Episode 66: From Rock Bottom to Records with Jack Thompson

ADHD, Addiction, and Turning Pain Into Purpose — with Jack Thompson

In this episode, Sharon sits down with ultra-endurance cyclist Jack Thompson, who shares his powerful story of ADHD, addiction, recovery, and purpose.

Jack’s journey offers a raw look at what happens when ADHD goes misunderstood — and how deep self-understanding and compassion can rebuild a life. Together, they unpack Jack's story and uncover Jack's parent's important actions that we all need to know about when things get rocky.

👉 Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast for real stories, practical strategies, and support that actually makes life easier.

🧩 In This Episode

Jack’s story of ADHD, addiction, and finding purpose through cycling
The link between stimulation-seeking and addiction cycles
How sport, movement, and structure can support mental wellbeing
How Jack's parents navigated his addiction and recovery and what we need to learn from this
Sharon’s grounded advice for parents supporting ADHD children

⏱️ Episode Flow

00:00 – Welcome & Introduction
03:20 – Jack’s early life and undiagnosed ADHD
07:45 – The path to addiction and what he was really seeking
14:10 – Finding clarity and healing through cycling
21:30 – The ADHD diagnosis that reframed everything
29:00 – How structure became Jack’s self-regulation tool
36:00 – Sharon’s insight: parenting from understanding, not control
44:15 – Reframing success for ADHD kids
51:00 – Final reflections: hope, humility, and healing

🧠 Key Takeaways

ADHD isn’t a deficit — it’s a brain difference that requires the right supports
Dysregulation is contagious
Real change happens when we stop fixing and start understanding
Connection always precedes correction
Routine, interest, and safety are the foundation of growth

🔗 Connect with Jack

🌍 jackultracyclist.com
📸 Instagram: @jackultracyclist
🎥 YouTube: Jack Ultra Cyclist

💼 Work With Sharon

Sharon Collon is a credentialed ADHD Coach & Parenting Consultant, founder of The Functional Family, and mum to three boys with ADHD. She’s helped over 40,000 families move from chaos to calm through her signature programs, coaching, and community.

📚 Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com
📧 [email protected]
📸 Instagram: @thefunctionalfamily

🗞️ Join the ADHD Family Community

Join our free support group HERE.

Subscribe to The ADHD Family Newsletter for grounded guidance, parenting strategies, and stories that remind you — you’re not alone, and it can get easier.

