“Let’s get real for a moment. Self-care and mental health aren’t about grand gestures. You don’t need to quit your job, move to Bali, or spend hours in therapy daily.

The real magic happens in the small wins—the little choices you make daily that help you feel calm, grounded, and in control.

Here are the 3 main reasons why small wins matter:

1. They’re achievable. Big goals can feel overwhelming, but small steps are doable.

2. They build momentum. You have to listen to the full episode to see how.

3. They boost confidence. There is an ART to it, and my latest ADAPTive.TT approach tells you step by step.

Summary of Key Elements for Episode 5:

1. Story Segment: Ralph sets small goals to survive a chaotic family lunch.

2. Insight: Small wins build momentum and confidence for better mental health.

Today, we're revisiting what I call life’s number one skill, which we must learn early through responsibilities given by our parents or primary caregivers. While M. Scott Peck refers to this as discipline, I see it as our response to the constant demands of the moment—a response that can lead to physical and psychological stress as our brain initially reacts with fear.

According to the most recent World Health Organization definition, our mental health is a continuous state of varying well-being, influenced by our adaptive or maladaptive coping mechanisms for everyday stressors. Research broadly categorizes these responses as Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn. Today's episode, as with my friend and client Ralph, explores how these responses shape his daily experience of stress.

Well, today, we’re moving on to another biggie: emotions. They’re messy, unpredictable, and sometimes downright dramatic—just like the weather. But here’s the good news: You don’t need to fight them. You just need to accept them, like a passing storm. And who better to help us understand this than Ralph Soulman himself?

Let’s jump in!”