It’s the middle of the year. Maybe some of you are feeling like we’re already halfway through the year and you haven’t accomplished as much as you wanted to yet. Maybe you’re feeling a little discouraged with your progress, or maybe your brain has convinced you that the things you want are never going to happen and this is a good time to just give up. Today on the podcast I want to give you some encouragement to keep going and some tools to help you keep working on the things you want to accompl...
Jul 11, 2024•27 min•Ep. 271
We spend all of our time inside our own heads, but have you ever noticed how it’s often more like a prison than a playground in there? Our brains can be tyrants. And if we leave the thoughts it gives us unquestioned or unsupervised, they will keep us stuck and tortured and oppressed. On today’s podcast, I’m talking about how you can use your agency to break free from the tyranny of your brain and overthrow the regime in your head that is constantly criticizing, comparing, doubting, and diminishi...
Jul 04, 2024•36 min•Ep. 270
Summer is traditionally a time of year where many of us take a break, get away, and do some traveling. And so today on the podcast I thought I’d share my best travel tips. But this episode isn’t about things like how to pack efficiently or how to make the most of your travel reward points. Today I’m giving you all my best tips about what to think and how to feel as you travel with your loved ones—so that you have the best possible experience mentally and emotionally as you travel together this s...
Jun 27, 2024•34 min•Ep. 269
I recently ran my first marathon, and I learned a lot of lessons doing it. On today’s episode of the podcast, I’m sharing my race day experience. You’ll hear about the highs, the lows, the lessons, the battles I fought inside my own head, and the feelings you only get to feel when you do hard things. Getting to the finish line is hard. It’s gonna take everything you’ve got. But I hope this episode will encourage you and help you keep moving toward your own goals and dreams and remind you not onl...
Jun 20, 2024•38 min•Ep. 268
I recently ran my first marathon, and I learned a lot of lessons doing it. But there were also a lot of things I learned just getting to the start line of this race. From the sign up, to the training, through the taper, and all the miles in between, this experience taught me so many things about perspective and perseverance and fear and the power of decisions and celebrating every win. On today’s episode of the podcast, I’m sharing the first part of my marathon experience—what I did, what I lear...
Jun 13, 2024•38 min•Ep. 267
We’ve just finished commencement season. At some point in our lives, most of us have sat in the audience of a commencement speech thinking that everything good in our life was about to start. But then time passes and maybe 5 or 10 or 20 years later we can find ourselves looking around and thinking: Is this it? Is this what being an adult was gonna be like? Is this how it was supposed to turn out? Most of us had big plans to change the world, but maybe after a few decades, it just feels like the ...
Jun 06, 2024•29 min•Ep. 266
Most of us are good at being hard on ourselves. We know how to be disappointed and disgusted and frustrated with ourselves and we’re experts at being critical and condescending of the parts of us that we don’t like. Treating ourselves this way comes naturally (because of the way our brains work) and we’ve also had a lot of practice doing it. What doesn’t come naturally is being kind—especially to ourselves and especially when we are struggling. We’ve all heard the advice to be kind to yourself, ...
May 30, 2024•28 min•Ep. 265
Sometimes it can feel like your brain is the enemy, but there’s actually a really significant survival advantage for everything your brain does. When humans first showed up on the scene, we had no camouflaged skin, no super hearing, we couldn’t fly or swim. We couldn’t see in the dark or breathe underwater. We didn’t have claws or huge teeth or thick fur. The only thing we had was a three-pound pile of flesh secretly stashed in our skulls and that one advantage that allowed us to survive and thr...
May 23, 2024•22 min•Ep. 264
Nobody likes feeling bad, but what can make it even worse is when we think we’re bad for feeling bad. Even though our emotions are always just information being passed from our brain to our body, it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that feelings have a morality—that there are good ways to feel and bad ways to feel. And this can make us suspicious and even ashamed of our negative emotions. On today’s podcast, I’m pointing out the negative rap that our negative emotions get and giving you so...
May 16, 2024•34 min•Ep. 263
In an attempt to keep us safe and happy, our brain spends a remarkable amout of energy in places where it has no control. For example, we can only make choices in the present moment, but have you noticed how often your brain time-travels into the future or back to the past trying to change or control things that it can’t? Or maybe you’ve noticed how much time your brain spends thinking and worrying about the thoughts and feelings and opinions of other people? Again, this is a place where we don’...
