Building Psychological Strength

Each year, I make changes to invest in the podcast to make it even more valuable for my audience.

We currently release a quick, 1-2 minute, actionable episode every Monday to give you a new tool or tip to try out. We release an in-depth episode every Wednesday focused on helping you build psychological strength to improve your life experience....but there's one set of questions I get asked ALL THE TIME that I haven't yet addressed on the podcast. Business questions.

As it turns out, there's a TON of psychology involved in being a business owner. Sales, creativity, persisting after failure, goal setting, work-life balance, and so much more.

So, to lean into the podcast even more in 2021, I'm experimenting with Friday business-focused episodes. I hope you'll join me for episodes to help you build psychological strength and become more effective, confident, and successful in the world of business.

Sometimes, the amount of work and responsibilities we have on our plates is just too much. Between work, caring for others, taking care of our homes and physical space, and attempting to squeeze in a little bit of self-care, it can all feel overwhelming. 

But, what if you could approach it with an entirely different philosophy? 

What if you truly understood and believed that your space did not have to look perfectly put-together? 

What if you realized that you don’t exist to serve your space and make it look perfect, but rather, your space exists to serve you? 

What if you realized that the chores, or better yet, the care tasks, you do around your home are simply functional tasks. Doing them well, or not so well, perfectly, or incompletely, does not say anything about you as a person and your worth or value. 

What if you dropped all the guilt and shame about it and allowed yourself to simply do only what absolutely needed to be done? 

Enter KC Davis. I encountered KC Davis on TikTok, and I was instantly struck by her message of ‘Struggle Care.’ Through her empathetic and engaging content, she teaches us that care tasks are functional, not moral. That shame is the enemy of functioning. That we can allow ourselves a human moment and be absolutely ok with it. This, and so much more. 

Her new book “How to Keep House While Drowning” gives an approachable, tangible, not overwhelming overview of her philosophy of struggle care, and it’s exactly what we all need during a time when we’re juggling too much or battling barriers to getting our care tasks done. 

No matter what, you are valuable, you are worthy, and none of that value and worth is dependent upon what your home looks like. 

Learn more about KC at: https://www.strugglecare.com/  

Click here to learn more about our most recent program, ‘Self Care [by design].’ For just $29, you can design your own effective, customized, guilt-free self-care routine to support you in being your best every day. https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/selfcare  

For a limited time, get 20% any of Peak Mind’s programs. Commit to building psychological strength in 2021. You deserve it!  

Visit the links below and use the code HAPPYNEWYEAR to get 20% off at checkout. (Offer ends on 1/6/2021) 

ASCEND: https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/ascend 

LIMTLESS: https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/limitless 

SELFCARE [BY DESIGN]: https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/selfcare  

As you look back on the past year, are you happy with how you spent your time? How about as you look forward. Do you feel confident that you have a crystal clear picture of how you want your days to look and feel in the coming year...as well as how to make that happen? 

One practice I’ve been doing on a semi-annual basis for the past few years is a calendar audit. This is a time set aside for us to intentionally look at how we’re spending our time, and set some general ground rules to bring our lives into better alignment as we look ahead. 

To that end, this week’s episode is a bit different. It’s actually a hands on episode where we guide you through the 10 steps we take to conducting a calendar audit and ending up with an “ideal week” that serves as a compass for how you make decisions about how to spend your time going forward.  

None of us will ever hit our ideal 100% of the time, but imagine how great an intentional B- will feel if it’s in the direction of your ideal.  

As we close out 2020 (April throws confetti), we wanted to give you the gift of time through this powerful, hands on episode. We hope you find it valuable! 

One more gift for you! For a limited time, get 20% any of Peak Mind’s programs. Commit to building psychological strength in 2021. You deserve it!  

Visit the links below and use the code HAPPYNEWYEAR to get 20% off at checkout. (Offer ends on 1/6/2021) 

ASCEND: https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/ascend 

LIMTLESS: https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/limitless 

SELFCARE [BY DESIGN]: https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/selfcare  

Feeling burned out? This might be why. Take our new quiz at https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/quiz 

Perception is reality. Truly.

