July 16, 2025 • 30 mins
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What does it take to go from hitting rock bottom to becoming a world record-breaking endurance athlete?
Andy Stone’s story is one of unbelievable resilience, grit, and defying the odds. Expelled from school. Battling addiction. Facing a future with no direction. But instead of becoming another statistic, Andy made a life-altering decision—he turned his pain into fuel.
He didn’t just recover. He became a world record holder for Ironman triathlons, proving that the limits most of us accept can be shattered. Now, he’s chasing an even bigger goal—swimming the Atlantic Ocean, a feat that only a handful of people have ever attempted.
In this episode, Andy shares:
🔥 How addiction nearly destroyed his life—and the turning point that changed everything
🔥 What it takes to go from rock bottom to world-class performance
🔥 The training, mindset, and discipline behind breaking records
🔥 Why he believes neurodivergence is his greatest strength
This isn’t just an interview—it’s a blueprint for resilience, reinvention, and pushing past what you thought was possible.
Whether you’re an athlete, entrepreneur, or just someone looking for a reason to push through when things get tough, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss.
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🌍 Follow Andy:
- Website: http://www.andy-stone.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atlanticswimandy/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atlanticswimandy
- Instagram (Mentoring): https://www.instagram.com/adhdmentorandy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Paul (00:00):
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to Marketpulse Pros and
(00:03):
Pioneers, where this week we'retalking to a Guinness World
record holder.
Andy Stone, welcome to the show.
Andy (00:10):
Thank you very much for having me.
Good to be here.
Paul (00:12):
Amazing.
I can confirm you are definitelyour very first world record
holder on the show,
Andy (00:17):
Oh,
Paul (00:18):
knowledge anyway, to the best of my knowledge,
Andy (00:20):
privileged.
Paul (00:21):
Absolutely honored to have you on the show.
So, for the people at home Andyis not just a Guinness World
record holder, but he's an ultraendurance athlete and a
motivational speaker on amission to help people harness
their as a superpower.
After years of struggling withADHD, autism and Addiction,
Andy's turned his life aroundachieving sobriety and pushing
(00:43):
his mind and body to new limits.
And in 2022, he completed 70half iron mine, iron Man
triathlons.
I can't even talk today in 75days.
So not even just completing 70half Iron Man triathlons on its
own, but doing that within 75days.
And that's how he set a worldrecord covering the equivalent
(01:05):
distance from London to Beijing.
That is unreal.
He's now training for his nextchallenge, which is to become
the first person to swim theAtlantic, and Andy shares his
story through speakingengagements inspiring others to
embrace resilience, breaklimiting beliefs, and unlock
their full potential.
I don't even know where to beginwith all of that.
Andy, that is a phenomenal.
(01:26):
bio and probably one of the mostimpressive bios that I've had to
read out for the source, so
Andy (01:31):
To be honest, I feel a little, I feel a little bit
pressured that
Paul (01:35):
You're intimidated by yourself.
But it is it's a fantastic story
Andy (01:40):
Thank you.
Paul (01:41):
in line with our partners for the show being ADHD Liberty.
You know, neurodiversity andADHD and autism are all things
that are very central to my lifeat the moment.
Things that I'm very passionateabout helping people to
understand more of.
So when I got the opportunity totalk to yourself, a no brainer
for me that we should have youon the show and share your
journey and story as well.
(02:02):
Before we get into where you'reat right now, I just wanna come
right back to the beginning, toyour school and your childhood.
What was that like living at apoint before you were diagnosed
officially?
How did you know what were thethings that people might
recognize from their ownchildhood that kind of gives
them an idea as to indicationsor symptoms?
Andy (02:23):
Yes, that's a good question.
I was the typical sort ofnaughty boy, the boisterous boy
mom and dad's kind ofrecognized.
Kind of some of the symptomsfairly early on, so kind of
primary school age, and they dideverything that they could to.
Keep me away from things likeultra processed food.
Obviously it wasn't called thatat the time, but it was just e
(02:43):
numbers, colorings, flavorings,preservatives.
They noticed immediately that assoon as I went into my system, I
would just become incrediblyhyper active disruptive.
So they did everything theycould.
To shield me from that.
And then obviously you get a bitolder, you get to high school
age and you get a bit of pocketmoney.
You can go to the shop with atuck shop at school, whatever.
And then I was unable then tokind of control those kind of
(03:05):
cravings and stick me in a twohour math lesson after a 10 p
mix.
And there was just no chance.
And it became more and moredisruptive.
I became more and more kind offearful in the classroom.
I got expelled from the localcomp.
I was then sent to a grammarschool.
I think my dad probablyremortgaged the house for the
fees, but they just sent me tothe smaller classes, better
(03:26):
results, all of that stuff.
But of course it just continued.
I then kind of halfway throughgrammar school, got a diagnosis
for ADHD privately.
And even at the time, you know,this would've been around 95, 96
there was very little knownabout it.
So even with a diagnosis.
It's not like it is now whereyou can then go away and
research it.
(03:47):
It the behaviors and thesymptoms still kind of carried
on very much into my sort oflate teens and twenties.
But yeah, it was difficult andnot knowing what was happening,
you know, that was a realproblem for me.
I couldn't understand why I wasgetting sent outta the class
again.
Why am I in detention again?
Why?
Am I getting expelled, and itwas a very repeating pattern,
(04:11):
but with no answers, so veryfrustrating.
Paul (04:14):
And I guess you kind of get used to being labeled as you
described it perfectly at thebeginning, right?
The naughty boy, you get used tobeing described as that way, and
I'm guessing you start to almostbelieve that and play into that
at times as well, because whynot?
Everybody believes it of me andI'm trying my best.
Is that fair?
Andy (04:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, there was cases where iflike things would go wrong at
school, where was Andrew Stone?
It was the first thing for theteachers to consider, right?
Where's the guilty party at?
And it was considered me like itwas guilty till proven innocent.
And then, yeah, I think I thinkthat's why there is potentially
such a high prison rate for ADHDis because you do get to the
point where you think, do youknow what?
(04:51):
And then, yeah, you work youplay the role and you step over
that line and the judicialsystem gets involved and you get
in trouble.
Paul (04:58):
I think there's also that combined with the traits of a
lack of respect for authoritynatural rebellious attitude and
not, so I didn't so muchstruggle with that.
I kind of did a little bit atschool, but more when I got into
the corporate environment, I wasalways that guy he just wasn't
doing as he was told becausehaven't explained it in a way
where I understand it, where Ireally buy into what you are
(05:19):
doing.
I, I don't think anybody talkedabout ADHD or neurodiversity in
any way, shape, or form theentire 15 years I was in
corporate life, not once.
So I, I do totally get whereyou're coming from, but I, that
obviously then despite thediagnosis, that still escalated
into addiction, right?
Andy (05:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
So then at kind of the end ofthe teens Yeah I discovered
nightclubs girls ecstasy,cannabis.
Speed, ketamine, magicmushrooms, you name it.
And I just kind of thought thatwas like a coming of age that
was kind of what you do when youdiscover clubs and you go off.
And what I was actually doingwas learning all the amazing
ways that illicit drugs can helpyou to escape from your
(06:00):
problems.
Like I had moved out from homeduring the time of my GCSEs,
home life had become verydifficult.
