Today's Personal Growth Pulse
NYT launches ‘Ask the Therapist’ column to democratize mental‑health advice
The New York Times introduced a weekly column called “Ask the Therapist,” written by psychotherapist and best‑selling author Lori Gottlieb. The feature invites readers to submit personal dilemmas, which Gottlieb answers with clinical insight, aiming to make professional mental‑health guidance accessible to a broad audience.
A Light, Slow, Deep (LSD) Breathing Meditation
Shamash Alidina introduces a Light, Slow, Deep (LSD) breathing meditation that emphasizes gentle, prolonged inhalations and longer exhalations to engage the parasympathetic nervous system. The guided practice uses a four‑second inhale, a brief pause, and a six‑second exhale, focusing on abdominal expansion rather than chest breathing. Alidina explains how this technique can counteract the shallow, rapid breaths common at desks, improving focus, energy, and mental clarity. The session lasts about twelve minutes and requires no equipment, making it easy to repeat throughout the workday.
Self-Esteem Requires Depth, Not Just Affirmations or Ribbons
Self-esteem is not something we can conjure up with a few affirming statements, or by giving them a ribbon just because they’re pretty or showed up on time.
Why Leaders Should Consider Launching a Business Book Club
Leaders such as Warren Buffett and Indra Nooyi champion reading, yet only 16% of Americans read daily, a sharp drop from pre‑digital levels. The article argues that launching a business‑focused book club can rebuild critical thinking, improve small‑talk, and develop...
Don’t Let Money and Fame Replace Your True Purpose
This is the biggest mistake I've seen great people make -- they get on a path to do great things, then the means (building a big company, making $$$) becomes the new ends, and people get lost in the dollars...
Only Adaptable, Hands‑on Leaders Survive in Agent-Driven Work
Strong agree -- "The two types of people that will not survive are pure people managers, and people that are rigid and don't want to change and evolve." A ton of managers couldn't do the work of their direct reports and...
I Gave AI My Mental Load. Here’s What Happened
A founder‑parent turned to Claude, an Anthropic generative‑AI model, to build a household operating system that automates meal planning, calendar events, and home‑maintenance tasks. By linking the AI to Gmail, Google Calendar, and Drive, she reduced weekly meal‑prep time from...
Know Yourself, Then Let Your Unique Value Shine
Can't shine your light until you know who you are and the unique value you bring to the table. #professionalsovereignty
Structured Habits Turn Overwhelm Into Clear Progress
Brain dump removes overwhelm Prioritization creates clarity Time blocking forces execution Weekly review turns effort into progress
The 3 Questions I Use to Audit My Leadership — and Keep My Team Moving Forward
University of Nevada, Las Vegas president introduced a three‑question Leadership Impact Audit to gauge real‑time effectiveness. The framework focuses on trust‑building relationships, elevating team members, and generating genuine momentum instead of busywork. By mapping stakeholders, publicly crediting contributors, and pruning...
Grow Faster by Doing Less; Stop Being the Bottleneck
Want to grow faster? Start doing less. You started your business KNOWING you could make a difference. And for a while, hustle got you here… The late nights. The 80-hour weeks. The weight of knowing it’s all on you. But here's what I...
Read 10 Pages Daily, Finish 12 Books Yearly
Reading 10 pages a day = 3,650 pages a year. That’s about 10–12 books a year. Schedule time for reading and learning in your daily routine.
Finding Good in the Hardest Moments with James Ferguson
In this episode, host Brandon Laws talks with James Ferguson about his new book, *Seek the Good and Celebrate*, which grew out of Ferguson’s 2021 cancer journey. Ferguson shares how the mantra of seeking good and celebrating—even during chemotherapy—led to...
Stuck? Juggling Past, Expectations, and Future Self
No wonder you feel stuck. You’re carrying: who you were who you think you should be and who you’re trying to become All at the same time. 💜🙏🏼
Celebrate Success Together: Compete, Don’t Just Fight
Strive for greatness, but appreciate competition and your competitors. Be secure enough in your sense of self that you can share your greatest moment with a rival, let celebrating with them be part of the magic of competing. https://thegrowtheq.com/competing-with-instead-of-always-against/
I Used Google Search Every Day for Years and Never Knew These Shortcuts Existed
The article reveals a suite of hidden Google Search operators—quotation marks, the minus sign, site:, before:/after:, and AROUND(X)—that transform generic queries into precise, time‑filtered results. It also highlights lesser‑known built‑in tools like a chromatic tuner and metronome accessible directly from...
Anxiety: Your Body Braces for Uncertain Futures
Anxiety is the body running prediction errors. It scans the present for a future that resembles the past. The somatic signal is the nervous system saying “I don’t have enough information to predict, so instead I’m bracing.”
