1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: their day. 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 2: I'm your host, doctor Amatha Imba. 5 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of innovation consultancy Inventium, 6 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,079 Speaker 1: and I'm obsessed with finding ways to optimize my work day. 7 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: Now in today's episode, this is going to be a 8 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: new format because you might have heard that I am 9 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: doing a year long experiment called My Year of Better, 10 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: where every week or two I'm going to be trying 11 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: out a new strategy that will improve my life in 12 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 1: some way. It might make me happier, more creative, more productive, 13 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: less stressed. 14 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:44,239 Speaker 2: More resilient, and so on. 15 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: So every week or two I'm going to be sharing 16 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: with you the experiment that I'm running, and if you 17 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: would like to play along at home, you can sign up. 18 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: It's completely free. Just go to my Year off Better 19 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: dot org. So experiment number one. As some context, I 20 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: used to be a big warrior. I would worry about 21 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: big things and I would worry about little things, and 22 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: most of the time none of these things ever came 23 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: to fruition. During my twenties and thirties, I tried a 24 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: lot of different strategies to reduce my worrying. I tried meditation, 25 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: I tried repeating mantras, I blocked out worrying thoughts when 26 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: they came to mind, But nothing really worked. So I 27 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: continued life as a warrior. But then a couple of 28 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: years ago, I was sitting in the kitchen of a 29 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: close girlfriend's house while we chated over a cup of tea. 30 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: She told me about some stressful events that were going 31 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: on at her high pressure corporate job, combined with parenting 32 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: worries and an overflowing to do list, and naturally I 33 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: empathized with her, just imagining how hard that all must be. 34 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 2: And then she said to me, I wish I could 35 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 2: be more like you. You run a business, you're a mum. 36 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: You've got so many projects on the go, yet nothing 37 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: ever seems to phase you. You always seem so calm. 38 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 2: Now, while I took. 39 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: This as the compliment that it was intended to be, 40 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: it also took me completely by surprise because being a 41 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: calm person was simply not part of my self identity. 42 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: I identified as being a warrior, given I had dedicated 43 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: several decades of my life to doing so, and as 44 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: I lay in bed that night, I began to reflect 45 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: on how this friend saw me, and I started to 46 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 1: realize that something had shifted. 47 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 2: I didn't spend as much. 48 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: Time sweating the small stuff, and most of the time 49 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: I was able to keep the big stuff in perspective. 50 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: So somehow, somewhere along the line, I'd actually become a 51 00:02:54,919 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: calm person. But then twenty nineteen happened. So if you 52 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: listened to last week, you will know that the year 53 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: started uneventfully enough. I was a CEO of Inventium, I 54 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: was married to a man had been my partner for 55 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: thirteen years, and I was the mother of a divine 56 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: little almost five year old girl, Frankie. But by the 57 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: end of the year, I'd separated from my husband. I 58 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: was a single, working mum. I was about to move 59 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: to a new home and a new suburb. And also 60 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: prior to the move, my ex and I had decided 61 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: to birds nest, where our daughter spends one hundred percent 62 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,679 Speaker 1: of her time in the family home, and my ex 63 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: and I sub in and out until I found a 64 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: new home to live in. So this resulted in not 65 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 1: spending more than four nights in a row in the 66 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: same bed for five months, and by the end of 67 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: the year, my psychologist described me as having diminished capacity, 68 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: which I can tell you felt like quite the understatement. 69 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: So in light of the last six months and perhaps 70 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: rather unsurprisingly, my stress levels began to rise. And so 71 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: for the very first experiment of my Year of Better, 72 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: we are going to focus on reach sing stress. So 73 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: here is the plan. If you are going to play 74 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: along at home, So first, create a new note page 75 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: on your phone, like in ever note or even in 76 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: a notebook, and create or if you use to do 77 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: list software, it might be easier to create a new 78 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: list if you do that, So title this page or 79 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: list worries. Second, I want you to block out thirty 80 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: minutes every single day at the same time in the 81 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: same location and label this block of time worry time. 82 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 2: So make sure your worry. 83 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,280 Speaker 1: Time is scheduled for at least three hours prior to bedtime. 84 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: And I should add if you don't feel like you 85 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: can dedicate thirty minutes per day to worrying or simply 86 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: get bored during this time, feel free to make it shorter. 87 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 2: I've only suggested. 88 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: Thirty minutes to provide a true replication of the research 89 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: behind this. Now, for the next week, whenever you find 90 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: yourself worrying about write it on your list or your 91 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: note page. So tell yourself that you'll dedicate time to 92 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: worrying about it later during your worry time, and then 93 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: stop thinking about it now. When your worry time comes around, 94 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 1: go to your list and start to worry really, go 95 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: to town, catastrophize, imagine the worst case scenarios. And then 96 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 1: you might also want to use this time to problem 97 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,039 Speaker 1: solve so you can think constructively about how to overcome 98 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: the stresses that are occupying your mind. And then when 99 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: your time is up, stop thinking about your worries and 100 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: get back to whatever you're doing before, and then repeat 101 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 1: daily for the next seven days. Now, while this strategy 102 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: might seem counterintuitive, it comes from a school of cognitive 103 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: behavioral therapy. The strategy is not actually called worry time. 104 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: It's called stimulus control, slightly more dull name, I think, 105 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: and in research conductor by Sarah Kate McGowan from the 106 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 1: University of Illinois and Associate Professor Evelyn Bihar, they found 107 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 1: that thirty minutes per day of stimulus control or worry 108 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 1: time as I like to call it, reduce stress levels 109 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: significantly over a two week period, so I should add, 110 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: if you really want to replicate this experiment properly, continue 111 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: scheduling your worry time for two weeks, not one. One 112 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: explanation as to why this technique has been shown to 113 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 1: work effectively is due to what is called increased stimulus 114 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:37,239 Speaker 1: specificity for warriors who indiscriminately worry about things throughout the day, which, 115 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: let's face it, is a. 116 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 2: Lot of us. Many things can act as triggers. 117 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: Certain environments, people, images, words, anything really can trigger stressful thoughts. 118 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 1: But when we confine our worrying to a specific time 119 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: of day, location, and length of time, we start to 120 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: narrow our triggers. So essentially, your scheduled worry time and 121 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: location become the stimulus you associate with. Now, if you 122 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: are playing along at home, Like all good experiments, I 123 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,479 Speaker 1: am setting a baseline, So if you're listening to this, 124 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: I'd love it if you could take thirty seconds to 125 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: complete the survey link that will be in the show 126 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: notes and I will be able to report back on 127 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: how effective this strategy was in a later episode. As 128 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 1: I mentioned though, if you want to do this properly 129 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: and be part of my Year of Better, just go 130 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: to my Year Offbetter dot com and you can sign 131 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: up and receive updates and news on all of the experiments. 132 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: And if you have any questions or comments or want 133 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: to share your experiences again, go to Myyearfbetter dot com 134 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: or send. 135 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 2: Me an email. 136 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: My email addresses always in the show notes, I would 137 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: love to hear how you're going. 138 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 2: So that is it for today's episode. 139 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: I look forward to having you play along in my 140 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: Year of Better and hearing. 141 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 2: How it all goes for you. 142 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: And if you're enjoying How I Work, why not tell 143 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: other people about it? Because that is one of the 144 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: ways that How I Work has continued to grow and 145 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: grow over its eighteen month lifespan so far, that's it 146 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: for today and I'll see you next time.