CASE STUDY with Ryan Brady ”Life Lessons Learned While Recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury: A Story of Hope, Opportunity and Inspiration”

“The best way to predict your future, is to create it!” Abraham Lincoln Watch this inspiring interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/aG_B3aLSLEc Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their research, books, ideas and resources to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or in the corporate environment. For today’s EPISODE #254, we’ll be speaking with Ryan Brady[i], an avid public speaker who has put into practice many of the concepts that we’ve covered on this podcast. Ryan went from having a traumatic brain injury when he was a teen, to re-learning how to walk and talk. What caught my eye with Ryan’s story is that as a young man, he was able to see the positive side of his brain injury, that occurred when his car went over an 80-foot cliff, flipped 6 times, breaking his neck, back, wrist and collar bone. This resulted in a Traumatic Brain Injury, that listeners to this podcast will understand the horrific impacts of this injury to his brain on learning, memory and his ability to function in the world. But what he did while recovering is mind-blowing! He studied, learned, and then created a company, Digital Prodigee (that creates mobile apps for businesses) and took his company to 7 figures of revenue in 7 months. His story is a true story of resilience in the business world and you can hear it for yourself with his TED Talk[ii], that I think everyone on the planet should listen to. I’m personally excited to speak with Ryan, as I began interviewing young entrepreneurs back in 2012, years before launching this podcast when I ran The Teen Performance Magazine, and hearing Ryan’s story took me back to many of the young leaders I interviewed when I was first launching this magazine, hoping to inspire our next generation of entrepreneurs with these interviews. This idea didn’t take off as well as I had hoped, but it was a valuable experience to learn from some of the youngest leaders and most brilliant minds I’ve ever come across, many who I’ve kept in touch with, or watched their results skyrocket over the years. Let’s meet Ryan Brady, and see what we can learn from this entrepreneur about mindset, vision, and brain health, for a refreshing new perspective on life. Something I think we could all use today. Welcome Ryan Brady, thank you for joining me on the podcast today. What part of the world are you in today? Ryan, I’m always looking for new perspectives on this podcast, and hadn’t even listened to your TED Talk when I replied to your team that I wanted to speak with you as I saw something unique about your ability to help others start their own business…then I saw the whole TBI story, that took your story to a whole new level. INTRO Q: Can you begin with what type of kid you were BEFORE your car flew off an 80 foot cliff? I’m curious if your positive/forward-thinking mindset was there BEFORE the accident, or do you that the accident changed your perspective? Q1: I couldn’t tell your story even close to how you tell it. Can you give us a quick synopsis, and I’ll put your TED Talk in the show notes for those who want to hear the whole story? What’s the short version of your accident and how it helped you to see things in a different light? Q1B: Did you have a positive mindset BEFORE the accident, or do you think it came as a result of it? Q2: Like I just said, I’m always looking for a unique story to share on this podcast, to help all of us to improve our mindset, with an understanding of our brain at th