And yeah, I've.
From the age of 16 to now, I'vehad, so that's 25, 26 years I've
had 63 jobs because I just, it'sbeen so reminiscent of school
and that kind of whole similarscenario that I was terrified of
(06:23):
classrooms.
And yeah, a lot of my jobs arenow cherry picked to be
outdoors, to be in nature, to beteamwork and all this sort of
stuff that I can use as a copingstrategy for employment.
Paul (06:33):
I guess at the height of your addiction, you realize that
things needed to change, right?
There comes a turning point foreverybody where you realize
enough and you've gotta find away to either.
Get out of that situation andmake the right choices, or
you're gonna go down the pathand there's not really much
coming back once you're downthat path.
was
Andy (06:52):
the turning point for you Yeah.
Yeah.
So, I kind of progressed throughmy twenties and into my early
thirties.
And specifically alcohol for mewas the overriding sort of drug
of choice.
And it just progressed in,dosage went up, and life was
becoming more and moredifficult.
I couldn't hold a job down.
My absolute best mate on planetEarth, who was my wife by then,
(07:13):
I was married at 25 was verystraight lacing down the line.
She was a fantastic influence onme.
And we'd just started to growapart.
So, I'd moved out.
We'd discussed divorce at thispoint and.
The whole victim mindset wasjust setting in conjunction with
chronic alcohol abuse.
And it got to the point where ittook my mom and dads to sit me
(07:35):
down to kind of say, Andrew, webelieve you need rehab.
And it was a whole familyintervention.
And then you kind of blew uplike, no, I don't, you drink, if
you had my problems and all ofthat kind of angry chimp
mentality.
And I then went off on a 48 hourbender.
And kind of thought, you knowwhat, maybe I do need rehab.
(07:56):
And this is the point in my lifewhere I think, okay, this is my
rock bottom.
I've lost my wife, I've lost myhouse.
I've lost, I had all, I had to,my name was an eight grand debt
from cocaine and my car and myclothes.
I'd lost everything.
And that was the point where Ithought, do you know what?
Yeah, because I tried to do dryJanuary, stopped October all of
(08:16):
these things, I'm not drinkingtill my birthday.
I'm not drinking till Christmasand all of this kind of stuff
and get a few days, anything,ah, that's enough of a detox,
isn't it?
And all the permissions wouldcome flooding back.
And there I was back at the baragain.
So yeah the acceptance that Iwas addicted to the substance of
alcohol came at residentialrehab.
Paul (08:35):
And I think you, it's fair to say you've gotta want to make
the change, right?
Like it doesn't matter what theexternal influences are until
you are ready to decide to dosomething different and make
that choice.
There's not a lot that willshift you from those behaviors.
And even then it's a constantbattle.
It's never something that kindof just goes, you don't get
cured addiction and certainly asan ADHD person where your
(08:55):
dopamine levels are set so muchlower than everybody else's,
that's an even harder battlepeople to fight.
It's definitely an uphillstruggle for most.
Andy (09:03):
100%.
What was the
Paul (09:04):
point where.
You realized that you had a wayto break through the addiction?
You kind of set yourself atarget and goal that, that kind
of got you through the roughtimes,
Andy (09:13):
yeah.
So, I found the first kind ofthree months incredibly
difficult as you would in earlyrecovery to do the withdrawal
period of kind of finding yourfeet again, doing the work
that's required.
And as you say, step one, I'm inthe 12 step program of recovery
through aa.
And step one is admitting it.
I have got a problem withalcohol, my life is
unmanageable.
And and then from there, kind ofthe next 18 months was me trying
(09:37):
to sort of slowly piece my lifeback together.
And at 18 months, three months,things just felt a bit easier.
Then at 18 months, again, thingsjust felt a bit easier and life
was kind of working for meagain, and things were coming
back together.
And my victim mindset was justreducing.
I was able to be, have you know,pride and ambition again, and I
(09:58):
then went off and became a scubainstructor because I,
fascinated.
One of my hyper focuses ismarine biology, the reef sharks,
all of it, love it.
And so it was outdoor, it was ina team.
And after I went and I retrainedand unfortunately Covid was
spanners to that and I wasbrought back home.
I was repatriated and met Sal.
I moved in with Sally.
(10:18):
And second lockdown was tough,really tough.
I completely stagnated and I wasthat close.
I literally stood up off thesofa to go and get.
A bottle of Gin to Relapse.
And myself and Sal had a verysort of grownup conversation and
the project for the world recordwas born there.
And then, so I was able to thenstart training.
It was an 18 month project andit was my hyper focus for the
(10:42):
entire time it just worked.
And yeah, we, it wasn'tflawless, but we executed it
pretty well.
We were happy with the result.
In fact, I've got certificatehere.
Look.
Paul (10:52):
Wow.
Andy (10:53):
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Nice to have that kind ofaccolade that all my sort of
talent wasn't completely wastedthroughout my twenties and
thirties, sort of late thirtiesand early forties.
I've managed to piece it allback together and still achieve.
Paul (11:07):
That's an amazing accomplishment to, from going,
you know, you've mentioned thehighs and lows that you've been
through, you said, you know, 65jobs.
But to go from all of that tothen completing something that
no one else on earth hasactually done.
That is a phenomenalachievement.
Andy (11:22):
Thank you.
How did it
Paul (11:23):
feel when you kind of finished that last triathlon
that half iron Man.
Andy (11:27):
Just the multitude the amount of different levels that
it was an achievement on wascrazy.
'cause there was, like I say,the concept that I hadn't
achieved anything professionallyor particularly personally until
this, or personally I could sayI got sober, but other than that
I've been divorced, you know,this whole kind of escapade of
negativity and.
(11:48):
So there was the finally theacceptance that I'd completed
something significant in mylife.
It was the whole ADHD thing.
'cause that for me, I've veryrarely been able to pick my
hyperfocus.
There's been so many times I'vegone, right this job, it's got
this boss, it's got this money,it's got this potential, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And then a month in oh yeah, itwasn't that after all.
(12:10):
And then again, and again, and.
Finally I picked something as myhyperfocus and we'd actually
pulled it off an 18 monthproject.
Oh my God.
So there was that element to it.
It's yes, I've finally utilizedthis skill this gift that ADHD
has get, and I've done it.
Amazing.
And yeah, there was kinda the,it was a family.
(12:32):
My family were my team.
So my dad was roadsideassistance.
Mum was like domestic goddessdoing all the food, the kids,
the dog.
All the housework and Sal wasabsolutely integral in all the
admin side.
And motivation, obviously blessher.
And so it was a real sort offamily unit that crossed the
line as well, if you like.
So there was just all of thesethings that as an addict, you
(12:53):
know, you completely isolatedthe prospect of Sal even being
interested in me when I wasdrunk.
Having the physicality and youknow, in my late thirties was
just not never gonna be.
An option.
So managing to execute.
It was just, and now I've got itforever.
Talk about putting things onyour cv.
Goggins talks about his cookiejar, and it's just, it's there
(13:13):
for life.
Like I've could never have ittaken away, you know?
Paul (13:17):
I must admit, when we when initially came across your
profile to send out the inviteto be a guest on the show, I
couldn't be more excited athaving the idea of having
somebody who's a world recordholder on the show.
That was before I dug into yourstory.
