Stop Losing Workplace Arguments You Should Win
Workplace debates turn into volume contests. PEP (Practical Empathy Practice) uses observation, feelings, and needs to find shared ground – so you can persuade without pushing.
Stop Arguing and Start Finding Common Ground Fast
Debates get loud when people feel unheard. PEP (Practical Empathy Practice) uses observation, feelings, and values to find common ground and turn combat into problem-solving.
Cognitive Empathy: Your Conflict De-Escalation Superpower
Cognitive empathy isn’t agreement or forgiveness – it’s a conflict tool that helps you stay calm, spot solutions, and de-escalate by understanding what drives someone’s behavior without absorbing their emotions.
Slow Down to Catch What Fast Misses
We talk fast and miss signals – tight jaws, pauses, hidden feelings. Slow down until time feels slower. Presence calms you, helps you listen, builds trust. Chapter 23 teaches PEP: name your judgment, find the need underneath, write it down.
Stop Arguing Positions and Start Hearing Needs
We fight over positions while real needs hide backstage. Cognitive empathy cuts through: listen for needs, name inner states, pause for self-empathy first.
AI Chatbots Bridge Gaps Between Human Care Sessions
People are hurting but help is slow. AI chatbots can offer steady support between crises – studies show real drops in distress and reactivity. Less reactivity means easier repair.
Why Your “Quick” Messages Create More Work
Texting “FYI, lmk” feels efficient until you’re drowning in confusion threads. Brevity isn’t concision – and the difference costs you time, clarity, and trust at work.
Why Forced Positivity Destroys Real Human Connection
Forced positivity can block real connection. Chapter 21 shows how “happy them up” energy teaches suppression and why empathetic presence beats silver linings every time.
Your Team Mirrors Your Stress, Not Your Words
Your team matches your stress reflexes, not your intentions. Here’s what psychological safety actually looks like in meetings – and a practice that rewires how you lead under pressure.
Stop Fighting Your Coworkers and Start Solving Problems
Cognitive empathy turns workplace conversations from courtroom battles into actual problem-solving. One shift in how you frame feedback can build the psychological safety your team is missing.
Stop Yelling and Start Speaking Your Actual Needs
Anger feels like truth, but it’s usually just an unmet need yelling. Learn a 4-step system to pause, guess what the other person values, and speak yours clearly.
Rewire Social Anxiety Using Your Brain’s Neuroplasticity
Social anxiety is a fear loop your brain built – not who you are. Chapter 7 of my book shows how cognitive empathy and neuroplasticity can rewire that response.
Turn Work Conflict Into Clear Conversation Fast
Conflict at work isn’t a logic problem – it’s emotion plus need trying to be heard. After 20 years studying empathy, I use a three-step cycle to turn tense meetings into clear conversations.
Your Phone Just Ganked Your Relationship Again
Phone pings once, attention vanishes, partner’s face collapses. That micro-abandonment is called technoference, and it’s wrecking your couch time without you noticing.
Task Switching Isn’t Laziness: It’s Brain Tax
Task switching isn’t laziness – it’s your brain paying a real switching cost. Each flip leaves attention residue that tanks focus and manufactures fatigue.
Stop Calling People Lazy and Start Getting Results
Turn “You’re lazy” into “I value efficiency” and watch defensiveness vanish. Swap evaluations for values, invite dialogue instead of triggering lizard brains.
We Banned Phones at Dinner and Everything Changed
We made the phone sit in the bread box during dinner. Felt weird at first, then my nervous system went, “Oh. This is the game.”
Your Brain Sucks at Multitasking, Science Confirms
Your brain switches tasks like an old computer freezing apps. Research shows “attention residue” lingers, mental load spikes, and mistakes multiply. Treat focus as stress prevention.
Your Phone Is Quietly Destroying Your Relationship
Your phone interrupts a conversation and suddenly your partner feels like second place. Those quick checks cost more than you think: weaker bonds, more fights, less intimacy. What if you just put it away for a bit?
Task Switching Is Frying Your Brain Like Eggs
Task switching fries your brain like a glitchy console, leaving sticky attention residue that tanks your focus. Want your creative sparks and mental health XP back?
Why Does Multitasking Turn Your Brain to Mush?
Ever wonder why bouncing between tasks turns your brain into glitchy oatmeal? Switch cost is real, and deep work might be your escape hatch from the frenzy.
Stop Blaming and Start Solving at Work
Workplaces devolve into blame-fests because shame is loud and ineffective. OFNR separates facts from feelings and needs, turning conflict into collaboration instead of a courtroom.
Why Your Quick Chats Explode Into Epic Battles
Quick chats turn into battles when we spawn Judgment Bosses instead of staying curious. After 20 years, I’ve seen us project triggers like glitchy AI. Chapter 2 offers drills to debug conflict.
Stop Arguments from Spiraling with Three Simple Moves
You can ground chaotic arguments by ditching future-tripping, reframing judgment as unmet needs, and reflecting feelings back without agreeing or caving.
Social Anxiety Shrinks When You Get Curious
Social anxiety is basically fear of judgment making you hide. Learn to spot the need underneath that fear, practice “street empathy” by getting curious about others, and watch the freakouts lose power.
Social Anxiety Cure: Ask Questions Not Permission
Flip from “Am I good enough?” to “What’s interesting about you?” and watch social anxiety lose its grip. Street empathy = practical curiosity that gives your self-judging brain less CPU cycles.
Social Anxiety at Parties: Your Survival Cheat Code
When your brain rehearses disaster scripts at parties, try this: track what’s real, ditch the doom loops, ask curious questions. 20 years of face-plants distilled into a cheat code.
How PEP Turns Blame Into Team Trust Fast
Team lead blames dev for being late; icy silence follows. Or try PEP: observe facts, guess feelings, name needs, make requests. Lizard brains chill, trust respawns.
Slow Down Tense Talks by Chunking Exchanges
Conversations move too fast, cues get missed, and we react before thinking. What if you could slow time in tense talks by chunking the exchange and reflecting back what you hear?
Quick Messages Cost Your Team More Time
Dashing off quick messages to save time? Your shortcut might cost others hours decoding vague notes, hunting context, and redoing workâturning your efficiency win into a team loss.
Recent Comments