At its best, work can be energizing, creative, and meaningful. It can also be emotionally exhausting and stressful. Even in healthy organizations, we all deal with interpersonal tension, stinging feedback, impossible deadlines, and the constant pressure to perform. Add in the rapid pace of change and a steady diet of uncertainty, and it’s no wonder many of us feel perpetually on edge.
Stress isn’t just a sign that something’s wrong—it’s a signal that something matters. Emotions like frustration, anxiety, and excitement all contain useful data about what’s important to us, what we value, and what we need. Yet in most workplaces, we’re trained to treat emotions as distractions from rational thought rather than as essential information that guides it. When we ignore or misread that emotional data, we lose access to one of our most valuable internal resources.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), originally developed by psychologist Marsha Linehan to help individuals struggling with chronic emotion dysregulation, offers a powerful framework for understanding and responding to emotions effectively. DBT isn’t about suppressing or indulging emotions—it’s about interpreting them accurately and acting wisely in response. The same skills that help people navigate crises and build healthier relationships can help you stay centered in a difficult meeting, receive feedback without spiraling, and recover from professional setbacks with greater resilience.
Here’s how DBT’s core principles can help you use your emotions as data—and manage stress and intensity at work more effectively.
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1. Recognize When You’re in Emotion Mind and Do Something Different
DBT starts with the idea that many of our problems arise from emotion dysregulation—feeling hijacked by strong emotions and acting in ways that make things worse.
At work, that might look like firing off a reactive email, shutting down in a tense discussion, or replaying a negative interaction long after it’s over. These reactions come from what DBT calls Emotion Mind—a state in which feelings drive thoughts and behavior, often overriding reason and long-term goals.
The antidote is Wise Mind, the integration of emotion and reason. Wise Mind is the space where you can both acknowledge how you feel and still act in ways that serve your goals.
When you notice your pulse racing before a presentation or frustration mounting in a team meeting, take a breath. Ask yourself: What is this emotion trying to tell me? Maybe it’s signaling that you care about doing well, that you value fairness, or that you need more clarity. Once you’ve decoded that data, you can decide how to respond skillfully rather than react impulsively.
2. Check the Facts
Emotions provide information, but not all that information is accurate. Sometimes they’re based on assumptions or incomplete data. You might feel angry when a manager doesn’t include you on an email chain and interpret it as rejection, or anxious when a colleague’s brief message reads as criticism.
DBT’s Check the Facts skill helps you distinguish between what your emotions are telling you and what’s actually happening. Ask yourself:
What exactly happened?
What are other possible explanations?
Am I assuming intent I can’t verify?
This isn’t about invalidating your feelings—they’re real, even if the story attached to them isn’t. It’s about ensuring your next action fits the facts, not your assumptions. When you treat emotions as data, checking the facts becomes the emotional equivalent of verifying a source before acting on it.
3. Practice Opposite Action to Change Your Emotion
Once you’ve checked the facts, you can choose whether to act on an emotion or shift it. DBT’s Opposite Action skill is a behavioral way to update your emotional data. If your emotion doesn’t fit the facts, you do the opposite of what it urges you to do.
If you’re angry and want to withdraw or lash out, the opposite action might be to approach calmly and with curiosity. If you’re anxious before a presentation and want to avoid, the opposite action might be to step forward—to practice, to engage, and to risk.
Opposite Action doesn’t mean pretending to feel great when you don’t. It’s about behaving in line with your goals rather than your impulses—and, over time, reshaping the emotion itself.
4. Use Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills to Navigate Difficult Conversations
Emotional data doesn’t just live inside us—it shows up between us. Interpersonal friction is inevitable, especially in environments with high stakes and constant feedback. DBT offers practical tools for these moments.
The skill of DEAR MAN provides a clear structure for asserting needs or saying no effectively:
Describe the situation objectively.
Express how you feel or what you think.
Assert what you want or don’t want.
Reinforce why collaboration helps everyone.
Stay Mindful of your goal.
Appear confident, even if you don’t feel it.
Negotiate when needed.
You might say:
“The last few deadlines have been difficult to meet because the workload has increased significantly. I’m feeling stretched thin. I’d like to discuss redistributing tasks or adjusting the timeline so the work remains high-quality.”
By integrating emotion and reason, you turn emotional information—I’m overwhelmed—into effective communication. That’s what Wise Mind looks like in real time.
5. Cultivate Mindfulness of Current Emotions
Mindfulness, the foundation of DBT, helps us observe emotional data without reacting to it. When you’re flooded with stress—heart pounding, shoulders tense, thoughts racing—pause for a moment and name what’s happening.
“Tension in my chest. Tightness in my jaw. Thoughts saying, ‘I can’t handle this.’”
Labeling activates the brain’s prefrontal cortex, shifting you from reaction to reflection. You move from being in the emotion to observing it. That small shift—recognizing emotion as data rather than as danger—can completely change how you respond.
6. Practice Radical Acceptance
Sometimes the data your emotions deliver points to something you can’t change: a difficult colleague, a lost opportunity, or an organizational decision you don’t agree with. Fighting that reality adds suffering to pain.
Radical Acceptance means acknowledging reality fully so you can decide what to do next from clarity rather than denial. You can say:
“I don’t like this, and it’s happening.”
“This situation is painful, and resisting it isn’t helping.”
Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation—it means seeing the full picture so you can use your emotional data wisely rather than fighting it blindly.
7. Build Resilience Proactively
Most of us think of resilience as bouncing back after stress, but DBT teaches that resilience starts before the stress hits. Skills like PLEASE (taking care of physical health) and ABC (accumulating positive emotions, building mastery, and coping ahead) help maintain emotional stability so your system processes stress more accurately.
When your body and mind are well cared for, you’re less likely to misread emotional signals as threats. Daily habits—sleep, nutrition, movement, connection—aren’t just wellness clichés. They’re how you keep your internal data system online and responsive.
A New Model of Effectiveness at Work
DBT’s philosophy is dialectical: balancing acceptance and change. In the workplace, that means recognizing that emotion and reason aren’t opposites to be managed—they’re partners to be integrated.
Emotions are data. They tell us what matters, guide our attention, and strengthen connection. But like any data, they require interpretation and skill to use well. The most effective people and teams aren’t the ones who avoid emotional intensity; they’re the ones who train for it—who can read emotional cues accurately and respond with balance and wisdom.
That’s the heart of DBT: learning to stay grounded, curious, and fully human in the middle of life’s—and work’s—chaos.
Adapted from Real Skills for Real Life: A DBT Guide to Navigating Stress, Emotions, and Relationships (Guilford Press, 2026).
By Shireen L. Rizvi and Jesse Finkelstein
This article originally appeared in Inc.’s sister publication, Fast Company.
Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, creativity, and design. Written for and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company inspires readers to think expansively, lead with purpose, embrace change, and shape the future of business.
Imagine walking into a stressful situation, feeling the weight of the world pressing down on you. Now picture your loyal companion by your side, tail wagging, ready to help. A recent study about dogs and stress management from the University of Denver reveals the profound impact dogs have on managing stress, offering more than mere comfort.
The Stress Epidemic
In today’s fast-paced life, over one-third of U.S. adults report feeling overwhelmed. This statistic highlights a growing concern about mental well-being. As stress levels rise, the consequences on health become alarming. Increased risks of heart disease, cancer, and even dementia loom. Finding effective ways to combat stress is essential, and your furry friend might hold the key.
How Dogs Help
Researchers at the University of Denver studied dogs and stress management and the biological effects of dogs on stress response. They focused on two critical stress pathways: the HPA axis and the SAM axis. During a stress test, participants either brought their dogs or left them at home. Those with dogs showed lower cortisol spikes and a balanced alpha-amylase response. These findings indicate a healthier reaction to stress.
The Science Behind the Bond
Why do dogs excel at stress relief? Their presence triggers a calming effect. While cortisol levels drop, alpha-amylase rises, showing alertness and engagement. This balanced response helps individuals deal with stressful situations more effectively. Your dog’s companionship provides not only emotional support but also physiological benefits.
Practical Tips for Stress Relief with Dogs
Incorporating your dog into daily routines enhances stress management. Take regular walks together, explore nature, or engage in fun activities. Playing fetch or practicing obedience can strengthen your bond. Consider scheduling quiet time to relax together. These moments of connection reduce anxiety and increase feelings of safety.
A Lifelong Relationship
Understanding the role dogs play in stress management opens new possibilities. They become allies in maintaining mental health. Their unconditional love and support can ease the burdens of chronic stress and PTSD.
Dogs offer more than companionship; they serve as vital partners in stress management. Their ability to lower cortisol levels and promote engagement can enrich our lives. Embrace the unique bond you share. Your dog is more than a friend; they are a powerful ally in tackling life’s challenges.
What if the very hormone designed to help you survive is actually the reason you’re struggling to thrive?
My mother relentlessly saved and sacrificed so that she could enjoy her life in retirement. But two years into retirement, she was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.
Here’s what I’ve learned since becoming a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner: she didn’t just “get” Alzheimer’s two years after retirement. It was building and building for years before that. She was making it worse with lifestyle choices: the over-exercising that women in their 40s and 50s often do, eating trans fats during the low-fat craze of the 80s and 90s.
Had I known what I know now, her outcome might have been different.
