#54: High stakes situations provide a unique challenge to the practice of reframing. How do we reframe failure, if we think that failure is not an option? This challenge gets to the heart of what reframing is, and how to do it.

#53: You might experience email as your worst nightmare — constantly interrupted, overwhelmed, unproductive. We’ll show you how to flip this around completely. We discuss strategies for managing your inbox and, more importantly, for crafting emails to make others’ lives easier. Improving the way you compose emails is a perfect opportunity to bring a spirit of service into your work.

#52: You might think that love and work have nothing to do with one another. In fact, work has a lot to learn from love, and love from work. In this episode, we explore the similarities between good work and love; how love can provide light and purpose to work; and how to “work” love to prevent it from growing cold.

#51: As you’re trying to develop new and better habits, there are some common obstacles you may run into — they might lead you to give up just when you’re on the cusp of great progress. In this episode, we discuss the most common reason people give up on new habits, and how to overcome it.

#50: Do you agonize over what to order at restaurants? Or struggle to make decisions that align with your highest ideals? The key to making a good decision is learning how to put your decision in the right context.

#49: You may think that anxiety is an inherent trait, something that cannot be changed, only managed. In fact, it’s a state of training — of a small region of your brain called the amygdala — and there are definite steps you can take, not just to overcome it, but actually to transform it into your best performance.

#48: What one practice can increase your energy and mental clarity, stop you from snoring, fix bad breath, and much much more? Transforming how you breathe has many surprising benefits. We discuss the best way to breathe, how to make the change, as well as some difficulties you might encounter along the way.

#47: You may think that the challenges in your life are there to stay, and all you can do is manage them or cope. When the challenges get bigger, you may feel overwhelmed by them. This episode covers the essence of OptimalWork, which is to take the challenging situation you are facing, and flip it to make the challenge happen within you. Instead of being challenged, you are then challenging yourself — and you’ll immediately experience new energy. The challenge you face is giving you a workout for your ideals. There are no limits to the growth you can realize by actively challenging yourself according to your highest ideals.

#46: Many people dream of being “confident” someday. When that day comes, they would have total certainty that they could attain any outcome they seek, without any anxiety at all. While it’s understandable that people want to work without uncertainty, this episode shows how “confidence” could actually mean that you are living on a plateau. Far better to aim instead for growth and your best performance and let confidence (or lack thereof) become simply irrelevant.

#45: You may think that your intelligence is fixed for your whole life. You may even think that this level is determined by an IQ test you took in the past. Happily, neither is true. There are definite practices you can start that will improve your ability to think — they will raise your IQ.