Building Psychological Strength Podcast & Blog

Have you ever been talking to someone, and you felt like they just weren't understanding what you were saying?

Or maybe you're are in a relationship with someone, whether it's a romantic relationship, friendship, or professional relationship and you can't believe the other person NEVER asks your...

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p>There have been a couple times over the course of my career when I’ve found myself stuck and miserable. After all these years, I don’t remember exactly what it was about that first job that wasn’t quite working for me. I remember that it sounded perfect on paper,...

Today we're using life design to work on a very common problem these days: working from home. You've likely experienced what I have - working from home has its benefits, but it also brings with it unique challenges. And, life design is the exact approach to take in order to work through...

Many people spend 40 - 50 hours per week at work. That's 80 - 100 THOUSAND hours over a career. If you're not engaged or functioning at your peak, or if you're on the brink of exhaustion and burn out, you're having a suboptimal life experience. 

The answer isn't necessarily to make a...

I say it all the time - I actually practice the things I preach on this podcast. In fact, the improvement in my life experience that I've seen since beginning this podcast is one of the best, most unexpected side effects of the podcast!

The last 2 years have been exceptionally challenging for all...

I don’t know about you, but I am FIRED up for a new year. Maybe you’re not, and that’s ok. You might be hitting yet another wall in the face of omicron and winter weather, or maybe you’re yelling “Heck, yeah, let’s do this!” right...

Have you ever been in the position of being the only man / woman / non-binary / person of color / non-native speaker / etc in the room? How did that feel? How comfortable did you feel? How free did you feel to be your true, authentic self? How psychologically safe did you feel?

Today, we're...

“I have 8000 questions,” I said to an old friend who I hadn’t seen in quite some time. “Shoot,” he replied. 

After countless hours and at least that many questions volleyed back and forth, many of them hard, tangential, deep, personal, whimsical, or out...

You all know how much I love life design. This time of the year, it's especially relevant. So many of us take stock of our lives and think about changes we might want to make, and life design provides a set of tools and techniques to help us do that more effectively.

Today, We're speaking with...

Christmas and Kwanzaa are right around the corner (and Hanukkah snuck right past me). Maybe you love this time of year…and maybe you don’t. Maybe you’re like a lot of folks who find it quite challenging. Personally, I don’t holiday like a lot of my fellow...

Over the last 5 seasons, we've covered so many practices that we can build into our lives in order to help us thrive. But, there's one topic that we haven't really covered in any depth: creativity. Turns out, creative endeavors like painting, sculpting, poetry, dance, and other mediums tie so...

My mom and I are close. I’ve always adored her but, when I was younger, I scoffed a bit at (what I used to call) her Zen-Buddha-karma hippie interests. Like meditation. She was into yoga before it was cool, so I was exposed to it as a teen in the mid-90s. I didn’t mind yoga as...

By now, you've probably heard abysmal statistics about employee engagement (only 1/3 of employees are fully engaged in work) and presenteeism (physically present at work but mentally checked out), which brings with it staggering costs in real dollars. Fortunately, we can...

Have you ever stopped to consider just how often fear influences how you think, feel, and react? Sometimes, this impact can be slight, and we're able to quickly move past it. However, other times, these feelings of fear can be so intense that they stop us in our tracks. They lead us to feel...

December is here, which means New Years is right around the corner, bringing with it goals for creating better habits and changing our lives for the better. Except, habits are stinking hard to change!!

Our minds are hard-wired to make habitual behaviors very difficult to change, but it's not...

How many times have you said, “I feel bad”? How many times have you been asked “What’s wrong?” or told “Don’t be sad/mad/worried/_____”?

About a million, right?

And therein lies a problem. 

We are taught from early...

Being a parent is hard. It's a fact. If there's one relationship that requires us to be psychologically strong, it's the relationship we cultivate with our kids.

This week, we're diving deep into the Mother-Daughter relationship. Specifically, we're talking about how we can cultivate the type of...

If you want to maximize happiness and cultivate more inner peace, expect less.

 As a teenager, I was stoked to watch An American Werewolf in Paris. I just knew it was going to be edgy and scary - a cinematic masterpiece! What it was, however, was a giant let...

This episode is my special gift to those of you who find yourself wearing multiple hats. Individual contributor AND manager. Individual contributor AND strategic visionary. It's not easy!

Today, we're speaking with Mark Heydt. Mark has experience coaching C-suite executives, divisional...

So, you've taken the time to define what your personal values are. Amazing! Knowing your personal values is an important step in helping you align your life and your decision-making in the direction that is right for you.

But, let me ask you this: when you look at your actual behavior, the...

Several years ago, over a shared steak dinner at a local restaurant, a friend and I talked about all kinds of things ranging from physics to depression. I happened to share this little exercise I use regularly at work called Daily 3-2-1 (full disclosure, I learned it from Dr....