This is why I’m passionate about functional health. This is why thousands of practitioners are learning to identify and address the root causes of dysfunction before they become disease. If we can reach people in that gray space (when things are out of balance but before they become diagnosable conditions), we can change their trajectory. We can save lives.
As functional health practitioners, we see it every day: clients who’ve tried everything, followed every protocol, cleaned up their diet, and taken all the right supplements, yet they’re still stuck in that frustrating place of “I’m okay, but I’m not great.”
The missing piece? Understanding cortisol and its profound impact on every system in the body.
If you’ve ever wondered why some clients get amazing results while others plateau, or why you yourself might be experiencing symptoms that doctors dismiss as “normal aging,” this deep dive into cortisol will change everything.
What Is Wellness, Really?
Before we dive into cortisol, let’s get clear on what we’re actually working toward. At FDN, we don’t believe in “fine” or “okay.” We believe in abundant vitality.
Picture this as a spectrum:
The Right Side (The Medical Model): Symptoms → Sickness → Disease → Death
The Middle (Neutral Health): No symptoms, but no energy either. This is the “I’m fine, I guess” zone where most people live.
The Left Side (True Wellness): High energy, optimal function, metabolic fire, abundant vitality, joy for life.
Here’s the thing: neutral health equals a neutral life. When you’re operating from “I’m okay, I don’t have any complaints,” you’re not building empires, writing books, raising joyful kids, or showing up as your best self in relationships.
Good health, abundant vitality, is your birthright. It’s not just for the lucky few.
The Body’s Incredible Healing Power (And What’s Limiting It)
Your body is a self-healing machine. You know this because when you get a cut, it heals. When you break a bone, it mends. When you catch a cold, you recover.
But this healing ability isn’t infinite. If it were, we’d never age or die.
So what’s the difference between what your body can heal and what it can’t?
It’s a savings versus spending problem.
Think of your body as having a bank account called “Vital Reserve.” This is your innate intelligence: your body’s natural ability to function at 100% and fix imbalances before they become problems.
Where do you spend this precious currency? On your environment.
This has always been the case. Our paleolithic ancestors spent their Vital Reserve on not knowing if food would be available, dealing with harsh weather, avoiding predators, and navigating tribal conflicts.
Today? We spend it on mental-emotional stress, environmental toxins, and poor lifestyle habits that are constantly draining our account.
The main spender of Vital Reserve is stress.
The Modern Stress Problem: It’s Not What You Think
When most people think of stress, they picture this: work deadlines, traffic, relationship conflicts, financial pressure. And yes, these mental-emotional stressors are huge.
But there are two other categories most people completely miss:
Physical Stressors:
Sitting too long
Blue light exposure from screens
Too much coffee
Not exercising enough (or exercising too much)
Needing wine to fall asleep
Poor sleep quality
Environmental Stressors:
Depleted soils
EMF exposure
Chemicals in food, water, and air
Toxins our paleolithic ancestors never encountered
Plus, there’s the existential stress of modern life: What’s my purpose? How do I make my life meaningful when I’ll likely be forgotten in 100 years?
All of these are constantly withdrawing from your Vital Reserve account.
Meet Cortisol: Your Body’s “Energy on Credit” System
Cortisol is your primary stress hormone, and it’s actually designed to help you survive. When your environment throws stressors at you, cortisol says, “We need to put internal spending on hold and take all available resources to deal with this external threat.”
Cortisol breaks the body down for quick energy. We call this “catabolic.”
Why would your body have a mechanism for breaking itself down? Because sometimes you need energy RIGHT NOW. When your boss says, “This project is actually due in 30 minutes,” you can’t drive to the store, buy food, cook it, eat it, digest it, and then produce energy. You need quick fuel immediately.
So cortisol reaches for easy-to-break-down tissues like cartilage, tendons, connective tissue, and muscle, converting them to blood sugar.
Here’s the kicker: Cortisol is also a natural painkiller and anti-inflammatory. It masks the damage it’s doing, which is why it makes you feel amazing in the moment: clear thinking, quick reactions, pain-free movement.
Think of cortisol as your body’s credit card. You’re borrowing energy now and promising to pay it back later through rest, recovery, and healing.
When “Energy on Credit” Becomes a Problem
Throughout history, humans dealt with stress that was intense but occasional and short-lived. A wild animal attack, a natural disaster, a tribal conflict: these were serious but temporary.
Take a moment to think about this: Does this describe the stress in your life?
For most of us, stress is intense, constant, and never-ending. We wake up stressed, work stressed, drive home stressed, and lie in bed stressed about tomorrow’s stress.
This creates what we call “catabolic debt”: you’re constantly running up charges on your cortisol credit card without ever paying it back.
Chronic stress is not within our biological design.
Consider this: Anthropological studies show paleolithic humans worked only 15-20 hours per week. How many of you work only 15-20 hours per week? (And remember, “work” includes housework, childcare, and all the other responsibilities that don’t stop when you leave the office.)
They lived in close communities with cooperative resource sharing and had each other’s backs. Think about your own life: Do you know your neighbors? If you do, would they really have your back if things got serious?
Most of us are duplicating resources instead of sharing them. We’re all figuring out our own childcare, making our own meals, maintaining our own everything. There’s no interdependence, no shared load.
The cost of modern life is enormous:
70-80% of doctor visits are for stress-related illnesses
People with high anxiety are 4-5 times more likely to die from heart attack or stroke
Stress contributes to 50% of all illnesses
The Stress Response Curve: Your Roadmap to Understanding Where You Are
This is where it gets really interesting. Understanding this curve will change how you see your health (and your clients’ health) forever.
We all start in the green zone: Homeostasis. When you experience occasional stressors, cortisol and adrenaline spike, you handle the situation, then return to baseline to rest and repair.
But when stress becomes chronic, you move into the orange zone: Acute Stress. You’re constantly producing cortisol and adrenaline, never returning to homeostasis.
Here’s the thing: on your way up this curve, you feel AMAZING. Remember when you could pull all-nighters and still ace exams? When you could eat junk food without consequences? When you had laser focus for 12-16 hours straight?
That’s the acute phase. You’re running on cortisol, and it feels like superpowers.
Then you hit Peak Production. Your body says, “We’ve put way too much on the cortisol credit card. We have to cut back.”
Now you fall into the Compensatory Phase. Your cortisol numbers might look normal to a doctor, but the distribution is all wrong. Maybe you have too much in the morning and crash by afternoon, or you spike at night and can’t sleep.
Plus, you have a relativity problem. You’re used to feeling like Superman from the acute phase, so normal cortisol levels feel terrible by comparison.
Continue down this path, and you reach the Exhaustive Phase. Like a phone on low battery mode, everything still works but at 30% capacity and not for long. You’re devoting everything to just getting through the day.
The Hidden Cost: What Happens to Your Body’s Core Systems
At FDN, we focus on six foundational systems that chronic stress systematically shuts down. We call them the H-I-D-D-E-N systems, and understanding what happens to each one under chronic stress is crucial for practitioners:
H – Hormones DHEA is your anabolic hormone: the one responsible for building you back up after cortisol breaks you down. This is how you pay off your cortisol credit card. But when stress is constant, DHEA steps back and says, “I’ll come back when it’s safe to focus internally, but right now we need to keep spending on the environment.” DHEA becomes chronically low, which means your healing potential becomes chronically low.
Then sex hormones get the message: “We don’t have enough resources to fund fertility right now.” Sex hormones plummet, taking motivation and joy for life with them. This is when you get to that neutral state where you’re thinking, “I have dreams I want to pursue, but it’s just too much effort. I’ll just watch Netflix instead.”
I – Immune Your immune system is expensive to run. Under chronic stress, it says, “I cost a ton of money, so I’m going to operate at 30% capacity and not for very long.” Now you’re getting sick often, it takes forever to heal, you can’t shake that cough, and if anyone around you is sick, you know you’re going down.
D – Digestion Digestion costs a lot of energy to function properly. When you’re spending everything on stress, digestion goes into low-power mode. Now you’re only digesting at 30% capacity. Even if you’re eating the cleanest diet in the world, you can’t use it. You’re not getting the building blocks to repair or the nutrients your body needs to power metabolic functions at full capacity.
D – Detoxification Detoxification is another huge system that’s expensive to run. When your body’s bank account is overdrawn from cortisol debt, detox says, “I don’t have enough money to find these toxins, bind them up, and effectively remove them. So I’ll put them in storage instead.” Your body shoves toxins into fat cells, brain tissue, and bones, creating a toxic backlog that makes you feel slow, gives you acne, throws off digestion, and impairs hormone production.
E – Energy Production Your mitochondria can’t function optimally when all resources are diverted to stress response. This leads to that “tired but wired” feeling where you’re exhausted but can’t actually rest.
N – Nervous System Sleep, mood, and cognitive function all suffer. This is where we see the brain fog, insomnia, anxiety, and depression that so many people struggle with.
The fundamental principle of FDN: These systems don’t operate in isolation. You can’t just say, “Oh, you have classic hormone symptoms, so let’s run a hormone test.” You miss immunity, digestion, detoxification: all the other systems contributing to what we call “Metabolic Chaos.”