That and what a phenomenal storythat is.
And
Andy (13:33):
Thanks, mate.
Paul (13:34):
you are still evolving, right?
So
Andy (13:36):
Yeah.
Paul (13:36):
now moved that.
What have you been doing sincethat triathlon?
Because you, I know we'vementioned at the beginning that
you are heading towards a nextchallenge that have of swim in
the Atlantic.
But in terms of a professionalcareer as well you've pivoted
almost completely now that youknow yourself a lot better.
Andy (13:52):
I'm now self-employed.
It's, I'm now a peer mentor andhelping individuals one-to-one
going to schools, universitiesbusinesses, and talking exactly
what I've been through.
So, individuals that are gettingADHD diagnoses now.
Would be it privately or NHS arestill getting no more
(14:12):
information than I got in thenineties so I can go and talk to
these people.
Have you got a diagnosis?
Yes.
Do you know what ADHD is?
Attention deficit.
Yeah, but you know what it is.
No idea.
Are you on Ritalin?
Yeah.
Do you know what it is?
No idea.
So now I can go and help thesepeople by educating them on
themselves, give them anecdotalstuff from me, make myself
(14:35):
vulnerable.
'cause that's sometimes what ittakes to help people open up.
It's my name is Andy.
It's gone from being, I'm a, analcoholic, I'm a drug addict,
I'm autistic, I'm ADHD, like woeis me to, right?
Yeah.
I, my name is Andy.
I'm an alcoholic.
I'm a cocaine addict.
I am ADHD and I'm on the autismspectrum.
And here's what I know about it.
(14:55):
Here's what I've been able toachieve by utilizing it.
I it's gone from.
You've got drug addiction andsetting world records.
And so that's the night and dayfor me.
So if I can go into these placesand teach them about the
strengths rather than peoplejust getting hung up on their
weaknesses.
And so it's things like, youknow, for businesses it's things
(15:16):
like it did helping people withthe symptoms, the negative
symptoms that come along withit, like poor timekeeping, you
know?
I'm a bugger for being late, butI have time blindness.
I actually really struggle topredict how long things are
gonna take.
So I might be 10 minutes late,but then I don't need a lunch
hour.
If you give me a task that Ienjoy, the dopamine, just go
ping, and then it's through theroof and I, in fact, I resent
(15:38):
lunch hours sometimes.
So, it's flex.
Just gimme flexi hours.
And that's just one way ofutilizing an ADHD.
Just let him go.
And then you hear the story ofBill Gates and his autistic
lives that he kept in an officedownstairs with no windows, low
lighting, nothing in there.
It's almost soundproof room.
And people were come and kind oflooking in going, what?
(15:59):
He was working in there and all.
And it turns out it's twoautistic lives that it saved
millions.
On firewalls and cyber hacking,and they had a meeting with them
and they brought'em out and thisis the team, the prospect of an
open office for those guyswould've driven a mad.
And so it's just trying to helpcompanies and help individuals
(16:20):
to know thyself and bringingempathy and not, you know,
frustration.
And that's my goal is, it's to,I'm doing it on, like I say, on
a one-to-one level with mentees.
Peer mentoring I believe isabsolutely fantastic.
It's'cause I'm not pretending tobe something I'm not.
I can go in and just becompletely open and and I
believe that is that.
Paul (16:41):
I think it's phenomenal because I come from a retail
background and I remembercommenting at the time
completely unaware that I wasADHD and had autistic traits
myself, and I remembercommenting, seeing in a really
positive way.
You know what?
I love working with people whoare OCD, who show autistic
symptoms who are ADHD becausethey've got energy, they've got
(17:03):
passion.
If you can motivate them and getthem to do the, you know, the
stuff that everybody else hits,you will find one of them will
want to do that thing, andthey'll do it incredibly well.
They'll do it faster thananybody else thought was
possible, and when they'refinished, it'll be immaculately
tidy and done.
You just find those jobs forpeople and you know what their
jobs are and you give them thosejobs every time and they will,
(17:24):
they'll go way above and beyondfor you.
And I remember saying that.
But I never once, and I've saidthis loads, you know, I never
once and I don't know anybodyelse who's can say otherwise
that in that environment or anyother, that there's any
education for leaders andmanagers on neurodiversity.
And I think a lot of the timeit's seen as well, we must tick
(17:44):
this box for HR to show that weknow what neurodiversity is and
then we can talk about it and wecan prove it and we get a tick
box and get a nice sticker forthe window for the, you know,
for the employer.
But it's actually we are moreimportant than that because you
are underutilizing your bestresource
Andy (18:01):
Absolutely.
Paul (18:02):
almost everybody is neurodiverse in some way, shape
or form.
I'll be, you know, it's maybe abit contentious for some people,
right?
But I believe that firmly andyou can leverage somebody like
Andy to educate your workforce.
So that you can maximize.
So I used to get a 60 or 70 hourweek done in 40 hours, right?
(18:23):
My management hated it because Ineeded to be there for that 50
hour contract.
They expected me to be there for60 hours or 70 hours, like my
peers, and I'd be like, morefool them.
I've done what they do in two,three days.
I've done it today in eighthours, and I'm going home.
And I used to get in trouble allthe time for leaving early from
work.
Because I was bored, supremelybored.
(18:44):
'cause I've done everythingguys.
I've done it.
And like you say, I'd workthrough my dinner break.
I wouldn't bother with properbreaks, I'd just chug an energy
drink down, have a kind of, I'dhave a bar of chocolate to give
that peak in the middle of theday.
And then I'd be back on withthings and do it faster than
anybody else.
I love the fact that you aregoing round and educating not
just business owners, butuniversities, schools you know,
(19:04):
on, on how to overcome thatadversity for their neurodiverse
employees, students, whoever orthemselves.
What's your best advice forsomebody who's in that position?
They suspect that they might beneurodiverse.
But they're not feeling thatsupport from their leadership.
How do they influence theirleadership to care enough in
Andy (19:26):
That's a really good question.
I think first of all, you haveto know thyself.
I have had to go away in a soberstate, understand what was the
root cause of my drinking, andit was man, neurodiversity
without a doubt.
And.
It was because I was trying tocompete with my peers.
I was making personalcomparisons to my brother, to my
(19:46):
spouse, to my mates and it gotvery frustrated in sobriety.
I've been able to understand myown hormones.
I always used to think, oh,girls are hormonal once a month.
How ignorant I was.
I am one of the most hormonalpeople that I know and so I to
understand myself.
Has been absolutely vital and anintegral part of them being able
(20:09):
to educate others about me.
'cause if I don't know myselfhow can I do that?
And so if I can then go to myemployer and say, okay, I am
autistic.
I do have ADHD, here's thedrawbacks, but here's the
positives and if you can justwork with me.
Not, I'm not asking to changemuch, but.
(20:30):
His X, Y, Z that I know worksfor me personally and I believe
it would help that because neurodiversity is, they record, it's
one in five people.
So it's a massive part of punpeople's workforces that if
these small changes can come inand an empathy from above an
understanding, and it may justbe that your boss has actually
got a neurodiverse individual intheir direct family and working
(20:50):
together with you in work mighthelp them personally.
And you may find that I by beingopen about addiction, people
come forward all the time.
About alcohol and drug abuse andam I drinking too much, Andy?
