felt the same buzz watching her score at football as he did closing a deal.

That is the work.

Helping founders apply world-class thinking to their body, their relationships, and the life they are actually living.

Build the business.

Keep the family.

Walk into your house calm.

Not carrying the company on your back.

That is what I do.

If you want my help, message me with the word “Ready”.

Adam Mayhew

I’m thankful for how you changed yourself to be a better Dad for me, 

My client Joshua McCarty received this note from his son. I also cried when he sent it to me.

Josh is the VP of sales out in the US. 

He came to me as most men do. Successful by most people’s standards. He had the house, the car, the great lifestyle, a supportive partner, and two lovely kids, but something was missing.

The missing piece? Identity and alignment. 

If you aren’t aligned with your success, then you will always feel inadequate and unfulfilled. 

The first thing we looked at was sobriety and mindfulness. This gives him a level of clarity and awareness that is beyond comprehension. 

Once you become more aware, you realise what an awful impact your drinking is having on your health, relationships and performance. 

For most of our clients,  this is enough of a motivator to remove alcohol completely. 

In the last year, he’s removed alcohol, meditated every day, completed marathons, completed an Ironman, got promoted at work and healed problems that have held him back for decades. 

These results are amazing but not uncommon in our coaching programme. 

His new identity? Super Dad, super husband, ultra athlete, Ironman, successful VP and overall awesome guy. He’s also flying to the UK this Thursday to attend our Men’s retreat in North Yorkshire. 

I can’t wait to meet him in person and welcome him to the Yorkshire Dales and a cup of Yorkshire Tea!  

If you want your kids to write notes to you and thank you for changing your life, message me.

Life Coaching For Male Founders who want to remove alcohol, rebuild their health, and stop letting fear about money, performance, and failure follow them home every night.

This week we host our 6th men’s retreat at A-Game.

On Thursday, ten men will arrive and spend four days together doing the inner work that most men avoid for years.

Most men never experience an environment where they can speak openly without being judged or fixed. Men are incredibly purposd driven and solution orientated, but that often means they feel uncomfortable talking about what’s really going on beneath the surface. The fear of being ridiculed or misunderstood keeps a lot of it locked away for decades. 

That’s one of the reasons Adam Smith and I created these retreats.

We wanted to create a space where men can talk openly about their challenges without judgement, destroy the old stories that have been holding them back, push themselves beyond what they thought was possible, and learn how to improve their health and performance so they can become better men.

If I’m honest, I always feel a little smug when retreat week comes around because I know what happens during those four days.

Men arrive carrying years of pressure, limiting beliefs and leave clearer, lighter, and far more certain about the man they want to become.

I love these retreats but they’re also the most demanding thing we do which is why the next few days are about final preparation and getting some rest before it begins.

Let’s go!

Optimal is a w*nky word but removing the booze is the cheat code. 

You think it helps you switch off, relax and unwind, but it is the very thing holding you back. 

Your energy, your focus, your mood and your discipline all improve the moment you stop pouring alcohol on every stress you feel.

Take our free audit and see how your drinking habit is quietly destroying your potential and how to remove it - link on comments.

Yesterday I attended my auntie’s funeral, my mum’s eldest sister.

It was a lovely service. One of those where you could feel how proud she would have been of her family sitting in that church.

There were cousins there I hadn’t seen in 20 years. People I grew up with as a kid, and it brought back a lot of memories.

There were also cousins there that I had never actually met before. I knew they existed, but our paths had just never crossed. It was nice to finally meet them.

Funerals have a strange way of doing that. They bring people back together who haven’t seen each other in years.

As I sat there reflecting, something showed up for me. The importance of staying connected with family and with the people who have been part of your life over the years.

In the work we do as coaches, we talk a lot about growth, identity and about becoming the best version of yourself.

This work is important, but something I was reminded of yesterday is that whilst you are growing, evolving and stepping into the person you want to become, it’s just as important not to lose sight of where you came from.

The people who were there at different stages of your life.
The ones who helped shape you.
The ones who supported you in ways big and small.
Every one of those moments and people played a part in who you are today. 

In high-performance and personal development, it’s easy to become so focused on the next level that you forget your roots. 

Yesterday, there were lots of references to my Irish heritage. There were poems, music and blessings spoken in Gaelic. ☘️ 

It was a reminder of who I was growing up. But more importantly, who I still am and where I've come from. 

No matter how far you go in life, or how much you grow, don’t lose sight of the people and places that shaped you.

When was the last time you reached out to a family member you haven’t spoken to in a while?

You can’t be your best as a parent when you’re slowing yourself down every night.

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. And I’m proud to say I’ve only ever been a sober dad.

No hangovers. No guilt about being half-present. No waking up irritated, snappy, or drained (unless their sick and been awake most of the night 🤪) 

That’s not to say I’m smashing it every day by the way. Parenting tests you in ways nothing else does.

But I do giggle to myself sometimes. Because yes, it’s hard. But it’s also easier than it would’ve been. 
Old me would be dead inside by now, dragging myself through the days, pouring booze on top of stress, and wondering why I couldn’t cope.

I see it all the time with some of my friends and clients. They are struggling. Not because they’re bad parents. But because they’re trying to do the hardest job in the world…while pouring a depressant into their system every night.

Being alcohol-free is the greatest gift you can give to your kids and yourself.

If you ready to see what that looks like then message me the word “Ready”. I’m ready for you when you are ready for you.

Would your kids get a better version of you if alcohol wasn’t in the picture?

No alternative text description for this image

Not every thought requires your attention,


Latest podcast episode out now. 🎙️

Adam Smith and I dive into mastering your internal world and the Stoic principle of the dichotomy of control. We explore one of the most powerful mindset shifts a person can make but focusing only on what is within their control.

