Podcast Summary
Mindfulness and Business Strategies: Mindfulness helps manage stress and anxiety, while platforms like Kajabi offer tools for sustainable businesses. Investing in broad stock market index funds is a recommended investment strategy.
Mindfulness is not just about relaxation, but rather a mental workout to help manage stress and anxiety by noticing and managing thoughts and emotions. Dr. Julie Smith, a clinical psychologist and author, discusses strategies for dealing with overthinking, limiting beliefs, and burnout in this episode. Additionally, creators and entrepreneurs can build sustainable businesses through platforms like Kajabi, which offers tools for courses, membership sites, communities, and coaching. The creator keeps all earnings, while Kajabi makes money through a monthly subscription fee. The platform has paid out over $6 billion to creators and helped over 1,000 become millionaires. Listeners can access a free recording of Ali's keynote on growing a business from 0 to over $2.5 million per year by signing up at kajabi.com/forward/ali. Lastly, investing in broad stock market index funds through platforms like Trading 212 is a sensible investment strategy recommended by experts.
Discovering User-Friendly Investing and Nutritious Meal Replacements: Trading 212 offers commission-free trading, helpful features like Pies and auto invest, multi-currency accounts, and daily interest on uninvested cash. Huel provides nutrient-rich meal replacements for busy individuals in convenient formats.
Trading 212 is a user-friendly investing app that offers commission-free trading and various helpful features, such as the Pies and auto invest function, which allows users to copy successful investment portfolios with just a few clicks. Additionally, Trading 212 now supports multi-currency accounts, saving investors from foreign exchange fees, and offers daily interest on uninvested cash in various currencies. Huel, on the other hand, is a convenient meal replacement option for those with busy lifestyles, providing essential nutrients and macros in a tasty, ready-to-drink or powdered format. The sponsorship of this podcast episode by both companies allowed for an informative and engaging conversation about their respective offerings.
Finding fulfillment in making a positive impact: Success is meaningful when it improves lives; cherish reader interactions for deepest rewards
While achieving success, such as hitting bestseller lists, can be exciting, the most meaningful experiences come from making a positive impact on others. The author shared how their book about mental health and therapy tips has brought them the greatest satisfaction when readers share how it helped them through difficult times. These moments of connection and gratitude have stayed with the author long after the initial success. It's essential to remember that the true value of a project lies not only in its accomplishments but also in the lives it touches. The author emphasized that these moments of impact are often found in the deepest, most personal stories shared by readers who have struggled and found solace in the book. The author encourages taking the time to listen and connect with readers, recognizing that these interactions can be just as valuable as any accolade or achievement.
Identifying and Understanding Emotions with the Feelings Wheel: The Feelings Wheel is a tool for identifying and describing emotions, enhancing self-awareness, and improving communication. It offers a rich vocabulary for understanding complex emotions and predicting situations better.
Books and self-help resources can significantly impact our lives by helping us change beliefs, decisions, and actions, sometimes even replacing or complementing therapy. The feelings wheel is a useful tool for identifying and describing emotions, providing a rich vocabulary that can help us understand and predict situations better. It's important to remember that emotions are complex and multifaceted, and having the ability to put words to our feelings can lead to greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence. The feelings wheel offers a framework for identifying and exploring various emotions, from the six primary emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust, to more nuanced emotions like optimistic, peaceful, powerful, and so on. By using the feelings wheel, we can gain a deeper understanding of our emotional experiences and improve our ability to communicate them to others. Overall, books and self-help resources, combined with tools like the feelings wheel, can be powerful aids in personal growth and emotional intelligence.
Understanding Emotions: More Than Just Facts: Emotions are complex signals that help us navigate the world. Practice mindfulness and acceptance, and be aware of societal and personal biases when labeling emotions.
