Pursue What Matters: Recent Episodes
Dr. Melissa Smith
Have you ever feared losing your edge and found yourself pushing too hard, only to end up burned out? You’re not alone—many people fall into this cycle. This week on the podcast, we're tackling this concern head-on: exploring why burnout happens and how to avoid it while maintaining your drive.
www.drmelissasmith.com/260-losingyouredge
Are you feeling stuck in survival mode, wondering how to get through when there’s no end in sight? This week on the podcast, we’re exploring three core components of self-compassion: self-kindness, recognizing common humanity, and mindfulness. We’ll discuss how understanding these concepts can help you move beyond just surviving and start thriving.
Join me as we dive into practical ways to break free from survival mode and embrace a more compassionate approach to life.
www.drmelissasmith.com/259-thrivingorsurviving
Feeling anxious about taking action? It's normal—the highest anxiety often comes from anticipation. This week on the podcast, we're discussing how taking small steps can help overcome a crisis of confidence and reduce anxiety. We’ll dive into five key steps: get compassionate, get quiet, get perspective, get help, and get feedback. Join me as we explore each of these strategies in depth and learn how to regain your confidence.
www.drmelissasmith.com/258-overcomeconfidencecrisis
Have you ever experienced a crisis of confidence? If you haven't, you might not be truly living because ups and downs are part of life—whether at home, in relationships, or at work. This week on the podcast, we're exploring what happens when your confidence falters and how to navigate it. You're not alone, and there are valuable insights to help you through it.
www.drmelissasmith.com/257-confidencecrisis
In psychology, we often explore tools that help us navigate life, and one of my favorites from the trauma literature is the Window of Tolerance. It's a powerful concept that I use both in clinical practice and leadership. It provides a framework for understanding our experiences and helps us manage them more effectively.
Tune in to today’s podcast episode to learn what the Window of Tolerance is and how you can apply it in your life.
If you've listened to the podcast before, you know I'm a bit of a geek about attachment. In today’s episode, we’re diving into the topic of secure attachment—a key factor in happiness, security, and healthier relationships.
Attachment forms early in life, and we all carry its impact with us. Without awareness, those early attachment issues can affect our present-day relationships.Join me as we discuss how to address relationship concerns and take small steps toward building a more secure attachment.
Life is tough, and we all face stressors that impact our minds and bodies. When stress hits, our nervous system often reacts in ways that aren't always helpful.
Tune in today as we discuss how to manage these reactions and develop effective coping strategies. It's more than just finding comfort. It's about learning how to handle stress in a way that works.
Hello! I hope you've had a wonderful summer while I've been away! I'm excited to get back into a new season of the podcast with you.
One thing that's been a theme for this podcast, and my life, is that we should always be learning. So on this episode, I wanted to share 5 things I've learned since last season.
Thanks for listening!
It's been a long road to get to 252 podcast episodes, and all I can say is thank you! It's been a great journey, and there's plenty more journey ahead of us.
Our journey is going to look a little different moving forward: I'm excited to announce that I'll be releasing podcasts in seasons, just like many of your other favorite podcasts.
Follow along with me on Instagram at @dr.melissasmith for updates on the new seasons, and daily posts about the latest in leadership research.
So long for now, and remember: love and work, work and love, that's all there is.
What do the most successful couples do, and what do they avoid? Join me today as I review The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman, PhD, who’s taught us the most about making marriage work.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn the secret weapon of successful marriages
- Understand the 7 principles to making marriage work
- Identify one key way to strengthen your relationship
Attachment style is based on attachment theory, a very useful theory of human development that psychologists have been utilizing to better understand how humans function in relationships. Join me today for a review of attachment style, learn more about your attachment adaptation, why attachment matters in work and love.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify attachment styles
- Learn how attachment theory applies to love and work
- Understand how early attachment relationships impact present-day functioning
We all want deep, enduring love, but how many of us actually achieve that? Today, we're talking about true intimacy, what it is, and how to get it in your life.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand what whole love is
- Learn healthy selfishness
- Find true intimacy in your relationships
Do you have a quiet ego or a noisy ego? We all know people whose ego walks into the room before they do. A quiet ego is self-assured but always makes room for others.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand what ego means
- Identify different components of an ego
- Learn how a quiet ego doesn't mean a silent ego
As we step into February, the month of love, here's a thought to ponder: do you consider yourself a loving soul or a bit of a prickly pear? More importantly, what do others perceive, and can you see yourself clearly?
Join me today as we kick off the month by taking a moment to look in the mirror.
This podcast will help you:
- Discover that the key to well-being is the ability to love others unselfishly
- Reflect on how loving you are
- Learn why loving people are high in both agency and communion
Have you ever wondered if you're living up to your full potential or just sliding by? How can you even tell? Join me as I review Hidden Potential by Adam Grant, packed with the latest research on discovering your hidden potential. It's an eye-opener that might reshape your perspective.
This podcast will help you:
- Discover that everyone has hidden potential
- Learn how to unlock your hidden potential
- Identify key character skills to fulfilling potential
Curious about what happens during Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy? Wondering how it works and how it addresses mental health concerns?
Join me as I continue the conversation into the process of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, unraveling its intricacies and exploring its impact on mental well-being.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn what to expect during ketamine therapy
- Understand what treatment looks like
- Identify common experiences during ketamine treatment
There's been a lot of talk about ketamine therapy in addition to talk of psychedelic medicine. The face of psychiatry is changing dramatically, and while it's not a magic bullet, these therapies can help individuals get traction where they've felt stuck before.
Join me today as I talk about Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy and whether it could benefit you or someone you care about.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn what Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy is
- Understand how it works
- Identify when this treatment can be helpful
Life has challenges, growth opportunities, and trials that will bring you to your knees. But are you awake to all life has to offer?
Join me today as I invite you to abandon numbing, embrace perspective, and be aware of the profound ways life is calling to you.
This podcast will help you:
- Abandon numbing as a way of waking up to life
- Embrace perspective to learn life's most meaningful lessons
- Be aware and mindful to better answer life's call
I track my years by the books I read, and so it's the perfect time to share with you some of my favorite 2023 reads. Join me on the podcast as I give you some top picks in literary fiction, health, history, memoir, and self-development.
This podcast will help you:
- Discover new reading genres and authors
- Develop perspective about life through the eyes of others
- Commit to positive health practices for greater well-being
It can be so frustrating to discover you're caught in another trap of your own making. Learning to ask the question "Why does this keep happening?" can be the first step to greater self-awareness. Learn to side-step traps and cycles that keep you stuck.
Tune in today to learn how to be awake and alert in your life and decision-making. Don’t let unconscious patterns take you down.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify signs that you might be living life on autopilot
- Learn how to disrupt ineffective patterns
- Understand unhelpful patterns and vicious cycles
As humans, we have an unconscious life and a conscious life. Think of your conscious life as the top of the iceberg and your unconscious life as the base of the iceberg beneath the surface of the water.
Most of us are clueless about our unconscious life but fail to appreciate how life under the iceberg drives emotions, thoughts, and behavior in powerful ways. It's time to uncover the iceberg through self-awareness. Join me.
This podcast will help you:
- Cultivate self-awareness to better understand life under the iceberg
- Utilize curiosity, compassion, and slowing down for greater consciousness
- Understand why self-care is often the path that leads to self-awareness
Are you overly protective of your children, constantly fretting about their decisions? Maybe you think this is good, responsible parenting.
Think again. Tune into today's podcast to learn about the dangers of helicopter parenting, how good parents are vulnerable to over-parenting, and why you should give your kids space to fail.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn what a helicopter parent is
- Identify the dangers of over-parenting
- Develop perspective about the gifts of failure, figuring things out, and well-being
Did you know that, in addition to self-regulation skills, humans benefit immensely from co-regulating with others? You may have a strong toolbox of self-care activities, and that's great. But did you know secure attachment can make a huge difference in your well-being?
This week on the podcast, I’m making the case for secure attachment and well-being.
Join me as I review The Power of Attachment by Diane Poole Heller.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand attachment's role in relationships
- Identify your typical attachment style and what you can do to become securely attached
- Learn how secure relationships help you grow
Please tell me you are a reader. Reading connects you to humanity. You see what is true for all of us, even though we are so unique; you see that your problems are not new; you see familiar patterns and potential solutions to your challenges. Reading offers perspective.
Join me on this week's podcast to explore the benefits of reading.
How reading can help you:
- Broadens your perspective and connections
- Continuous growth fuels your adaptability
- Boosts knowledge and leadership skills
Are you able to embrace distress in the face of uncertainty?
We often find ourselves seeking quick solutions, numbing our emotions, and avoiding the discomfort that comes with facing our pain. We like to think that we confront our pain head-on and are adept at managing our emotional experiences.
However, when life hits us with distressing emotions, many of us instinctively turn away.
Join me on this week's podcast to discover how you can develop the resilience to tolerate your own distress and why this is vital for unlocking your full potential.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn what it takes to never give up
- Identify how persistence helps you succeed despite challenges
- Increase your distress tolerance and resilience
Do you have a scarcity mindset, where you fear that you aren’t good enough?
Or do you approach life from an abundance mindset or the belief that you are enough, that life is good, and that you have what you need to be successful? Do you believe that you can be prosperous and that you have the time you need to take care of the things that matter most?
Mindset can have powerful implications for the way you operate in the world.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn why a scarcity mindset comes from fear while an abundance mindset comes from a belief that you are good enough
- Identify how an abundance mindset can bring hope and trust in life
- Accelerate growth through abundance
Leaders are not meant to have all the answers, and their ability to approach life humbly can be one of their best qualities for leadership.
Asking the question “What can I learn here?” Will not only open you up to growth, learning, and development, but it will make it more likely that others will come to you for guidance and with answers that you need to lead more effectively.
Join me to learn why investing in growth can set you apart from others.
This podcast will help you:
- Invest in growth as a way of increasing skills
- Ask “what can I learn here” as a way of cultivating humility
- Be curious about the world around you
So much about life is learning to manage yourself well. It's been the focus of our series on cultivating curiosity. And today, I have an excellent book to share with you on this topic. Join me as I review, On Managing Yourself by Clayton M. Christensen.
This podcast will help you:
- Determine how you may want to measure your life
- Be cautious about telling others what to think
- Identify how to manage yourself well
Learning to trust yourself is an important goal in life. But how does that happen? As you quiet yourself and tune into intuition, trust builds. Intuition is an important way of knowing, not the only one. But when we disregard intuition, we often undermine ourselves.
Getting quiet and curious is the key to cultivating intuition.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn what gets in the way of trusting yourself
- Quiet yourself in order to hear how intuition speaks to you
- Identify the value of intuition for decision-making
As a leader, you may be more accustomed to giving help, but the ability to accept help is just as essential to a life well-lived.
It is an act of humility and vulnerability to accept help, and will connect you to others. If you want to be more competent and experience more joy in daily life, you should ask for help.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn how accepting & appreciating help will bring more joy to your leadership
- Accepting help as a way of overcoming perfectionistic strivings
- Recognize the value of give and take in relationships
We live in a society obsessed with overcoming our weaknesses. While there may be some value in looking at your challenges, research shows that your time and energy will be much better spent focused on developing your strengths.
In other words, don't spend much time trying to overcome your weaknesses—this will be a less effective use of your time!
This podcast will help you:
- Identify your strengths
- Learn why team members should play to their strengths
- When adding to your team, avoid replication of strengths that already exist on the team
We all undermine ourselves at times, whether we recognize that fact or not. Self-sabotage is one of the sneakiest ways we get in our own way, yet if we lack awareness, knowing how to help ourselves can be challenging. This week, I will review Brianna Wiest's book, The Mountain is You.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify self-sabotage in yourself and others
- Learn how you might be engaging in self-sabotage
- Understand your triggers as your guide to freedom
Is it possible to be critical of yourself yet compassionate toward others?
This is a challenging issue for many of us, especially women who spend so much of their lives giving to others yet being quite self-critical. This week on the podcast, I want to look at how self-compassion creates the best foundation for strong relationships and compassion within your community.
