Podcasts about mind management

Last time, we talked about how we've become tired and wired, constantly "on" with too many mental tabs open. Today, we're diving deeper into the critical question: why does losing our brain's on-off switch matter so much? The answer is simple: it's costing us – in our potential, our satisfaction, and our ability to truly rest.First, we'll explore how the inability to focus hinders our potential. Imagine trying to hit a game-winning shot while distracted by a dozen other things. We've lost the crucial art of dropping everything else to focus on one thing, whether it's a critical work project, quality time with our kids, or even navigating the road safely. When you can't be present, you can't truly excel.Next, we reveal how this constant "on" state sabotages our satisfaction. The male brain, in particular, thrives on making steady progress towards a goal. But when our minds are constantly bombarded by distractions – akin to someone trying to sell you dessert during an intense football practice – we lose the profound satisfaction that comes from focused effort and achievement. This constant mental chatter prevents us from savoring our accomplishments and enjoying the journey.Finally, we'll uncover how losing our on-off switch ruins our rest. We were designed for a natural rhythm of work and rest, reflected in days, weeks, and even seasons. However, modern life has eroded these vital barriers. Our homes have become extensions of our workplaces, and our minds struggle to unplug, leading to a lingering voice of doubt that hinders true mental relaxation. When all parts of life are blended together, nothing has its own distinct time and place, leaving us with a "blended" and often unsatisfying experience.Join us at ThrivingMan.com, where we're dedicated to helping you conquer everyday chaos and build a life you can be proud of. In our next episode, we'll uncover why we find ourselves in this perpetual "on" state and explore the ongoing war on our attention and peace.On-Off Switch, Brain Health, Focus, Attention, Distraction, Productivity, Potential, Satisfaction, Rest, Work-Life Balance, Mental Fatigue, Burnout, Digital Overload, Information Overload, Mental Chatter, Present Moment, Deep Work, ThrivingMan, Men's Health, Personal Development, Self-Improvement, Conquer Chaos, Build a Thriving Life, Cognitive Function, Mental Clarity, Quality of Life, Boundaries, Digital Boundaries, Stress Management, Unplugging, Mental Rest, True Rest, Constant Connection, Mind Management.

188  Developing healthy boundaries is an absolutely essential part of having a great intimate relationship, especially as highly sensitive people.They are a way to take care of yourself, each other, and the relationship.  I teach 3 types of boundaries, and today we are diving into the 2 psychological, or energetic types of boundaries: Protection boundaries, and containment boundaries. (Please listen to episode 51 for Relationship Boundary Basics.)When you use these kinds of boundaries skillfully, you will be able to create more closeness in your relationship, and leave beyond patterns and behaviors that create extra division, conflict,  and animosity.The thing is, many HSPs are a bit weak in these particular boundaries. So let's change that starting now! Dive in to hear what these two types of boundaries are, whether or not you need to strengthen them for yourself, and how and when to implement them. For each type, you will hear 2 or 3 tips to grow stronger boundaries (including two visualizations you can use over and over again), so you can feel less pain, resentment, and regret, and be more skillful at communicating and connecting with your partner. Listen in.SHOW NOTES:CHECK OUT THE COURSES MENTIONED: Stop Taking It So Personally Coaching Privately with Hannah ENJOYING THE PODCAST?Don't miss an episode! Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. ALWAYS CHECK THAT YOU ARE STILL RECEIVING DOWNLOADS (if not click arrow in upper righthand corner).Get the HSHM Podcast Map, so you can quickly identify the episodes most helpful for your unique relationship-- AND support the podcast for as little as $3) HERE. Hop on Hannah's Email list for more direct support for your relationship right into your inbox.

Are you intrigued by this week's title? That title is called a hook. A hook is something that gets your attention because it opens a loop in your brain, and gets you to keep reading/watching/listening until that loop is closed. Why do certain reels on Instagram get you to pause and watch them through? Because there is text or video or something that hooks you in by opening that loop in your brain. This little-known psychological phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik effect, coined by Dr. Bluma Zeigarnik.  This is why every episode of a good show ends in a cliffhanger. (It's why I'm really angry with the author of the Fourth Wing series… leaving every book with a cliffhanger.) It's also the same reason why many high-performing women find themselves overwhelmed quickly when making changes in their health and fitness. These women are giving their all in every area, but just like your computer only has so much RAM and you can only have so many tabs open before it slows down, you can only do so many things before your executive function (the “management system” of your brain) gets taxed. Add in stress, poor sleep, anxiety (all common symptoms of hormone imbalances) and your executive function is even more limited. The Zeigarnik effect states ''Our minds quickly forget finished tasks. However, they are programmed to continually interrupt us with reminders of unfinished tasks.” In other words, the Zeigarnik effect causes you to have lingering thoughts about the to-do's you haven't done, the deliverables you have yet to finish because your brain is looking for closure. We can hack this effect (the same way I've hacked netflix by pausing episodes in the lull instead of finishing the episode) by reducing cognitive overload. So how do we do that when we have a million priorities? In this episode, I'm going to share with you 4 key ways and strategies to mitigate the Zeigarnik effect that is causing you a lot of overwhelm and stress when it comes to your health and fitness goals. Let us know your biggest takeaway from this episode! Time Stamps: (1:15) Intrigued By This Week's Title? (2:27) The Concept of Hooks (7:32) Why This Effect Exists (15:14) #1: Top 3 Priorities (18:06) #2: Consistency (28:35) #3: Chucking 2 Minute Tasks (33:27) #4: Mind Management (37:34) You Once Prayed For These Tasks (42:55) The Power of Breath Work (45:25) Please Share with A Friend---------------------Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation. ---------------------Download Our FREE Metabolism-Boosting Workout Program---------------------Join the Women's Metabolism Secrets Facebook Community for 25+ videos teaching you how to start losing fat without hating your life!---------------------Click here to send me a message on Facebook and we'll see how I can help or what best free resources I can share!---------------------Interested in 1-on-1 Coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts? Apply Here!---------------------Check out our Youtube Channel!---------------------Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

Byron Bay, Australia Event - March 10, 2001. Does your mind seem to have a life of its own? Discover how gentle stewardship is able to turn a mind that can sometimes seem like an unruly puppy into an amazing friend. Dialogues with John de Ruiter bring you into your heart, and into the depths of your being, where the meaning of life opens up in awareness.    For more information about John de Ruiter go to www.johnderuiter.com

Manfred und Michael Winterheller im Gespräch über das Mind-Management-Seminar im Schlosshotel Velden. Ein Event, das beeindruckende Ergebnisse für die Teilnehmer liefert. Im Gespräch erläutern sie, was die Teilnehmer in den 6 Tagen erwarten können und was dieses Event von anderen Veranstaltungen unterscheidet.Der nächste Termin findet von 08. bis 13. Mai 2025 statt.

In dieser Folge erwähnter Link: Female Leaders Academy Hast du dich schon mal hilflos gefühlt, weil dich Ängste oder Sorgen einfach nicht loslassen? Oder kennst du jemanden, der mit Angstzuständen oder sogar Panikattacken kämpft? Dann ist diese Folge für dich. Ich spreche über die wahren Auslöser von Angst – und nein, es sind nicht einfach äußere Umstände. Angst entsteht durch Gedanken, durch das Gefühl, keine Kontrolle über eine Situation zu haben. Doch genau hier liegt auch unsere Macht: Wir können lernen, anders damit umzugehen. In dieser Episode erfährst du:

In today show we are talking about the mind and how to change your awareness. We are using the metaphor of a mansion to explain the human mind, suggesting that our awareness can move freely between different mental "rooms", such as those associated with happiness, sadness, or jealousy. It argues that we are not passive recipients of our mental states, but rather have the power to choose where we focus our awareness. By understanding this, we can cultivate mastery over our minds and consciously direct our attention towards more positive and fulfilling mental spaces. This involves developing skills such as focus and willpower to achieve this control.

Anna Dearmon Kornick shares essential tools and tricks for managing your time and energy well. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) What most forget when planning out their day 2) How to keep little tasks from distracting you 3) How to arrange your week to maximize energy Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1024 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT ANNA — Anna Dearmon Kornick is a highly sought after time management coach and keynote speaker, top 1% globally ranked podcast host of It's About Time, and founder of the It's About Time Academy. A true Louisiana firecracker who has become known for making time management fun, Anna helps busy professionals and business owners struggling with overwhelm manage their time using her personality-driven HEART Method. Building on more than a decade of experience in the fast-moving, high-stakes world of political and crisis communications, it's no surprise that Anna thrives on creating order out of chaos. Early in her career, she wrangled media for a Lt. Governor and managed the hectic schedule of a U.S. Congressman. Her rapid response background and relentless approach to problem-solving position her as the go-to expert for purpose-driven time management for busy professionals. • Podcast: It's About Time • Website: AnnaDKornick.com — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Author: Laura Vanderkam • Book: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen • Book: Mind Management, Not Time Management: Productivity When Creativity Matters (Getting Art Done) by David Kadavy • Book: The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan • Book: Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg • Past episode: 052: Mind Management for Productivity with David Kadavy • Past episode: 317: How to Form Habits the Smart Way with BJ Fogg, PhD • Past episode: 482: David Allen Returns with the 10 Moves to Stress-Free Productivity• Past episode: 617: Enhancing Your Productivity by Managing Your Mental Energy with David Kadavy— THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • Acorns. Start saving and investing for your future today with Acorns.com/awesome • Earth Breeze. Get 40% off your subscription at earthbreeze.com/AWESOME• Lingoda. Get a 10% discount and up to 45 free classes with the code AWESOME2025 or https://try.lingoda.com/awesome2025See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of "The Free Lawyer," host Gary Miles, a seasoned attorney with nearly 46 years of experience, engages with Charlene Gisele, a former lawyer turned high-performance coach and burnout prevention advisor. Charlene shares her personal journey from a high-pressure legal career to focusing on well-being and burnout prevention. Key themes include recognizing signs of burnout, managing guilt through mindfulness, and the importance of emotional resilience. Charlene emphasizes the need for self-care and offers practical strategies for achieving a healthy work-life balance. The episode provides valuable insights for legal professionals seeking to transform stress into success. Charlène Gisèle is a former lawyer turned High-Performance Coach, Clinical Hypnotherapist, and award-winning Keynote and TEDx Speaker. She is the host of The Charlene Gisèle Show podcast and leads the Wednesday Wellness Society, both dedicated to empowering professionals worldwide. Charlène is sought-after Burnout Advisor to world-leading organizations and her signature Burnout Prevention and High-Performance Game programmes have been praised by international media. Her methods help driven professionals optimize their well-being while sustaining peak performance. Workaholism and Burnout (00:04:45)Addiction to Work (00:05:51)Behavioral Patterns of Addiction (00:06:16)The Guilt of Non-Work (00:09:10)Recognizing Burnout (00:10:34)Escape to Inner Peace (00:11:31)Understanding Burnout (00:12:36)The Difference Between Doing and Being (00:13:08)Struggles with Presence (00:14:53)Sustainable Practices for Presence (00:15:51)Early Signs of Burnout (00:17:45)Recognizing Denial (00:19:12)Mindset Shift for Success (00:20:07)Balancing Work and Recovery (00:20:20)Understanding Guilt in Mind Management (00:22:38)Flexing Your Mind for Emotional Control (00:24:00)Practical Meditation Techniques (00:25:56)Building Emotional Resilience (00:26:47)Finding Positive Equivalents for Emotions (00:28:26)Common Misconceptions About Burnout (00:30:00)The Importance of Honesty in Self-Assessment (00:31:34)Seeking External Help for Overwhelm (00:33:16)Overcoming the Stigma of Seeking Help (00:34:57) Would you like to learn more about Breaking Free or order your copy? https://www.garymiles.net/break-free  Would you like to schedule a complimentary discovery call? You can do so here: https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-call

Feeling anxious about visiting family? Listen to this before your next family visit. In this quick, encouraging pep talk, we'll tackle the stress and overwhelm that often comes with family gatherings. Whether you're dreading difficult conversations, worried about feeling judged, or simply hoping to keep the peace, this episode equips you with powerful tools to manage anxiety, control what only you can control, and thrive during your time with loved ones. You'll walk away feeling calm, confident, and ready to show up as your best self—rooted in faith, equipped with practical strategies, and empowered to enjoy the moments that truly matter. Perfect for anyone navigating family dynamics, dealing with social anxiety, or seeking peace and calm during the holidays.   ---------- Want to learn more tools to manage your mind, regulate your emotions, and simply feel better.  Apply for 1:1 coaching at reneebooe.com/coaching