Episode Transcript

Today's guest is living proof that yes
ADHD can take you to some of the darkest places
and also to the highest peaks
Jack Thompson
known around the world as the Ultra Cyclist
has broken records on his bike that most of us
including me can't even imagine
but behind the triumphs is a story of struggle
addiction and survival in this episode
Jack opens up about growing up with an undiagnosed ADHD
and the chaos that LED him to drug use
and the powerful shift that helped him trade
destructive highs for life changing endurance
in this story he shares
about his amazing relationship with his parents
which I really think the advice that he gives
in this episode we all need to hear
so this isn't a story just about cycling
it's about hope it's about resilience
and what every
parent of children with ADHD needs to know
as they navigate this journey
that can feel really hard sometimes
let's do it
welcome Jack
I am so excited for our chat today
yeah thank you
it's great to be here
and I know we met a couple of months ago
and I'm looking forward to this chat
so start off by telling our gorgeous listeners
who you are and what you do
so my name is Jack Thompson
I'm originally from Perth
I'm a professional cyclist
I'm a professional ultra cyclist
means we ride really long distances
all around the world trying to break records
crossing countries
trying to see how fast we can climb mountains
but there's another side to me
I'm I'm also
you know I
I was diagnosed with ADHD quite late in life and um
yeah it was a real turning point for me as a person
but also as part of my career
I was you know
listening to you talk at the ADHD Professionals
Association conference
and I was looking and then I
after your talk I was looking up ultra cycling
it is wild like I
I think people need to Google that
like it is a lot
it's not just like riding a bike up a mountain
it's like really like heavy duty endurance stuff
isn't it
yeah
it can be very long days and weeks on a bike
I guess it's not uncommon to ride 500 km in a day
and do that for a couple of days
back to back
somewhere weird and wonderful in the world
somewhere quite remote
it probably sounds more luxurious than it is
it can be really bloody hard out there to be honest
okay so before I get too excited with all my questions
I'd love for you to paint
a picture of what it was like in your school years
cause I want to take people on a little bit of a journey
of your like how you got to where you are right
so talk about your school years
what what did it
what was it like for you going through your schooling
um did you have any strengths as
that you can remember struggles
um you know
misunderstandings or any moments that you
that stick out to you in your schooling journey
yeah school for me was a real struggle
I kind of realized it around age 13 or 12 or 13
my parents probably picked up that
I developed some sort of ticks
um they were like these little rituals that I had to do
and I'd sort of convinced myself that
if I didn't do them certain things were going to happen
so I guess it was
I was trying to get some sort of sense of control
I suffered quite badly from depression
and what we found was just by chance
sport was something that really helped me
we didn't realize at the time that I had ADHD
I wasn't diagnosed until much later in life at 34
35 and so we sort of realized
you know if I played a lot of sport
I actually kept my mental health in a really good place
I never felt like I fit in
it fitted in at school I was always
you know I didn't enjoy socializing with the other kids
I really struggled to concentrate on what was happening
on the projector or on the screen in front of me
um but I always had this sort of
something to look forward to at the end of the day
which was the sport
and so this kept me in a in a really good place
until I got to my final year at school
and decided I guess
there was societal pressure to go to university
and I decided I needed to give the sport away to
to to go and study and I
yeah
the family I guess noticed that
my mental health really deteriorated from there
and then I guess the next chapter of my life started
I don't know if we want to get into that now
or I can expand on yeah
I so I gave away the sport
got into university turned eighteen
as all you know teenagers do
they start going out partying
you know
having fun and I
realized that I really enjoyed having a lot of fun
and the partying became a bit of an obsession
uh I started using drugs and basically developed a
a an addiction to to the party drugs
at the time I was still studying
so I was still kind of keeping it together
but I wasn't in a good place
I was you know
I was using the drugs to try and escape life
I I wasn't enjoying life
um and I ended up going into rehab
so I was lucky that my parents actually
realised something was wrong
they confronted me about it
and because I'd always had a very
close relationship with my parents um
I actually you know took their advice and
and went into rehab
and when I was in rehab I kind of just realized
you know this is a bit of a waste
like what am I doing in here I
I really should be trying to do something with my life
and I was just lucky that when I came out of rehab
my dad had said to me look
why don't you get back on a bike
growing up I'd enjoyed riding a bike
it's what had kept me in a
in a good place mentally
and you know what it's like as a teenager
you don't really want to listen to your parents
