In physics, there’s a concept attributed to Aristotle that roughly translates to the phrase “nature abhors a vacuum.” In layman's terms, the concept means that nature requires every space to be filled - and that there are no naturally-occurring empty spaces because denser surrounding material immediately and always fills a void.

In this episode we’ll discuss how we can apply this natural law to create space for bigger, better, more productive thoughts by clearing out what’s currently occupying those spaces first. Let’s talk about how to do it.

Here’s one of the most limiting thoughts you can have throughout a day: “Why did this happen to me?” When we have this thought and ask the question this way, we get in the habit of looking at life and our workdays from a passive perspective.

In this episode I give you a few common situations where you might be asking this limiting question, and I offer you a new question that will help you flip this thought and approach each day as an active participant.

If you’re looking to make big changes to your workday, one way to do that is to practice the concept of addition through subtraction - which is essentially asking the question: What can I take out before adding in something new?

This can be a powerful concept but in practice it’s hard to implement day to day for two big reasons. In this episode I talk you through those roadblocks and give you a two-step process for how you can start improving your workday by subtracting first.

If we take stock of how we’re thinking throughout the day, we find that we’re just bouncing from thought to thought all day long. And as we’re bouncing from thought to thought, we often don’t realize that many of those thoughts are stressful ones that are triggered by very specific workday situations we encounter.

In this episode I’ll teach you a concept that will help you identify a stressful thought that’s connected to a specific workday situation you encounter, and teach you how to come up with a plan for how to reframe that thought the next time the situation arises.

One thing that prevents us from making progress or moving through our day with confidence is our tendency to mistake thoughts for facts. We often let thoughts that have no basis in fact stay top of mind for us all day long. And not only that - we often end up accepting these thoughts which have no basis in fact as true. In this episode we talk through how you can catch yourself mistaking thoughts for facts, and I’ll give you a simple way you can flip those thoughts to action steps that will help you move throughout your day with confidence.

Repetition, in any form, can be an incredibly powerful way to cultivate change. In this episode I’ll introduce you to a concept that will help you capture and steer the power of repetition when we apply it to the way we think about ourselves and our abilities, and that concept is called a workday mantra.

At the heart of any change you want to see is an originating thought that sets an idea you have into motion. But sometimes when we’re trying to make big changes or accomplish a goal that seems complex or uncertain, we lose sight of the fact that every outcome we want is driven first by a powerful thought, followed by consistent actions. In this episode I’ll give you a simple formula you can use to remember that the key to taking meaningful actions and changing our day to day reality is our ability to first have a powerful, originating thought.

Our ability to make plans is an important skill and a key part of our personal and professional growth. But what’s even more important than knowing how to make a plan is being skilled in the art of planning, which includes the ability to acquire and process new information so that you can move past the friction points you’ll encounter as soon as you set a plan into motion. In this episode I share three steps you can take to strengthen the way you approach planning.

There’s a common misbelief we have about how to approach our workday: in order to be productive, we constantly have to be in a state of stress. But it turns out that in many ways that belief is backwards. When we’re able to identify the root of our stress and strip it away, and when we stop equating stress with productivity, that’s actually when we’re able to do our best work. In this episode we’ll talk about a 4-step process for how to do it.

At any given point in time, you can only keep a single thought in your mind. And if any time we experience a thought that doesn’t suit us, we always have the ability to choose to create space for a better one.

One of ways you can strengthen your workday mindset and show up at your best for everyone around you is to start your day with a routine that prioritizes you first.

If you really want to show up at your best for everyone in your life, you should start everyday focused on you.

When it comes to your career and your work, there really is no right way to do it, there’s just your way.

If we’re not paying close attention to our mindset, we can walk around for a good portion of the day doing what I call operating at a deficit.

We’ve been told all our lives that we have to suffer at work to get ahead. But it turns out that we don’t need to suffer in order to make meaningful progress.

There are opportunities all around us to move closer to our personal and professional goals: every-day conversations we have with people around us.

You can start your workday over anytime, and as many times as you want.

Changing the way we think is the catalyst for changing the way we act.