PLAYING-IT-SAFE

Nobody puts “renew the car registration” on the Someday list.

There is a note on your phone, and on it, there is one thing that has been there longer than everything else. You knew which one before the sentence finished.

This episode is about committed action, the last of the six core psychological processes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Dr. Z explains why you are not delaying what you do not care about, but you are delaying, with tremendous consistency, the things you care about most, why delay is an emotion-management problem rather than a time-management problem, and why the step that finally works will feel too small to match how much this matters to you.

What you will learn:

• The definition, including the specification for a small step: something you could do on the worst day of your year, that a stranger could see, with a day and a time on it.
• Why the thing on your list is still perfect while it is unstarted and why postponing is preservation rather than laziness.
• Why the productivity system did not touch this and why the delay gets filled with genuinely useful work.
• The loop that makes it worse: the task becomes the difficult thing and the place you go to feel bad about yourself.
• The restart rule, or the one nobody writes, and the one that decides whether you are still going in April.
• Avoidant persistence: the third way of not moving, which looks exactly like moving.

Resources mentioned:

• Procrastination webinar: How to Skillfully Tackle Procrastinating Behaviors → https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/webinar-act-for-procrastination/
• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire (free) → https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/
• ACT Coaching for anxiety-based struggles → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/act-coaching/
• Therapy at East Bay Behavior Therapy Center → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/

About Dr. Z

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 267,000 views.

And if this episode is helpful, I welcome a review on Apple Podcast.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Patricia E. Zurita Ona, but my clients call me Dr. Z.

I’m a psychologist, a passionate behaviorist, and a person that loves to make behavioral science accessible for day-to-day life. I specialize in Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

I have significant experience – over 18 years – working with individuals dealing with anxiety-based struggles such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic indecision, phobias, OCD, panic, worry, and any other anxiety-related difficulties.

I've published books on ACT, given a TEDx talk with 267K+ views, founded East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, and spent two decades proving one thing: Your anxiety doesn't need fixing. It needs listening to. Because most of the time, anxiety is just trying to keep you safe, the problem is when "safe" becomes "stuck." And once you know the difference, everything changes.

My website is packed with resources, courses and content that will help you break free from those "playing-it-safe" moves and make the most out of your life!

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast episode is about values: what they are, why "just set some boundaries" was always going to fail, and ways to find yours in your everyday life.

What you will learn:

• A definition of values.
• Why being a good parent is not a value.
• The two places your direction gets supplied from when you do not have your own: approval and avoidance
• Three practices to tap onto what matters to you in your everyday life.

You can finish these:

• get the promotion
• run the race
• have the conversation with your brother
• clear the inbox

You cannot finish these:

• Being patient
• Being honest
• Being generous
• Being unhurried

The first list is goals: you complete them, you check them off, and then you need new ones.

The second list is values.

Resources mentioned:

• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire (free) → https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/
• Values-Based Review: Life Audit (free) → https://proud-snow-5694.ck.page/d2a5e77ba3
• ACT Coaching for anxiety-based struggles → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/act-coaching/
• Therapy at East Bay Behavior Therapy Center → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/

About Dr. Z

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 267,000 views.

And if this episode is helpful, I welcome a review on Apple Podcast.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Patricia E. Zurita Ona, but my clients call me Dr. Z.

I’m a psychologist, a passionate behaviorist, and a person that loves to make behavioral science accessible for day-to-day life. I specialize in Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

I have significant experience – over 18 years – working with individuals dealing with anxiety-based struggles such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic indecision, phobias, OCD, panic, worry, and any other anxiety-related difficulties.

I've published books on ACT, given a TEDx talk with 260K+ views, founded East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, and spent two decades proving one thing: Your anxiety doesn't need fixing. It needs listening to. Because most of the time, anxiety is just trying to keep you safe, the problem is when "safe" becomes "stuck." And once you know the difference, everything changes.

My website is packed with resources, courses and content that will help you break free from those "playing-it-safe" moves and make the most out of your life!

