The Cycle of Stress and Thinking
Case Study
Ryan was juggling back-to-back projects, a growing team, and mounting pressure at home.
He felt like he was constantly holding his breath, just trying to get through the day.
Every little thing set him off, and the stress made it nearly impossible to focus or make clear decisions.
It wasn’t until he realized why his brain was reacting the way it was that things started to shift
Thinking Skills
While you are doing any task, you (without even realizing it!) are using your 28 thinking skills.
When the thinking skills you need to use are strong, doing the task happens easily.
If the thinking skill you need to use is weak, doing the task will be a challenge.
The struggle that Ryan had came from the lack of understanding that emotions and cognition are directly related.
Emotions and Cognition
Emotions and cognition (thinking) are two sides of the same coin.
If someone goes through a great trauma, often they’re not thinking clearly, right?
Or even a two-year-old who is having a meltdown.
You can’t talk logically to them; you first need to help them calm down, then you talk to them.
Our emotions are highly, highly connected with thinking skills.
When our thinking skills go up, our emotional regulation goes up. And vice versa.
The Cycle
Ryan was under tremendous pressure (emotions), so his thinking wasn’t clear.
It became a vicious cycle.
Pressure > not thinking clearly> makes more pressure, bad decisions etc > more not thinking clearly
We could have entered the situation either from the emotional aspect and his thinking would start getting clearer.
Or we we could have entered it from thinking skills and his emotional regulation would get better.
We decided to enter it from both. At the same time. To get results really fast
Improving Cognition
For the cognitive, we did what we do with all clients.
We figured out which weak thinking skills were having the biggest effect on what he was doing.
In Ryan’s case, it was clear perception and comparison that helped him with prioritizing and making better decisions
(To see where your thinking skills are standing, the assessment here: www.lifepixuniversity.com/cf
Fun fact:
The stronger your thinking skills are, the stronger the connection between your prefrontal cortex (your thinking brain) and your amygdala (your emotional brain), making it easier for you to think logically in highly emotional situations.
Improving Emotional Regulation
On the emotional side of things, we did non-dominant hand journaling.
The way it works is you start by drawing a picture of the situation you are in with your other hand (the hand you don’t usually use to write with).
Then you simply journal with your non-dominant hand.
For some people, describing the picture is what helps them get started.
For others, they simply let out their emotions.
There’s no right or wrong about this. Either way, it helps you process your emotions quickly and get new insights.
Yes, your handwriting will be hard to read. No worries.
Yes, you can draw stick figures.
This is not art that you're hanging up on the wall.
You're journaling to process your emotions.
Your Challenge
Your challenge this week is to:
1) Take the thinking skills assessment if you haven't done so yet www.lifepixuniversity.com/cf
This will give awareness of where you need to improve cognitively.
2) Journal with your nondominant hand.
This will help you process your emotions better.
Cheers to Peak Brain Performance!
ST Rappaport, Brain Engineer for ADHDish Business Owners
Hi, I'm ST,
Just like you, I want to get more done in less time.
Most business owners want to grow their business but already got a lot of stress.
At LifePix University we help you optimize your brain to become more efficient and effective while experiencing more inner peace.
Learn more here.
Your Essential Guide
to Cognitive Functions
This guide will give you all you need to start improving your cognitive functions. Learn what all 28 thinking skills are, how they apply to you and what you can do today to begin improving them.
Thinking Skills Assessment
Thinking is not one big thing. Thinking is made up of 28 parts, called cognitive functions.
Take the FREE assessment to see where each of your cognitive functions are currently at.
How much are your
Thinking skills costing you?
This calculator will figure it out for you in less then 5 minutes.
The Cycle of Stress and Thinking
Case Study
Ryan was juggling back-to-back projects, a growing team, and mounting pressure at home.
He felt like he was constantly holding his breath, just trying to get through the day.
Every little thing set him off, and the stress made it nearly impossible to focus or make clear decisions.
It wasn’t until he realized why his brain was reacting the way it was that things started to shift
Thinking Skills
While you are doing any task, you (without even realizing it!) are using your 28 thinking skills.
When the thinking skills you need to use are strong, doing the task happens easily.
If the thinking skill you need to use is weak, doing the task will be a challenge.
The struggle that Ryan had came from the lack of understanding that emotions and cognition are directly related.
Emotions and Cognition
Emotions and cognition (thinking) are two sides of the same coin.
If someone goes through a great trauma, often they’re not thinking clearly, right?
Or even a two-year-old who is having a meltdown.
You can’t talk logically to them; you first need to help them calm down, then you talk to them.
Our emotions are highly, highly connected with thinking skills.
When our thinking skills go up, our emotional regulation goes up. And vice versa.
The Cycle
Ryan was under tremendous pressure (emotions), so his thinking wasn’t clear.
It became a vicious cycle.
Pressure > not thinking clearly> makes more pressure, bad decisions etc > more not thinking clearly
We could have entered the situation either from the emotional aspect and his thinking would start getting clearer.
Or we we could have entered it from thinking skills and his emotional regulation would get better.
We decided to enter it from both. At the same time. To get results really fast
Improving Cognition
For the cognitive, we did what we do with all clients.
We figured out which weak thinking skills were having the biggest effect on what he was doing.
In Ryan’s case, it was clear perception and comparison that helped him with prioritizing and making better decisions
(To see where your thinking skills are standing, the assessment here: www.lifepixuniversity.com/cf
Fun fact:
The stronger your thinking skills are, the stronger the connection between your prefrontal cortex (your thinking brain) and your amygdala (your emotional brain), making it easier for you to think logically in highly emotional situations.
Improving Emotional Regulation
On the emotional side of things, we did non-dominant hand journaling.
The way it works is you start by drawing a picture of the situation you are in with your other hand (the hand you don’t usually use to write with).
Then you simply journal with your non-dominant hand.
For some people, describing the picture is what helps them get started.
For others, they simply let out their emotions.
There’s no right or wrong about this. Either way, it helps you process your emotions quickly and get new insights.
Yes, your handwriting will be hard to read. No worries.
Yes, you can draw stick figures.
This is not art that you're hanging up on the wall.
You're journaling to process your emotions.
Your Challenge
Your challenge this week is to:
1) Take the thinking skills assessment if you haven't done so yet www.lifepixuniversity.com/cf
This will give awareness of where you need to improve cognitively.
2) Journal with your nondominant hand.
This will help you process your emotions better.
Cheers to Peak Brain Performance!
ST Rappaport, Brain Engineer for ADHDish Business Owners
Hi, I'm ST,
Just like you, I want to be more efficient and effective.
Most entrepreneurs want to grow their business but already got a lot of stress.
At LifePix University we help you rewire your brain to become more efficient and effective while experiencing more inner peace.
Learn more here.
Your Essential Guide
to Cognitive Functions
This guide will give you all you need to start improving your cognitive functions. Learn what all 28 thinking skills are, how they apply to you and what you can do today to begin improving them.
Cognitive Functions Assessment
Thinking is not one big thing. Thinking is made up of 28 parts, called cognitive functions.
Take the FREE assessment to see where each of your cognitive functions are currently at.
How much are your thinking skills costing you?
Find out by using this calculator (for free!)