Reappraising Anxiety
Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology shows that reappraising pre‑performance anxiety as excitement can improve both feelings and performance. Instead of trying to calm down, individuals are encouraged to label their nervous energy as excitement, shifting from a...
Experience Teaches Calm Amid Property Fires
My dad walked into my office and said: "There's a fire at one of our properties." Old me would've spiraled for the entire weekend. New me was calm and collected. Here's what 7 years and 20 units taught me about staying calm when...
One‑Third of U.S. Workers Sleep Under Seven Hours, Fueling Health Crisis and Economic Loss
A new CDC analysis shows 30.5% of American adults slept fewer than seven hours in 2024, a trend tied to rising obesity, depression and premature death. Researchers estimate the sleep shortfall costs the economy hundreds of billions of dollars each...
With Whose Eyes Do You See Yourself ?
The May 5 2026 essay explores how self‑identity is constructed through the eyes of others, drawing on Charles Horton Cooley’s “looking‑glass self,” Jean‑Paul Sartre’s notion of the gaze, and Michel Foucault’s concept of internalized surveillance. It argues that repeated descriptions from parents,...
Psychedelic Science Breakthrough: Increased Brain Entropy From Psilocybin Predicts Lasting Psychological Insight and Well-Being
Researchers at UCSF and Imperial College London reported that a single high dose of psilocybin (25 mg) triggers a rapid surge in brain signal entropy, which correlates with heightened psychological insight the next day and sustained improvements in well‑being up to...
Neuroscientist Shares Six Daily Habits to Boost Brain Health and Motivation
Dr. Alex Rivera, a neuroscientist with two decades of research, detailed six daily habits that protect brain health and sustain motivation. The routine emphasizes light movement, enjoyable activities, purposeful work, celebrating micro‑wins, regular social contact, and adequate sleep.
Sabastian Sawe Breaks 2‑Hour Barrier, Wins 2026 London Marathon in 1:59:30
Kenyan Sabastian Sawe shattered the two‑hour marathon barrier by winning the 2026 London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds. The performance, achieved on April 26, marks a new world record and comes as Sawe urges fellow athletes...
Having the Courage to Be Disliked
Alex’s excerpt from *The Never‑Retired Writer* argues that writers must accept being disliked to grow. He explains that negative feedback is inevitable and, when embraced, sharpens a writer’s authentic brand. Polarizing content filters out mismatched followers while attracting a loyal,...
Your AI Calendar Agent Is Failing Because You Haven’t Told It What to Do
In a recent workshop, participants struggled with AI calendar agents that scheduled unwanted meetings and missed important ones because their prompts were overly vague, often limited to “Help me manage my calendar.” The author argues that, like a doorman, an...
Lessons From a Boomer for Younger Generations
In a reflective Substack post timed with Teacher Appreciation Day, veteran economist and educator Robert Reich shares advice for recent graduates navigating a volatile job market. He draws on his decades‑long experience on university campuses to highlight the emotional and...
Watch the CODE Challenge: Real‑World Productivity Test
Our first-ever productivity challenge is live on YouTube: The CODE Challenge We gave three Second Brainers 30 days to put the CODE method under real pressure Three different tools Three projects with hard deadlines One shared system: Capture, Organize, Distill, Express Episode 1 sets...
Self‑care Isn’t Indulgence; It Prevents Burnout for Black Women
For a lot of Black women, proactive care feels indulgent because survival has always felt more urgent. We were taught to endure, not maintain, and to push through, not pause. Checking in with yourself before you snap, noticing irritability as information, scheduling...
How Associates Really Succeed: A Candid Conversation with Paul Karvanis
In a recent Canadian Lawyer podcast, former Stikeman Elliott lawyer Paul Karvanis outlines a three‑tier hierarchy for associate success, emphasizing consistent quality work, soft‑skill development, and strategic ownership of files. He explains the “expectation effect,” where early performance shapes an...
How I Compressed a 3-Day Goal Setting Retreat Into 2 Hours Using AI
A productivity expert condensed a traditional three‑day, cabin‑style goal‑setting retreat into a two‑hour desk session by leveraging generative AI. By prompting the model to interview him and then ask which goals to discard, he accelerated the clarity‑building phase from days...
Beat Burnout: Find Rhythm While Parenting and Managing Illness
To pen name or not to pen name. As a mom running a business while navigating chronic illness, we face all kinds of questions and decisions. Some feel trivial. Some feel overwhelming and paralyzing. And still, navigating them matters. We don’t have to burnout...
