All of us will experience our share of challenges, disappointments, and hardships as we go through our lives. We may go through things that are quite traumatic. Our ability to recover and transcend these things depends a lot on how we tell the story of our lives. In this episode, we’re exploring the power of narrative psychology and how we can each use it to cultivate more resilience. Takeaways Life involves ups and downs, challenges and successes. The goal isn’t to eliminate those and live a fl...
Nov 22, 2021•24 min•Ep. 59
In this episode, Monica Reinagel turns the tables and interviews her usual co-host, Brock Armstrong, all about his new podcast called Second Wind Fitness . Monica and Brock chat about the impetus behind some big life changes that he made in the last year how middle-aged and older people are often misunderstood (and under-served) by the fitness industry why Brock is no longer willing to help people get fit for the wrong reasons We’ve even got an excerpt from the Second Wind Fitness podcast for yo...
Nov 12, 2021•27 min•Ep. 58
There’s an important distinction to be made between top level goals and lower level tactical goals. Often, getting fixated on achieving your tactical goals can lead to being tenaciousness for the sake of being tenacious. We certainly don’t mean to suggest that tenaciousness is not a valuable trait. Being committed to doing what it takes or sticking it out when the going gets rough is definitely a characteristic of people who reach their goals. But sometimes, being tenacious requires us to be fle...
Nov 03, 2021•19 min•Ep. 57
We often talk about the importance of planning ahead–and sticking to the plan. But we also advocate for mindfulness: being attuned to your experience in the present moment. But what if being in the moment means you don’t feel like sticking to the plan? Which should you honor? In this episode, we explore the pros and cons of sticking to the schedule vs. going with the flow. It all comes down to finding a healthy balance between structure and flexibility. Takeaways: - Honoring your needs and wants...
Oct 25, 2021•22 min•Ep. 56
Everyone has lapses – small slips, moments, or even brief periods of time when you fall back into old habits and old patterns. Lapses can be an opportunity to learn something useful. But all too often, a lapse leads to self-defeating and catastrophizing thoughts, which lead to further lapses. Before you know it, a series of small lapses has snowballed into a full-blown relapse–or a return to an old behavior or pattern. In this episode, we talk about how to process and rebound from those inevitab...
Oct 15, 2021•28 min•Ep. 55
Our guest on this episode is Dr. Nicole Byers. A self proclaimed neuroscience nerd, mom, and leadership/productivity coach, Dr. Byers helps busy professionals build confidence and get more done. Dr. Nicole Byers is a psychologist who specializes in neuropsychology. A few years ago, she left her dream job working in a top hospital and teaching at a university to become an entrepreneur. Now she helps professionals develop the mental habits that allow them to feel less overwhelmed, more confident, ...
Oct 06, 2021•26 min•Ep. 54
It’s been well over a year since we first talked about unmet goals and we thought it would be a great time to revisit this topic. If you’ve already listened to Episode 6, this is your chance to revisit this topic with fresh ears. If you haven’t... let’s dig in! Takeaways: Unmet goals get heavier and heavier the longer you carry them around. An unmet goal can be a barrier (or an excuse) to achieving other goals Sometimes, it’s wiser to let a goal go than to continue to pay the “interest” Lab Expe...
Sep 27, 2021•24 min•Ep. 53
In this special extracurricular episode, we are sharing a little peek inside the year-long Weighless Program ( https://weighless.life/enrollment ) that you often here us talk about. What you’re going to hear is actual content from that program that we thought would be a great complement to the stuff we do here in Change Academy. This content is part of a year-long curriculum in which we help people create and strengthen the mindset, habits, and lifestyle that lead to weighing less without dietin...
Sep 17, 2021•9 min•Ep. 52
We encourage you to identify things that aren’t working (or could be working better) and design solutions. But sometimes, we end up designing solutions that are unnecessarily complicated or costly. We may even lose sight of our original objective and end up designing a “solution” that doesn’t solve the original problem at all. In this episode, we teach you how to notice when you are losing focus so you can get back on track. Takeaways: - Designing solutions that are unnecessarily complicated or ...
Sep 06, 2021•21 min•Ep. 52
The things we do on a routine basis impact how we see ourselves. And the opposite is also true: How we see ourselves can influence how we act. In other words, our habits and our identity are closely tied to one another. In this episode, we talk about how to make sure that connection between our behavior and our identity is working for us and not against us. Takeaways There’s an important difference between acknowledging a trait or circumstance that you’d like to change and allowing it to define ...
