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!

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

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

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About Dr. Z.

I’m originally from Bolivia, South America, and am a psychologist by training. I’m formally trained in empirically supported treatments, and when I say “formally,” I mean that since 2004 I have received intensive training in them, particularly in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). 

Over the past 18 years, I have created resources for and worked with overthinkers and overachievers dealing with all types of anxiety-related struggles: perfectionism, procrastination, productivity anxiety, uncertainty intolerance, indecision, impostor phenomenon, overthinking, phobias, rumination, panic, worry and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I absolutely love my job!

In 2019, I was nominated as a fellow by the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science because of my contributions related to the applications of ACT for anxiety-based struggles. I’m the author of seven books and the co-author of three (see the section on previously written books).

I’m the founder and director of the East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, a boutique private center in the San Francisco Bay Area that offers therapy and coaching for anyone experiencing anxiety-based struggles.

In 2023, I gave a TEDx talk, “Stop playing-it-safe and start living” that has more than 264K downloads.

While I’m a psychologist by training and science-based by passion, my style is jargon-free, accessible, caring, and lighthearted; teaching ACT skills doesn’t have to be boring or inaccessible, so I do my best to make every skill I teach—in any format—as engaging as possible. 

I believe that learning to navigate anxiety-based reactions is one of the key skills of the 21st century, and I’m passionate about it.

I'm passionate about disseminating ACT skills for anxiety-based struggles.

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