And they'll kind of come on.
What I understand the the aspectof the anonymous side of the
fellowship that I'm in, and Ihave huge respect for that.
(21:11):
But by me actually choosing tobe open, it gives people
strength to come forward andtalk about it.
So I think empathy, I thinkunderstanding, I think you'll
find that people have a lot ofother experiences with this.
Paul (21:23):
The biggest thing that I would recommend on the back of
that is if you are a leader andyou are not educated on
neurodiversity, rather thanworry about all of the ins and
outs of it right now.
I would highly recommend you goaway and look at what the traits
are for ADHD and autism.
'cause there are some verysurprisingly obvious traits that
(21:45):
even I knew nothing about untilabout a year or two ago.
That now that I know about themare massively obvious and I
should have known thing.
I, if I'd known about thosetraits years ago, I'd have
realized that I was ADHD yearsago and being able to deal with.
Criticism that was leveled myway.
Advice and feedback that wasgiven with the best of
(22:06):
intentions, but wasn'tultimately helpful.
And it's things like, you know,I can't stand labels on the back
of my clothes.
I never have done since I was akid.
Certain types, labels, I thinkthey're a lot better than they
used to be, but definitely, youknow, anything scratchy on my
skin, wool, that sort of thing.
And it's things that you wouldnever associate with ADHD
because there's quite oftensensory traits that are part of
(22:29):
the autism tree that are highlycorrelated with ADHD.
as a leader, if you go away andresearch those, I bet that
you'll start to see them amongstyour staff, your employees, your
direct reports, or your peers,your management.
You'll see it all around youonce you start to see it.
And with that in mind, you'll beable to give people a little bit
more leeway in how you work withthem, how you talk to them, how
(22:52):
you handle them, what feedbackyou give to them, and it'll help
you get on the pathway where.
Somebody like Andy coming inwill massively benefit your
business.
But a lot of people are outthere going, right now going, I
don't have any ADHD employees...
guarantee you do! They're justvery good at masking it in a
corporate environment.
You know, biggest feedback Iever had was, Paul, why don't
(23:12):
you just tour the company line'cause I'm a
Andy (23:15):
Absolutely.
Paul (23:15):
Rebel.
I can't help it.
That's part of my personality.
I'm a rebel and you are givingme orders and you are not
backing it up with proof points.
Prove it to me.
Show me how it'll benefit me,the customers on my team, then
we'll do it.
If you don't prove it to me andyou're just gonna make me do it,
I will be your biggest, worstenemy.
Believe it.
Hence why I'm not in corporateworld anymore.
(23:36):
So Andy with that kind of comingback to that, that last
challenge that you are nowaiming towards swimming the
Atlantic, I mean.
That's outrageous.
What's your training plan forthat?
When you, when are you gonna bedoing that?
Andy (23:47):
Yeah, so that's a good question.
I had a, an English channelattempt last year.
So that's kind of me dipping myfoot with the open water
swimming thing.
I've always been a really luckyat swimming.
I swam as a kid, swam for thetown loads of galas and training
and all of that.
So it's one of those things fromchildhood that sticks with you.
And I'm just dead lucky in thatrespect.
So.
Again, it's playing to mystrengths.
(24:08):
So instead of me banging my headagainst a wall trying to do what
I'm bad at, this is finally anopportunity for me to go, okay
the record was set in triathlonof the three triathlon
disciplines.
It's swimming all day long.
It is my greatest strength.
So.
Why not try it?
We were actually on a familyholiday on a plane over the
Atlantic and I was like, oh, Iwonder if anyone's ever sw
(24:28):
across the Atlantic.
And a few people have had acrack.
No one has done it officially.
So we've spoken to a couple of'em that have done it
unofficially and their kind ofattempts were discarded.
So we are now gatheringinformation.
All the kind of admin side ofthe project is kind of coming
together.
We're now very much at a pointwhere we're after corporate
sponsorship.
We raised money for JohnCaldwell, for Caldwell Youth, so
(24:51):
we're hoping potentially wecould try and work again with
those guys.
It was, it went really well.
so as for the actual physicaltraining side of things, I'm
actually on a break at theminute.
Because the hours that I put inlast year for the channel all no
wetsuit, all in kind of theBritish coast.
So a lot of cold waterconditioning, a lot of hours in
the lake with no wetsuit on.
(25:12):
So anything between sort ofeight and 11 hours a day, 5,000
calorie breakfasts.
So for breakfast I'll eat 500calories of porridge with
berries, seeds, nuts, a pint ofwhole milk.
And then I have a 900 gramtrifle, which is another 1800
calories.
And then I drink a pint ofdouble cream, which is another
(25:33):
2,800 calories.
I then swim for two hours, andthen every hour on the hour, I
drink a certain amount ofliquid, which has powders in it.
And it's the equivalent sugar ofa whole cheesecake on the hour,
every hour.
So the calorific intake has tobe, you have to condition
yourself for that.
It's a first world problem,
Paul (25:51):
yeah.
Andy (25:52):
So yeah, it's just building it all up.
So I'll be back to, I'm in thegym a lot at the moment.
I use a CrossFit gym, so a lotof high, a lot of hit stuff at
the moment.
And then I will slowly build theswimming back up again and
hopefully we can sort of tie itall together with corporate
sponsorship and it'll all cometo fruition hopefully.
We, we were initially planningfor this year but we're looking
at 2026 now, so been going fromBrazil to West Africa, and
(26:17):
there's this, there's a windowthat opens up where the north
and south.
Trade winds come across fromAfrica to to the Caribbean side,
but there's a channel that opensup that kind of drifts back,
like a giant rip current thattakes back across the Atlantic.
And it's called the Doldrums.
So sailors hate it'cause there'sno wind.
But for a swimming it'd beperfect.
(26:38):
So we'd have
Paul (26:38):
why I'd be
Andy (26:39):
a
Paul (26:39):
in the doldrums.
Andy (26:40):
Yeah, exactly that.
Yeah.
But we're going to.
Paul (26:42):
else.
Andy (26:43):
Yeah.
Sailors hate it, but there's nobenefit to the win for a
swimmer.
It just, in fact, it just madethe whole thing more
uncomfortable.
So, yeah, so we're getting ittogether.
We are quietly optimistic butit's still a way to go.
Paul (26:54):
If and when you do complete, when you do, I'm
confident you will.
Andy,
Andy (26:57):
Thanks mate.
Paul (26:58):
spoken to you a couple of times, when you do, please let
me know.
I want you back on the show.
We wanna celebrate that win.
Andy (27:04):
Thank you.
Paul (27:05):
you know, as you're building up to it, keep in touch
with us.
Let us know.
We'll do some shout outs on thepodcast because I'd love to
encourage people to support youin the journey.
Andy (27:12):
you.
Paul (27:13):
there's anybody out there that can help you with that
corporate sponsorship, I've gota huge network of amazing
people.
So please do, if you're watchingthis and you think you've got
somebody who can help, please doget them to reach out to me.
Reach out to Mandy directly.
I'll happily connect you becausehe's such a phenomenal person
who's done so much for otherpeople already.
So.
Andy (27:31):
Thank you, mate.
Paul (27:32):
for coming along to d and d.
Appreciate you sharing yourstory.
