In this episode, I deviate from the normal content to talk about something I think will be very helpful to people. Part of living an Optimal Life is creating financial security. Most people do so through a job, and to get the right job, you have to be able to nail interviews.

I have sat across from 100s of candidates over my 25+ years of interviewing people, and to this day, I am shocked at the mistakes even seasoned professionals make. As a cognitive neuroscience researcher, I look at interviews differently. So much of who a person is comes through in how they answer questions, how they approach the conversation, and how they handle the pressure.

Nailing down some of the basics can make the difference between getting the job and not. The job market is tough. Companies are getting flooded with resumes, fake profiles, people misrepresenting themselves, and people trying to game the system. The signal-to-noise ratio is not in the candidates' or the companies’ favor. If you are lucky enough to break through the noise, get past the AI screening, and get your chance to interview, you will want to carry the lessons from this episode into your interviews.

Please remember to download the Optimal Life app from the App Store to access The Optimal Life program - FOR FREE! You can also access the program at elliotbarnett.com. And make sure to buy The Myth of Living Better from Amazon if you haven't already!

Are you living an accidental Life? If you are, it really isn’t your fault. We are thrown into this world not having chosen our families, our socioeconomic situation, or any of the early childhood experiences that end up driving who we are as adults. We are then left wondering why we struggle with anxiety, have bad relationships, can’t seem to find success, or otherwise aren’t living the life we want.

In this episode, we will explore why who we are tends to be hidden from us and how that can drive patterns that become the cycles that become our lives. We will discover why living an accidental life is the unfortunate default for many people, but living with intention is not only achievable, but essential in living the life we want, our Optimal Life.

Please make sure to download The Optimal Life app from the App Store (Android version is coming soon) - you will gain access to the full Optimal Life program FOR FREE! The same content is also available at elliotbarnett.com along with the certification programs for Cognitive Response Therapy and the ARAEt framework.

Change is easy to want and can seem impossibly hard to make happen. I have spent my entire adult life researching and discovering why that is and working on strategies to make it at least possible. I say “at least possible” because there’s no magic wand here. Even the best strategies take a lot of effort to realize the benefits. Change is not hard because you lack discipline. It is hard because your nervous system thinks your old life is keeping you alive. That is annoying, inconvenient, and, as you'll hear in this episode, biologically reasonable.

In this episode, I will provide insights as to why change is hard and a couple of simple but powerful strategies I have seen be very effective in kickstarting the change people are after and help empower your Optimal Life.

The Optimal Life app is now available on the App Store for iPhones with the Optimal Life program - all for FREE! The same program is also available at elliotbarnett.com. And of course, the certifications are available for CRT and the ARAEt framework as well. Together, we can usher in the new era of mental health and make mental health affordable, accessible, and effective for anyone looking to live their Optimal Life!

We spend a lot of time talking about happiness, purpose, achievement, success, finding love, and all of the things that make life rich and exciting. But all of those things are secondary to the primary driver all living things have, the most primary instinct that exists within every living creature: survival.

Let’s frame survival around four foundational questions that begin the moment we are born. In this episode, I will show you how the answers we develop to these questions become responsible for how we show up and respond to situations throughout our entire lives.

Those four questions are:

• How do I stay safe?
• How do I avoid pain?
• How do I build connection?
• How do I earn reward?

All four exist in service of one objective: survival.

Make sure to check out the new FREE mental wellness program, The Optimal Life, available at https://elliotbarnett.com and the newly released mobile app, The Optimal Life, available on the App Store and Play Store, as well as the certifications for Cognitive Response Therapy and the ARAEt framework that can be found on the site. It is time to usher in the new era of mental health and make mental health affordable, accessible, and effective for everyone.

In the seminal studies that laid the foundation for Cognitive Response Therapy, an important concept was identified: Cognitive Traps. Cognitive Traps are language constructs that indicate possible issues with a person's mental well-being. The original study contained 15 Cognitive Traps, including what was referred to as "Decision Lattitude". Decision Lattitude was any language that expressed a frustration over the lack of control people had over situations they faced or people they interacted with.

This episode introduces a more nuanced version of the original Cognitive Trap by replacing Decision Lattitude with two new ones: Perceived Agency and Outsourcing Well-being. Understanding these powerful concepts can help you identify troublespots that are driving consistent high levels of stress hormones that can be the cause of many physical and mental health issues.

I was inspired to record this episode after reading a post recently that said, “your thoughts drive how you feel”. It’s a sentiment I have heard before. If you have negative thoughts, you’ll feel negative, and if you have positive thoughts, you’ll feel positive. The problem with that sentiment is, it has the causal relationship backwards and confuses thoughts with thinking.

Understanding the relationship between thoughts, thinking, and your mental health can make all the difference.

This episode will help you understand:

• where thoughts come from
• the difference between thoughts and thinking and why that matters
• the power of personal narratives

Make sure to head over to ElliotBarnett.com and check out associated articles and the certification programs for Cognitive Response Therapy and the ARAEt framework!

There's a reason that the first phase of the ARAEt framework is Awareness Management, and why the first phase of a mental health journey leveraging Cognitive Response Therapy focuses on awareness. It is foundational to helping yourself or others live an Optimal Life.

Becoming both internally and externally aware of what you are currently unaware of is crucial to a healing journey. You can't heal what you aren't aware of, and you can't resolve something that you don't understand the source of.

In this episode, the fundamental aspects of Awareness Management are introduced along with practical and actionable steps that you can immediately implement in your life and help your clients do the same.

Make sure to head over to elliotbarnett.com to become certified in CRT and the ARAEt framework so you can truly empower yourself and others to live an Optimal Life.

In this episode, we discuss the power of language and how language shapes and can reshape mental health

When it comes to mental health, we tend to talk about behaviours, habits, motivation, trauma, mindset, and emotions — but we rarely talk about the tool that shapes all of those things: language.

Language is the most important invention humans have created, but it is not just a communication device. It is a cognitive technology — one that shapes identity, determines self-perception, and silently reinforces habitual cycles that become a person’s life.

In fact, the science of predictive coding shows that the brain is constantly generating predictions about the world, the body, and the self — and language is the powerful mechanism the unconscious uses to communicate its intentions to our conscious awareness.

This is why Cognitive Response Therapy (CRT) places such a strong emphasis on language. It uses language not merely as a tool for talking about the mind, but for revealing the structure within it.

In this episode, Elliot breaks down how language shapes psychological identity, how it ties into predictive coding, and how CRT uses structured language systems to empower clients on their mental health journeys.

Remember to head over to elliotbarnett.com to learn how to become an Agent of Change in the new era of mental health by engaging in the certification programs for Cognitive Response Therapy and the ARAEt framework!