Intro & Table of Contents

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Hi! I’m Pooja — a double Harvard grad, ex-management consultant, and former stressed-out overachiever.

I help high-stress high achievers (like me!)…

1️⃣ Eliminate work stress & imposter syndrome

2️⃣ Get clear + get moving on their next career step

3️⃣ Create the life they actually want

On this page, you will find a TON of free resources to help you do just that.

Dig in below and get started today.

You can also come talk to me for personalized help!

Get some ✨free✨ support through free anonymized public coaching.

Or come talk to me about joining my one-on-one coaching program.

Prefer to listen instead of read? Check out my podcast!

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1️⃣ Eliminate work stress & imposter syndrome

Turn off your inner critic

• How I Get Out of a Self-Critical Spiral: Part 1, The Process Steps

• How I Get Out of a Self-Critical Spiral: Part 2, The Principles

• Masterclass: How to Like Yourself

• Why self-criticism is so seductive — and how to break its spell 🪄

• There is a steadiness inside of you.

• The 4 kinds of self-doubt + The quick & dirty solution to each

• The simple, fixable trigger behind 99% of your stress

• If you're fighting a tough inner critic, here's 1 word to add to your vocabulary

• You’re not self-critical. You just have really good taste.

• I’ve been telling all my clients about this thing that happened to me in speed dating…

• How to spend more time in flow: The exact 4 step process I teach you in my coaching program

• Being a perfectionist is like having a speed cap on your car 🚗

• 3 sentences I use to harness my perfectionism for good

  • Sentence #1: Perfection is a direction.

  • Sentence #2: Low-cost lesson! 🙌🏽

  • Sentence #3: Another chapter for the book.

• What if it's not you?

• The cognitive illusion that causes worry and self-criticism

• The antidote to imposter syndrome

• Combat your inner critic with bullseye thinking 🎯

• You don’t have a confidence problem. You have a metrics problem.

• The Parable of the CEO Who Burns All Their Profits

  • The Parable

  • The Moral

• This mental trap will make you FEEL like you’re not making progress…even when you are

• “Doing it right” does not exist.

• A backdoor hack for liking yourself more

• Jealousy is super useful

• Doubt Your Doubt

• Rockstars CAN'T Shine Everywhere

• A quick way to combat imposter syndrome

• How I killed my imposter syndrome, live, in the middle of a conversation

• Your imposter syndrome is a sign of how much you know

• Why it’s so hard to feel good about yourself – and what you can do about it

• The 1 Root Cause Problem Every Person Has

• Your self-criticism isn't helping you

• A Radical Idea to Combat Your Inner Critic: Be Delusional

• But What If My Inner Critic has Good Ideas?

• Say Hello to Your Inner Fan

• How to Talk to Your Inner Critic

• A Tale of Two You's: The Student & The Expert

• You are not going to turn into THAT guy

• Stressed? Scared? Find sufficiency in the worst case scenario.

• It’s not that deep.

• Accept yourself or change yourself? First, ask these 2 questions.

• Let’s Try Something Different: Internalizing vs. Externalizing Blame

• Stressed at work? Let's check your calibration.

• Feeling Insecure? You Have 3 Options

• 3 Unexpected Ways Imposter Syndrome Shows Up In Your Life

• How to Appreciate How Good You Are Without Getting Arrogant

• The ONE Thought Loop That Holds Back High-Stress High Achievers

• Imposter Syndrome Does NOT Help You Improve Yourself

• How to be confident without becoming arrogant

• Who Decides Whether or Not You Did a Good Job?

• The Definitive Case for Never Beating Yourself Up Again

• The Source of Your Imposter Syndrome (part 1 | 2)

• 3 Reasons You Have Imposter Syndrome & What To Do About It (1 | 2 | 3)

Worry less about what other people think

• People don’t want things. People want feelings.

• A people-pleaser trap to avoid

• ✋🏽 How to Stop Worrying About What Other People Think

• Worried About What Other People Think? Here’s Your Shortcut.

• 5 Things to Do When You Disagree with Someone

• Stop Blindly Listening to Feedback

• The 2 Ways of Being Misunderstood

• What Finding Nemo can teach you about speaking up

2️⃣ Get clear + get moving on your next career step

Go from confusion to clarity

• Masterclass: 7 Ways People Get Stuck When Figuring Out Their Next Career Step

• To figure out your next step: Stop thinking 💭 Start excavating 🦴

• 5 quick career experiments you could do this week

  • Introduction: Pick ONE job or career path to test

  • Experiment 1: Listen to podcasts where people “talk shop” about that industry

  • Experiment 2: Do coffee chats with people in the industry and get facts, not feelings

  • Experiment 3: Do the “job interview project”

  • Experiment 4: Make a ghost proposal

  • Experiment 5: Take on a free client or customer

• A super quick clarity shortcut: Choose 3 words

• Don’t gossip about your gut 🤫

• If you worry a lot, here’s a rule for you

• 4 Ways to Think About Doing Something “Risky” in Your Career

• How to identify the strengths you should build your career around

• How to think about tradeoffs

• The power of the ✨Magic Circumstance✨

• Make It Smaller

• You're not confused. You're walking the Thought Maze.