Aug 26, 2021•26 min•Ep. 51
In this extracurricular episode, we’re sharing a preview of an upcoming workshop on incorporating more movement and fitness into our daily routines. Even if you’re an avid exerciser, it’s still easy to end up sitting for long stretches of every day. And finding those hidden opportunities to sneak more movement into our daily routines can make the difference between ending the day stiff and cranky or finishing the day feeling flexible and energized! We’re hoping this little snippet - about using ...
Aug 13, 2021•7 min•Ep. 50
This episode was suggested by a listener named Liz: “I have clients that I fear will let go of their habits when they don’t have me there to hold them accountable. How do you coach someone to create that accountability for themselves or hold themselves accountable?” Takeaways Being more accountable to someone else than you are to yourself can be a red flag that either your goal is off or your reason for doing it is missing. When you can align your goal with your identity and values, you can beco...
Aug 09, 2021•31 min•Ep. 50
Molly is the host of the Breaking the Bottle Legacy podcast, in which she shares her own experience with changing her long-standing drinking patterns and creating a healthier and more peaceful relationship with alcohol. As you’ll see in this episode, Molly’s approach to behavior change aligns perfectly with what we talk about on the Change Academy, and can be applied to all kinds of behaviors and changes. You’ll find the Breaking the Bottle Legacy podcast wherever you listen and Molly’s book of ...
Jul 30, 2021•30 min•Ep. 49
The Serenity Prayer (“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to tell the difference”) counsels us to accept the things that we cannot change. But often, the things that we say we cannot change are actually 100% within our control. In this episode, we explore whether something is truly out of our control or if we just prefer to believe that it is. Takeaways: - We may choose to believe that a situation is out of our contro...
Jul 19, 2021•22 min•Ep. 48
We all have those tasks or projects that, despite our best intentions, we find ourselves procrastinating. It might be a new behavior or practice that we want to create a habit around, like exercising or meditating. Or it might be a personal or professional project that we want to accomplish, like writing an essay or report or creating a program or product. In this episode, we offer a practical strategy that can help you overcome the tendency to procrastinate or to simply not do the things that y...
Jul 09, 2021•23 min•Ep. 47
In this episode, we depart a bit from our usual format and welcome a guest to the show. Heather Hutchison is a singer/songwriter and author of the new memoir Holding On by Letting Go . Heather has been blind since birth and one of the things she hopes to do through her music and writing is educate people about disability and mental health. One of the concepts she explores in her book is this idea of Radical Acceptance, a term that Brock introduced in our recent episode on coping . So we thought ...
Jun 30, 2021•26 min•Ep. 46
Coping mechanisms are not an inherently bad thing. If we can’t avoid or escape something unpleasant or even harmful, figuring out a way to cope with it is a good survival strategy. But sometimes we use coping mechanisms to tolerate things that maybe we shouldn’t be tolerating. In this episode, we explore the difference between helpful and unhelpful coping. Takeaways: - Using external pleasures to help us feel better (or cope) in particular situations is natural and normal. - When those behaviors...
Jun 21, 2021•18 min•Ep. 45
To-do lists, checklists, scorecards can be great tools to keep us on track. But they can also seem like an overwhelming task themselves. Or worse yet, they can become yet another way that we judge our own abilities or self-worth. In this episode, we show you how to create a list that suits you and your goals. We also explore how to structure that list so it can keep you on track without being a constant reminder of how much work you have to do. Takeaways - When used well, lists or scorecards can...
Jun 11, 2021•29 min•Ep. 44
Some of our goals or objectives require us to master a range of different skills. You’ll probably be naturally stronger in some areas than others. And sometimes, in order to reach our goals, overcoming or strengthening a weakness is essential. But it's not just about forcing yourself to work on the things that are hard for you. In this episode, we focus on identifying areas where you need more support--and seeking out resources that can help. Interested in having Monica present at your next live...
Jun 02, 2021•22 min•Ep. 43
In this episode, we’ll teach you how to identify and dismantle unhelpful cues and also build some helpful ones. We all have cues in our lives that prompt us to carry out certain behaviors, like putting a seat belt on when we get in a car, grabbing snacks when we sit on the couch to watch a movie, or pouring a glass of wine when we change out of our work clothes. Some of our cue responses are good (like seatbelts), and some are not so good (like snacks and alcohol). Many of them probably develope...