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

HERE IS WHERE TO START

1. TAKE THE PLAYING-IT-SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

2. ONLINE COURSES: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/

3. PODCAST: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-podcast/

4. BOOKS: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/books/

5. BLOG: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-blog/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two hours at dinner. You were there for about twenty minutes of it.

You are at dinner with people you love, and you are in a meeting that happens on Thursday. You are running it: what I will say, what they will say back, and when Thursday is done playing, your mind goes backward to a conversation from three weeks ago that you have now replayed forty times.

This episode is about contact with the present moment, one of the six core psychological processes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

What you will learn:

• The definition of contact with the present moment.
• Why replaying a conversation forty times feels like learning and what it pays you every time.
• Three practices that take about ten seconds each, plus how to tell whether you are using grounding to come back or to leave.

Resources mentioned:

• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire (free) → https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/
• Values-Based Review: Life Audit (free) → https://proud-snow-5694.ck.page/d2a5e77ba3
• ACT Coaching for anxiety-based struggles → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/act-coaching/
• Therapy at East Bay Behavior Therapy Center → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/

About Dr. Z

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 267,000 views.

And if this episode is helpful, I welcome a review on Apple Podcast.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Patricia E. Zurita Ona, but my clients call me Dr. Z.

I’m a psychologist, a passionate behaviorist, and a person that loves to make behavioral science accessible for day-to-day life. I specialize in Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

I have significant experience – over 18 years – working with individuals dealing with anxiety-based struggles such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic indecision, phobias, OCD, panic, worry, and any other anxiety-related difficulties.

I've published books on ACT, given a TEDx talk with 260K+ views, founded East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, and spent two decades proving one thing: Your anxiety doesn't need fixing. It needs listening to. Because most of the time, anxiety is just trying to keep you safe, the problem is when "safe" becomes "stuck." And once you know the difference, everything changes.

My website is packed with resources, courses and content that will help you break free from those "playing-it-safe" moves and make the most out of your life!

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

HERE IS WHERE TO START

1. TAKE THE PLAYING-IT-SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

2. ONLINE COURSES: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/

3. PODCAST: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-podcast/

4. BOOKS: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/books/

5. BLOG: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-blog/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is a difference between having a description and being one.

An email comes in asking you to run the training, and before you finish reading it, your mind says, "I am not a teacher. I am not that kind of person." You get hooked, you write back something gracious, and you route it to somebody else.

This episode is about self as context, one of the six core psychological processes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and it is the one Dr. Z finds the hardest to explain and the most useful once it lands.

The episode draws the line between self as content (every description your mind produces of who you are) and self as context (the place all of those descriptions show up). Not a better description of you. The room the furniture is in.

What you will learn:

• Self as content versus self as context and why a description of yourself does not feel like a thought, but like a fact about your species.
• How this differs from defusion, which the two processes get confused for constantly.
• The four costs of living only in the description, including why you end up defending the descriptions that hurt you.
• Why the flattering labels cost you just as much: “I am the strong one, I am the reliable one, I am the person who never drops the ball.”
• The chessboard: both armies are yours, which is why you have never been able to win that fight.
• The continuity demonstration: what the nine-year-old, the twenty-two-year-old, and you actually have in common.
• Why self-esteem work keeps you inside the description, arguing about the score.
• Four practices, including the two words that do the whole job in four seconds.

Resources mentioned:

• Values-Based Review: Life Audit (free) → https://proud-snow-5694.ck.page/d2a5e77ba3
• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire (free) → https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/
• ACT Coaching for anxiety-based struggles → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/act-coaching/
• Therapy at East Bay Behavior Therapy Center → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/

About Dr. Z

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 267,000 views.

And if this episode is helpful, I welcome a review on Apple Podcast.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Patricia E. Zurita Ona, but my clients call me Dr. Z.

