Anne’s Insights

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Research shows that positive emotions don’t just make people feel good — they also broaden thinking, boost creativity, and improve collaboration. So, when you choose to share calm or joy, you’re not just helping people feel better, you’re helping them do better.

What Are You Spreading?

Rest is not lazy—it’s necessary. Your kids are watching how you handle stress, failure, and pressure. Back-to-school isn’t just about fresh starts. It’s also about messy middles and emotional landmines. So give yourself (and everyone else) a little extra grace over the next few weeks.

Back to School or Back to Stress?

Boundaries are not about being cold or uncaring. They’re about clarity. They let people know how to treat you. They help you protect your time, your peace, and your energy like the non-renewable resources they are.

If You’re Exhausted, This Might Be Why

Just because the world feels loud and angry doesn’t mean you have to be. Create some calm in the chaos. I’m not suggesting you check out or ignore important issues. Just don’t forget to check in with your values, your energy, and your mental bandwidth.

Mental Armor for a Divided World

If you're feeling exhausted, you're not alone. It’s called change fatigue, and it’s what happens when we’re expected to pivot, adapt, and

Change Fatigue? Try This.

Resilience isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing what matters with intention. Spring is the perfect time to sweep out what’s no longer serving you and make space for what actually does.

Spring Clean Your Mind

Time for a midlife reinvention?

Time for a midlife reinvention?

Anxiety is a persistent emotional state characterized by fear or nervousness about the future, even when there is no immediate threat. It’s a general sense of unease, even when things are objectively okay.

The Problem Isn’t Your Anxiety

If you’ve ever tried to change a habit, you know how hard it can be. That’s because the more often you practice the habit, the more ingrained the habit becomes. The good news is that we can rewire our brains and make lasting changes.

Want to change a bad habit?

If you are trying to figure out what to get that special someone, I’ve got your back. The perfect gift isn’t about price tags or flashy packaging; it’s about thoughtfulness.

Resilience Gift Guide 2024

The good news is that resilience isn’t a personality trait - it’s a skill that can be developed, and with the help of AI, you can cultivate it more effectively than ever.

Can AI Help You Build Resilience?

Uncertainty often leads to anxiety because the brain tends to fill in the gaps with worst-case scenarios. This can create a constant state of worry as the brain prepares for every possible negative outcome.

Stressed with change and uncertainty? Do this.

Social comparison is a natural part of human behavior. Remember, your journey is unique, and your worth is not determined by how you measure up to others. Focus on your personal growth, set meaningful goals, celebrate successes, and use social comparison as inspiration, not validation.

Social Comparison: Friend or Foe?

I’m not suggesting you wear rose-colored glasses, pretending the tough stuff doesn’t exist, but I am suggesting building a habit of realistic optimism. Realistic optimism is a mindset that combines a positive outlook with a grounded understanding of reality. It involves maintaining hope and confidence while acknowledging and accepting the challenges and uncertainties of life. Rather than denying or minimizing difficulties, realistic optimists approach situations with resilience, flexibility, and a belief in their ability to navigate obstacles effectively.

How do you choose to see the world?

Blog Featured 2024-07-29 Procrastinate much

Procrastinate much?

Rumination is just one of our brain’s many protection mechanisms. Your brain thinks that if it ruminates, it is doing something productive. You just have to give it something else to do instead.

Do You Ruminate?

Anne’s Surgery Update

Anne’s Surgery Update

Why Languishing is Harmful & How To Overcome It

Why Languishing is Harmful & How To Overcome It

Emotional Numbing: What it Is, Why it’s Harmful, & What to Do Instead

Emotional Numbing: Why it’s Harmful & What to Do Instead

People Pleasing: What it Is & How to Overcome it

People Pleasing: What it Is & How to Overcome it

How to Be Less Judgmental

How to Be Less Judgmental

Create a habit of taking time to strategically stop throughout your day, check-in with yourself, and give your brain some time to process. After all, new habits are most likely to stick if you pair a behavior you want to develop with a habit you already have.

Build a Bathroom Habit

The Importance of Rest & Ways to Give Your Brain a Break During the Workday

The Importance of Rest & Ways to Give Your Brain a Break During the Workday

Doom Scrolling: What it Is, Why it’s Harmful, & Tips to Avoid

Doom Scrolling: What it Is, Why it’s Harmful, & Tips to Avoid

Our brain is continually growing and changing well into our nineties. Getting better at looking for, savoring, and sharing good experiences inclines your mind in that direction. Research has found that keeping a gratitude journal or thinking of 3 good things that happened each day forces you to scan for the positives.