Our expectations about how the world works and what “should” happen next provide a powerful lens through which we see the world.

Perhaps no one knows this better than today’s guest. Today we’re speaking with Steve Haffner, a professional magician. Steve intimately understands the power of our subconscious expectations, and he exploits them to create magical experiences for his audiences.

His is entertaining, but it also provides a powerful lesson in self-awareness and self-discovery to help us live our lives to the fullest.

Steve had a successful 30-year career in information systems as a Vice-President of Performance Measurement Systems for a healthcare information corporation. Seemingly on a whim, he walked into his boss’s office and quit to become a professional magician.

What seemed like an abrupt decision was actually a realignment of Steve’s life to his authentic values. A reinvention that brought him into alignment with who he truly was and the contribution he wanted to make in the world.

During this interview, we talk about:

• The fact that our own perception, regardless of whether it is accurate or not, is our reality.
• The impact of mental biases and short-cuts on shaping the lens through which we see the world.
• The critical role that our personal values play in shaping the direction of our daily decision-making (big and small).
• And, how to use your values to “confront the lizard” and make more intentional decisions.

This interview is entertaining AND informative. I know you’re going to love meeting Steve Haffner.

Feeling burned out? This might be why. Take our new quiz at https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/quiz 

QUESTION: What organ does the heart feed first? This critical organ in our body has the important job of sending oxygen and nutrients to our entire body…so where does it send it first?

ANSWER: The heart feeds ITSELF first.

Think about that. The heart’s job is to nurture every single other organ and tissue in our body, yet it nurtures itself first by way of the coronary arteries. It’s as though the heart knows that if it isn’t ok, the rest of our body doesn’t stand a chance.

What about you?

Do you nurture yourself first? I bet not.

In a million large and small ways, we’re taught that focusing on ourselves is SELFISH. That it’s something we should avoid and be ashamed of. That we should strive to tirelessly give to others, many times, at our own expense.

But, what if selfishness is actually HEALTHY? 

Turns out, it can be. Recent research in psychology has uncovered the concept of healthy selfishness. This is when we recognize that our own needs are just as important as everyone else’s needs. We take our needs as seriously as everyone else’s needs…just like the heart.

In this age of burnout where all of us are stretched way too thin, I encourage you to listen to this episode and take our new quiz to assess your own level of healthy selfishness. It could very well save your life.

Head over to www.peakmindpsychology.com/quiz to see how you rank on our healthy selfishness quiz and get access to a free set of tools.

Feeling burned out? This might be why. Take our new quiz at https://www.peakmindpsychology.com/quiz 

It’s a fact of life that we’re all going to experience adversity and suffering in our lives. So many factors and events are outside of our control, and despite our best efforts to create the perfect life, tragedy still occurs.

But, psychological research shows us that it is possible to grow from tragedy, rather the simply be consumed by it.

This week on the podcast we’re speaking with David Roland. David is a writer, presenter, and psychologist from Australia. For much of his career, he worked as a clinical and forensic psychologist, and on the outside, he had a perfect life.

After experiencing PDSD, depression, and ultimately a stroke, David devoted this latter half of his career to helping people move through suffering and grow as a result of adversity.

In this conversation, he offers some things for us to think about in terms of how we cope with trauma and tragedy and how we might ourselves grow when we’re faced with life’s challenges. Not only that, but he offers such empathetic and kind advice about how we can be a supportive companion to others who might be experiencing suffering, rather than the awkwardness and distance we so often feel compelled to feel when others are going through something difficult.

Life will not always be perfect. We all will experience adversity in our lives, and it is absolutely critical that we develop skills for coping with it and growing as a result. You won’t want to miss this powerful episode.

Learn more about David Roland and his books at https://davidroland.com.au/.

At the beginning of the episode, I mentioned a new quiz that we’ve recently released to see how you rank on 2 new factors that contribute to burn-out, overwhelm, and the feelings of guilt we tend to feel when we take time for ourselves. You deserve to feel calm, balanced and supported in being your best self. The first step is the self-awareness of the factors that might be working against you. Head over to www.peakmindpsychology.com/quiz to see how you rank on these 2 new cutting-edge factors and get access to a set of tools to help you move through it.