• What mistakes are you willing to make?

• Looking for your next job? Do this first.

• How to Think About Money When Changing Careers

• The Fastest Way to Get Clarity: Foster the Dog 🐶

• How to Figure Out Whether or Not You’d like Someone’s Job

• A Love Letter to Basic Questions 💌

• 1 Thought That Will Kill Your Job Search

• How to Use Time Travel to Solve Your Problems

• 1 question to flip you from stuck and spinning to calmly problem-solving

• You Don't Need Advice. You Need To Clear Your Emotional Cobwebs.

• Stop Looking for Tactics. Start Looking for Thoughts.

• What To Do When You Just Don't Know

• Don't Know Where to Start? Do 1 of These 5 Things

• Stop Saying “I Don't Know What I Want” and Do This Instead

• Is It Wise Intuition✨ or Plain Old Fear 👻? Here's How to Tell.

Rethink the default template for your life

• Don’t build your career around your passion. Build it around your coping mechanism.

• Good Student Mentality vs. Con Man Mentality

  • Part 1: Good Students play the game. Con Men see the board.

  • Part 2: Good Students are brittle. They crumble at the first mistake. Con Men expect things to go wrong. That’s when they get smart and scrappy.

  • Part 3: Good Students wait for permission. Con Men show people what’s possible.

  • Part 4: Good Students think they have to do it all themselves. Con Men build great teams around them.

• 3 thoughts that can bring you from bad to good…but not good to great

  • Thought #1: I need to win all the time.

  • Thought #2: I should think about my mistakes.

  • Thought #3: I have to control myself.

• It drives me nuts when people say this

• Is it scary, or is it dangerous? 👻 vs. ⛔️

• Prestige can free you – or it can trap you

• What is your purpose in life?

• The best career advice I can give you

• The time-wasting career mistake I don’t want you to make

• Your career is not “set it and forget it”

• Getting what you want is an amplifier, not a converter

• How to Build the Life You Want

• The 7 Principles of Aligned Ambition

• What are you under-correcting for?

• 3 Ways to Think About Doing Something “Different”

• How cognitive illusions prevent you from building the life you want

  • Introduction

  • Cognitive Illusion 1: Anchoring to the negative

  • Cognitive Illusion 2: Trying to do it “right”

    • How the illusion works

    • How to combat it

    • Common pitfalls and objections

  • Cognitive Illusion #3: Making it personal

  • Cognitive Illusion #4: The hedonic treadmill 🏃🏻

  • Cognitive Illusion #5: Turning single data points into infinite trend lines 📉

• Why you got everything you wanted but you're still unhappy

• Don’t fall for this success fallacy

• My Favorite Problem-Solving Shortcut: Same Goal, Different Path

• Hot take: turn your coping mechanism into your career

• What Growing Up Isn't...and What It Is

• 7 Assumptions That Have Gotten You This Far…But Are Now Holding You Back

  • Assumption 1: There’s a clear path that I’m supposed to follow.

  • Assumption 2: First, I define a goal. Then I make a plan. Then I execute the plan.

  • Assumption 3: I avoid making mistakes.

  • Assumption 4: I know I’m succeeding if I’m doing everything really well.

  • Assumption 5: Other people know better than me.

  • Assumption 6: I’ll feel good about myself when I get there.

  • Assumption 7: I earn my worth through doing and achieving.

• What Indian Vegetarian Food Taught Me About Creating The Life You Want

• A Radical Idea for Your Next Job: Burn the Boats ⛵️🔥

• Stop Doing What's “Right.” Start Being More YOU.

Make big decisions with confidence

• Mark Cuban would totally hate me: What Mark Cuban and a McKinsey partner can teach you about your next career step

• Do The Safe Thing Last

• Don't accidentally live your life on pause

• What Marketing My New Coaching Program Has Taught Me About Finding and Keeping a New Job (intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | epilogue)

• How I Learned to Make Decisions with My Brain AND My Gut

• Career Progression Isn't a CLASSROOM – It's a MARKETPLACE

• The 1 Mindset Shift Every Adult Needs

• Should You Quit Your Job or Not?

• Stop Looking For Your Passion

• How to Find Your Dream Job

Make your next step a success

• Advice to the burnt out job-seeker

• How to Pitch Yourself: The Hard Way & The Easy Way

• Thinking of starting your own thing? Here’s the fastest way to get clarity and momentum: Focus on value creation, not value signaling

• How to Demonstrate Competence in a Job Interview

• A Message for Job Searchers

• Deciding what to do next is only the beginning

• Insecure in an interview?

