The Motivation Mindset with Risa Williams, Erica Curtis & Darrin Kagele: New Tools for the New Year

Send us a textHappy 2026, everyone! If you're listening to this episode, you made it to the new year, and that's a wonderful thing! Risa Williams talks to fellow therapists, Erica Curtis and Darrin Kagele about new tools they're going to try in the new year ahead.They discuss:-How the words we're using with ourselves are so important to become mindful of-Darrin shares a few phrases he tells himself whenever he feels stuck or anxious-Erica shares a useful tool where you turn a phrase you're saying into a question, which changes our emotional reaction to the phrase-Risa shares the one journaling prompt she's been using to stretch her imagination and cognitive flexibility-Other ways you can gently move into the new year ahead while remembering to be kind to yourself along the way!A great episode to feel more motivated and inspired in 2026... Happy New Year, everyone!**Risa will be launching her TINY WINS WORKSHOP, a 4 week online class, in January - sign up here to be one of the first to get in: https://www.risawilliams.com/tinywinscourse.html**Host: Risa Williams, risawilliams.com @risawilliamstherapyGuest Hosts: Darrin Kagele, darrinkagele.com, and Erica Curtis, therapywitherica.com.Support the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textWhen someone's behavior or emotional state is bothering us, how do we take a pause and validate what they are feeling without judgement? This can be tricky to do! Dr. Marcus Rodriguez, founder of the Youth and Family Institute and an expert in teaching validation, talks to Risa Williams about some practical ways to practice validating the emotional experience of others.They discuss:-What validation really means and how you can start to practice it-One easy sentence that can start to build your "validation skill set"-Understanding what's happening when communication goes awry and gaining awareness as to the validation needs of others-Teaching others emotional validation by learning do it more regularly throughout everyday life***New Book out: The Tiny Wins Journal: Your Year of Small Steps and Big Changes - buy one for the holidaysSupport the show: If you've enjoyed any of the 100+ episodes we've made on this show, please consider supporting the show by doing a tiny action here: risawilliams.com/support, so that The Motivation Mindset can continue next year!***Host: Risa Williams, risawilliams.com, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Dr. Marcus Rodriguez, youthandfamilyinstitute.com, @drmarcusrodriguezSupport the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textEvery so often, Risa Williams runs into someone on the show who has a tool that is very aligned with one of her own! This was the case in this episode, Holiday Time Tools, in which Risa Williams shares her tool, The Time Wardrobe, and Jenny Layton shares her tool, The Time Pantry, both with many similarities on how to visualize your time in an easier and more tangible way.They discuss:-How to visualize your weekly time as a pantry or a closet-How to group tasks you need to do in different "containers" and organize them on "shelves"-Jenny introduces her idea of "Costco-sized tasks" where you take on a giant task that requires a lot of room on the shelf to store-Risa talks about energy management of tasks and how each task we're doing has an energy and time cost that plays out across other areas of our lives-They discuss small ways to start to form habits and routines so that you don't have to make as many decisions each week-How to apply these ideas to the holidays and to give yourself credit for all you're taking on during this time of year!***New Book out: The Tiny Wins Journal: Your Year of Small Steps and Big Changes - buy one for the holidaysSupport the show: If you've enjoyed any of the 100+ episodes we've made on this show, please consider supporting the show by doing a tiny action here: risawilliams.com/support, so that The Motivation Mindset can continue next year!***Host; Risa Williams, risawilliams.com, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Jenny Layton, thehappygal.com, @jlthehappygal, Get Organized Bootcamp: go.thehappygal.com/bootcamp-97Support the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textAre you starting to feel the holiday overwhelm kick in this week? Are seasonal things feeling a little too busy, too rushed, too chaotic, and too exhausting to manage? Then, this episode is for you! Dr. Michelle Chung and Risa Williams discuss the concept of "Holiday Mindfulness," which includes intentionally slowing down for the holidays so that we can feel more joy and connection in the present moment. They discuss:-Navigating "Holiday FOMO" that's all around us and what to do about it-Learning to get into the present moment instead of getting stuck in "holiday planning mode" and stressing ourselves out-Learning to navigate and regulate our emotions during the holidays-For families and other groups, how can we more effectively express our needs and our energy levels without causing conflicts for the holidays?-Tiny mindful moments we can create for ourselves this week!-Learning to ask yourself ONE SIMPLE QUESTION to figure out what the next best step is for you for the holidays**NEW BOOK LAUNCH: Risa' newest book, THE TINY WINS JOURNAL: YOUR YEAR OF SMALL STEPS AND BIG CHANGES is in stores today! Buy one at risawilliams.com or on amazon, makes a great gift for the holidays! Learn to celebrate your tiny weekly wins and boost your motivation for the year ahead...***Host: Risa Williams, risawilliams.com, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Dr. Michelle Chung, drmichellechung.com,@dr.michellechungSupport the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textThe holiday season can often feel really stressful, even though we often feel like we should be feeling more gratitude at this time of year. So how do we slow down enough to notice the small things that are actually going right...especially when life feels busy, chaotic, or overwhelming? Author and podcaster Lori Oberbroeckling joins Risa Williams to talk about simple, actionable ways to build gratitude into your daily routine. She also shares her “Gratitude Questions List,” a tool she created to help make everyday appreciation feel easier for us allThey discuss:-Learning to notice the tiny daily things around us as a way to work the "gratitude muscle"-How to recognize moments as they happen to us as a daily gratitude practice-How we can start sharing our gratitude with others more regularly-How setting up daily "practices" helps us to notice the "happy little moments" with more consistent intention***New