May 09, 2024•27 min•Ep. 262
I recently spent a week at a surf school in Costa Rica and had an incredible time. On today’s episode of the podcast, I’m telling you all about my experience and also sharing some of the memorable lessons that I got from the trip, from the ocean, and from my surf coach that I have been thinking about since I got home. While you might not be planning to go to surf school any time soon, we are all down here at earth school and I think the things I learned while I was trying to acquire this new ski...
May 02, 2024•33 min•Ep. 261
This week’s podcast episode marks 5 years of the show! And today I’m sharing 5 important things that I have learned during that time as I have created this podcast. No matter who you are or what you are trying to create in your life, your brain is going to create resistance and excuses and fear and these can keep you from creating the things you want. So today, I want to inspire you and give you the help you need to overcome your brain. Along the way, I’ll teach you that creation is an accumulat...
Apr 25, 2024•37 min•Ep. 260
Have you ever noticed all the tiny little things that make life awesome? It turns out that the more you notice, the better you feel. Your brain, of course, wants to notice all the things that have gone wrong, but there are just as many things that have gone exactly right and it can feel really good to bring your awareness to them. In today’s episode of the podcast, I’ll remind you of how fun it is to like things, teach you what you can learn from the U-curve of happiness, give you a daily practi...
Apr 18, 2024•27 min•Ep. 259
I recently cleaned out my closet and intentionally decided, piece by piece, the items that I wanted to keep in my wardrobe and the ones that I no longer needed or wanted. What if we did the same thing in our lives? If I went through my life piece by piece and examined each element—my habits, my schedule, my relationships, my work, my faith, the thoughts and feelings that I have most, the things I spend my time on—are they all things that I really want to be choosing? Given the choice to put them...
Apr 11, 2024•34 min•Ep. 258
This week I celebrate my 50th birthday which has me thinking about this episode of the podcast kind of like a halftime report. If I’m about halfway through my life (halfway through the game, if you will) I’m metaphorically going back to the locker room to take breath and evaluate how the first half of the game has gone. I’ve been on earth for five decades and today I’m thinking about my life, assessing what I’ve learned and loved about the first half of my life, and the recording the lessons tha...
Apr 04, 2024•32 min
For those of us that live in the northern hemisphere, spring is a time of year where there are reminders everywhere about the true abundance of our lives. Of course, we always live in an abundant world surrounded by an abundant universe, but because of hedonistic adaptation, most of the time our brain either doesn’t notice it or diminishes it down to nothing. In today’s episode of the podcast, I’m sharing a few things that have caught my attention recently that have surprised me, humbled me, and...
Mar 27, 2024•33 min•Ep. 256
There’s never going to be a point at which your brain isn’t going to doubt you and question your ability to succeed, no matter how talented or capable you are or how many times you’ve succeeded or failed in the past. Most of us are waiting for the doubts to go away. We think that if we could make our doubts go away then we would find our belief. But on today’s episode of the podcast, I’m sharing the idea that belief isn’t the absence of doubt—believing in ourselves is a choice we are allowed to ...
Mar 21, 2024•25 min•Ep. 255
Today on the podcast I ask and answer a question that you may occasionally find yourself asking: What’s wrong with me? As humans it’s easy to wonder why we feel so bad, why we can’t seem to figure out how to be happy and productive, why we do the things we do, why it feels so hard to do the things we’re “supposed to do,” and why it often feels like we’re our own worst enemy…I mean, what it wrong with us? Over and over, we ask this question, thinking that if we could just figure out the problem o...
Mar 14, 2024•32 min•Ep. 254
From the moment we become parents we are concerned about the safety, happiness, and success of our children. But how much of that is in our control? And how much of it is our responsibility? In today’s episode of the podcast, I’m sharing three important distinctions that will allow you to improve the relationship you have with your children by releasing all the things you can’t control and focusing on the things you can. You’ll learn the big difference between being a responsible parent and taki...
Mar 07, 2024•36 min•Ep. 253
While it’s true that most of us appreciate the ease and entertainment that we get from our digital devices, it may also be true that we are spending more time on them than we want to be. Why is this? Well, it turns out that our brains are biologically programmed to respond to the content and the alerts of digital media and there is an entire attention economy dedicated to taking advantage of that, and using your neurobiology to get more and more of your time, attention, and money there. Over the...