Join me today as I discuss how to nurture your relationships for a better life.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn about women, compassion & the double bind
- Understand the power of authenticity & wholehearted living
- Choose connection over comparison & competition
I've got a question for you: Where are you headed in life? Do you know? Do you care? Purpose can be a big, gauzy topic, but today I want to help you get practical about purpose and see how understanding purpose clarifies life. It makes all the difference in thriving vs just surviving.
This podcast will help you:
- Clarify your purpose
- Identify daily priorities that keep you aligned with purpose
- Ask key questions to gain clarity about life direction
Owning your story is about taking complete responsibility for every aspect of your life. This sounds straight-forward, but believe me, it can be harder to do in actual practice. As humans, we are master storytellers. We love devising elaborate stories about how we've been wronged and why we can't take responsibility for our lives. And some of these stories may even be true.
But here's the thing: You must still take complete responsibility for every aspect of your life. Join me as we explore what it means to own your story.
This podcast will help you:
- Discover why owning your story is essential for growth
- Understand the difference between your story & reality
- Learn the skill "the story I'm telling myself"
As children, we were all afraid of something, the dark monsters under the bed, the principal. As adults, the subject of our fears may shift, but we still have fears. This week I will review Meera Lee Patel's book, My Friend Fear. It's time to get more acquainted with your friend, fear.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the role fear has in your life
- Learn to befriend your fear
- Discover why fear is essential to growth
We grow in the process of facing our fears. There is no other way. It's like exercising a muscle. The muscle becomes stronger through the breakdown of the muscle tissue. It isn't a pleasant process, yet it is the process of growth and development. Join me on the podcast to learn more about the process of growth.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn the FOUNDATION acronym for self-leadership
- Discover why presence of fear is not what matters, but your response to fear means everything
- Achieve success by facing fears
Did you know the quality of your eating can impact your effectiveness at home and work? Perhaps you know it’s important to get something to eat, and you even know that what you eat matters, but did you know that how you eat also makes a big difference?
This podcast will help you:
- Learn the signs of unbalanced eating
- Remember the basics of balanced eating
- Identify the benefits of intuitive eating
What does it mean to truly renew? Does it require two weeks on a deserted island? Well, while that sounds very nice and would indeed be renewing, you don’t need weeks away from your life in order to renew. And in fact, adopting daily practices of renewal can make all the difference in your well-being.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn why renewal is essential to sanity and well-being
- Improve your sleep
- Prioritize physical, emotional & mental recovery consistently
Are you constantly plugged in? Either with work, email, screens, or multitasking? Maybe it’s time for a pause. I promise that by learning to unplug, even in small amounts, you will experience greater well-being. Join me as we discuss how you can unplug to benefit your life.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn how to unplug effectively
- Overcome the guilt of unplugging by tapping into its benefits
- Identify specific ways to unplug consistently
Not too long I reviewed a book, Radical Acceptance, which is all about learning to accept rather than resist reality. Well, I’m back this month with that book’s companion, Radical Compassion, by Tara Brach, PhD. It’s so good. Join me to learn more.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify how compassion can help you harness both mindfulness and compassion in moments of distress
- Learn how compassion includes accepting vulnerability
- See how you can nurture yourself with gentle comfort and compassion
Do you consider yourself a creative, or do you defer to others when it comes to innovation? As humans, we are all creative, and engaging creativity is core to being a human. Join me on the podcast as I discuss why creativity can show up in so many ways, and is really about giving yourself permission to explore and think outside of the box.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand why creativity is essential to a secure foundation of self-care & self-awareness
- Identify ways you engage creativity at home and work
- Stop over-scheduling so you can make room for creativity
In my life as a psychologist and leadership coach, I tell those I work with that there are two no-brainers that everyone should be doing to help themselves, and that they shouldn’t even consider more substantial interventions until they are doing these two things consistently:
1 - Balanced Movement
2 - Mindfulness Practice
Join me on the podcast to learn how balanced movement can strengthen your well-being.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn why exercise will do more to keep you mentally & physically sharp than almost anything else you can do
- Identify types of exercise for balanced well-being
- Understand the many mental & physical benefits of exercise
Spirituality cultivates meaning and moves us toward purpose-driven living. The spiritual life can shift us out of our anxious navel-gazing so that we can take in the grandeur of life and relationships. The spiritual life is the path of peace and purpose and makes you a better leader.
Tune into today's podcast with me to learn why you need a spiritual practice to strengthen your leadership.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn how you can build a secure foundation of leadership
- Understand the definition of spirituality
- Identify how spirituality can strengthen your leadership
We live in a world designed to distract us from what matters. Mindfulness is an invitation to climb against forces designed to keep you distracted, stressed, and numb to the beauty of life. Join me as I discuss Neurodharma, a new book by Rick Hanson, PhD book. It’s designed to help you bring mindfulness into your life in simple ways and explains the neuroscience of this process.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn seven practices of the highest happiness
- Identify how you get caught in monkey mind
- Understand the importance of mind-body connection
Self-leadership is a way of life and is all about how you show up to life. It's focused on how you DO life. The way you live your life is your best example and most important legacy.
This podcast will help you:
- Remember that self-leadership is a marathon, not a sprint
- Understand the role of consistency
- Learn why consistency should be flexible, not rigid
As a leader, you need to be the calm in the storm. You've got to be able to slow yourself down when faced with many stressors, uncertainty, and others looking to you to lead, make decisions, and provide certainty to them. Curiosity helps you overcome primitive hardwiring for extreme reactions in the face of uncertainty and stress. Curiosity allows you to harness the power of presence to respond mindfully rather than impulsively.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn how curiosity helps you harness the power of presence
- Tell the difference between emotions & feelings
- Identify the characteristics of curiosity
As humans, we are hardwired to simplify decision-making and move to extremes with our thinking when stressed and facing uncertain situations. When stressed, there is a tendency to react to the extreme. Join me on the podcast as I discuss what gets in the way of curiosity.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn the distress & externalizing behaviors
- How detachment & internalizing behaviors work
- About the impact of numbing emotions
You can have all the tactical leadership skills in the world, but if you don't have self-awareness, no one will want to be led by you.
Tune into the podcast as we discuss the importance of leading with curiosity. We will dive deep to ensure you have what you need to Lead yourself and others well.
This podcast will help you:
- Why curiosity is essential to leading confidently
- Understand the demands of self-leadership
- Why self-care cannot be sacrificed
When facing life's challenges, do you feel like you're battling uphill? Maybe you feel like you've tried everything to slay your demons. Join me as I review Tara Brach PhD, book Radical Acceptance, to learn what's so radical about radical acceptance.
This podcast will help you:
- With strategies to manage the pain of inadequacy
- Learn the wings of acceptance
- Be attuned and aware of the cues of our body
To succeed, we need to get delegation right, but most of us have no clear process for ensuring we delegate effectively in order to drive better results. A clear process pins down task ownership, communicates why a task matters and what it entails, and, perhaps best, it empowers teams to bring autonomy and skill to task execution.
Tune into my latest podcast to learn how having a clear delegation process can be a game-changer for your teams.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn a simple communication & collaboration process for better results
- Identify when a delegation process is needed
- Understand the value of a strong accountability chain
The best teams get more done through effective delegation. Leaders who fail to delegate fail to develop their teams. This week we will continue our conversation about delegation. We will learn 3 common delegation errors and what to do about them.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify 3 common delegation errors
- Learn how effective task assignment accelerates team effectiveness and efficiency
- Improve process management
Tell me I’m not the only one. Delegation can be so challenging and yet it is critical to effective leadership. If you tend to be a control freak or wear perfectionism as a badge of honor, delegation may be your last resort at work.
Join me this week to learn more about how to delegate and why it really matters. Your future self will thank you.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn how failure to delegate leads to three specific failures at work
- Understand why delegation can be challenging and what to do about it
- Challenge unhelpful beliefs that keep you from effective delegation
If you've been listening to the podcasts recently, you know we are experiencing a loneliness epidemic. As humans, we are hard-wired for connection and yet too many of us feel alone and adrift even if we can name folks we love and care about. Today, I've got an excellent new book to share with you Plotonic, by Marisa G. Franco. It's all about how understanding the science of attachment can help you be a good friend and have good friends.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify your needs in relationships
- Understand how friendships transform our lives
- Develop specific practices to help you make good friends
We’ve been taught that fitting in is the name of the game if you want love, affection, and connection. Ironically, however, these efforts lead to the exact opposite outcome: loneliness and disconnection.
Join me on the podcast to learn the difference between fitting in and true belonging.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify how belonging requires our basic safety needs to be met
- Learn why individual needs to belong vary greatly
- Focus on activities that cultivate belonging
Our society is experiencing a loneliness crisis, which carries high costs for health and well-being. Loneliness is a natural outgrowth of not feeling a sense of belonging. It’s the experience of feeling lonely even when surrounded by people you know and care about. Today we'll explore fitting in as a false substitute for belonging.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand why fitting in is a poor substitute for belonging
- See why fitting in may be killing us as a society
- Learn the different ways we try to fit in
What does it mean to have a life well-lived? No, it's not money, power, looks, or influence. Join me on the podcast as I discuss what 40 years of research points to.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the research of "what makes life worth living"
- Learn 13 sources of well-being
- Clarify that well-being doesn't mean you're happy all the time
We all want to reach our potential, but it can be challenging. Join me as I review Transcend by Scott Barry Kaufman, an excellent book about the new science of self-actualization.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn how to reach your potential
- Understand two categories of human needs
- Identify why purpose is essential to your potential
It's time to create a more nuanced understanding of your needs. Are you getting your needs met? How would you even know? Join me Today as we explore 3 keys to understanding and meeting your needs.
This podcast will help you:
- 3 Keys to understanding your needs
- Understand why you are driven by some needs more than others
- Learn how you can meet your needs effectively
Are you tired of your unhelpful patterns? The ways you get emotionally hooked? Maybe you lash out, perhaps you shut down. Join me today as I share an excellent tool to help you overcome your miserable patterns.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn how you get emotionally hooked in relationships
- Slow down emotional reactions for greater calm
- Understand how self-awareness and self-care lead to greater accountability
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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When you look at your own life, maybe you don't consider that you have a trauma history. Maybe you don't. But when it comes to our families, we can often experience death by a thousand cuts, or relational trauma.
Join me today to learn what you need to know about relational trauma.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the impact of relational trauma
- Learn 4 types of psychological trauma
- Identify 3 takeaways to help you be resilient
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
The word trauma has been thrown around a lot in our society in recent years. And it's easy to be confused about what that term actually means. And, in fairness, the way the term has been used has shifted over the years.
Today, I don't want to get into that debate - it's a contentious one with strong positions on either side. But I do want to get practical in terms of helping you understand your own experience.
This podcast will help you:
- See how your history shows up in your present relationships
- Understand how you become emotionally hooked
- Respond as the wise adult and not the scared child
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
The most successful marriages know this truth: You cannot love from above or below.
Partners must be equal. They make decisions together and see life's decisions as shared. This doesn't mean that everything is fair and perfectly equitable, but it means that you're approaching life as US, not ME. And this approach makes ALL the difference.
Join me on the podcast as I review Terrence Real's book, US.
This podcast will help you:
- Challenge the myth of the individual
- Start thinking like a team
- Understand that you cannot love from above or below
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
If there's one thing you could do to create more happiness, security, and peace in your life, focus on strengthening your marriage. And yet most of us are woefully neglectful of our marriages. We believe love is enough, and I assure you it is not.
You reap what you sow. If you aren't daily attending to your marriage, don't be surprised when your relationship is full of thorny weeds.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the Relationship Storm Cycle
- Bring more sun into your relationship
- Focus on doing your own work first
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
In the past two years, our use of technology has skyrocketed with some big impacts. Don't worry, I'm not here to tell you to throw your desktop in the trash in favor of paper and pen, but I want to share some numbers from a large scale survey to help you assess how you are doing when it comes to digital exhaustion and what you might want to do moving forward.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify if you are digitally exhausted
- Learn how digital burnout affects your team
- Combat digital exhaustion in 3 ways
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Do you know the factor that makes the biggest difference in whether your team will succeed or fail? It’s all about engagement. Join me for today's podcast to learn how the team leader’s engagement can make or break a team.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand what matters most to ensure an effective team
- Learn why team leader engagement is so important
- Learn 5 traits of engaged team leaders
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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You owe it to your teams to organize your meetings, engage team members, and invite everyone to prepare for a focused, effective meeting. Tune in today as I review Michael Hyatt’s excellent book, No Fail Meetings.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn 5 Steps for No-Fail Meetings
- Sync up your team for success
- Have better questions for better meetings
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Most of us accomplish our work on teams. But is your team effective? As a leader, you play a key role in engaging team members and making your teams more effective. Join me on the podcast to learn how to have a more effective team.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify why it’s imperative to lead your team
- Bring more discipline to decision-making
- Understand the power of effective team decisions
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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Today I want to help you assess your team size and effectiveness. Because when it comes to teams, size does matter.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the value of team-based work
- Identify the ideal team size for better decisions
- Organize your teams based on effectiveness, not status
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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Tune in for my favorite reads of 2022. I hope you find something on the list that captures your imagination, shifts your understanding of yourself or others, and offers you an escape that is connecting.