Mind management, IISc Bangalore by Exploring mindfulness, yoga and spirituality

Female Leaders Academy – 10 Wochen Online Kurs Bist du Perfektionistin – oder Maximiererin? In dieser Episode von „Level me up!“ erkläre ich den entscheidenden Unterschied zwischen diesen beiden Ansätzen und warum uns Perfektionismus oft bremst, ohne dass wir uns dessen bewusst sind. Wenn wir auf „Maximieren“ umstellen, kommen wir nicht nur schneller ins Handeln, sondern steigern auch unsere Lebensqualität und Ausstrahlung. In dieser Episode erzähle ich, wie ich selbst meinen Perfektionismus losgelassen habe und nun mit Vorwärtsenergie an Dinge herangehe. Das Prinzip des Maximierens hilft uns, das Beste zu geben, ohne uns im Detail zu verlieren – und dabei trotzdem Klarheit und Einfachheit zu wahren. In dieser Folge erfährst du: Wie du den Unterschied zwischen Perfektionieren und Maximieren erkennst Warum Perfektionismus oft von Angst getrieben ist und wie er uns blockiert Wie „Maximieren“ dich in die Leichtigkeit bringt und deinen Erfolg beschleunigt Welche Fragen du dir stellen kannst, um dich bewusst für Maximieren zu entscheiden Hör rein und erfahre, wie du mit mehr Freude und Flexibilität an deine Aufgaben herangehen kannst, ohne dich in Perfektionismus zu verlieren! Herzlichst, Verena P.S.: Willst du lernen, wie du deine Gedanken gezielt steuern und Leichtigkeit in deinen Alltag bringen kannst? In der Female Leaders Academy erfährst du alles über „Mind Management“ und andere Techniken für deinen Erfolg. Melde dich jetzt an: femaleleadersacademy.net

Female Leaders Academy – 10 Wochen Online Kurs Konflikte begegnen uns täglich – im Job, privat oder mit uns selbst. Doch hinter dem, worüber wir streiten, verbirgt sich oft ein ganz anderes Thema. In dieser Episode von „Level me up!“ gehe ich darauf ein, wie wir das „Problem hinter dem Problem“ erkennen und damit echte Lösungen finden können. Ich teile meine persönlichen Erfahrungen und zeige dir, wie du Konflikte nicht einfach nur vermeiden, sondern wirklich lösen kannst. Denn nur wenn wir uns die wahren Ursachen anschauen, werden wir langfristig zufriedener und können besser mit Stress umgehen. In dieser Folge erfährst du: Warum das „Ventil“ eines Konflikts meist nicht das wahre Problem ist Wie du dir selbst den Raum gibst, deine eigentlichen Bedürfnisse zu erkennen Welche Fragen dir helfen, in schwierigen Situationen ruhig zu bleiben und Klarheit zu finden Wie das „Mind Management“-Tool dich stärkt, um Konflikte souverän zu meistern Nach dieser Episode wirst du Konflikte als Chance sehen und deine Beziehungen nachhaltig verbessern können. Herzlichst, Verena P.S.: Möchtest du auch lernen, Konflikte konstruktiv zu lösen und dabei gelassen und neutral zu bleiben? In der Female Leaders Academy erfährst du, wie du mit „Mind Management“ die Kontrolle über deine Emotionen behältst. Melde dich jetzt an: femaleleadersacademy.net

Female Leaders Academy – 10 Wochen Online Kurs In dieser Episode von „Level me up!“ spreche ich mit Sarah L., einer Hochbauingenieurin und Abteilungsleiterin. Sarah gibt im Interview Einblicke in ihren Weg als Frau in einem oft männlich geprägten Berufsfeld und erzählt, wie sie durch das Coaching in der Female Leaders Academy ihr berufliches und persönliches Potenzial entdeckt und neu entfaltet hat. Wir sprechen über ihre Erfahrungen im Coaching und wie sie gelernt hat, ihre Ziele klar zu definieren und selbstbewusst umzusetzen. Sarah berichtet von den Herausforderungen, vor denen sie stand, wie sie den Mut fand, Verantwortung abzugeben und Entscheidungen zu treffen, und wie sie lernte, ihre eigenen Grenzen zu erkennen und zu setzen. Besonders spannend: Wie wichtig es ist, Unterstützung anzunehmen – sowohl im privaten als auch im beruflichen Bereich. In dieser Folge erfährst du: - Warum Frauen sich oft schwer tun, sich selbst in den Mittelpunkt zu stellen und ihre Karriere proaktiv zu gestalten - Wie Sarah durch gezieltes Mind-Management neue Perspektiven gewonnen hat - Warum es so wertvoll ist, nicht alles alleine schaffen zu wollen - Wie wir uns von Perfektionismus lösen und einfach ins Handeln kommen - Welche Rolle Netzwerken und Vorbilder dabei spielen, berufliche Ziele zu erreichen Hör dir diese Episode an, wenn du dich inspiriert fühlen möchtest, deinen eigenen Weg mutig und authentisch zu gehen und deine Ziele klarer zu verfolgen. Sarahs Geschichte zeigt, wie wir mit Mut, Klarheit und Unterstützung in die nächste Phase unserer Karriere starten können. Herzlichst, Verena P.S.: Möchtest du auch lernen, wie du berufliche Herausforderungen meisterst und deine Talente voll entfaltest? Werde Teil der Female Leaders Academy und entdecke, wie du im Business als Frau wirklich erfolgreich wirst!

Nowadays, there are people who start yoga through asana practice but, at its core, keep saying that yoga is for the mind. The question is how is how can yoga be a tool of mind management? In this episode, I will be joined by a new guest, Sandipani Manur, who will help us look into managing the mind through yoga and the different layers of the mind.The Mind Management Episode Highlights:How is the mind connected to yoga?Drawing parallels between the Eastern and Western views of the mindWhat is yoga's view of the ego?Which layer of the mind should one be operating from?What does the Manas control?How does yoga view the mind?What happens when the mind is overloaded?How do practices like asanas help the mind?Why should someone spend so much time, energy, and effort in deconstructing their mind?Practices that can be used for different levels of the mindWill meditation help the mind?You can find all the resources mentioned in this episode in the show notes at https://letstalk.yoga/episode/mind-management-through-yoga-with-sandipani-manur/Join our mailing listFind all the resources mentioned in this episodeConnect with us on Instagram

Mind management-2 principles, 6 practices | Bhagavad-gita 6.35 | Whitefield, Bangalore by Exploring mindfulness, yoga and spirituality

Surgical Training is Hard, But It's Crucial to Safe PracticeToday, a look back at something called a "Surgical Approach," and why knowing multiple approaches is so important.This has everything to do with learning and practicing self-brain surgery too! Surgeons who only know one approach get stuck, and sometimes cannot complete an operation safely. Choosing the right approach makes all the difference, and this episode will help you learn the approaches to your own life and self-brain surgery practice that will help you keep moving forward!Leave a voicemail with your question or comment!Five Ways You Can Support this show:Pray for us!Subscribe, like, and share it with your friends! (We even have a YouTube channel!)Leave reviews and comments wherever you listen to podcasts!You can become a paid partner of the podcast and get special bonus episodes and lots more content by clicking here. Visit one of our affiliate partners and consider using their products (we use them every day):Support and boost your immune system with Armra! Use DRLEEWARREN code at checkout for a discount!Improve your gut health, immune system, and protect your brain with Pique!Other Helpful Links:Click here to access the Hope Is the First Dose playlist of hopeful, healing songs!Be sure to check out my new book, Hope Is the First Dose!Here's a free 5-day Bible study on YouVersion/BibleApp based on my new book!Sign up for my weekly Self-Brain Surgery Newsletter here!All recent episodes with transcripts are available here! (00:01) - Introduction: Self-Brain Surgery Concept (01:27) - Surgical Approaches in Medical Training (02:45) - The Best Approach to Self-Brain Surgery (11:09) - Four Approaches to Self-Brain Surgery (12:37) - Self-Brain Surgery Training and Tools (15:33) - Self-Brain Surgery vs. Therapy Clarification (20:00) - Self-Brain Surgery as a Technique (21:57) - Directing People Towards a Healthy Future (22:24) - The Power of Positive Focus (26:24) - Surgical Approaches and Techniques (31:30) - Multiple Approaches to Mental Health (33:47) - Four Approaches to Mind Management

In dieser Folge erwähnte Links: Besser als Perfekt – das Buch von Verena Tschudi Female Leaders Academy – 10 Wochen Online Kurs “Be a Leader!” Coaching & Mentoring mit Verena Tschudi Wie stark kann Coaching dein Leben verändern? In der heutigen Episode habe ich eine ganz besondere Gesprächspartnerin: Carmen W. Sie ist seit drei Jahren in meinem Coaching-Programm und teilt heute ihre beeindruckende Reise und die tiefgreifenden Veränderungen, die sie durchlaufen hat. Als Apothekerin in der klinischen Forschung hatte Carmen W. anfangs keine großen Erwartungen ans Coaching. Sie wollte sich einfach selbst besser kennenlernen und reflektieren. Außerdem versprach sie sich Tipps für ihre Life-Balance als Working Mom. Doch sie erkannte schnell, wie kraftvoll ein Perspektivwechsel sein kann und wie wichtig es ist, die eigenen Gedanken und Glaubenssätze zu hinterfragen. In unserem Gespräch berichtet sie von einer herausfordernden Arbeitssituation, die sie aus der Bahn warf, und wie das Coaching ihr half, diese Hürde zu meistern. Carmen W. gibt uns einen ehrlichen und inspirierenden Einblick, wie Mind-Management-Tools und das Hinterfragen eigener Überzeugungen ihr nicht nur einen neuen Job, sondern auch mehr innere Freiheit verschafften. Für alle, die sich für persönliche Weiterentwicklung, Mind-Management und berufliche Transformation interessieren – diese Episode ist vollgepackt mit wertvollen Einsichten und praktischen Tipps aus der Praxis, die dir helfen können, deine eigene Karriere und dein Leben positiv zu verändern. Interessiert an dem Coaching Programm mit Verena Tschudi, das Carmen W. geholfen hat? Infos findest du hier: verenatschudi.com/leader

In dieser Folge erwähnte Links: Be a Leader! Coaching Programm Wie können wir die anfängliche Verliebtheit in einer Beziehung dauerhaft erhalten? Ihr wisst schon, die berühmte rosa-rote Brille, durch die alles perfekt und wunderbar erscheint. In der heutigen Episode erkunden wir genau dieses Thema. Ich teile meine Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse darüber, warum sich unsere Sichtweise auf unseren Partner oft ändert und wie man diese Veränderung bewusst steuern kann. Kleiner Spoiler: Es geht um Mind Management und die Macht unserer Gedanken. Dabei gebe ich euch praktische Tipps, wie ihr die positiven Seiten eures Partners im Alltag wieder mehr wahrnehmen können, und wie ihr durch bewusste Reflexion und Gespräche die Liebe neu entfachen könnt. Erfahrt außerdem, warum es so wichtig ist, in eure Beziehung zu investieren und wie bereits ein einziges Gespräch eine beachtliche positive Wendung bringen kann. Diese Folge ist ein Muss für alle, die ihre Partnerschaft verbessern und langfristig die Schmetterlinge im Bauch behalten möchten. Statt die "Röntgenbrille" aufzusetzen und nur die Fehler zu sehen, wählt lieber die rosa-rote Brille. Möchtest du Mind-Management lernen? Dann ist mein Coaching Programm „Be a Leader!“ genau das richtige für dich. Schau auf verenatschudi.com/leader

"We have more free time than ever — but why does it feel like we are so busy? We have more freedom and decision making options than ever — so we've got to add new programming to our lives." Bob Gilbreath is longtime friend of the Pod, and fellow P&G Alum - who's also a repeat startup founder with two exits. His latest post “Time Management is Mind Management” covers To-Don't Lists, Asynchronicity, Meeting Strategically and People Power. While countless books, blogs, podcasts, and software solutions aim to help us better manage our calendars, inboxes, feeds, and habits — we lack time to listen to or learn from them. And it feels like once we manage some part of our day, two more new things suck us in. Bob hit a breakthrough in the past few years when I realized a higher level of the game: Managing our minds better is critical to managing our time better. You'll hear strategic ways to understand and choose ways of living that give you more time back and make more meaningful moments throughout your day. Bob now serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Hearty, a people-tech company, as well as a few other interesting ventures. While at P&G, Bob worked on brands like Tide and Mr. Clean - and Mr. Clean Auto Dry, and even Fit fruit and vegetable wash. Bob authored books and shares real-life stories of his business ups-and-downs in his weekly newsletter “the Workaround” - which you can subscribe to @ beheartly.substack.com This is a feature of an Alumni Leader's frequently published thought leadership. Got an idea for a future “Learnings from Leaders” episode - reach out at pgalumpod@gmail.com

Mind Management Youth by Exploring mindfulness, yoga and spirituality

Send your text message - we'd love to hear from you!Elana's story of a childhood brain injury that pushed her to a dangerous world of thinking that she was 'not enough', not worthy or capable, God guided her to His truth of her purpose and identity that transformed her life to where she is helping others out of experiences. Hear what is possible with the HOPE of Elana's story! 