but just with that gentle guidance I
I ended up giving in and I went for one ride with him
and I fell in love with it again and again
with his support I
I decided that you know
I actually wanted to follow a career in
professional cycling
as opposed to a career in what I'd studied
which was the construction management and the economics
and I've sort of forged my way down that path and
and made a real career out of it
and then the ADHD diagnosis came at age 35
so that was
you know another real turning
a real pivotal point in my life
I was a professional athlete and I was surviving
but I really wasn't thriving
I felt like life was always very much
you know I was playing the game of life with one
arm tied behind my back
I never really had full access to my full potential
and when I had the diagnosis and I start I
I went down the medication route
it was like I suddenly had both hands
and I could really
like grasp onto the things that I wanted to do
and suddenly everything felt possible
and it was
the single greatest thing that's ever happened to me
was that diagnosis and the subsequent treatment plan
oh I've got so many questions
and thank you so much for sharing your story
so vulnerably because I think this is
I want to go in straight
straight to the heart of what parents fears are
so parents listening to this podcast
might have the fear
that their children are going to get involved in drugs
we hear it in the media or all the time right
like uh
there's there's this kind of misconception that um
that stimulant medication is going to make
somehow lead to making their child a drug addict when
when we actually know the science
well No. 1
that doesn't align with your story
because you weren't diagnosed with ADHD then um
we possibly
could have avoided some of the hurt that you had
had you had a diagnosis earlier
potentially maybe
I don't know how do you feel about it
absolutely look my the
my trajectory would have been completely different
hmm and then
so parents are having that fear
because that's fed into them
by the by the media
um but they also we
we know that the
the science actually shows that not treating ADHD um
can lead to addiction because people self medicate
they develop unhealthy coping mechanisms and
you know the ADHD brain often chases stimulation
do you feel like that chasing simulation
albeit in a little bit of a destructive way
not
probably not little bit
do you think that that contributed to your addictions
yeah for sure
if I look back at my past
there was the partying
which was yeah
the wanting that stimulation
I wasn't getting it elsewhere
I I just
I felt flat all the time like I
I was missing something
and I needed to get it elsewhere
you can't see it but I
I have tattoos all over me
and that was from that period in
in time when I was chasing that simulation
I wanted the excitement
and I wasn't getting it elsewhere in life
but then also the sport
I became very obsessive about the sport
while I was at school
and competed at a very high level
while I was at school and that was
that was before the drugs
before the tattoos
that was the only real thing giving me the stimulation
and so I think for parents
the importance of the sport
or maybe it's the music
or maybe it's the extracurricular activity is
perhaps it's not um
recognise how important that
that part of schooling is for a child's life
I'm so glad you brought that up
can you tell me a little bit about your experience
you know when you do turn 18
and I think most of us have
most of the listeners have been through that
sort of age
going out is something that everyone kind of does
or most people
they do that I think
it's not uncommon for people to go and drink too much
you're at that age where you're sort of experimenting
maybe you try something once and that's kind of enough
puts you off it I guess
my ADHD brain
almost became a bit obsessive
about things that were giving me the stimulation
so where you know
a non ADHD person may have tried something once
or may have you know
gone out once a week I sort of found yeah
I needed to do it more
because I realized that it was giving me some sort of
high and that I wanted to chase that high
and I think that's where um
I think not being treated for ADHD is what potentially
you know LED me down that path
of wanting to experiment more with the drugs
had I been diagnosed with ADHD at a
at a much younger age I think my
my sense of self my sense of control
my sense of stimulation
it would have been I guess met
I wouldn't need to have gone and done the other
and I look at myself now
compared to two years ago before the diagnosis as well
there's so many things that I realized about myself
that wow
I was only doing that
because I was chasing that simulation
or because I was chasing that buzz
now I've got absolutely no interest in it and you know
life is far more enjoyable
if you could take us back to that moment
you said you went to rehab
what was that moment you know
obviously you said your parents you
you maintained a great relationship with your parents
which I think is just so wonderful
and a credit to them and you
that you guys were able to maintain that connection uh
despite all that you were going through
and navigating at that time
but was there a particular moment
you know people describe like rock bottom they
they talk about a moment that
that was a tipping point that they were like
now you're going to rehab
what was was there a specific moment
