The Self Help Antidote

Send us Fan Mail What if improving your mood started with food? In this episode, we explore the connection between nutrition, mood, and the gut microbiome, and why healthier eating doesn’t have to involve a complete lifestyle overhaul or a passionate relationship with kale. We unpack how your gut and brain communicate, what your gut bacteria are doing all day, and what research suggests about the...

Send us Fan Mail What if being resilient means more than getting better at enduring difficult things? When life becomes unpredictable, we’re often told to stay strong, adapt, and keep going. But what happens when the people holding everything together need support themselves? In this episode, I share lessons from my conversation with former prisoner of war Captain Charlie Plumb, Including an unexp...

Send us Fan Mail Being busy is one thing. Knowing whether your effort is creating something valuable is quite another. In this episode, Craig Harper and I explore the difference between activity and progress, and when an over structured plan can get in the way of learning. We unpack a surprising lessons I learned from my personal training days: the more I charged, the fewer objections I received....

Send us Fan Mail What if kindness at work isn’t the opposite of accountability, but one of the conditions that makes accountability possible? In this episode, we explore the science behind kindness, connection, psychological safety, trust, compassion, curiosity, and human performance. We look at why seemingly small behaviors, listening a little longer, asking a better question, acknowledging someo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I sit down with Jo Groves to revisit one of the most unconventional commencement speeches of the last decade: Tim Minchin’s 2013 address at the University of Western Australia. Minchin offered nine life lessons that are funny, provocative, and occasionally counterintuitive: you don’t have to have a dream, don’t make happiness your goal, remember how much of life i...

Send us Fan Mail Over the years, I've had the privilege of working with and learning from some extraordinary leaders and mentors.  What stayed with me wasn't their charisma or ability to command a room.  It was how they treated people, made decisions, built trust, responded to adversity, and most of all, developed others.   In this episode I share some of the leadership lessons that have...

Send us Fan Mail What if becoming more fully yourself has less to do with looking inward forever, and more to do with what you choose to give your attention, and energy to next? In this episode, in my discussion with Craig Harper and Tiffanee Cook we explore the relationship between self-regulation, agency, identity, meaning, and generosity. We look at the difference between an internal and extern...

Send us Fan Mail Empathy is one of the most important ingredients in effective coaching and communication. Approaches such as Motivational Interviewing demonstrate that people are more likely to explore change when they feel genuinely heard, understood, and accepted rather than judged, corrected, or managed. But empathy has a potential downside. In this episode, we explore why empathy is a non-neg...

Send us Fan Mail What if work-life balance isn’t really about balance at all? In this episode, we challenge the familiar idea that a well-lived life means somehow becoming equally successful at work, relationships, health and everything else, while remaining calm, well-rested and mysteriously caught up on email. Instead, we explore a different question: How do we create enough space for the things...

Send us Fan Mail What if the way you talk to yourself is progressively making burnout worse? We’re often told that changing our lives starts with changing our thoughts. Think positively. Repeat affirmations. Tell yourself, “I will do this.” But when you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, and running on fumes, your brain may have a fairly compelling rebuttal. In this episode, we explore the relationship be...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Jo Groves and I sit down with former television video producer and content creation expert Richard Playfair to ask a mildly uncomfortable question: Are you creating content, or simply consuming so much of it that your brain has become an AirBnB for other people's ideas?   We explore why social media leaves intelligent, capable people feeling overwhelmed.  Richard t...

Send us Fan Mail What if wellbeing isn’t something to be achieved, but something to be cultivated and experienced when the way you live aligns with what you value most? In this episode, we explore Ikigai , the Japanese concept often translated as “a reason for being.” While the Western version is frequently presented as a Venn diagram combining what you love, what you’re good at, what the world ne...

