Building Psychological Strength

What have I learned from interviewing the world’s most inspiring women over the past 3 years?

That’s what we’re digging into in this episode.

Over the past 3 years, I have had the fortune to be able to chat with some POWERHOUSE women. Women who have faced adversity most of us will never encounter. Women who have built companies, achieved goals, and truly THRIVED in their lives.

It’s eery how common the lessons they share are.

As I get ready to pivot the Women Inspired podcast and turn the corner to the Building Psychological Strength podcast, I wanted to give you a gift.

This episode covers the 7 major lessons I learned over and over again while interviewing these amazing women.

My hope for you is that these lessons are the catalyst you need to RISE in your own life.

This week we’re digging into some of those times in life when our feelings and needs can feel really opaque and complex.

Those times when you feel friction, but you’re having a difficult time pointing to exactly why you feel friction.

Those times when the friction you feel causes you to feel guilty because you don’t realize that the emotions you’re feeling are totally normal, expected, and common for the situation you’re in.

This episode is for you if you’ve ever been in that situation.

This week, you’ll meet Lisa Hyde. She is the author of BE #StrongHER, a guide to building confidence, an entrepreneur, beauty, health and wellness expert, retail trend spotter, sought-after public speaker, and advisor to the next-generation of entrepreneurs with The Confidence Crown podcast.

Lisa offers hard-won wisdom gleaned from working as a Talent Agent and manager for 12 years as well as more than seven years experience as an entrepreneur.

• Taking care of others is incredibly difficult and taxing. It’s important to realize that you’ll likely have some contradictory emotions. Being grateful for the ability to care for someone else while simultaneously NEEDING a break is so normal.

• Your situation isn’t permanent. When you’re on the other side of caring for someone else, when you’re ready, it’s important to explore who we are. Remember those pieces of you that you set aside to care for someone else? They’re likely still there.

• The golden hour. By this, I mean the first hour of your day. That hour is absolutely precious because it sets the stage for your entire day. My life changed when I began taking advantage of my golden hour.

Think of your biggest dream. Your biggest goal.

The one that makes you quiver because you KNOW you don’t completely have what it takes to accomplish it.

The one where the path feels completely obscure, and maybe you can only see the first step or two.

That’s the size of the goal I want you to have in mind when you listen to today’s episode with Rachel Nearhood.

Rachel is the founder of Ellie and Ott, a subscription that gives parents a month-by-month game plan to enhance playtime with their little ones and to hone their parenting chops.

Yes, Ellie and Ott is an incredible business, but where Rachel and I dig in today is in her journey toward creating this incredible business.

Specifically, we touch on:

• Her original idea and the fact that she had to pivot and change it to make it successful. (NOTE: No where in that sentence did I utter the word “fail” the way that some people would think about this type of pivot.)

• How little she knew how to do in the beginning and how she went about figuring everything out along the way.

• Where she sees herself taking this business in the future!

You guys are going to love this inspirational episode with Rachel.

Think of your biggest dream, and listen to this before you ever give up on it.

Today’s episode is an extremely short episode that hits right in the center of a very important topic: failure.

More specifically, I’m talking about failure as something that is:

• Necessary

• 100% inevitable

• A great indication that you’re on the right path

Listen to this episode, and ask yourself, “How many times did I fall today?”

In the field of Positive Psychology, there is a concept called “thriving through adversity” and “post-traumatic resilience.”

Imagine that.

Experiencing extreme adversity in your life, and instead of having that adversity break you, coming out of it even more resilient than you went in.

Amazing huh?!

Today’s guest is a beautiful example of just that.

Today, you’re going to meet Nancy Solari. Nancy is a Life Coach, a motivational speaker, author, radio show host, and she is legally blind.

Nancy and her 2 sisters were all diagnosed with retinosis pigmentosa when she was 16. The doctors told her that she would eventually go blind, and today, she is living with legal blindness.