Emotions are complex and multifaceted, and while they may not be facts, they are valuable signals that help us understand our experiences and navigate the world. It's important to listen to our emotions and hold them lightly, recognizing that they are one possible perspective and not the only truth. The way we label our emotions can also be influenced by societal expectations and personal biases. The speaker emphasizes the importance of mindfulness and practicing acceptance of emotions, rather than trying to suppress or control them. The brain generates emotions based on the available data, and these early feelings can be valuable in helping us understand our environment and respond appropriately. However, it's important to stay open to other perspectives and not become overly attached to a single emotion. Emotional intelligence and self-awareness are key skills in managing emotions effectively.
Embracing experiences without grasping or pushing away: Mindfulness and acceptance help reduce anxiety by allowing experiences to be present without judgment, using techniques like deep breathing, reframing thoughts, and recognizing impermanence.
Allowing experiences, whether pleasant or unpleasant, to just be present without grasping onto them or pushing them away can help reduce their power over us. This concept, often referred to as mindfulness or acceptance, can be applied to various situations, such as dealing with social anxiety or facing fears. It's not about eradicating negative feelings entirely, but rather learning to cope with them in a healthier way. Techniques like deep breathing, reframing thoughts, and recognizing the impermanence of emotions can be effective tools in managing anxiety and living a valued life based on personal values. It's important to remember that these skills are internal and not visible to others, but they can make a significant difference in how we approach and handle challenging situations.
Accepting and validating emotions: Practice mindfulness to manage emotions, validate others' feelings, resist solving problems, and offer compassion for deeper connections
It's important to acknowledge and accept our emotions, both positive and negative, without letting them completely overwhelm us. Mindfulness practices, such as deep breathing, can help us stay focused and perform at our best, even when feeling anxious or stressed. In relationships, it's crucial to remember that we can't control others' emotions, and trying to do so can make things feel uncontrollable and difficult. Instead, validating and supporting others through their emotions can help them come down naturally and strengthen the bond between you. It's essential to resist the urge to immediately "solve" others' problems or make their distress go away, as this can sometimes make things worse. Instead, offering compassion and care can create a safe space for emotional release and help build deeper connections.
Turn from judgment to curiosity in relationships: Instead of judging emotions, be curious and understand their origins to reduce conflict and promote understanding. Recognize that some emotions don't require immediate resolution and taking a break can be beneficial.
Effective communication in relationships involves turning from judgment to curiosity when dealing with emotions. Instead of trying to control or suppress emotions, it's essential to be curious about them and understand their origins. This approach can help reduce conflict and promote understanding. Additionally, it's important to recognize that some emotions may not require immediate resolution and that taking a break or going to bed angry can sometimes be beneficial, allowing both parties to calm down and approach the issue with more clarity the next day. Ultimately, effective communication in relationships requires patience, understanding, and a willingness to approach emotions with curiosity rather than judgment.
The negative effects of overthinking: Overthinking about the past can cause depression through rumination, while overthinking about the future can lead to anxiety. Mindfulness practices can help distinguish productive from unproductive thoughts and reduce stress.
Overthinking, which is often used interchangeably with worrying, can lead to unproductive cycles of thinking that contribute to anxiety and depression. Overthinking about the past can result in rumination, which is a key predictor of depression, while overthinking about the future can lead to anxiety due to fear of potential negative outcomes. Mindfulness practices can help individuals stay present and observe their thoughts, allowing them to distinguish between productive and unproductive thinking patterns. By recognizing and addressing unproductive thoughts, individuals can reduce their overall stress and improve their mental well-being.
Focusing on the present moment through mindfulness: Mindfulness is an active practice of focusing on the present moment despite distracting thoughts, treating it as mental workout to strengthen focus and reduce distractions.
Mindfulness is an active process of focusing your attention on the present moment, rather than getting lost in distracting thoughts or worries. The speaker shares her personal experience of trying mindfulness during a stressful exam season, where she chose to focus on the sound of her feet while running as an anchor to the present moment. Although thoughts continued to arise, she made a conscious effort to bring her attention back to the present, treating it as a mental workout to strengthen her ability to focus and reduce distractions. Mindfulness is not about achieving ultimate focus without any thoughts, but rather about making a choice where to place your attention in each moment. It's a practice that requires effort and patience, but can lead to increased mental clarity and peace of mind.