In dieser Folge erwähnte Links: Be a Leader! Coaching Programm Wie fühlt es sich an, wenn man nach 17 Jahren im gleichen Architekturbüro plötzlich als Partnerin und in der Geschäftsleitung tätig ist? Diese Frage beantworten wir heute in meinem Interview mit meiner Coaching Teilnehmerin Johanna Deinet. Johanna ist nicht nur eine erfahrene Architektin und Mutter einer 8jährigen Tochter, sondern auch frischgebackene Partnerin in ihrem Büro. Im Podcast Gespräch gibt sie uns Einblicke in ihre neue Rolle in der Geschäftsleitung. Wie hat sie diesen gewaltigen Schritt gemeistert? Welche Herausforderungen musste sie bewältigen? Und vor allem: Wie hat ihr mein Coaching geholfen, dabei gelassen und souverän zu bleiben? Besonders interessant ist Johannas Rolle als einzige Frau in der Geschäftsführung und das Signal, das sie damit an andere Frauen im Unternehmen sendet. Die Episode ist voller überraschender und inspirierender Momente, die zeigen, wieviel kontinuierlicher Fortschritt und Mind-Management zu einem erfolgreichen und erfüllten Leben beitragen. Johannas Geschichte wird dich motivieren und dir neue Wege aufzeigen, wie du deine berufliche Karriere vorantreiben kannst, ohne dabei selbst auf der Strecke zu bleiben. Möchtest du auch Unterstützung für deine berufliche und persönlichen Weiterentwicklung? Dann schau auf verenatschudi.com/leader

En este episodio de Solo en Balda, los anfitriones hablan sobre juegos de mesa y crowdfunding. Comienzan discutiendo la llegada del juego Fundando el Primal y la distribución de los componentes. Luego, presentan a la nueva integrante del equipo, Marta. Conversan sobre la presencia de mujeres en el mundo de los juegos de mesa y la importancia de la educación financiera. También comentan sobre la disponibilidad de juegos exclusivos en Kickstarter y la experiencia de participar en proyectos de crowdfunding. Finalmente, discuten sobre la posibilidad de realizar programas temáticos sobre crowdfunding en el futuro. En esta parte de la conversación, los participantes discuten sobre su participación en campañas de Kickstarter y cómo influye en su colección de juegos. También hablan sobre la gestión del tiempo y los juegos que tienen en su ludoteca. Además, comentan sobre juegos de deducción como Sherlock Holmes Detective y Asesor, y comparten sus opiniones sobre juegos como Detective, Crónicas del Crimen y Exit. En esta parte de la conversación, se discute sobre la importancia del aspecto visual en los juegos de mesa. Se mencionan aspectos prácticos como un buen inserto, un manual bien hecho y tableros de doble capa. También se destaca la influencia del arte y los componentes en la experiencia de juego. Se mencionan juegos como Arkham Horror, Mind Management y Final Girl que ganan puntos por su estética. Además, se habla sobre la importancia de la organización y los insertos en la experiencia de juego. También se mencionan editoriales como Splotter que tenían un estilo visual particular. En esta parte de la conversación, los participantes discuten sobre la importancia del arte en los juegos de mesa. Hablan sobre cómo el arte puede influir en la experiencia de juego y cómo puede afectar la atracción hacia un juego. También mencionan ejemplos de juegos con arte que les gusta y juegos con arte que no les gusta. Además, debaten sobre la relación entre el arte y la funcionalidad de un juego, y cómo el diseño gráfico puede afectar la jugabilidad. Por último, mencionan la importancia de la presentación y el empaque de un juego, y cómo esto puede influir en la decisión de compra de los jugadores. En esta parte de la conversación, los participantes hablan sobre los juegos que han estado jugando recientemente. Marta Night comenta sobre su experiencia jugando Tainted Grail 2 Kings of Ruin y destaca la narrativa y la exploración del juego. También menciona su experiencia jugando Inventions, un juego eurogame que le ha gustado. Oier habla sobre sus partidas de Skytear, Primal y Voidfall. Asolas comenta sobre su progreso en Oathsworn y su experiencia jugando 20 Strong y Solar Sentinel. También mencionan la calidad del arte y el diseño de los juegos. En esta parte final de la conversación, los participantes hablan sobre el fenómeno del clickbait y los tops en los videos de juegos de mesa. También recomiendan algunos canales de contenido de calidad, como Canal Espiral de Juegos y Totally Tabled. Marta comenta que ha intentado jugar a Arkham Horror en solitario, pero no ha tenido mucho éxito. Finalmente, se despiden y animan a jugar mucho y ser buenas personas.

David Kadavy is Author of Mind Management, Not Time Management. He's the former design and productivity advisor to Timeful, a productivity app bought by Google and integrated into Google Calendar. Top 3 Value Bombs 1. If you only have 24 hours in a day, there is a limit to just how much extra productivity you can squeeze out of that. There's just a limit to how much extra things you can squeeze into your time. Eventually you are just squeezing blood from a stone. 2. There's two different ways to approach time. There is the clock time and then there's the event time. clock time is when you are going by the clock and that's the main priority. Event time is more about meeting the objective than it is staying on the schedule. 3. There's just not as much respect for mental state and whether or not now is the right time for something, as there should be. Subscribe to LOVE MONDAYS NEWSLETTER. A 2-minute read packed with inspiration to make it as a creative. Join thousands of writers, artists, musicians, film directors, comedians, and CEOs - David's Website Sponsors HubSpot Stop spending more time managing tools than connecting with prospects and customers. HubSpot's customer platform is a smoother, more effective way to grow! Visit HubSpot.com to learn more Thought-Leader Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk. Visit Thought-Leader.com/fire to join a free training and learn how to land a TEDx Talk and spread your message to millions

David Kadavy is Author of Mind Management, Not Time Management. He's the former design and productivity advisor to Timeful, a productivity app bought by Google and integrated into Google Calendar. Top 3 Value Bombs 1. If you only have 24 hours in a day, there is a limit to just how much extra productivity you can squeeze out of that. There's just a limit to how much extra things you can squeeze into your time. Eventually you are just squeezing blood from a stone. 2. There's two different ways to approach time. There is the clock time and then there's the event time. clock time is when you are going by the clock and that's the main priority. Event time is more about meeting the objective than it is staying on the schedule. 3. There's just not as much respect for mental state and whether or not now is the right time for something, as there should be. Subscribe to LOVE MONDAYS NEWSLETTER. A 2-minute read packed with inspiration to make it as a creative. Join thousands of writers, artists, musicians, film directors, comedians, and CEOs - David's Website Sponsors HubSpot Stop spending more time managing tools than connecting with prospects and customers. HubSpot's customer platform is a smoother, more effective way to grow! Visit HubSpot.com to learn more Thought-Leader Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk. Visit Thought-Leader.com/fire to join a free training and learn how to land a TEDx Talk and spread your message to millions

In this engaging episode of The Ultimate Coach Podcast, host Ipek Williamson interviews Lisa Kneller, a Life Purpose and Reinvention Life Coach specializing in helping women navigate midlife transitions. With a fascinating journey that includes careers in advertising, yoga instruction, higher education, and life coaching, Lisa shares her insights on how to manage life's transformations with grace and purpose.Lisa and Ipek discuss the profound impact of mind management and the importance of thought work in personal development. Lisa emphasizes how her background in yoga and her role as an Insight Timer teacher contribute to a holistic coaching approach, helping clients achieve mental clarity and emotional balance. They also delve into the concept of self-coaching, highlighting its significance as a skill developed over time through practice and awareness.Listeners will find inspiration in Lisa's stories of resilience and adaptability, including her personal experiences and professional growth. Tune in to discover how Lisa's unique blend of coaching, yoga, and mindfulness can help you navigate your own life's transitions and embrace new beginnings.About the Guest: Lisa Kneller is a Life Purpose and Reinvention Life Coach for women in the second half of life who are ready to make a change. She helps them recover their identity, discover their purpose, and create a life of meaningful service so they can impact their world in a powerful way.Lisa has a degree in Speech Communication from Southern Illinois University with an emphasis in Public Relations. She holds a Graduate Certificate of Completion in Life Coaching from Grand Canyon University. She is also a Certified Insight Coach and has studied coaching with world-renowned coaches. Lisa is also a Certified Yoga Teacher and has been teaching yoga since 2003. Lisa brings her passion of yoga and coaching together to create a unique experience for those who would like to have more agency over themselves and their lives through self-coaching and mind-body work.You can connect with Lisa and find out more about her work at:https://www.lisaknellercoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/lisaknellercoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/lisa.kneller/ https://lisaknellercoaching.com/freestuffAbout the Host: A beacon of change and a catalyst for transformation, Ipek Williamson is a multifaceted professional who seamlessly integrates two decades of corporate expertise with a diverse skill set as a coach, mentor, speaker, author, meditation advocate, and teacher. Her mission is to guide individuals through the complexities of modern life, helping them find deep peace and harmony. Ipek's coaching approach, rooted in Core Values, Mental Fitness, and Mind Mastery, empowers clients to unlock their hidden potential and confidently embrace change with joy.Beyond coaching, Ipek's influence spreads through her 100+ meditations on the Insight Timer App and live meditation sessions, where she shares transformative wisdom. Her impact extends to workshops, courses, and training sessions for individuals, groups, and corporations. As a Change Champion, Ipek Williamson is dedicated to promoting positive change, nurturing inner calm, and empowering others to script their own transformation stories.ipek@ipekwilliamsoncoaching.com

Surgical Training is Hard, But It's Crucial to Safe PracticeToday, a look back at something called a "Surgical Approach," and why knowing multiple approaches is so important. This has everything to do with learning and practicing self-brain surgery too! Surgeons who only know one approach get stuck, and sometimes cannot complete an operation safely. Choosing the right approach makes all the difference, and this episode will help you learn the approaches to your own life and self-brain surgery practice that will help you keep moving forward!Leave a voicemail with your question or comment!Five Ways You Can Support this show:Pray for us!Subscribe, like, and share it with your friends! (We even have a YouTube channel!)Leave reviews and comments wherever you listen to podcasts!You can become a paid partner of the podcast and get special bonus episodes and lots more content by clicking here. Visit one of our affiliate partners and consider using their products (we use them every day):Support and boost your immune system with Armra! Use DRLEEWARREN code at checkout for a discount!Improve your gut health, immune system, and protect your brain with Pique!Other Helpful Links:Click here to access the Hope Is the First Dose playlist of hopeful, healing songs!Be sure to check out my new book, Hope Is the First Dose!Here's a free 5-day Bible study on YouVersion/BibleApp based on my new book!Sign up for my weekly Self-Brain Surgery Newsletter here!All recent episodes with transcripts are available here! (00:01) - Introduction: Self-Brain Surgery Concept (01:27) - Surgical Approaches in Medical Training (02:45) - The Best Approach to Self-Brain Surgery (11:09) - Four Approaches to Self-Brain Surgery (12:37) - Self-Brain Surgery Training and Tools (15:33) - Self-Brain Surgery vs. Therapy Clarification (20:00) - Self-Brain Surgery as a Technique (21:57) - Directing People Towards a Healthy Future (22:24) - The Power of Positive Focus (26:24) - Surgical Approaches and Techniques (31:30) - Multiple Approaches to Mental Health (33:47) - Four Approaches to Mind Management

The Literature Lounge stands out as a unique podcast series devoted to authors whose books captivate readers and serve as catalysts for stimulating conversations. In partnership with Rupa Publications India, one of the leading publishing companies in India, we will host authors from diverse backgrounds to explore their literary works, delve into their creative journeys, and uncover the inspirations behind their achievements. So, let's dive into the world of books.Episode SummaryIn this enlightening episode of "Navigating Spirituality," world-renowned spiritual teacher and best-selling author Swami Mukundananda ji delves into the profound role of spirituality and mind management for personal and spiritual growth. Swamiji shares practical advice on balancing daily responsibilities with spiritual practices, emphasizing the importance of daily sadhana. We explore key concepts from his latest book, "Spiritual Secrets from Hinduism: Essence of the Vedic Scriptures," addressing common spiritual queries and the Vedic concept of absolute truth. The discussion also highlights Swamiji's initiatives like JK Yoga aimed at transforming lives through divine wisdom. Special attention is given to the youth, stressing the significance of wisdom beyond conventional education. This episode is a treasure trove of insights on achieving eternal bliss through divine wisdom and mastering the mind for holistic well-being.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:35 - Exploring Spirituality and Self-Transformation 04:37 - Balancing Spiritual Practices Daily07:19 - Importance of Mind Management in Development 10:01 - Impactful Books on Vedic Wisdom12:35 - Unlocking Spiritual Secrets From Hinduism14:50 - Indian Curiosity and Vedic Philosophy17:45 - Vedas and its Significance in Hinduism25:24 - Seeking Eternal Bliss Through Divine Wisdom28:35 - Intrinsic Urge for Happiness33:37 - Infinite Happiness37:41 - Remembering God at All Times40:18 - Excerpts from the Book44:07 - Vision of JK Yoga47:34 - Swamiji's Message for Young ListenersConnect with UsMohua Chinappa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohua-chinappa/The Mohua Show: https://www.themohuashow.com/Connect with the GuestWebsite: https://swamimukundananda.org/Website: JKYog | Jagadguru Kripaluji YogYoutube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@swamimukundanandaFollow UsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMohuaShowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/themohuashow/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/themohuashow/For any other queries EMAILhello@themohuashow.comBook Link Spiritual Secrets from Hinduism: Essence of the Vedic Scriptures https://amzn.in/d/aMWimJrDisclaimerThe views expressed by our guests are their own. We do not endorse and are not responsible for any views exThanks for Listening!