May 21, 2021•31 min•Ep. 42
Having a firm grip on reality is usually seen as a sign of good mental health. But social scientists have discovered that happy and successful people routinely overestimate their skill, talent, and chances of success. In fact, that may be one of the secrets to their success. In this episode, we explore why being overly optimistic is not a cognitive defect that needs to be overcome but a constructive trait that we can cultivate. Takeaways Being willing to believe that you’ll beat the odds can mak...
May 07, 2021•26 min•Ep. 41
Monica and Brock are taking a brief Spring Break but we will be back in May with brand new episodes. In the meantime, this is the perfect time to go back and relisten to some of our previous episodes - in particular, the series about the "Eight Things to Make Changes that Last." You may also find it helpful to download the Lab Notebook at https://changeacademypodcast.com/notebook See you all soon! Interested in having Monica present at your next live or virtual event? Learn more. ★ Support this ...
Apr 14, 2021•3 min•Ep. 40
A year ago, virtually every aspect of our lives changed profoundly: How we eat, shop, work, socialize, exercise, etc. These weren’t changes we chose but changes that were forced on us. Now that we are beginning to imagine life returning to something more similar to pre-pandemic, we have some decisions to make. Are there new habits that we’ve adopted that we might want to keep? Old habits that we don’t want to return to. What’s clear is that we DON’T want to do is miss this opportunity to make a ...
Apr 09, 2021•33 min•Ep. 40
Behavioralist Schlomo Benartzi defines a default as “what happens if you do nothing.“ If we’re too busy, distracted, or fatigued to make a choice or decision, the default wins the day. And because we’re often busy, distracted, or fatigued we want to be careful and intentional about which defaults are operating on our lives. In this episode, we’ll show you how to do that. Takeaways Some default mechanisms are imposed on us by society, employers, software, etc. Others we create and implement for o...
Mar 31, 2021•26 min•Ep. 39
In this extracurricular episode, we invite you to listen in to a group coaching session that we held recently with members of our year-long Weighless Program. The strategies and insights that came up in this session can be applied to any change you are working on. And if you think you might like to work with us in the Weighless Program, details are here https://weighless.life/enroll .) Interested in having Monica present at your next live or virtual event? Learn more. ★ Support this podcast ★...
Mar 28, 2021•12 min•Ep. 38
In the last episode, we talked about deciding which thoughts deserve our energy. But once we've decided that a situation deserves our attention, we need to decide how we want to engage with it. The words we use to describe (even to ourselves) what’s going on in our lives or our heads can make a big difference. Takeaways: The language that we use when we think or talk about a situation can affect how we engage with it We may want to approach different situations with different language or attitud...
Mar 19, 2021•18 min•Ep. 38
Not all of our thoughts deserve our attention or energy. Some can safely be dismissed without further examination. But we often allow unworthy or unhelpful thoughts to take up a lot of real estate in our brains--and this can negatively impact how we feel, what we do, and ultimately what we accomplish. In this episode, we talk about why it’s so important to choose which thoughts you give your energy to. Takeaways With all the thousands of thoughts going through our head, we are bound to have some...
Mar 09, 2021•24 min•Ep. 37
We often feel like we have to make a decision, make a change, make a difference, or achieve a goal quickly. But if we want the benefits to be meaningful and lasting, shouldn’t we be willing to take our time? In this episode, we consider the downside of rushing into a decision to change without considering the realities of trying to create change in too much of a hurry. Then, we'll explore some alternatives. Takeaways: Knowing or understanding how to do something isn’t the same as actually doing ...
Feb 26, 2021•23 min•Ep. 36
FREE WORKSHOP: Learn From Two of The Top Health Experts Online, Board-Certified Nutritionist Monica Reinagel and Certified Fitness Coach Brock Armstrong! https://weighless.life/toolkit FREE WORKSHOP: Saturday, Feb. 27th at 4pm ET Building Your Transformation Toolkit (The 5 things you need to achieve lasting weight loss) Plus: 6 things you think you need (but don't) SIGN UP at https://weighless.life/toolkit TO JOIN US LIVE You'll Learn: How to create the right kind of habits The secret to getting...
Feb 19, 2021•2 min•Ep. 35
Our current actions are creating our future reality. Sometimes, we have to choose between what we want right now and what we want for our future selves. Research shows that the more emotionally connected we feel to our future selves, the more likely we are to make choices that benefit that future self. In this episode, we explore ways to form a more intimate connection with your future self. Takeaways: People who can picture their future selves with great clarity make choices that are more likel...
Feb 17, 2021•25 min•Ep. 35