or was it a lot of other moments
there was a very specific moment
so I recall it very clearly
I arrived home from work
so I was still living with my parents at the time
um just for context
so I was studying but in Perth at the time
there's a bit of a construction boom
so everyone that was studying
basically had a job in construction
so we were doing uni two days a week
working three or four days a week
um in and around the university
so I got home from work um
got up to my bedroom and laid out on my bed um
was yeah
the drugs that I've been using
what had happened was
my parents had suspected something um
they'd spoken with some friends who would
at the time I was so angry about it
but my friends had sort of
explained to my parents that I was
a little bit off the rails um
and they'd gone through my room and and
and found I guess
my supply
and I remember going downstairs knowing that what
there's an explosion about to happen here
and my dad just very calmly said to me look
I think we better go out and grab some dinner
and we jumped in the car we went for a bit of a drive
there was no talk of what had happened it was just
a little
there's kind of a little bit of tension in the air
and I sort of knew that the discussion was going to happen
but the way that he dealt with it was he did
he never kind of exploded at me
um we sat down
ordered some dinner
and then he I guess we got down to business
and he said to me look
unless you stop doing what you're doing
then we won't continue to support you
really we don't agree with what you're doing um
and he said to me you've always
been a you know
integral part of this family there's only two of us
my brother and I and he said
we really don't want to lose you to this
but I think you really need to you know
reconsider your your
your choices and
because
we'd always had that strong relationship with him
we really respected it when he yeah
I'd never had this type of discussion with him before
but I really
it caught me off guard that we were sitting there
and he was I guess
telling me that they didn't want to have anything to
but you know
they didn't want to support me moving forward
if I was going to continue um
down this road and he said look
I think you need to go into rehab and
and basically overnight I
I said alright
I'm going to you know
family means much more to me than the
than the drugs or the partying ever have
and I'm going to give it away
the hardest thing for me was when I gave it away
I really did hit rock bottom um
I've become very reliant on
on what I was using and also
I guess
um my social group was very much um
involved in that scene as well
and so when I stop using I also lost
I guess my friendship group
if you want to call it that
and it was probably a very good thing
that I lost that friendship group
and I guess I started again
but I went into the rehab facility
I remember I was very nervous about it all
it all felt very I guess taboo
but the word rehab and being kind of in hospital and um
yeah not knowing what laid ahead
I guess it was like my records had been wiped
um that's how it felt for me
and I remember one day I was looking out the window
there was an older lady at one end of a courtyard
I just remember this so clearly so I think it's worth
recalling
she was there very ill
she was being pushed on a wheelchair by her daughter
and at the other end
they were doing some construction at the hospital
and there was some young guys having fun
mucking around on the building site
as you see in um as
as young guys do and I just remember thinking like
what am I doing in here like I'm
I feel like a caged animal
I'm stuck in hospital and
you know I've seen this lady at one end of her life
and I've seen these young guys
at the other end of theirs
having fun and enjoying things
I thought I'm just wasting my time
I really need to get out and
and do something
the problem was I just didn't know what I wanted to do
and it was only when my dad encouraged me look
why don't you get back on that bike
you really enjoyed that when you were young
and you were good at it and
and I eventually gave into that
that suddenly I had this
I guess
it was something that I became hyper focused on
and I think
that's the superpower in ADHD
is the ability to hyper focus
and if you can channel that hyper focus into something
positive
not the drugs not the alcohol
but the career or the hobby or the sport
or whatever it might be
it really is a superpower
you can do whatever you want with it and yeah
the rest is I guess history
I want to get into cycling
cause I can see that your whole face lit up uh
when you're talking about that
and I really want for people to understand
like what that means to you
and what that looks like on a day to day basis
cause I think it's pretty incredible
um but first I'm going to backtrack one step
what made you get an ADHD diagnosis
so it was actually I was on a project um
in WA an ultra cycling project
and one of the things I've been passionate about
having sort of come out of the rehab
is using my cycling to try and give back
and so we'd yeah we raised one year
we raised half a million euros for three charities
another year we you know
visited a bunch of schools as part of a project
and I went and
spoke with the kids about the power of having a dream
and working towards achieving that dream
and it was at the end of that project
I was in the car with one of the project sponsors
who was
a company Okier in Perth which is
they run a psych um