5 favorite books of 2022:
- The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
- Radical Compassion by Tara Brach
- Burial Rites By Hannah Kent
- The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
- The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'farrell
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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When it comes to conflict with others, it is a human tendency to jump to the defense. Last week we talked about how the stress response kicks up during conflict. Today, we're going to focus on the second task of conflict management, seeking understanding.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand why you feel threatened in conflict situations
- Decrease defensiveness in conversations
- Learn three ways to seek understanding
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Last week we learned about the importance of healthy conflict. This week will tackle the most challenging part of conflict, managing yourself.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn how to take responsibility for yourself
- Understand when you’re in a stress response
- Slow down challenging conversations for better coping
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Do you go along just to get along? Join me for the first episode of a 3-part series to help you take a stand on the things that matter most to you.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn about healthy conflict
- Aim for conflict transformation, not conflict resolution
- Get better at navigating conflict
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Learning to parent with challenges can be tricky. Join me as I interview Kimball Lewis, CEO of Empowering Parents. He gives us practical skills to help bring success to your home.
This podcast will help you:
- Take a practical approach to parenting
- Develop skills to address challenging parenting issues
- Identify choices and consequences for effective behavior change
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Thanks again to Kimball for joining the podcast! Check out his links down below for more info on him and the great work he does!
Free PDF: 5 Ways to Fix Disrespectful Behavior Now
Empowering Parents Website
The Total Transformation Program
Parent Coaching
Join me on the podcast as I review Susan Cain's book, Bittersweet, to help you understand the value of the bittersweet in your life.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the meaning of bittersweet
- Learn why life needs a balance of light and dark
- Identify how being bittersweet can help you understand others
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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How’s your relationship with work? Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it, maybe you are totally clueless about the impact work has on you.
Join me this week as I help you get curious about your relationship with work.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify your relationship with work
- Understand how work is impacting you
- Learn why your relationship to work matters
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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Today I'm going to share 3 key benefits of working less. This can be a great move for you and your organization.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand why working less can result in higher productivity
- Know the health benefits of working less
- Learn how working less canbenefit your organization
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Are you working too much? Join me on the podcast this week as I share the benefits of working less for you and your organization.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand why work-life balance is such a challenge
- Identify the costs of too much work
- Learn that working less brings big benefits
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In the past, when it came to productivity, the only factor ever considered was time management. But today, we recognize that productivity hinges on more than just time. Join me on the podcast as I review Chris Bailey's book, The Productivity Project, to help you assess your productivity.
This podcast will help you:
- Assess if you are working on the things that matter
- Learn 3 keys of productivity
- Understand the rule of 3 to increase productivity
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What if I told you there might be a better way to do annual performance reviews? We all hate them anyway. Tune in as I explain why an alternative to performance reviews may be best.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn why performance reviews are ineffective and inefficient
- Identify the 3 ways performance reviews fail
- Discover a simple and effective alternative to annual performance reviews
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Do you rely on tech for so many things in life? If you're not careful, tech could start ruling you. Understanding these 5 signs can help you ensure you're on the right side of tech.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify the 5 warning signs of social media addiction
- Find solutions to get out of autopilot mode
- Learn 7 solutions to make tech work for you
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Do you rely on tech for so many things in life? If you're not careful, tech could start ruling you. Understanding these 5 signs can help you ensure you're on the right side of tech.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify the 5 warning signs of social media addiction
- Find solutions to get out of autopilot mode
- Learn 7 solutions to make tech work for you
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
How often do you find yourself in a scroll hole? Mindlessly scrolling on your phone throughout the day? Do you have a bad tech habit, or something worse? Join me to better understand the difference between a bad tech habit and an addiction, and learn two key questions to help you manage tech use more effectively.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the difference between a habit and an addiction
- Determine how worried you should be about your social media use
- Identify two questions to manage your social media use better
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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Did you know there is a science behind wanting? Will you want the same thing in 10 years that you want today? Join me on the podcast as we take a look at these important questions with a review of Luke Burgis' book, Wanting.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand why you want what you want
- Learn how mimetic desire works and how it can undermine you
- Clarify how your values inform desire
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Do you sometimes feel victimized by your thoughts? You know, those ugly thoughts that undermine you, criticize you, and judge you? Join me today as we talk about how to change your mind for good.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand what negativity bias is
- Learn what neuroplasticity is and how it works
- Change your thoughts for good through neuroplasticity
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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There is a science of coping, and it hinges on understanding how your brain is organized. Learning to manage your stress activation response makes all the difference in well-being.
Join me to learn the 3 Rs of coping and how to most efficiently and effectively help yourself.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the 3 R's of coping
- Develop targeted coping skills for greater well-being
- Identify specific needs so you can problem-solve more effectively
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You may be trying to do things to help yourself while failing to recognize how these things are mismatched with your needs. It's time to learn your stress patterns so you can target your coping.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify your stress pattern
- Understand your brain structure and organization
- Learn 3 R's (Regulate, Relate, Reason) to cope with stress
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More available at www.drmelissasmith.com/175-brainbodyconnection
Do you understand what happens to you when stressed? Do you know how coping can help you? Join me as I break down the functions of the brain so you can cope more effectively
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the structure and function of your brain
- Learn what your brain is doing when you’re stressed
- Identify brain-body regulation keys to help you cope
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
See more at: www.drmelissasmith.com/174-brainonstress
This week is all about coping skills. Coping skills are the antidote to life's challenges. Coping skills contribute to better physical and mental health, greater happiness, and better overall well-being.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand why coping skills are so important
- Learn 7 evidence-based coping skills
- Consistently use coping skills in daily life
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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www.drmelissasmith.com/podcast
Tune in for Part 2 of my series on slowing down, where you’ll learn to stop being busy and instead focus on doing what moves the needle most. In this episode, we will discuss questions to ask yourself and I’ve got a handy tool to help you assess the quality of your activities.
This podcast will help you:
- Organize your highest priorities
- Gain clarity on purpose by utilizing key questions
- Improve both productivity and satisfaction
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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This week is Part 1 of a 2-part series where I discuss why you need to slow down to speed up. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but tune in to learn how slowing down can help you move forward.
- This podcast will help you:
- Turn down the speed of life to prioritize what matters most
- Learn the importance of self-talk & self-reflection
- Understand why healing activities are essential to doing more of what matter
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don’t miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
This week I will review The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling. This book can be a good guide to actually executing against your best ideas. Tune in as I discuss four disciplines to help you succeed when going after that big idea.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn four disciplines of execution
- Understand the benefits of focusing on lead measures
- Execute on your big ideas
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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Today on the podcast, I share 7 steps to help you make better decisions with more confidence. Think of it as a decision-making routine in your back pocket.
This podcast will help you:
- Ask a better question when it comes to decision-making
- Build confidence in your ability to make wise decisions
- Develop a 7-step decision-making process
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/168-7stepstobetterdecisions
Want to make more confident decisions? This week, we will dive into 3 common mistakes that might be tripping up your decision-making.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn what to avoid when making decisions
- Focus on purpose-driven decisions
- Discover two solutions for making better decisions
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Show notes available at: www.drmelissasmith.com/167-3decisionmistakes
This week on the podcast, ill share three main reasons decision-making is challenging. I'll help you understand these reasons so you can have more confidence in your ability to make good decisions. We will understand why we lose sight of our purpose and what is important when making the right choice for you.
This podcast will help you:
- Focus on purpose when making decisions
- Balance both the big picture and daily details when making a choice
- Ask better questions so you can make better decisions
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/166-makebetterdecisions
We can all succeed, but how you do it will be highly specific to you, and the best shortcut is to understand and play to your strengths. Join me on the podcast as I review the book, StrengthsFinder by Tom Rath, which is not only a great book but also a strengths assessment to help you identify your strengths.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify and develop your unique strengths
- Understand why your gifts are important
- Learn how a strengths assessment can help you
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/165-strengthsfinder
This week, we will discuss the importance of understanding your strengths. Doing so makes your application of grit much more effective. I will help you understand how you can see your strengths through a personal assessment and how you can play to your strengths.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the importance of your strengths
- Identify your strengths through a strengths assessment
- Play to your strengths for greater success
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show Notes available at: www.drmelissasmith.com/164-playtostrengths
Grit can be a beautiful thing and is foundational for success, but what you apply your grit to matters. Tune into today as I discuss why grit alone is not enough.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn the meaning of grit
- Prioritize your direction of girt
- Understand that grit alone may not be enough
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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Show notes available at: www.drmelissasmith.com/163-gritbackfire
It can be painful to admit you may not be skilled in an endeavor you are pursuing. But the sooner you can see this reality clearly, the sooner you can begin climbing the right mountain. Join me as I discuss why focusing on developing your existing strengths gives you a much higher Return on Investment (ROI).
This podcast will help you:
- Choose effective strategies for growth
- Learn to let go of your weaknesses
- Prioritize developing strengths
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Boundaries ensure you thrive! Your willingness to hold yourself accountable will set the foundation for greater well-being and thriving in life. Today on the podcast, I will help you understand the leading causes of doing too much, and I’ve got many ideas to help you set boundaries with yourself and others.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand that burnout has different causes
- Set work, lifestyle, and personality-focused boundaries
- Keep boundaries with yourself
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don’t miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/161-boundarieswithyourself/
This week, I am reviewing Damon Zahariades' book, The Art of Saying No: How To Stand Your Ground, Reclaim Your Time And Energy, And Refuse To Be Taken For Granted. Tune in as I talk about why it’s a good idea to say “no” more often, and how to set and hold boundaries. You’ll learn that you’re responsible for being clear and respectful, but you are not responsible for others’ reactions.
This podcast will help you:
- Feel better about saying no
- Set and hold boundaries
- Say no at work
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Are you doing too much? Join me to talk about how you may be pushing yourself to the brink. Burnout is definitely a thing.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the impact of burnout
- Identify signs you may be doing too much
- Learn specific ways to help yourself do less
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Join today to learn how mastery and self-worth are foundations for building secure self-esteem both at work and at home.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand mastery
- Identify how mastery can help you trust yourself
- Learn what the paradox of self-esteem is
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/158-buildmastery/
Join me on the podcast to understand how cultivating self-compassion over self-esteem builds the foundation for greater well-being, happiness, achievement, and meaning. As we strengthen our foundation of self-worth, it becomes internalized. We know we matter, and we are less vulnerable to how others see us.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify what self-worth is and why it matters
- Learn that your view of yourself will always be tied to your relationships
- Cultivate self-compassion and forget about self-esteem
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/157-strengthenselfworth/
With this week's podcast, I'll be diving into Ryan Holiday's new book: Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave. In this episode, I'll unpack the elements of fear, cowardice, courage, bravery, and lastly, the elements of heroism, an expression of valor.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify the elements of fear
- Learn how acts of courage can inspire you
- Understand why the world needs your courage
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/156-courageiscalling
Join in as I discuss the two things you’ll want to focus on in order to feel better about yourself. I will share what healthy self-esteem is and how you can truly cultivate this both for yourself, your family, and those you lead.
This podcast will help you:
- Understand what healthy self-esteem is
- Learn how healthy self-esteem develops
- Identify the two components of healthy self-esteem
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
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Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/155-feelbetter/
Join me on the podcast as I talk about the problem of self-esteem and give you practical suggestions to keep you on the right side of self-esteem.