Did You See The Bear?

Prior to the pandemic, one in 5 adults and children struggled with a mental health issue. That number is now one in 4. Whether you have kids or are around them, this is the perfect time to have conversations about mental health. It is all of our jobs to create a safety zone where kids feel safe to talk about their feelings and emotions.

How To Talk To Your Kids About Mental Health

Practicing gratitude does not mean that you ignore the negative or wear rose-colored glasses. It simply means that you actively search for what is good. Gratitude is a catalyst for positive emotions, triggering a cascade of physiological and psychological changes.

You’re probably practicing gratitude wrong

If you feel fear and self-doubt, you are in good company. So do I. So do most people, regardless of age, culture, or gender, education, and experience. In fact, it’s estimated that 70% of the population suffers from imposter syndrome at one point or another.

Do you have imposter syndrome?

We can help preserve our mental well-being by proactively surrounding ourselves in layers of psychological bubble wrap, adopting the powerful beliefs and behaviors that can protect us from life's inevitable bumps and crashes. If we can create habits that consistently add layers of emotional cushion, we can achieve what I call shatterproof resilience.

Shatterproof resilience

It’s time to hug your monster. When we have uncomfortable feelings and emotions, it’s tempting to try to push them away. Unfortunately, this just increases the intensity and duration with which we feel them. We use all of our mental energy trying not to feel them, which only makes us feel them more.

Hug Your Monster

In 2008, happiness was an 11 billion dollar industry. Today, that number is astronomically higher. There are countless books, podcasts, blogs, and articles claiming to teach us how to be happy. But is all of this “happiness” making us any happier?

Stop chasing happiness

In a time when many of us seem to be reevaluating our priorities, burnout and stress are at an all-time high, and over 50% of Americans are “quiet-quitting”, it seems like the right time to rethink the way we work.

Is the way you’re working working for you?

Building your resilience buffer zone requires that you be deliberate about cultivating the habits that will lead to the life you want. Rather than inspiration or motivation, you have to behave your way to better.

Behave your way to better

2022 Resilience Gift Guide

2022 Resilience Gift Guide

We are entering the holiday season, and as magical as it can be, the holidays can also be a source of stress. Remember to give yourself and others grace, practice self-compassion and kindness, and try these three things to make your life just a little bit easier.

3 things you can do to make your holiday a little easier

Let go to level up

Let go to level up

While time management tools are helpful, they don’t address the root issue: Our perception of time. Changing our perception of time, changes our reality. If you have ever wondered why time drags by when you exercise but flies by when you hit the snooze button, you have experienced this.

Are you time poor?

In order to regulate stress, battle burnout, and improve well-being, you have to intentionally build your psychological immune system. If it is not possible to reduce the “threat”, you have to increase your sense of safety. Every time your brain gets a signal of safety, it replenishes your psychological immune system.

It’s time to build your psychological immune system

To find and retain great talent, foster diversity and inclusion in new and different ways, and reshape the employee experience, we will need to up-skill, reskill, and revamp the way we work. Regardless of industry, employees, leaders, and teams are going to need greater resilience, grit, and agility to navigate it all.

A How-To Guide for Building Resilience in The Future of Work

Are you guilty of filling in the blanks?

Are you guilty of filling in the blanks?

Thanks to our negativity bias, the chances are pretty high that you naturally default to the negative. When those negative thoughts become obsessive, you are stuck in rumination.

This habit is sabotaging your mental health

This one habit shift will change your life

This one habit shift will change your life

My wonder woman litmus test has changed a bit. I now know that true courage means you are afraid, and you show up anyway. Our real secret weapons are kindness, gratitude, and finding peace and joy where we are. You don’t have to bake the perfect cookie or flawlessly balance the competing demands on your time and attention. Just be the best YOU you can be.

Don’t be the hero

It is important to remember that our relationships play a huge role in our ability to stay resilient. They buffer us against our most difficult and challenging times, providing the deep connection human beings fundamentally need.

The Greatest Predictor of Long-Term Happiness

You have an energy tank, much like your gas tank. Everything you do either adds energy or depletes it. Energy management is more than reducing negative energy, it’s about increasing positive energy as well. Doing things that make you smile, bring you joy, and support your physical and mental well-being fill up your tank.

Are you tired of being tired?