We cover:

- What the dichotomy of control actually is and why it matters

- How reacting to external events quietly drains your energy

- Why other people’s opinions only have power if you let them

- The hidden cost of everyday frustrations, stress, and emotional reactions

- How to pause, respond properly, and take ownership of your internal state

- Why mastering your internal world changes your performance, relationships, and life

This episode will help you stop wasting energy on things you cannot control and start taking full responsibility for the one thing you can: yourself.

Have a listen - link in comments.

🎙️ LATEST PODCAST EPISODE OUT NOW

In this episode, Adam Smith and I talk about alignment and why so many high performers still feel unfulfilled despite achieving everything they thought they wanted.

We cover:
- The “when and then” mindset and how it robs you of happiness now
- Why putting your happiness in future events guarantees suffering
- Why success without alignment leads to misery
- How your behaviours either match your goals or they don’t
- The dangerous language people use like “when things slow down…”
- Applying philosophy in real life when our Belfast flights were cancelled
- Why alignment is not work-life balance, it’s everything working in unison

We also spoke about Eckhart Tolle, Seneca, Victor Frankl, hope, ego and insecurity. 

If you’ve ever said, “I’ll be happy when…” this one is for you.

Listen now - Link in comments.

Love this from Steve McClory.  

Thank you so much for attending yesterday, for leaning into it and taking action. 

Meditation isn’t about sitting still for the sake of it. It’s training the pause. Building space between ego and action. Recognising that thoughts are mental objects in consciousness…you don’t need to believe or respond to every one. 

Proud of you mate.

Multi-Business Owner in the Fitness Industry - Board Member at UKactive - I Believe Your Career is a Book You Write Yourself

I didn’t think I would get emotional talking in front of 12 strangers.

I spent today at the Aligned Founder Boardroom event with founders Adam Smith  and Adam Mayhew, along with a group of great business people who want to be the best versions of themselves.

I have talked openly before about currently working on developing a more growth mindset. I am working on how when I get challenged I take it as personal criticism instead of getting curious.

Two of the main things I took away from today are the power of meditation and to be more curious.

I’ve started to add in breath work and meditation but I am not being consistent enough with it.

Hearing how other people working with The A-Game are getting really good results from meditation was a turning point. 

Hearing their stories and how it is a real game changer to help them deal with the challenges in their busy business lives has made me make the decision to really get consistent with it.

It was good to learn today about the gap between reacting and responding.

When you react your ego gets involved. When you pause and respond you look at the facts.
I am starting daily meditation to build that pause.

That’s the person I want to become and one of the sayings today was if your actions dont match the person you want to become you either change your actions or lower your goals. I don’t want to lower my goals.

If you cant take feedback without getting defensive you eventually become the bottleneck in your own business.

The emotional part today was when I was talking about people being proud of you and talking of my late dad.

I highly recommend the A-Game Consultancy to any business owner who needs to be in a room that actually challenges them.

#Mindset #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #RealTalk

The most dangerous thoughts are the ones you never question,


Negative thoughts will always arise.

You can’t stop them.

They’ll stop when you’re dead.

What you can do is control how you respond to them.

Because the real problem isn’t the thought.

It’s when the thought spirals, catastrophises, and takes over your entire headspace.

So when a negative thought appears, interrupt it.

Ask yourself a question:

What evidence do I actually have that this thought is true?
Why might I be thinking this right now?
What would be a more helpful thought?

Not a blindly positive one but a more useful one.

When you start questioning your thinking instead of automatically believing it, living inside your own head becomes a much healthier place to be.

How often do you challenge your own thinking rather than just accepting it?

Most men are emotionally stunted,

I typically coach men aged between 35-55. Their fathers were from the “when men were men” era. 

Showing emotion is weak. 

Don’t cry. 

Man up. 

Toughen up. 

Stop being soft. 

This was all common language when I was growing up. 

You become accustomed to staying silent and suppressing your emotions. That’s why it often comes out in anger or despondency. 

“Why won’t my husband open up?” Because he was often judged and ridiculed when he did. 

The issue is, most men go through the same thing as children so they learn to just provide solutions to their challenges rather than allowing themselves to experience the emotion. 

Men provide solutions for each other and their partners rather than listening. This can cause a break down in marriages and also friendships. 

It’s not your fault but it is your responsibility to do something about it. Speaking about it openly with a professional, reading the right books and introducing tools like meditation have been life changing for me. 

Life doesn’t have to be lived in frustration and being misunderstood. The freedom lies from within and when you do the deep inner work you’ll become the man you were meant to be.

The truth is most men were never taught how to process emotion. 
They were taught to suppress it.

When did you realise you had work to do on yourself?

Stop trying to be confident. 

Instead have the courage to do difficult things on purpose. 

And to be courageous, you need to vulnerable.

And vulnerability is strength. 

That’s how you build confidence.

Do you agree? 👇

You teach people how to treat you by what you tolerate.

Everyday from the moment you wake up you are teaching people how to treat you. 

Speaking to others, how you hold yourself, your daily behaviours, your silence and quiet desperation…it’s all teaching people how you want to be treated.

The common issues I see with the men that we coach are

- Not using clear and effective communication
- Staying quiet and expecting their partner will just understand them
- Using passive language 
- Not regulating their emotions daily
- Lack boundaries and non-negotiable. 
- Drinking to “feel better” or “unwind”

But, underneath all of this is something much deeper. They don’t know where they are heading and who they are becoming. 

So, they’re “fine” and respond to with “yeah not bad mate”. Things in their life are ok but not quite sh*t  enough to make changes.

So they accept it and settle for what is. But deep down they know this is not how they want to spend each day.

So you end up hating yourself and stuck in a shame cycle. Wishing it could change and not knowing where to start. 

You don’t need another podcast or YouTube video. You need clarity, strategy and accountability. 

This is what I do. Day in. Day out. 

