Do you remember the scene in “Back to the Future” where George McFly musters the courage to punch Biff the bully? He’d just pulled Biff out of the car to stop him from assaulting Lorraine Baines. George and Lorraine’s future son, Marty, had inspired him to take that stand against Biff. Marty knew what was
How often do you have intrusive thoughts? Perhaps they come from: Your inner critic: You’re such an idiot! Catastrophic worries: What if I get sick and die?! Self-consciousness: What do they think of me? Comparison: I don’t measure up. He makes more money than me. Over-focus on the result: I must win! Temptation: Should I
Sometimes we experience alarm signals that aren’t cause for alarm. Every month our city tests its emergency response sirens. It’s just a test. The dryer in our house buzzes several minutes before the clothes are actually dry. Stores fail to remove security tags, triggering alarms when shoppers leave with paid items. The human brain also
“I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam,” Popeye sang. Seems so accepting and healthy, doesn’t it? Yet it’s tempting to expect more from ourselves than we really are. It’s like when I took my son to play golf the other day. After he saw me beautifully hit the first three shots
According to research, one of the reasons for Forrest Gump’s emotional resilience was his metaphor for life: “My mama always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get!” This finding was reinforced by a fascinating experiment involving 50 participants who spent five minutes each day writing about their
Jennifer began her day with a well-crafted to-do list and good intentions. She ended her day exhausted and deflated. If she worked in a vacuum, maybe she’d have gotten through the list and felt accomplished. That’s not real life for her though. Too many things come at her during the day — email questions, childcare
Last week I was utterly spent. If you and I interacted and I seemed distant, discouraged, or just a bit off, I’m sorry. At times I felt myself slipping into darker mental places. Places I’ve been in my life where I don’t want to return. When I’ve confided in a few others, some have admitted
It’s not easy to lead or influence when you’re struggling to cope with the stress or frustrations of the moment or with anxieties about what might happen in the future. This is why self-regulation is such an important quality for leaders. According to Verywell Mind, self-regulation is the ability to act in a way that
The brain’s natural response to a perceived threat is fight, flight, or freeze. We perceive threats daily from people we live and work with—slights, rude remarks, inconsiderate actions, failure to be appreciated. Enter the human brain’s amygdala response: When the threat is perceived, we conclude that the other person, at the moment, is a “foe”
Several people have told me in the past week that they feel afraid of failing in 2021. Afraid they’ll fail at work, that their marriage is failing, that they’ll fail as a parent/teacher/healthcare provider, that they’ll fail in selling, leading, or delivering. Afraid that they’ll fail in their goals for the year, fail to speak
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE