Asymmetric Habits with Jonathan Pishner and Jerry Handley

* Archives * Have you ever felt an undeniable urge to do what all the cool kids are doing? No? Well, me either… Just kidding! Wanting to join a popular trend is undoubtably a part of the modern human experience, whether at school, work, our neighborhood, or these days a more global pull such as trends that go viral on social media. Unfortunately constantly jumping from trend to trend makes a lot o...

Self-care is a hot buzzword these days, and honestly we're glad there's more attention on the subject. But what qualifies as self-care? Probably the top way people spend down time is scrolling through the smartphone or watching tv. It's engaging, and it's a time to turn our brains off. After all everyone has a smartphone these days, and our parents could never have dreamed everyone...

Whether we like it or not, our energy is one of the great shapers of our lives. The energy we feel for our work, the energy we exude, physical energy, mental energy, emotional energy… you can definitely say energy plays a big role in our life’s greatest dreams and endeavors! So have you ever considered looking at how you manage your energy and ways you may be able to improve it? Energy Management...

Caring for others is an act of compassion and responsibility most of us will have in our lives - as parents, as children caring for parents, possibly as professionals in care settings, or in other ways. What we don't think much about is how the person needing care may benefit more or less from certain emotional responses the caregiver is giving them. Are you ALWAYS positive? Do you frequently...

Jonathan and Jerry are back with their first podcast of 2024 after a short little break to start the new year! In today's world we are surrounded by messaging that in order to succeed we must expect ourselves to do many things at once. Multi-tasking is considered a proud skill, and many people boast about being good at multi-tasking. Spoiler alert - almost no one is good at multi-tasking, and...

An annual topic - New Year's Resolutions! New Year's Resolutions have a bit of a negative connotation. They're goals we get excited for, but at the same time we basically expect them to fail pretty quickly. Maybe we don't expect ourselves to fail, but if we do there's always next year... right? Well JP and I want you to succeed at achieving goals and creating positive change in...

In this episode from broadcast archives, we cover Seasonal Affective Disorder! Days get shorter, nights get longer, and changing of the clocks seems to make it worse... Seasonal affective disorder is characterized as a type of depression which occurs for many at periods of the year when there is less sunlight. Jonathan Pishner of Apex Counseling and I talk about the very topic and ways it can be m...

Life costs energy. The things we do cost energy. Even decisions we make cost energy... And yes, it is a finite resource that can run out and needs to be replenished. This is the part so many of us miss! When we feel run down physically, emotionally, mentally or all of the above, there are things we must to do recharge and replenish. It's not just something that happens physically - our nervous...

The 2023 version of a Jonathan Pishner annual topic! The holiday season is here, and typically that comes with more social interactions in groups - holiday parties, family gatherings, celebrations, and more. While these are supposed to be fun events of joy and mirth, and many are indeed just that, a lot of times it also comes with social stress. The idea that you "have to" hang out with...

With the holidays coming up, it's a time of awesomeness and cheer for a lot of people! Unfortunately a lot of people are instead overwhelmed with more toxic emotions because of feeling like they "have to" hang out with people they just don't get along with. Feeling "stuck" in negative circumstances is never a good feeling, particularly when it's people you think you...

Let me fill you in on an ugly secret about the universe - For some crazy reason, it seems to have a sense of humor. Part of its humor is that when people "get ahead", such as in a big game, an investment, or self-improvement goal, oftentimes we shift from what was working and got us ahead in the first place into a more "defensive" mindset. It's easy for us to flip when ahea...

Nervousness is a natural human emotion, and one we're all familiar with. So why is it that we're all so worried about it or afraid of it? On this recorded broadcast of "Asymmetric Habits", I get to ask Jonathan Pishner of Apex Counseling those very questions before we dive into practical solutions so that nervousness doesn't take you out! ***** We hope this episode helps you...

