SUSTAIN

Comfort and reminders as to why and how to keep going, or how to pivot when things don’t go as planned. Sustain tools are defined by three critical themes.

Emotional Hygiene (4)

Consistent and skillful care of our emotional selves. You can assist yourself in delivering the possibility you are striving for.

Riding the Waves

Emotions come in waves, with highs and lows. Know that the cycle is natural—everyone feels it. If you’re at a low point, better times are coming!

Connection & Community

We are sustained by enriching communities. Surround yourself with others who understand your situation or can build your optimism. Connect with people you can learn from.

Hope is Active

Hope isn’t something that happens; it is an active choice to believe our dreams into being, even if we feel they are on shaky ground.

Comforts

Our senses bypass the thinking brain and bring immediate comfort. Use them to create a haven at home or at work—no matter your situation.

Reality Check (8)

Using the reasoning mind to unpack the real situation. You can counsel yourself, finding solutions that are realistic.

Alternatives & Probabilities

Too often we think in binary terms, obsessing about success versus failure. In reality, life has many more possible outcomes than we can imagine. Seeing the broader set of options and thinking in terms of probabilities can help decrease your stress about the unknown.

Learned Optimism

Decatastrophize setbacks by seeing them as temporary, isolated to the circumstance, and not entirely your fault. Celebrate your victories and dispute the negative beliefs to find more energy to try again.

Creative Competition

Don’t lose sight of the benefit of competition: It gets you doing your best work. What can you learn from competitors? How can they inspire you? Creative collaboration is even better, and it’s a way out of the competition dilemma.

Frustration Management

It’s OK to let yourself feel frustrated by a setback for a period of time but then use reframing techniques to defang the setback. After all, setbacks are an inevitable part of uncertainty and possibility.

Worst Case Scenario

Obsessing about the worst-case scenarios can be disabling. Sometimes unpacking the worst-case scenario and walking it through to its final implications can reveal that the “monster under the bed” isn’t quite as terrible as we feared.

Sorting Knowns vs Unknowns

Identifying what you know and what you don’t know can decrease your anxiety and provide some knowns to fill in the gaps. You might be able to use analogies to make sense of the unknowns to give you some firmer footing.

Embrace Being Human

Surrender to the reality that humans have instinctual fear—it has helped our species survive. Then move into a more meaningful attitude toward anxiety and uncertainty.

Optimization Myth

There isn’t one best way to do anything. Don’t get so obsessed with what you imagine the optimal outcome to be. You might miss out on the way it was really meant to happen.

Magic (5)

Leaps of insight, connection, and serendipity that change and inspire us. We don't control magic, but can make room for it.

Picaresque

Few people live the life they planned. Go along for the ride of your life. Don’t take things too seriously or personally. Cultivate your garden and discover the magic that is already there.

Memento Mori

From the Latin for “Remember, you must die,” this practice is an ancient form of meditation on the certainty that your time is limited, which helps infuse the days you do have with more vibrant living and joy.

As If

Living as if something was already true is a technique philosophers and political activists use to invoke action and change. Living as if possibilities exist can increase the chances that they will come to be and helps us endure while we wait for them.

Techs You Live By

If technology is “any phenomenon put to use,” what technologies are you using and why? Being intentional about adding philosophy, art, poetry, music, and other such “high techs” creates more room for magic.

Helping Others

Empathy, compassion, and service all reward the giver and the receiver. When people are kind during times of struggle or stress, they experience less distress and more hope themselves.

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"A book I wish I had been offered when starting my adult life."

SUSTAIN

Comfort and reminders as to why and how to keep going, or how to pivot when things don’t go as planned. Sustain tools are defined by three critical themes.

Emotional Hygiene (4)

Consistent and skillful care of our emotional selves. You can assist yourself in delivering the ­possibility you are striving for.

Emotions come in waves, with highs and lows. Know that the cycle is natural—everyone feels it. If you’re at a low point, better times are coming!

We are sustained by enriching communities. Surround yourself with others who understand your situation or can build your optimism. Connect with people you can learn from.

Hope isn’t something that happens; it is an active choice to believe our dreams into being, even if we feel they are on shaky ground.

Our senses bypass the thinking brain and bring immediate comfort. Use them to create a haven at home or at work—no matter your situation.

Reality Check (8)

Using the reasoning mind to unpack the real situation. You can counsel yourself, finding solutions that are realistic.

Too often we think in binary terms, obsessing about success versus failure. In reality, life has many more possible outcomes than we can imagine. Seeing the broader set of options and thinking in terms of probabilities can help decrease your stress about the unknown.

Decatastrophize setbacks by seeing them as temporary, isolated to the circumstance, and not entirely your fault. Celebrate your victories and dispute the negative beliefs to find more energy to try again.

Don’t lose sight of the benefit of competition: It gets you doing your best work. What can you learn from competitors? How can they inspire you? Creative collaboration is even better, and it’s a way out of the competition dilemma.

It’s OK to let yourself feel frustrated by a setback for a period of time but then use reframing techniques to defang the setback. After all, setbacks are an inevitable part of uncertainty and possibility.

Obsessing about the worst-case scenarios can be disabling. Sometimes unpacking the worst-case scenario and walking it through to its final implications can reveal that the “monster under the bed” isn’t quite as terrible as we feared.

Identifying what you know and what you don’t know can decrease your anxiety and provide some knowns to fill in the gaps. You might be able to use analogies to make sense of the unknowns to give you some firmer footing.

Surrender to the reality that humans have instinctual fear—it has helped our species survive. Then move into a more meaningful attitude toward anxiety and uncertainty.

There isn’t one best way to do anything. Don’t get so obsessed with what you imagine the optimal outcome to be. You might miss out on the way it was really meant to happen.

Magic (5)

Leaps of insight, connection, and serendipity that change and inspire us. We don't control magic, but can make room for it.

Few people live the life they planned. Go along for the ride of your life. Don’t take things too seriously or personally. Cultivate your garden and discover the magic that is already there.

From the Latin for “Remember, you must die,” this practice is an ancient form of meditation on the certainty that your time is limited, which helps infuse the days you do have with more vibrant living and joy.

Living as if something was already true is a technique philosophers and political activists use to invoke action and change. Living as if possibilities exist can increase the chances that they will come to be and helps us endure while we wait for them.

If technology is “any phenomenon put to use,” what technologies are you using and why? Being intentional about adding philosophy, art, poetry, music, and other such “high techs” creates more room for magic.

Empathy, compassion, and service all reward the giver and the receiver. When people are kind during times of struggle or stress, they experience less distress and more hope themselves.

"A book I wish I had been offered when starting my adult life."

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Consistent and skillful care of our emotional selves. You can assist yourself in delivering the possibility you are striving for.