The OptimalWork Podcast

#282: Overcoming anxiety occurs in three successive stages. In the third and final installment of a three episode series, we discuss stage three: using adrenaline to achieve maximal growth. Stage one, bronze-work, centers on challenging yourself by engaging triggers head-on, and it has the effect of habituating the fear associated with that particular trigger. Stage two, silver-work, centers on be...

#281: Whenever we do something repeatedly, we’ll tend eventually to do it in a rote, automatic way. This even applies to OptimalWork’s core practices: reframing, mindfulness, and challenge. In this episode we show how curiosity can help you overcome this tendency and bring a sense of newness to every challenge you face. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com .

#280: The New Year provides a unique opportunity for a fresh start. To make the most of this opportunity, approach your resolutions with hope and creativity: hope so that you strive for the highest things (ideals, bonds) and creativity so that you can strategize how to achieve them. In this episode, Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif Younes discuss a broad array of questions related to New Year’s resolu...

#279: In this episode, Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif discuss some questions received by email about service. Working with a spirit of service means shaping yourself so that you’re the kind of person who is ready to give cheerfully to all those around you. Although this requires that the actual work you’re doing is helpful, the essence lies instead in the way you do it: with a willingness to form an...

#278: Overcoming anxiety occurs in three successive stages. In the second installment of a three episode series, we discuss stage two: using mindfulness to experience the alarm of anxiety. When you focus on the alarm of anxiety, rather than the trigger only, the learning generalizes to all triggers. It also flips the feeling of fear into one of daring, an eagerness to approach the trigger. This se...

#277: In this conversation, Sharif and Kevin delve deeper into the dynamics of human growth and why progress often feels nonlinear. Drawing from chaos theory, they explore the idea of “valleys” and “vortexes” of anxiety, depression, and addiction—and how a single loving, willing action in the present moment can reverse even the strongest downward momentum. Kevin explains how vitality emerges from...

#276: In this conversation, Sharif Younes and Dr. Kevin Majeres introduce the idea of “strange attractors” as a framework for understanding why people can abruptly shift between vitality and states like anxiety, depression, or addiction. Drawing from chaos theory, Kevin explains how meaning, effort, and attention can lock into recognizable behavioral patterns—some virtuous, some vicious—that scale...

#275: In this episode, Sharif and Kevin explore how the cortex and attention form the capstone of motivation and enthusiasm. Together, they trace how meaning (the septum), willingness (the striatum), and focused presence (the cortex) work in harmony to create clarity, silence, and smoothness: the hallmarks of deep attention and flow. Kevin explains why distractions arise, what inner “friction” rea...

#274: In this follow-up to their discussion on meaning and the septum, Sharif and Kevin turn to the striatum —the brain’s engine of effort and challenge. Kevin explains how our willingness to act depends on dopamine, and how love, purpose, and embracing discomfort transform drudgery into freedom and flow. They contrast this neuroscience-based approach with Stoicism, showing how the key to persiste...

#273: In this conversation, Sharif Younes and Dr. Kevin Majeres explore the brain’s septum —the hidden center where love, meaning, and motivation converge. Kevin explains how “septal resonance” connects our sense of purpose to our relationships, and how practices like sincerity, gratitude, and loving-kindness can reawaken zeal in our daily work. Together, they unpack how reframing and genuine affe...

#272: In this episode, Sharif and Kevin continue their exploration of depression, burnout, and low energy—this time uncovering a remarkable bridge between neuroscience and classical wisdom. Kevin reveals how adenosine’s “good tired” and “bad tired” states map directly onto Aquinas’ ideas of tristitia and acedia , showing that what medieval thinkers called “weariness of soul” may be the same state...

#271: In this episode, Kevin and Sharif explore one of the most elegant parallels in psychiatry — the deep connection between anxiety and depression. Kevin explains how panic disorder can be seen as a phobia of adrenaline , while depression mirrors it as a phobia of adenosine , the brain’s “tiredness” signal. Together, they explore how unwillingness to feel these sensations fuels both disorders, a...

