Being the Best Version of Yourself

It's hard to believe we have been living in the Covid-19 pandemic for almost two years. What's going to happen next? In this episode, Dr. Heller explores a variety of common questions people have as they grapple with processing the past two years and look at moving forward. There are far more questions than answers, and hopefully from this episode you can begin to identify your own questions and find answers to them. 2

Trying to be as productive as possible may help with getting things done, but at what cost? Could this mindset actually make you less productive over time? Dr. Heller discusses this issue and provides a few tips for helping you find the right balance for yourself and be able to tolerate letting things go or prioritizing them for another day. 

Happy New Year! Making resolutions is common, and technically so is not being able to stick them for many people. Let's change that this year. Better yet, you have the power to make that change. In this podcast, Dr. Heller explains three basic rules for setting up resolutions. Start small, make them measurable, and establish tangible steps to use to implement the goal. For example, with working out, identify how often you wish to do this, a way to track each time you workout, and a clear plan of what activities you will do to work out. Getting equipment, apps, or whatever else you need set up and ready to go is also important to make a goal into a routine and stick with it. Good luck! 

The holiday season is here...And so is a once again worsening Covid-19 pandemic. If you are experiencing anxiety about the pandemic, holidays, or life in general, Dr. Heller provides a few simple anxiety reducing tools to help you navigate the current issues as well as anxiety year round. Feeling anxious? Take the first step towards feeling at least somewhat better by listening to the podcast right now. Don't procrastinate! 

Always running late? Are you disorganized? Do you lose things easily? Do you have trouble staying focused and getting things done? 

Executive function (EF) skills are mental processes that are used to navigate daily life and complete tasks. Attention, working memory, planning, organization, impulse control, and task initiation are many of the skills that are included under the umbrella of EF. Dr. Heller walks listeners through a basic understanding of EF issues, a few disorders including ADHD and anxiety that often include EF weaknesses, and what to do if the issues described sound like you.

There are many ways to make improvements in your EF skills. The sooner you start, the happier, more relaxed, and productive you likely can become. 

Life gets busy. Many people feel like there are never enough hours in the day. Dr. Heller walks listeners through his block planning method. This involves categorizing work tasks into a few categories and then scheduling times throughout the day and week to complete tasks within those domains. While this system may not always work perfectly, and needs to be adapted to each person's unique needs, it has the potential to help you to be more productive, less stressed, and increase your efficiency. 

Creativity is a broad category. Identifying why creativity is important to you can be a good starting point. It can be fun, a good outlet for self-expression, used for work, and the list of possible reasons is endless. Identifying things that work for you to enhance your own creativity as desired and minimize stumbling blocks such as perfectionism, anxiety, stress, shame, or guilt is important. Dr. Heller provides a brief overview of these items and discusses a few tools for helping you to find what strategies work for you to maximize your own creativity. 

Anxiety is an extremely common issue that many people experience. At the same time, people do not always understand how it manifests or that they are even anxious. In addition, anxiety can lead to other negative issues including guilt, shame, nervousness about getting anxious, decreased productivity, and general unhappiness. Dr. Heller provides a brief overview of what anxiety is, ways that it often manifests, and common approaches to treat it. 

ADHD is probably one of the most commonly known mental health disorders by name. At the same time, many people do not understand what the disorder actually is and how it impacts people across the lifespan in academic, social, occupational, and countless other domains in life. This podcast episode is devoted to providing you with a basic understanding of what ADHD can look like beyond the commonly known symptoms of trouble paying attention and sitting still.