Want my help? Message me with the word “Ready”

P.s. How do you put in boundaries each day?

40+ Linkedin Money-Making-Influence Resources I Toxic Boss Immunity I Frequency of INFLUENCE: ETHICAL PERSUASION I $20k Brain-Based Sales System | HarvardX Neuroscience Research I Keynote 🎤 I X-Microsoft I Captain ⛵

$20k Monthly Brain Based Sales System Without Chasing the "Yes"

You know the feeling:
😳 Your brain lights up with “What if they think I’m pushy?” the second you open a DM.
😬 You’d rather post and pray the right people find you than risk being ghosted.
😅 You tell yourself that if you were really good, clients would just show up.

You don’t want to fake connection just to pitch.
You want sales that feels human. Real conversations, not pressure tactics.

You’re not bad at sales.
Your brain is just protecting you.

The amygdala flags rejection as danger.
Your prefrontal cortex freezes.
And boom hesitation, overthinking, silence.

That’s where my work comes in.
I teach the Neuroscience of No-Pressure Sales so you can sell with calm confidence instead of fear.

No scripts. No manipulation.
Just science, psychology, and simple tools to retrain your nervous system so selling feels natural again.

When your brain is relaxed, your authenticity returns.
You stop pitching and start connecting.
Outreach stops feeling like an intrusion and starts feeling like service.

This is sales made easy for coaches who hate selling.

✨ Ways to get started with me:

✅ If you're a coach DM me "Butter"
✅ If you're a business owner DM me "Butter"
✅ If you're a sales leader DM me "Butter"
✅ Attend my next workshop for FREE BRAIN BASED SALES SECRETS. https://forms.gle/HvTRDEZEuu7bgQEF8
✅ Subscribe to the Be Like Butter Bugle: Weekly brain hacks for resilience and influence. https://synaptic-solutions.kit.com/newsletter

Personal interests: 
- Captain ⛵️ 
- Recovering Sugar Addict 🍭 
- Trash TV consumer 🗑️

Sales Coach | Toxic Boss Coach | Neuroscience Coach | Executive Coach | Master Behavioral Strategist | Speaker | Advisor | Expert | 7 figures | Virtual Speaking | Sales Performance Brain Hacker | Mindset Coach I Corporate Trainer I Influence I Key Note Speaker

🧠 Shannon Smith, J.D., M.S. 🚀

Rest is not the opposite of innovation

It’s the doorway to it.

Most people try to generate ideas
 by staying constantly engaged.

❌ More meetings.
❌ More input.
❌ More stimulation.

The brain adapts by staying reactive.

Alert.
Scanning.
Responding.

That state produces output.
It doesn’t produce originality.

Creativity depends on something quieter.

When the brain isn’t processing external demands,
the default mode network activates.

This network links memory,
imagination,
and future planning.

It’s the system that recombines ideas
without you consciously directing it.

But it only turns on
when the brain isn’t overloaded.

When the parasympathetic system activates,
neural noise decreases.
Energy shifts inward.
Associations strengthen.

That’s when insight feels effortless.
Not because you tried harder.
Because you stopped interrupting the process.
No rest, no recombination.
No recombination, no innovation.

Here’s how to give your brain space to create:
1️⃣ Create input-free windows
 Silence allows internal networks to activate.
 Less consumption = more synthesis.

2️⃣ Stop mid-problem
 Leave space before resolution.
 The unconscious continues integrating.

3️⃣ Prioritize sleep as strategy
 During sleep, the brain consolidates patterns.
 Tomorrow’s clarity builds overnight.

Innovation isn’t forced.
It emerges when the brain has enough space
to connect what it already knows.

PS: When do your best ideas arrive?

Try out my new DM Coach
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

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👉 Follow 🧠 Shannon for neuroscience-backed insights
♻️ Share this if you want to help others grow

Innovation isn’t a talent

It’s a regulated brain.

When your nervous system is agitated,
your thinking becomes rigid.

Under stress, the brain prioritizes efficiency.

It narrows options.
It relies on old pathways.
It chooses what worked before.

That keeps you safe.
It doesn’t move you forward.

Cognitive flexibility lives in the prefrontal cortex.
And the prefrontal cortex goes offline under threat.

When the brain is calm, a different pattern emerges.

Neural networks communicate more fluidly.
Distant associations strengthen.
Perspective widens.

Calm brains compare.
Stressed brains conclude.

Innovation requires the ability to hold multiple possibilities
 without collapsing into the first one.

That capacity expands
when the parasympathetic system is active.

Heart rate steadies.
Cortisol lowers.
Executive function sharpens.
In that state you think differently.

Here’s how to increase cognitive flexibility:
1️⃣ Slow your exhale before big thinking
 Longer exhales activate vagal tone.
 Regulation restores executive function.

2️⃣ Ask “What else could be true?”
 This interrupts default pathways.
 Flexibility increases with alternative generation.

3️⃣ Shift state before strategy
 Walk. Stretch. Change posture.
 Physical regulation precedes mental agility.

You don’t innovate by pushing harder.
You innovate when your brain is calm enough
to see more than one path.

PS: Do your best ideas come when you’re calm?

Video Credit: Unknown

Amazing NeuroDM Coach - Check it out here ->>
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

------------------------------------------------------------

👉 Follow Shannon for neuroscience-backed insights
♻️ Share this if you want to help others grow

Shannon Smith

Innovation doesn’t come from adding more ideas

It comes from disrupting old ones.

Your brain is a prediction machine.

It runs patterns.
It favors familiarity.
It repeats what has worked before.

That’s efficient.
It’s not innovative.
When environments stay the same,
the brain conserves energy.

Neural pathways strengthen around habit.
Cognitive shortcuts deepen.
New signals get filtered out.