Resilience Gift Guide 2021

Resilience Gift Guide 2021

When we zero in on what’s right in our life, our brain begins to scan the environment for whatever is top of mind. If you’re looking for good stuff, you’re much more likely to find it.

What is right, right now?

Just like anything else, knowing what builds resilience isn’t enough. You have to actively practice these skills. When life knocks you down, or you think you don’t have what it takes to bounce back, remember, you have survived every obstacle you’ve been presented with.

You Are A Survivor

Stop Waiting For Someday

Stop Waiting For Someday

I finally took my own advice. I took time to reset, to gain perspective, and to step away from

I Finally Took My Own Advice

In many ways, it feels like our journey is just getting started, but I am so hopeful for Evan’s future. I am also incredibly proud of the fact that he still asks me to share his story. He understands the shame and stigma attached to mental illness and Autism and wants to help change that. As a mom, this is my proudest accomplishment.

Take time to celebrate…I am!

We tend to prioritize physical health (going to the gym, eating right, getting enough sleep), but mental health is just as - if not more - important.

What is your mental fitness routine?

Raising a child with mental illness and Autism has been my resilience-building breeding ground. We began therapy when Evan was just 11-months old, and he has been in one form of therapy or another ever since. The lessons we have learned from countless therapists have been invaluable.

Lessons I’ve Learned From Raising a Child With Autism

The ability to embrace uncertainty, navigate ambiguity, and use adversity as a tool for growth are the new leadership currency and the fastest path to resilience. Resilient leaders have teams with higher productivity, greater team well-being, higher levels of engagement, and better outcomes.

Resilient Leaders Do These Five Things

Be Where You Are When You're There

Be Where You Are When You’re There

Time to Reset!

Time to Reset!

2020 Won't Last Forever

2020 Won’t Last Forever

Mental Health Gift Guide

Mental Health Gift Guide

Humans are social creatures with emotional needs for relationships and positive connections to others. Our social brain craves companionship. We are not meant to survive, let alone thrive, in isolation.

Social Connection Builds Resilience

One of the most powerful things you can do to build resilience is to shift your mindset. Your mindset is a set of conscious and unconscious beliefs that affect how you think about your abilities, how you behave, how you affect those around you, and how you view the adversity in your life. This view profoundly affects the way you live your life.

Shift Your Mindset to Build Resilience

Gratitude Changes Everything by Anne Grady

Gratitude Changes Everything

Protect Your Peace by Anne Grady, Resilience Expert and Keynote Speaker

Protect Your Peace

Resilience is the New Leadership Currency

Resilience is the New Leadership Currency

Do You Want Change Or Do You Want Comfort?

Do You Want Change or Do You Want Comfort?

5 Ways to Boost Your Mental Health During the COVID-10 Pandemic

5 Ways to Boost Your Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

You Are Stronger Than You Think (Blog Header)

You Are Stronger Than You Think

3 Ways to Build Resilience in Times of Uncertainty

3 Ways to Build Resilience in Times of Uncertainty

Is Your Relationship Resilient?

Is Your Relationship Resilient?

Vulnerability Makes Us Stronger

How Vulnerability Makes Us Stronger

A Toast to the Old You (Header Featured)

A Toast to the Old You

Have you ever said, “Starting in January, I will…”? In December, a lot of people throw in the towel for the year. They wait until January rolls around to find that renewed sense of purpose and focus, only to have it dwindle as the year goes on. Priorities shift, circumstances change, and life always seems to somehow get in the way.

Stop Waiting For January!

In a world where emotions aren’t really taught in school, full of consumerism and competition, we’re constantly made to feel we are lacking and that we need to strive for more in order to achieve “true” happiness. But gratitude actually affects the brain at a neurological level. Being grateful increases the feel-good hormones dopamine and serotonin. In fact, just searching for things to be grateful for has this effect.

Get Off Your Ass and Be Grateful!

Article: Thrive Global Women in Wellness

Thrive Global Interview: Women In Wellness

I've written about allowing yourself to sit in negative emotions. I have shared with you the importance of self-care. I speak for a living about proactively building resilience. But today...I want to talk about HOPE. There is a long-established, measurable science around hope. According to the research, high hope individuals do not react in the same way to barriers as low hope individuals, instead they view barriers as challenges to overcome.