If people wanna reach out andlearn more, what's the best way
for them to reach you?
Andy (27:38):
So they can get me on my website, which is andy hyphen
stone.com.
Or you can get me on the normalsocials.
Insta is Atlantic Swim, Andy orADHD mentor, Andy.
And yeah, find me through that.
Ping me and I would love to havea chat.
Paul (27:53):
Fantastic.
Thanks very much for that.
And I'll make sure those linksare in the show notes as well.
Andy (27:58):
Perfect.
Thank you.
Paul (27:59):
care.
Thank you very much and thanksfor watching along.
I hope you've enjoyed today'sepisode and I will share another
amazing story with you nextweek.
Bye-bye.
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to Marketpulse Pros and
(00:03):
Pioneers, where this week we'retalking to a Guinness World
record holder.
Andy Stone, welcome to the show.
Andy (00:10):
Thank you very much for having me.
Good to be here.
Paul (00:12):
Amazing.
I can confirm you are definitelyour very first world record
holder on the show,
Andy (00:17):
Oh,
Paul (00:18):
knowledge anyway, to the best of my knowledge,
Andy (00:20):
privileged.
Paul (00:21):
Absolutely honored to have you on the show.
So, for the people at home Andyis not just a Guinness World
record holder, but he's an ultraendurance athlete and a
motivational speaker on amission to help people harness
their as a superpower.
After years of struggling withADHD, autism and Addiction,
Andy's turned his life aroundachieving sobriety and pushing
(00:43):
his mind and body to new limits.
And in 2022, he completed 70half iron mine, iron Man
triathlons.
I can't even talk today in 75days.
So not even just completing 70half Iron Man triathlons on its
own, but doing that within 75days.
And that's how he set a worldrecord covering the equivalent
(01:05):
distance from London to Beijing.
That is unreal.
He's now training for his nextchallenge, which is to become
the first person to swim theAtlantic, and Andy shares his
story through speakingengagements inspiring others to
embrace resilience, breaklimiting beliefs, and unlock
their full potential.
I don't even know where to beginwith all of that.
Andy, that is a phenomenal.
(01:26):
bio and probably one of the mostimpressive bios that I've had to
read out for the source, so
Andy (01:31):
To be honest, I feel a little, I feel a little bit
pressured that
Paul (01:35):
You're intimidated by yourself.
But it is it's a fantastic story
Andy (01:40):
Thank you.
Paul (01:41):
in line with our partners for the show being ADHD Liberty.
You know, neurodiversity andADHD and autism are all things
that are very central to my lifeat the moment.
Things that I'm very passionateabout helping people to
understand more of.
So when I got the opportunity totalk to yourself, a no brainer
for me that we should have youon the show and share your
journey and story as well.
(02:02):
Before we get into where you'reat right now, I just wanna come
right back to the beginning, toyour school and your childhood.
What was that like living at apoint before you were diagnosed
officially?
How did you know what were thethings that people might
recognize from their ownchildhood that kind of gives
them an idea as to indicationsor symptoms?
Andy (02:23):
Yes, that's a good question.
I was the typical sort ofnaughty boy, the boisterous boy
mom and dad's kind ofrecognized.
Kind of some of the symptomsfairly early on, so kind of
primary school age, and they dideverything that they could to.
Keep me away from things likeultra processed food.
Obviously it wasn't called thatat the time, but it was just e
(02:43):
numbers, colorings, flavorings,preservatives.
They noticed immediately that assoon as I went into my system, I
would just become incrediblyhyper active disruptive.
So they did everything theycould.
To shield me from that.
And then obviously you get a bitolder, you get to high school
age and you get a bit of pocketmoney.
You can go to the shop with atuck shop at school, whatever.
And then I was unable then tokind of control those kind of
(03:05):
cravings and stick me in a twohour math lesson after a 10 p
mix.
And there was just no chance.
And it became more and moredisruptive.
I became more and more kind offearful in the classroom.
I got expelled from the localcomp.
I was then sent to a grammarschool.
I think my dad probablyremortgaged the house for the
fees, but they just sent me tothe smaller classes, better
(03:26):
results, all of that stuff.
But of course it just continued.
I then kind of halfway throughgrammar school, got a diagnosis
for ADHD privately.
And even at the time, you know,this would've been around 95, 96
there was very little knownabout it.
So even with a diagnosis.
It's not like it is now whereyou can then go away and
research it.
(03:47):
It the behaviors and thesymptoms still kind of carried
on very much into my sort oflate teens and twenties.
But yeah, it was difficult andnot knowing what was happening,
you know, that was a realproblem for me.
I couldn't understand why I wasgetting sent outta the class
again.
Why am I in detention again?
Why?
Am I getting expelled, and itwas a very repeating pattern,
(04:11):
but with no answers, so veryfrustrating.
Paul (04:14):
And I guess you kind of get used to being labeled as you
described it perfectly at thebeginning, right?
The naughty boy, you get used tobeing described as that way, and
I'm guessing you start to almostbelieve that and play into that
at times as well, because whynot?
Everybody believes it of me andI'm trying my best.
Is that fair?
Andy (04:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, there was cases where iflike things would go wrong at
school, where was Andrew Stone?
It was the first thing for theteachers to consider, right?
Where's the guilty party at?
And it was considered me like itwas guilty till proven innocent.
And then, yeah, I think I thinkthat's why there is potentially
such a high prison rate for ADHDis because you do get to the
point where you think, do youknow what?
(04:51):
And then, yeah, you work youplay the role and you step over
that line and the judicialsystem gets involved and you get
in trouble.
Paul (04:58):
I think there's also that combined with the traits of a
lack of respect for authoritynatural rebellious attitude and
not, so I didn't so muchstruggle with that.
I kind of did a little bit atschool, but more when I got into
the corporate environment, I wasalways that guy he just wasn't
doing as he was told becausehaven't explained it in a way
where I understand it, where Ireally buy into what you are
(05:19):
doing.
I, I don't think anybody talkedabout ADHD or neurodiversity in
any way, shape, or form theentire 15 years I was in
corporate life, not once.
So I, I do totally get whereyou're coming from, but I, that
obviously then despite thediagnosis, that still escalated
into addiction, right?
Andy (05:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
So then at kind of the end ofthe teens Yeah I discovered
nightclubs girls ecstasy,cannabis.
Speed, ketamine, magicmushrooms, you name it.
And I just kind of thought thatwas like a coming of age that
was kind of what you do when youdiscover clubs and you go off.
And what I was actually doingwas learning all the amazing
ways that illicit drugs can helpyou to escape from your
(06:00):
problems.
Like I had moved out from homeduring the time of my GCSEs,
home life had become verydifficult.
And yeah, I've.
From the age of 16 to now, I'vehad, so that's 25, 26 years I've
had 63 jobs because I just, it'sbeen so reminiscent of school
and that kind of whole similarscenario that I was terrified of
(06:23):
classrooms.
And yeah, a lot of my jobs arenow cherry picked to be
outdoors, to be in nature, to beteamwork and all this sort of
stuff that I can use as a copingstrategy for employment.
Paul (06:33):
I guess at the height of your addiction, you realize that
things needed to change, right?
There comes a turning point foreverybody where you realize
enough and you've gotta find away to either.