• The best way to prepare for a big interview or meeting

3️⃣ Create the life you actually want

Get shit done, every single day…

• You need a remote control for your emotions 🕹️

• The Car Honk Method for getting more done and staying in flow 🚗 📣

• The 1 tiny thought that can flip you from stress to flow and back again

• How to find your flow

• The only thing standing between you and the life you want is a list of micro-blockers

• Free Public Coaching: When the "important but not urgent" stuff isn't getting done

• How to get things done

• 2 Reasons That Thing Isn't Getting Done

• The case for being less prepared

• Anchor to 0, not 100

• The 2 Kinds of Discipline

• When “trying harder” doesn't work

• Be disciplined about the right things

• Consistency and Commitment

• The Unintuitive Solution to Your Productivity Problem

• The Best Productivity Tool is Feeling Good About Yourself

• The Best Productivity Tip That No One Wants to Implement

• How to Turn Your "Shoulds" into Genuine "Wants"

• 🔥 Hot Tip: Do Your Worst Work

• 3 Questions to Help You Get That Thing DONE

• Why You Don't Do The Things You KNOW You Should Do

• How to Do Something You Don't Want to Do

• ☝🏽 The ONE Thing You Need To Be More Productive

• How to Stop Feeling So Behind

• Make it "Stupid Doable"

• The #1 Emotion You Need to be Productive

• Why That Thing Isn't Getting Done, and How to Solve It For Good

• Stop Setting QUALITY Goals & Start Setting QUANTITY Goals

• How to Get Into Flow✨ Right Now, Today

• How To Break a Bad Habit: Yes the Want, Change the How

• How I Lost 40 Pounds

…while avoiding burnout

• To cut your to-do list in half (or more): Don’t pre-solve problems. Post-solve problems.

• The magic sweet spot that maximizes your chances of success

• 4 Steps to Stop Avoiding That Scary Thing

• Less linear logic, more paradox logic

• How to motivate yourself to change

• What emotion are you solving for?

• Do you have to be anxious to achieve big things?

• How to go after ambitious goals – and fail again and again – without burning yourself out

• More Success = More Failure

• Simple Processes = Big Results

• “I can't just do what I want all the time.” YES YOU CAN.

• Some things are 80/20. Some things are last-mile delivery.

• Emotional logic vs. intellectual logic

• Avoidable vs. Unavoidable Pain

• Why you get what you want...and feel MORE scared afterward

• What No One Tells You About Finding Balance

• 1 Question to Make Your Day Easier

• You Know What? Be A Perfectionist.

• Okay, I Did the Thing...and Now I'm Freaking Out

• When you numb your stress, you're also numbing your intuition

• Unrealistic Plans Are Just Like Crash Diets

• How to Tell If You Had a Productive Day

• The 3 Types of Work

• How to Have High Standards Without Burning Yourself Out

• Where Does Your Value Come From?

• Stop Believing Your Brain's Default Grading Scale

• My Favorite Habit: The 60 Second Celebrate 🎉

• Why Are You So Tired?

• Perfectionism and the $1000 Banana

…actually enjoying the process

• The secret ingredient separating you from the people you’re jealous of

• A Project of One's Own

• 1 question you MUST include when evaluating yourself

• Who Before How

• Afraid of failure? Read this.

• How to Be a Chill, Happy Overachiever

• The Most Important Step in Solving Any Problem

• An exhortation for the anxious overachiever

• The 3 Signs of a Should

• Fun Problem-Solving Mode vs. Grind Problem-Solving Mode

• What Is The Point?

• Your Life is 99% Process, 1% Outcome

• Why Marie Kondo Loves Mess

• Are You Looking at the Right Metrics?

• What I Learned About Exponential Growth While Knitting This Scarf

• What Progress Really Looks Like

• How to Enjoy the Process (and Not Just the Goal)

• Don't Get Stuck in Problem-Finding Mode

• You Don't Know What Worse Luck Your Bad Luck Saved You From

…and getting comfortable making mistakes

• How to turn your mistakes into superpowers

• Embarrassing struggle? Nope, rite of passage.

• 7 Ways to Maintain Your Identity Through Failure & Setbacks (intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7)

• The One-Liner I Use to Combat My Fear of Failure

• A client told me this concept changed their life

• You Haven't Made Too Many Mistakes. You've Made Too Few.

