The Locker Room

Yesterday on Mindwise, Susan Graham-Ryan and I discussed how the qualities we're most proud of can sometimes create difficulties when we take them too far.

We explored why we tend to rely on behaviours that have worked well for us in the past, how being conscientious can become perfectionism, and how independence or analytical thinking can sometimes get in our way.

The key is recognising when a strength is helping us and when we might need to approach a situation differently.

We explored how procrastination can be more about managing emotions than managing time, why avoiding something can provide immediate relief but create longer-term difficulties, and how motivation can sometimes follow action rather than precede it. Sometimes the quickest way to feel better isn't to avoid the thing we're dreading. It's to begin doing it.

This week on ABC North Queensland, Susan Graham-Ryan and I discussed automatic negative thoughts and how our thinking can sometimes work against us.

We explored three common thinking traps: all-or-nothing thinking, rigid expectations about how things should be, and discounting the positive. We also discussed why the solution isn't simply to think more positively, but to become better at recognising and questioning our thoughts.

Singapore is encouraging people to read for 15 minutes a day, with rewards for doing it. Join Susan Graham-Ryan and me on ABC North Queensland as we discuss whether incentives can help us start a good habit and what happens when the reward disappears.

School holidays give children more unstructured time, but adults may not be much better at dealing with an emptymoment. We reach for our phones, check emails, put ona podcast or find another task to do. Perhaps the question isn’t how we eliminate boredom, but what happens when we allow ourselves to experience it for a little longer.

Exercise isn't only changing the parts of your body you can see. New Australian research is helping us better understand the relationship between physical activity and the hippocampus, an area of the brain that plays an important role in learning and memory. Susan Graham-Ryan and I are talking about what happens to our brains as we age, why movement matters, and whether it's ever too late to become more active.

SusanGraham-Ryan and I are talking about what happens to our brains as we age, why movement matters, and whether it's ever too late to become more active.

Why did time seem to move so slowly when we were children, yet seems to fly as we get older? This week on Mindwise, we're looking at the psychology of our perception of time and what we can do to make our days feel richer and more memorable.

Different generations bring different experiences, perspectives and ways of working. The strongest teams don’t need everyone to think alike. They learn how to use the differences already in the room.

This week on ABC Queensland, we discussed why writing about our experiences can be so valuable, from memoirs and diaries to gratitude journalling and the way athletes use reflection to learn from performance.

Susan Graham-Ryan and Dr Jo Lukins on ABC NorthQueensland as they explore why our bodies react to emails, deadlines and everyday pressures as though we're facing a predator, and what we can do about it.