Innovation requires interruption.
When the brain encounters novelty,
dopamine increases.
Attention sharpens.
Learning circuits activate.

Prediction errors force updating.
Old maps loosen.
New associations form.

Without novelty, the brain optimizes.
With novelty, the brain reorganizes.

No disruption, no rewiring.
No rewiring, no innovation.

Here’s how to intentionally spark it:
1️⃣ Change inputs, not effort
 Read outside your field.
 Expose your brain to unfamiliar patterns.

2️⃣ Ask better constraint questions
 “What would make this impossible?”
 Constraints stretch neural flexibility.

3️⃣ Shift environments physically
 New surroundings activate orientation networks.
 Fresh context triggers fresh thought.

Innovation isn’t about trying harder.
It’s about giving the brain a reason to update.

PS: When was the last time you disrupted your own patterns?

Video Credit: Unknown

PLUS! New DM NeuroCoach here --> 
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA
(Its really, really good, try it out)

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👉 Follow Shannon for neuroscience-backed insights
♻️ Share this if you want to help others grow

Innovation doesn’t happen when everything makes sense

It happens when you can sit in what doesn’t.

Most people rush to resolve ambiguity.
❌ Pick a direction fast.
❌ Close the loop.
❌ Reduce uncertainty.

The brain loves certainty.

Ambiguity activates threat circuitry.
The amygdala flags the unknown.
Cortisol rises.
The mind searches for the quickest stable answer.

That stabilizes you.
It doesn’t evolve you.

Innovation requires holding competing ideas
without collapsing into one too soon.

When the prefrontal cortex stays regulated,
it can tolerate cognitive dissonance.
It can compare models.
It can simulate alternatives.

That capacity is called cognitive flexibility.
And it’s trainable.
If the nervous system stays calm,
contradictions become data.

Tension becomes creative fuel.
Unfinished thoughts get room to mature.

No tolerance for tension, no transformation of ideas.

Here’s how to build innovation capacity:
1️⃣ Delay resolution
 When you feel urgency to decide, pause.
 Time expands cognitive flexibility.

2️⃣ Name the competing truths
 Hold both perspectives visibly.
 The brain integrates better when contrasts are explicit.

3️⃣ Regulate before debate
 Calm physiology increases perspective-taking.
 Innovation collapses under threat.

Breakthroughs rarely come from the first clean answer.
They emerge when the brain feels safe enough
to stay with complexity.

PS: Do you rush to clarity, or can you sit in ambiguity?

Video Credit: Unknown 

Amazing NeuroDM Coach - Check it out here ->>
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

---------------------------------------------------------------
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♻️ Share this if you want to help others grow

Original ideas rarely come from pressure.

They come from pattern disruption.

Most people try to innovate 
by pushing the same thinking harder.

❌ More analysis
❌ More meetings
❌ More brainstorming

But the brain doesn’t generate novelty
by repeating familiar patterns.

It generates novelty by breaking them.

The brain is a prediction machine.
Your neural pathways are built from repeated experiences.

The more something is repeated,
the more automatic the pathway becomes.

Efficient.
Fast.
Predictable.
But also…
Rigid.

Innovation requires the brain
to step outside those default pathways.

That process is called cognitive shifting.

The anterior cingulate cortex
detects when existing patterns fail.

It flags conflict.
That moment of friction is where creativity begins.

But most people shut that signal down.
They revert to familiar thinking.
They defend old models.
They protect what already works.

The brain stabilizes.
The idea dies.
Real innovators stay curious when the brain detects conflict.

They explore the signal instead of silencing it.

Here’s how to strengthen innovation thinking:
1️⃣ Expose your brain to unrelated domains
Breakthrough ideas often come
from unexpected combinations.

2️⃣ Ask pattern-breaking questions
“What assumption am I protecting?”

3️⃣ Reward curiosity over certainty
Curiosity keeps the brain exploring
instead of defending.

Innovation rarely appears inside the same thinking
that built the current system.

The brain must step outside its familiar maps.

PS: What things in your field might already be outdated?

Video Credit: Unknown

Amazing NeuroDM Coach - Check it out here ->>
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

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👉 Follow 🧠 Shannon for neuroscience-backed insights
♻️ Share this if you want to help others grow

If it needs applause, it isn’t power.

It’s performance.

I’ve worked with leaders
who needed the room to feel small
so they could feel big.

Interrupting people.
Correcting publicly.
Name-dropping constantly.

Reminding everyone of their title.

It looked like authority.
It felt like insecurity.

When a leader performs dominance,
the team’s nervous systems register threat.

Amygdala activation rises.
Psychological safety drops.
Creative thinking narrows.

People stop challenging ideas.
They stop volunteering insight.
They protect themselves.

And when people protect, performance declines.
Not because talent disappeared.
Because safety did.

Real power does something different.

It regulates the room.
Calm tone.
Measured responses.
Curiosity before correction.

The prefrontal cortex stays online when people feel safe.

That’s where strategy lives.
That’s where innovation lives.
That’s where real performance lives.

If you’re leading and feel the urge to prove yourself, pause.
Ask instead:
Am I trying to influence or impress?

Influence builds trust.
Impressing demands applause.
And applause fades.
Safety compounds.

Toxic leadership performs power.
Healthy leadership stabilizes it.

Get free tools and resources for your toxic boss -->
https://lnkd.in/guRmdNEu

P.S. Have you had have a toxic boss like this?

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➕ Follow Shannon for brain-based tools for toxic bosses
♻️ Repost if you’ve seen performance mistaken for power

If I saw people viewing my profile 

but not replying to my DMs…Here’s EXACTLY what I’d do:

I wouldn’t send 50 more messages.
I wouldn’t copy a new template.
I wouldn’t “circle back” again.

I’d change the stimulus.

Because here’s what most people miss:
Activity isn’t attraction.
Volume isn’t influence.