I felt so fortunate to chat with Nancy for this episode because the wisdom she has learned throughout her journey with her vision loss is something that we can all benefit from.

In fact, her company Living Full Out, seeks to help everyone make the most of their own life, even in spite of the adversity they might be experiencing.

I know you’re going to get so much out of this episode. We hit some powerful topics, including:

• What it means to take radical responsibility for your life, even in the face of extreme adversity.

• How looking ahead at potential struggles and setting yourself up to succeed can help you thrive through adversity.

• What it means to “live full out” and how we all can make the most of each day that we have in our short, finite lives.

This episode hits on so many topics that are near and dear to my heart. I so hope you enjoy meeting Nancy Solari!

So many people secretly hold the goal of leaving their 9-5 job to work for themselves, but the leap from traditional employment to an entrepreneurial gig can feel so big and scary!

This week’s guest is going to put it into perspective for you in a way that no one else really does.

This week, you’re going to meet Michelle Evans!

Michelle is an entrepreneur in the online marketing space who helps other companies steadily attract new clients through online marketing funnels.

What’s amazing about this interview though is the approach Michelle took toward becoming an entrepreneur. It is NOT the slash and burn, abruptly quit your job one day sort of story.

Rather, Michelle worked with a career coach, got to know herself really well, then began creating her dream job alongside her 9-5 job. This allowed her to build her business without the pressure of making it sustain her for all of her financial needs.

What a different perspective than what you typically hear, huh?!

Here’s what we dig into:

• Alignment to your values & strengths - Michelle’s journey away from her 9-5 job began when she got clear about her own, personal values and strengths. This happens to be the very first step of the life design process!

• Self-awareness - We’re incredibly bad at knowing ourselves. Isn’t that crazy?! Even when it seems like we know ourselves well, it’s astonishing how much lies under the murky surface. It’s so elusive, yet so important. You’ll definitely want to catch this part of the conversation.

• So many obstacles are manufactured - We find any reason we can to give us a reason to step back into our comfort zone, and many times, that comes in the form of manufactured “obstacles.” This part of the conversation could change your life. 

 The podcast is pivoting! As of August 1st, the Women Inspired podcast will become the Building Psychological Strength podcast! If you want to learn more about Peak Mind: The Center for Psychological Strength, visit us at www.peakmindpsychology.com!

Friends, I have an announcement, and because you have been along this journey with me, I want you to hear it first.

The podcast is pivoting.

As you know, I have been cultivating my work more and more in the direction of psychological strength and life design.

Specifically, recently I partnered with Ashley Smith to form Peak Mind: The Center for Psychological Strength. Our goal is to bring rigor and scientific-backing to the personal development space by offering content around the tools, techniques, and concepts from the fields of Psychology and Life Design.

Think of us as a gym membership for your mind.

We know from recent research that our minds are much more malleable than we once thought, and through intentional mental exercises, we can strengthen our resilience, confidence, and ability to weather and thrive through life’s ups and downs. That is psychological strength!

To align with the important mission behind that work. as of August 1, the Women Inspired podcast will be rebranded as the “Building Psychological Strength” podcast.

My goal will be to feature guests and concepts that will help you build resilience, confidence, and mental stamina to help you thrive throughout your daily life.

This could take the form of expert interviews about core concepts of psychological strength or inspiring stories of people who have thrived through adversity. The end goal will be to leave you with tangible tips on how you can build your own psychological strength.

I can’t tell you how many mixed emotions I have about all of this.

I’m so sad to leave behind a brand that has been so near and dear to my heart.

But, at the same time, I am being called so strongly to do this work, and I want to put all of my attention and energy behind it. I know the world can benefit from it.

I hope you’ll listen in to this episode to learn more, and I so hope you’ll continue to follow me into the new dawn of the podcast, coming in August.

All of us are going to experience adversity in our lives, and undoubtedly, it will cause some despair and grief when it happens.

Most of the time, we don’t get to choose whether we’re going to experience something difficult. Things simply happen.