This is why the “take this supplement for that symptom” approach rarely works long-term. You’re not dealing with isolated problems: you’re dealing with systemic dysfunction where multiple systems are compromised simultaneously.
Real-Life Case Studies: The Stress Curve in Action
Let’s look at three real clients to see how this plays out. As FDN practitioners, we use what we call “clinical correlation,” which means we never look at lab numbers in isolation. We always consider how someone feels alongside their test results.
Case Study 1: Adam – The Acute Phase Crash
Profile: 35-year-old male, broker at a mid-size investment firm, former athlete still crushing CrossFit workouts
Symptoms: Weight gain, trouble concentrating, loss of muscle mass despite rigorous workouts, headaches
Doctor’s Assessment: “Your results are unremarkable. This is normal aging.”
Lab Results:
Cortisol sum: 9 (acute phase)
Four-point pattern: Way too high in morning, drops low at noon, crashes severely in afternoon, bounces back up at night
The Reality: How do we know Adam isn’t on the left side of the stress curve going up into acute phase? His symptoms tell us everything. If he were on the way up, he’d feel amazing and wouldn’t be in our office. Instead, he’s on the right side coming down from peak production.
His cortisol pattern explains everything: sky-high morning cortisol makes him feel wired and anxious, the afternoon crash leaves him unable to concentrate (not ideal for an investment broker), and the nighttime spike disrupts his sleep.
Even though his DHEA looks “normal,” when we compare it to his cortisol level of 9, he’s clearly catabolic dominant. He’s breaking down faster than he’s building up, which explains why his intense CrossFit sessions aren’t building muscle: they’re just adding more stress to an already overloaded system.
The Reality: Caitlyn’s cortisol sum looks normal, but the distribution is completely dysfunctional. She can barely drag herself out of bed in the morning, crashes hard in the afternoon (imagine trying to accurately record legal proceedings when your cortisol is plummeting), and lies awake at night because her cortisol spikes just when it should be lowest.
She also has a relativity problem. When she was in the acute phase, she felt like Superman. Now that she’s in compensatory with “normal” cortisol levels, she feels terrible by comparison. Her DHEA is low, confirming she’s still in catabolic debt despite the lower cortisol numbers.
Case Study 3: Maggie – The Exhaustive Phase Crisis
Profile: 43-year-old chef at a popular five-star restaurant, diagnosed with hypothyroid
Symptoms: Weight gain in hips and belly, trouble keeping up at work, depression, irregular menstrual cycle
Lifestyle: Working 60+ hours per week, consistently sleeping only 5 hours per night
Medical Status: Seeing a counselor, considering antidepressant medication
Lab Results:
Cortisol sum: 3.1 (exhaustive phase)
Four-point pattern: Way too low in morning, drops low at noon, slight bounce in afternoon, drops again at night
DHEA: Very low
Clinical correlation: Still catabolic dominant despite low cortisol
The Reality: Maggie’s body is operating like a phone on low battery mode: everything still works, but at 30% capacity and not for long. Her thyroid has downregulated because there’s literally not enough energy in the system to maintain normal function.
The depression isn’t just psychological: it’s physiological. Her body can’t afford to fund optimal brain function. Even though her cortisol is very low and her DHEA is very low, she’s still cortisol dominant and in catabolic debt.
This is why understanding the stress curve is so crucial. Three people, three different phases, three different approaches needed.
The Path Forward: Why Understanding Cortisol Changes Everything
Here’s why this matters for you as a health practitioner:
1. It explains why some clients plateau. If you’re not addressing the stress component, you’ll hit a ceiling on healing no matter how perfect the diet or supplement protocol.
2. It validates your clients’ experiences. When someone says, “I used to be able to handle so much more,” or “I don’t feel like myself anymore,” you now understand the physiology behind it.
3. It gives you a roadmap for intervention. Different phases require different approaches. Someone in the acute phase needs different support than someone in the exhaustive phase.
4. It highlights the importance of comprehensive testing. A single cortisol measurement tells you almost nothing. You need the full pattern plus clinical correlation.
The FDN Approach: Test, Don’t Guess
At FDN, we don’t just talk about stress: we measure it. We use what we call “clinical correlation,” which means we never look at lab numbers in isolation. We always consider how someone feels alongside their test results.
We look at:
Four-point cortisol patterns throughout the day (not just a single measurement)
DHEA levels and the cortisol-to-DHEA ratio
How stress is affecting all the H-I-D-D-E-N systems
The complete picture of metabolic chaos
Progress tracking with tools like the Metabolic Chaos Scorecard
Then we address it systematically through our DRESS protocol:
D – Diet: Personalized nutrition based on lab findings, not generic “healthy eating” advice
R – Rest: Sleep optimization and recovery strategies tailored to your stress phase
E – Exercise: Right-sized movement for your current capacity (over-exercise is just as harmful as under-exercise)
S – Stress Reduction: Targeted techniques for your specific stressors: mental/emotional, physical, environmental, and lifestyle factors
S – Supplementation: Targeted support based on actual lab results, not guesswork
This isn’t about generic protocols. It’s about understanding exactly where someone is on the stress curve and what their body needs to heal.
Key Takeaways for Health Practitioners
Cortisol isn’t the enemy. A lot of people talk about cortisol as if it’s the villain—commercials make it sound like cortisol just makes you “old and fat.” That’s not what cortisol does. Cortisol is a vital hormone for navigating stress. The problem is chronic stress disrupting its natural rhythm.
Understanding the stress curve is diagnostic gold. It explains why clients feel the way they do and gives you a framework for intervention. Different phases require different approaches.
Clinical correlation is everything. You can’t just look at lab numbers in isolation. A cortisol sum of 5 might be “normal” to a doctor, but if your client feels terrible and the distribution is dysregulated, that tells you the real story.
You can’t ignore stress and expect lasting results. No matter how perfect your diet protocol or how targeted your supplements, chronic stress will cap healing potential. There’s a ceiling you’ll never break through if you don’t address the stress component.
The body’s systems are interconnected. You can’t just “fix hormones” without addressing how stress is affecting immunity, digestion, detoxification, and all the other H-I-D-D-E-N systems. This is why comprehensive testing and systematic protocols are crucial.
Metabolic Chaos requires a systematic approach. When multiple systems are compromised simultaneously, you need a framework like DRESS that addresses all aspects of healing, not just isolated symptoms.
Your Next Steps
If you’re ready to master functional lab testing and learn how to identify and address cortisol dysregulation in your practice, FDN provides the training, community, and ongoing support you need.
Because here’s the truth: your clients deserve more than “fine.” They deserve abundant vitality. And you deserve the confidence that comes from knowing exactly how to help them achieve it.
When you understand cortisol (really understand it), you hold the key to unlocking transformation for every client who walks through your door.
Ready to become the practitioner who always knows what to do next?
The answer lies in data-driven functional health. The answer lies in understanding that robust health isn’t just about the absence of symptoms: it’s about the presence of vitality.
And it starts with the hormone you can’t ignore: cortisol.
Want to learn more about becoming a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner?
Discover how our comprehensive training program gives you the tools to master cortisol testing, interpretation, and protocols that get results. Because when you know how to test, you never have to guess. View an indepth case study here.
Imagine the fear and confusion when your beloved companion shows signs of lethargy and weakness. Canine Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) can strike without warning. This serious condition occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks red blood cells, leading to dangerous anemia. Early recognition of symptoms like jaundice and dark urine becomes essential for timely intervention.
Recognizing the Signs
Watch for subtle changes in behavior. Symptoms of IMHA range from mild to severe. Lethargy, labored breathing, and pale gums signal a need for immediate veterinary attention. Understanding these warning signs can save lives. A thorough examination and blood tests help confirm the diagnosis and uncover underlying causes, such as infections or adverse reactions to medications.
Treatment Strategies
Once diagnosed, treatment focuses on stabilizing the patient. This may involve hospitalization and supportive care. Immunosuppressive medications help control the immune response. Anticoagulants prevent blood clots, a common complication of IMHA. Regular monitoring ensures the effectiveness of treatment and adjusts medications as necessary. This collaborative approach fosters recovery and enhances quality of life.
Holistic Prevention
Prevention plays a crucial role in managing IMHA. A balanced, nutritious diet supports overall health. Incorporate antioxidants to strengthen the immune system. Regular veterinary check-ups help monitor health and catch potential issues early. Reduce stress through consistent routines and a calm environment. Engaging in appropriate exercise maintains physical and mental well-being.
Building a Supportive Community
Connect with other guardians facing similar challenges. Sharing experiences and advice fosters a sense of community. This network provides emotional support and valuable insights that enhance care strategies. You can also join online classes to learn more about the disease.
While Canine Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia poses serious risks, proactive management and support lead to positive outcomes. Stay vigilant and responsive to any changes in behavior. Remember, timely intervention and care can make a significant difference. With dedication and love, every companion has the potential for a fulfilling life.
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Animal Wellness is North America’s top natural health and lifestyle magazine for dogs and cats, with a readership of over one million every year. AW features articles by some of the most renowned experts in the pet industry, with topics ranging from diet and health related issues, to articles on training, fitness and emotional well being.
“If it bleeds, it leads”. This is a known and horrendous saying in the news media industry. The more horrible the news, the more likely we are to click on it. The more eyeballs they have on their articles (and ads), the more the money rolls in. And so they keep it coming. This shouldn’t be news to you, and I recognize this is also an unsettling way to start a conversation about rewiring the brain for happiness. But stay with me because this point is important.
