The 12 Levers: The Complete Psychological Toolkit for Improving Your Life by Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson

It’s no secret that physical well-being and mental well-being go together. This chapter cites evidence on the benefits of regular sleep and exercise, with tips and advice for both. There is also advice on relaxation techniques. If you do have sleep problems, check out cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I. You should also consider cold plunge therapy, which you can do at home by finishing each shower with cold water. (Doug: I recently started doing this and it feels great.)

When you feel strong negative emotions, the thoughts underlying them will often contain exaggerations or distortions. Step one is to identify the main distressing thought or belief. Step two is to examine what thought may lurk behind the feeling. Ask why it matters. Dig to try to reach the root of the negative thought. Distortions can be things like jumping to conclusions or seeing a worst-case as most likely. Good questions examine the accuracy of your thinking. Consider the evidence for and against your negative thought and act like a judge. Try to generate an alternate balanced belief and be patient. There is a reframing negative emotions tool at ClererThinking.org.

For some people, it can be helpful to see your internal self as composed of separate parts. You might have a critic and a procrastinator, for example. This can facilitate healthier self-talk. In times of stress, you need to identify the main part involved. Then you activate the Compassionate Self, which is the leader of all parts. This is the part that talks the injured part(s) back to health. If you are very upset, try a relaxation technique prior to self-talk. Check out ClearerThinking.org for the Have a Better Conversation with Yourself and the Practice Self-Compassion tools.

Worry is negative thinking about what might happen in the future, although, as Mark Twain tells us, most of the things people worry about never occur. Rumination is negative thinking that dwells on things that happened in the past or are happening now. You can use this thinking to help solve real problems if the thoughts are about a real problem. One technique is to postpone this type of thinking. You can even schedule time for it. Techniques covered in other levers can also help.

Productivity is a measure of how much value your actions create per unit of time according to whatever your fundamental values are. If you think of productivity as time x efficiency x importance, you can work more hours, work more efficiently, and work on what is most important. Consider doing a premortem. This involves thinking of all of the things that could go wrong that could result in failure.
Each day ask yourself what one task that I can accomplish today will move me towards my overarching goal. Consider tracking how you spent your day and look for time wasters you can eliminate. Also, look for more efficiency when it comes to life admin, which includes things like cooking, cleaning, and shopping. Consider paying to outsource some of this work. Break difficult tasks into smaller parts. When you hit a roadblock, define the problem and try to solve it. Check out the Value of Your Time Calculator and Boost Your Productivity tools at ClearerThinking.org.