TUNE IN TO LEARN:“Why do I keep watching Netflix when I know it kills my sleep and my productivity the next day?”    I had to ask myself this question countless times before I was able to take this under control which helped me:  Get more sleep;  Read more books;  Wake up earlier fresh and ready;  Focus better and get more done;  And stop having negative thoughts because of failed attempts to quit it.    Familiar situation?    Your attention, your focus, how you master these will transform or destroy your life's vision.    Tune in to today's episode to learn about the most effective tools to claim your attention back – from distractions within and in your environment, TikTok and Netflix, email and the constant urge to be checking something.   

I am so pleased to have Dr. Caroline Leaf on the show today to impart knowledge from her 30-year career as an applied neuroscientist. I originally intended to do a career retrospective on Dr. Leaf's many books, but quickly realized that if I did that, this would become an hours and hours long episode. So I decided to choose one of her books, Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking, to zoom in on for our conversation today—but I highly recommend all of her books. In this book (and in this conversation), she teaches us what mental mess is, how to practice mind management, what neuroplasticity is, and about the neurocycle, which she formulated. The neurocycle has, amazingly, statistically reduced depression and anxiety by a staggering 81 percent! I guarantee you'll learn something in this episode, and for this episode in particular, I'd recommend listening when you can really absorb what Dr. Leaf is saying. Some episodes on the show are light and frothy and can be listened to while multitasking; I'd say this episode is not one of those. To get maximum impact from what Dr. Leaf is teaching us, set aside some time for yourself to truly take all of this in, because you know what? You deserve it. Dr. Leaf is also a podcaster, and in addition to her own show, “Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess,” she is an extremely frequent guest on other podcasts. That's actually how I found Dr. Leaf—from hearing her on other podcasts and then discovering her work. She has spent three decades researching the mind-brain connection, the nature of mental health, and the formation of memory, and her work centers around helping people learn how to use their mind to detox and grow their brain to succeed in every area of their lives—talk about work that truly matters!   Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking by Dr. Caroline Leaf A link to all of Dr. Leaf's books

Hast du jemals das Gefühl gehabt, dass deine Gedanken dich kontrollieren, anstatt umgekehrt? Dann ist diese Podcast-Folge für dich. In der heutigen Episode enthülle ich meine persönlichen Einsichten und Strategien, wie Meditation und ein gezieltes Mind Management zu mehr Gelassenheit und Erfolg im Leben verhelfen. Ich teile aber nicht nur meine eigenen Erfahrungen, sondern auch die meiner Klient:innen, und beleuchte, wie tiefgreifend unsere Gedanken unser emotionales Wohlbefinden und unser Verhalten beeinflussen. Ich nehme dich mit auf eine Reise der Selbstentdeckung, auf der ich dir zeige, wie Stress im Körper sichtbar wird und wie das Mind Management hilft, Gedanken zu analysieren und positiv zu verändern. Diese Episode ist ein Muss für alle, die an einem Scheideweg stehen oder sich endlich selbst verwirklichen möchten. Sie bietet dir praktische Anleitungen und authentische Einblicke, die dir zeigen, dass es möglich ist, alte Denkmuster zu durchbrechen und das eigene Leben bewusster zu steuern. Im «Be a Leader!» Coaching Programm begleite ich dich auf deinem Weg und bin für 12 Monate deine Sparringspartnerin. Schau auf verenatschudi.com/leader

Today on the show, Paul and Ben talk about Dr. J and Dr. Chapstick, why lying is funny, the pre-taped call in show, Mr. Show's John Ennis, The Boys, Mind Management, Maria Bamford's book “Sure, I'll Join Your Cult,” listening to podcasts, we're no longer in a post-COVID world, the … Continue reading →

Join Carlette Patterson, Chief Wellbeing Officer® & CEO of Patterson Sports Ventures®, and Kerry Graham, LPGA Golf Instructor and Author of The Power of Mental Golf, to learn about the power of single focus and how to quiet the anxiety, or the “electrical storm” in our minds.Winning Strategies:When we use a cue we like and we own it, it shuts down the “electrical storm” in our minds and allows the brain to give the correct messages to our body for peak performance in sport or life. The nature of the brain is to try and help you so when you get distracted, “back off” and take a step back, reset, start again with your cue and go for it. Get Coached 2 Win Life:www.sportslifecoaching.comWatch the full episode: https://youtu.be/e5sZgXbY-9M

Harnessing The Power Of Mind Management To connect with today's guest: Lisa Kneller To connect with the host: Colleen Biggs Thank you to our Sponsor of today's show:Phoenix Drone Pros

Join Carlette Patterson, Chief Wellbeing Officer® & CEO of Patterson Sports Ventures®, and Kerry Graham, LPGA golf instructor and author of The Power of Mental Golf, to learn about how golfers find “The Zone” and manage overthinking. Winning Strategies:Focus on slowing down and getting mentally quiet by using cues in golf and in life. Take a step back and a reset if you find your mind is moving too fast. Our brain creates new myelin soft tissue to help repeated patterns become automatic. We can train our brain to form rituals and routines that are a ‘10' for us. Get Coached 2 Win Life:www.sportslifecoaching.com

In today's episode of the Driving Change podcast, Jeff features a compilation of interviews with change management experts from our past podcasts. You'll hear Dr. Richard Boyatzis, Dr. BJ Fogg, Dr. Angus Fletcher, and Dr. Caroline Leaf. The conversations cover topics from motivation and engagement in the workplace, the neuroscience of change and coaching, creating lasting change through tiny habits, the power of storytelling and optimism, to mind management and overcoming limiting beliefs. Jeff and our guests discuss the process of identifying and changing patterns of behavior and thought. As we move into 2024, there is no better way to cap off your year than listening to these experts. Takeaways Motivation and engagement are crucial in the workplace, and leaders should focus on creating a positive and engaging environment for their employees. Understanding the neuroscience of change can help leaders effectively coach and communicate with their teams, leading to successful change initiatives. Creating lasting change often starts with small habits and incremental steps rather than trying to make big changes all at once. Storytelling and optimism play a significant role in shaping our beliefs and mindset and can be powerful tools for personal and professional growth. Mind management is essential for overcoming limiting beliefs and achieving success, and involves deconstructing negative thought patterns and reconstructing more positive and empowering ones. Deliberately and intentionally focus on communication pathologies and patterns in relationships to identify the most dominant pattern that is stopping personal growth. The process of change involves tapping into the non-conscious mind, achieving automatization, and entering a flow state. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Driving Change podcast 01:01 Compilation of Change Management Experts 02:18 Motivation and Engagement in the Workplace 04:12 The Neuroscience of Change and Coaching 13:34 Creating Lasting Change through Tiny Habits 32:46 The Power of Storytelling and Optimism 44:26 Mind Management and Overcoming Limiting Beliefs 48:11 Identifying and Unpacking Patterns 50:03 Healing and Revealing Pain 51:24 Analyzing and Reconceptualizing Patterns 52:17 Growing and Competing with Thought Trees 53:15 The Importance of Gamma Peaks 54:09 Sustaining and Growing New Patterns 56:35 Tapping into the Non-Conscious Mind 57:27 Automatization and Flow State 59:06 Reflecting on Change and Growth

Everything is Energy: The core message is that everything, including ourselves, our emotions, and the world around us, is made up of energy. Understanding this fundamental concept sets the stage for managing our overall well-being.Emotional Intelligence Matters: Developing emotional intelligence is crucial. It involves identifying and comprehending our emotions, knowing how they feel, where we feel them, and connecting the dots between our feelings and thoughts. This understanding is a roadmap to better manage our energy.Law of Attraction is Always On: The Law of Attraction isn't a switch; it's a constant force. Our emotions and energy determine what we attract into our lives. If we emit stress and anxiety, we'll likely draw in more of the same. Being mindful of our emotional state is key to shaping our experiences.Mind Management is Energy Management: Our minds, not just our brains, play a pivotal role in managing our energy. We have the power to choose our thoughts, intentionally shifting our attention from thoughts that bring undesirable emotions to those that evoke positive feelings. This is how we take charge of our energy.Gratitude as a Superpower: Gratitude is highlighted as a super-emotion and a quick route to raising our vibration. Practicing gratitude can swiftly shift our emotional state from stress and anxiety to feelings of gratitude, peace, and happiness. It's presented as a powerful tool for effective emotional management.***If you join the Impact Basic Membership for one year, I'm going to throw in 1 coaching session each month. (That's 12 sessions for FREE!)***GET THE BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL NOW!Imagine having a life coach in your back pocket for a whole year to help you tackle whatever your teen throws at you. Imagine how good at parenting you'd become--You'd be like a ninja-parenting-blackbelt. If you had someone to help you work through tough parenting moments, someone to help you feel happier and more confident, someone to keep you on track and accountable, what would be possible for you and your family?Take the free Parent Trap quiz If you have a teen you should take this Parent Trap Quiz .It will help you uncover specific parenting patterns that might be hindering your relationship with your teen. By identifying your Parent Trap, you gain the tools to have better communication, resolve conflicts, and build greater confidence in your parenting decisions. This self-awareness ultimately strengthens your relationship with your teen, which leads to a more open and harmonious connection. This quiz is your gateway to becoming the parent of your dreams and paving the way for a happier and healthier family life.TAKE THE QUIZAlready taken the quiz? Check out my New ABSOLUTELY FREE Audio Course: Parenting from the Inside Out!

