Women Inspired! | Weekly Interviews With Some Of The World's Most Inspiring Women!

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I’ll cut to the chase: this week’s podcast episode is an absolute master class in Life Design. If there is one single bit of friction in your life or you have even the smallest hunch that you want to make a change in your life, this episode is for you.  Today, we’re talking with my friend, Dave Dellanave. Normally, this would be where I put someone’s very official-sounding bio, but Dave is one of those people whose life and accomplishments don’t fit neatly into a polished paragraph.    Dave is a world record holding deadlifter. He is an entrepreneur who has successfully sold one company and the founder of one of the most successful gyms in the country. He’s a skydiver with 1400 jumps and counting. He’s an olive oil importer, and a documentary film maker.   He’s all of these things, and he has next to no credentials for any of them. Rather, he is the type of person who is continually asking himself whether the journey he’s on and the way he’s spending his time is aligned to who he is at his core.    Yes, it ma

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Think of a time when you faced something really difficult – a time when you had to cope with something. Get a clear picture of that time in your mind, and think about the emotions you experienced.  Now let me ask you this: what was the approach you took for coping with that situation?  Was your approach more pointed toward “making yourself feel better” by focusing on the emotions you were feeling? Or, did you focus more on the situation to try to change it or accept it?  Today, we’re talking about 2 different types of coping that people use to move through adversity: emotion-focused coping and problem-focused or situation-focused coping.  In this episode, not only do we unpack these 2 types of coping, but we dive into the nuance of what it means to cope in each way. Times when each type of coping works, and times when it doesn’t.  Finally, we end with a couple of practical, straight-forward, yet very effective strategies you can use to support yourself when you’re going through something that is requiring all

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Neuroplasticity. A concept we’ve all heard about. It’s a key driver of growth mindset, the creation of new habits, the reason why gratitude practices are so powerful, and the underlying factor that allows us to reinvent ourselves.  How amazing is that?!  But, there’s a darker side to neuroplasticity that we don’t typically hear about. A side that can dilute or even thwart some of the hard work you’re doing to develop yourself into the person you want to be.  This is what we’re covering this week.  Specifically, we dive into:  The ways in which neuroplasticity operates in our minds  The brain science behind neuroplasticity and what causes “rewirings” to occur  The little-known “dark side” of neuroplasticity that isn’t helpful to us   Why we’re asking you to stop watching the news!  Ways in which neuroplasticity might be operating in our daily lives and counteracting the hard work we’re doing to better ourselves  Finally, we end with concrete ways you can begin to use neuroplasticity to your favor. To make yo

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When you think about your day, what percent of it would you guess is being run by or influenced by habits? I bet the percent is a lot higher than you think!  You see, so much of our behavior, the thoughts we have, and our emotions are ingrained in us to the point that they run nearly on autopilot. Sometimes these habits move us in the direction we want to go, but sometimes they don’t.   Sometimes, our habits subtly nudge us away from the end goal we have in mind for ourselves, and we may not even realize the impact those small behaviors have on our ultimate outcomes.  Because of this, today, we’re focusing on the compounding power of habits.   Today we’re speaking with Will Moore. Will hit rock-bottom in his first year of college when he hit his mom and ended up in jail. Through a turn of events, Will found himself immersed in his first personal development book, and it occurred to him that he wasn’t at all on the path that would lead him to become the type of man he wanted to be.   Through years of studying

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This is the second part of a special 2-part series of the podcast where we continue our deep dive into one of the most foundational principles of psychological strength. Specifically, the inner chatter of the committee in your mind.  What is the committee in your mind? It’s the set of voices that chatter on a near-constant basis and have something to say and a judgement about every situation you find yourself in. It’s the set of mental patterns you’ve developed over time that leads you to over-function, be self-critical, and ignore your own needs. It’s the set of voices that leads you to suffer unnecessarily.  It’s time to recognize them and begin to disobey them.  During this first part of this series, we introduced you to a set of unhelpful committee members who show up involuntarily. If you missed that episode, you’ll want to go back and catch it.   Now, we’d like to walk you through a set of more helpful committee members. These are members who will not show up uninvited. Rather, they need more of a forma