This podcast will help you:
- Identify the problem of self-esteem
- Learn how facing challenges sets the foundation for secure self-esteem
- How self-esteem can feed narcissism
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Join me this week on the podcast as we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of self-esteem. We’ll explore why self-esteem is good if done right and give you some solutions to better apply self-esteem in your life.
This podcast will help you:
- Learn the impact of the self-esteem movement (hint: it’s not all roses)
- Understand the difference between secure & insecure self-esteem
- Identify effective ways of cultivating secure self-esteem
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/153-isselfesteembadforyou/
With this week’s podcast, I’ll be diving into Pink’s incredible book: The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. In this episode, I’ll unpack why Pink says regret is so important to life, and I’ll help you use regret to “make smarter decisions, perform better at work, and deepen [y]our sense of meaning and purpose.”
This podcast will help you:
- Understand the value of regret
- Identify the four core regrets most of us experience
- Learn how to make the most of the regret you have
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/152-powerofregret
Falling for the sunk cost fallacy leads to emotional bias, poor decision-making, and worse outcomes. Join me this week as I help you identify this fallacy and - more importantly - help you overcome this challenge for better decision-making.
This discussion will help you:
- Learn what the sunk cost fallacy is
- See how emotional bias can lead to poor decisions
- Develop a decision-making process that overcomes the sunk cost fallacy
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/151-sunkcost
Finding the sweet spot in life between two extremes is a daily struggle. With confidence, it’s just the same. Too much confidence can turn to arrogance and burn the bridges of relationships. Too little confidence will make you ineffective and easily ignored. This week I want to help you find that sweet spot of confidence.
This discussion will help you:
- Understand the difference between competence and confidence
- Focus on both self-development and skill development
- Find the sweet spot of confidence using the confidence matrix
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/150-confidencematrix/
This week I want to help you navigate the journey from novice to expert and avoid the issues of overconfidence that may leave you vulnerable to getting stranded on the top of Mount Stupid.
This discussion will help you:
- Identify how you might get stuck on Mount Stupid
- Understand the relationship between competence and confidence
- Apply consistent practices to help you succeed on your journey
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
https://drmelissasmith.com/149-mountstupid/
This episode is all about understanding true confidence and casting off common misunderstandings of confidence. Applying the principles in this episode will help you be truly confident while gaining the trust and respect of those around you.
This discussion will help you:
- Understand the true meaning of confidence
- Identify common blindspots that get in the way of confidence
- Apply solutions to help you banish blindspots
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmithDon't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/148-confidenceblindspot/
This week I’m reviewing Donald Miller’s new book, Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life. Miller uses his own experiences to help you live a better story. If you recognize the villain or victim roles in your own story, join me to learn how you can actively choose to be the hero in your journey and a guide in others’ stories.
This discussion will help you:
- Recognize when you’re playing the villain or victim in life
- Choose to be the hero of your story
- Find deep meaning on your journey
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/147-heroonamission/
Why is trust so hard to build and maintain? Perhaps the biggest reason is that trust requires vulnerability. In order to build trust, you must make yourself vulnerable to some extent. Otherwise, trust cannot be built.
This discussion will help you:
- Understand what trust is
- Identify why trust matters at work
- Learn how to build trust
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/146-trustquestions/
Today I’m talking about the impact your thoughts can have on the presence and strength of depression as well as anxiety in your life. While there are a variety of factors that lead to these complex mental health issues, at the root of each are thoughts that send us in a tailspin.
This discussion will help you:
- Identify the prevalence of anxiety and depression
- Understand the connection between your thoughts and anxiety and depression
- Tackle challenges instead of avoiding them
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/145-thoughtsondepression/
Welcome to my book review for January 2022! To start the year off strong, I wanted to continue my deep dive into thoughts and their effect on each of us. This month I'm reviewing Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks, a fantastic workbook by Seth J. Gillihan focused on helping you banish destructive thought processes.
This discussion will help you:
- Understand what CBT is
- Apply principles of CBT to your daily life
- Challenge cognitive distortions for greater well-being
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/144-retrainyourbrain/
The stories we tell ourselves are usually chock full of cognitive distortions, which are inaccurate thoughts, perceptions, or beliefs that are characterized by negativity.
This week I want to help you identify, understand, and rewrite the stories that may not be serving you.
This discussion will help you:
- Understand what cognitive distortions are
- Learn how cognitive distortions may be outsmarting you
- Identify what you can do to identify and challenge cognitive distortions
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/143-outsmartdistortions/
This episode is about banishing those miserable thoughts, learning to sort through the good and the bad in your thought process, and staying off the path of misery.
This podcast episode will help you:
- Learn the role of thoughts
- Understand the cognitive triad of self, world, and future
- Get out of your own way
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/142-triadofmisery
This week I'm introducing my new, limited-time course, Stress is Not the Problem. This exclusive, brand-new course will teach you how to overcome the misunderstandings of stress many of us have and use a proper understanding of stress as a launchpad to greater growth and well-being. I hope you'll join me on this episode as I discuss why this is the case and what this short course can do to help you fulfill your full potential.
This podcast episode will help you:
- Identify your beliefs about stress
- Learn the truth about stress
- Harness stress for greater growth
Stress is not the Problem is only open for a limited time. Enrollment closes on January 15th so don’t miss this opportunity to prioritize your coping. Learn more here!
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/141-courselaunch/
Did you know that your beliefs about stress can significantly alter the impact stress has on your body? Stress can lead to health-protective benefits or health-destructive costs for you. The very cool thing about this is that you get to choose your outcome.
So many of us get stress totally wrong and then are surprised when it threatens to take us down. I am committed to helping you understand the truth about stress so you can reap the many benefits of stress (yes, you read that right) while thriving in your life.
This podcast episode will help you:
-
Identify three stress myths and how they threaten to take you down
-
Learn the truth about stress
-
Identify specific ways to challenge the stress myths with coping skills that work
Don't let stress be a trap for you any longer, listen and learn how you can change your relationship with stress so that it no longer holds you back from pursuing what truly matters.
Stress is not the problem, is open for enrollment for two weeks only! It's time to prioritize you. You can dive deeper into learning skills to thrive in your stress. Learn more here!
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/140-stressmyths/
Self-compassion is about learning to give yourself some grace while holding yourself accountable to the realities of life. It’s learning to be kind to yourself instead of critical, realizing that self-compassion is actually the path to greater achievement and happiness. Plus, it feels a lot better than always being the target of that critical voice.
This week, I’m reviewing the excellent book Self Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Dr. Kristin Neff.
This podcast episode will help you:
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Define self-compassion
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Challenge the self-critical voice that may be holding you back
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Learn how self-compassion leads to greater success, achievement, happiness, and well-being
Stress is not the problem launches Jan 1st - Jan 15th, 2022. Join the waitlist here!
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/139-selfcompassion/
This is a busy time of year and if you’re not careful, all the good things of love and work will distract you from taking care of your most important asset: you. With this episode, I want to encourage you to take some time to realign your commitment to caring for yourself.
I hope this episode will help you reflect on the past year and look forward to the coming year with a focus on leveling up your self-care.
This podcast episode will help you:
-
Reflect on goals, lessons, and challenges of the past year
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Commit to self-care as your secret weapon for success and well-being
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Learn the 3 R’s of self care to help you thrive in the new year
You are your most important asset and I’m excited to share a new resource to help you thrive. Stress is not the problem launches Jan 1st - Jan 15th, 2022. Join the waitlist here!
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/138-realignment/
Working hard only to feel undone by stress and overwhelm is one of the worst feelings, but unfortunately, one of the most common. In this episode, I want to help you understand what might trip you up.
I’ll be sharing two common traps that get people stuck in stress and overwhelm, and I’ll give you some great solutions to help you avoid the traps and see your hard work turn into success.
This podcast episode will help you:
- Identify what’s keeping you stressed and overwhelmed
- Learn to two traps and how to overcome them
- Banish overwhelm with practical solutions
Grab your FREE Debunking Stress Resource here, learn to thrive despite stress.
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on weekly podcast episodes. Subscribe here to receive new episode drops in your inbox each week.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/137-stresstraps/
This week I want to help you answer the question of ambitious goals and if you’ve got what it takes to achieve them.
This discussion will help you :
- Reassess what success looks like
- Plan and Prepare for big goals
- Implement solutions that will help you stay on the path of success
I hope you’ll join me as I share the secret sauce of achieving ambitious, even lofty, goals.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/136-ambitiousgoals/
Too many of us spend our lives looking left and right to define success and then wonder why we’re unhappy. This week I’m inviting you to define success for yourself. I’ll help you cut through the overwhelm of comparison and focus on what truly matters to you.
This discussion will help you:
- Consider what success means to you
- Reconcile your values and desire for success
- Learn skills to help you banish overwhelm
I hope you'll join me on the podcast for this topic that will help you to be happier, healthier, and more focused on pursuing what really matters.
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Grab your FREE Debunking Stress Resource here, learn to thrive despite stress.
This week I’m focusing on the science of spirituality and the astounding benefits of cultivating a spiritual practice. Spirituality has far-reaching benefits for your emotional, neurological, physical and social health.
I’ll review a fascinating new book: The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life by Lisa Miller. Our discussion will help you better understand what spirituality is and what it is not, why it’s important, and how to take simple steps today to cultivate greater spirituality in your life.
This discussion will help you:
- Learn the difference between religion and spirituality
- Understand the benefits of spirituality
- Identify simple ways to cultivate greater spirituality in your life
Thanks for being here. I would love to connect with you more.
Connect on Instagram @dr.melissasmith
Don't miss out on each week's Pursue What Matters episodes. You can have a new episode drop in your inbox each week by subscribing here.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/134-awakenedbrain/
In this episode, I interviewed Jake Kelfer. Jake is a lifestyle entrepreneur and coach to ambitious entrepreneurs and freedom seekers, helping people create incredibly impactful and profitable businesses. He is the bestselling author of Elevate Beyond and Elevate Your Network, a high-energy motivational speaker, and the founder of the Professional Basketball Combine, which has helped 70+ NBA draft prospects turn their dreams of playing pro basketball into their reality. He and his work have been featured on Forbes, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and many other major media outlets.
Jake is an expert for leadership, chasing your dreams, and taking your business to the next level. I'm so excited to share this conversation with you.
This discussion will help you:
- Stand out in a competitive job market
- Pursue big dreams while managing distress
- Reframe networking
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/133-successwithjake/
Last week I helped you answer the question “are you a control freak” and I made a case for why being a control freak isn’t the worst thing ever. But I also talked about the importance of integration so that control tendencies don’t take over your life and relationships.
This week I’ll help you take a look at the dark side of over-control and how you can embrace radical acceptance to help you overcome the costs of control without losing the benefits.
This discussion will help you:
- Integrate control tendencies for greater balance
- Recognize the signs of overcontrol
- Embrace radical acceptance for greater well-being
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/132-overcontrol/
Are you a control freak? Maybe you've been made aware of this through the comments of family, friends, or co-workers. Perhaps you're self-aware enough to recognize your tendencies to oversee, control, and take responsibility for everything. Even if you haven’t been accused of being a control freak, this episode will help you better understand the role of healthy control in life and how to use it for good, while staying away from over-control.
This discussion will help you:
- Recognize the importance of healthy control
- Identify the costs of trying to rigidly control life
- Understand how over-control might be showing up for you
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/131-controlfreak/
You, like many leaders, probably are in a constant state of evaluation. You evaluate your team, your life, your decisions. You constantly evaluate and reevaluate everything you do. If this is the case with you, I'd bet you're pretty stressed out. This constant effort of trying to control everything is exhausting. This week's podcast is all about learning to let go of that desire for control. This episode will be based around John Purkiss's excellent book, The Power of Letting Go: How to Drop Everything That's Holding you Back.
This discussion will help you:
- Identify what’s holding you back
- Let go of overwhelm without guilt
- Prioritize practices that keep you sane
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/130-lettinggo/
Growth is hard. Learning how to push yourself appropriately and take risks while balancing your need to be safe and secure is tricky. If you've recently paid attention to the podcast, you'll know this episode wraps up a 3-part series on tolerating risk.
Part 1 helped you identify your security needs so you can respect them without being ruled by them. Part 2 identified the important function of growth needs to propel success and confidence in life, and Part 3 is designed to help you make better choices for yourself by balancing both security and growth needs.