Without active vigilance and awareness, our eyes, ears and nervous systems are bombarded with bad news, aggressive television, suspense, and drama. Since March 2020, that bombardment of stress and fear-inducing messaging has skyrocketed.
We have a nervous system igniter in the palm of our hand with smartphones available to give us our fear fix every minute of the day. The media we take in – the news clips, TV shows, books we read – are all part of it. You know what else is? The conversations we’re having with our friends, colleagues, and loved ones.
The human species is programmed to be on high alert for threats. That’s how our species has survived – by using our senses and impulses to save us from real-life threats. The intake of a signal, physical or mental, that the brain perceives as life-threatening shuts down our thinking (and our digestive processes, immune system, and other critical functions of the body to keep us healthy), and moves blood to the extremities so we can run. Basically, less critical functions are put aside so the life-saving ones can step up.
Now, however, it’s not the potential for a wild animal attack or an early frost that leaves us feeling like we’re fighting for survival. It’s every headline and ping of our phone or a billboard we walk by.
All of this contributes to how our brains get wired. As brain training lingo goes, what fires together wires together. Information we take in and think about, often in a repetitive nature, begins to hardwire in our brains. Because we naturally avoid anything that challenges the wiring in our brain, and instead the natural inclination is to continue cementing it in and seek out more of it. We are hardwiring our brains for negativity and fear, to function in a state of stress and reactivity.
It becomes cyclical. We get twitchy if we don’t get our dose. That feeling is addictive, and we seek out more and more of it to get our fix. What begins to happen is that even when we are in what should be a joyful state, or there is some good news, we bypass it all and let our brains take us to the bit that’s not right. We zero in on where and how we should be scared and worried. We have wired our brains to move to the doom and gloom.
This is why, now more than ever, taking active, intentional action to wire our brains for happiness is so critical. Rising above the chaos is in no way a simple or easy process. Your brain will create every excuse not to do it. You’ve hard wired a pattern that you are now trying to break and the resistance is strong.
Near the end of 2020, I hit my own breaking point. My brain felt absolutely fried. By what felt like divine intervention, I flipped open a book and landed on a page discussing neural retraining of the brain. I took a course and began to practice exercises that support the limbic system of my brain – the bits that deal with the stress response.
I began to actively rewire my brain for happiness. This has felt like a life changer, akin to the experience I had when I first began meditating back in 2006. It has invited me to seek out different information, consume different types of media, and create firm boundaries on who I will engage with and the topics I am willing to have conversations about. It has also changed what I share with my subscribers.
Why the excitement about this? Because this is a critical missing component for an optimal, healthy, and happy lifestyle. Our efforts are wasted if we’re deteriorating our health by allowing our nervous systems, limbic system, brain, heart, and body to be hijacked by bad news, violent media, aggressive music, and agitation-forming conversations and relationships.
The scary bit is that we don’t see and likely don’t feel this hardwiring as it’s happening. We simply don’t know about it. I didn’t know about it, at least. It’s not like falling off the wagon with other health goals, where there are usually physical signs that something’s not right. Hardwiring fear creeps up until you find yourself in a state of exhaustion, anxiety, depression, and general overwhelm. We know practicing loving-kindness, compassion, and gratitude are important, but we end up without the strength of mind to pull ourselves out of the fear cycle to see, accept and embrace all the goodness that surrounds us.
Let me tell you, there is a lot. There is so much goodness. So much connection. So much love and compassion and care; of course, you’d never know about it from the evening news. When we make these first steps to retrain the brain for happiness, slowly we can see the glimmer come back. We can come back to the joy inside and seek it out. We release the addiction we have to checking feeds, looking for the next thing to trigger us, and further hardwire the stress response in the brain. We begin to rewire the brain for happiness.
The goal is simple: look for the good. Retrain the brain to seek out the goodness, the generosity, love, and care. Focus on that. And slowly but surely, we can retrain the brain – and build up those synapses in the brain. Again, the thoughts we think matter. They build these connections in the brain. We need to fire new thoughts and ideas and build up new wiring. When we do that, the old patterns slowly break down and dismantle.
It’s time to rewire for happiness. The change is profound and life becomes a dramatically more kind, and beautiful one to be living. More so, even with all the realities of life, it becomes easier to live.
5 Ways To Start Rewiring Your Brain For Happiness
Mindful Of Your Media
Stop with the bad news. Seriously. Delete your news app, mute or unfollow the fear spreaders, or anyone who is in your network that triggers that feeling in the pit of your stomach. From now on, your evening entertainment is limited to nature shows, romantic comedies from the 90s, blooper reels, compilations of pets doing funny stuff, babies laughing, choreographed dancing flash mobs, or anything that is so lulling to your nervous system that basically makes it impossible for you to stay awake. Let that sympathetic nervous system rest and infuse your brain with joy.
Make That Gratitude Practice Real
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know #grateful this and #grateful that but you have to find a way to make it real and make it easy to be consistent with. The simplest is to grab any old notebook and leave it beside your bed. In the morning, write down three things you’re grateful for, and at the end of the day, write down 3 wonderful, heartwarming things that happened that day. You can be grateful for a hot shower, seeing your best friend, or your pinky finger. A heartwarming moment could be seeing a little boy holding his mom’s hand. Keep it simple. This is training your brain to pay attention to the goodness that is abundant all around us. The more we tune into it, and take a mental note in the day of the heartwarming moments, the more we will seek them out. We begin tuning our brains to a new frequency.
Add More Heart To Your Day
This is an easy one. I’ve been doing a training with the Heartmath Institute and they teach a technique that is really simple to take on and practice multiple times a day. Basically, all you do is take a few deep and slow breaths, imagining that breath coming in and out from your heart. At the same time, tune into heart-led emotions like care, compassion, love, or gratitude. Feel that emotion in your mind and in your body. Do this 3 to 4 times a day for a couple of minutes. You’ll start to notice that in times when you feel stressed or rushed, you will want to take a pause and take a couple of heart-based breaths. I created a free Heart Coherence Practice that you can join in right here if you’re feeling inspired.
Change The Topic
It is difficult not to fall into step talking about the worst world events broadcasted in the moment, but starting to pay attention to conversations as they head in that direction is a great first step. The reality is that most people don’t really even want to talk about it, but like most people, it is probably all they are seeing and reading about, and it’s something to share. I like to have a few other topics ready, so if a conversation turns, I will say, “How about we take this in another direction,” and then I’ll ask a question like, What are you reading right now? Have you discovered any new music lately? Have you picked up a new skill in the last few months? Can you imagine where humanity will be in 400 years at this current rate of consciousness elevation? (Okay, this last one is reserved for certain audiences only!)
Change The Company
Joking, but not joking. Recent events of life have highlighted what many of us want more of in our life, and what many of us want less of. I want fewer obligatory friendships. I want to surround myself with people who are striving to elevate themselves, to keep learning, keep thinking critically and who are also looking for the bright lights in the world. As I have said before, I can’t do my work and best serve in business or in my personal life when I am being dragged down. So when attempts to change conversations to more positive and productive topics fail repeatedly, and that leaves not much else, it may be time to move on and focus time on those who are operating on the same level as you.
It starts with Awareness
Rewiring the brain for happiness is a process. It requires vigilance, and you’ll experience this as you begin to practice. When we’re tired or feeling stressed, it becomes much more difficult to work against the tide of fear. I mean, the human mind and our natural way of seeking out the dangers in our world are how we have survived for this long.
However, there may come a point when we’re programming our brain to believe we’re in a constant state of life or death when it’s just not true. As my friend Veronica Ciandre once said, “We are only one thought away from who we truly are.”
We get to choose that thought. We get to choose who we are. We also get to choose whether we want that glass to remain half empty or on the verge of empty, or half full and only getting fuller and fuller with love, care, compassion, kindness, joy, and happiness.
On My Mind Episode 10: How to Retrain the Brain for Happiness
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The “pebble in your shoe” metaphor perfectly describes how small annoyances can slowly wear you down and ruin your day. Here are common pebbles that might be in your shoe and the best ways to remove them.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but no one said you had to wear uncomfortable shoes
If you’ve ever been on a long hike, then you know the importance of comfort and how even one minor annoyance can make the whole journey far more difficult. You walk for miles and miles then suddenly experience an intense pain in your foot. You sit down, remove your shoe, and find a hard rock tightly wedged between your sweaty socks and shoe leather – ouch!
“It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out – it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.”
This is a popular motivational quote that is commonly attributed to the famous boxer Muhammad Ali, but the original has been published as far back as 1916 under anonymous authors.
The main idea is that even when it comes to huge goals, it’s often the tiniest things that hold us back and prevent us from accomplishing them. These minor annoyances may seem inconsequential at first, but over time they can cause significant discomfort, irritation, and weakness.
What pebbles are in your shoe? What’s one small change that would make your life infinitely easier? Here’s a list of everyday examples of tiny things that may be holding you back.
Everyday Examples of “The Pebble in Your Shoe”
The “pebble in your shoe” can take many forms — physical, mental, social, and emotional. It can be any small discomfort that grows into a bigger problem over time.