Get out of that situation andmake the right choices, or
you're gonna go down the pathand there's not really much
coming back once you're downthat path.
was
Andy (06:52):
the turning point for you Yeah.
Yeah.
So, I kind of progressed throughmy twenties and into my early
thirties.
And specifically alcohol for mewas the overriding sort of drug
of choice.
And it just progressed in,dosage went up, and life was
becoming more and moredifficult.
I couldn't hold a job down.
My absolute best mate on planetEarth, who was my wife by then,
(07:13):
I was married at 25 was verystraight lacing down the line.
She was a fantastic influence onme.
And we'd just started to growapart.
So, I'd moved out.
We'd discussed divorce at thispoint and.
The whole victim mindset wasjust setting in conjunction with
chronic alcohol abuse.
And it got to the point where ittook my mom and dads to sit me
(07:35):
down to kind of say, Andrew, webelieve you need rehab.
And it was a whole familyintervention.
And then you kind of blew uplike, no, I don't, you drink, if
you had my problems and all ofthat kind of angry chimp
mentality.
And I then went off on a 48 hourbender.
And kind of thought, you knowwhat, maybe I do need rehab.
(07:56):
And this is the point in my lifewhere I think, okay, this is my
rock bottom.
I've lost my wife, I've lost myhouse.
I've lost, I had all, I had to,my name was an eight grand debt
from cocaine and my car and myclothes.
I'd lost everything.
And that was the point where Ithought, do you know what?
Yeah, because I tried to do dryJanuary, stopped October all of
(08:16):
these things, I'm not drinkingtill my birthday.
I'm not drinking till Christmasand all of this kind of stuff
and get a few days, anything,ah, that's enough of a detox,
isn't it?
And all the permissions wouldcome flooding back.
And there I was back at the baragain.
So yeah the acceptance that Iwas addicted to the substance of
alcohol came at residentialrehab.
Paul (08:35):
And I think you, it's fair to say you've gotta want to make
the change, right?
Like it doesn't matter what theexternal influences are until
you are ready to decide to dosomething different and make
that choice.
There's not a lot that willshift you from those behaviors.
And even then it's a constantbattle.
It's never something that kindof just goes, you don't get
cured addiction and certainly asan ADHD person where your
(08:55):
dopamine levels are set so muchlower than everybody else's,
that's an even harder battlepeople to fight.
It's definitely an uphillstruggle for most.
Andy (09:03):
100%.
What was the
Paul (09:04):
point where.
You realized that you had a wayto break through the addiction?
You kind of set yourself atarget and goal that, that kind
of got you through the roughtimes,
Andy (09:13):
yeah.
So, I found the first kind ofthree months incredibly
difficult as you would in earlyrecovery to do the withdrawal
period of kind of finding yourfeet again, doing the work
that's required.
And as you say, step one, I'm inthe 12 step program of recovery
through aa.
And step one is admitting it.
I have got a problem withalcohol, my life is
unmanageable.
And and then from there, kind ofthe next 18 months was me trying
(09:37):
to sort of slowly piece my lifeback together.
And at 18 months, three months,things just felt a bit easier.
Then at 18 months, again, thingsjust felt a bit easier and life
was kind of working for meagain, and things were coming
back together.
And my victim mindset was justreducing.
I was able to be, have you know,pride and ambition again, and I
(09:58):
then went off and became a scubainstructor because I,
fascinated.
One of my hyper focuses ismarine biology, the reef sharks,
all of it, love it.
And so it was outdoor, it was ina team.
And after I went and I retrainedand unfortunately Covid was
spanners to that and I wasbrought back home.
I was repatriated and met Sal.
I moved in with Sally.
(10:18):
And second lockdown was tough,really tough.
I completely stagnated and I wasthat close.
I literally stood up off thesofa to go and get.
A bottle of Gin to Relapse.
And myself and Sal had a verysort of grownup conversation and
the project for the world recordwas born there.
And then, so I was able to thenstart training.
It was an 18 month project andit was my hyper focus for the
(10:42):
entire time it just worked.
And yeah, we, it wasn'tflawless, but we executed it
pretty well.
We were happy with the result.
In fact, I've got certificatehere.
Look.
Paul (10:52):
Wow.
Andy (10:53):
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Nice to have that kind ofaccolade that all my sort of
talent wasn't completely wastedthroughout my twenties and
thirties, sort of late thirtiesand early forties.
I've managed to piece it allback together and still achieve.
Paul (11:07):
That's an amazing accomplishment to, from going,
you know, you've mentioned thehighs and lows that you've been
through, you said, you know, 65jobs.
But to go from all of that tothen completing something that
no one else on earth hasactually done.
That is a phenomenalachievement.
Andy (11:22):
Thank you.
How did it
Paul (11:23):
feel when you kind of finished that last triathlon
that half iron Man.
Andy (11:27):
Just the multitude the amount of different levels that
it was an achievement on wascrazy.
'cause there was, like I say,the concept that I hadn't
achieved anything professionallyor particularly personally until
this, or personally I could sayI got sober, but other than that
I've been divorced, you know,this whole kind of escapade of
negativity and.
(11:48):
So there was the finally theacceptance that I'd completed
something significant in mylife.
It was the whole ADHD thing.
'cause that for me, I've veryrarely been able to pick my
hyperfocus.
There's been so many times I'vegone, right this job, it's got
this boss, it's got this money,it's got this potential, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And then a month in oh yeah, itwasn't that after all.
(12:10):
And then again, and again, and.
Finally I picked something as myhyperfocus and we'd actually
pulled it off an 18 monthproject.
Oh my God.
So there was that element to it.
It's yes, I've finally utilizedthis skill this gift that ADHD
has get, and I've done it.
Amazing.
And yeah, there was kinda the,it was a family.
(12:32):
My family were my team.
So my dad was roadsideassistance.
Mum was like domestic goddessdoing all the food, the kids,
the dog.
All the housework and Sal wasabsolutely integral in all the
admin side.
And motivation, obviously blessher.
And so it was a real sort offamily unit that crossed the
line as well, if you like.
So there was just all of thesethings that as an addict, you
(12:53):
know, you completely isolatedthe prospect of Sal even being
interested in me when I wasdrunk.
Having the physicality and youknow, in my late thirties was
just not never gonna be.
An option.
So managing to execute.
It was just, and now I've got itforever.
Talk about putting things onyour cv.
Goggins talks about his cookiejar, and it's just, it's there
(13:13):
for life.
Like I've could never have ittaken away, you know?
Paul (13:17):
I must admit, when we when initially came across your
profile to send out the inviteto be a guest on the show, I
couldn't be more excited athaving the idea of having
somebody who's a world recordholder on the show.
That was before I dug into yourstory.
That and what a phenomenal storythat is.
And
Andy (13:33):
Thanks, mate.
Paul (13:34):
you are still evolving, right?
So
Andy (13:36):
Yeah.
Paul (13:36):
now moved that.
What have you been doing sincethat triathlon?
Because you, I know we'vementioned at the beginning that
you are heading towards a nextchallenge that have of swim in
the Atlantic.
But in terms of a professionalcareer as well you've pivoted
almost completely now that youknow yourself a lot better.
Andy (13:52):
I'm now self-employed.
It's, I'm now a peer mentor andhelping individuals one-to-one
going to schools, universitiesbusinesses, and talking exactly
what I've been through.