We're diving deep into the fascinating concept of how our thoughts shape our reality. From the fun we have at social gatherings, to our financial well-being, and the quality of our relationships, our thoughts and beliefs wield incredible power. This episode, I'm reminding you that while we're born into various circumstances, we have the tools of mind-management at our disposal to carve a new path. Discover the transformative potential of being willing to be wrong, and how challenging your beliefs can lead to an exciting future. Embrace the adventure of self-discovery and get ready for a brighter tomorrow, guided by the wisdom of Sincerely, Future You! Feel like you need more hours in the day? Join my Time Mastery Boot Camp! CLICK HERE: https://campsite.bio/whatshappyningwjess Catch up with Coach Jess and Sincerely, Future You on: Website:        https://www.sincerelyfutureyou.com Instagram:     https://www.instagram.com/jessmckinleyuyeno/ LinkedIn:       https://www.linkedin.com/in/manningjessica/ YouTube:      https://www.youtube.com/@jessicamckinleyuyeno4466 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Balancing Chaos podcast, I welcome renowned cognitive neuroscientist and author, Dr. Caroline Leaf. Dr. Leaf is a communication pathologist, audiologist, clinical and cognitive neuroscientist specializing in cognitive and metacognitive neuropsychology. Since the early 1980s she has researched the mind-brain connection, the nature of mental health, and the formation of memory. She uses this research to understand how we think, build memory, and learn, in order to create tools and processes that have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), learning disabilities (ADD, ADHD), autism, dementias and mental ill-health issues like anxiety and depression.Today we delve into the world of neuroscience, mental health, and the power of the mind. Dr. Leaf's extensive research in neuroplasticity and her groundbreaking theories, which have helped countless individuals overcome challenges and transform their thinking. We discuss practical strategies for improving mental health, how your thoughts impact your physical health, learning how to sit with uncomfortable emotions, teaching our kids how to emotionally process and how to begin to embrace your past so that you can have more compassion for yourself and transform your future. Tune in to learn more about the foundational role that your thoughts and feelings have in building overall health and wellness results.To connect with Dr. Caroline Leaf, click HERETo connect with Kelley, click HERETo get 20% off Kelley's Health and Hormones Course + a FREE Lab Review click HERE and use code BALANCINGCHAOS20To get 10% off Kelley's WBK method app with your annual membership, click HERE and use code BALANCINGCHAOS

Listen to episode 67 of The Super Human Life podcast - How To Use Your MIND To Heal Your Brain & Body w/ Dr. Caroline Leaf - https://tinyurl.com/TSHLep67   Order Dr. Leaf's NEW BOOK - How To Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess -https://amzn.to/3R209UR   Dr. Caroline Leaf is a communication pathologist and clinical neuroscientist specializing in psychoneurobiology. Her passion is to help people see the power of the mind to change the brain, control chaotic thinking, and find mental peace. She is the author of the bestselling books Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess, Switch On Your Brain, Think and Eat Yourself Smart, The Perfect You, Think, Learn, Succeed, and many more. She is also the author of the top-rated podcast Cleaning Up the Mental Mess, which has over forty million downloads. She currently does extensive research and teaches at various academic, medical, corporate, and neuroscience conferences, as well as in religious and spiritual institutions around the world. Dr. Leaf and her husband, Mac, have four adult children and live between Dallas and Miami.   Here's a sneak peek of what you can expert to learn in this episode: The mind-body connection: Discover how your mind influences your brain and, in turn, your entire body. Parenting and mental resilience: Learn valuable tools to empower your children and create a harmonious family dynamic. Neuroplasticity and the art of rewiring your brain: Understand how you can actively change your thought patterns and reshape your brain's structure. The NeuroCycle: Dr. Leaf introduces a powerful framework for managing your mind and optimizing your mental health.   Connect with Dr. Caroline Leaf: Download her app, Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess in the Apple Store or Google Play.   Website - https://drleaf.com/   Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cleaning-up-the-mental-mess-with-dr-caroline-leaf/id1334767397   Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/drcarolineleaf/?hl=en   YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/DrCarolineLeaf   Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/drleaf   ---   Connect with Frank and The Super Human Life on Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesuperhumanfrank/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/584284948647477/   Website: http://www.thesuperhumanlifepodcast.com/tshlhome   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjB4UrpxtNO2AFtDURMzoKQ  

Episode Highlights With Dr. LeafThe problem with how we take care of depression, anxiety, and mental healthHow the mind can influence the brain and vice versaWhy the brain isn't the cause, it is the responder, and why this reductionist approach has been a disservice to those who struggle with mental healthThe problem with labeling conditions based on just looking at the brain and a better approachWhat mind management is and how to help our kids have a good foundation of thisThe neurocycle as a tool to help kids work through strugglesHow suppression creates imbalances in the brain and the bodyThe most important thing we can do for our child's mental health (hint: it starts with the parents)How to model mental health skills to our childrenThe neurocycle approach to helping children become aware of and process things that happen to them and their interpretation of these eventsWhy children can interpret body language so well and how to manage our own minds in a way that helps themHow to model the neurocycle for your kids and make it part of your family cultureYou can't make your children happy and you can't fix themSafety net parenting vs. helicopter parenting Most kids are only getting 7-10 minutes a day of free play, but they need 3-4 hours optimallyWhy to let your child be upset and cry when they are experiencing big emotionsHow giving your child space to struggle will help them work through their feelings safely and shape their own identityYou can't change what has happened to you but you can change what it looks like inside of youYou can't change what has happened to you but you can change what it looks like inside of you - Dr Caroline LeafResources We MentionHow to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess: A Guide to Building Resilience and Managing Mental Health by Dr. Caroline LeafCleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking by Dr. Caroline LeafSwitch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health by Dr. Caroline LeafCaroline Leaf - websiteThe Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

This summer we're going back to basics and bringing you the oldies but goodies--our most popular and fundamental episodes. Don't stress about catching up on every past episode--if you need it, we're bringing it to you here. Want to take this work further? I would love to coach you inside my coaching program, How to Glow. It's a no-commitment monthly program where you can get coached every week and be part of an amazing community of women. Ready to give it a try? Join today at ⁠kaylalevin.com/coaching

After nearly eight years of the Love Your Work podcast, I'm quitting. Here's why, and What's Next. Podcasting is a bad business This is not the immediate reason I'm quitting, but it is at the root: Podcasting is a bad business. When the indirect benefits of an activity run out, it's hard to keep doing it if it's not making money. I realized long ago podcasting is a bad business, but I kept going for other reasons. I'll explain why in a bit. Though I didn't start my podcast with dollar signs in my eyes, I did at least hope I would grow to earn money doing it. I've earned about $32,000 in the eight-year history of Love Your Work. More than half of that has been from Patreon supporters, many of whom support for reasons other than the podcast. During that time, I've spent: $1,008 on hosting $11,749 on assistance with editing and publishing $241 on equipment And some other expenses, for a total of about $13,000 In raw numbers, I've made a “profit” on the podcast. But, as I broke down in my latest income report, my “wage” was about $6 an hour. My podcast comprised about 5% of my income over these eight years, and took much more than that portion of my time and energy. Of course, I don't think about whether the podcast was worth it in terms of an hourly rate. Creative work happens in Extremistan, not Mediocristan, and I've made massive life choices to be free to explore creatively without worrying so much what I'm earning in the short-term. Ways to make money podcasting But there are many different ways to make a podcast a solid business, and none of them worked for me, for various reasons. Here are some of these business models, as they apply to the “thought-leader” space (I'll ignore the more entertainment/infotainment space that podcasts like Gimlet's inhabit). Be so massively famous, you can pick-and-choose advertisers, while demanding a lot of money. This is where Tim Ferriss and Joe Rogan are. They both started with large platforms, and applied whatever talents that helped them earn those platforms to make their podcasts huge. After more than fifteen years as a creator, I have a modest platform, but orders of magnitude smaller. Build a “content machine” that manufactures ad slots. I won't name names, but you've heard these podcasts. They're formulaic and don't seem to discern much who they have as a guest, nor what sponsors they accept. This business model is why my inbox is still full of pitches – they think I actually want more guests, because more guests would mean more ad slots. It takes a very rare set of circumstances for me to be excited to interview someone. Share information that directly helps people make money. If you have tactical and actionable information that's useful to professionals in a specific industry, you can charge for premium podcast content. I'm not as interested in the tactical and actionable as I am in the abstract and exploratory. Cover a niche topic. If you have a leading podcast about a very specific topic, advertisers within that niche will be willing to pay high rates to reach that audience. I didn't want to build my podcast according to a specific topic – more on that later. Have a “back-end” business. If you have a thriving consulting business, or training programs to sell, you can attract more clients and customers through your podcast. As I wrote in my ten-year reflections, “I want to make a living creating. I don't want creating to be merely a marketing strategy for other things. Is that completely insane?” I flirted with success in a few of these business models. Early on, I hoped my podcast would be famous enough to pick and choose advertisers at high rates. For a while, it looked like I had a chance. I was approached by a podcast network, and I had some reputable advertisers such as LinkedIn, Skillshare, Casper, Audible, Pittney Bowes, and University of California. Various times, I thought I was on the cusp of my “big break” – such as when Love Your Work was featured on the Apple Podcasts home screen. But the more I tried to go the “get famous” route, the louder the siren-song of the “content machine” route got. There were plenty of opportunities to do “interview swaps” with hosts I wasn't interested in interviewing. There were a few advertisers that had money, but whose products felt sleazy. Joining a podcast network would have pressured me to crank out content even if I didn't feel like it. There was (and still is) the never-ending stream of pitch emails for guests. I had too much wax in my ears to go the “content machine” route. Not included in my lifetime revenue-estimates for Love Your Work is money I made through the “back-end business” route. I was somewhat comfortable with this model, but I haven't made a course in years, as I've been focused on writing books. And as bad a business as people say writing books is, it's better than making a podcast. The podcast has helped me sell books in more ways than one. One way is that people who listened to the podcast bought my books. The other way is, making my podcast helped me write my books. This brings me to the reason I kept making my podcast, even after I realized it wasn't a good business. Make for what making makes you In my sixteen years experimenting with different business models as an independent creator, I've settled on one thing that works: Make for what making makes you. If making a podcast, writing a book, sending a weekly newsletter – you name it – merely makes you money, and doesn't make you who you want to be, what's the point? Sure, sometimes you don't feel like creating, and you do it anyway. Yes, sometimes you pick one project over another because you think it will be more lucrative. But you can only redirect the river that is your creativity so much before it overflows and returns to its natural path. I learned from my guests When I started Love Your Work, and was struggling to make it big enough to work with an ad model, even if I wasn't bringing in lots of ad revenue, I was still connecting with and learning from my guests. It was an incredible privilege to have in-depth conversations with people like Seth Godin, Elise Bauer, and David Allen. It was like having my own personal advisory board of heroes. Talking to them helped me learn how to go off the beaten path and find my calling. I was able to find patterns in their stories that I could apply to my own life and career. I would be a completely different person today if I hadn't had those conversations. It was time to explore But there came a point when doing interviews was no longer serving me the way it once had. It was when I had gained the confidence – thanks to my previous guests – to explore further my own ideas. That's when I stopped interviewing guests, so I'd have more time to explore. Love Your Work shifted from my personal advisory board to my personal sounding board – a sort of “open mic,” where I fleshed out ideas. I got to see how it felt to effortfully explore each idea. I got to hear how they sounded when I read them aloud. I got to feel how they resonated (or didn't) with others. It helped me write my books A couple years after I started Love Your Work, I started writing a book called Getting Art Done. Getting Art Done turned out to be three books, two of which I've published. Love Your Work has been there to help me explore the ideas in these books. The Heart to Start was full of conversations from my early guests, and came from my very real struggles in gaining the confidence to take my ideas seriously enough to pursue them. Mind Management, Not Time Management came from my very real struggles to harness my creative energy and push my ideas forward. As I work on the final book in the Getting Art Done trilogy, Finish What Matters, I'm asking myself, What struggle does this book come from? Clearly, I've finished a lot of creative work: three books, over two-hundred consecutive weekly newsletters, and over three-hundred episodes of this podcast. But as I've dwelt on that final word in the title, matters, I'm asking myself if I'm really working on what matters? Love Your Work and Getting Art Done have been an exploration in creative productivity. But at some point, writing about Resistance becomes a form of Resistance. I don't feel I've reached that point yet, but I don't want to. If I'm going to learn enough to write Finish What Matters, I have to really test my ideas of what matters. I've probably explored enough ideas, through Love Your Work, that I want to develop further in Finish What Matters. But for the time being, I need space to explore what matters. That's the biggest reason I'm quitting Love Your Work. I had considered doing so in the past, but I kept hoping I'd know What's Next before I quit. I've come to realize that I can't know What's Next until I have the space to explore. What's Next is finding What's Next It's a little scary to have that void. But it's also exciting. Furthermore, I've faced The Void many times before: when I started on my own, after finishing each book, and a little bit after each podcast episode or newsletter. What's scarier now than facing the void is that I'll stick with what's safe, and distract myself into dying with my best creations inside me. I could just say I'm taking a break, or not say anything at all and stop until I felt inspired to make a new episode. I've talked before about how I struggle to burn my boats and close doors. So, I'm calling it quits, knowing I could always drop another episode in the feed down the line if I wanted to. But I hope I find something that matters more, before that ever happens. Thank you for listening! Thank you for listening to Love Your Work. Thank you especially to my Patreon supporters, who can of course feel free to stop supporting, or keep supporting for the bonus content, and to support What's Next. To learn What's Next once I find it, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter at kdv.co. One last time, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Image: Pierrot Lunaire by Paul Klee About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email New bonus content on Patreon! I've been adding lots of new content to Patreon. Join the Patreon »       Show notes: https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/quit-podcasting/