I’m a psychologist, a passionate behaviorist, and a person that loves to make behavioral science accessible for day-to-day life. I specialize in Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

I have significant experience – over 18 years – working with individuals dealing with anxiety-based struggles such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic indecision, phobias, OCD, panic, worry, and any other anxiety-related difficulties.

I've published books on ACT, given a TEDx talk with 267K+ views, founded East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, and spent two decades proving one thing: Your anxiety doesn't need fixing. It needs listening to. Because most of the time, anxiety is just trying to keep you safe, the problem is when "safe" becomes "stuck." And once you know the difference, everything changes.

My website is packed with resources, courses and content that will help you break free from those "playing-it-safe" moves and make the most out of your life!

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's an email that's been sitting in your drafts for eleven days, and the only thing stopping it is one sentence in your head that you've never checked. This episode is about defusion, one of the six core processes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and about what happens when a thought and the world get glued together so tightly you can't tell them apart.

Dr. Z explains defusion in plain language, why the thoughts that run your life sound like good judgment instead of fear, and how most of them are orders you've been following for years without calling them orders. Then, you get four skills to put a little daylight between the sentence and what your hands do next.

What you will learn:

• Defusion, plainly
• Why your mind says it's cold outside and you're going to humiliate yourself in exactly the same voice.
• Why arguing with the thought or swapping it for a positive one keeps you in the same fight.
• Four ways to practice delusion.

Resources mentioned:

• Audio guide You're not your thoughts (free) → https://proud-snow-5694.kit.com/89ff3918d3
• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire (free) → https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/
• ACT Coaching for anxiety-based struggles → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/act-coaching/
• Therapy at East Bay Behavior Therapy Center → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/

About Dr. Z

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 267,000 views.

If this episode helped you recognize one playing-it-safe move in your own life, a review on Apple Podcasts means everything to me. I read every single one.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Patricia E. Zurita Ona, but my clients call me Dr. Z.

I’m a psychologist, a passionate behaviorist, and a person that loves to make behavioral science accessible for day-to-day life. I specialize in Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

I have significant experience – over 18 years – working with individuals dealing with anxiety-based struggles such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic indecision, phobias, OCD, panic, worry, and any other anxiety-related difficulties.

I've published books on ACT, given a TEDx talk with 260K+ views, founded East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, and spent two decades proving one thing: Your anxiety doesn't need fixing. It needs listening to. Because most of the time, anxiety is just trying to keep you safe, the problem is when "safe" becomes "stuck." And once you know the difference, everything changes.

My website is packed with resources, courses and content that will help you break free from those "playing-it-safe" moves and make the most out of your life!

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

HERE IS WHERE TO START

1. TAKE THE PLAYING-IT-SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

2. ONLINE COURSES: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/

3. PODCAST: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-podcast/

4. BOOKS: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/books/

5. BLOG: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-blog/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your mind runs a control agenda all day long. Some of its strategies are obvious: distraction, keeping busy, opting out. And some look nothing like control at all: the silver lining, the blessing count, the lesson. Same job, better manners. This episode is about acceptance, the first of the six processes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and about the half of the definition almost nobody teaches.

What you will learn:

• Why looking on the bright side belongs on the same list as distraction and having a drink.
• The workability question: not is it true, but is it giving you the life you want?
• What acceptance is
• How to practice acceptance

Resources mentioned:

• Values-Based Review: Life Audit (free) → https://proud-snow-5694.ck.page/d2a5e77ba3
• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire (free) → https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/
• ACT Coaching for anxiety-based struggles → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/act-coaching/
• Therapy at East Bay Behavior Therapy Center → https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/

About Dr. Z

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 267,000 views.

If this episode helped you recognize one playing-it-safe move in your own life, a review on Apple Podcasts means everything to me. I read every single one.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Patricia E. Zurita Ona, but my clients call me Dr. Z.

I’m a psychologist, a passionate behaviorist, and a person that loves to make behavioral science accessible for day-to-day life. I specialize in Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

I have significant experience – over 18 years – working with individuals dealing with anxiety-based struggles such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic indecision, phobias, OCD, panic, worry, and any other anxiety-related difficulties.