So, individuals that are gettingADHD diagnoses now.
Would be it privately or NHS arestill getting no more
(14:12):
information than I got in thenineties so I can go and talk to
these people.
Have you got a diagnosis?
Yes.
Do you know what ADHD is?
Attention deficit.
Yeah, but you know what it is.
No idea.
Are you on Ritalin?
Yeah.
Do you know what it is?
No idea.
So now I can go and help thesepeople by educating them on
themselves, give them anecdotalstuff from me, make myself
(14:35):
vulnerable.
'cause that's sometimes what ittakes to help people open up.
It's my name is Andy.
It's gone from being, I'm a, analcoholic, I'm a drug addict,
I'm autistic, I'm ADHD, like woeis me to, right?
Yeah.
I, my name is Andy.
I'm an alcoholic.
I'm a cocaine addict.
I am ADHD and I'm on the autismspectrum.
And here's what I know about it.
(14:55):
Here's what I've been able toachieve by utilizing it.
I it's gone from.
You've got drug addiction andsetting world records.
And so that's the night and dayfor me.
So if I can go into these placesand teach them about the
strengths rather than peoplejust getting hung up on their
weaknesses.
And so it's things like, youknow, for businesses it's things
(15:16):
like it did helping people withthe symptoms, the negative
symptoms that come along withit, like poor timekeeping, you
know?
I'm a bugger for being late, butI have time blindness.
I actually really struggle topredict how long things are
gonna take.
So I might be 10 minutes late,but then I don't need a lunch
hour.
If you give me a task that Ienjoy, the dopamine, just go
ping, and then it's through theroof and I, in fact, I resent
(15:38):
lunch hours sometimes.
So, it's flex.
Just gimme flexi hours.
And that's just one way ofutilizing an ADHD.
Just let him go.
And then you hear the story ofBill Gates and his autistic
lives that he kept in an officedownstairs with no windows, low
lighting, nothing in there.
It's almost soundproof room.
And people were come and kind oflooking in going, what?
(15:59):
He was working in there and all.
And it turns out it's twoautistic lives that it saved
millions.
On firewalls and cyber hacking,and they had a meeting with them
and they brought'em out and thisis the team, the prospect of an
open office for those guyswould've driven a mad.
And so it's just trying to helpcompanies and help individuals
(16:20):
to know thyself and bringingempathy and not, you know,
frustration.
And that's my goal is, it's to,I'm doing it on, like I say, on
a one-to-one level with mentees.
Peer mentoring I believe isabsolutely fantastic.
It's'cause I'm not pretending tobe something I'm not.
I can go in and just becompletely open and and I
believe that is that.
Paul (16:41):
I think it's phenomenal because I come from a retail
background and I remembercommenting at the time
completely unaware that I wasADHD and had autistic traits
myself, and I remembercommenting, seeing in a really
positive way.
You know what?
I love working with people whoare OCD, who show autistic
symptoms who are ADHD becausethey've got energy, they've got
(17:03):
passion.
If you can motivate them and getthem to do the, you know, the
stuff that everybody else hits,you will find one of them will
want to do that thing, andthey'll do it incredibly well.
They'll do it faster thananybody else thought was
possible, and when they'refinished, it'll be immaculately
tidy and done.
You just find those jobs forpeople and you know what their
jobs are and you give them thosejobs every time and they will,
(17:24):
they'll go way above and beyondfor you.
And I remember saying that.
But I never once, and I've saidthis loads, you know, I never
once and I don't know anybodyelse who's can say otherwise
that in that environment or anyother, that there's any
education for leaders andmanagers on neurodiversity.
And I think a lot of the timeit's seen as well, we must tick
(17:44):
this box for HR to show that weknow what neurodiversity is and
then we can talk about it and wecan prove it and we get a tick
box and get a nice sticker forthe window for the, you know,
for the employer.
But it's actually we are moreimportant than that because you
are underutilizing your bestresource
Andy (18:01):
Absolutely.
Paul (18:02):
almost everybody is neurodiverse in some way, shape
or form.
I'll be, you know, it's maybe abit contentious for some people,
right?
But I believe that firmly andyou can leverage somebody like
Andy to educate your workforce.
So that you can maximize.
So I used to get a 60 or 70 hourweek done in 40 hours, right?
(18:23):
My management hated it because Ineeded to be there for that 50
hour contract.
They expected me to be there for60 hours or 70 hours, like my
peers, and I'd be like, morefool them.
I've done what they do in two,three days.
I've done it today in eighthours, and I'm going home.
And I used to get in trouble allthe time for leaving early from
work.
Because I was bored, supremelybored.
(18:44):
'cause I've done everythingguys.
I've done it.
And like you say, I'd workthrough my dinner break.
I wouldn't bother with properbreaks, I'd just chug an energy
drink down, have a kind of, I'dhave a bar of chocolate to give
that peak in the middle of theday.
And then I'd be back on withthings and do it faster than
anybody else.
I love the fact that you aregoing round and educating not
just business owners, butuniversities, schools you know,
(19:04):
on, on how to overcome thatadversity for their neurodiverse
employees, students, whoever orthemselves.
What's your best advice forsomebody who's in that position?
They suspect that they might beneurodiverse.
But they're not feeling thatsupport from their leadership.
How do they influence theirleadership to care enough in
Andy (19:26):
That's a really good question.
I think first of all, you haveto know thyself.
I have had to go away in a soberstate, understand what was the
root cause of my drinking, andit was man, neurodiversity
without a doubt.
And.
It was because I was trying tocompete with my peers.
I was making personalcomparisons to my brother, to my
(19:46):
spouse, to my mates and it gotvery frustrated in sobriety.
I've been able to understand myown hormones.
I always used to think, oh,girls are hormonal once a month.
How ignorant I was.
I am one of the most hormonalpeople that I know and so I to
understand myself.
Has been absolutely vital and anintegral part of them being able
(20:09):
to educate others about me.
'cause if I don't know myselfhow can I do that?
And so if I can then go to myemployer and say, okay, I am
autistic.
I do have ADHD, here's thedrawbacks, but here's the
positives and if you can justwork with me.
Not, I'm not asking to changemuch, but.
(20:30):
His X, Y, Z that I know worksfor me personally and I believe
it would help that because neurodiversity is, they record, it's
one in five people.
So it's a massive part of punpeople's workforces that if
these small changes can come inand an empathy from above an
understanding, and it may justbe that your boss has actually
got a neurodiverse individual intheir direct family and working
(20:50):
together with you in work mighthelp them personally.
And you may find that I by beingopen about addiction, people
come forward all the time.
About alcohol and drug abuse andam I drinking too much, Andy?
And they'll kind of come on.
What I understand the the aspectof the anonymous side of the
fellowship that I'm in, and Ihave huge respect for that.
(21:11):
But by me actually choosing tobe open, it gives people
strength to come forward andtalk about it.
So I think empathy, I thinkunderstanding, I think you'll
find that people have a lot ofother experiences with this.
Paul (21:23):
The biggest thing that I would recommend on the back of
that is if you are a leader andyou are not educated on
neurodiversity, rather thanworry about all of the ins and
outs of it right now.
I would highly recommend you goaway and look at what the traits
are for ADHD and autism.
