How are you doing during the pandemic? A few months ago, I wrote about some behaviours that I have personally found useful in terms of maintaining my productivity and psychological well-being.

Here are some other things that I am personally finding helpful in terms of maintaining my mental well-being:

Work while standing up
Prior to the pandemic, I used to spend about an hour or couple of hours travelling – … Read more

How cynical are you? Let’s try to estimate your level of cynicism by considering the extent to which you agree with three statements:

• Generally speaking, you can’t be too careful when dealing with other people.
• Most people would try to take advantage of you if they got the chance.
• People are mostly just looking out for themselves.

The more you agree with those statements, the higher your level of cynicism. … Read more

The UK – like many other countries around the world – is currently in lockdown. As a psychologist, I’m used to working mainly face-to-face with people – coaching people one-on-one, running workshops for a dozen or so people, or giving conference presentations to hundreds of people at a time. Clearly, none of that is possible.

Here are some personal methods that I have found useful for staying productive and managing … Read more

Do you ever feel anxious, moody or depressed? Well, a growing body of evidence suggests that what we eat may have very real effects on our mental health.

A group of scientists recently published the results of a major study in which they monitored the physical and mental health of 15,546 adults over a 10-year period. A team led by Almudena Sanchez-Villegas found that higher levels of added sugars and … Read more

What makes you angry? Perhaps it’s rude or disorganised behaviour by your colleagues at work. Maybe you get angry about bad drivers or friends and family members who repeatedly let you down.

Anger can sometimes be a useful emotion. It can motivate us to speak up or act about injustices and wrongdoing. However, talking and behaving in a very angry fashion can be harmful to us – one study led … Read more

It’s easy to feel anxious, sad, irritated or otherwise negative when we find ourselves in difficult situations – but sometimes this is because of the messages that we tell ourselves (i.e. the beliefs that we have) rather than the reality of those situations.

I often hear friends as well as clients talking about themselves and their situations in ways that are more negative than their situations might actually warrant. To … Read more

What do you want out of life?

Yes, some people want to be successful. But many more people say that they would rather be happy and healthy.

At least part of being happier and healthier comes down to our attitudes. There’s a solid volume of evidence suggesting that being grateful may lead to both greater happiness and better health. For example, studies suggest that grateful individuals tend to report feeling … Read more

I’m sure you’ve come across the notion of mindfulness, the act of focusing our attention on the present moment in order to still the mind and subdue strong emotions. I’ve written about it both online as well as in books such as Confidence 2.0
(and you can follow links from within that book to download and then listen to my guided audio instructions too).

Many people find that simply … Read more