This week, we released a new free resource, and I wanted to make sure you knew about it.  As the new school year approaches in the midst of the COVID epidemic, so many families have either made some very difficult decisions already or they’re facing some difficult decisions in the near future. The uncertainty around in-person, hybrid, and distance-learning means families are weighing some tough options and facing the potential of having to wear many hats at the same time.  The idea of helping your child distance-learn while working from home has many people anticipating a difficult time.  So many people have reached out to us to tell us that they already feel overwhelmed. Nervous. Worried. Their perfectionism is already kicking in with the reality that it might be tough if not impossible to do everything well.   If you head over to peakmindpsychology.com/support, we’ve put together 3 hands-on exercises that range from 3 to 6 minutes that are designed to be used in the moment when you’re feeling overwhelme

This is a special episode of the podcast. It’s actually the first part of a 2-part series we’re doing to dive into one of the most foundational principles of psychological strength. Specifically, the inner chatter of the committee in your mind.  What is the committee in your mind? It’s the set of voices that chatter on a near-constant basis and have something to say and a judgement about every situation you find yourself in. It’s the set of mental patterns you’ve developed over time that leads you to over-function, be self-critical, and ignore your own needs. It’s the set of voices that leads you to suffer unnecessarily.  It’s time to recognize them and begin to disobey them.  During this first part of this series, we introduce you to a set of unhelpful committee members who show up involuntarily. They permeate nearly every moment of our lives, influencing our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.    We’ll walk you through who each committee member is, how to recognize them, and at the end, we’ll walk you throug

Today’s show is dedicated to the person on the edge of burn out. The person who is juggling work, family, household, friends, and other responsibilities.  You are an asset in your life. You are THE asset in your life, and as an asset, you must be protected.  When you serve such an important role to so many different areas of your life, you need to make sure you’re able to show up with as much energy as possible. And, this means taking care of yourself.  Today, we’re speaking with Jamie Shapiro, Executive Leadership Coach and Master Nutritionist. Jamie is the founder of Connected EC, and she has been coaching and developing high performing teams since 1998. Her interest in the intersection of wellness and leadership grew out of her own experiences as an executive at large-scale IT companies. She managed large teams, faced enormous pressure and was often on the road.  We dive into such a great conversation in this episode. We talk about:  Approaching leadership from a whole-body perspective  The 4 holistic are

"I’m so worried about the upcoming school year.”  “I’m already struggling to be a good mom and a good employee. Now I have to be a good teacher too?!”  “I have such high standards for myself. I’m afraid of my perfectionism as school starts again.”  “I’m afraid for my health and for my child’s health.”  “I feel like I’m choosing my job over my kid’s health.”  Do any of these sound at all like the thoughts and feelings you’re having right now as the 2020 school year approaches? So many of us are facing such uncertain and difficult times as we attempt to figure out how to handle the school year as our country is still gripped by the COVID-19 epidemic.   We’ve heard from you loud and clear that you are looking for psych strength resources to help you cope through this year, and that is precisely why we recorded this episode.  This episode is NOT an episode to teach you “10 Quick Mindset Tips to Force Yourself to Think Positively” or “5 Ways to Fit it All In and Do It Perfectly.”  This episode is grounded in r

One of the really cool things that Psychology has to offer is its ability to help us understand our own behavior.   I mean, why is it that some behaviors or habits are relatively easy for us to adopt, while we struggle with others? Why do some behaviors feel more “authentic” to us, while others feel more fake?   What underlies all of that? And, more importantly, how can we use it to our advantage?  That is exactly what we’re talking about this week as we chat with Amy Bucher. Amy holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology and Undergraduate degree in Psychology from Harvard. She’s the author of the book “Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change,” and she is the go-to expert for how to use psychology in the design process. She uses her expertise in her role at the design firm Mad*Pow.  I stumbled upon Amy and her work in a weekly behavioral design email I’m subscribed to, and I instantly knew I had to get her on the podcast. I knew she’d make a great guest, and wow did she deliver!  In her episode we covered some

