Hi,
I’m Dr. Z.
Welcome to my online home!
I love working with and creating resources for overachievers and overthinkers to get them unstuck from perfectionism, procrastination, indecision, anxieties, worries and all types of ineffective playing-it-safe actions.
How my work will be helpful to you
A key question to my work is “how can we get unstuck from worries, fears, anxieties, perfectionism, procrastination and any other form of fear-based reactions so we can live a meaningful, fulfilling, and purposeful life?”
To answer that question, I do my best to share with you skills and principles derived from behavioral science in a way that is uncomplicated, unpretentious, and as real as it gets. So, whether you read my newsletter, listen to the podcast, participate in one of my workshops or work with me directly, you will get real skills, real how-tos, and real takeaways to design and live the life that works for you.
I create resources focused on topics related to fear-based struggles and ineffective playing-safe actions – academically known as safety-seeking behaviors – such as:
- Perfectionism
- Procrastination
- Avoidance
- Imposter syndrome
- Overanalyzing/doubting
- Rumination/brooding
- Using behavioral short-cuts
- Anticipating gloom-and-doom scenarios
- Uncertainty intolerance
- Certainty seeking actions
- Anxieties, worries, obsessions and panic
The content I create is based on (a) cutting-edge behavioral science – Acceptance and Commitment skills, exposure theory, (b) the intersection of affective science, social psychology, positive psychology, (c) personal experiences, and (d) my expertise.
My goal is to help you to get unstuck so you can get better at thinking, feeling, and behaving in this unpredictable, uncertain, and imperfect world.
I firmly believe that learning to navigate anxiety-based reactions is one the key skills of the 21st century and I’m passionate about it.
TEDx talk:
Stop playing-it-safe and start living!
About Dr. Z.
I’m on a mission to get people unstuck from ineffective playing-it-safe moves so they can start living a rich, purposeful, and meaningful life.
I'm a Psychologist by training, have authored six books, co-authored two books, conducted over 140 workshops at national and international conferences, run a boutique practice, and I absolutely love to create resources for every client I work with.
In 2019, I was nominated as a Fellow of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Sciences (ACBS) for my contributions to the dissemination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy skills for particular unworkable behavioral patterns.
I'm a passionate behaviorist and practitioner of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy!
You can read more about me HERE
Figure out your
Playing-It-Safe Profile
If you want to play bigger and increase your fulfillment in your career, relationships and life in general, then it’s important to figure out your Playing-it-safe Profile.
The Playing-it-Safe Questionnaire gives you personalized feedback on all those thinking and behavioral strategies that keep you stuck in your head and take you further away from who you want to be.
The quiz takes just 5 minutes to complete. You”ll receive the results immediately.
Listen to the podcast
Playing-It-Safe ?!
Get psychological tools to move past problematic playing-it-safe moves and anxiety-based reactions.
In the Playing-it-safe podcast, you will learn hands-on skills based on Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT), behavioral science, organizational psychology and affective science.
Get the Act Audiobook to Tackle
High-Achieving, Perfectionistic
and Striving Actions
While high-achieving actions can drive hard work, when left unchecked they can lead you into hours of constant worry about worst-case scenarios, relentless self-criticism, and hyperfocus on mistakes. This is an audiobook for high-achievers, overthinkers, and perfectionists committed to better thinking, wiser decision-making, and more focused on having a fulfilling life.
Sample
Online courses
Over the years I have received requests from people from all over the world about the application of Acceptance and Commitment skills (ACT) for all types of anxiety-based struggles.
These online courses are the result of thousands of hours spent teaching, speaking, coaching, and writing about ACT skills, ineffective playing-it-safe moves and anxiety.
I want to make ACT skills available to everyone, regardless of where they live!
Book me to speak
I love to spread the word about Acceptance and Commitment Skills (ACT) – behavioral science – and its application to day-to-day life struggles with all types of anxiety.
I do my best to to teach ACT skills in an actionable, compassionate, and caring way!
I’m currently accepting presentations related to playing-it-safe behaviors, high achieving actions, procrastination, perfectionism, and living with uncertainty.
Work with me
I don’t just work with people, I love working with people!
I’m currently offering therapy services for California residents and Acceptance and Commitment Focused Coaching (ACT focused coaching) for clients outside of California or abroad.
Read skills workbooks to get unstuck
My workbooks are based on solid scientific-ground written in an uncomplicated and unpretentious manner, and as real as it gets.
You will get real guidance, real skills, real how-tos, and real takeaways to get your life back on track!
Hope you make all the skills of my workbooks yours and most importantly, I urge you to do something with them that matters to you!
Living beyond OCD: using Acceptance and Commitment therapy
This is the perfect workbook for you to learn what keeps OCD going, how to blend Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to handle OCD, and how to prepare for all those potential roadblocks.
This book will show you how to make a shift from reactive moves driven by obsessions to values-based moved driven by the stuff you care about.
ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT SKILLS FOR PERFECTIONISM AND HIGH-ACHIEVING BEHAVIORS
This is a book that will show you how to harness the power of perfectionism and high achieving behaviors!
It will show you how to nurture, cultivate, and enrich your drive for high achievement without the sleepless nights, many hours of regret, years of blaming and criticizing yourself or dwelling relentlessly on worries, fears, and anxieties
Mind and emotions: a program for dealing with anxiety, phobias, depression, & anger
This is the perfect skills-book to handle effectively
anxiety, fear, anger, shame, and different types of
emotion-driven behaviors. It includes an assessment
to map the most common responses you engage when
dealing with uncomfortable emotions and it lays out
specific skills and chapters for you to start working on right away.
The ACT workbook for teens with OCD
This workbook teaches teens research-based skills based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP).
Teens will learn skills to handle all those pesky obsessions that show up in their mind, figure out the stuff that matter ti them
and do what matters.
Escaping the emotional rollercoaster
This is the book you have been looking for if you’re a super-feeler: “feeling too much, too quick, and acting too soon;” as if instead of having an emotional dial, you have a switch that goes on and off, anytime and anywhere.
Parenting a troubled teen
Don’t let the title of this book mislead you!
Sometimes there is a battle with publishers for a title, and
you just have to let it go. I did that.
This book is the perfect reading, if you raising a teen that
is a super-feeler, a teen that “feels too much,
too quick, and acts too soon.”