The longer your message…
The more polished your pitch…
The more “value bullets” you stack…
The more cognitive load you create.

And when cognitive load goes up?
The brain conserves energy.
Ignore.
Delay.
“I’ll respond later.”
(They won’t.)

But when a message feels specific?
When it mirrors their internal tension?
Dopamine spikes.
Relevance.
Recognition.
Response.

That’s the difference between being left on read
and starting a real sales conversation.

On March 9, I’m hosting a LIVE 2-hour DM Workshop

No scripts to memorize.
No spam tactics.
We’re engineering your DM system on the call.
Here’s what you’ll walk away with:

→ LIVE ICP breakdowns for attendees
→ The 4 DM fundamentals that drive reply rates
→ We’ll workshop your stuck threads in real time
→ Hidden pockets where your ICP is already engaging
→ Access to my Custom Neuro-GPT DM Coach (client-only tool)

You won’t leave with hope.
You’ll leave with a system that creates momentum
on demand.

If your inbox looks busy but your calendar looks empty…
March 9. 

Shift the stimulus.
Change the response.
Move the pipeline.

Comment “DM” and I’ll send the details.
PLUS! New DM NeuroCoach here -->
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

(It’s sharp. Test it.)

P.S. How many stuck DMs do you have?

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♻️ Share if you’ve been left on read
➕ Follow Shannon for more brain based sales insights

Failure isn't final. 

Giving up is.

Gentle reminder.
Be someone who still tries.

Even with a toxic boss.

Even when meetings feel unsafe.
Even when feedback feels like an ambush.
Even when you walk in bracing.

Your nervous system will want you to shut down.

Toxic leadership activates social threat.
The amygdala fires.
Your body prepares for danger.

Protection shows up as:

Stay quiet.
Don’t volunteer.
Do the minimum.
Avoid visibility.

That response makes sense.

Your brain is trying to prevent more pain.

But here’s the cost.

When you consistently shrink,
your nervous system starts associating
your own voice with danger.

Capacity drops.
Confidence erodes.
Engagement fades.

Not because you lost talent.
Because threat narrowed your range.

Trying does not mean tolerating abuse.

It means protecting your nervous system
while staying intact.

It means regulating before meetings.
Clarifying expectations directly.
Closing stress cycles after conflict.

Each time you respond instead of collapse,
you build evidence.

Evidence teaches the brain
that activation is survivable.

Survival becomes stability.
Stability restores choice.

Healthy cultures matter.

But until you’re in one,
be someone who still tries.

Not recklessly.
Not desperately.

Regulated.
Clear.
Deliberate.

Good things are still available
to a nervous system that refuses to shut down.

Create a path to freedom where you call the shots, 
you're unshakable, 
you're influential, 
and free from anyone else’s control.
https://lnkd.in/guRmdNEu

P.S. Are you an optimist or pessimist?  

------------------------------------------------------------

➕ Follow 🧠 Shannon for brain-based tools for toxic bosses
♻️ Repost if someone you know is navigating this right now

Get so invested in your own growth

that you don’t have time to keep score.

Because toxic bosses love scorekeeping.

They keep track of who they “saved.”
Who they “fixed.”
Who they “carried.”

They rewrite your work.
They take over your project.
They correct you in public.

Then they act like you should be grateful.

If you get pulled into that game, you lose twice.

You lose time.
And your nervous system stays trapped in threat.

The brain hates unfairness.
It lights up stress circuitry fast.

So you start tracking every slight.
Every eye roll.
Every comment.
Every moment they ignored you.
And now your attention is on them.

Which means your growth slows down.

Stop competing on their scoreboard.
Build your own.

Not motivational.
Neurological.

Attention is a finite resource.
Whatever you track, your brain reinforces.
So track what makes you stronger.

If you’re dealing with a toxic boss, do this:

1/ Keep a Growth Log, not a Grievance Log
Every day, write:
• What I learned
• What I improved
• What I shipped
• What I would do differently next time
This retrains your brain to seek agency.
Agency reduces threat.

2/ Build a “Proof File”
Create a folder called Proof.
Drop in:
• wins
• feedback
• deliverables
• numbers
• screenshots of praise
This is not ego.
This is protection.
When a toxic boss tries to distort reality,
you have receipts.

3/Preload one boundary sentence
Pick one line and practice it until it’s automatic.
Try:
“I can do it. I’ll send a draft by Wednesday for your input.”
Or:
“If you’d like to own it, you can take it.
If you’d like me to own it, I need decision rights.”
Calm. Clear. Clean.

4/ Recover on purpose
Toxic bosses create lingering stress.
If you don’t discharge it, it leaks into your work.
After a hit:
Long exhale.
Shoulders down.
Two minutes of walking.
Signal safety.
Then get back to building.

Toxic bosses want you reactive.
Scorekeeping keeps you reactive.
Growth makes you untouchable.

Get so invested in your own growth
that you don’t have time to keep score.

Get free tools and resources for your toxic boss -->
https://lnkd.in/guRmdNEu
New app with toxic boss log!

P.S. What’s one skill you’re building this month?

----------------------------------------------------------------

➕ Follow 🧠 Shannon for brain-based tools for toxic bosses
♻️ Repost if you’ve seen scorekeeping used as control

If it needs to be right every time...

It isn’t leadership. It's toxicity.

I’ve worked with bosses who had an answer for 
everything and a correction for everyone.

They “clarify” in public.
They interrupt mid-sentence.
They rewrite your work in front of you.
They talk like certainty is competence.

And your body feels it.
Because the brain treats social threat like physical threat.

Stress shows up fast.
Before language.
Before choice. 

The body tightens.
Attention narrows.
Memory gets patchy.
Speech gets harder. 

So how do you armor yourself when leaving isn’t an option?