basically a psychology
psychiatry clinic and ADHD clinic
um and the
the owner had said to me look
have you ever been diagnosed
or have you ever considered
you know going and being tested for ADHD
and I just laughed at it I thought no
at school I was never hyperactive
I just kind of didn't want to be there
I was just you know
interested in other things
and so yeah
I never assumed
or my parents never assumed that maybe I had ADHD
and he kindly said to me look
if you're ever interested in coming and
doing the testing then
you know we'd be happy to
to help make that happen
and I sort of went away and I thought ah
well what if I got to lose by going and doing it
and I yeah I
I appreciate that
it's very hard for people to get in and do that testing
and um
I was very fortunate that opportunity came about
but I I jumped at it and uh
went through it all
and I remember doing the questionnaire and I was like
yep that's
that's me that's me
that's me
wow maybe
maybe I do have this and the
the diagnosis came back as combined ADHD
and then yeah yeah
the next part was how do we treat that
and that that's kind of
when we started exploring the medication
when you got that diagnosis back
what were the feelings like what
cause a lot of times people describe to me
they go kind of this through this sequence of emotions
what was those feelings that you that you felt
for me it was
so I guess I was very nervous before the diagnosis
cause I once I started answering those questions
I started listen to audio books because I
I've never been able to read a normal book
but I started listening to audio books on ADHD
and the more I listened the more I started to identify
with a lot of the characteristics of the authors
and I was actually nervous going into the diagnosis
that wow
what if I'm not ADHD
then I suddenly I'm going to feel really lost
and so when I did get the diagnosis
it was a real sense of um
I guess for the first time in my life I've
I felt like I was seen like I was
there was a reason that I was the way I was and that
a lot of things started to make sense
it was like
the Tetris blocks were kind of all falling into place
a little little easier than they were before
and it was I guess like a
it was a relief um
but like a sense of I've now got an answer
and I actually
I now have a bit of a pathway that I can follow
to try and work through this
so it was
yeah
really a pretty big day in my life now looking back
amazing so then you were already cycling by this
by this stage and so how
can you paint a bit of a picture about what
sort of commitment ultra cycling is
because I feel like when I heard you talk about it
I was like hold on
this isn't just like a bike ride
this is a lifestyle um yeah
it's quite serious right
so I want I want you to paint a picture about
you know
what it requires from you on a day to day basis
so typically in a week I'd spend um
anywhere from a training week
20 to 30 hours a week actually on the bike
so that's just training hours
I think
what most people don't understand about the ultra
cycling is
there's no I guess
if you think of the tour de France
there's a team behind a rider in the tour de France
there's the sponsors there's the
you know they get to the end of the stage
and they kind of get handed the bottles and da
da da
the ultra cycling is very much
it is a team sport at the end of the day
in that I'll have a doctor with me
I'll have somebody driving a car
I'll have somebody that might be helping prepare food
but the sponsorship side of things
is like a business in itself
I'm constantly looking for angles with sponsors and um
trying to like you have to fund these things so yeah
to spend next year we have a project
that will be three months on the road
in the US riding all around the US
it's expensive and yeah
there's a sponsorship side of things that
you need to fund these projects
so I'd say like
the cycling aspect is 20 to 30 hours a week
and then the computer aspect of it is probably another
30 or 40 hours a week like being realistic
that's the the content game
which is creation of the videos and the um
social media bits and pieces
I was kind of doing it all before
but I wasn't really doing it really well
and I think when I got diagnosed
it was like suddenly I could really alright
I've got the cycling I've got the sponsors
I've got the social media
and I could manage all three of them all at once
before it was like oh yeah
I'm really excelling with the cycling
but the sponsorship stuff's not going
so I couldn't do it all and I think
you know I guess they call it like privateering
you're a private athlete
and you've got to kind of manage it all
you don't have a team or a federation behind you
the the diagnosis
and the subsequent medication
has made that a lot easier
and um
it is hard work but I love it
like I don't feel like I'm going to work
I feel like I'm yeah
I'm constantly doing a hobby and I love it
now when we started this podcast
you were talking about kind of like obsessive traits
you know going all in
which yeah
it sounds like you're definitely all in on this right
and you're amazing at it
I've seen your social media and you're like
social media is on point right
like it's it's great
thank you
ah it's so engaging
how do you go switching gears between ultra cyclist
like you know
all the amazing things you're doing and
you know any sort of social relationships or love life
relationships and
you know
those sorts of thing going back to that year or