Here’s a list of common everyday examples with potential solutions for each one. Often times the sooner you remove the pebble, the easier things will be in the future.
Workplace Annoyance – A colleague’s constant habit of humming or tapping their pen can be a minor distraction that becomes increasingly irritating over time.
Solution: Mention your distraction in a nonjudgmental way without getting upset at the other person. Hopefully they will be more mindful in the future.
Messy Environment – Messy environments can have a subtle but significant effect on our stress levels and clarity of mind, especially a messy bedroom or car.
Solution: We often underestimate how much better we will feel once we clean something. We put off washing the car for weeks, then when we finally do it we think, “Why didn’t I do this weeks ago?”
Losing One Hour of Sleep – Just losing one hour of sleep can have a spillover effect on the rest of your day, causing you to be more tired, distracted, and moody.
Solution: Try to go to bed one hour early. Set up a nighttime routine that encourages relaxation. Find sleeping preferences that work best for you (temperature, clothes, pillows, etc.) Establish a consistent sleep routine that works for you.
Procrastinating on To-Do’s – The more you put off daily chores or obligations, the more pressing and stressful they become.
Solution: Cultivate a healthy sense of urgency toward easy tasks you can complete in 5 minutes or less. It’s easier to just get a simple task out of the way then to let it sit in your mind for days.
Minor Health Issues – Dealing with ongoing but minor health issues like a slight headache, back pain, or seasonal allergies can be a constant, low-level irritation.
Solution: Plan day accordingly. Take any doctor recommended medications or supplements. Let people know if you’re having an especially bad day, so you may be more cranky than usual.
Negative Personalities – People with negative personalities who constantly nitpick, complain, and talk about problems too much can be draining to be around for extended periods of time.
Solution: We’re influenced by the people we choose to be around through emotional contagion and network effects. If those you spend time around tend to bring out the worst in you, it may be time to find a new group of friends or environment.
Long Lines and Wait Times – Waiting in long lines at the grocery store, DMV, or for public transportation can be a persistent and annoying part of daily life.
Solution: If possible, go to places during times of the day/week when you know they are less busy. Check to see real-time traffic on Google and plan accordingly. Consider getting groceries delivered.
Tech Glitches – Regularly experiencing minor technical problems with gadgets, such as a phone that frequently freezes or a laptop with a temperamental battery, can be very frustrating.
Solution: When possible, fix or replace faulty tech that causes daily errors and frustrations. For awhile my keyboard had a couple broken keys, and it took me far too long to finally get a new one that operated way smoother.
Spam Calls and Emails – Receiving numerous unwanted telemarketing calls or spam emails can interrupt daily activities and become a persistent nuisance.
Solution: Immediately block and remove all spam numbers and emails. Set up caller ID, email filters, and other methods to block spam and advertisements from reaching you.
Misplaced Items – Frequently losing keys, glasses, or other essential items can create a recurring source of irritation and delay.
Solution: Dedicate a single place for certain items. Don’t take them off your person unless you are placing the item in its designated spot.
Household Chores – Small but recurring tasks like taking out the trash, doing the dishes, or folding laundry can feel like never-ending, nagging obligations.
Solution: Get small and easy tasks out of the way early and often. Learn the right mindset for doing things you don’t like, including listening to music or watching TV while doing something boring or tedious.
Repetitive Noises – Ongoing construction noise, a neighbor’s loud music, or people talking loudly can be minor disturbances that cumulatively cause significant discomfort and distraction.
Solution: When possible, block out unwanted noise with headphones, music, or white noise. Find ways to eliminate distractions by changing your environment.
Traffic Jams – Regularly encountering heavy traffic during commutes can be a daily irritant that wastes time and increases stress levels.
Solution: Do some research and find the best and fastest routes during certain times of the day. Have plenty of music or entertaining podcasts you can listen to if you get stuck in traffic.
Uncomfortable Room Temperature – Hot and humid temperatures can make us feel tired and lethargic, hurting our ability to concentrate and get work done.
Solution: Use fans and air conditioner to cool down. Open windows for ventilation. Wear light and breathable clothing. Stay hydrated and drink plenty of water.
Constant Notifications – Continuous alerts and notifications from apps, emails, or social media can disrupt concentration and productivity, becoming a persistent annoyance throughout the day.
Solution: Block or mute ALL notifications that aren’t urgent (texts/calls from family or friends). Create a digital environment that doesn’t have you on hyper alert 24/7.
Removing the “Pebble in Your Shoe”
In general, identifying and removing the pebbles in your shoe can make your life a whole lot easier. Here are core principles to keep in mind:
Identify the Issue Early – Recognize and acknowledge the small issue that’s causing the discomfort. This requires paying extra attention to your environment and how it influences your mental state. A less mindful person may be in a state of constant annoyance but not able to pinpoint the source of it. Try to be more aware of shifts in your mood and what spurs them.
Take Action – Take steps to address and resolve the issue as soon as possible. Often the sooner you take measures to correct something, the easier it will be to fix. This could mean having a conversation with a colleague, fixing a technical problem as soon as you spot it, or getting a quick chore out of the way as soon as you remember it.
Prevent Recurrence – Implement measures to prevent similar issues from arising in the future, such as setting up a more ergonomic workspace, creating healthy boundaries at work or home, scheduling daily chores and regular maintenance checks, or planning your day around avoidable inconveniences.
Remember that pebbles can take many forms which aren’t mentioned here. Take the time to step back, reflect, and ask yourself, “What are the pebbles in my shoe that can be removed?”
Conclusion
Of course, life can be annoying and we can’t always remove every single pebble.
Certain problems, frustrations, and stressors are just a part of everyday life – a nosy coworker, a loud neighborhood, reporting for jury duty, or the minor inconveniences of daily chores and responsibilities.
When you can’t control something, try to accept it with grace. After difficult days, feel free to go back to your comfort zone to recharge yourself.
The key lesson behind the “remove the pebble” philosophy isn’t that life should always be a cakewalk, but that we shouldn’t make life any harder than it needs to be.
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In a fast-paced and ever-changing world, adapting to new circumstances is crucial for success. Join Dr. Patrick Porter, a renowned expert in brainwave entrainment (a process that provokes the brain to access a particular state through a variety of stimuli including sounds, lights, or electromagnetic fields) as he reveals the fascinating link between brainwave patterns and our ability to adapt. Discover how artificial intelligence (AI) may impact our well-being, and how understanding brain frequencies can empower us in navigating these changes.
Dr. Porter’s journey began with a simple yet powerful discovery: Alpha brainwaves can enhance focus. Building on this, he incorporated light and sound frequencies like Sophiegio and Noge to create effective brainwave entrainment techniques that promote focus and relaxation.
In our technology-driven world, stress and anxiety often hinder our ability to adapt. Dr. Porter explains that by actively shifting our brainwave states for wakefulness and focus, we can enhance our adaptability. Similarly, promoting relaxation with theta brainwaves facilitates deep sleep and rejuvenation.
AI, while offering immense potential, also raises concerns about privacy and bias. Dr. Porter emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and maintaining our expertise. He suggests embracing AI as a tool to streamline tasks and unlock our creativity, all while focusing on personal growth and expanding our knowledge.
Using AI responsibly and ethically is essential. Dr. Porter advocates for leveraging AI to offload repetitive tasks, giving us more time for important pursuits. By embracing a balanced approach to AI, we can ensure our well-being, while staying informed and actively shaping a future that benefits us all.
Understanding brain frequencies becomes essential in navigating the modern age successfully. Dr. Porter’s profound insights shed light on the potential of brainwave entrainment to enhance our cognitive abilities and promote overall well-being. By embracing the possibilities of AI while cultivating critical thinking, we can confidently steer our path towards personal growth and a thriving future.
Join us on our podcast episode as Dr. Porter unravels the fascinating world of brain frequencies, AI, and how they shape our lives today. Don’t miss this captivating episode that will revolutionize your understanding of the amazing capabilities of the human mind.
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Lyndon B. Johnson was known for his histrionics — his customary reaction to minor pain or illness was “frantic” and “hysterical,” wrote Robert Caro for the New Yorker in 2012. But when under pressure — real pressure, as he was the day he became president after John F. Kennedy was assassinated — Johnson assumed a near preternatural calm.
As Caro writes, “Johnson’s aides and allies knew that, for all his rages and his bellowing, his gloating and his groaning, his endless monologues, his demeanor was very different in moments of crisis, in moments when there were decisions — tough decisions, crucial decisions — to be made; that in those moments he became, as his secretary Mary Rather recalled, ‘quiet and still.’”
Certain people seem designed to perform well under moments of intense pressure. As an entrepreneur, it’s certainly a skill you’d do well to develop. Research conducted by TalentSmart found that 90% of top performers can manage their emotions in times of stress and remain calm and in control.
Exercising is the key to boosting health and longevity, but it can be challenging to fit into our busy schedules.
As a fitness trainer, I see a lot of people try to get in at least 30 minutes to an hour a day. That’s an excellent goal, but the minimum amount of exercise you need is actually less than you might think.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the recommended amount of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity for adults ages 18 and above is at least 2.5 hours a week, or 21 minutes a day.
For people who want to exercise but are crunched for time, I always suggest cardio — or exercises that increase your heart and breathing rates. It can help lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancers.