1/ Most stress at work isn’t random.
It follows patterns. 
Run a simple experiment:
What was the context?
What did they do?
What did your body do first? 

The brain feels safer when it can predict.
Observation creates prediction.
Prediction creates safety. 

2/Have a tactic ready
You don’t rise to the occasion.
You default to what’s preloaded.
Pick ONE tool for the moment they swing.
My go-to:
Inhale through the nose.
Slow exhale.
Brief pause at the bottom. 

Or widen your vision.
Notice the edges of the room.
Wide vision signals safety. 
Then buy time.
“I’m going to think about that.”
“I want to be precise. Let me come back to you.”
Pauses restore choice. 

3/ Recover after the hit
This is where people lose weeks of their life.
The meeting ends.
The water stays. 

So close the stress cycle on purpose.
Say to yourself:
“That’s over.”
Slow breath out.
Move your shoulders. 

You’re telling your nervous system:
The event is done.
Toxic bosses who “know everything”
make everyone else feel small.

Your job is to stay intact.
Track the pattern.
Use one tool.
Drain the stress.
Get free tools and resources for your toxic boss -->
https://lnkd.in/guRmdNEu

P.S. Have you had a boss like this?

------------------------------------------------------------------

➕ Follow Shannon for brain-based tools for toxic bosses
♻️ Repost if you’ve seen performance mistaken for power

This feels dangerous.

In a good way.

I can build a full presentation without leaving Claude.

Start to finish.
Idea to polished deck.
No copy. No paste. No rebuilding.

Claude is where I think.
Now Gamma lives inside it.

So when I’m brainstorming the deck builds itself.
I type the idea.
The outline appears.
Slides form.
Structure tightens.
Visuals lock in.

And when my thinking changes?
The deck updates with it.

Before this, it looked like this:
Think in Claude.
Copy notes.
Open another app.
Rebuild everything.
Lose momentum.
Go back. Repeat.

Now?
Think.
Generate deck.
Refine.
Update.
All in one flow.

It feels like my ideas finally have a body.
And here’s where it gets wild.

Claude can pull from Gmail.
From Notion.
From HubSpot.
From GitHub.

Claude pulls the context.
Gamma turns it into something I can present.

No context switching.
No rebuilding slides at midnight.
No “final_v7_REAL_final.pptx”.

Claude helps you think.
Gamma helps you show it.
And for the first time my deck can actually 
keep up with my brain.

Try Gamma inside Claude.
Worth it. 
https://gamma.app/

P.S. How much time do you spend making carousels per week?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

♻️ Share if you’re tired of doing things manually
➕ Follow Shannon for more brain based insights

Never make another carousel again

Your brain doesn’t need more motivation

It needs fewer interruptions.

Every unfinished decision sits in working memory.
Every tiny inefficiency adds micro-friction.
Every small irritation raises baseline stress.

Individually, they’re nothing.
Collectively, they’re noise.
The brain burns glucose managing loose ends.
Cognitive load rises.
Creativity drops.
Long-term thinking gets crowded out.

When small drains disappear, energy reallocates.
The nervous system relaxes.
Prefrontal bandwidth expands.
The brain shifts from maintenance to imagination.
That’s when ideas surface.

Not because you pushed harder.
Because you stopped leaking energy.
Small structural shifts
create disproportionate mental relief.

Here’s how to reclaim space:
1️⃣ Batch low-value decisions
 Group admin tasks together.
 Fewer context switches preserve cognitive momentum.

2️⃣ Automate what repeats
 Templates, shortcuts, saved responses.
 The brain shouldn’t redo what it already solved.

3️⃣ Create a “capture system”
 Write down ideas immediately.
 External storage frees working memory.

You need fewer mental tabs open.
Clear the small drains.
The big thinking will follow.

PS: What’s one mental tab you can close today?

March 9, 11-1 LIVE DM Workshop
DM Me for Details

Video Credit: Unknown

------------------------------------------------------------

👉 Follow 🧠 Shannon for neuroscience-backed insights
♻️ Share this if you want to help others grow

Technology is stealing the joy from your life. 

Your brain is crying for help and the science is shocking.

-----> In Person > Texting
--------> Nature > Social Media
------> Real Life > Technology Today

Very cool images by @matterneuroscience
See how technology is impacting your brain
Here is the scary science behind it:

1/ Human Touch Magic
↳ Real connection crushes depression
↳ Screens weaken your empathy networks

DO THIS:
• Trade one Zoom for real coffee
• Give 3 long hugs today (20 seconds each)

2/ Nature's Brain Boost
↳ Green time powers up problem solving
↳ Indoor lights dim your creativity

DO THIS:
• Walk and talk your next call
• Find a window spot for 2 hours

3/ Real Connection Magic
↳ Your brain syncs rhythms during real talks
↳ Eye contact activates deep emotional centers

DO THIS:
• Share a meal with someone you miss
• Listen fully (no phones, just presence)

4/ The Giving Superpower
↳ Real giving builds instant trust
↳ Digital gifts miss the magic

DO THIS:
• Hand-deliver help to someone today
• Volunteer where you see impact

5/ Present Moment Power
↳ Nature time grows your brain
↳ Phone checks shrink memory power

DO THIS:
• 24-hour break from your top app
• 12 minutes in nature, just breathe

Your brain needs real life.
Not just likes.

The most successful people aren't reading this.
They're out there, living.

P.S. What's your tech crutch? Mine is reddit. 
Let me know in the comments ⬇️

➡️ Learn more about your brain here -->
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

-------------------------------------------------

♻️ Share to spread the word
➕ Follow 🧠 Shannon for more brainy insights

Technology is Killing Your Brain

Closing a client doesn't start with a perfect pitch.

It usually starts with a simple conversation.

One of my clients shared this screenshot with me.
He posted that he signed a client.
Not from a funnel.
Not from an ad.
Not from some complicated launch.