I've published books on ACT, given a TEDx talk with 267K+ views, founded East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, and spent two decades proving one thing: Your anxiety doesn't need fixing. It needs listening to. Because most of the time, anxiety is just trying to keep you safe, the problem is when "safe" becomes "stuck." And once you know the difference, everything changes.

My website is packed with resources, courses and content that will help you break free from those "playing-it-safe" moves and make the most out of your life!

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

HERE IS WHERE TO START

1. TAKE THE PLAYING-IT-SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

2. ONLINE COURSES: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/

3. PODCAST: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-podcast/

4. BOOKS: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/books/

5. BLOG: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-blog/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're not avoiding the conversation. You're avoiding how it will feel to have it.

If you've ever reorganized your inbox instead of making the difficult call or started researching instead of starting the thing, this episode is for you.

This episode unpacks experiential avoidance: the mechanism underneath every playing-it-safe behavior.

What you will learn:

• What experiential avoidance actually is, in plain language, no jargon, and why it's the engine behind ALL playing-it-safe behaviors including procrastination, overthinking, perfectionism, and people-pleasing.
• Why your avoidance is intelligent and well-intentioned, and what it's costing you anyway.
• What psychological research tells us about how experiential avoidance predicts psychological suffering across every population studied.
• Willingness, and why it is NOT positive thinking, spiritual bypass, or "just feeling your feelings."

Resources mentioned:

• Playing-it-safe questionnaire: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/
• ACT Beyond Perfectionism (online course): https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/act-beyond-perfectionism
• ACT for Indecisiveness (online course): https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/how-to-shift-from-indecisiveness-into-action
• Values-Based Life Audit (free resource): https://proud-snow-5694.ck.page/d2a5e77ba3
• ACT Coaching at East Bay Behavior Therapy Center: https://eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com/act-coaching/

About Dr. Z:

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 266,000 views.

If this episode helped you recognize one playing-it-safe move in your own life, a review on Apple Podcasts means everything to me. I read every single one.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Patricia E. Zurita Ona, but my clients call me Dr. Z.

I’m a psychologist, a passionate behaviorist, and a person that loves to make behavioral science accessible for day-to-day life. I specialize in Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

I have significant experience – over 18 years – working with individuals dealing with anxiety-based struggles such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic indecision, phobias, OCD, panic, worry, and any other anxiety-related difficulties.

I've published books on ACT, given a TEDx talk with 260K+ views, founded East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, and spent two decades proving one thing: Your anxiety doesn't need fixing. It needs listening to. Because most of the time, anxiety is just trying to keep you safe, the problem is when "safe" becomes "stuck." And once you know the difference, everything changes.

My website is packed with resources, courses and content that will help you break free from those "playing-it-safe" moves and make the most out of your life!

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

HERE IS WHERE TO START

1. TAKE THE PLAYING-IT-SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

2. ONLINE COURSES: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/

3. PODCAST: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-podcast/

4. BOOKS: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/books/

5. BLOG: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-blog/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You've been calling it acceptance. But, if your world has gotten quieter, smaller, and safer since the painful thing happened, that might be resignation.

In this episode, Dr. Z tackles one of the most confusing distinctions in ACT: the difference between acceptance and resignation.

If you've been thinking repetitively about a past loss, failure, or regret (going back over it, telling yourself you're learning from it, then finding yourself in the exact same loop tomorrow), this episode is for you.

You'll leave with a clear understanding of what acceptance actually is (and is not), and a concrete four-step practice you can use today.