Book: The Tiny Wins Journal by Risa Williams, illustrated by Dulcie Yamanaka, will go on sale next week just in time for the holidays! Risa will be giving away 10 free copies of the books to newsletter subscribers - sign up for her newsletter at risawilliams.com today ***Host: Risa Williams, risawilliams.com, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Lori Oberbroeckling, secretsofsupermom.com, @secretsofsupermomSupport the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textWe often understand what it means to feel physically fit in our bodies, but what does "emotionally fitness" look and feel like? Dr. Tamara Soles, psychologist and keynote speaker, is back on the show to talk with Risa Williams about building up our "emotional fitness," one mental rep at a time. They discuss how families can work with these emotional regulation tools together, and how building these skills is so important to do to manage our daily stress levels.They discuss:-Learn a few components of Emotional Fitness: Awareness, Regulation, Flexibility, Curiosity and Humor-How parents can model to their kids how to regulate their nervous systems and emotions by talking about these elements more regularly-Simple everyday tricks for regulating your nervous system that don't involve a lot of time or money to doIf this is a stressful and chaotic time of year for you, take a minute to pause and listen to this extremely helpful episode that can help you find the calm again!Host: Risa WIlliams, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Dr. Tamara Soles, drtamarasoles.com, @drtamarasoles**Get news about Risa's newest goals planner, The Tiny Wins Journal, which comes out in a few weeks by signing up for her newsletter at: risawilliams.com***Support the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textSo, you've learned how to set boundaries and effectively communicate your boundaries to people, but what do you do next? How can we go about managing and adjusting our boundaries as our relationships change, we grow, or new situations present themselves to us? Risa Williams talks to Stevon Lewis, therapist and book author, about how to figure out how much "access" you're allowing people to have to parts of you based upon information you're receiving from them across different situations over time.They discuss:-How boundaries can be on a scale and not an "all or nothing" concept-How most people see boundaries as "punishment" instead of a "choice" that allows us to feel safe and thrive-How to adjust how much access someone should have to you and your time based upon information you're given -Why we need to prioritize our own time with ourselves a little bit more intentionally for our own health and wellbeingHost: Risa Williams, risawilliams.com, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Stevon Lewis, stevonlewis.com, @stevonlewismftSupport the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textDo you feel like there's just work and free time but you never quite get everything done during your free time? You're not alone! On this special episode of the show, "Reader Questions" - I invited a reader of my books, Ksenjia Sabic, a technical project manager in NYC, on the show to ask questions about "Get Stuff Done Without the Stress" and to share her experience of using the tools in the book.We discuss:-How trying to "wing it" with free time each week may not be helping you do the fun things you want to do-Why adulthood tends to leave most people feeling lost about the path to their goals and how they can start to map things out for themselves-How perfectionism leads us to have harshly different rules for ourselves than we have for other peopleThank you so much, Ksenjia, for being brave and coming on the show! I appreciate you reading the book and all your wonderful questions and feedback! I am sure listeners will benefit from hearing your experience as well.**Check out the Sept/Oct issue of Therapist Magazine because Erica Curtis and I wrote an article in it about our kids' book: Max and The Imaginary Tree, and skills parents can use for calming down each day**Host: Risa Williams, risawilliams.com, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Ksenjia Sabic, linkedin.com/in/ksenija-sabic/Support the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textDo you try to set goals but then beat yourself up if you're not working on them every single day? Or, do you want to move forward with many new goals but find yourself stalling out at the starting line? Risa Williams talks to Debra Eckerling, book author, goals coach, and podcaster, about how we can set goals in a much easier and less stressful way! They discuss:-Deb's 5 of 7 Rule for working on goals each week-Why writing down all the small steps you're taking each week is so important to do to motivate you to keep going-How one simple journaling technique can show you patterns about yourself that can help you figure out what to do next**Big thanks to everyone who showed up at Risa's workshop this past weekend at The Huddle/Google Visitor Experience and thank you to Isabella and Vic for hosting the event!**Host: Risa Williams, risawilliams.com, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Debra Eckerling,  thedebmethod.com, @thedebmethodSupport the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.

Send us a textIf someone asked you to share your computer's desktop, would you cringe a little? Are the texts and emails just piling up and you're feeling really overwhelmed by them? What's the state of your digital organization right now? Risa Williams talks to digital organizational expert, Indigo Organizing founder, and Ted Talk speaker, Amanda Jefferson, about managing our digital footprints in easier ways.They discuss:-What do when your email inbox is feeling overwhelming to navigate-How password management can stress us out and what to do about it-Organizing your computer desktop so that it suits your own needs  -Tech Avoidance and how it gets in our own way of making progress on things**Upcoming events: Risa Williams will be speaking at The Huddle at The Google Visitor Experience on Sept. 14th at 12 on "Calming Down Skills for Kids and Grownups" and the first 25 people get free books and gift bags! A fun event for both kids and grownups with art activities for everyone! Visit risawilliams.com/writingmedia for info.***Host: Risa Williams, risawilliams.com, @risawilliamstherapyGuest: Amanda Jefferson, indigoorganizing.com, @hey.amandaj Support the showFor info on books, workshops, guests, and future episodes, please visit: risawilliams.com.*All tools discussed on the show are meant for educational purposes only and not as a replacement for therapy or medical advice.