What My Son Has Taught Me About Hope

3 Habits That Sabotage Your Resilience

3 Habits That Sabotage Your Resilience

Building Your Back-to-School Resilience Routine

Building Your Back-to-School Resilience Routine

Reclaim Your Mental Real Estate with the Science of Resilience

Reclaim Your Mental Real Estate with the Science of Resilience

Emotional Resilience Starts with Vulnerability

Emotional Resilience Starts with Vulnerability

Building Resilience Can be a Mother

Building Resilience Can Be a Mother…

Simon Bailey Chats with Anne

Simon Bailey Chats with Anne

The Science of Smiling

The Science of Smiling

Spark Joy with Resilience by Resilience Speaker Anne Grady

Spark Joy with Resilience

Developing Resilient Relationships by Anne Grady, Resilience Keynote Speaker

Developing Resilient Relationships

Most people get stuck because they can’t figure out how they’re going to accomplish their goals. Thankfully, you don’t have to know how. That’s not the way your brain works. If you have a clear picture of your goal and visualize it, your brain will work backward to find ways to make it happen. To create this clear picture, we have to reframe the idea of “new year, new you” away from the expectation of an instant, massive lifestyle change to a daily commitment to training our brains to make decisions based on our true beliefs and values - our core.

New Year, New You

When Happily Ever After Isn't An Option

When Happily Ever After Isn’t An Option

When was the last time you put yourself out there and risked being completely vulnerable? This was a question Brene' Brown asked at the Texas Conference for Women, where I had the honor to speak about harnessing the power of resilience. I often talk about vulnerability and courage because I believe they lie at the heart of resilience. My journey started with my son, Evan.

When Being Strong is the Only Choice You Have

Embrace Life's Scary Moments

Embrace Life’s Scary Moments

Are you living your life on purpose or do you spend most of your time reacting? If you've ever looked at your caller ID, only to see a number that makes your stomach drop, you are reacting. If you have ever seen someone walking down the hall and you consciously chose to avoid this person, you are reacting. Life is full of emotional and potentially stressful situations. How we respond to those situations as they arise has a profound an effect on our productivity, relationships, and health.

Live On Purpose

I’d like to introduce you to a concept I’ve come up with called “Mind Over Moment”. Basically this means you make small choices, micro-decisions, throughout the course of your day to achieve the life you want. Now that sounds like common sense, but common sense isn’t always common practice. Where do you want to change your life? Here’s an example of how this might play out.

Mind Over Moment

Anne Grady Keynote Speaker You Are Not Alone)

You Are Not Alone

Take This Job And Shove It - Anne Grady Keynote Speaker

Take This Job And Shove It!

Recently I had the privilege of speaking at a women’s conference where Maria Shriver and Michelle Obama participated in a thought provoking, funny, and touching Q&A. After standing in line that wrapped around the entire hotel and conference center (over ¼ mile long), navigating through secret service, and weaving through the 3,500 chairs in the room, I took my seat. You could feel the energy in the room. Seriously. While there were a few men scattered throughout, this room was jam packed full of ambitious and talented women leaders, all ready to hang on every word of wisdom these two incredible women had to offer.

Leadership Lessons from First Ladies

Everything Starts with the Messages We Send Ourselves | Motivational Keynote Speaker Anne Grady #Communication #Leadership

Success Starts with the Messages We Send Ourselves

Are You Cranky?

Are You Cranky?

5 ways to navigate change and stay sane banner

5 Ways to Navigate Change (And Stay Sane!)

7 Steps That Make Difficult Employee Conversations Easier (Featured)

7 Steps That Make Difficult Employee Conversations Easier

resilience banner

Ramping Up Your Resilience

train your brain banner

Train Your Brain

Anne Grady My First TEDx Experience

My First TEDx Experience

a cartoon illustration with a guy voted as most likeable

5 Ways To Be More Authentic and Likeable

7 Ways to Turn Around a REALLY Bad Day by Resilience Speaker & Author Anne Grady

7 Ways To Turn Around A Really, Really Bad Day

make time for what matters image

3 Easy Steps to Focus on Your Work-Life Priorities

robbin williams with written danger on his mouth

When Everything Isn’t Enough

Once you have a clear vision of what you want, your brain automatically works backwards to find ways to make it happen. You begin to make conscious (and subconscious) choices that will make it a reality.

The #1 Way to Achieve Your Dreams

Blog Header Featured Lemons Lemonade Resilience Expert, Author, and Speaker Anne Grady

Turning Lemons Into Lemonade

Resilience Expert, Author, and Speaker Anne Grady

What To Do When Life’s Not Fair

Are You Ready to be a Millionaire?