This discussion will help you:
- Understand what’s motivating you
- Identify your sweet spot between security and growth needs
- Increase risk tolerance in healthy ways
Every person has security needs and growth needs. Security needs are the needs that keep us safe and protected. As Maslow taught, growth needs are the needs we have to become more than we are on the path to self-actualization.
These needs stand at opposite ends of a continuum, but are both equally important for well-being. Last week’s podcast focused on helping you understand security needs, and this week I’ll make the case for growth needs.
This discussion will help you:
- Understand what growth needs are
- Identify healthy ways to tolerate risk in your daily life
- Set goals designed to help you fulfill potential
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/128-growthneeds/
Life is risky. Nothing is guaranteed, and regardless of where you are, you're going to take your punches. Learning how to navigate the risk that comes from living life, and even more, learning how to tolerate the risks that come when leading a team, is vital to your success. So vital, in fact, that this episode is part one of a three part series on risk. This week is all about understanding yourself and your security need; needs that focus on protecting you from the risks of life. Specifically I'll discuss:
This discussion will help you to:
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Understand your needs for both security and growth
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- This understanding brings awareness about your risk tolerance
- Clarity about why some decisions will never fit for you
- And compassion for both yourself and others when it comes to facing down fears
2. Better understand your security needs
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- These are needs that everyone has
- But the way we cope with them and try to get them met can either help us or hinder us
I hope you'll join me for the next two episodes as well when I discuss growth needs as well as finding a balance between security needs and growth needs.
You talk to yourself. It's ok, and you can admit it. Everyone does it. Talking to yourself or having a "voice" in your head is as common as breathing air. Unfortunately, that voice in your head, if it's anything like mine, is often your biggest critic rather than your supporter. It doesn't have to be this way, though! This week I'm reviewing the book Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It.
This discussion will help you to:
- Understand the voice in your head
- See why that voice is good and why it can be bad
- Harness the voice in your head for your benefit
Chatter is a rarely discussed yet important topic, and I hope you'll join me this week as I discuss it.
There are thousands, if not millions, of books, videos, articles, and posts on the topic of communication. Communication is studied in schools and universities, it's done via nearly every conceivable technology, and it's something you and I take part in everyday. Needless to say, communication is a vital part of daily life. It would not only be easy but would also be completely feasible and relevant to dedicate a whole podcast or a series of episodes within a podcast just to the topic of communication. It's a topic i've spoken about before and you can bet I'll speak about again.
This week though, I want to focus on just the basics of communication. Communications 101. I'm talking about the straightforward dos and don'ts of communicating with the people around you. Communicating is more than verbally speaking face to face, so I'll be talking about the dos and don'ts of non-verbal communication and written communication in addition to the traditional verbal communication. This episode is so applicable to daily life, I'll be sharing simple things that you can apply today to improve your communications skills. Join me for this useful and important topic!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/communication101
Trust is vital to just about everything in life. Trust with your spouse, your family, your neighbors, co-workers, friends, even your mailman. Trust is vital to a civilized society being able to function. You're likely very familiar with this need for basic trust in day to day life.
Trust goes deeper than just believing that not everyone is out to get you or that most people are generally good folks. Trust has levels. This week I want to talk about having deeper trust at work.
You and I understand the importance of trusting your co-workers and teammates. Without that trust, work would be ineffective and unsafe. But beyond this basic level of trust there is greater trust that is so incredibly important to making the best teams thrive. This week I want to help you understand how trust can increase the happiness your team feels, their effectiveness, and the quality of the work they do. This concept of trust is not just the key to a functional team, but is one of the vital keys to an exceptional team. I hope you'll join me as I help you as a leader to better implement trust in your life and work.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/trustmatters
As a leader, you have power. Whether it's as a boss, team leader, parent, or simply leading your own life, you have power. Many are afraid of power, while others seek to increase the power they hold. Learning how to use power for good is vital to leading well. In the words of Spiderman's Uncle Ben: "with great power comes great responsibility."
This week I am talking about power and how your willingness to understand it can make a big difference not only professionally but also personally. As is the case with so many things in life, the issue isn't really power, it's how you use power. Join me as we unpack power and see how you can use it as a force for good.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/powerunpacked/
Are you arrogant or just confident? If you've listened to the podcast recently, you know that not all pride is created equally. Some pride is healthy, while other forms of pride are incredibly unhealthy.
This week I’m tackling arrogance and confidence. Arrogance is a weapon used against others to compensate for low self-worth, whereas confidence is a tool of contribution. Those who are confident have nothing to prove and so they are freed up to contribute at their highest level.
Join me this week as I discuss the difference between arrogance and confidence and the key to making sure confidence doesn’t become arrogance.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/arrogancevconfidence
Children are beginners in the true sense of the word. Every day and every experience brings something new. This makes learning so much easier for them. Without preconceived notions, previous life experience, or strongly-held opinions to interfere with the learning process, children are miraculous learning machines.
While you and I can't turn back the clock and learn as children again, there is another option. Learning how to learn like a beginner is a skill that is rarely talked about but is so important. Today's culture stresses knowing everything without a learning curve, but that mindset is dangerous and can rob you and I of the valuable experiences that come from being a beginner.
This week on the podcast I'm talking about the book Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning.This great book discusses how you and I can take on the mindset of a beginner, and how doing so can transform the way you and I learn, work, and handle new experiences. Join me as I discuss how to be like a beginner, and why it can be so helpful for you.
https://drmelissasmith.com/beginners/
If you were like me growing up, you were taught that pride is one of the deadly sins. But what if that wasn't completely true?
Certainly pride, when it displays in unkindness towards others, boasting, or any form of narcissism, is not productive and can be cancerous for a team. But there is such a thing as healthy pride. It comes when we banish self-deprecation, people pleasing, and caring how others perceive our accomplishments.
Join me this week as I discuss this vial aspect of developing a secure identity, taking empowered action in your life, and contributing at your highest level.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/healthypride
Self-connection is the foundation for living a meaningful life. That’s quite a statement, but it’s true. Last week’s episode focused on the plague of disconnection that keeps you from appreciating your most important relationships and accomplishments in life.
In this episode, I define self-connection so you know what it is and why it’s so important. Then I’ll share with you seven keys to help you cultivate self-connection in the life you live now.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/selfconnectionkeys/
What if I told you that we have a serious crisis on our hands? It’s not a global pandemic and yet it may be just as dangerous to our health and well-being as a plague. The malady of the day is disconnection. Disconnection from friends, emotions, the present moment, and so much more. So much of what you and I take in everyday reinforces disconnection. Disconnection is driven by incessant marketing campaigns telling us we're not enough and we need more, social media that teaches constant comparison, and a culture of unending self-improvement at the cost of self-acceptance. Disconnection is the difference between a meaningful life with an awareness of the goodness in life, and a miserable life filled with an unending search for the next achievement.
My goal on this episode is to help you better understand disconnection and why it’s a problem, assess how it might be showing up for you, and sharing 3 things from the research that you can begin doing today to reconnect.
Disconnection is the plague of our day, I hope you'll join me this week as I discuss why that is, and how to fight that plague. Be sure to turn in next week as I'll be sharing the seven keys of self-connection, so you can really take action to help yourself.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/disconnected/
It’s time for another great book review. This month I'm reviewing Rick Hanson's excellent book Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakeable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness. Hanson teaches that, "Fundamental to psychology & medicine is the idea that the path your life takes depends on just three causes: 1) how you manage your challenges 2) how you protect your vulnerabilities and 3) how you increase your resources." Resilience is key to managing each of these three essential areas of life.
Resilience brings the calm in the face of life’s challenges and complexities. Resilient discusses how you can "develop key inner strengths – like grit, gratitude, and compassion – to stay calm, confident, and happy no matter what life throws at you."
We all want more calm, right? Join me this week as I discuss this excellent book and how you can cultivate a resilience that will grant you a calmness and strength despite all of life’s many challenges.
Show notes available at: https://drmelissasmith.com/resilientbook/
I spend a lot of time on this podcast talking about how to lead your team effectively, how to improve your work environment, and how to help your team with specific concerns. All of this is dependent on you being in a place as a leader to effectively lead. It’s difficult to lead your team when your personal life is in shambles.
This week I’m focusing on helping you live an abundant life. An abundant life means a life full of joy. I’ll be diving deep and answering questions like what helps you connect to peace and joy? What do you need to avoid in order to stay on track?
To help you see what makes up an abundant life, I’ll discuss some contrasting principles, a kind of “this, not that” list. I hope you’ll join me as I help you to focus on the most important things and banish the clutter that so often undermines efforts.
I also have a free resource for you to download that will lay out these principles simply and in a way that will help you apply them to your day to day life.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/abundantconcepts/
Do you wear busy as a badge of honor? Maybe you look at your busy schedule, and between the stress of figuring out how you’re going to manage it all, you feel a little pride that you can “handle” such a crazy schedule.
Being busy can often be worn as a badge of honor. Does having a busy schedule actually make you happy? Does your busy-ness move you forward in purpose-driven ways? Do you feel fulfilled in your busy schedule?
This week I want to encourage you to shift your mindset. Don’t get me wrong, being busy on it’s own isn’t bad, in fact it can be a natural byproduct of doing meaningful work. But too often you may be busy for the sake of being busy or perhaps you push your dreams and goals to the sidelines in well-meaning attempts to help others. Wearing busy as a badge of honor keeps you on a never-ending treadmill of having worth tied to productivity, external reinforcement, and living your life for a future that never comes.
I hope you’ll join me this week to relinquish busy as a badge of honor and learn some helpful solutions for how to center your work on what matters most.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/busybadge/
As a leader, you have the responsibility to identify what the work is and why it matters. Clear process frameworks go a long way in establishing accountability for team members and keeping leaders out of micromanagement. Responsibility as the first pillar of accountability was the topic of last week's podcast. Click here to listen if you missed it.
But accountability is a two-way street. The second pillar of accountability is ownership. Team members must own change, roles, responsibilities and tasks within process frameworks. Team members play a vital role for identifying how the work is accomplished while the framework clarified what needs to be done and why it matters.
Join me on the podcast to understand how ownership strengthens motivation and autonomy among team members.
Show Notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/ownershippillar/
Accountability is one of the least fun, yet most important things that leaders and teams need to collaborate on. A team without strong communication and accountability will struggle to work through difficulties together.But what makes up accountability?There are two very important pillars of accountability. First, the responsibility of the leader to structure the accountability process. Second, is ownership on the part of team members for the change, process, or task.Both of these pillars are incredibly important. This week I'll be focusing on pillar number one, your responsibility as a leader. Next week I'll focus on pillar two. I hope you'll join me as I help you see the responsibility you have as a leader to create a system and culture of accountability, and as I teach you how to improve that system.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/responsibilitypillar/
It’s summer! It’s time to wind down, go on some vacations, and enjoy the beautiful weather. If you’ve listened to the podcast at all, you’ll know that one of my favorite ways to wind down is by reading a good book.
For this month’s book review, I’m doing things a little different. Because it’s summer, I’m going to take a break from reviewing a business book and instead I have some great summer reads to get you out of the office and into relaxation mode.
In this week’s episode I have ten excellent books from different genres, all designed to help you lean into summer relaxation. These are books that I have personally read and can highly recommend. They cover a wide range of topics from nonfiction to mystery to spirituality., and are perfect for getting you out of your head and into a great story. Whatever your interests, I’m guessing there’s something on this list for you.
To go with the podcast, I’ve created a free downloadable resource, Top 10 Summer Reads, that will summarize each of the books discussed in this episode. This is the perfect guide to take with you to the library or bookstore.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/2021summerreads/
Most of us agree that trust is vital for the success of any team. On the last episode of the podcast I broke down two of the biggest issues that so many struggle with when it comes to trust. These issues are all or nothing trust, and believing trust is won in big moments and grand gestures. Hopefully after last week's episode you can see how these trust issues get in the way of us being able to build and maintain trust, (P.S. click here if you haven't listened to the episode yet). This week on the podcast I’m going to provide you with specific, actionable ways to cultivate trust at work. And the good news is that these skills are just as effective at home.