• The Only 2 Kinds of Mistakes

• Fall In Love With Your Mistakes

• Let's Change How You Think About "Failure"

• Don't Do This: Success Negligence

Learn how to be okay with feeling bad sometimes

• The #1 Skill You Need to Create the Life You Want

• Look at the monster 🧸

• Stress is like a beachball 🏖️ 🇺🇸

• Masterclass: If you can do this, you can manage your stress

  • Intro: the 4 unhelpful ways you usually handle your stress 😕

  • If you can get your legs waxed, you can manage your stress 🦵🏼

  • If you can eat Thanksgiving dinner, you can manage your stress 🍗

  • If you can hug a toddler, you can manage your stress 👶🏻

  • If you can watch a fireworks show, you can manage your stress 🎆

• 3 ways to sit with a feeling until the insight tumbles out 🥚🐣

  • Introduction

  • Way #1: Treat the feeling like a trusty warning light 💡

  • Way #2: Juxtapose the feeling want + the situation you have, and let your brain fill in the gap 🧩

• 4 words to make any difficult emotion 10x easier

• 1 quick trick to understand yourself better

• Never Wanting to Feel Bad is Like Never Wanting to Feel Cold

• What I tell myself when I’m having a tough time

• An Unexpected Coaching Tool: The Bravo TV Reunion

• Accepting vs. resisting a job you don't like

• Sacred Dissatisfaction

• A controversial thought

• Feel the pain 🔥, close the feedback loop

• Don't Be Afraid Of Your Fear

• Your Brain's Most Unfortunate Design Feature

• Can't Relax at the End of the Day? Read This.

• 7 Ways to be Totally Okay, Exactly Where You Are Right Now (intro | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7)

• Stop Worrying About Changing Your Thoughts

• Say Hello to the Five-Year-Old In Your Brain

• How Not to Talk to a Five-Year-Old

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You can get a LOT of mileage from the free resources on this page…

But you can get even further with the one-on-one support.

Get a sample of coaching with a free anonymized public coaching call.

Or talk to me about working together in my one-on-one coaching program.

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Why I think investing in a coach is so freaking helpful…

• You and your brain need a couples counselor :)

• Why You Need To Create Your Life

• Why I Plan to Have a Coach for the Rest of My Life

• What if the reason you’re hesitating to get coaching…is the exact reason you need coaching?

• The cognitive illusion that made me wait too long to hire a coach

• You are an emotional athlete.

• 12 Things I've Done Thanks to Coaching

• What you really get out of coaching: The fish 🐟 AND the skill of fishing 🎣

• How much money are you spending to escape your life?

• How to ACTUALLY Change How You Think

• When Is It Time to Hire a Coach?

• Why I Hired My First Coach in January

• People’s #1 Fear About Hiring a Coach

• You’ve Got It Backwards

What it’s like to work with me one-on-one…

• Introducing…The Less Stress, More Flow Course & Coaching Program

• In my coaching program, you’ll learn like a Harvard Business School student

• Client Testimonials

• What Happens in a Coaching Consult?

• What Happens in a Coaching Session?

• Coaching vs. Therapy

• How to Hire a Coach

Learn more about my coaching methodology…

• You need to debug your brain’s operating system

• Your brain is ChatGPT. You are the user.

• The coaching toolkit is the P&L statement of life problems

• Why Your Thoughts Feel So True (But I Promise You They’re Not)

• How Your Thoughts — and Only Your Thoughts — Create Your Entire Reality (Seriously.)

• 5 words that could change your life

• The Framework That Changed My Life

• Model Example: Joan and the Silent Husband

• Choose Your Stories Wisely

• Never Asked Questions: The Model vs. Mindfulness & Meditation

• But When Am I “Allowed” To Change My Circumstances? (part 1 | 2 | 3)

• How Your Thoughts Create Your Results (It's Not ✨Manifesting✨ – It's Psychology)

• Your Brain is an Unreliable Narrator of Your Story

• A big misconception about tapping into your intuition

• The question I ask my clients when they’re totally stuck

…and try it out on yourself! :)

• A little exercise for you to do today

• The one thing I don't talk about enough

• Different Types of Thoughts

• Do You Even Know What You’re Thinking?

• What is an Emotion Anyway?

• Let's Play a Game: Fact or Thought?

• Problem-Solving Hint: The Answer Can't Be an Adjective

• Treat Your Brain Like a Google Search

• When the SAME Problem Keeps Coming Up

• 7 Ways to Believe Something New

  • Way 1: Put the new theory in your mental filter and find evidence everywhere

  • Way 2: Find things in your life that are going right and use them as reference points

  • Way 3: Find the most damning piece of evidence and rewrite the story

  • Way 4: Break down your brain’s logic chain

  • Way 5: Reverse the roles

  • Way 6: Zipline it

  • Way 7: Think like your future self

  • Epilogue

• My Coaching Secret: Future Self Mode 🤫

• The Most Powerful Way to Rewire Your Brain: SHOW, Don't Tell

Don’t wait another day to create the life you actually want.

Let’s start today for free!

Or let’s go deep and really implement this — come talk to me about my one-on-one coaching program.