you know managing family and how this is
to be honest before couple of years ago
I was not good at it
relationships really struggled
I was so all in on the cycling that like I
I just I couldn't manage everything else
and now I
I think everything in life is that about that balance
the equilibrium
and I think finding that equilibrium now
I guess as well as I've gotten older
I perhaps calm down a little bit
or I like to think I've calm down a little bit and I'm
I understand the importance of my relationship
and my wife is very understanding
she's actually a psychologist
so she probably understands me better than most
ha ha ha ha ha ha
um
but yeah I guess having her support uh
has been really helpful um
but I like I think for everyone
like managing work managing relationships
managing family it is sometimes a bit of a juggling act
whether we have ADHD or not
and I think you know
I just like to think that
for those of us that do have the ADHD
or have children with ADHD
there's often a stigma attached to the medication and
you know treating the ADHD in a certain way
and I was listening to something last night
actually laying in bed
and it was a professor talking about
you know children with ADHD
and it said
he likes to look at it as though
if you were a child and you needed glasses
and you were never given the glasses
life would be really hard
like you'd really struggle with it
and the same can be said about the ADHD that
you know if you don't treat it
and it's not diagnosed and you don't
you know medication's one component
but there's also the exercise
the nutrition
there's lots of other components that go with it
if you're not treating those how they should be treated
compare it to the child without the glasses
like life is hard and I think
what you're doing is great with this podcast and you
know getting the family unit
talking about the ADHD and exploring um
you know the avenues for diagnosis and treatment
and yeah I just hope that it's
that that stigma's changing
and it's not seen as something that's a doom and gloom
it's actually wow my
my child's got a superpower
and we just need to work out how to harness it
I love that you talked about the other components too
because you know
in ADHD coaching
we talk about like the slab of the house right
so you you get your slab right
so when you build a house
you make sure that the slab's right
so the the slab in the in
in the house is is sleep diet
exercise time in nature right
yeah and so yeah
and if you don't have those things
like as best as they can be
then everything else becomes a little bit variable
and it's a little bit more unpredictable right
so we try and get those things right um
to be able to support people to
to manage it in a more kind of consistent way
uh you know
and then when you partner alongside
you know the psychiatrist
um and the developmental piece
so they can do the manage the medication part
and we can help
manage with the executive function part
so it's super exciting
I love that you just said that too
because it really highlights how you've been able to um
navigate your way around this using
you know using sport
you naturally had that inclination as a
as a child going through school that you
you use one of the slides of the house yeah yeah
I think it's interesting looking back
like we never knew that we were doing that
but you kind of gravitate to what
what works and for me it was the sport
but I know for other kids
it's like the musical instrument or it might be the um
you know something doesn't have to be the sport
I think that's the important thing yeah
I'm going to have to just finding what it is yeah okay
so parents listening to this
may feel a little bit powerless right
so their kids are doing some pretty risky things
I don't know
in the last 12 months
I have been to that emergency room
I'm going to say like 11 times right with
just wild things right
there's risky behaviours all over the shop
and so this is one of the things that is
is a risky behaviour you know
experimenting and comes along
especially with the teenage group as well
we see this a little bit more
and the lines get a bit blurred about
between ADHD and normal risk taking behaviour and
and boundary pushing and things
but
I imagine that there's some parents listening to this
feeling a little bit powerless
and they're watching
their children make some very interesting choices in
as they're growing up
what would you say to them in their moment of despair
that is a good question like I think looking back
the most important things for me was that
my parents would never really push you
with me they never really told me
you have to do this you have to do that
it was more gentle guidance
ah do you think that's a good decision as opposed to no
don't do that that's you're not allowed to do that
the way that they did that at the time
I didn't think anything of it
and I don't
I don't even know if they were doing it on purpose
but psychologically
putting it back in our court to make the decision and
you know giving their spin on it
their guidance almost made you second guess yourself
and that was like ah
maybe I am doing something wrong
had my parents shouted at me
had they got angry at me as a teenager
I probably would have given them the two middle fingers
and you know
gone and done it because they weren't
they were trying to stop me
so I think not exploding is perhaps
one of the most powerful things that they ever did