Practicing mindfulness and using distancing language: Mindfulness practices like focusing on breath or sensations, and distancing language like 'I'm having the thought that' can help reduce power of intrusive thoughts and promote serenity.
Practicing mindfulness and using distancing language can help reduce the power of intrusive thoughts and promote a sense of serenity. Mindfulness practices, such as focusing on the breath or physical sensations, can help bring your attention back to the present moment and away from worrying thoughts. Distancing language, inspired by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, involves recognizing thoughts as just thoughts and not facts. This can be done by using phrases like "I'm having the thought that" or "I notice the thought that," which can help create a sense of separation and allow for a more objective perspective. By practicing these techniques, we can learn to let go of worries and find peace in the present moment. Additionally, writing down intrusive thoughts and using distancing language when writing about them can also be helpful in reducing their power and gaining a more objective perspective.
Examining our thoughts and beliefs: Writing down and questioning limiting beliefs can challenge them and lead to new, more positive ways of thinking.
Writing down and examining our thoughts and limiting beliefs can help us gain clarity and honesty with ourselves. The process of writing it down and the feeling of exposure that comes with it can challenge our beliefs and help us identify if they are truly based in reality. The Work by Byron Katie is a method that uses simple questions to help identify and challenge limiting beliefs. The process involves questioning the truth of the belief, how it makes us feel, and considering the opposite. This method can be seen as a variation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and can help us gain perspective and reduce distress caused by limiting beliefs. By pushing ourselves to examine our thoughts and consider alternative perspectives, we can challenge our beliefs and make room for new, more positive and realistic ways of thinking.
Recognize that truth is subjective and our thoughts are not always objective facts: Acknowledge that thoughts are just judgments, self-criticisms, opinions, or stories, reducing their power and impact on emotions and feelings
The truth is subjective and our thoughts, while they may feel true to us, are not always objective facts. Our beliefs, whether they are about ourselves or the world around us, are often just thoughts we hold with certainty. This means that rather than getting stuck in the nitty gritty of trying to find the "truth," it can be more mindful and empowering to acknowledge that there may not be a definitive answer. Instead, we can practice labeling our thoughts and recognizing them for what they are – judgments, self-criticisms, opinions, or stories we tell ourselves. By doing so, we can reduce their power and impact on our emotions and feelings. This approach can be particularly helpful for those struggling with more extreme forms of mental health issues, where thoughts and emotions are deeply intertwined. While thought challenging can be a helpful tool, it may not be enough on its own for those experiencing depression or anxiety. In such cases, it may be necessary to practice diffusion and separation from the thoughts, recognizing that they are not a definitive truth but rather a part of the mental landscape.
Understanding and Challenging Negative Thoughts: Accept negative thoughts as normal, distinguish helpful from unhelpful ones, and learn to challenge common cognitive biases to improve mental health.
Depression is a complex mental health condition that involves a cycle of negative thoughts and feelings, which can make it difficult to break free. Therapy is a process of gradually challenging and loosening these negative thoughts, rather than trying to eliminate them completely. Positive thinking, while it may sound appealing, can be unrealistic and even counterproductive if it involves denying or criticizing negative thoughts. Instead, it's important to accept that negative thoughts are a normal part of being human and to distinguish between helpful and unhelpful ones. Common cognitive biases, such as personalizing, overgeneralizing, and catastrophizing, can contribute to negative thought patterns. Understanding these biases and learning to challenge them can be an effective way to break the cycle and improve mental health.
Recognizing Distorted Thinking Patterns: Understand that our thoughts can distort reality, label negative patterns, and recognize the difference between stress and anxiety to improve mental wellbeing.