Three Books that Built My Millionaire Mindset
I’m built by books. These 3 made me rich: - Secrets of the Millionaire Mind - Think and Grow Rich - A Happy Pocket Full of Money
Commencement Advice: A Letter for What Comes Next
The AEI commencement essay warns that graduates are leaving a campus bubble into a world lacking institutional scaffolding. It highlights a historic decline in American civic participation—fewer churchgoers, volunteers, and neighborhood ties—threatening the social infrastructure of democracy. The author urges...
Choose Authenticity Over Approval in an Interconnected World
Authenticity: Are You Proud to Be You? https://t.co/5FhXSIvWHp We’re all social creatures in an interconnected world, so seeking approval is natural. But sacrificing your authenticity - your beliefs, goals, and dreams - to appease others is a tragedy. @fsonnenberg https://t.co/W1BVOTlCmE
Learn Hill Starts Before Buying a Stick Shift
I bought a stick shift from a friend, but she would not sell it to me until she taught me and I could start on a hill with no problem.
How One Grad Found Purpose in Financial Crime Fighting
A recent personal essay details how a graduate with a humanities background broke into RegTech by ticking a checkbox on a rejection email, landing a content‑automation role at Napier AI. The position quickly evolved into a client‑solutions consultancy, offering a...
Consistency Builds Trust: Show Up Even Without Motivation
Consistency creates trust — with others and with yourself. Show up even when the motivation isn’t loud.
Transform Inside to Change Your World
The world is not as it is. The world is as you are. Change your internal world first.
Day 2: How to Make 1:1 Meetings Productive When There’s No Rapport (Yet)
The Day 2 post of the 5‑Day Mastering 1:1 Meetings Challenge tackles how to run productive one‑on‑ones when you lack rapport with a colleague. It delivers five concrete tips—clarifying purpose, using a structured agenda, asking open‑ended questions, sharing brief personal anecdotes,...
Kobe Bryant’s 10 Rules for Continuous Growth
KOBE BRYANT’S 10 RULES: Get better every single day Prove them wrong Work on your weaknesses Execute what you practiced Learn from greatness Learn from both wins and losses Practice mindfulness Be ambitious Believe in your team/yourself Learn storytelling https://t.co/RC7MnvEkjZ
Self‑reflection Unlocks Love and Opens Closed Hearts
We must look at ourselves over and over again in order to learn to love, to discover what has kept our hearts closed, and what it means to allow our hearts to open. ~ Jack Kornfield https://t.co/wsgN8AuNZ0
The Greatest Legacy For Future Generations
The newsletter revisits Kanzo Uchimura’s 1894 lecture that defines four kinds of legacy—money, business, thoughts, and a noble, courageous life—concluding that the most attainable legacy is a sincere life lived with integrity. Glasp aligns its mission with the last two...
Real Work: Painful Decisions that Protect Your Business
“Working hard” is the wrong frame. Real work is making decisions that hurt your soul but save your business. Here's what every level actually cost me: https://t.co/5jQuU2E9Eo
Repeated Actions Become Habits, Then Automatic Reflexes
"Repetition of the same thought or physical action develops into a habit which, repeated frequently enough, becomes an automatic reflex." Norman Vincent Peale #TuesdayThoughts #quote #Mindset #JoyTRAIN #SuccessTRAIN https://t.co/GSCX28gwqP
Treat Life as Finite: Plan, Then Act Now
Most people live like they have forever. You don’t. If you had two weeks to live, what would you do? Write that list then give yourself two years to make it happen.
Top Engineers Invest 100 Hours Annually in Skill Development
"I spend perhaps 100 hours a year learning and developing new skills.. I think all really serious engineers are already doing this" New FRAeS, engineer and We Have Ways Fest speaker @CalumDouglas1 on tips for aeronautical engineers @MrJamesMay @AlMurray https://t.co/AR0yqVl7tT...
Find Stillness Amid Chaos to Stay Focused
When life swirls around you, make time for stillness in order to remain clear, focused, and aligned with your life’s path. https://t.co/lnaiBrLbVt
Build Lasting Productivity Systems Before Motivation Fades
10 days left before the Ultimate Productivity Workshop. Motivation fades. Systems don’t. If you’re tired of starting over every week, it’s time to build something that actually lasts. ⏳ Let’s begin. https://t.co/fRVfs3CrbL https://t.co/UnpCF6Fq4F
Leadership Accountability Drives True Culture Transformation
Accountability: The Non-Negotiable in Culture Transformation - CX Journey™ https://t.co/q8EEonrIvP Culture changes when leaders model values – and hold each other to them. Leaders are the culture. If they can’t hold each other accountable, no one else will. https://t.co/BecMw1B6ZK
Data Shows True Flourishing Lies Beyond Wealth and Career
My latest for @WordOnFire: "While the culture promotes the “Midas Mindset,” insisting that human flourishing is found in career advancement, wealth, and independence, the data reveals something quite different." https://t.co/UtNuDBdCTP