You've probably heard that, in a blind taste test, even experts can't tell between white and red wine. Even if this were true – and it's not – it wouldn't matter. I was in Rome last month, visiting some Raphael paintings to research my next book, and stopped by the Sistine Chapel. I've spent a good amount of time studying what Michelangelo painted on that ceiling. There are lots of high-resolution images on Wikipedia. But seeing a picture is nothing like the experience of seeing the Sistine Chapel. You've invested thousands of dollars and spent fifteen hours on planes. You're jet-lagged and your feet ache from walking 20,000 steps. You're hot. When you enter, guards order you to keep moving, so you won't block the door. They corral you to the center, and you can finally look up. When you hear wine experts can't tell between white and red wine, you imagine the following: Professional sommeliers are blindfolded, and directed to taste two wines. They then make an informed guess which is white, and which is red. In this imaginary scenario, they get it right half the time – as well as if they had flipped a coin. If it were true wine experts couldn't tell between white and red wine, the implication would be that the experience of tasting wine is separate from other aspects of the wine. That the color, the shape of the glass, the bottle, the label, and even the price of the wine are all insignificant. That they all distract from the only thing that matters: the taste of the wine. There's some psychophysiological trigger that gets pulled when you tilt your head back. Maybe it stimulates your pituitary gland. When you have your head back and are taking in the images on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, you feel vulnerable. (You literally are vulnerable. You can't see what's going on around you. You'd be easy to physically attack.) What you see is overwhelming. As you try to focus your attention on some detail, some other portion of the imagery calls out and redirects your attention. This happens again and again. After a while, your neck needs a rest, and you return your gaze to eye-level. And this is almost as cool as the ceiling: You see other people with their heads back, their eyes wide, mouths agape, hands on hearts, tears in eyes. You hear languages and see faces from all over the world. You realize they all, too, have invested thousands of dollars and spent fifteen hours on planes. They, too, are jet-lagged and hot and have walked 20,000 steps. You can look at pictures of the Sistine Chapel ceiling on the internet. You can experience it in VR. In many ways, this is better than going to the Sistine Chapel. You can take as much time as you want, and look as close as you want. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars and fifteen hours on a plane, take time off work, or even crane back your neck. But seeing the Sistine Chapel ceiling on the internet or even VR is only better than seeing it in person, in the way that a spoonful of granulated sugar when you're starving is better than a hypothetical burger in another iteration of the multiverse. We've seen an explosion of AI capabilities in recent months. That has a lot of people worried about what it means to be a creator. Why do we need humans to write, for example, if ChatGPT can write? The reason ChatGPT's writing is impressive is the same reason there's still a place for things created by humans. Anyone old enough to have been on the internet in the heyday of America Online in the 1990s will remember this: When you were in a chat room, most the conversations were about being in a chat room: How long have you been on the internet? Isn't the internet cool? What other chat rooms do you like? Part of the appeal of the question “ASL?” – Age, Sex, Location? – was marveling over the fact you were chatting in real-time with a stranger several states away. Or maybe you remember when Uber or Lyft first came to your town. For the first year or two, likely every conversation you had with a driver was about how long they had been driving, about how quickly the service had grown in your town, which is better – Uber or Lyft?, or which nearby cities got which services first. The first few months ChatGPT was out, it was seemingly the only thing anyone on the internet talked about. But it wasn't because ChatGPT's writing was amazing. ChatGPT is a bad writer's idea of a good writer. It was because of the story: Wow, my computer is writing! Now that much of the novelty of ChatGPT has worn off, many of us are falling into the Trough of Disillusionment on the Gartner Hype Cycle. We're realizing ChatGPT is like a talking dog: It's impressive the dog can appear to talk, but it's not talking – it's just saying the words it's been taught. ChatGPT is very useful in some situations, but not as many as we had originally hoped. What made us talk about the internet while on the internet, talk about Uber while in Ubers, and talk about ChatGPT while chatting with ChatGPT was the story. Once the story behind the internet or Uber wore off, we started to appreciate them for their own utility. Part of what's cool about seeing the Sistine Chapel ceiling in VR is that – we're seeing it in VR. But even if that weren't impressive, what would still be impressive about the paintings would be more than just that they're amazing paintings. It's incredible to us a human could paint such a massive expanse. We think about the stories and myths of Michelangelo, up on that scaffolding, painting in isolation. Part of our appreciation of the Sistine Chapel ceiling lies outside the ceiling itself. While marveling at it, we can't help but think of Michelangelo's other masterpieces, such as the David or the Pietà. Lloyd Richards spent fourteen years writing Stone Maidens, and had almost no sales for decades. Suddenly, he sold 65,000 copies in a month. He was interviewed on the TODAY show, and got a book deal with a major publisher. How did he do it? His daughter made a TikTok account. The first video showed Lloyd at his desk, and explained what a good dad he was, how hard he had worked on Stone Maidens, and how great it would be if he made some sales. Then the #BookTok community did the rest. Stone Maidens is apparently a good book. But it's no better today than it was all those years it didn't sell. Most the comments on Lloyd's TikTok account – which now has over 400,000 followers – aren't about what a great book Stone Maidens is. They're about how Lloyd seems like such a nice guy, or how excited each commenter is to have contributed to his success. The study that started the myth that wine experts can't taste the difference between white and red wine didn't show that. The participants in the study literally weren't allowed to describe the two wines the same way – they couldn't use the same word for one as the other. It wasn't blindfolded – it was a white wine versus the same wine, dyed red. The study wasn't about taste at all: Participants weren't allowed to taste the wine – they were only allowed to smell. And wine experts? That depends on your definition of “expert”. They were undergraduate students, studying wine. They knew more than most of us, but were far from the top echelon of wine professionals. Most damning for this myth was that the same study casually mentions doing an informal blind test: The success rate of their participants in distinguishing the taste of white versus red wine: 70%. That this myth is false shouldn't detract from the point that even if it were true, it wouldn't matter. What the authors of this study found was not that wine enthusiasts couldn't tell between white and red wine, but that the appearance of a wine as white or red shaped their perceptions of the smell of the wine. Once you bake a cake, you can't turn it back into flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. You can't extract the taste of a wine from the color, the bottle, your mental image of where the grapes were grown and how the wine was made, or even the occasion for which you bought the wine. Something made by an AI can be awesome, either because it's really good at doing what it's supposed to, or because you appreciate it was made by an AI. Something made by a human is often awesome because of the story of the human who made it, and the story you as a human live as you interact with it. If you want to be relevant in the age of AI, learn how to bake your story into the product. Because AI can't bake. Image: Figures on a Beach by Louis Marcoussis About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email New bonus content on Patreon! I've been adding lots of new content to Patreon. Join the Patreon »       Show notes: https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/ai-cant-bake/