Our thoughts can often distort reality in harmful ways, leading us to personalize situations and filter out positive experiences. This can result in a negative spiral of thinking that can be painful and potentially damaging to our mental health. It's important to recognize these patterns and understand that they are not always an accurate reflection of reality. Our brains are wired to keep us safe, but they don't always get it right. Mental filters, a common issue with depression, can cause us to focus on the negative and disregard the positive. This can lead us to fixate on the worst-case scenarios and overlook the good things in our lives. It's essential to label these thought patterns and recognize them for what they are, rather than getting caught up in them. Additionally, it's helpful to understand the difference between stress and anxiety. Stress is a normal response to a challenging situation, while anxiety is a persistent feeling of fear or worry that goes beyond the situation at hand. By being aware of these patterns and understanding the difference between stress and anxiety, we can take steps to manage our thoughts and improve our mental wellbeing.
Understanding the Complexity of Stress and Anxiety: Stress and anxiety are not just physical responses, but also depend on our perception and conceptualization of the experience. It's important to understand the underlying causes to respond effectively.
The experience of stress or anxiety is not just a physical response, but also depends on how we conceptualize and label the experience. The terms "stress" and "anxiety" are often used interchangeably, but they can represent different emotional experiences. For example, stress might be felt in response to demands that need to be met, while anxiety might be related to fear of negative consequences or judgment. Additionally, our relationship with stress can be complex. We might love the thrill of stress in certain situations, such as a horror movie or a roller coaster ride, but hate it in others, such as at work or in social situations. It's important to understand the underlying causes of our stress and anxiety, rather than just trying to make it go away, as this can help us respond more effectively and make different choices.
Embracing discomfort: A new perspective on anxiety and stress: Anxiety and stress are natural responses, but constant output can lead to burnout. Embrace discomfort, prioritize self-care, and maintain balance for long-term success.
Our relationship with emotions, particularly anxiety and stress, plays a significant role in our experiences and achievements. Anxiety is often perceived negatively and something to be eradicated, but it can also be seen as a natural response to exciting or challenging situations, much like the thrill of a roller coaster or a horror movie. However, when it comes to anxiety in other contexts, we may want to eliminate it entirely. Shifting our perspective on emotions and accepting the discomfort they bring can open up new opportunities and experiences. Regarding burnout, creating content or working in a way that prioritizes constant growth and output can lead to unsustainable practices and eventual burnout. It's essential to recognize the psychological challenges of stepping back and doing less to prioritize a healthier work-life balance. The allure of potential success and possibilities can make it difficult to resist the urge to produce more, but it's crucial to remember that taking care of ourselves and maintaining balance is essential for long-term success.
The joy of the creative process: Success isn't about reaching a destination or winning a game, it's about enjoying the process of creating and staying detached from external validation.
Success in content creation or any creative pursuit is not about reaching a final destination or winning a game, but rather about the joy and fulfillment found in the process of playing and creating. The speaker emphasizes that even with a successful book and a large following, she still feels like she's constantly playing the game and striving for improvement. She also mentions that having a perspective of detachment from metrics and numbers, such as view counts and followers, helps maintain a healthy perspective on success. Additionally, she suggests that focusing on what is most important to us and not getting too attached to external validation can lead to greater satisfaction and contentment in our creative endeavors.
Embracing creativity and delegating tasks: Focus on creative aspects, delegate operational tasks, detach self-worth from success/failure, maintain a solid foundation, remain open to new opportunities, and continuously develop skills.
Focusing on the creative aspects of a business or project, while delegating the analytical and operational tasks, can lead to a more enjoyable and less stressful growth experience. The speaker shares how they've learned to detach their self-worth from the successes and failures of their content, and instead view their work as a fun and meaningful contribution. They also emphasize the importance of having a solid foundation, whether it be a stable profession or supportive relationships, to fall back on when faced with setbacks or challenges. The speaker's perspective highlights the value of perspective and adaptability, as they remain open to new opportunities and continue to develop skills throughout their journey.