In this episode JP and I will be using our experiences to help people form strategies, mindsets, and action steps to properly manage senses of insecurity. Short-term financial losses, bad workouts, losing a friendship - these are samples of events that can leave us with significant emotional turmoil if left unchecked, but thankfully are not generally too life-altering and serious. Keeping our feel...

** Archived Episode! ** Being a parent is full of emotionally charged duties, some of which are based around how parents manage their own feelings around the decisions of their children. Sometimes it’s based around watching your children struggle, but sometimes it’s based only on your own emotions with your children’s decisions. In this classic episode from an early 2021 broadcast, Jonathan and I...

How often does this happen to you? 1. There's something you want achieve, or for someone you love to achieve. 2. Even if the outcome is fantastic, you're still upset because it doesn't happen the way you wanted. For as fantastic as they are our brains can also be our worst enemy. A common manifestation of this is in how we define "success" before even getting there, preventin...

So funny story... When we recorded this I was actually late to the official time Jonathan and I decided to have the call. I had what I believed was a sufficient window to return something at a store earlier this week, and things went unexpectedly more complicated... and then some. Turns out my schedule planning had imagine fair-weather process only, and I hadn't given myself enough time to not...

Parents have always had a big job - raising their kids! Part of that package which can be quite aggravating is how often details outside of your control change which can very quickly scrap all your best laid plans. Sudden changes like...: * Sudden school meetings with teachers * A change in your work schedule directly conflicting with a promise you made your children * Changes in sports or band sc...

*** Archive Bonus Episode *** A bonus episode straight from the archives of our Facebook released footage, another episode on Overcomplicating Things! Broadcast live almost 2 years before our newest episode on how to avoid Overcomplicating Things, see what JP and I had to say about it near the end of 2021 and take the most impactful advice and strategies from both! ***** We hope this episode helps...

DON'T. OVERCOMPLICATE. THINGS. A little easier said than done, right? On the newest episode of "Asymmetric Habits", overcomplicating is exactly what counselor extraordinaire Jonathan Pishner and I, your friendly neighborhood strength coach, spend time talking about and breaking down! Our goal is simple - help you find awareness for where overcomplicating may be slowing you down, and...

Define “joy” for yourself. What brings you happiness? What keeps you happy? What… IS happiness to you? While we all have our own answers about what ‘joy’ means, there’s no doubt it is a feeling we want to experience more often! So what if Jonathan and Jerry were to tell you it’s a feeling you can CREATE? You don’t have to just hope pieces fall in line and create joy, you can create your own joyful...

Injuries! Few things can mess up routines and plans like injuries. Injuries can come from sports or a physical hobby, or something innocuous like picking laundry up off the floor or sleeping in a poor position. Unfortunately this means injuries will plague all of us at some time or another, and it is up to decide how to react while trying to get better. The BIG injuries are the ones that really st...

Self-care is a term that gets used more often now than 10+ years ago, enough that it may be in one ear and out the other when we hear it. I guarantee there's been at least one time you can remember someone told you to engage in some self-care, and you brushed it off. Right? I know I'm right, and I also guarantee you justified it in your head, if not out loud. Let me get straight to the poi...

We're brought up to think of "Selfishness" as a negative trait, that for yourself or others to be "Selfish" is inherently wrong, almost in a "yes or no" type of way. As is usually the case the truth is much more complex than that, and the result is that many people aren't living their best, happiest, or healthiest life because of the generalization. While self...

It's back to school season, starting 9 more months of classes, clubs, sports, and extracurricular activities. Sadly with all the good times will also come bad times, and school is a time we're all accustomed to hearing about when bullying rears its ugly head in prominence. What we DON'T hear about as often is when the bullying comes from the authority figures kids are supposed to be un...

Part 2 of the Asymmetric Habits' 2-part series on RELATIONSHIPS, focusing on knowing when to compromise and when to give up position for overall happiness! In Part 1 last week we went over the importance of Mutual Agreements in Relationships, so here we get into the weeds a little bit further - what to happen when there are disagreements over decisions, and how to make the best of them! Someti...