We trust the food we eat, the drinks we drink, and the air we breathe are safe. That in case they're unsafe, someone is working to minimize our exposure, or at least tell us the risks. In The Triumph of Doubt, former head of OSHA David Michaels reveals how companies fight for their rights to sell harmful products, expose workers to health hazards, and pollute the environment. They do it by manufacturing so-called “science.” Most this science is built not upon proving they're not causing harm, but by doing whatever they can to cast doubt. Here, in my own words, is a summary of The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception. Products we use every day cause harm Chances are you've cooked on a pan coated with Teflon. Teflon is one of many polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. When introduced in the 1940s, they were considered safe. We now know they're linked with high cholesterol, poor immune function, cancer, obesity, birth defects, and low fertility. PFAS, it turns out, have such a long half-life, they're called “forever chemicals.” PFAS can now be found in the blood of virtually all residents of the United States, and have been found in unsafe levels worldwide – in rainwater. You've probably heard that, in moderation, alcohol is actually good for you. But even one drink a day leads to higher overall mortality risk. More than one drink, greater risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Alcohol is a causal factor in 5% of deaths worldwide – about 3 million a year. 13.5% of deaths between ages 20–39 are alcohol-related. If you're in pain after an injury or surgery, your doctor might prescribe for you an opioid. But the rise in opioid addiction is responsible for the first drop in U.S. life expectancy in more than two decades. It's sent shockwaves throughout society. It's helped launch the epidemics of fentanyl and heroin overdoses, and the number of children in foster care in West Virginia, for example, rose 42% in four years. You might love to watch professional football. But NFL players are nineteen times more likely to develop neurological disorders, and thirty percent could develop Alzheimer's or dementia from taking so many hits. The “product defense” industry sows doubt How have they done it? How have companies been able to manufacture and sell products that cause so much harm, for so long? They do it by defending their products, when the safety of those products are questioned. On the surface, that's not so bad. But besides lying and deliberately deceiving, they abuse society's trust in so-called “science,” and our lack of understanding of how much we risk when we move forward while still in doubt. The tobacco industry is a pioneer of product defense There's an entire industry that helps companies defend their products from regulation: It's called, appropriately, product defense. The tobacco industry is most-known for its product defense. In 1953, John W. Hill of the PR firm Hill & Knowlton convinced the tobacco industry to start – one floor below his office in the Empire State Building – the Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC). The TIRC was supposed to do rigorous scientific research to understand the health effects of smoking, but mostly they just attacked existing science, doing what they could to sow doubt. Just a few years earlier, in 1950, a study had found heavy smokers were fifty times as likely as nonsmokers to get lung cancer. With the help of the TIRC, it would take a long time for these health risks to influence public policy. About thirty years later, most states had restricted smoking in some public places such as auditoriums and government buildings. Smoking had proliferated in American culture when cigarettes had been provided in soldiers' rations in WWI. Michaels describes one surgeon who, in 1919, made sure not to miss an autopsy of a man who had died of lung cancer, because it was the chance of a lifetime. He didn't see another case of lung cancer for seventeen years, then saw eight within six months. All eight had started smoking while serving in the war. Today, more than a century after cigarettes were widely introduced, we've finally seen a massive reduction in smoking in the U.S. We can fly on planes and go to restaurants and even bars, without being exposed to secondhand smoke. The sugar industry has been at it even longer Predating the product defense efforts of the tobacco industry is actually the sugar industry. The Sugar Research Foundation was started in 1943. Scientific evidence first linked sugar with heart disease in the 1950s. In 1967, as Dr. Robert Lustig told us, Harvard scientists published in the New England Journal of Medicine an article blaming fat rather than sugar for heart disease. Fifty years later UCSF researchers discovered the scientists had been funded by the Sugar Research Foundation – which they hadn't disclosed. Even more misleadingly, they had disclosed funding that actually made them look more impartial – from the dairy industry. Companies and industries set up “astroturfing” organizations The Sugar Research Foundation and the Tobacco Industry Research Committee are are early examples of “astroturfing” organizations. This tactic of the product defense industry involves setting up organizations with innocent- or even charitable-sounding names, then doing low-quality research to defend a company or industry's interests. The American Council for Science and Health has published articles opposing regulation of mercury emissions, and attacked science finding harm in consumption of sugar and alcohol. When the National Football League was first looking into the effects of playing their sport, they formed the MTBI. the “M” in MTBI gave away their stance: TBI stands for Traumatic Brain Injuries, and this committee formed for finding the effects of brain injuries was called the Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries committee. The alcohol industry set up the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation. The first board of directors included Peter Stroh, William K. Coors, and August A. Busch III. Their first president, Thomas B. Turner, was former dean of Johns Hopkins University Medical School, a tie of which they made good use in promoting their agenda – more on that in a bit. The American Pain Foundation ran campaigns to make pain medication more widely available for veterans, running ads reminding patients of their “right” to pain treatment. Astroturfing organizations are funded by “Dark Money” Astroturfing organizations are funded by so-called “Dark Money”. In other words, they do whatever they can to hide where their funding comes from, lest their biases become obvious. The American Council for Science and Health claims much of their funding comes from private foundations, but investigative reports have found 58% of it coming straight from industry, and that many of those private foundations have ties to corporations. Leaked documents show a huge list of corporate donors including McDonald's, 3M, and Coca-Cola. The NFL's MTBI committee's papers included a statement saying, “none of the Committee members has a financial or business relationship posing a conflict of interest.” Yet the committee consisted entirely of people on the NFL's payroll: team physicians, athletic trainers, and equipment managers. Documents collected by the New York Times revealed that administrators at the The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism wanted to do a randomized clinical trial on the effects of alcohol. To fund the study, they went to industry, calling it “a unique opportunity to show that moderate alcohol consumption is safe.” They were going into the study with the conclusions already in mind, saying, “one of the important findings will be showing that moderate drinking is safe.” Several companies pledged nearly $68 million toward the $100 million budget. As part of the National Institutes of Health – a federal organization – the NIAAA was pitching this as a chance for the alcohol industry to use a government-funded study to prove their product was safe. Money directly from alcohol manufacturers was to be routed through the NIH Foundation, since it's illegal for private companies to fund government studies. When the Senate Finance Committee began investigating ties between the American Pain Foundation and pharmaceutical companies, the APF quickly dissolved, apparently knowing what would be found otherwise. Besides private foundations, straight-up lying, and routing money through a federal foundation, another way of keeping money “dark” is by taking advantage of attorney-client privilege. By having the law firm pay accomplices, even if there's a lawsuit, the documents are private. Using connections and flawed science to manufacture pseudo-events When corporations do get studies published about the risks of using their products, they're often low-quality studies. If they don't deliberately conceal their findings, they often use their connections to create what are essentially pseudo-events to prop up their flawed conclusions. Internal documents from DuPont show they knew the PFAS in Teflon was a problem. In 1970, they found it in their factory worker's blood. In 1981, 3M told them it caused birth defects in rats, and DuPont's own workers' children had birth defects at a high rate. In 1991, DuPont set an internal safety limit of 1 ppb. Meanwhile, they found a local water district had three times that amount. In 2002, they set up a so-called “independent” panel in West Virginia, and set a safe limit at 150 times their own internal safety limit – so they'd have less-strict standards for polluting their community's drinking water. In 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency set a safe limit of 70 ppt (trillion!) – less than one-one-hundredth DuPont's previous internal safety limit. The NFL did very little for many years to ask serious questions about the long-term effects on their players. When players Junior Seau and Dave Duerson committed suicide, they both shot themselves in the chest instead of the head, so their brain tissue could be studied after their deaths. The MTBI argued that players were clearly fine if they returned to play shortly after concussions. They abused the concept of survivorship bias, arguing that those who didn't drop out of football in college or high school and made it to the pros were more resistant to brain injury. The editor of the journal, Neurosurgery, which published MTBI's papers, was a medical consultant to the New York Giants, and later to the commissioner's office – a clear conflict of interest. I mentioned earlier the first president of the alcohol industry's ABMRF was a former dean of Johns Hopkins. When ABMRF published a study, the Johns Hopkins press office would issue a press-release, which would instantly make the study seem more credible. One of the studies that has proliferated throughout media and culture, finding that moderate alcohol use is actually good for you, was a door-to-door survey – a very flawed methodology. Non-drinkers in a study are likely to include people who don't drink because they're already sick, or are former abusers of alcohol. One of the main “papers” the pharma industry used to defend their positions that opioids had a low risk of addiction was, from 1980, a five-sentence letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. It's a letter, not a paper – there was no peer review. It has been cited hundreds of times in medical literature – often by researchers with ties to opioid manufacturers. TIME magazine unfortunately called it a “landmark study.” (This is a great example of a pseudo-event: the proliferation of flawed information throughout media made it accepted as true.) The double-standard in access to study data The papers that do get published by the product-defense industry are usually not original studies. They're often reanalysis of existing data. Industry takes advantage of the Shelby Amendment, which the tobacco industry promoted under the guise of concern over pollution. The Shelby Amendment requires federally-funded researchers to share any data they collect. In this way, industry can reanalyze the data in ways that arrive at any conclusion they want. So, “re-analysis” has its own cottage industry within product defense. When industry does conduct original studies, they don't have to share their data, and so it isn't subject to the same scrutiny. Manufacturing doubt in other industries The Triumph of Doubt goes on and on with examples of deception and collusion from various industries. Some other highlights: Volkswagen installed a device in their diesel cars to detect when their emissions were being tested. The device would activate, causing the car to pollute forty times less, only when being tested. Johnson & Johnson knew as early as 1971 their baby powder was contaminated with asbestiform particles – asbestos-like particles that cause cancer – but pressured scientists to not report them. Monsanto publishes many studies in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, which Michaels calls “a known haven for science produced by corporate consultants.” Many authors have done work for Monsanto, don't disclose their conflicts of interest, and have denied Monsanto had reviewed their papers – later litigation showed they had. Should chemicals be innocent until proven guilty? There's a concept called the precautionary principle. It states that when we know little about what the consequences of an action will be, we should err on the side of caution. If a new chemical is developed, we should wait before we let it get into our food and water. If a new technology is invented, we should wait until we introduce it to society. In criminal courts, a defendant is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We like this, because we hate the idea of someone being thrown in jail despite being innocent. And we can physically remove someone dangerous from society and more or less stop them from continuing to harm others. Criminal harm can be halted, chemical harm cannot But this is also our policy for chemicals, drugs, and potentially dangerous activities. We have an extremely high bar for deciding something is harmful enough we should reduce our exposure to it. OSHA – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – has exposure limits for only 500 of the many thousands of chemicals used in commerce. Because the regulatory process is so onerous, Michaels says, in the half-century OSHA has been around, they've updated only twenty-seven of those 500. Yet, as with PFAS, even after we start reducing our exposure, the effects of harmful substances keep going. As one Stockholm University scientist has said about PFAS in rainwater, “We just have to wait...decades to centuries.” And, unlike a criminal court, where the only people motivated to keep from punishing a defendant are the defendant's lawyers and family members, huge networks of people stand to profit from harmful products – executives, shareholders, and entire industries have the incentives to conspire and collude. Balancing harm with innovation On the other hand, the precautionary principle can slow or halt innovation. Many products that may be harmful may also be useful. Teflon and other PFAS have a huge number of applications. Supposedly it's been replaced by other chemicals in cookware – though they're probably similar (taking advantage of loopholes in the slow regulatory process). Supposedly exposure potential from cooking is low – but you know now how hard it is to “trust the science.” As horrifying as some of these abuses of science are, you can't be horrified by them without at least some sympathy for those who didn't want to get the COVID vaccine: If a product is immediately harmful to everyone who takes it, that's easy to prove. But could it harm some people in the long term? It's nearly impossible to be sure. There's more money and power behind sowing reasonable doubt than behind exposing sources of harm. Meanwhile, it's easy to sow and abuse the existence of doubt, and that's why it's the main tactic used in product defense. There's your summary of The Triumph of Doubt If you liked this summary, you'll probably like The Triumph of Doubt. As a career regulator, Michaels comes off as somewhat biased, clearly partisan at times, a little shrill with his use of dramatic terms such as “Big Tobacco” and “Big Sugar.” Get ready for lots of alphabet soup, as you try to keep track of the myriad agencies and foundations identified by acronyms. Because of media's key role in the doubt-sowing Michaels writes about, I'll be adding this as an honorable mention on my best media books list. About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email New bonus content on Patreon! I've been adding lots of new content to Patreon. Join the Patreon »       Show notes: https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/triumph-of-doubt/

According to philosopher Isaiah Berlin, people think in one of two different ways: They're either hedgehogs, or foxes. If you think like a hedgehog, you'll be more successful as a communicator. If you think like a fox, you'll be more accurate. Isaiah Berlin coined the hedgehog/fox dichotomy (via Archilochus) In Isaiah Berlin's 1953 essay, “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” he quotes the ancient Greek poet, Archilochus: The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one thing. Berlin describes this as “one of the deepest differences which divide writers and thinkers, and, it may be, human beings in general.” How are “hedgehogs” and “foxes” different? According to Berlin, hedgehogs relate everything to a single central vision. Foxes pursue many ends, often unrelated or even contradictory. If you're a hedgehog, you explain the world through a focused belief or area of expertise. Maybe you're a chemist, and you see everything as chemical reactions. Maybe you're highly religious, and everything is “God's will.” If you're a fox, you explain the world through a variety of lenses. You may try on conflicting beliefs for size, or use your knowledge in a wide variety of fields to understand the world. You explain things as From this perspective, X. But on the other hand, Y. It's also worth considering Z. The seminal hedgehog/fox essay is actually about Leo Tolstoy Even though this dichotomy Berlin presented has spread far and wide, his essay is mostly about Leo Tolstoy, and the tension between his fox-like tendencies and hedgehog-like aspirations. In Tolstoy's War and Peace, he writes: In historic events the so-called great men are labels giving names to events, and like labels they have but the smallest connection with the event itself. Every act of theirs, which appears to them an act of their own will, is in an historical sense involuntary and is related to the whole course of history and predestined from eternity. In War and Peace, Tolstoy presents characters who act as if they have control over the events of history. In Tolstoy's view, the events that make history are too complex to be controlled. Extending this theory outside historical events, Tolstoy also writes: When an apple has ripened and falls, why does it fall? Because of its attraction to the earth, because its stalk withers, because it is dried by the sun, because it grows heavier, because the wind shakes it, or because the boy standing below wants to eat it? Nothing is the cause. All this is only the coincidence of conditions in which all vital organic and elemental events occur. Is Tolstoy a fox, or a hedgehog? He acknowledges the complexity with which various events are linked – which is very fox-like. But he also seems convinced these events are so integrated with one another that nothing can change them. They're “predetermined” – a “coincidence of conditions.” A true hedgehog might have a simple explanation, such as that gravity caused the apple to fall. Tolstoy loved concrete facts and causes, such as the pull of gravity, yet still yearned to find some universal law that could be used to predict the future. According to Berlin: It is not merely that the fox knows many things. The fox accepts that he can only know many things and that the unity of reality must escape his grasp. And this was Tolstoy's downfall. Early in his life, he presented profound insights about the world through novels such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. That was very fox-like. Later in his life, he struggled to condense his deep knowledge about the world and human behavior into overarching theories about moral and ethical issues. As Berlin once wrote to a friend, Tolstoy was “a fox who terribly believed in hedgehogs and wished to vivisect himself into one.” Other hedgehogs and foxes in Berlin's essay Other thinkers Berlin classifies as foxes include Aristotle, Goethe, and Shakespeare. Other thinkers Berlin classifies as hedgehogs include Dante, Dostoevsky, and Plato. What does the hedgehog/fox dichotomy have to do with the animals? What does knowing many things have to do with actual foxes? What does knowing one big thing have to do with actual hedgehogs? A fox is nimble and clever. It can run fast, climb trees, dig holes, swim across rivers, stalk prey, or hide from predators. A hedgehog mostly relies upon its ability to roll into a ball and ward off intruders. Foxes tell the future, hedgehogs get credit What are the consequences of being a fox or a hedgehog? According to Phil Tetlock, foxes are better at telling the future, while hedgehogs get more credit for telling the future. In Tetlock's 2005 book, Expert Political Judgement, he shared his findings from forecasting tournaments he held in the 1980s and 90s. Experts made 30,000 predictions about political events such as wars, economic growth, and election results. Then Tetlock tracked the performances of those predictions. What he found led to the U.S. intelligence community holding forecasting tournaments, tracking more than one million forecasts. Tetlock's own Good Judgement Project won the forecasting tournament, outperforming even intelligence analysts with access to classified data. Better a fox than an expert These forecasting tournaments have shown that whether someone can make accurate predictions about the future doesn't depend upon their field of expertise, their status within the field, their political affiliation, or philosophical beliefs. It doesn't matter if you're a political scientist, a journalist, a historian, or have experience implementing policies. As the intelligence community's forecasting tournaments have shown, it doesn't even matter if you have access to classified information. What matters is your style of reasoning: Foxes make more accurate predictions than hedgehogs. Across the board, experts were barely better than chance at predicting what would or wouldn't happen. Will a new tax plan spur or slow the economy? Will the Cold War end? Will Iran run a nuclear test? Generally, it didn't matter if they were an economist, an expert on the Soviet Union, or a political scientist. That didn't guarantee they'd be better than chance at predicting what would happen. What did matter is whether they thought like a fox. Foxes are: deductive, open-minded, less-biased Foxes are skeptical of grand schemes – the sort of “theories of everything” Tolstoy had hoped to construct. They didn't see predicting events as a top-down, deductive process. They saw it as a bottom-up, inductive process – stitching together diverse and conflicting sources of information. Foxes were curious and open-minded. They didn't go with the tribe. A liberal fox would be more open to thinking the Cold War could have gone on longer with a second Carter administration. A conservative fox would be more open to believing the Cold War could have ended just as quickly under Carter as it did under Reagan. Foxes were less prone to hindsight bias – less likely to remember their inaccurate predictions as accurate. They were less prone to the bias of cognitive conservatism – maintaining their beliefs after making an inaccurate prediction. As one fox said: Whenever I start to feel certain I am right... a little voice inside tells me to start worrying. —A “fox” Hedgehogs are: deductive, close-minded, more-biased (yet more successful) As for inaccurate predictions, one simple test tracked with whether an expert made accurate predictions: a Google search. If an expert was more famous – as evinced by having more results show up on Google when searching their name – they tended to be less accurate. Think about the talking-head people that get called onto MSNBC or Fox News (pun, albeit inaccurate, not intended) to make quick comments on the economy, wars, and elections – those people. Experts who made more media appearances, and got more gigs consulting with governments and businesses, were actually less accurate at making predictions than their colleagues who were toiling in obscurity. And these experts who were more successful – in terms of media appearances and consulting gigs – also tended to be hedgehogs. Hedgehogs see making predictions as a top-down deductive process. They're more likely to make sweeping generalizations. They take the “one big thing” they know – say, being an expert on the Soviet Union – and view everything through that lens. Even if it's to explain something in other domains. Hedgehogs are more-biased about the world, and about themselves. They were more likely than foxes to remember inaccurate predictions they had made, as accurate. They were more likely to remember as inaccurate, predictions their opponents made that were accurate. Rather than change their beliefs, when presented with challenging evidence hedgehog's beliefs got stronger. Are hedgehogs playing a different game? It's tempting to take that and run with it: The close-minded hedgehogs of the world are inaccurate. Success doesn't track with skill. Tetlock is careful to caution that hedgehogs aren't always worse than foxes at telling the future. Also, there are good reasons to be overconfident in predictions. As one hedgehog political pundit wrote to Tetlock: You play a publish-or-perish game run by the rules of social science.... You are under the misapprehension that I play the same game. I don't. I fight to preserve my reputation in a cutthroat adversarial culture. I woo dumb-ass reporters who want glib sound bites. —“Hedgehog” political pundit A hedgehog has a lot to gain from making bold predictions and being right, and nobody holds them accountable when they're wrong. But according to Tetlock, nothing in the data indicates hedgehogs and foxes are equally good forecasters who merely have different tastes for under- and over-prediction. As Tetlock says: Quantitative and qualitative methods converge on a common conclusion: foxes have better judgement than hedgehogs. —Phil Tetlock, Expert Political Judgement Hedgehogs may make better leaders As bad as hedgehogs look now, there are some real benefits to hedgehogs. They're more-focused. They don't get as distracted when a situation is ambiguous. So, hedgehogs are more decisive. They're harder to manipulate in a negotiation, and more willing to make controversial decisions that could make enemies. And that confidence can help them lead others. Overall, hedgehogs are better at getting their messages heard. Given the mechanics of media today, that means the messages we hear from either side of the political spectrum are those of the hedgehogs. Hedgehog thinking makes better sound bites, satisfies the human desire for clarity and certainty, and is easier for algorithms to categorize and distribute. The medium is the message, and nuance is cut out of the messages by the characteristics of the mediums. Which increases polarization. But, there is hope for the foxes. While the media landscape is still dominated by hedgehog messages that work as social media clips, there are more channels with more room for intellectually-honest discourse: blogs, podcasts, and books. And if many a ChatGPT conversation is any indication, the algorithms may get more sophisticated and remind us, “it's important to consider....” Hedgehogs, be foxes! And foxes, hedgehogs. If you're a hedgehog, you're lucky: What you have to say has a better chance of being heard. But it will have a better chance of being correct if you think like a fox once in a while: consider different angles, and assume you're wrong. If you're a fox, you have your work cut out for you: You may have important – and accurate – things to say, but they have less a chance of being heard. Your message will travel farther if you think like a hedgehog once in a while: assume you're right, cut out the asides, and say it with confidence. Image: Fox in the Reeds by Ohara Koson About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email New bonus content on Patreon! I've been adding lots of new content to Patreon. Join the Patreon »       Show notes: https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/hedgehogs-foxes/