From reaching out and starting a conversation.
That’s it.

And in the comments he added something that mattered more.

He said he landed that client 
within 30 days of working together.

The brain does not move toward pressure.
It moves toward safety and relevance.

When outreach feels pushy
the nervous system closes.
When it feels human curiosity opens.

That is why most DM strategies fail.
They try to force a sale
before the brain has decided you are safe to talk to.

When we rewired his approach we focused on three things:
1️⃣ Real conversations
Not scripts. Not pitches. Questions that create space.

2️⃣ Nervous system safety
No pressure. No agenda. Just connection first.

3️⃣ Precision over volume
Talking to the right people
instead of messaging everyone.

Something interesting happens when this clicks.
DMs stop feeling awkward.
People start replying.
Opportunities show up where there used to be silence.

When someone feels understood their PFC stays active.
Active PFC brains have conversations.
Closed brains avoid them.

That small shift is what turns outreach into real business.

→ Giving you access to my Neuro-GPT DM Coach
Check it out here
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

-------------------------------------------------------------------

♻️ Share if you believe conversations close clients
➕ Follow 🧠 Shannon for more brain based sales insights

How to lose your team in 10 seconds.

Start with ego.

The first thing Jen did on her first day
as Director was get on the phone
and gossip loudly about the team.

“I’m the Director.
I tell people what to do.”
Everyone heard it.

That was our introduction.

Not vision.
Not collaboration.
Not curiosity.

Authority.
Broadcasted.

Here’s what leaders miss.
The brain makes safety judgments in seconds.

Before strategy.
Before org charts.
Before performance reviews.

Tone decides everything.

When someone leads with dominance,
the nervous system shifts.

Amygdala activation rises.
Social threat increases.
Psychological safety drops.
People stop offering ideas.

No one pushed back.
But something changed.

Conversations got shorter.
Emails got safer.
Risk-taking disappeared.
Compliance replaced commitment.

Leadership is a nervous system event.
If your first signal is
“I tell people what to do,”
the team hears
“I’m not here to understand you.”

Trust narrows immediately.

What could she have done instead?
Start with curiosity.
Ask,
“What’s working?”
“What’s broken?”
“What do you need from me?”
Curiosity lowers threat.

Second, regulate your presence.
Slow speech.
Steady tone.
Open posture.
The brain reads these as safety cues.
Safety increases engagement.

Third, earn authority.
Influence grows when people feel seen.
Direction lands better after connection.
Leadership isn’t declared.
It’s demonstrated.

Jen may have had the title.
But culture starts with the first signal you send.

People don’t follow hierarchy.
They follow nervous system safety.

Get free tools and resources for your toxic boss -->
https://lnkd.in/guRmdNEu

----------------------------------------------------------

➕ Follow 🧠 Shannon for tools for toxic bosses
♻️ Repost if you’ve ever watched trust disappear in seconds

How to lose your team in ten seconds. 

Your robotics company doesn’t need more attention.

It needs traction.

A lot of founders think great tech will sell itself.
It won’t.

Buyers are busy.
They’re distracted.
They’re skeptical.

They’re not going to decode your value for you.
So what happens?

Demos happen.
Meetings happen.
Pilots drag.
Follow-ups die.
Revenue stays flat.

Meanwhile, your team keeps pushing hard.

Engineering keeps building.
Leadership keeps pushing.
Sales keeps explaining.

And still, nothing really moves.
That’s where it starts to hurt.

You hear things like:
"This is really interesting."
"We’re watching this space."
"Let’s reconnect next quarter."

Sounds promising.
Usually, it’s polite hesitation.
And that gets expensive fast.

When buyers don’t quickly understand your value,
everything slows down.

The sales cycle gets longer.
The message gets fuzzier.
The pipeline gets weaker.
The runway gets tighter.

A lot of founders have a gap in commercialization.
Here’s what that often looks like:
1/ You know the product too well.
 It makes perfect sense to you.
 But the buyer isn’t living in your world.
 They need clarity fast.
 Not a technical walkthrough.

2/ The story isn’t landing.
 Engineering says one thing.
 Sales says another.
 The founder adds five more versions.
 That creates friction fast.

3/ You’re getting interest without movement.
 People take the meeting.
 They ask smart questions.
 They seem engaged.
 Then they disappear.
That usually means the value didn’t hit hard enough.

Founders need a cleaner path to revenue.

Sharper positioning.
Better buyer alignment.
Cleaner messaging.
Proof that lands fast.

That’s when things start moving.
If deals aren’t moving,
there’s usually a deeper issue underneath.

P.P.S. If you want help with that,
DM me "ROBOTICS."
Look how we can help you here -->
https://neuroforgegtm.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------

⚙️ Follow 🧠 Shannon for brain-based sales insights
♻️ Share this with a robotics founder who needs it

Your forecast isn’t wrong.

Your reps just don’t feel safe saying so. 

Leaders believe they understand their deals.
But they only understand what gets reported.
And what gets reported is filtered through
the human nervous system.

Reps don’t just update pipelines.
They manage perception.

Your dashboard looks solid.
Stages are moving.
Notes say “great call.”
Next steps are logged.

But something feels off.

Deals start drifting.
Energy fades.
Buyers go quiet.

And the slip shows up weeks later.

Reps aren’t trying to mislead you.
They’re protecting themselves.

The brain avoids social threat.
Uncertainty feels risky to admit.

So people round optimism upward.
“Still warm.”
“Positive conversation.”
“Decision soon.”

Confidence language becomes armor.
Now you’re forecasting from signals
that were softened before you ever saw them.

This creates a blind spot in almost every sales org.
Doubt hides early.
Risk signals stay buried.
Time disappears before leaders can react.

The real problem isn’t the deal.
It’s the emotional data no CRM captures.