Trust isn't easy, it certainly takes a lot of work, but it's more than just work, it takes an understanding of what trust is made up of. This week I’ll be introducing you to an excellent tool, the BRAVING Trust Inventory, which includes seven keys to building trust over time. These keys aren’t difficult to understand, but they require three things. First, attention or an understanding of the trust-building keys and why they matter. Second, intention to utilize the keys to strengthen the team and outcomes. And third, consistent action and communication using the keys.
These principles are parts of Brené Brown's Dare to Lead research. This groundbreaking research is what I will be basing this episode of the podcast on. I hope you'll join me as I help you to apply these principles of trust in your love and work.
Show notes and other resources available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/bravingtrust/
It’s safe to say that trust is one of the most important things. You know intuitively that trust is vital in your relationships, whether at home or work. Despite the near universal agreement that trust is important, you and I so often struggle to build trust at work. Why is that?
Like most things in life, our issues with trust most often come from misunderstandings. Misunderstandings about what trust is, the role it has in our relationships, and how to build it.
On this episode of the podcast I’m going to dive into two specific mistakes that come up with trust. I’ll help you recognize how these problems may be showing up in your life and discuss why these issues can undermine trust-building. Stay tuned because next week I will be giving you super specific solutions for building trust with your team.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/trustmistakes/
It’s time my friend. You’ve assessed where you’re at with your business, looked at your market, and you are ready to scale your business. So now what?
Deciding to grow in the face of uncertainty is a big decision, and if you’re anything like me, this decision can be long and painful. There are so many unknowns, there are so many risks. But, once you’ve made the decision, it’s time to take action. Where do you start? What do you need to do first? Who do you need to help power growth?
These questions and more are not yours alone. Because of that, this episode of the podcast is going to help you map out the process of growth. I’ve got a simple, streamlined process to help you assess the next steps in your growth process.
I hope you’ll join me for this podcast as I help you find solutions that are effective and efficient. But more than that, I hope after this podcast you will feel more confident that you can take the next step to scale growth.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/scalingmap
Leading a team or business can be so challenging. There are so many details to figure out, factors to consider, and as soon as you find something that works, the landscape changes. Learning the fine line between managing but not micromanaging, of being creative without driving clients and customers away, and thousands of other issues that make up a day in the life of a leader, it’s a lot!
But what if there was a way to make it simpler? What if someone could break down the most important lessons in business down to some simple, bite-sized pages in a book? Well that's what Donald Miller does in his great book, Business Made Simple: 60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution, Management, Personal Productivity, and More.
Today’s podcast reviews Business Made Simple. This book is all about practical skills and key characteristics to help you lead more effectively. I’ll discuss the some of Miller’s keys to being a Value-Driven Professional, including:
- Communication
- Leadership
- Negotiation
- Sales
- Character
- Marketing
...And a whole lot more. I’ll also be sharing with you why some have said that this simple little book is more valuable than a business degree. I hope you'll join me for this fantastic book!
Check out the show notes at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/businessmadesimple/
Grow or die. This common adage in the world of business is true now more than ever as we come back from the pandemic. Last week’s podcast was focused on helping you see how vital growth is to not only your success, but also your survival as a business.
This week I want to help you simplify the process of growth with three simple questions that will help you focus on your needs and next steps for scaling growth. How do you delegate effectively? What do you delegate? Who does what on a team and what roles do you need as you scale growth? Answering these questions will help you simplify growth and kick overwhelm to the curb. Where you’re expanding your team, moving into new markets, or adding product lines, this podcast will help you know what questions to ask--and answer--in order to scale growth.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/scalinggrowth
Did you know that 70% of businesses fail before ever reaching 10 years? 20% of these businesses don't even make it through the first year. Starting a business is difficult, but who knew it was that difficult? In a world full of hard workers, great resources, and opportunity, why are so many businesses failing?
There are certainly a multitude of reasons for each business failing from poor finances to lack of planning to unfriendly market conditions. But today I want to focus on a key reason so many businesses fail and it’s one you might not want to think about: thinking too small.
Once you’ve made it through the very fragile initial years in business, you may feel like you have time to take a breath and relax just a little. But this way of thinking is what leads so many businesses to fail. A business that isn’t prioritizing growth, and actually growing, will likely not make it to year 10.
Today I want to make the case for scaling your business and team. What are the risks? What tools do you need? And what mindset will ensure your business is thriving for the long run? I’ll give you the tools you need to reset your focus and prioritize growth.
Show notes available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/thinkingsmall/
Are you a giver? In your efforts to be a good friend and team member, do you often find others relying on your perspective, problem-solving, and compassion? When you and I give like this, we are often highly valued by those around us, but how is all that giving working out for you personally? It turns out that givers are at greater risk for burnout, unbalanced relationships, and resentment.
But it’s not a foregone conclusion that being a giver will deplete. This week’s podcast is focused on helping you find balance as a giver. Givers who have balance in their giving and receiving reap all the incredible benefits of sharing what they have while not dealing with the costs of imbalance.
This week I’ll talk about how to be a giver, while still working towards and achieving your goals. I’ll talk about balancing roles, boundaries, and expectations with those around you. I’ll also help you see if you’re relying too much on a giver in your own life. I hope you’ll join me.
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/giver
A lot of different people will tell you a lot of different keys to success in life. The focus is very often on how to be successful. You may be encouraged to be disciplined, get an education, make your bed, and on and on.
The how to success is no doubt very important. You and I need to work hard and do the things in our own lives that will make us successful. But this focus on how often leads you to taking on the world alone. Doing this leads to burnout and limits vision to what you alone can do in your days and weeks.
With today’s podcast, I have an equally important question for you. Who do you need to help you succeed?
This week I’m reviewing Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork, by Dan Sullivan. This excellent book makes the case for why the people around you are so vital to your success. It discusses how to share the load with others, so you can do your best work, and ultimately transcend anything you could’ve done alone. This is a fantastic book, I hope you’ll join me!
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/whonothow
For every military special operator in the field, they require six additional personnel to support their missions. These are the most highly trained individuals in the world, and yet they can’t succeed without the people around them.
It’s the same for us! We cannot do our jobs, fulfill our roles, or live up to our potential without the people around us. Research has shown time and again that “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
There are specific types of people who will help drive you to success, and others who could hold you back from success. Today I’m going to share with you the five people you need in your corner in order to build success in love and work.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/fivepeople
This week I'm diving even deeper into the topic of stress. If you listened last week, you’ll know that I discussed how stress is not the problem. This week I’m looking into how stress shows up at work.
You've probably dealt with leaders in stressful situations before. How did they act? Maybe some got angry, upset, or blamed others. Perhaps you’ve seen other leaders get quiet or stop communicating altogether. There are a lot of different ways that we deal with stress at work, some of them effective and others less effective.
Join me on this podcast where we focus on the impact of stress on leadership and your teams. We’ll help you identify your stress signs, and talk about specific ways you can help yourself and those you work with cope with stress effectively.
Show Notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/stressandleadership
Stress is a part of life, and it affects us all differently. Some people get quiet and reserved, some get loud, some get anxious, and others get angry. With a wide variety of possible reactions, it's vital that you as a leader understand how your people handle stress and how that affects their work.
Before you can understand the stress in others, it's important that you understand it in yourself. The way you handle your stressors, and your beliefs about them are key in determining whether that stress will be beneficial to you or not. In this episode, my focus is on helping you change your approach to your work so that stress is beneficial to you, and doesn't undermine your work or your happiness. This will help you, and give you the tools to help those you lead.
Show Notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/nottheproblem
Are you ambitious? Or were you taught that ambition is a dirty word, something to be avoided? For a lot of us growing up, ambition has been something that was really encouraged in men, but not so much for women. Well I’m here to tell you that you need to embrace ambition, regardless of your gender.
Today’s episode is focused on embracing ambition, the messages that make that challenging, and how you can overcome beliefs that could hold you back. As you embrace ambition, you move forward on your path to purpose, and we benefit from your gifts.
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/ambition
This last year has been a firestorm of opinions. Whether it was right vs. left, mask vs. anti-mask, lockdown vs non-lockdown, or a whole host of other issues that polarized and divided us as a nation and even as a world.
While this year has been especially polarized, it is not an outlier, polarization has increased dramatically over the previous decade. We are so divided on so many topics that it can feel nearly impossible to find common ground.
Enter Adam Grant and his incredible new book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know. If you've listened to the podcast you know that I am a HUGE Adam Grant fan. Grant's new book comes addressing the topic of thinking again, how to reassess what you "know" and see things from another's point of view. This book is exactly what we need right now. I hope you'll join me today as I review the incredible research and fun stories that Grant uses to illustrate how important it is for us to think again.
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/thinkagain
I've been a psychologist for quite awhile, but I've never heard more about narcissism until lately. So what's the deal? Are there suddenly more narcissists?
With today’s podcast I’m taking a deep dive into narcissism, because it turns out that not only is narcissism very common, but some aspects of narcissism are in all of us. Not only that, but some of those aspects of narcissism are actually very beneficial. I'll explore why narcissism is such a hot topic these days and how to channel the beneficial characteristics while avoiding the negative ones.
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/narcissism
If you're like me, your mother always taught you to work hard and be competent. She taught you to understand how to do things, and to do them as well as you possibly could. You, like me, have probably done some good things in your life because of this competence. But did you know that being competent also has some curses?
Today I'm talking about three curses that can undermine the effectiveness of teams if not well managed. These curses are very real, and can lead to miscommunication, task failure, and ultimately burnout. By no means do I want you to become less competent, but I hope as you follow along today you'll see how to guard against these curses for the benefit of your teams.
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/competent
This week I am excited to bring you a fantastic interview. It's been awhile since I've done one and I couldn't be more excited to bring them back. This week I'm excited to share with you a fantastic conversation I had with Sunny Lawrence, someone I’ve known and adored for a long time, and the wife of James Lawrence, the Iron Cowboy.
If you are familiar with adventure racing or endurance sports at all, you’ve no doubt heard of the Iron Cowboy and his remarkable accomplishments. Whether it’s 50 Ironman Races in 50 states in 50 consecutive days or the recent World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, James dreams big and shows up day after day.
Just as remarkable is Sunny and how she has balanced family life, her own big goals, and her partner’s dreams. We sit down to talk about what it means to have a partnership marriage--the good, the bad and the ugly. Sunny brings wit and wisdom as she discusses how they have prepared for James’ latest challenge - the Conquer 100- which they begin this week.
Learn more about Sunny and check out other great resources at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/ironcowboy
We're nearly two months into 2021, but that doesn't mean that you and I aren't still feeling the effects of 2020. You may be feeling overwhelmed, filled with stress, or even completely burned out. This week I have the book that might just be what you need.
This week I'm reviewing Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. This book is our answer to the stresses of the past year. This book will help you to enjoy wellness by taking action in your life. It will help you abandon myths of wellness so you can take the action necessary to move through life's challenges.
This book is more necessary than ever! Stress is a part of life, but it doesn't need to rule your life. Join me this week as I discuss how to put stress in its correct place.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/burnout
Your mother probably taught you to mind your p's and q's, but did she teach you to mind your C's?
This week I'm talking about 4 C's surrounding effective communication. I've spent the last two weeks discussing communication because it is one of the most important things you and I need to master in order to strengthen our relationships and get things done at both work and home.
There will always be challenges in relationships and so you'll always need to be willing and able to address concerns proactively and effectively. Last week's podcast addressed the basics of addressing concerns and this week I continue the discussion with 4 C's. There are two you want to avoid at all costs, and two that you need to cultivate effectively.
Show notes available at: www.drmelissasmith.com/contempt
Relationships are often sticky. Whether it be with friends, relatives, or co-workers, these relationships thrive on good communication, and this "stickiness" you and I experience usually comes because of some lack of communication.
Today I want to help you better communicate your concerns at work. These conversations are difficult, but they are crucial to building an effective, high-achieving team. Whether you're a team lead, CEO, or just got hired this month, the skills I'll talk about in today's episode can help you improve your team relationships, be more effective at your job, and overcome the messiness that can come from dealing with other people. I hope you'll join me!
Show notes and transcript available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/communicatingconcerns/
Trust. It is vital to any team's ability to succeed. Whether that team is your family, recreational basketball team, or your co-workers, trust is important if your team is going to succeed.