Many creators and aspiring creators struggle not because they don't have enough ideas, but because they have too many. Their situations, in summary, are “Too many ideas, must pick one.” Embedded in this belief are assumptions that, if challenged, can help you feel as if you have just enough ideas. In my recent AMA, I got a question I'm asked about creativity, probably more than any other: How can you pick a creative project when you have too many ideas? I've experienced, “too many ideas, must pick one,” many times. I still often do. I of course answered this question in the AMA, but here I'll answer more in-depth. This is the thought process I guide myself through when I'm in the land of “too many ideas, must pick one.” There are three assumptions embedded in, “too many ideas, must pick one.” All these ideas are equally likely to succeed. I'm equally capable of succeeding at each of these ideas. I can't work on multiple ideas at once. Let's look at each of those. Assumption 1: “All these ideas are equally likely to succeed” If you feel you have too many ideas, you must think they're equally likely to succeed, which is the first assumption. That might not sound correct at first, but think about it. If you were starving, and only allowed to eat one of various sandwiches, you would probably pick the biggest and most calorie-rich. You might not be able to tell so easily which is the biggest and most calorie-rich sandwich. In fact, there may be other factors that play into your decision. Maybe the avocado and pork belly sandwich is the most calorie-rich, but you're craving roasted duck in this moment, and there happens to be a roasted-duck sandwich amongst the selections. While satisfying your hunger is one objective of choosing a sandwich, there are other goals in mind, such as satisfying cravings, which may compete with one another. If you have a hard time deciding amongst all the sandwiches, you expect eating one sandwich to be equally likely to succeed as eating any of the others. As with projects, “success” may come in many forms. We'll get to that in a bit. Assumption 2: “I'm equally capable of succeeding at each of these ideas” If you feel you have too many ideas, you must think you're equally capable of succeeding at each of these ideas, which is the second assumption. If assumption one weren't correct, and you didn't feel each idea were equally likely to succeed, you would probably pick the one most likely to succeed. The avocado and pork belly sandwich would clearly be more filling than peanut butter and jelly. Now, if you weren't equally capable of eating each of the sandwiches, that would make your decision easier. If you're choosing between avocado and pork belly and peanut butter and jelly, but you're a strict vegetarian, the decision is easy. Same if you're not a vegetarian, but allergic to peanuts. But since you feel each idea is equally likely to succeed, and you feel you're equally capable of succeeding at all of them, you feel you have too many ideas. As with projects, you may have little information about your capability of succeeding, which is why, for all you know, your capability to succeed is equal across all ideas. We'll untangle that later. Assumption 3: “I can't work on multiple ideas at once” If you feel you have “too many ideas,” you feel they're equally likely to succeed and you're equally capable of succeeding at each of them. If you feel you “must pick one,” you feel you can't work on multiple ideas at once, which is the third assumption. In our sandwich scenario, you've been told you have to pick one sandwich. If there's no one else around and the sandwiches will go to waste otherwise, you might as well taste all the sandwiches, then pick one. Or eat a little of each, until you're full. But, in that case, you wouldn't finish any of the sandwiches. Challenging the assumptions With all three of these assumptions, you're in a deadlock. Your ideas are equally likely to succeed, you're equally capable of succeeding at each, and you must pick one. Well, how can you pick one if they're all equally appealing ideas? There are five questions that can help you challenge these assumptions: What is success? What is my risk profile? What am I good at? What's necessary to succeed? What pain do I pick? Let's look at each of these. Question 1: “What is success?” Success can come in many forms. Maybe you want to make the most money possible. Maybe you want the most freedom possible. Maybe you want to do what you're most passionate about. You may feel each idea is equally likely to succeed, because each idea is likely to get a different kind of success. One sandwich will fill you up, another will taste great, still another seems like the healthy choice. If you have a clearer picture of what forms of success are more important to you than others, your many ideas will no longer be “equally likely to succeed.” Question 2: “What is my risk profile?” Not only can success come in many forms, it can come with various risk profiles. One idea may have a big chance of bringing you mild success. Another idea may have a small chance of bringing you wild success. The overall expected value of each idea may be the same, but the risk profiles may be very different. Some are sure bets, some are wildcards. There are also various things you may risk in pursuing an idea. Mostly, what I call “TOM” – Time, Optionality, and Money. If you are young, healthy, and with no commitments, you have a lot of Optionality, but you might not have much Money. Making enough Money to live may take up much of your day-to-day Time. You can try a crazy idea, so long as it doesn't take up too much Time and Money. If you fail, you'll still have plenty of Optionality. Or, you might want to make some changes that reduce your Optionality, but free up your Time. For example, I live in South America, which limits my options for anything requiring physical presence, but it has reduced my need for Money, thus freeing up my Time. On the other hand, you may be in your sixties, retired after a successful career. You have plenty of Money and Time, but less Optionality than when you were in your twenties. You can only take on so many big projects in the rest of your life, and you may not have the energy you used to. But, you may feel you have nothing to lose by trying a wild idea. If you have a clearer picture of what your risk profile is, not all your ideas will seem “equally likely to succeed.” Question 3: “What am I good at?” Even if all your ideas seem equally likely to fit your definition of success and fit your risk profile, you're probably better at some things than others. If you have a clear picture of what you're good at, the assumption that you're “equally capable of succeeding at each of these ideas” will no longer make sense. It may be that you don't know what you're good at, likely because you don't feel you have information to tell you what you're good at. You probably have more information available than you think. Think about times in the past when someone was impressed with or complimented you on something you did, which came to you naturally. Or, ask your friends what they think you're good at. If you really don't have information on what you're good at, relative to your many ideas, then the third assumption, “I can't work on multiple ideas at once,” no longer makes sense. In this case, you can and should work on multiple ideas, to get an idea what you're good at. If you feel your ideas are too big to work on more than one, scale them back into smaller ideas. Don't fall for “The Fortress Fallacy,” like I talked about in The Heart to Start. Instead of building a fortress, try building a cottage. It's important to remember that what you're good at is not necessarily what you're best at, nor what you most enjoy. This will make more sense as we answer the last two questions that challenge the three assumptions. Question 4: “What's necessary to succeed?” In reality, you probably don't have a clear picture of how likely all your ideas are to succeed, nor how capable you are of succeeding at each. You have to ask of each, What's necessary to succeed? What's necessary to succeed at an idea is usually very different from what attracts you to the idea in the first place. You may love to play music. You may even love to play music in front of an audience. But will you love driving around the country, sleeping in a van, lugging gear, and dealing with curmudgeonly AV techs at each venue? You may love the idea of signing books for adoring fans at the local Barnes & Noble. But will you love sitting in a room by yourself, writing several hours a day? It's worth noting that what most people in a domain think is necessary to succeed may not be. Lots can change in the industry, and changes in the mechanics of media can open up opportunities to succeed without doing some things that were once necessary. For example, thanks to self-publishing, I don't have to write boring book proposals or get countless rejection letters to succeed as an author. Question 5: “What pain do I pick?” You may be really good at what's necessary to succeed at an idea that has a good chance of meeting your definition of success. But there may be some things necessary to succeed that you don't enjoy. That doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue the idea. No matter what you do, there will be some parts of it you aren't crazy about – especially at first. When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was draw. But making a living at drawing as an adult doesn't fit my risk profile, and what's necessary to succeed would interfere with parts of my definition of success: I can't travel if I have to lug around supplies and artwork, and if I do all my work on a computer, then I'm chained to a computer. I didn't used to like to write, but I found out I'm reasonably good at it. Forcing myself to write each morning was painful at first, but through building a writing habit, it's transformed into a strangely enjoyable sort of pain. Additionally, there are parts of making a living writing that I don't like, or at least didn't at first. My first one-star review shook me for days, but now I can brush them off relatively quickly. Same with angry emails from readers. I used to really hate bookkeeping, but now that I write monthly income reports, I actually look forward to tallying up my earnings. Do you really “have too many ideas,” and must you “pick one”? After all this, you may realize you don't have “too many ideas,” and you don't really have to “pick one.” If you don't feel you have enough information to form a clear picture of the odds of success and your capability of success, even after asking these five questions, then you need more information. You get more information not by choosing one idea, but by pursuing many. You'll more clearly see what has a chance of succeeding and what you're capable of succeeding at, and choosing one – or several – will become easy. Image: Stage Landscape by Paul Klee About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email New bonus content on Patreon! I've been adding lots of new content to Patreon. Join the Patreon »       Show notes: https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/too-many-ideas/

Today I have a special episode for you. If you missed last month's AMA/Livestream, I'm delivering it right to your ears. In this AMA, I answered questions about: What's the best self-publishing platform, and how did I publish 100-Word Writing Habit, non standard-sized, outside of Amazon? Buenos Aires versus Medellín, which is better for mind management? How to pick a creative project when you have too many ideas? What's surprised me most in the past two years? What task management software do I use for mind management? How to focus on one project when you have multiple curiosities? How to keep from falling down a research rabbit-hole? How many half-formed ideas do I have captured somewhere? There are some parts where I refer to visuals, for the best experience, watch on YouTube. About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email New bonus content on Patreon! I've been adding lots of new content to Patreon. Join the Patreon »       Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/four-sources-of-shiny-object-syndrome/