Are You Ready to be a Millionaire?

Using Communication Styles to Get Winning Results by Resilience Speaker Expert Anne Grady

Using Communication Styles to Get Winning Results

Over 85% of our personal and financial success stems not from our technical skills, but from our ability to have positive interpersonal relationships. If you’ve ever taken a behavioral assessment, like the Myers Briggs, Disc, Insights, colors, animals, etc., then you’re probably familiar with the concepts I’m about to explain. Unfortunately you need a Ph.D. to understand much of what’s been written on the topic. I’m going to simplify it.

You Can Be Right Or Be Happy. Pick One.

So how do you learn to lead more effectively from a roll of toilet paper? We all have unspoken expectations. In this case, it’s how the toilet paper should go, but in life, it can be just about anything. I have learned that most people don’t fail to meet your expectations because they can’t, not because they don’t want to, or not because they don’t care, but because they don’t know what your expectations are.

A Leadership Lesson from Toilet Paper

Resilience

Resilience

The Happiness Advantage

The Happiness Advantage

Reality Check: We All Have Blind Spots by Resilience Expert Anne Grady

Reality Check, We All Have Blind Spots

Gratitude & Expectations by Anne Grady

Gratitude, Expectations, and Ray Wylie

5 Ways To Make Your Communication More Productive

5 Ways To Make Your Communication More Productive

Saying I'm Sorry by Resilience Expert Anne Grady featuring Randy Pausch Last Lecture

Saying I’m Sorry

Four letter words have gotten a bad reputation. I’m sure you can think of a handful of them right now. There’s one four letter word, however, that equals communication, camaraderie, and results.

The Four Letter Word That Equals Success

Don't Just Sit There, Do Nothing!

Don’t Just Sit There, Do Nothing!

The Happiness Advantage by Resilience Expert, Author, and Speaker Anne Grady

Time to Put on Your Party Pants

Space Invaders

Space Invaders

You said what?

You said what?

Resilience Reset Mailbag Featured

Will It Matter?

Ah, the curse of knowledge. What seems so completely common sense to us, based on our knowledge or frame of reference, can be perceived so differently from someone else who is looking at the situation from their perspective.

Are You A Tapper?

Are You a People Pleaser by Resilience Expert, Author, and Keynote Speaker Anne Grady

Are You A People Pleaser?

Resilience Reset Emails by Anne Grady

Are You Stuck?

Addicted to Stress by Resilience Expert Anne Grady

Are You an Addict?

I recently started reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, and it really got me thinking. Am I as happy as I could be? What does that even look like? How would I even know? She quotes a woman named Collette: “What a wonderful life I’ve had! If only I’d realized it earlier.” Will that be me? Will I look back when I’m 80 and realize I had been happy all along?

My Happiness Project

Stop Hitting Yourself!

Stop Hitting Yourself!

Take This Job And (Part Deux)

Take This Job And (Part Deux)

Anne Grady's Insights Blog Resilience Expert Author Keynote Speaker Trainer Grit Burn-out stress

Life Is Like a Google Map

anne grady and her son

On The Lighter Side

A Legendary Leader

I Tried

You Want Fries With That by Resilience Expert Anne Grady

Do You Want Fries With That?

What do YOU have to get in order to be happy? Unfortunately, anything you can get to make you happy, you can un-get. There is nothing you have to do, be, or get in order to be happy. Think of what you wanted 10 years ago. Chances are, you've done it, been there, or now have it, and you may still be unhappy.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Are You Awake?

F.E.A.R.

Are You Missing It?

Why Didn’t You Say So?

What Do You Do With With Difficult People?

The Mountain

What's Your WIIFM by Resilience Expert and Keynote Speaker Anne Grady

What’s Your W.I.I.F.M.?

Exceptional People

Last Respects

Be Happy at Work!

You Always Have A Choice!

One Step at a Time

This is one of those times when your typical motivational speaker would be able to fake it and give you great words of inspiration. Unfortunately, I am not your typical speaker.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

Are You Helping or Hindering?

Before My Eyes….

The Happiness Advantage by Resilience Expert, Author, and Speaker Anne Grady

When I Grow Up, I’m Gonna be a…

What’s Your Catch Phrase?

Changing Your Life One Thought at a Time

What’s Your 80-20? (The Pareto Principal)

Overcoming Adversity

Sands of Time

A Kick In The Asp!

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