it was more that sort of gentle
I don't know if that's the right thing to do
and then I second guess myself
and then I you know
I had a lot of respect for mum and dad
because they were there to support me
when things were hard and
when we wanted to play sport
they would always you know
they'd take us down there
and they'd sit there for hours and watch us
and
you know I had a lot of respect for them
but I think you know
I see it now in in
I'm now at that age where I've got friends with kids
and we don't have kids but um
sometimes
you see the parents kind of exploding at the kids
and I think laugh
I wouldn't react too well to that if I was a
if I was a if I was a child
so I guess what I'm trying to say is perhaps
you know controlling the emotion
um not
you know getting really angry at the
the children um
but also you know
having that sort of level of respect with them that
you know this is not okay
this is okay and allowing them some freedom as well is
I I really think what was beneficial for me growing up
so you um
talked there about you mentioned the word respect right
which is really really
and you even said at the start
you know you had
I had a lot of respect for my dad
so I listen to him how do you think your parents
maintained that respectful relationship
I know that they handed over autonomy right
they they gave you a lot of autonomy
like they gave you their opinion
but they also gave you the ability to decide
which we know ADHD and autonomy
like everyone autonomy right
we like to make our own decisions
but for ADHD it's particularly important
um how did they maintain that respectful
relationship with you even when
I'm sure there was some stuff that was going down
that they really wanted to like
lose it over yeah
it's a really good question
and I actually I struggle to find the answer
like I think to myself
if I had children how would I
and I
it's difficult to pinpoint what it was
I think this the
giving us that level of autonomy
they
were also even now like my parents were are my parents
but they're also friends and
and I don't know how they did that
it's really like they did it really well
but they even growing up like sometimes for example
like if a teacher got a little bit angry at you
or something and you'd come home and say oh
Mister Shan got a bit angry at me for this
sometimes my parents would side with me
sometimes they'd side with Mister Shand
or whoever the teacher was
and it always felt like a little bit of give
a little bit of take
and it was always very kind of level
I think we built respect out of that
because they weren't always siding with the teacher
for example sometimes they would agree with us and
and that was also the same with with the sport
like sometimes we'd say oh
you know can we go for a surf
you know we used to surf growing up and they say ah no
you know
today looks a little bit wild out there today boys
like I don't think it's good to go out but then
you know
another time I said yeah
no you can go out
but we're just going to come over
and there was always kind of this
they respected us enough to give us the autonomy
but then we respected them when they decided that
you know
we didn't deserve the autonomy or that it wasn't
the right time for the autonomy
and it was very subtle like looking back now
it's even hard for me to really pinpoint it
but I think that was powerful
yeah I think what you're
what you're describing there
is that they treated you with respect
yeah so you treated them with respect right yeah
I think that they stayed silent
they told you what they thought was best
but they did it in a really nice
respectful way
yeah I think like they never treated us as kids
it was like we were adults as well
and they would treat us like adults and that like yeah
they they respected us and then in return
we would respect them and I think they never kind of
belittled us for having a silly decision
or a silly idea it was like well
you know maybe that's not the right idea for this route
and it was always very
very level I guess like
you know they were our parents
but they were also supporting us
they were also it was always
you know I think you've kind of nailed it there
they respected our decisions
and our wants and needs as well
now I kind of want to interview your parents
for part 2 of this podcast
yeah
I think that would be it
my mum's going through the ADHD diagnosis process now
so having me having been diagnosed
she's now going and being diagnosed
cause she's now seeing that perhaps she is
she's got a lot of the characteristics as well
that would be an interesting one yes
OK well
hook us up with that one
what
what was a really tumultuous journey into world records
can you tell us about the highlights of your career
yeah so we've done some
I say we because there's always a bit of a
I've always got people there with me
filming or supporting and um
sponsors and what not
we've broken nine or 10 different world records um
fastest crossing of countries um
most elevation meters climbed in a calendar year
um just two weeks ago
I was in northern India in the Himalayas
and we climbed the three highest roads in the world
so for me that's a bit of a career highlight
like that was so wild it was so extreme
we're up close to 6,000 meters in the snow
one in the morning my dad was there
yeah the team was on oxygen
I was trying to it was just like
it's crazy seeing
but then you know
we've also what have we done
we've ridden the length of Japan
