patrick sweeney
How to have difficult conversations at work
You’ve got to fire someone. Your consulting project is way behind schedule. The budget has to get cut. In any job you’ll have to have tough conversations where fear can end up being the fuel for positive and effective change, or it can crumble you into wishing you had done the whole thing differently. With…
Read MoreKids with anxiety issues have stronger fear signals
Stanford Study breaks new ground with brain scanning of 10-12 year olds and suggests an effective remedy to raise courageous kids In a breakthrough study recently released by the Stanford School of medicine, 10-12 year old subjects underwent functional MRI scans to see how their brains responded as they were trying to regulate negative emotions.…
Read MoreMental & Physical Gymnastics – why you should do both
“Victor seven tango three one seven…no wait…three one nine…no one seven, one seven! It’s one seven for sure.” Spurted the tired athlete to the official. “Wrong! Thirty burpees.” demanded the Spartan judge who was checking each racer’s memorized codes. In the obstacle course (OCR) world racers spend countless hours monthly training their bodies to handle…
Read MoreDo you need something to worry about?
I met my climbing partner at the gym last Tuesday and he looked like he had endured a grueling overnight flight from Tokyo.
Read More3 Proven Ways to Perform under pressure
There are times when we all have to perform under pressure, the threat of choking, of losing control, or of failing miserably can be a powerful force poised to ruin your life, or at least your day. Don’t let it!
Read MoreCatapult your career with Leadership Lessons from the 2018 World Champion Boston red Sox
Quite possibly the greatest baseball team of all time is touring the streets of Boston this morning in duckboats in front of hundreds of thousands of adoring fans. An entire city is in awe after a season-long display of excellence, character, grit, perseverance, teamwork and courage. How would you like hundreds of thousands of adoring…
Read MoreA 16 Second Habit That Will Change Your Life
I first began using this technique when I was training for the Olympics. As I’ve studied neuroscience over the past five years for my book “Fear is Fuel”, I realize how impactful this little routine is, and how it can literally change the quality of decisions you make every single day. It will make you…
Read MoreThe Simplest and most effective bio hack to do today.
Here’s the deal – just about everyone is afraid of taking cold showers. Bear with me because it’s a great place to practice using fear as fuel! What’s the worst that can happen; you’ll be uncomfortable for five minutes and maybe embarrassingly bit of shrivel. What’s the best that can happen – you can never…
Read MoreThe Greatest Gift we can give our children
In his early 20s, the special operations officer had already served two tours of duty in a bloody war. Back then, people didn’t admit or even know anything about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), so he was left to himself to deal with the emotional serpents that snaked through his consciousness. At one moment he…
Read MoreFive step morning routine for success & courage in 2018
Here are the five things I do each morning, and the neuroscience behind why I do them. Start your morning off right, don’t be addicted to the dopamine fix of getting right to your phone. You have a small window each morning when your brain and body are completely clean slates – a proper morning…
Read MoreSt. Patrick’s Lessons in Courage
St Patrick was a slave around 400 AD who used fear as fuel to power a daring escape from slavery and eventually to change the world. There are some things about his courage, bravery and intelligence you might not know, and at least one thing about St Patrick’s day you can use to win a…
Read MoreLessons from Spring training – Fear & The Closer
There are two very intense and potential terrifying roles in baseball – the batter who can tie the game in the bottom of the 9th and the closing pitcher. David Aardsma was a 14 year MLB veteran who now leaders pitcher development for the Toronto Blue Jays. In this short video, he lets you into…
Read MoreThe Bravest Man Alive – I bet you don’t even know him!
I sat down with the world’s bravest man, 89 year old Colonel Joe Kittenger (USAF RET) in Orlando, Florida to talk about what fear means to him, and what it was like to jump out of a hot air balloon at 100,000 feet; 52 years ago when cars were about as reliable as a toaster,…
Read MoreTalks at Google on Fear and Courage
Patrick was invited to the European HQ of Google in September and talk about the surprising power of fear. Here’s the talk with a great Q&A at the end.
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