Feb 29, 2024•41 min•Ep. 252
All of us know about trying harder. We’ve been taught to believe that if your life doesn’t look the way you want, you probably need to try harder! But today I want to offer you the idea that instead of being harder and tougher on ourselves in order to create what we want in our lives, what we really need to do is to be warmer with ourselves. Instead of criticism and impatience with our efforts, what is really going to help us grow and become is learning and practicing in an environment of encour...
Feb 22, 2024•33 min•Ep. 251
I can’t believe it, but this is the 250th episode of the podcast! And today, I’m showing my appreciation for all the things that have helped me reach this milestone. I have been the recipient of an endless supply of encouragements and today I want to take a moment to say thank you. During the episode you’ll learn how you have your own endless supply of encouragements and how you can use those encouragements to bolster others and strengthen yourself as you meet the challenges of your life and go ...
Feb 15, 2024•23 min•Ep. 250
Perhaps there is no category of thoughts with more stigma or misunderstanding than suicidal thoughts. These kinds of thoughts scare us. We don’t like to talk about them and most of us don’t know what to do when we find them in our own heads or in the heads of the people we love and care about. But suicidal thoughts are common for human beings and really understanding why we have them and what we should do with them is an important part of taking care of yourself and protecting others. Today is a...
Feb 08, 2024•36 min•Ep. 249
There’s a famous concept that is often used in business, in teams, and in other organizations that says that when it comes to success, culture is way more important than strategy. When it comes to accomplishing your own dreams and creating results in your own life, this idea is just as true. It’s easy to focus your energy and effort on the “strategies” and all the things you need to do. But what if your personal, internal culture has a much greater impact on your success than any of the things y...
Feb 01, 2024•37 min•Ep. 248
It’s been a tough week for coaches in the NFL. The playoffs are in full swing and right now there are a lot of coaching changes happening across the league and lots of talk about who’s in and who’s out. Just like in fashion or in NFL coaching, our thoughts go in and out of usefulness. There are times when we decide that thinking one way has got to go and it’s time to make room for something new. In today’s episode of the podcast, I’m sharing what’s in and out for me this year, especially in term...
Jan 25, 2024•29 min•Ep. 247
There’s a good reason that many of our dreams go unfulfilled: our brains always get in the way. In the first three weeks of the year, I have already been reminded how just as soon as we start working towards our dreams, our brains step up to stop us—which is why all of us have to learn to fight for our dreams. Today on the podcast, I’m sharing three recent experiences and three lessons to help you fight that good fight and help you if you’re scared or discouraged or unsure where to start. Your d...
Jan 18, 2024•30 min•Ep. 246
You are not your brain. You are not your biology or your physiology or your neurochemistry. You are a being separate from your brain, but your brain chemistry is making a far bigger impact on your life, your feelings, and your choices than you may realize. Today on the podcast I’m teaching you about some of the most important neurotransmitters in your brain, why they work the way they do, and how you can use that knowledge to hack your neurochemistry so that you can get more of the things you wa...
Jan 11, 2024•39 min•Ep. 245
This time of year we hear lots of talk about goals, but I think many of us have goal trauma. We’ve been hurt by goals we’ve set in the past or hurt by our own mistreatment of ourselves as we pursued them. A lot of us are disillusioned and tired and maybe we’re even a little bit scared to set goals because, instead of helping us, many of our goals have ended up eroding the relationship we have with ourselves. And today I’m hoping to change that. Today on the podcast, I’m inviting you to join a “g...
Jan 04, 2024•33 min•Ep. 244
Recently I have been thinking about the difference between living your life well and having a life well-lived. Living your life well is about making sure you’re living your life correctly, taking all the right action and making all the right choices so that you can earn approval from yourself or others. It’s about external measurements and external validation of your choices. While having a life that has been well-lived is about enjoying your life, growing and developing in ways that matter to y...
Dec 28, 2023•30 min•Ep. 243
As we are in the final weeks of 2023, I have naturally been thinking about the year—the things I did, the choices I made, the results I have created, and especially the lessons I have learned. Today on the podcast, I wanted to share the three lessons that have meant the most to me this year. These are the things that changed me the most and made a huge difference in the way I think about myself and my life. Every once in a while, it’s powerful to stop and notice and record what you have learned,...
Dec 21, 2023•28 min•Ep. 242