Self-care is more than bubble baths and manicures, but unfortunately, most self-care content we see out there is missing important components. Arguably, they’re missing THE MOST IMPORTANT components.   Today on the podcast, we’re diving into something we call The Self-Care Pyramid. Specifically, it’s the 3 key levels of self-care that you really need to have in order to support yourself as the asset that you are. Sadly, most self-care content only addresses one of these levels, and it’s typically the least important one.   During this episode, we dive into:  The 3 key levels of self-care and the distinct role each plays in supporting you at your best  The role that life design plays in creating your unique self-care routine.   The impact of basic necessities like sleep...and what happens when we don’t meet our basic needs (here is a link to the book ‘Why We Sleep’)  Tips for creating a self-care routine. (Here is a link to The Self Journal, April’s go-to self-care tool)  If there’s one thing we want you to

We’ve all been in the situation where someone, a boss, a co-worker, a partner, a friend, oversteps a boundary, we get frustrated, and we feel resentment toward that person begin to grow.  The fact is, the way we interact in these interpersonal situations has incredible implications for so many aspects of our lives. It impacts the health of those relationships, it impacts our own sanity and wellbeing, and it impacts the way we show up for other people.  Boundaries are important...but they’re not always easy to set.  It’s this reason why we’re tackling this topic in today’s episode, and it’s this reason why we’ve included a bonus module in our new, flagship psych strength building program, Ascend, all about setting boundaries.  Boundaries are one of the scaffolding elements that helps support you and the life you want to live.   In this episode, we cover:  What boundaries are (Ashley’s definition is spot-on!)  The obvious and surprising reasons why they’re critical to set  Why they’re so difficult for us to se

I’m sure you’ve seen it. The pretty Instagram post that says, “You are not your thoughts.” Heck, we’ve even posted that exact post from the Peak Mind account!  But, you might be wondering what that even means, and that’s what we’re diving into with this week’s episode of the podcast.  You see, here’s the thing: our minds are thought-generating machines. It’s their jobs. Our minds sending us a constant slew of thoughts is as natural as our stomach growling when we’re hungry.  But, many times, those thoughts feel “authentic.” They feel like they’re something we’ve intentionally decide or believe. They dictate our feelings and even our behaviors, even if it means we avoid doing something we really and truly want to do.  In this episode of the podcast, we’re diving into the ways in which our minds generate thoughts. Times when those thoughts are helpful, and times when they aren’t.   Finally, we talk about a set of tools and techniques you can begin using RIGHT NOW to start separating yourself from the thoughts t

Let’s take just a moment to review all of the people who rely on you in a given week.   Your partner. Your kids. Your team at work. Your broader family. Your friends. That's a lot...and it can be overwhelming at times.  You’ve probably seen the social media meme that says, “Self care isn’t selfish!” It’s typically written in some kind of flowy font on top of a photo of a woman in a bubble bath.   But, for the number of times you’ve seen that meme, ‘liked’ that meme, nodded along with that meme, and even repeated that meme to other people in your life, do you actually practice it?  When the rubber hits the road and you have to choose between showing up for someone else’s wants and needs when you’re maxed out and need a break, what do you choose?  Time and time again, we see people forego their own needs to continue to deliver for, show up for, and take care of others, and it’s to their own detriment.  In this episode, we’re tackling this head-on by addressing one fundamental truth: If so many people are re

Have you ever been frustrated by self-help gurus and other people who tell you to become your best self, focus on gratitude, and show up as the person you want to be....all the while, they’ve never faced a day of adversity in their lives?  The thing is, gratitude is easy when life is easy. It’s easy to show up as our best when life is going well.   But, the rubber hits the road when life gets tough and we have to put this information, tools, and techniques to work in difficult times. Today, we’re talking to a man who did just that.  Michael Arterberry grew up in a very difficult set of circumstances. The son of an alcoholic father, Michael experienced incredible hardship. Poverty. Crime. Bad outside influences. His early days had all the makings of a life that goes down a bad path.  But, at a very young age, Michael tapped into something POWERFUL: the legacy he wanted to leave behind and the life he wanted to build for his future kids and family. And, that powerful motivator helped him reinvent himself into t