So when Joel Bein reached out and showed me his innovative method for disrupting those patterns, I knew I wanted to share it with you.
He’s created a free guide called 5 Steps to End Negative Self-Talk, built around a 10-minute technique for clearing the beliefs that keep you stuck in your head.
A list of challenges that could change your life this year
January 16th was National Quitter's Day.
Yep, by the second Friday of January, roughly 80% of people will have already given up on their New Year's resolutions.
Which makes today the perfect day to recommit.
If you don't know where to start, I would suggest trying out one of these challenges put together by my friend Ben Meer:
1. 21-Day No Complaint Experiment: Avoid complaining or gossiping for 21 consecutive days. Every time you slip, you start over. Popularized by Tim Ferriss and Will Bowen.
2. 75 Hard: A 75-day protocol where you eat nutritiously, drink a gallon of water, read 10 pages of non-fiction, and work out 2x daily (one must be outside). Invented by Andy Frisella.
3. 30-Day Minimalism Game: Get rid of 1 item on day one, 2 on day two, and so on, leading to 465 items decluttered by month's end. Proposed by The Minimalists.
4. Tech-Free Saturdays: Take a full-day sabbatical one day a week. No digital devices—just reconnecting with the physical world. Credit: Brad Stulberg.
5. 52-Week Money Challenge: Save $1 in week one, $2 in week two, and so on. You'll have $1,378 saved by year's end.
6. 3-Day Phone Charger Challenge: Move your phone charger outside your bedroom. The morning alarm springs you out of bed. Reclaim 10 minutes daily, 60 hours yearly.
7. Daily Journaling or Morning Pages: Write 3 pages of stream-of-consciousness thoughts every morning to declutter your thinking and generate ideas. Inspired by Julia Cameron.
A few nights to schedule with your friends in 2026
Speaking of things to try out this year.
My partner was telling me about a recent trend of people doing "admin nights" with friends—basically meeting up to handle boring tasks together.
It got me thinking about what other low-cost, high-impact nights you could plan with friends.
Admin Night: Bring your laptop and all the boring tasks you've been avoiding. Cancel subscriptions, book appointments, clear your inbox, sort bills. Way less painful when you're not doing it alone.
PowerPoint Night: 10 minutes each to present whatever you're currently obsessed with. Hobby, conspiracy theory, random Wikipedia deep dive. Doesn't matter what it is.
No-Phone Night: Exactly what it sounds like. Phones all put in a basket. Board games, conversations, cooking together. Remember what hanging out used to feel like.
We're Not Really Strangers Night: Use deep question prompts to go beyond small talk with people you think you know everything about. Structure gives you permission to ask things you normally wouldn't.
Explain What You Actually Do for Work Night: Most of your friends have no idea what you do for 40 hours a week. Explain your job like you're talking to a kid.
Side-Hustle Night: Everyone brings their side hustle, creative project, or thing they keep putting off. Work in parallel. Ask for feedback. Actually make progress on something.
My challenge to you (2 parts):
Schedule one of these this month.
Hit reply and send me your best "friend night" idea.
A bit outside my usual personal development stuff, but I stumbled on this video and couldn't stop watching.
This guy spent an entire year reverse-engineering Coca-Cola's secret recipe.
Make sure to watch it before Coke decides to send him a cease-and-desist.
A 60-second trick for managing anxious thoughts
Actor and singer Joshua Bassett on how he manages anxiety:
I have this little trick that I do. Basically, create four categories in your notes app: thought, feeling, impulse, and truth.
If I'm freaking out about something, I'll write down the thought first: "I can't believe I said that. Why am I such an idiot? They're going to hate me." Then I go to feelings and write down shame, fear, sadness, regret—whatever I'm actually experiencing. Under impulse, I write what I'm tempted to do: smoke a cigarette, scroll TikTok, have a Coke.
Then you write down the truth.
What this does is help you acknowledge the thought and see it on paper for what it is. You acknowledge your feelings, so you process them—you're naming them and releasing them. You keep track of what they're leading you to do and stop yourself in your tracks. Then you affirm the truth, which might be "I love them no matter what" or "There's still time to make this right."
You don't have to gaslight yourself or write down things and just hope they're true. You have to actually acknowledge: what do I know to be true about this thing?
Once you do that enough times, you start to recognize the pattern. "I start thinking this thought that leads to shame, that leads to smoking." Once you see that, when it comes up again, you think "Oh, there's that thought again." You've done the work, so you're able to automatically adjust it back to the truth you reaffirmed.
That to me is one of the most important tools I've ever learned in my life. It has radically changed and stopped a lot of my anxiety.
This is basically CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) in a nutshell.
Extremely effective if you find yourself spiraling and need a way to interrupt the loop.
Worth testing the next time anxiety shows up.
😂
Have a great week friends!
P.S. The next cohort of Archimedes (the private community I run with Ben Meer and Jade Bonacolta) is starting soon!
It's where we teach LinkedIn creators to grow their audience and actually monetize it.
Members receive:
15 Group Coaching Sessions: Direct guidance from us.
100+ Design Templates: Professional designs, ready to use.
Networking: Build relationships with ambitious thought leaders.
AI Content Tools: Save hours on content creation.
Monetization Playbooks: Land high-value clients, launch courses, secure keynotes, and more. (The program is designed to pay for itself.)
Our next cohort starts January 26 and always fills—enrollment closes Friday.
Read member success stories and apply today (takes 2 minutes).
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