'cause there are some verysurprisingly obvious traits that
(21:45):
even I knew nothing about untilabout a year or two ago.
That now that I know about themare massively obvious and I
should have known thing.
I, if I'd known about thosetraits years ago, I'd have
realized that I was ADHD yearsago and being able to deal with.
Criticism that was leveled myway.
Advice and feedback that wasgiven with the best of
(22:06):
intentions, but wasn'tultimately helpful.
And it's things like, you know,I can't stand labels on the back
of my clothes.
I never have done since I was akid.
Certain types, labels, I thinkthey're a lot better than they
used to be, but definitely, youknow, anything scratchy on my
skin, wool, that sort of thing.
And it's things that you wouldnever associate with ADHD
because there's quite oftensensory traits that are part of
(22:29):
the autism tree that are highlycorrelated with ADHD.
as a leader, if you go away andresearch those, I bet that
you'll start to see them amongstyour staff, your employees, your
direct reports, or your peers,your management.
You'll see it all around youonce you start to see it.
And with that in mind, you'll beable to give people a little bit
more leeway in how you work withthem, how you talk to them, how
(22:52):
you handle them, what feedbackyou give to them, and it'll help
you get on the pathway where.
Somebody like Andy coming inwill massively benefit your
business.
But a lot of people are outthere going, right now going, I
don't have any ADHD employees...
guarantee you do! They're justvery good at masking it in a
corporate environment.
You know, biggest feedback Iever had was, Paul, why don't
(23:12):
you just tour the company line'cause I'm a
Andy (23:15):
Absolutely.
Paul (23:15):
Rebel.
I can't help it.
That's part of my personality.
I'm a rebel and you are givingme orders and you are not
backing it up with proof points.
Prove it to me.
Show me how it'll benefit me,the customers on my team, then
we'll do it.
If you don't prove it to me andyou're just gonna make me do it,
I will be your biggest, worstenemy.
Believe it.
Hence why I'm not in corporateworld anymore.
(23:36):
So Andy with that kind of comingback to that, that last
challenge that you are nowaiming towards swimming the
Atlantic, I mean.
That's outrageous.
What's your training plan forthat?
When you, when are you gonna bedoing that?
Andy (23:47):
Yeah, so that's a good question.
I had a, an English channelattempt last year.
So that's kind of me dipping myfoot with the open water
swimming thing.
I've always been a really luckyat swimming.
I swam as a kid, swam for thetown loads of galas and training
and all of that.
So it's one of those things fromchildhood that sticks with you.
And I'm just dead lucky in thatrespect.
So.
Again, it's playing to mystrengths.
(24:08):
So instead of me banging my headagainst a wall trying to do what
I'm bad at, this is finally anopportunity for me to go, okay
the record was set in triathlonof the three triathlon
disciplines.
It's swimming all day long.
It is my greatest strength.
So.
Why not try it?
We were actually on a familyholiday on a plane over the
Atlantic and I was like, oh, Iwonder if anyone's ever sw
(24:28):
across the Atlantic.
And a few people have had acrack.
No one has done it officially.
So we've spoken to a couple of'em that have done it
unofficially and their kind ofattempts were discarded.
So we are now gatheringinformation.
All the kind of admin side ofthe project is kind of coming
together.
We're now very much at a pointwhere we're after corporate
sponsorship.
We raised money for JohnCaldwell, for Caldwell Youth, so
(24:51):
we're hoping potentially wecould try and work again with
those guys.
It was, it went really well.
so as for the actual physicaltraining side of things, I'm
actually on a break at theminute.
Because the hours that I put inlast year for the channel all no
wetsuit, all in kind of theBritish coast.
So a lot of cold waterconditioning, a lot of hours in
the lake with no wetsuit on.
(25:12):
So anything between sort ofeight and 11 hours a day, 5,000
calorie breakfasts.
So for breakfast I'll eat 500calories of porridge with
berries, seeds, nuts, a pint ofwhole milk.
And then I have a 900 gramtrifle, which is another 1800
calories.
And then I drink a pint ofdouble cream, which is another
(25:33):
2,800 calories.
I then swim for two hours, andthen every hour on the hour, I
drink a certain amount ofliquid, which has powders in it.
And it's the equivalent sugar ofa whole cheesecake on the hour,
every hour.
So the calorific intake has tobe, you have to condition
yourself for that.
It's a first world problem,
Paul (25:51):
yeah.
Andy (25:52):
So yeah, it's just building it all up.
So I'll be back to, I'm in thegym a lot at the moment.
I use a CrossFit gym, so a lotof high, a lot of hit stuff at
the moment.
And then I will slowly build theswimming back up again and
hopefully we can sort of tie itall together with corporate
sponsorship and it'll all cometo fruition hopefully.
We, we were initially planningfor this year but we're looking
at 2026 now, so been going fromBrazil to West Africa, and
(26:17):
there's this, there's a windowthat opens up where the north
and south.
Trade winds come across fromAfrica to to the Caribbean side,
but there's a channel that opensup that kind of drifts back,
like a giant rip current thattakes back across the Atlantic.
And it's called the Doldrums.
So sailors hate it'cause there'sno wind.
But for a swimming it'd beperfect.
(26:38):
So we'd have
Paul (26:38):
why I'd be
Andy (26:39):
a
Paul (26:39):
in the doldrums.
Andy (26:40):
Yeah, exactly that.
Yeah.
But we're going to.
Paul (26:42):
else.
Andy (26:43):
Yeah.
Sailors hate it, but there's nobenefit to the win for a
swimmer.
It just, in fact, it just madethe whole thing more
uncomfortable.
So, yeah, so we're getting ittogether.
We are quietly optimistic butit's still a way to go.
Paul (26:54):
If and when you do complete, when you do, I'm
confident you will.
Andy,
Andy (26:57):
Thanks mate.
Paul (26:58):
spoken to you a couple of times, when you do, please let
me know.
I want you back on the show.
We wanna celebrate that win.
Andy (27:04):
Thank you.
Paul (27:05):
you know, as you're building up to it, keep in touch
with us.
Let us know.
We'll do some shout outs on thepodcast because I'd love to
encourage people to support youin the journey.
Andy (27:12):
you.
Paul (27:13):
there's anybody out there that can help you with that
corporate sponsorship, I've gota huge network of amazing
people.
So please do, if you're watchingthis and you think you've got
somebody who can help, please doget them to reach out to me.
Reach out to Mandy directly.
I'll happily connect you becausehe's such a phenomenal person
who's done so much for otherpeople already.
So.
Andy (27:31):
Thank you, mate.
Paul (27:32):
for coming along to d and d.
Appreciate you sharing yourstory.
If people wanna reach out andlearn more, what's the best way
for them to reach you?
Andy (27:38):
So they can get me on my website, which is andy hyphen
stone.com.
Or you can get me on the normalsocials.
Insta is Atlantic Swim, Andy orADHD mentor, Andy.
And yeah, find me through that.
Ping me and I would love to havea chat.
Paul (27:53):
Fantastic.
Thanks very much for that.
And I'll make sure those linksare in the show notes as well.
Andy (27:58):
Perfect.
Thank you.
Paul (27:59):
care.
Thank you very much and thanksfor watching along.
I hope you've enjoyed today'sepisode and I will share another
amazing story with you nextweek.
Bye-bye.
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