The OptimalWork Podcast

#157: Do you have any anxiety that you feel might be holding you back? In fact, anxiety is like a forge that you can use to shape yourself according to your highest ideals. In this episode, we show you how to find the challenge at the root of your anxiety and engage it as a unique opportunity. Find more at ⁠https://www. OptimalWork.com⁠ .

#156: Do you ever find that you don’t have enough time to accomplish all the things you’d like to? Small blocks of time may seem inconsequential, but they add up. Making wise use of these blocks can increase your productivity by 20% — the difference between getting ahead and falling behind. How to do it? That’s the topic of today’s rebroadcast. Find more at https://OptimalWork.com

#155: A lot of people have heard about the practices of sleep hygiene, and are using them, but still struggle to achieve sleep. It may seem like sleep is something that either happens effortlessly or not at all. Recent research, however, suggests that falling asleep is a skill that can be learned. Find more at https://OptimalWork.com

#154: The pain you experience from negative emotions is your brain’s way of predicting and preparing you for some kind of avoidant behavior. In this episode, we’ll show you how to most directly change your brain’s predictions and thus attain a new mastery over discomfort. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#153: When you experience anything — tiredness, pain, distractions — you’re engaging not just reality, but also your brain’s predictions. This insight has profound consequences for how you should engage challenges like tiredness, and for the types of beliefs you should have about yourself. In this episode, we discuss how to interpret and respond to your experiences and your brain’s predictions. Fi...

#152: You may have a goal of achieving a high level of performance with no difficulty, no inner turmoil whatsoever. In this rebroadcast, Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif discuss approaching challenges in a different way: not aiming for effortless success, but rather for acceptance of difficulty and perseverance — what Dr. Majeres calls aiming for silver, rather than gold. Find more at https://www. Opt...

#151: More and more people report experiencing “imposter syndrome,” often in new and challenging social or professional situations. They are unable to internalize their own success, attributing it instead to external factors like chance or luck; as a result, they often see themselves as “frauds.” In this rebroadcast, we introduce a solution to imposter syndrome that gives us independence from the...

#150: If you think you waste too much time—for example, on social media, internet, and entertainment—there is likely some part of you that is urging you to do better. In this rebroadcast, we show how to redirect the energy of these different “parts” of you—the one seeking entertainment, and the one criticizing your time wasting—in order to integrate them and achieve inner harmony. Find more at ⁠ht...

#149: Are you hypnotized right now? It might surprise you to learn that, in a technical sense, you very well may be. Understanding how trances work, the topic of today’s rebroadcast, will allow you to free your attention from the things that capture it. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#148: We work in order to produce something of value for others. In order to work better, rest is important to restore ourselves and maintain energy. But activities of leisure carry us beyond rest to contemplation, and are done for their own sake. In this episode, Dr. Majeres and Sharif discuss the relationship between rest, work, and leisure. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com .

#147: Sometimes it may seem like the outcome is the most important thing you need to obtain: the perfect grade, the well-deserved promotion, or the necessary money. In this episode, Dr. Majeres and Sharif discuss the superiority of growth goals and why you should never aim for outcomes as ends in themselves. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#146: Toxic positivity means invalidating the negative emotions of others. In this episode, Dr. Majeres and Sharif discuss how to engage negative emotions — in ourselves and others — in a constructive way, by being understanding and encouraging, rather than positively toxic. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#145: Over the past five years, OptimalWork has grown into a unique and powerful digital platform for growth, centered on our MasterClass. In this episode, Sharif and Dr. Majeres discuss the history of our digital platform and recent findings about how effective the MasterClass is in helping people achieve behavior change. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#144: Do you think you have a bad memory? Do you think summer goes by too fast? It turns out, there’s one solution for both problems. In this rebroadcast, Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif discuss strategies that can both improve your memory and enrich your experiences, which can apply to making your summer more fruitful and making it seem longer. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#143: Working with a spirit of service lies at the core of working at your best. But the spirit of service has a doppelgänger: aiming to please people. This often arises from motives of fear (fear of conflict, etc.), whereas service is rooted in love. In this episode, we compare these two motivations, and discuss how to escape the trap of seeking to please others. Find more at https://www. Optimal...

#142: Is it possible to sustain a high level of challenge throughout the day? At first, it may seem daunting. But embracing challenge brings growth and with it an increase in energy. The key is to embrace challenges in order to serve, so that challenges are not about improving yourself in isolation, but deepening the bonds with those around you. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#141: When focusing on self-improvement, it is natural to look first at your behaviors and strive for behavior change. In this episode, Dr. Majeres and Sharif explore what change on the inside looks like: how you relate to the inner friction produced by “parts” of you, like an inner critic or a harsh taskmaster. They show that behavior change is best built on a foundation of interior transformatio...

#140: One of the consequences of living in threat mode is that you often feel overwhelmed. Your view of yourself and your situation becomes fixed, and you can lose your optimism. In this rebroadcast, Sharif and Dr. Kevin Majeres discussed how to regain a sense of possibility and freedom whenever you’re overwhelmed.

#139: It is possible to accept in theory that every challenge presents an opportunity, while still in reality viewing the actual challenges you face in a negative light. In this episode, Sharif and Dr. Majeres discuss the need for a robust worldview to be able to reframe any challenge, and how to tap into that worldview to make it more operative. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#138: There is increasing interest in dopamine, a molecule that is closely related to our experience of pleasure, reward, expectation, and motivation. It’s involved in negative processes, like overindulgence and addiction, but it can also be harnessed to set virtuous cycles in motion. Surprisingly, as Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif discuss, the dopamine molecule is involved in the very spiritual pro...

#137: Sometimes when people learn about OptimalWork they think the principles apply only to desk work, academic work, or deep work: in a word, work that can be completely controlled. In this episode, Rashad Badr and Dr. Kevin Majeres show how OptimalWork’s principles can be applied to all types of work, focusing especially on meetings you attend, the quintessential example of work that’s “out of y...

#136: In this episode Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif discuss Steven Pressfield’s book “The War of Art.” Pressfield has developed a kind of mythology to describe the psychology of following one’s true calling. You know you’re on the right path if you encounter Resistance. But if you persevere and work through the Resistance your Muse will inspire you to do great things. In this episode, we compare Pr...

#135: Cognitive behavioral therapy, positive psychology, and other developments in the field of psychology have put flourishing on the map as a primary goal of psychological growth. In this episode, Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif discuss the nature of flourishing, and the surest path to obtaining it. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com . 

#134: If there’s an area in your life where you want to grow, it can be difficult to know how to make progress. In this episode, we discuss how to get started by formulating strategies and steps, that is, by applying prudence to the question of how to grow. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com .

#133: We’ve often spoken about the importance of maintaining a cheerful tone around us. But sometimes people find that inwardly they are very harsh and demanding with themselves. In this episode, we’ll discuss how to aim for the ideal of cheerfulness, but interiorly: with ourselves, our thoughts, and our emotions. Find more at https://www. OptimalWork.com .