If you’re new to cardio, here’s how to get started:
This is especially important if you’re just starting out, so you know how hard your heart is working.
Ask your doctor if they have a recommended heart rate range for you. If they don’t, I suggest starting at 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate (HR). This range is considered moderate intensity, which is what the WHO recommends.
Typically, the formula is: Max HR = 220 – your age. If you’re 40, for example, your maximum HR is 180 beats per minute (BPM). Going higher than this can put too much stress on your heart.
If you don’t have a way to measure your heart rate, aim for an intensity level where it’s difficult to hold a conversation, but you’re still able to talk.
Many people think they need to set intense goals, such as doing five-hour workouts per week or training to run a half marathon.
But I see more success when people start with small, achievable goals, such as walking for 15 minutes a day. Big goals are great, but you have to break them down into bite-sized steps.
Once you’ve met your smaller goals for a week or two, gradually increase the duration and intensity of your exercise until you’re able to do at least 150 minutes of moderate cardio every week. The best workout is the one you’re able to stay consistent with on a regular basis.
Skip the “dreadmill.” Find activities that you like and that fit your lifestyle. It could be anything from dancing to swimming to playing tennis.
I also recommend trying more than one thing to avoid getting bored. Until it becomes a habit, plan a variety of activities you look forward to. This will help you stay motivated and cross-train your body.
If you’re a social person, having a partner can help keep you accountable and make workouts more fun. You can even join an adult sports team or recreation league if you want a community or team feel.
Starting a new exercise routine can be challenging, but it’s worth it in the long run. With consistency and dedication, you’ll soon see the benefits of cardiovascular exercise in your own health and fitness.
Stephanie Mellinger is a certified personal trainer, corrective exercise specialist, stretching and flexibility specialist, and nutritionist. She is also the founder of the fitness company Omnia Fit and a writer for HealthDay. Follow Stephanie on Instagram @omnia_fit_.
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“I think it is safe to say that animals are beneficial to our mental and physical health,” says Nancy Gee, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Human-Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University, told NPR.
According to the National Institute of Health, petting a pup has decreased levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and lower blood pressure. Other studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood
Dog ownership has also been linked to a longer life and better heart health, especially for heart attack and stroke survivors, according to a new study and a separate meta-analysis published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, a journal of the American Heart Association.
You don’t have to own a dog to reap the rewards. New research from Washington State University, with support from the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, found that therapy dogs can help boost college students’ attention and memory and help them tackle stress.
In another study, nine-year-olds were asked to pet dogs twice a week for 20 minutes for four weeks. Researchers measured the kids’ cortisol levels before and after the four weeks of cuddling. The result: The kids who interacted with the dogs had much lower cortisol levels than the kids who didn’t.
Why do dogs chill us out?
What is it about dogs that makes humans relax? The research on that is less clear. NPR asked Megan Mueller, an associate professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, to weigh in. She hypothesizes that dogs take us out of our heads and make us live in the moment.
“They’re experiencing their environment with wonder and awe all the time, and they’re not bringing up what happened to them earlier in the day or what they’re thinking about in the future. They’re there right now,”
And humans aren’t the only ones getting the benefits. Dogs dig it, too. “It’s a two-way street,” said Gee. “The dogs’ oxytocin also increases when they interact with a human.”
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The Exit Planning Institute found that 44% of business owners are stressed over the finances and the future of their business. If you’re finding it difficult to disconnect and heal, you may find solace in something as simple as learning the piano. With Skoove Premium, you can learn to play on your own time, in your own way, with the help of an advanced AI. Normally, a lifetime subscription to Skoove would be $300, but you can get it for $149.99.
Escape the stress of managing your business.
If the stress of running your business is inhibiting your performance, try to relax by playing music. Playing music is known as a common way of reducing agitation, and Skoove simplifies the learning process for you by curating piano lessons based on your skill level.
This lifetime subscription gives you access to 400 different lessons and thousands of instructional videos tailored to your learning. The AI listens as you play, identifies areas of improvement, and plans exercises for you. Once you have the basics down, you can even start practicing chart hits from artists you recognize including The Beatles, John Legend, and more.
Skoove works with classic pianos or keyboards. If you want to try improving morale in the office overall, you could even put a keyboard in a shared space and open it up to anyone who wants to learn and enjoy.
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In times of chaos and uncertainty, we often find ourselves overwhelmed, reacting impulsively to the stresses of the moment. It’s only later that we may realize we could have responded with more grace, poise and thoughtfulness. This lack of resilience often stems from depletion — when we are physically, emotionally or mentally drained, we become more likely to lash out or overreact when faced with unexpected challenges.
Resilience is the key to responding thoughtfully to unexpected changes. However, depletion can hinder our ability to maintain a calm and collected demeanor in the face of adversity. As exemplified by Will Smith’s outburst at the Academy Awards last year, even successful and wealthy individuals can struggle to maintain resilience. Therefore, it is essential to replenish our reserves so that we can navigate whatever struggles come our way.
The Resilient Leader Assessment, a survey of over 5,000 business leaders and professionals, revealed that many individuals are operating with depleted reserves of mental, emotional, physical and even spiritual resilience. Of those surveyed, only 6% exhibited what we call “change-proof resilience,” with 34% being vulnerable to acute and chronic stress. However, hope remains — by establishing rituals to renew and replenish ourselves in these four resilience zones (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual), we can build our capacity to regenerate our energy reserves incrementally.
It is crucial to practice resilience before we need it. We can do so by engaging in daily rituals such as exercising, meditating and taking breaks in the midst of our busy work schedules. With practice, we can also learn to react to unexpected situations in a more collected manner.
Resilience is not just about bouncing back, but embracing change with unwavering strength and adapting to the winds of transformation.
3 simple steps to help you overcome the fear of uncertainty and daily stress
Our natural response to uncertainty and adversity is often fear-based, leading to a primitive fight-or-flight response that impairs our critical thinking skills. One way to inoculate yourself against fear generated by uncertainty is a strategy I call Pause-Ask-Choose. This is a method to help you reframe and discover opportunities when you are faced with any kind of challenge. When you feel stress and tension rising in your body, use that feeling as a reminder to:
Pause: Stop and take several deep breaths. Doing this is like rebooting your computer when it is slogging along under the strain of all the tabs you have open before it freezes. This pause is meant to create space for you to be conscious of this next, very important step.
Ask: This is where you can reframe and discover the deeper meaning in whatever challenge you are facing. Reframe the moment for your growth by asking questions like: “What’s the creative opportunity here?” or “What don’t I see?” or “What can I be grateful for?”. These types of questions might not provide the immediate solution or answer you’re looking for, but what they will do is provide a new perspective, which will undoubtedly open your mind to see the situation through an entirely new set of lenses. The effect will be cascading, and soon enough, the entire situation will look differently to you — just from pausing and asking.
Choose: Choose to ritualize your recovery for higher performance in the future. When we choose, we are consciously ritualizing small, daily practices for our personal recovery to create mental, emotional, physical and spiritual integration and harmony. This choice to deal with our depletion before it becomes a problem is truly a game-changer for our levels of energy and even our attitude and mindset going forward.
The more we practice, the easier it becomes to replace our fight-or-flight responses and ritualize Pause-Ask-Choose as our default coping strategy. Taken together, the three steps give us a simple, repeatable formula for becoming a resilient agent of change, instead of a victim to it.
It may not happen overnight, but with consistent effort, we can rewire our default reactions and develop a new mindset that embraces change as an opportunity for growth. As we become more adept at pausing to reflect, asking ourselves empowering questions and making conscious choices to recover from depletion before it drags us down, we shift from being passive recipients of change to active agents who shape our own destinies. With each successful implementation of this formula, we build our capacity to navigate the ever-evolving landscapes of work and life and emerge stronger, wiser and more resilient than ever before.
Each step in the right direction is one step closer than you were before.
By choosing to ritualize our recovery through small, daily practices that promote mental, emotional, physical and spiritual harmony, we grow in our capacity to handle whatever is happening in the moment — resiliently. By prioritizing our well-being and replenishing our energy reserves, we can face unexpected challenges with calm, grace and poise. And in that moment, we have gained a distinct resilience advantage in a world that isn’t going to slow down anytime soon.
Technology entrepreneur and investor Alexis Ohanian has a lot going on.
In addition to building venture capital firm Seven Seven Six with a focus on software and empathy, the co-founder and former executive chairman of Reddit is raising daughter Olympia with tennis legend Serena Williams — and recently partnered with permanent-ink icon Sharpie.
Life’s about to get even busier for Ohanian soon, as he’s expecting his second child with Williams at the end of this year.
So how does he manage it all and strike a healthy work-life balance?
Ohanian tells Entrepreneur he’d like to reframe the question.
“I don’t think it’s about work-life balance,” he explains. “I don’t think anyone can really accomplish that. It’s not about balancing. If you’re chasing balance, you’re implying, like Thanos, [that] you’d be able to create something perfectly balanced. And the reality is work-life [is] never 50/50. You’ll never achieve anywhere close to that — nor should you.”
But that doesn’t mean one area should be constantly prioritized over the other either.
“There are times in your life where you will need to focus on the career, the work,” Ohanian says. “There are times in your life when you need to focus on life. It’s on a spectrum that’s ever-flowing back and forth.”