Focus on the process of hard work and self-soothing skills: Don't let exam results or professional achievements define self-worth. Instead, value hard work and self-soothing skills to build resilience and face challenges with confidence.
Our self-worth should not be solely defined by exam results or professional achievements. Instead, we should focus on the process of hard work and the evidence of our ability to overcome challenges. When faced with setbacks or difficult times, it's essential to practice self-soothing skills to help navigate through the distress and bring a sense of safety to the moment. By doing so, we can build resilience and face future challenges with confidence. The speaker's personal experience of feeling defined by exam results and being a finance bro, and then learning to value the process of hard work and self-soothing skills, highlights the importance of these lessons.
Perform regular values check-ins to prevent misalignment burnout: Regularly identify and prioritize your values in different areas of life to maintain focus and prevent burnout
Identifying and living in alignment with your values can help prevent and combat feelings of burnout. Burnout can stem from various causes, including overexertion, depletion, and misalignment with values. To address misalignment burnout, consider performing regular values check-ins. Write down different areas of your life, such as family, health, and career, and identify the values that matter most to you in each area. Rate the importance of these values and your current alignment with them. This exercise can help you identify areas where you've been pulled away from what truly matters and provide direction for focusing your energy and attention.
Balance is a continuous process, not a one-time achievement: Recognize balance as a constant adjustment, prioritize basics like breaks, social contact, good food, moving body, and adequate sleep to sustain effort.
Achieving balance in life is not about finding a perfect sweet spot but rather a constant shifting and adjustment. Balance is not a one-time achievement but a continuous process. It's essential to recognize this and not feel guilty about it. Having an ideal week or day in mind can help, but it's crucial to be flexible and adjust as needed. When working or studying for long periods, remember to take breaks, prioritize social contact, good food, moving your body, and adequate sleep to ensure you can sustain the effort. These basics are crucial for reaching your goals.
Self-care basics: Sleep, exercise, healthy eating, and social connection: Prioritizing self-care basics, like sleep, exercise, healthy eating, and social connection, is essential for maintaining productivity and overall well-being. Neglecting them can lead to decreased productivity and negative consequences in the short and long term.
Prioritizing the basics of self-care, such as sleep, exercise, healthy eating, and social connection, is crucial for maintaining stamina and productivity during long periods of work. Neglecting these basics can lead to negative consequences, both in the short and long term. It's important to recognize their impact and make them a priority, even if it means setting clear rules or automating adherence to them. Neglecting self-care can lead to decreased productivity and overall well-being. It's essential to remember that the 15th hour of work may not be as productive as the first few hours, and it's important to maintain balance in our lives. Students, in particular, may feel the pressure to prioritize their studies above all else, but it's important to remember that self-care is not negotiable. By taking care of ourselves, we are better equipped to tackle challenges and achieve our goals.
Listen to your body and acknowledge feelings of exhaustion: Recognize when you're tired and offer support to friends, rather than pushing through or trying to solve their problems alone
It's important to listen to our bodies and acknowledge feelings of exhaustion rather than pushing through, as this can lead to decreased productivity and focus. Additionally, when it comes to supporting friends who may be struggling with mental health issues, it's crucial to offer human connection and show that we care, rather than trying to solve unsolvable problems or avoiding the situation altogether. By asking how we can support and being open to their direction, we can help alleviate their distress and foster a sense of connection. Remember, it's okay not to have all the answers and to simply be there for those in need.
Engage and interact with online video content: Leave comments, check related episodes, and foster a sense of community for deeper learning
Importance of engagement and interaction in the context of online video content. The speaker encourages viewers to leave comments with questions, insights, or thoughts after watching episodes, especially in high-definition formats like Full HD or 4K on YouTube. This not only fosters a sense of community among viewers but also allows for a deeper exploration of the topics covered in the videos. Furthermore, the speaker suggests checking out related episodes for additional context and learning. Overall, this approach emphasizes the value of active participation and continuous learning in the digital age. So, if you enjoyed the content and want to be part of the conversation, don't hesitate to engage and explore further.