What you will learn:

• The exact difference between acceptance and resignation — and why they feel the same from the inside
• What the war against your anxiety is actually costing you — and what changes when you stop fighting it
• Why you don't have to wait for the pain to go away before taking values-based action

Resources:

• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire (free, 5 minutes): https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/
• ACT Workbook for the Anxious Procrastinator: https://a.co/d/gAR36j9
• Acceptance and Commitment Skills for Perfectionism and High-Achieving Behaviors: https://amzn.to/3xT7j0T
• Free Audio Guide on ACT for High-Achieving Behaviors: https://proud-snow-5694.ck.page/73a2c1b566

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing-It-Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 266,000 views.

If this episode helped you recognize one playing-it-safe move in your own life, a review on Apple Podcasts means everything to me. I read every single one.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Patricia E. Zurita Ona, but my clients call me Dr. Z.

I’m a psychologist, a passionate behaviorist, and a person that loves to make behavioral science accessible for day-to-day life. I specialize in Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

I have significant experience – over 18 years – working with individuals dealing with anxiety-based struggles such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic indecision, phobias, OCD, panic, worry, and any other anxiety-related difficulties.

I've published books on ACT, given a TEDx talk with 260K+ views, founded East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, and spent two decades proving one thing: Your anxiety doesn't need fixing. It needs listening to. Because most of the time, anxiety is just trying to keep you safe, the problem is when "safe" becomes "stuck." And once you know the difference, everything changes.

My website is packed with resources, courses and content that will help you break free from those "playing-it-safe" moves and make the most out of your life!

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

HERE IS WHERE TO START

1. TAKE THE PLAYING-IT-SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

2. ONLINE COURSES: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/

3. PODCAST: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-podcast/

4. BOOKS: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/books/

5. BLOG: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-blog/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're not missing information. You're missing a different question.

This episode is for anyone sitting inside an impossible decision, one where every option feels wrong, the pros-and-cons list has been rewritten twelve times, you've talked to everyone you trust, and you still can't move.

Your mind wasn't built for situations where both choices cost you something you care about. More deliberation isn't the answer, it's the trap. And there is a question that cuts through all of it. Not "what's the right choice?", but "what do I want to stand for here?"

Resources mentioned:

• Values-Based Review (free): https://proud-snow-5694.ck.page/d2a5e77ba3
• ACT for Indecisiveness course: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/how-to-shift-from-indecisiveness-into-action
• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire (free): https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona (Dr. Z) is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 266,000 views.

If this episode helped you recognize one playing-it-safe move in your own life, a review on Apple Podcasts means everything to me. I read every single one.

_______

STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

GET ACT SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX:

Sign up to my newsletter to get actionable skills into your inbox! https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-newsletter/

HERE IS WHERE TO START:

1. TAKE THE PLAYING-IT-SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

2. ONLINE COURSES: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/

3. PODCAST: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-podcast/

4. BOOKS: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/books/

5. BLOG: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-blog/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She was at every party. But she was never fully in the room.

Safety crutches, the subtle playing-it-safe moves that keep anxiety temporarily quiet, look nothing like avoidance. You're showing up. You're present. But you're also carrying a shield. And the shield is costing you every moment of real connection you're trying to build.

This episode is for anyone who has ever walked into a situation with a plan already in place to feel less exposed — and wondered why the situation still felt so far away.

In this episode, you will learn:

• What safety crutches actually are and why they look like coping but function like avoidance
• Why Paul Salkovskis's research on safety behaviors shows that the relief is borrowed — and what you're borrowing against
• What research on psychological flexibility reveals about why fighting anxiety makes it louder
• ACT skilsl for dropping subtle safety behaviors, one small moment at a time
• What your specific safety crutch is almost certainly protecting, and why that thing matters

Resources mentioned:

• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

About Dr. Z: Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona, Dr. Z., is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 265,000 views.

If this episode helped you recognize one playing-it-safe move in your own life, a review on Apple Podcasts means everything to me. I read every single one.

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STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

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HERE IS WHERE TO START:

1. TAKE THE PLAYING-IT-SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

2. ONLINE COURSES: https://courses.thisisdoctorz.com/

3. PODCAST: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-podcast/

4. BOOKS: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/books/

5. BLOG: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-blog/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.