However, what we do get to choose is whether we stay in that place of despair…..or whether we thrive through it.

This week, you’re going to meet Alisa Jones.

Alisa had her first seizure and was diagnosed with ecstatic epilepsy when she was 40-years old. Suddenly being a person who has seizures created an interesting set of obstacles and rules, but also an interesting set of possibilities. In the new book, Gotham Girl Interrupted, she shares a collection of comedic essays about life with epilepsy as a single mother in Manhattan.

This episode will give you the inspiration you need to THRIVE through uncertainty and adversity.

• The importance of not giving in to despair - When Alisa was diagnosed with epilepsy, she had a choice to make. She had to decide whether she was going to give in to the despair that she initially experienced or whether she was going to lean into the opportunity that was in front of her to help educate others on a condition that is very misunderstood.

• Channeling your beginner’s mind - So many times, we rush through life to the point that we miss the moments in our lives that deserve to be savored. Being mindful of small details around you can help you calm you mind, it can snap you out of the passive mindset we typically operate in, and put you into a more active state of mind to live in the NOW.

Have you ever wanted to reinvent yourself?

Have you ever felt like the path you’re on used to be what you wanted to do, but it just isn’t anymore?

And if so, have you ever felt like you needed permission to make a pivot like that?

If any of that resonates, this episode is for YOU!

This week, you’re going to meet Melissa McGraw. Melissa
 created The Creative Potential after being burnt out working for someone else. Through her own struggles, she realized she had something to offer.

With passion, she formed the go-to source for entrepreneurs with a creative side to have practical action steps on how to build their business successfully.

Beyond a discussion about entrepreneurship, this episode is a discussion about REINVENTION.

• How it’s never too late to reinvent yourself and do something that makes you feel more ALIVE! ….and how you do NOT need anyone’s permission to do so!

• Your mind is your biggest asset or your worst liability…and you get to decide which route it takes. Your mind evolved to keep you alive, not to help you THRIVE. It takes intentional work to make your mind work in your favor and set up a day-t0-day life that is vibrant and aligned. Head over to www.peakmindpsychology.com to learn more!

• Entrepreneurs - at its heart, business is simply a solution to people’s problems. Every successful business simply pairs 2 things: an audience and a solution to a problem they have. Thinking about business in this way will help you craft your SEO, and it’ll help you talk about your product or solution in a way that resonates with your potential customers.

“Just think positively!”

“Why can’t you look on the bright side?”

At one time or another, almost all of us have been going through a tough time and have had someone say something like this to us.

It has become so pervasive that a term has been coined to describe it: toxic positivity.

This is when encouraging someone to simply “look on the bright side” without taking into account the circumstances they’re in becomes more harmful than helpful.

Here’s the thing: a big chunk of psychological strength involves intentional exercises that are positivity-focused or gratitude-focused.

So, is the entire concept of psychological strength just another form of toxic positivity?

Oooooh, hell no.

In this episode, I am on a serious soap box about the importance and power of building psychological strength and how it’s vastly different from toxic positivity.

I touch on:

• TIMING: The time to build psychological strength is NOT when you’re currently in crisis. That’s akin to trying to learn how to shoot free-throws during the NBA Finals. The intentional work happens outside of the times when the pressure is on or when life is testing you. Timing is everything.

• BIASED THINKING: One of the big issues with toxic positivity is that it’s asking you to ignore the difficulty you might be going through and pretend that everything is going well. That’s just unrealistic. In contrast, the tools and techniques that we use to build psychological strength capitalize on the fact that our minds are already biased toward the negative. And, by intentionally using mind-balancing techniques (similar to free-throw practice), we can balance out our thinking to make it more reflective of the reality we’re living.

• TIMES OF CRISIS: I also have a special message for those of you who might be in a time of crisis or who might be experiencing one of those testing times of life. I hope these words give you comfort and hope for the future.

Visit www.peakmindpsychology.com to learn more about building psychological strength!