Send us Fan Mail Habits can be the key to or the lock on our success. Nearly everything we want to improve, from our health and confidence to our relationships, performance, and wellbeing, depends on what we do consistently. Yet in a world where life already feels relentlessly additive, habit creation can quickly become another overwhelming project. Add a morning routine. Add exercise. Add meditat...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Self Help Antidote , I speak with John Graham, author of Quest: Risk, Adventure, and the Search for Meaning . The book chronicles John’s transformation from an adrenaline-seeking diplomat into a global peacebuilder, while sharing the stories of ordinary people who have taken extraordinary risks for the common good. John is also a leader of the Giraffe Heroes...

Send a text Are good looks actually a life advantage, or just a very convincing illusion? In this episode, Craig and I poke at one of society’s favorite unspoken rules: beauty equals value . Why are humans so magnetically drawn to attractiveness? What do we really mean when we say someone is “confident,” “intimidating,” or “easy to like”? And how much of what we believe about social success is… le...

Send a text In this episode of The Self-Help Antidote , I sit down with Jo Groves and Behavioral Scientist and Exercise Professional Dr. Lou Atkinson to explore one of the most talked-about topics in health and fitness today, GLP-1. From its medical origins and biological mechanisms to the behavioral implications of satiety and self-control, this conversation pulls no punches on what GLP-1 can (an...

Send a text We can’t relive the past, but the past never really leaves us. In this episode, I sit down with my dear friend and co-host Tiffanee Cook to explore how our history continues to shape who we are, what we value, and how we show up today. We unpack why the environments, people, and strengths that fueled our success in the past are a mirror reflecting what matters most to us now, and how d...

Send a text In this episode, Craig Harper and I pull back the curtain on what it’s like to navigate life and leadership with Tourette’s, equal parts challenge and comedy. From the unpredictability of Tourette's to the absurdities it create's in everyday moments, we explore how humor becomes both a shield and a bridge. But this isn’t just about Tourette’s, it’s about adjusting to a rapidl...

Send a text What if the best leadership lessons didn’t come from business school but from behind the chair in a barbershop? In this episode, I sit down with Susanne Biro, coach to C-suite and executive leaders, author, designer, facilitator, Forbes and CEO Magazine contributor, and TEDx speaker.  Susanne shares her journey from studying psychology to discovering the human side of leadership in the...

Send a text In this powerful conversation, Daniela Tilbrook shares the heart and motivation behind her book Not My Shame . She opens up about the crushing weight of carrying shame for something you could never have prevented, and the fear of what might happen if the truth were ever known. For Daniela, breaking her silence was both terrifying and liberating.  The first time she spoke about her trau...

Send a text Ranae’s story is one of pain, resilience, and the hard work of healing. At just eleven years old she experienced a horrible traumatic event that shaped how she viewed herself, her worth, and her relationships with others. Told to “put it aside” for appearances, she spent years trying to please everyone else while quietly carrying the weight of shame. Her journey eventually led to Feder...

Send a text What’s more useful today: a perfectly polished five-year career plan, or the ability to thrive in chaos? In this episode, Craig Harper and I lean into the reality that uncertainty isn’t going away—it’s becoming the baseline. We explore how self-awareness gives you the clarity to navigate change, why developing actual skill is the backbone of real confidence, and why adaptability has re...

Send a text Sometimes clarity doesn’t come in a flash of inspiration, it arrives in the quiet, awkward realization that this … isn’t it. Maybe it’s your job. Or your routine. Or the way you’ve been moving through the world lately. It’s not terrible, exactly, it’s just not lighting any fires. And the tricky part? You’re not even sure what would . In this episode of The Self-Help Antidote , we explo...

Send a text In a world where connection is thinning, certainty is shrinking, and burnout feels like a badge of honor, what does it actually take to build a life rooted in resilience and wellbeing? In this episode, we dive into the psychological and neurological building blocks of self-care, not the bubble bath kind, but the kind that scaffolds you when life inevitably hits hard. From Dunbar’s numb...

Send a text In this episode we explore what comedians can teach us about timing, tenacity, and the transformative power of failure. From the brutal honesty of open mic nights to the uncanny pattern recognition honed through relentless practice, we unpack why everyone should step onto a stage at least once in their life, not for applause, but for awareness. I share stories (including a ahem, friend...