#270: In this episode, Kevin and Sharif explore a bold new way to understand depression—not as a simple chemical imbalance, but as what Kevin calls a “phobia of adenosine.” Drawing on neuroscience and behavioral psychology, Kevin explains how our brains rely on a natural rhythm of intensity and rest, and how losing that rhythm leads to burnout, lethargy, and despair. The discussion connects deep b...

#269: Kevin and Sharif dive deep into the true biology and psychology of burnout — not as mere exhaustion, but as “bad tired on steroids.” Kevin explains how chronic threat mode floods the brain with cortisol, amplifying the “type two” tiredness that crushes motivation, focus, and connection. Together, they explore the three engines of vitality — meaning, effort, and attention — showing how burnou...

#268: Kevin and Sharif unpack why “good tired” and “bad tired” aren’t just degrees of fatigue but two distinct brain states tied to adenosine pathways—and how dopamine (and even caffeine) changes the experience. They translate cutting-edge neuroscience into practical steps you can test today: work from motives of love and service (to protect motivation), structure your day in focused sprints with...

#267: Kevin and Sharif explore how depression connects to “bad tired,” the draining fatigue that comes from poor sleep, chronic stress, or unfinished effort. At the center is one molecule — adenosine — which can make us feel either “good tired” (satisfied, fulfilled) or “bad tired” (blue, demotivated). Kevin unpacks how adenosine builds up in the brain, how sleep and astrocytes clear it, and how s...

#266: Overcoming anxiety occurs in three successive stages. In this first installment of a three episode series, we discuss stage one: confronting the trigger of anxiety head-on, embracing the fear. Over time, the trigger will habituate; as you challenge yourself, the fear you experience will gradually diminish. You can then develop a sense of daring, which is the beginning of the second stage, th...

#265: When a child does something wrong, your first instinct may be justice: to punish them. In this episode, we discuss “No-Drama Discipline,” by Daniel Siegal and Tina Bryson, exploring how to discipline children in a way that builds your bond with them and promotes their moral development. By connecting with your child, helping him or her gain insight into what went wrong, and look for ways to...

#264: Difficult situations can feel intolerable. That intolerable feeling is produced by dynorphins and it makes us want to give up and abandon the difficulty we’re facing, whether it’s exercise, a difficult task, time in the sauna, or some small annoyance. But the more we embrace the dynorphin effect — the intolerable feeling — the more we develop a kind of inner strength. And, paradoxically, we...

#263: What do you do when you feel tired? Go back to sleep? Take a nap? Power through? In this episode, we discuss a number of approaches to overcoming tiredness, from tracking your levels of fatigue (not recommended) to changing up your diet. But the ultimate approach draws on all the principles of OptimalWork and will actually help you harness tiredness for increased energy! Find more at https:/...

#262: Mindfulness lies at the heart of OptimalWork’s approach. Living your highest ideals means being fully present, fully engaged with reality. Cultivating this habit is the work of mindfulness. But mindfulness rests on a set of apparent contradictions. Foremost among them is this: while mindfulness involves accepting reality as it is, it is often used as a way of achieving personal or behavioral...

#261: The two fundamental ways you can relate to challenge are approach and avoidance. Typically, approach leads to a virtuous cycle: the challenge gets easier and more enjoyable over time as you grow in mastery. Avoidance, on the other hand, often leads to a vicious cycle of increasing difficulty and pain. In this episode we further break down approach into three levels — tolerating, accepting, a...

#260: With rising rates of anxiety and depression, some have suggested that managers be trained to provide “mental-health first aid” to employees in distress. In this episode, we discuss the best ways managers can help employees thrive at work, how to help them grow, and how to balance the need to get results from their teams with the ideal of supporting and mentoring them. Find more at https://Op...

#259: What’s the best way to prevent distractions? Are prevention techniques — like website blockers — effective? In this episode, we discuss different strategies aimed at behavior change. We argue that the source of the most sustainable behavior change is to build self-mastery through right action. By doing this, you’ll be laying the foundations for new predictions by your brain. Over time, it wi...

#258: Reframing is a practice that developed from cognitive behavioral therapy. It means discovering the opportunity present within a challenge. If you face a challenge that causes anxiety, distraction, or burnout, reframing can help you approach it more effectively. But reframing can do more. It will also help you harmonize the different parts of your life so everything is working in the same dir...