But you know this already. As anyone who's been part of a team where trust is missing can attest to, trust can make or break the effectiveness of a team. This week’s podcast is focused on helping you understand what trust is, what it isn’t, why it’s so important to establish and cultivate at work, and why you cannot be successful at work without it.
Sounds simple enough, right? But trust can be challenging because it always involves vulnerability. Building trust is never straight forward, but it’s always worth it, and as you cultivate trust as a team, you build a strong foundation for sustainable success.
Show notes:
https://drmelissasmith.com/trustatwork/
It's time to launch! The past two weeks on the podcast I've focused on helping you to prepare for your moonshot goal through careful planning, and becoming aware of the things that hold you back. This week is all about going for the gold.
At this point, I hope you've got a plan for how you're going to achieve your goal (if not, make sure to check out the last two weeks of the podcast), but whether you've planned extensively or only a little bit, it's likely you still feel unsure of yourself. That's okay. This week, the focus is on taking consistent action on your biggest goals.
I don't know what your dream is exactly, but I trust that as you quiet yourself, you can know what your dream is. And I also know that as you banish excuses from your path, you will progress on your moonshot goals, one step at a time.
I've got an excellent resource to help you take consistent action on your path. Take a minute to download it below and then get moving.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-91
I hope you're ready to get real about what stalls your progress on your biggest dreams in Part 2 in my 3-Part Series on Moonshot Goals. Today's podcast is focused on what keeps you stuck on the couch. I'll invite you to get honest about your fears, justifications and excuses. Unfortunately, too many of us are our own worst enemies. Can you relate? You convince yourself that you're not good enough, not smart enough, don't have enough time, enough money, never enough.
Enough!
Today we're going to call BS on your favorite excuses so you can take action on your moonshot goals. To help you do this, I've created an excellent free Resource that you can download by clicking the link below. If you are serious about your dreams, you must download this Resource as it will help move you from dreaming to action to accountability.
President John F. Kennedy is widely regarded as one of the most well-known and liked presidents in American history. Perhaps the biggest reason for this was President Kennedy's daring goal to put a man on the moon. When President Kennedy made this announcement, very few people believed it could be done. Even the people at NASA, who knew what it would take to get a man to the moon, thought that it would be impossible. Yet Kennedy persisted with his "moonshot" goal. This goal that was seemingly so far out of reach. Thanks to this, and incredible efforts by so many scientists, astronauts, and engineers, the goal was realized, and Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.
So my question for you is this, what is your moonshot? What dreams do you have that seem so far out of reach that it seems silly to even consider them?
This week's episode is the first of a three part series on pursuing your goals. This week is all about moonshots, and taking chances on goals that seem impossible. I hope you'll join me this week as I discuss how to make the impossible more of a reality. You may not reach your "moon" but with hard work and good planning, you can become better and go farther than you ever would letting those dreams stay dreams.
Show notes and resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-89
Mark Twain once said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." As individuals I believe we all have wondered about our purpose in life at some point. Having a vision for your own life is a central part of what makes people successful For teams and organizations the answer to this question of purpose is just as important. This week on the podcast my purpose is to help you see why having a vision for your life, your team, and your organization really matters and how this can make the difference between success and failure and living to purpose or just getting by.
Vision is vital, it's impossible to effectively lead yourself or others without knowing what direction you're going. Very few of us would ever start a journey without at least an idea of where we wanted to end up. For some reason so many of us set out on our life or organizational journey without having a clear direction for our travels. While none of us can predict exactly where we'll end up, having a vision for where to go and how to get there is vital.
This week I will help you develop a vision that will inspire you and your team members and lead you to success.
Show notes and transcript available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-88
Are you ready for a new year? A new year of possibilities? Does the thought fill you with excitement or leave you with a pit of dread? Facing a new year can be daunting. Add to that the expectation of New Year's Resolutions that almost always fail, and is it any wonder that many of us want to run the other way when we consider the year ahead, even as challenging as 2020 has been?!
Before you jump on the resolution bandwagon (please don't jump on the resolution bandwagon), let's take a moment to breathe. Ah, that's better. Folks, 2020 has been rough. But you might be equally wary about 2021. You might be scared to plan. Look what good that did you last year. But here's the thing, even though life will ultimately do what it wants with you, you can't give your power away by not playing the game. Yes, your plans may be shot to hell, but still what if they aren't? By having a plan, you'll be a step ahead of everyone cowering in the corner.
This week I'm reviewing a great book from the wise Michael Hyatt that will help you in your goal setting. Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals is a fantastic book that empowers you to prioritize what matters most and provides the structure to get you to the finish line with goal achievement. If you're feeling nervous about setting goals for the year ahead or need to strengthen your goal-setting game, you can't miss this episode!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-87
This year has been difficult, I'm sure you'll be as happy as me to see 2020 end. But before that happens, I hope you'll join me on this episode to reflect on some of the things you and I have learned this year. There are valuable things for us to remember that will aid us in moving forward.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-86
You have work to do. I have work to do. I'm not talking about day jobs, I'm talking about the creative work you're here to do. The work that lights up you mind, excites you, and that you dream of. Sadly so many of us give in to fear, self-doubt, and other excuses instead of blessing the world with our contribution. Listen in today as I discuss why creativity is so vital and how to overcome the fear that we all face.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-85
Motivation. It can be the difference between reaching your most important goals and just getting by. As a leader, it's your job to leverage motivation for the good of the organization. We all know extrinsic rewards like gift cards, company parties, and bonuses have their place, but they only go so far to motivate team members. How do you make someone care about the work, the mission, the culture? There are simple ways to build a change culture that attracts team members who want to work with you, and not only that, but who bring their best gifts with them. Join me on the episode to learn more!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-84
Performance improvement and performance reviews, these two things may cause you to shudder. They can both be quite painful at times. But they don't have to be. Too many of us ignore the process of performance improvement at our peril. On this episode I'm discussing principles that will help you better work on performance improvement, as well as make the whole process easier for yourself and your team.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-83
On this episode I'll be reviewing Simon Sinek's bestselling book: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't. This is a fantastic book, and is a must-read for anyone looking to improve their leadership abilities.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-82
We all react to rewards and punishments, whether they be at home, school, or work. Between grades, performance reviews, or pay raises, there are plenty of ways our behaviors are either rewarded or punished. But are you rewarding the wrong behaviors in your team? Join me on this episode as I explore the issues with so many of our rewards systems, and how we can adjust them to be more effective.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-81
As a leader, you manage a lot of overlapping schedules and goals among those you're tasked with leading. Everyone from Marketing to HR has an important role in accomplishing your overall goals, but each of their individual goals, or their "horizons" can get in the way of each other if you're not careful.
Horizon conflict is inevitable in every organization, but if not tended well, it can lead to four dangers that can undermine a team's effectiveness. Join me to learn what you can do to prevent these dangers from taking down your team while at the same time honing the unique benefits of the various horizons that will make your organization stronger.
Also check out my free resource: Managing Horizon Conflict, which will help you to apply the things I talk about in this episode.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-80
The research is coming in, and it's telling us that working moms are among the groups hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. While for many of us this isn't surprising, it's still sad to see. On this episode I'll discuss the research and as always, solutions for overcoming this problem.
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-79
We need YOU to lead! Yes you. We need your skill, talent, and especially, your passion for things that others don't feel quite as strongly about. It's your turn to inspire your tribe of like-minded individuals. To help out, I'm reviewing Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin. This incredible book talks about leading in our modern world and how now, more than ever, we have the opportunity to find our tribes, and create meaningful change.
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-78
We all know arrogant leaders, and we know they can be successful. But does anyone actually look up to them? Enjoy following them? With some humility, these highly capable individuals could be incredible leaders. Whether you're at work or home, I hope you'll join me this week as I share with you why humility is so important to great leadership, and how we can all cultivate humility in our day to day lives.
Show notes and other resources available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-77
A few weeks ago I talked about Dr. Russ Harris's book The Happiness Trap, in which Dr. Harris discusses principle of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This week I wanted to dive in even deeper on ACT and show you how it can help you have an even happier and more meaningful life.
Show notes and transcript available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-76
If you're anything like the rest of us, you've probably experienced your fair share of brainstorming sessions that weren't terribly effective. Whether it's bad ideas, poor participation, or team arguments as a result of your brainstorming, we've all experienced less than effective brainstorming. Not to fear, this week I've got some awesome research to share with you about brainstorming, and why you should, or shouldn't, be doing it.
Show notes and transcript available at:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-75/
Psychological safety is one of the many new buzz words in the business world that we've begun talking about. I'm so excited about this, because I know personally from my clinical practice how important psychological safety is. I hope you'll join me today as I discuss this vital principle for effective teamwork, and the fascinating research Google found out about teamwork while studying their own high-achieving teams.
Show notes and transcript available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-74
Do you have unrealistic expectations about happiness? Could it be that you are caught in the happiness trap? What does that even mean? Join me on this episode as I discuss The Happiness Trap, by Dr. Russ Harris. This book is about how you can use principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to readjust your relationship with expectations and emotions, so you can lead a happier, more fulfilling life.
Show notes and transcript available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-73
How do you know if you're in the right career path? Are you on a dead-end track? It can be so hard to know! This week I'm here to help you learn to trust in your unfolding path. It's likely bumpy, twisty, and far from perfect, but it's yours, and it's worth loving. If you're not going to love it, who will?
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-72
What kind of leader are you? Do you have all the answers? Or do you listen and learn? Well, your answer to these questions make a big difference on whether others will want to be lead by you! This episode is all about learning how to ask for help, and why doing so is powerful in your leadership.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-71
Brené Brown described perfectionism as "a 20-ton shield that we carry around to protect ourselves from our fear of rejection and hurt." This week I'm talking about why that is the case, how perfectionism shows up in your life, and how to handle life in much healthier ways. I hope you'll join me!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-70
Have you ever found yourself in a room of people you esteem as talented, hardworking, or otherwise impressive and thought to yourself, "I don't belong here?" Even when you know you're qualified? Well my friend, you may be suffering from imposter syndrome, the "psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments." I hope you'll join me on this episode as I discuss in greater depth what imposter syndrome is, why it's harmful, and how you can overcome it in your own life and leadership.
Check out the show notes for this episode with all the great resources and references I discuss at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-69
Last year there were over 11,000 new business books published last year. That's almost a thousand per month! As a busy leader you don't have time to sort through the myriad of leadership and business books. That's why on this episode I'm giving you my top 5 books from various categories within leadership and business. Enjoy!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-68
Oh, boundaries. Sometimes they get a bad rap, but truly boundaries make for the most efficient and effective relationships. Join me to learn more!
Accountability can be such a sticky subject, and usually people lean too far to one side (micro-management) or the other (lack of support). There is a sweet spot, and I'm helping you find it today! Let's jump in!
Time for another book review! This month we are discussing Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-65/
Willpower? Is that really even a thing? Join me today as we discuss it!
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-64/
It’s summer, have you gone on your summer holiday yet? Maybe you’re not going anywhere due to COVID, but I’m telling you now “You Must take a vacation from work.” Join me today to learn why!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-63/
"Beyond right & wrong there is a field... Meet me there" - Rumi.
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-62/
Goal check! We're halfway through 2020, how are your goals holding up?
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-61/
Finishing another month, so reviewing another book! This month I'm reviewing Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein. It's an awesome book for anyone who feels like they don't know what they wanna be when they grow up, or are good at a lot of things, and just great at a few ;) Let's jump in!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-60/
We are living in a new world, a new normal! But a very important truth is small changes make a big difference. Find out more in today's episode. Join me!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-59/
COVID-19 has probably led to a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences when it comes to dealing with your family. From wanting to move away and never come back, to bonding through quality time, and everything in between. Today's episode is all about turning this difficult time into an opportunity to strengthen your family. Through applying the principles of resilience I talk about, you'll be better equipped to make this worldwide challenge into a bonding, strengthening experience for you and your family.
Show notes available at:
https://www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-58/
It’s been a hell of a week in the U.S. Just as we rounded the corner on COVID, we run smack into our race issues, which of course have been with us all along. America, we’ve got some serious work to do. Join me as I talk about how daring leaders are never silent.