we hold the record crossing Japan
we've raised a bunch of money for
for the charities my
my real passion now is
is using the projects to engage with
with children so similar to what we did um
on the Mundubindi project
but also uh
in the corporate world
I really want to to chat with corporates around um
this idea of you know
sounds cliche but the goal setting
the having the dream and balancing that with the
with the work um
and so the the public
speaking side of things is something that I'm
I'm really leaning into um
the cycling can sometimes be very
I don't want to say one dimensional but it feels
it's very much about me
and I'll go out there and I'll do it
and I'll achieve something
I get a lot more enjoyment out of doing something
where lots of people can kind of benefit from it
and so yeah I
we've got some big things planned for next year
both in Australia and in the US um
so hopefully we can keep that momentum going and yeah
get more people um yeah
just getting the most out of life
amazing
now if you were
just thinking about
the parents that are listening to this
if you want them to take one thing away from your story
and everything that you've been through
what would that be
I think if I had to choose one
I'd say that the ADHD is often looked the part looked
people often look at ADHD as something that's yeah
a bit of a setback
or my son or my daughter's struggling
I think if we can completely flip that and say look
my child has this superpower
and we just need to work out how to harness it
I think that's my that's the one thing
that I'd love parents to realise that like
this is something special
like yeah
life might be difficult and it might be
you know hard at the moment while we figure things out
but there's so much potential for
for my child to go on and do something amazing
um and we just need to
you know work out what that is and
and looking at it as a positive thing is the
is the is the takeaway I'd love
you know a parent to
to live with I love that so much
so I want everyone to go and follow you and uh
you know on social media
and check out your website
and show your kids videos of Jack
doing all the crazy stuff that he does right
like oh
like
show them like a a wonderful role model for
you know it's so good
for kids to be able to see other people with ADHD
in the spotlight doing things
pushing themselves to the absolute limits
and I also have a side question
like have
have you ever thought when you've been racing like
have you ever thought I've
I've gone too far like this is
yeah yeah
in the Himalayas two weeks ago
oh not two weeks ago
yeah it's very recent wild yeah
hands were just ice blocks and dizzy
and I thought what am I doing up here
like I've got a a wife back at home
I've got you know
a dog I've
got this nice life and why am I here
just digging myself a hole
I just had to ask that question that I just
I just couldn't imagine it
I was like some of the things that you just
that I've seen you do on your social media
I was like
I wonder if you have the things not not today
this is this is a bit much more often than you think
oh so
I'd love for people to go and follow you
and to show their kids what is possible
and uh you know
I love your message too because yeah
it can be a bumpy road
and it can be a hard thing for the individual
and also for parents to navigate
but it can also be something truly magnificent
and inspirational and
and incredible and when you find your thing
I like it so much that you talked about your thing
right like you got you
you you found sport
and you're able to come back
multiple times throughout your life
um you know
we can support our kids to find whatever their thing is
too absolutely
absolutely amazing
thank you so much for your time today Jack
where can we find you
uh best place is uh Instagram
so Jack ultra cyclist
I'm going to be sharing that in the show notes
and a link to your website as well
is there any other place you want to direct us to
um I guess there's the YouTube as well
if you want some longer form content
a lot of the YouTube content has us
you know it's the cycling
but then there's the second storyline
built into the cycling
which is the mental health component
um so if you
if nothing on Netflix takes your fancy
and you feel like some YouTube then uh
it's again
it's Jack Ultra cyclist um
and yeah like for parents
if there's parents with questions or
you know I'm I'm
I'm an open book I'm more than happy to
if you want to send me a message to
to get back to you and um yeah
I'm just sort of share a little bit more about my story
and I hope that it will it'll help you or
or your child
thank you so much for being so incredibly
vulnerable and inspiring today
it has been awesome chatting with you
no thanks so much for having me I love what you do

Episode 66: From Rock Bottom to Records with Jack Thompson

ADHD, Addiction, and Turning Pain Into Purpose — with Jack Thompson

🧩 In This Episode

⏱️ Episode Flow

🧠 Key Takeaways

🔗 Connect with Jack

💼 Work With Sharon

🗞️ Join the ADHD Family Community

Let's be friends!

Almost there...
Just enter your details below

Episode 66: From Rock Bottom to Records with Jack Thompson

ADHD, Addiction, and Turning Pain Into Purpose — with Jack Thompson

🧩 In This Episode

⏱️ Episode Flow

🧠 Key Takeaways

🔗 Connect with Jack

💼 Work With Sharon

🗞️ Join the ADHD Family Community

Let's be friends!

Almost there...Just enter your details below

Almost there...
Just enter your details below