The Working Mom's Balance Podcast with Tracy Kulwicki

In this episode we talk about the what, why, and how of rest, relaxation, sleep, and sabbath. These four things can have an effect on every aspect of our health and wellness. When we don't get sufficient rest it can impact our physical, mental, spiritual, and relational health. Learn some practical strategies to help you begin to make small changes to focus on getting more rest and relaxation in your life.

Four Dimensions of Health

Sleep is your Superpower TED Talk by Matt Walker

6 Tips for Better Sleep from Matt Walker

Other TED Talks on Sleep from Matt Walker

Annie F Downs on Preparing for Sabbath

Sabbath Q&A with Annie F Downs

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki

A lot of research has been done to help us better understand wellbeing. What makes up wellbeing? Does everyone have access to it? How can we increase our experience of wellbeing and what factors might hinder our it?

In this episode, we talk about 9 building blocks of wellbeing that we can examine and adjust to help us experience more wellbeing and flourish. The 9 building blocks or pillars include the original 5 facets of the PERMA theory as well as an additional 4 areas that recent research has identified as important factors for wellbeing as well. These 9 pillars of wellbeing include - Positive emotions and experiences, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment, Physical Health, Mindset, Environment, and Economic safety and stability.

Research study discussing PERMA and the 4 additional building blocks for wellbeing.

Episode 13: Managing Thoughts to Improve Mental Health

Episode 14: Why and How to Be More Optimistic

Episode 15: How to Build Resilience to Overcome Hard Times

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki

If you want to reach the goals that you have set for yourself, the answer is not more motivation, more confidence, or more self-discipline. Confidence is trusting and relying on yourself to do the things you said you would do. You can't build that trust and reliance until you start taking action, no matter how you feel. In this episode, we talk about how we choose our actions to live the life we truly want to live. We discuss what it takes to start making progress toward our goals. If you're ready to get serious about taking mindful, committed action in your life, based on what is most important to you, then listen in.

This episode is a part of a mini-series on the concepts behind ACT training. Be sure to listen to episodes 18-21 to learn all the steps in the process.

Links and Resources from this Episode

Episode 18: How to Get Yourself to Do What You Want to Do

Episode 19: Taking Action, Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

Episode 20: Using Your Values to Guide Your Actions

For more guidance on how to implement the strategies discussed in this series, check out the book The Confidence Gap by Russ Harris.

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki

We are continuing our series in which we are working to learn how to get ourselves to do the things we want to do, even when we don't feel like doing them. In episode 19 we learned how to accept our thoughts and feelings. In this episode we discuss the next step in the process, to choose a value-based direction and next step. We decide the person we want to be, we consider what is important to us, and then we choose our next right step based on these values, not on how we feel in the moment. This is a practice that we will need to work to improve over time. However, when we choose to live by our values and determine our success in life based on how well our actions align with our values we can feel more successful and fulfilled in our lives.

Episode 18: How to Get Yourself to Do What You Want to Do

Episode 19: Taking Action, Even When You Don't Feel Like It

List of Values to help you narrow down your unique list of values.

For more guidance on how to implement the strategies discussed in this series, check out the book The Confidence Gap by Russ Harris.

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki

There's a popular passage of scripture in Romans where Paul says something along the lines of "I don't understand myself. I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate...I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." I think we can all relate to this passage in some way. We know what we should do, we know what we want to do, but how do we get ourselves to actually do it. We long for the day when we will find some motivation, we search for the formula that will teach us how to develop self-discipline, we wish we could just develop the confidence we need to do all the amazing things we dream about. What does it take to actually get ourselves to consistently do what we want to do in our daily lives? This episode talks about Paul's answer found in Romans 7-8 and also looks at what the research says. We learn about ACT, or acceptance and commitment training, a strategy that we can use to help us accept our thoughts and emotions, choose a value-based next step, and then take mindful action to do what we want to do. 

This episode is part one of a four-part series that breaks down the concepts of ACT and how we can use it to get ourselves to do all the things we desire and need to do.

Links and Resources from this Episode

This excellent TED Talk by Steven Hayes, the creator of ACT training/therapy provides some insightful background information.

For more guidance on how to implement the strategies discussed in this series, check out the book The Confidence Gap by Russ Harris.

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki

People with a fixed mindset believe that their personal character, skills, intelligence, and abilities are fixed traits that cannot be changed. They believe you’re either born with it or you’re not. On the other hand, people with a growth mindset believe that their abilities can be developed through hard work and effort. A fixed mindset keeps us stuck and afraid of failure and mistakes, but people with a growth mindset are constantly improving and growing. They seek out challenges and recognize the power of learning from mistakes. Having a growth mindset can help you be more successful and happy in every area of life.

Links and Resources from this Episode

10 Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset

The Mindset You Need to Do Things to Blow Your Own Mind (the article on Growth Mindset that I wrote on my 1,000th day of running every day)

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success book by Carol Dweck

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki

Psychological Capital, better known as PsyCap in the world of positive psychology, is the psychological resources of hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism that can help employees perform better at work and increase overall well-being outside of the workplace. We can use the acronym HERO to help us remember these important resources. This episode talks about what each of these resources means and how we can develop them in our own lives.

Links and resources from this episode

Episode 6: The Practice of Gratitude

Episode 15: How to Build Resilience to Overcome Hard Times

Episode 14: Why and How to Be More Optimistic

Episode 13: Managing Thoughts to Improve Mental Health

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki

Resilience is the ability to bounce back after adversity. We will all face hard times and suffering in life. Instead of resisting the hard, resilient people learn to face challenges and stressors, accept mistakes, and grow from failures. This episode will teach you practical ways to increase your resilience and come out of hardship stronger.

Episode 3: The Why and How of Better Relationships

Episode 13: Managing Thoughts to Improve Mental Health

Episode 14: Why and How to Be More Optimistic

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki

Optimism can help us achieve more success at work, home, school, in sports, and every other area of life. An optimistic explanatory style also helps us live longer, healthier lives. This episode discusses the power of optimism and provides practical instructions for how to increase optimistic thinking to improve your life.

Side note - starting next week, The Working Mom's Balance podcast will release new episodes on Mondays (instead of Fridays). Be sure to subscribe and come back on Monday for a new episode. There will also be a new blog post or video at WorkingMomsBalance.com each Wednesday. These posts will be related to the podcast for the week, but not the same content. A weekly summary and additional links and thoughts will go out by email on Fridays. Be sure to subscribe to the email list here.

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E. Seligman, PhD

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

More ideas to help you thrive at www.WorkingMomsBalance.com

Find me on Instagram at @TracyKulwicki