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-57/
With the end of another month comes another book review. Join me as I discuss Grit by Angela Duckworth!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-56/
I want to share some really intriguing news about female leadership amongst the crucible of Corona. Join me!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-55/
We've been on a roller coaster, and we all stand to develop a little more Empathy & Resilience. Join me on today's episode to learn how!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-54/
It's been a year of Pursue What Matters!! Thank you so much for joining me this past year. Today I'll be talking about what it takes to have the confidence to lead. So many of us don't recognize the good we do each day and the important ways we show up. This undermines us! Today I hope I can help you overcome that inability to recognize your own contribution, so you can lead with confidence!
Here's to another year!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-53
Another month, another book review! Today I'm discussing The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal. Join me!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-52/
You've cleaned up your closet and your home, but what about your mind? Join me today as we talking about spring cleaning your mind, and why it's so important!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-51/
Now that this is our new normal, how do we lead post-Covid?
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-50/
Today I'm talking about 8 things you can do to thrive in uncertainty. Let's jump in!
Show notes and resources:
https://drmelissasmith.com/episode-49/
Great leaders have characteristics that shine in times of crisis! But what are they? In this episode I'll take a deep dive into the specific ways these leaders act in times of trial, the things that make them great. We are in the midst of crisis, and we need leaders, will you step up? Well, I hope the information in this podcast can help you to do so. I've also created a free resource: What You Need to Know to Lead Confidently Now. This resource will help you put into practice the very characteristics discussed in this episode that make leaders great.
To download this excellent resource Click here.
To check out all the other show notes, Click here.
Wow. What a few weeks it has been! This book review comes in perfect timing to discuss how important it is to be in this moment, because this moment is all we have.
Networking. Ugh. Most of us see it as a necessary evil. But it's time to change our approach! Tune in to today's episode to learn how, and why!
This week I'm talking about the importance of soft skills! Continuing from my discussion of Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, I talk about how those predictions made by Pink have come true in today's modern work environment. The days of pure left-brained skill are disappearing, giving way for the right brain. I'll talk about how you can develop those right brained skills, so you can have the keys to success in our modern world. For more resources and show notes go to www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-44
Time for another book review! This month, it's Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind. It's a great book all about our new concept age, and how left-brainers aren't going to cut it anymore.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-43
What comes to mind when you think of leaders? Maybe particular people or specific titles individuals hold come to mind. But I've discovered that you can't always determine a great leader by the title after their name, the size of their office (or whether they even have an office), or how many people answer to them. You're just as likely to find great leaders on the shop floor as you are in the corner suite. The best leaders find the potential in processes and others, and are willing to step up to develop that potential. I hope after today's podcast you realize that YOU are meant to lead.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-42
Have you misplaced your marriage? Before you go into a shame spiral after realizing, 'Yeah, maybe I have,' tune into this weeks episode to hear solutions to find it again!
Notifications, open offices, emails, social media. Will it ever end? Join me today as we talk about living in a fully-connected world.
Shownotes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-40
Another end of the month means another book review! This month, I'm reviewing Deep Work by Cal Newport, which does a deep dive into focusing in our distraction-crazed world! Join me!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-39
We love food, but we're scared of it. Today, I dive into why we have such hung ups (which in our society, how could we not?) about food, and I have a few solutions to begin a journey of sanity with food. I also have a free guide, so make sure to download!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-38
Are you dealing with the winter blues? Or is it something more? Join me as I talk about the difference between Major Depression Disorder, SAD & just the case of the Winter Blues. And more importantly, solutions to overcome them.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-37
Join me as a finish up my 3-part podcast series about planning for 2020. This one is all about priorities (or goals as I use them interchangeably) and how to manage the overwhelm of goal-setting, including New Years resolutions!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-36
This is the second of three podcasts focused on preparing yourself to have an excellent 2020! This episode is all about not letting your dreams ruin your ability to achieve the very things you're working for. Sound counter-intuitive? Join me on this episode of the Pursue What Matters Podcast to find out more!
Show Notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-35
This is the first of three podcasts focused on preparing yourself to have an excellent 2020! Today I talk about purpose, what it is, and how it will drive you forward through the year.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-34
This week I'm reviewing Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-33
Andi Veenker is a fitness instructor, two time nationally qualified NPC fitness competitor, wife, and mother to two little boys. On this episode we talk about vulnerability, mental health, social media, and so much more!
Show notes available:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-32
'Tis the Season! Are you panicking yet? The holiday season is supposedly the best time of the year, but for so many of us it's the season of stress. Join me today in my podcast to opt out of holiday stress!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-31
Happy Thanksgiving! I love this holiday for many reasons, but the top is that it is a day dedicated to expressing and reflecting on gratitude. Gratitude will change your life, let's jump in to learn how!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-30
You’ve heard the term work smarter, not harder, but is there any truth to it? Well, you’ve got to join me for the podcast today because I am going to unpack the research that proves working smarter is SO much SMARTER than working harder. It’s fascinating research, so let’s jump in!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-29
What does it mean to be an entrepreneur? Long days? Sleepless nights? High tolerance for risk? A freakish ability to ride the roller coaster of a start up? Or maybe it’s the freakish ability to stay on the ground when everyone else is riding that roller coaster? Well, one thing is for sure, being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart, and I’ve got a great guest with me today who is going to share with us his journey, and let me tell you, it’s a fun ride, so why don’t you join us?
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-28
Meetings, meetings and more meetings. If your average work day sounds anything like this, then you are just like millions of Americans. It has been researched (and I mean legitimately researched) and found that most people would rather watch paint dry, wait in line at the DMV and even have a root canal than sit in a status meeting. In today's episode I talk shop all about having more effective and efficient meetings. Let's jump in!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-27
End of another month means another book review! This month I'm reviewing Brené Brown's book for leaders, Dare to Lead. It's a must-read for leaders and I will explain why on my book review this week. Let's jump in!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-26
Today on the podcast I’m talking about a topic that many of us don’t like to admit may be getting in the way for us in our love and work. We may joke about it—oh, there’s plenty of jokes about this topic—but most of us aren’t actually dealing with it.
To help me with this topic is one of my best friends, my partner in crime in our specialty clinic, Balance Health & Healing, and an all-around amazing psychologist, Dr. Anna Packard.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-25
Therapists are always telling you to journal, but why? What’s the point? Well, today I’m going to tell you just how powerful journaling can be and hopefully convince you—if you don’t regularly journal–to start the practice TODAY. It will change the way you love and lead.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-24
Giving and receiving feedback: It can be one of the most difficult aspects of leading and many leaders really struggle to do it well. Today we’re talking all about feedback: the good, the bad, and the ugly!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-23
Do you know your IQ score? No? Well, that’s actually the correct answer to my little trick question because as it turns out, IQ isn’t actually all that it’s cracked up to be! Instead, leaders in business & education have found that emotional intelligence is actually where we should spend our energy and we’re talking all about it today.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-22
It's the end of another month and with it comes another Pursue What Matters Book Review. Today I'm reviewing Kim Scott's Radical Candor: Be a Kick Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity. It's such a great read and a must-have for any leader!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-21
When you think of the term “self-care” what do you think of? A new face wash routine with a glamorous mask you saw on instagram? Paying for a super expensive spa weekend away? Locking yourself in the bedroom to read your book and leaving your family to fend for themselves for a few hours? It’s very much a hot topic right now, and trust me, it is for good reason. But we have definitely thrown it around so much lately, it’s lost a lot of it’s true meaning. So today we are diving into it deeply and getting to the nitty gritty of self-care.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-20
Life coaching, executive coaching, therapy, counseling, Telehealth, oh my! All these terms are thrown around all the time, but what do they mean? What’s the difference? And, more important, what—if any of them—can help you pursue what matters?
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-19
Today we’re going to talk about the Costs of Comparison. You may not want to admit it, but you probably compare yourself to others. We live in a culture obsessed with it. You know, keeping up with the Jones’s and all that. Comparison is a way we measure our progress, so what’s wrong with it? Well today, I’m going to talk about the Costs of Comparison, how it really undermines Connection, and most importantly I’ve got some really great solutions to help you overcome comparison so you can lead with purpose and passion!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-18
Do you ever look at your life and think, "I should be happier?" Despite many good things in our lives, most of us aren't happy. This week I'm reviewing Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky's book: The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want, a brilliant, research supported book that teaches solutions to being happy in life.
Show notes and free guide available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-17
You've heard the term, maybe you've even read a book. But the question is still there: What is mindfulness and how do I get started? Should I get started? What if I'm not very good at it? Well lucky for you, because today I have Dr. Jared Warren, a mindfulness guru here to talk shop all about it.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-16
Are you getting enough sleep? Chances are, the answer to that question is no. Why do we insist on burning the candle at both ends when the research is pretty clear that cutting ourselves short on sleep can be pretty disastrous to both our health and our performance. Join me as I help you understand why sleep is so essential, but also what you can do to get more sleep so you can pursue what matters.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-15
Have you ever heard of the Jonah Complex? Don't worry if you haven't, I've been a psychologist for 13 years and I only recently learned of this fascinating concept. This week I'll talk about what it is, why it's important, and how to overcome the fears that come with the Jonah Complex. You don't want to miss it!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-14
Today I sit down with the amazing Lynndsey Eldredge, owner of two flourishing fitness companies, nationally ranked fitness athlete, and new mom! She has so much wisdom to share about life and leadership, and I'm so excited for you to hear what she has to say.
Shownotes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-13
When it comes to motivation, do some people just have it? And others don’t? What does it take to achieve great things? To stick to something and see it through to the end? Well today we are going to talk about the science of motivation, and what it really takes to see things through as we review the excellent book, Drive by Daniel Pink. So let’s jump in!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-12
Have you heard the term mindset? It isn’t necessarily a new concept, but it is a very profound topic. Today we are going to talk about how powerful your mindset is. And as a bonus, I am offering a free Mindset Cheatsheet to help you implement a growth mindset in your daily life. This is a fun topic with important implications for you and anyone you lead, whether at home or at work.
Show notes and freebie available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-11
Today I'm talking all about why learning can be hard, but why that is a very good thing. I'll show you what gets in the way of effective learning, and then I'll give you loads of solutions to help you improve the quality of your learning. This podcast has something for everyone--whether for yourself, your new hires, your teenagers, or your new college students. Learning isn't so much about how smart you are as it is about being smart about your approach to learning.
Show-notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-10
In this episode, we’re going to talk about the power of play and why it’s something we are hardwired for, what happens when we don’t have enough play in our lives, how it benefits us, and what to do to get more play time in your life.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-9
This week on the podcast I’ll do another of my monthly book reviews! This month I’m talking about Clayton Christensen’s book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. This is one of the seminal business and leadership books, it is a MUST on your bookshelf. Not only is it valuable to read but, it also contains valuable action points to apply in your own business and even your life.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-8
This week is all about the power and importance of reading! I'll talk all about how great leaders benefit from reading, and how to improve your own reading.
Show notes and freebie available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-7
Today I'm talking about work-life balance! What it is, what it takes, and whether you should even try to achieve it. I'll discuss why many say it's not possible, but also provide some solutions to help you cultivate greater work-life balance.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-6
This week is all about talking. How people communicate, good communication, bad communication, and how to improve your communication as a leader. Enjoy!
Shownotes: www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-5
On this week's episode of the podcast, I'll introduce you to the first of a monthly series of book reviews I'll be doing! For this months review I'm talking about Brene Brown's The Gifts of Imperfection. I hope you enjoy it!
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-4
This week on the Pursue What Matters Podcast we'll be discussing vulnerability and how this can be a gift in your life. I know, I know you’re thinking “vulnerability and gift should not go in the same sentence!” But after today’s podcast I have a feeling you will understand that the gifts of being vulnerable will change your life.
Access show notes and freebie at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-3
Do you ever feel like when you’re at work you’re stressing about home & when you’re home you’re stressing about work? The good news is you’re not alone, and the even better news is we are talking all about presence today; what it is, and how it shows up in your life.
Show notes available at:
www.drmelissasmith.com/Episode-2
In today’s episode, we’re going to dive into the concept behind my title. When you’re pulled in a thousand directions with no ability, time or energy to complete everything, how do you get anything done? The short answer is to pursue what really matters.
Access show notes via www.drmelissasmith.com/Episode-1