In this episode, I chat with Russ Harris, M.D., author of The Happiness Trap, The Reality Slap, and many other self-help books. Russ shares how he applies skills from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – grounding, defusion, acceptance – to his writing process. In particular, he shares how he handles his fears of making mistakes, thoughts about his writing not being good enough, his inner critic, and the overwhelming feelings and anxieties that show up when he’s writing.
I hope you enjoy the episode. Let me know what you think of it!
Table of Contents
About Russ
Russ is a doctor, therapist, father, trainer of health professionals, and the author of The Happiness Trap (plus eight other books). He started his career as a newly-graduated doctor back in 1989, and soon discovered that most of his patients were expressing a significant degree of dissatisfaction in life; stress, anxiety and unhappiness were widespread. So he set off on a journey to find out a) what makes people unhappy, and b) far more importantly, what creates genuine and lasting happiness. Eventually, it lead him to ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Resources
- The Happiness Trap website: https://thehappinesstrap.com/
- The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living by Russ Harris
- The Happiness Trap Instagram: @happiness_trap_program
- Russ’s Twitter: @drrussharris
Show notes with time-stamps
Here are the highlights from my chat with Russ:
2:51 How Russ channels his anxiety.
3:32 How Russ gets hooked on anxious thoughts at times.
4:05 How Russ practices defusion from harsh thoughts.
7:57 How Russ drops his anchor to handle anxiety when writing a chapter.
8:58 How Russ handles his fears of his writing “not being good enough.”
13:02 How Russ handles the struggles of not finding the right metaphor when writing.
15:08 How Russ handles his inner critic.
15:39 The type of Australian biscuit Russ likes.
17:41 How Russ practices noticing, naming, and taking a distance from analysis-paralysis thoughts.
18:33 How Russ remembers to anchor himself using the acronym ACE
22:55 How Russ relates to positive thinking
