The 12 Levers

• Better understanding leads to better solutions.
• ABC analysis: Break problems into Activating event, Beliefs, and Consequences.

• Clarifying your guiding foundations helps give your life direction.
• Identify a list of 5-10 things you intrinsically value using exploratory questions, life domains, or existing lists

Align your goals with your guiding foundations.

• Create plans to prepare for recurring problems.
• Recognize risk factors, identify early warning signs, and develop prevention and coping strategies.

• Confront your fears through gradual exposure.
• Avoid engaging in “safety behaviors,” since these can undermine your progress.

• Optimize your sleep.
• To relax, try progressive muscle relaxation or slow breathing.
• To increase your energy, try deliberate hyperventilation.
• Cold exposure has potential general benefits, and can be used to temporarily manage intense negative emotions.
• Aim for 2.5 hours of moderate cardio and 2 strength training sessions per week.

• Cognitive restructuring
  • Identify the main distressing thought, identify cognitive distortions, ask reframing questions, and create a more balanced belief.
• Parts work
  • To make sense of your complex inner world, try thinking in terms of different “parts” within your mind.
  • Identify the main parts involved in your distress, activate the “Compassionate Self,” and engage with the triggered part.
• Postponement
  • If you struggle with spirals of worry or rumination, try scheduling a recurring 15-minute “worry time.” When worries arise, tell yourself “this can wait.”

Productivity is the product of time, efficiency, and importance.