Ohanian likens that ebb and flow to a relationship, noting that a partnership is never exactly 50/50. Sometimes you’ll come home from work with just 20% to give while your partner has 80%, he explains, but the key is keeping communication open amid the constant flux.
Rituals, routine — and the “surprise and delight” factor
Before getting married, Ohanian says he was perpetually in “CEO Mode” and “terrible” at finding any semblance of equilibrium between his work and personal life. He recalls pushing himself in his 20s, not thinking about what he ate or how often he exercised.
That changed when he entered his 30s and became a father. “I was like, I need to change everything so that I can be around for as long as possible for this little one,” Ohanian recalls. “And that’s been one of the superpowers, frankly, of becoming a dad.”
Today, Ohanian relies on the “discipline of routines” to keep himself grounded, even when it’s more difficult on the road. Right now, that looks like starting his morning off with a cold plunge; he spends 10 minutes in an ice tank before working out, taking a shower and having his first cup of coffee.
He also takes some time to write down his daily goals in those early hours. Those might be personal or professional, Ohanian says.
When he is at home, Ohanian sits down for dinner with his family at 6 p.m. every night — “without exception.” He also harnesses the power of “surprise and delight,” a tactic that can be just as effective during family time as it is in business.
“It’s much more memorable when you break a pattern of someone’s expectations,” Ohanian explains. “These things we advise our founders to do, I also do for my daughter and my wife — that’s the other side of the routine of the discipline. If your default state has this kind of routine and expectations to it, then you also create the opportunity to do stuff that feels out of the ordinary and different.”
Take breaks and find activities that help you de-stress
Ohanian also relies on a few helpful strategies when it comes to managing stress levels. He likes taking walks during the work day, sometimes making a phone call or two while he strolls his South Florida property, “a decent amount of space” complete with chickens and “a little farm action going on.”
He’s also returned to drawing, a hobby he picked up as a child. Over the years, Ohanian’s used the skill to create several company logos, including Reddit’s. But today, the activity helps him “de-stress” (his preferred implement is the Sharpie S-Gel pen). And he’s been “thrilled” to see Olympia take to drawing as well.
“Even before the Sharpie partnership, we were doing these drawing classes where I’d fire up YouTube — this was during Covid — [and go to the channel] Art for Kids,” Ohanian says. “It’s this whole family where they do drawing tutorials — the dad, kids, wife, and they draw together. I would do these with Olympia. Olympia gets so fired up [by this] drawing class, and I bring [Serena] into it, or if we have grandparents over at the house, they’ll do it too.”
Ohanian acknowledges how many resources he has and how difficult reaching a healthy flow state can be for other entrepreneurs and professionals juggling their responsibilities at work and home. That’s why he’s a big advocate for paid family leave; Ohanian wants all American families to have access to it.
With the right support, some people might even find that having a family unlocks new levels of professional ambition and success. Ohanian certainly found that to be the case for himself.
“There’s this little human who you care more about than anything else in the world,” Ohanian says. “You actually don’t care about anything else in the world other than this kid’s perception of you. Another gear unlocks once you have that dose of humility, and it’s great. Like I said, ironically, I think it’s made me so much better. I think this chapter of my career as a dad is going to make the previous one look like amateur hour.”
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
For a host of reasons, burnoutis a frequent topic with my clients these days. It’s become a common word — lobbed back and forth in workplace conversation, lamented as a side effect of a difficult project and almost the expected affliction of any high achiever. But it’s more than just a word.
Let’s align on a definition. Burnout isn’t simply fatigue or exhaustion. We tend to throw the word around a bit when talking about times of stress or difficulty, but burnout is more specific and chronic. While not recognized as a medical condition per se, the ICD-11 defines burnout as:
“A syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.”
Note that I’m exploring the professional context here, but burnout can apply to other aspects of life more broadly. Each dimension is separate but interconnected to the others, and as such, each requires its own remedy.
The latter two dimensions require a bit of introspection on what your values and goals are and how those values are met in your work. What motivates you? How do you connect what you do to meaningful impact within your team or even the broader world? The trap, though, is to stop at this introspection and let it fester into resentment. Often, as we experience burnout, the default is to withdraw and disconnect. This begins a vicious and self-perpetuating cycle and robs us of the real opportunity to make a change: connection. This change could look like open conversations around role and purpose, assertiveness with peers and setting boundaries, to name a few.
Deferred renewal
There are hundreds of ways to parse this idea, each one driven by the unique context of work culture and personality. But connected to the first dimension, I want to shareone of the biggest traps that provides a fertile growing ground for burnout. I call it deferred renewal. It looks like this: “If I can just get to the weekend, then…” or “If I can just get to the end of this project, then…” or “If I can just get to my vacation in June, then…”
The risk here isn’t just that you’re deferring on your opportunities to recharge until some later date, it’s that you implicitly give yourself permission to work unnecessarily harder now. The problem with “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion” is that this negative balance compounds over time, to a point where even a two-week vacation isn’t nearly enough to restore balance. Worse still, the time off gets painted with a tone of dread for having to jump back into work after it’s all over.
I’m all for vacations and weekends and celebrating the end of a big project. But the risk is when they become our saviors from the exhaustion of the day-to-day. Burnout is a daily malady, and as such, it requires a daily remedy. It begins with a willingness to look at the unit of time between waking up and going to sleep as the only real fuel tank that matters for long-term success. Plenty of things get in the way of this: complex responsibilities, the ever-growing to-do list, short-staffed teams, etc. But saying “no” to things today means saying a bigger “yes” tomorrow.
So, what can we do about this, both we as individuals suffering from a growing sense of burnout and we as leaders caring for our teams who might be on that same path? The first step is really what was mentioned above: recognizing this as a daily intervention. The instant we go into an energy debt by convincing ourselves we can defer our renewal to a later date, we’ve started down the slippery slope of burnout. Sure, there are important project deadlines that come up, but if every day feels like an emergency, then it’s only a matter of time before the emergency becomes real.
Once you start to embrace the idea of a daily intervention, try keeping track of your daily energy over the next two weeks. Notice what takes away from your fuel tank and what adds to it. Notice when this happens and why. Notice the difference between times of day and the days themselves. Then, build a plan with actionable steps that you can check in on daily to maximize recharge and create energy-net-positive days.
It’s not easy. It may require you to say “no” to things that feel hard to say “no” to. You may not feel like you’re keeping up with your peers. These are all common stories — some of which might even be true — that can feed the process of burnout. But however real these stories are, the most real story is this: If you continue down the path of deferred renewal, someday you won’t have a choice. Today, you do. Good luck on your journey.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
“I don’t feel well. Call 911.”
That was supposedly what I said to my husband, who was sitting next to me at a midtown Manhattan restaurant, but I’m not quite sure. I do recall telling him a bit earlier about a new business angle my maternity brand, Emilia George, could potentially pivot to, as well as taking out my cellphone to snap a selfie while jokingly observing: “This is gonna be the moment when the next great business idea was born!”
Suddenly, all was a blur, and quiet — far too quiet for a New York eatery — followed by people around us panicking and wishing me well. Then there was an ambulance, a stretcher and siren, then doctors, nurses, EKG and blood work, and a few hours later my husband took me home. I’m a mom, so went immediately to check on my baby and toddler, but didn’t know what to say or think in the wake of the diagnosis.
It wasn’t long thereafter when I began asking, “Can someone continue to be an entrepreneur, a thriving and successful leader if he or she has panic attacks?”
Take it from me: In response to such a question, a great many in your circle will beg you to stop your entrepreneurial journey. This is because they assume, such attacks indicate that the stress of being an executive is simply too much.
And let’s be clear: Panic attacks are not to be taken lightly, and those who actively (or even vaguely) expect them to appear anywhere and anytime could impede their own self-confidence as well as the confidence of those on the other side of the table. But over some years, I’ve learned ways of handling anxiety while continuing to be an effective leader — methods that could help fellow entrepreneurs going through a similar challenge.
1. Prioritize your bottom line: physical, not fiscal
We all want to build successful businesses, but our lives do not end there. When a leader in a company prioritizes his or her wellbeing, everyone else follows, and a resilient team is built as a result. One example was my decision to close Emilia George boutique for a day when a staff member was not feeling well. Even though he proposed to keep the store open for “just a few hours more,” I refused, because the few sales we could’ve made during those hours were never going to equal a team member’s health.
All founders are on this entrepreneurial journey for the long haul. They may get a fiscal boost during sales seasons or fundraising, but physical health is the one asset that a leader needs to take 100% control of.
2. Lean on your team
Leaders need to be able to trust their teams with healthy boundaries. And this is not a weakness, it’s trust. When there is no second-guessing or suspicion when a CEO needs, say, to be hospitalized or otherwise requires care from professionals, effective working relationships thrive.
When a solo entrepreneur starts to build a founding team, its evolution is much harder than one might think. Founding members are the ones that build the company culture, so it’s critical to pick those you can trust for the long haul. This is hard, and it takes time, but once you have such a core group, trust its members with your healthy boundaries so they know how to support you.
A paramedic told me once about a CEO who asked to have his head covered while being loaded into an ambulance — worried that company stocks would drop if the public knew he was ill. Of course, it’ll be New York Times “Stop the presses!” news if Elon Musk is taken into the hospital, but most of us are not on that rarefied wealth/influence list (yet).