SalesSage surfaces what the pipeline misses.

It detects hesitation before momentum collapses.
It reveals low conviction before the deal disappears.
It shows emotional drift before the quarter breaks.

No pressure on reps.
No interrogation.
Just a 10 minute pulse that exposes the truth
behind the forecast.

If you want your pipeline to reflect reality
not optimism...then let's go.

14 day free trial ->https://salessage.co/

------------------------------------------------------------------

➕ Follow 🧠 Shannon for brain based sales leadership
♻️ Share if you’ve had a “strong” forecast that wasn’t real

Most people don’t have a DM problem.

They have an ICP clarity problem.

And they don’t know it.

One of my clients messaged me 
after just over a week working together.

He said he’d made more progress in that week
than in the previous two months.

Not because we “worked harder.”
Because we got precise.

He finally understood his ICP.
Not surface-level demographics.
Not vague job titles.

But where they actually spend time.
What they’re quietly stressed about.
What they’re thinking but not posting.

Once that clicked, everything shifted.
He knew where to find them.
His outreach stopped feeling random.
His content stopped feeling broad.

And then something new happened.
Inbound leads.

From actual ICPs.
Not random connection requests.
Not time-wasters.

The right people.
This is what happens when you:
Stop spraying DMs.
Stop guessing at positioning.
Stop talking to “everyone.”
And start engineering relevance.

Most people think results come from:
More posts.
More hustle.
More messages.
But the brain doesn’t respond to volume.

When someone reads your message and thinks,
“That’s exactly what I’ve been dealing with.”
That’s when the nervous system relaxes.
That’s when curiosity opens.
That’s when conversations move.

→ Giving you access to my Neuro-GPT DM Coach
Check it out here ->>https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

If you want random activity, keep doing what you’re doing.
If you want progress in one week
that outpaces the last two months…join me
March 9 Event is FULL
The next one is TBD

Clarity changes everything.
Comment “DM” and I’ll send the details.
PLUS – Try the DM NeuroCoach here:
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

--------------------------------------------------------------

♻️ Share if you’re ready for aligned inbound
➕ Follow Shannon for more brain based sales insights

Your DMs aren’t dying because you’re bad at sales.

They’re dying because you’re guessing.

Guessing what to say.
Guessing when to pivot.
Guessing if it’s “too soon” to move to a call.

And guessing is expensive.
Every stalled thread is hidden revenue.

That’s exactly why I built the DM NeuroCoach.
It’s not a template generator.
It analyzes tone.
It adjusts for psychological safety.
It helps you reduce threat and increase curiosity.
It sharpens your message so it feels specific, not spammy.

You drop in your draft.
It helps you tighten it.
It flags where you’re creating pressure.
It rewrites for clarity and autonomy.
And the difference is immediate.

More replies.
Better conversations.
Less overthinking.

But tools alone aren’t enough.
That’s why on March 9, I’m hosting a LIVE 2-hour DM Workshop.

We’re building your entire DM system.
You’ll learn:
→ Where your ICP is actually hiding on LinkedIn
→ How to spot psychological buying signals in a thread
→ The 4 DM fundamentals that drive response
→ We’ll fix your stuck DMs live
→ You’ll get access to the DM NeuroCoach

You won’t leave with motivation.
You’ll leave with structure.

A repeatable way to turn:
Connections into conversations into clients.
If your inbox is active but your calendar isn’t…
It’s time to engineer your DMs.

March 9. 11-1 PST
Comment “DM” and I’ll send the details.
Or test the DM NeuroCoach now:
https://lnkd.in/gk_NSrcA

-------------------------------------------------------------

♻️ Share if you’re done guessing in the DMs
➕ Follow Shannon for more brain based sales insights

If your site isn't AEO ready, 

then you're already behind. 

The window to show up in ChatGPT is open right now.
Most businesses still aren’t ready.

They think they’re covered because they have content.
Blogs
Service pages
Case studies
FAQs

But content alone doesn’t make you discoverable.
AEO isn’t just about writing.

It’s about whether your site is built so AI can:
Crawl it
Understand it
Pull from it confidently
Connect it to the right topics

This is where most sites break.
The front end looks fine.
But the backend is missing things like:
✅ Schema markup
✅ Metadata
✅ Internal linking
✅ Clear site hierarchy
✅ Fast load speed
✅ Indexable pages

The content exists but the machine can’t use it.

And when those pieces are weak,
you create friction for AI.

AI is looking for signals like:
What the page is about
Who the company is
What services it provides
How pages relate to each other
Whether the content is credible
Whether the page is easy to parse

No structure = weak signals.
AEO-ready sites are technically clean.
That means:
Titles and descriptions aligned to intent
Structured headings
Schema that supports the page
Strong internal links
Clear entity signals
Crawlable, indexable content

That’s what helps AI understand your business.
And this goes way beyond Google.
People are shifting from search bars to questions.

So if your site isn’t technically ready,
you’re less likely to show up inside AI-driven answers.

That means missed visibility even if your content is good.
You can write all day long.
But if your backend is messy,
your authority is harder for machines to detect
and harder for buyers to find.

The sites that win next
won’t just publish more.They’ll send stronger signals.

If your site has content but no technical backbone,
you’re probably underperforming without realizing it.

Not because your offer is weak.
Because your backend is.

That’s a costly mistake.
If you want your site ready for AEO,
start with the technical layer.

My developer has extra bandwidth right now.
If you want to talk about getting your site
ready for AEO and AI visibility,
send me a DM "AEO."

----------------------------------------------------------------

➕ Follow 🧠 Shannon for the latest trends in biz
♻️ Share to help others stay ahead of the curve

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🧠 Shannon Smith, J.D., M.S. 🚀

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🧠 Shannon Smith, J.D., M.S. 🚀

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