It’s important to recognize that everyone deals with something challenging, whether health-related or not. Do not judge yourself because you are dealing with anxiety — even though I fully grasp the imaginary image any leader wants to maintain. Be at peace with the fact that you have an anxiety disorder, and may have panic attacks out of nowhere. The more accepting you are and less concerned you become about others’ perceptions, the more confident you’ll be in front of a team and the more reassured they’ll feel in turn.
Anxiety disorder among entrepreneurs is becoming more prominent and ramped up, particularly since the onset of Covid-19. Knowing you have it and not letting it deter your resolve and commitment to a business takes strength, as well as a support system. Once we embrace mindful actions to manage it, the closer we are to telling new and compelling leadership stories.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As the owner of several digital marketing companies, I’ve found that mindfulness has played a crucial role in my success over the years. Not only has it helped me to stay focused and productive, but it has also allowed me to approach challenges and difficult situations with a clear and calm mind.
Mindfulness helps us to stay focused and present in the moment. As entrepreneurs, we often have a lot of tasks and responsibilities vying for our attention, whether it’s two dozen tabs open in our browser or six consecutive Zoom meetings on a Tuesday afternoon. It can be easy to get overwhelmed and lose sight of what’s most important. Mindfulness allows us to quiet our racing thoughts and stay focused on the task at hand, which can greatly improve our productivity and effectiveness.
I think all entrepreneurs can benefit from this important aspect of self-improvement, and in this article, I’ll outline some of the key benefits and importance of mindfulness for entrepreneurs like myself.
Mindfulness is a mental state of being fully present and aware of one’s thoughts, feelings and surroundings. It is the practice of bringing one’s attention to the present moment, without judging oneself or one’s experiences. Mindfulness is often associated with meditation and other forms of contemplative practice, but I try to go beyond meditation by incorporating it into daily activities such as eating, walking and even working.
For me, the goal of mindfulness is to help me develop a greater sense of clarity, focus and peace of mind. But the benefits at work, I find, are the strongest. If I’m present and less distracted at work, I can do more in 3 or 4 hours than I often do all day when I’m in a less mindful and more restless state.
Achieving mindfulness at work
One specific way that mindfulness can improve focus and concentration is through the practice of mindfulness meditation. This involves sitting in a comfortable position with a straight back, closing my eyes and focusing on my breath. When my mind starts to wander, which it inevitably will, I simply acknowledge the thought and then return my focus to my breath. This practice trains my mind to be more present and focused on my work, which has amplified my productivity dramatically over my career.
Sometimes, even just sitting in my office chair and counting 10 deep, mindful breaths is enough to put me in a more mindful state.
Benefit 1: Improved concentration and productivity
Mindfulness can improve focus by helping identify and let go of distracting thoughts and emotions. For example, if you are working on a project, and your mind keeps wandering to other tasks or worries, mindfulness can help you become aware of these distractions and let them go, allowing you to refocus on the task at hand
For example, writing a 500-word piece of copy might take me an hour or two, depending on the subject matter. However, after a 10-minute meditation session, I’m able to concentrate for long enough to write the same amount of copy in 30 minutes. Ultimately, I save time, and I’m more productive.
High levels of stress and anxiety can have a negative impact on an entrepreneur’s physical and mental health, leading to health issues and decreased well-being.
One way I reduce stress and anxiety is by prioritizing self-care. This can include taking regular breaks, engaging in physical activity, getting enough sleep, and, of course, practicing mindful relaxation techniques such as meditation or deep breathing. It is also important to create a work-life balance and set boundaries between work and personal time, which mindfulness meditation and distraction-free living can help you achieve.
Benefit 3: Enhanced creativity and innovation
Mindfulness is the practice of bringing one’s attention to the present moment, without judgment. This can help to increase focus and concentration, which are important for creativity and innovation. When we are mindful, we are more likely to notice things that we might otherwise overlook, and this can spark new ideas and creative solutions to problems.
Additionally, mindfulness can help to reduce stress and increase feelings of well-being, which can make us more open to new ideas and more receptive to the creative process. For me, mindfulness creates the conditions that are conducive to creativity and innovation.
Benefit 4: Improved relationships and business communication
When leading a company, mindfulness can help improve business relationships and communication through greater focus, clarity and empathy. When we are mindful, we are better able to listen actively and fully engage with others, which can foster better understanding and collaboration.
Mindfulness can also help reduce stress and improve overall mental and emotional well-being, which can enhance our ability to communicate effectively and build positive relationships with colleagues. A more mindful frame of being also helps us to be more self-aware and in control of our own thoughts and actions, which can prevent misunderstandings and conflicts from arising.
This is what has made mindfulness such a valuable tool for improving my communication and building stronger, more positive business relationships in my entrepreneurial life.
Next time you’re at your work desk, try minimizing your web browser, relaxing your eyes and counting a few deep breaths. Notice the things around you. Acknowledge your thoughts as merely thoughts, and discard them if they aren’t useful for achieving your present goals. Take a walk outdoors, and observe your surroundings in the same way.
This, for me, is the core component of mindfulness as an entrepreneur. And, if you’re anything like me, you’ll find that your business results will be greatly amplified as a result of the improved focus, communication and useful relaxation that mindfulness brings.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
According to a January 2022 article from the American Psychological Association, employee burnout is hitting record highs around the globe, and in every industry — with “…nearly 3 in 5 employees report[ing] negative impacts of work-related stress, including lack of interest, motivation or energy.” This not only harms employees but your business will likely be hit hard too, in the form of reduced productivity, errors, healthcare costs, incivility and attrition. To recession-proof your business, you need to help your people heal from burnout, and then shift your culture to eliminate the causes using the science-backed strategies provided.
What is burnout?
Put simply, this term is defined as a medically diagnosable condition of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion due to long-term stress. Authors of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle (Ballantine Books, 2019), sisters Emily Nagoski, Ph.D. and Amelia Nagoski, D.M.A. have identified its three main components:
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
These days, you might be feeling like the world you knew is slipping away from you. Like you have less control than ever before and events far bigger than you are whipsawing your life in directions you never thought you’d be heading.
It’s ok. We’re all going through the same turbulent journey together. We’re all in one giant lifeboat in this great adventure called life. These are truly unprecedented times between a generational pandemic, a war in Europe, rampant inflation, scary talks of recession. But this is when truly strong people are built. When everything external seems out of control, it’s important to realize that the only thing they can truly control is ourselves. Once we understand this unchangeable truth we start to ease up and see that going with the flow is the optimal way to deal with the outside world.
What is “going with the flow”? Is it a hippy term or some feel-good mantra? No! Going with the flow simply means separating what’s in your control from what’s not, and letting the uncontrollable unfold without judgment or exertion on our part.
Guess what? It’s actually the most freeing thing in the world to know that the world is unchangeably chaotic. As Frank Herbert famously said, ” The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.” Imagine how boring life would be if it was already completely mapped out for us and we were following a set storyline like a character in a video game?
Here are a few tangible ways to implement going with the flow into your life today.
Going with the flow allows us to stay in the present moment and separate the essential from the non-essential.
The best way to keep ourselves centered and smooth in our daily lives is a two-step question process.
Is this something that’s in my control? (this question filters out the changeable from the unchangeable)
What can I do right now to better this situation? (if it is in your control)
I’ve found that asking yourself guiding questions during the day is the most effective way to keep yourself calm, focused and unmoveable in the face of thousands of thoughts and decisions that come our way each day.
True progress comes from mastering variables within our control. It’s impossible to comprehend the amount of time we spend worrying and poring over fictional mental situations, trying to solve the unsolvable.
By focusing purely on what we can control and letting go of the rest, we give ourselves freedom and space to operate to our maximum potential.
2. Plan then relax about the future
As human beings, we have an uncanny knack for subconsciously pinning our happiness on some imaginary time in the future. Guess what? Our future is shaped solely by what we do now. In the present moment.
Once we’ve gotten stronger at going with the flow, the future doesn’t seem so scary because we’re living firmly in the right now.
It’s definitely important to plan for milestones we want to achieve in the future, but if our happiness is always tethered to some other place and some other time, we’ll never be truly fulfilled.
Enjoy the things that truly matter today like your health, your relationships, and the meaning behind your work.
Former NFL linebacker Matt Mayberry puts it best, “One of the major causes of unhappiness is to not appreciate what we already have and focus our energy and effort towards what we don’t have.”
We all have set goals we want to achieve in the future. It’d be silly not to have targets to aim towards that mold us into better, smarter, stronger human beings. The key is the balance between living in the now and taking time to intentionally plan for the future.
Try this: Take a 20-30 minute walk at the end of the day and give yourself complete permission to think about the future. You might start out with worries about what might unfold. Try to consciously think about your goals and how you’re tracking towards them, or dreams you want to accomplish. The more you practice this the more you’ll start honing your focus toward positivity in the future instead
The way you get to your dreams will take many winding paths. It’s not a straight line to the end goal, it’s a journey filled with pitfalls, ups, downs, and everything in between. It’s critical to go with the flow because that’s how you truly soak up the journey. All of the little experiences that happen on the way to the “finish line” are what you might look back on as your favorite parts of life.
