Not enough time for self-care is usually not the real problem. In this episode, we break down specific ideas across 30 seconds, five minutes, 20 minutes, and 60 minutes so you can actually use what you have.

Self-care doesn't have to be a ritual you build up to. A 20-second hug has oxytocin science behind it. A gratitude practice done consistently rivals antidepressants in research. Getting one real thing crossed off a list, the kind that actually stays crossed off, counts. These are not hacks. They're just what it looks like when you take your time seriously, even in small amounts.
This episode gets into the creative side of self-care: how to stack physical, social, and spiritual elements into a single short window, why engagement matters more than duration, and what separates processing a hard emotion from just recycling it. There's also an honest conversation about when self-care stops being the right tool and professional support becomes the more useful one.

The goal isn't to optimize your wellness routine. It's to build something that actually fits your life and leaves you with more than you started with.

Send your questions to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com and subscribe to follow the series as it continues.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

Most self-care efforts fail for the same reason: we skip the inner work first.
In this episode, we talk about what you actually need to know about yourself before self-care can stick.

In this episode, Dr. Roxy Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Stephanie Ellis continue the self-care series by going beneath the surface to two things that have to come before any practice can last: self-awareness and self-compassion.
Topics include how to identify your own values and needs rather than borrowing someone else's version, understanding the difference between stressors in the world and stress in your body, and why the two do not always line up. The conversation also covers the difference between self-care and self-indulgence, how boundaries are about what you will do rather than what you expect from others, and how to give your time and energy as a gift rather than a loan.

Dr. Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Stephanie Ellis also discuss self-compassion as a practical skill, including the work of Kristin Neff and Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, and how the language you use with yourself shapes whether self-care actually works long term. The episode closes with a conversation about JOMO, trusting the people who know you when your own self-awareness runs low, and what it means to invest in your future self.

Send your questions to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com and subscribe to follow the series as it continues.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.
Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

Self-care is everywhere, but most of what passes for it online is surface-level at best. Today, let's go deeper on what self-care actually is, why it has to be personal, and how to know if yours is working.

In this episode, Dr. Roxy Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Stephanie Ellis open a new series on self-care, wealth, and investing in yourself. They challenge the popular shorthand around self-care and offer a more useful, individualized framework for understanding what it really means.

Topics include how to define self-care for yourself rather than borrowing someone else's version, the difference between quick-fix self-care and something lasting, and how to assess whether what you are doing is genuinely restorative. The conversation covers self-care across multiple areas of life including social connection, physical health, emotional wellbeing, intellectual growth, and spiritual practice.

Dr. Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Ellis also discuss the practical test for whether something counts: does it leave you with more natural energy than when you started, and is it something you actually want to do? They explore the difference between enjoyment and restoration, the trap of doing things to yourself rather than for yourself, and why self-care that does not account for your future self tends not to last.

Send your questions to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com and subscribe to follow the series as it continues.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.
Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

Feeling overwhelmed, scattered, or behind? In this executive functioning Q&A, we answer real questions about focus, flexibility, time, and follow through.

In this episode, Dr. Roxy Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Stephanie Ellis respond to listener questions about executive functioning in everyday life. Topics include chronic overwhelm, difficulty talking on the phone, struggling with paperwork, being late, rigidity, helping children build executive skills, hiring for executive functioning strengths, and how executive functioning overlaps with ADHD.

The conversation explores practical strategies such as breaking the day into smaller chunks, prioritizing sleep, using short structured work blocks, adjusting expectations for time management, building accommodations for attention and working memory, and recognizing when struggles may be situational versus diagnostic.

Throughout the episode, the focus remains on responsibility without shame, self assessment with curiosity, and customizing systems that make life easier, cheaper, and better.

Send your questions to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com and subscribe for more conversations about executive functioning, work, and mental wellness.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

Worried about retirement, job loss, or getting stuck in your career? In this work-focused Q&A, we answer real questions about growth, purpose, and navigating change.

In this episode, Dr. Roxy Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Stephanie Ellis respond to listener questions about work and career transitions. Topics include preparing for retirement without losing purpose, coping with job loss, rebuilding confidence during the hiring process, finding mentors, improving workplace communication, handling psychologically unsafe environments, and figuring out why you may not be moving up.

The conversation explores practical steps such as building structure during unemployment, treating job searching like a job, strengthening interview preparation through real practice, balancing power and responsibility at work, and clarifying whether skill gaps or personality dynamics may be affecting advancement.

Throughout the episode, the focus remains on identity, structure, mental health, and taking responsibility for what you can control while accepting what you cannot.

Send your questions to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com and subscribe for more conversations about work, leadership, relationships, and mental wellness.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

How do you give difficult feedback without sounding harsh? What do you do when someone interrupts, shuts down, or refuses to change?

In this listener Q&A episode, Dr. Roxy Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Stephanie Ellis answer practical questions about communication in real life. Topics include delivering underperformance feedback at work, dealing with someone who refuses to change, balancing assertiveness with respect, handling interruptions, and ending conversations without feeling rude.

The conversation also explores communication in virtual meetings, how therapy can help improve communication skills, mediating conflict between colleagues or children, and managing stress during difficult conversations. You will also hear a thoughtful discussion about when and how AI can be used responsibly in communication without replacing your own skill development.

Throughout the episode, the focus remains on emotional regulation, preparation, boundaries, and building stress tolerance so you can stay composed when conversations get hard.

Send your questions to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com and subscribe for more conversations about communication, relationships, and mental wellness.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

You asked, and we answered. In this episode, we respond to real questions about sex, desire, intimacy, and communication.

In this listener Q&A episode, Dr. Roxy Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Stephanie Ellis respond to questions that often come up in therapy offices but are rarely talked about openly. Topics include sex after 60, changes in desire across the lifespan, communicating sexual needs, feeling too busy or disconnected for intimacy, and navigating shame, embarrassment, or mismatched desire in relationships.

The conversation also explores practical and emotional questions around sexual health, including menopause, erectile changes, safety and testing, waiting for sex, buyer’s remorse, pornography, sex toys, and how early sexual experiences shape expectations later in life. Throughout the discussion, the focus remains on self awareness, values, consent, curiosity, and building intimacy that actually works for the people involved.

This episode is grounded, direct, and compassionate, offering perspective rather than prescriptions and encouraging listeners to reflect on what they want, what matters to them, and how to talk about sex in ways that strengthen connection rather than create distance.

Send your questions to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com and subscribe for more conversations about mental wellness, relationships, and meaningful connection.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net

Why do planning, time management, and productivity feel so hard even when you know what needs to be done? In this episode, we break down practical executive functioning skills that support follow through.

In this episode, Dr. Roxy Riefkohl-Cook and Dr. Stephanie Ellis explore advanced executive functioning skills related to prioritizing, planning, organization, time management, and monitoring progress. The conversation focuses on why productivity often breaks down and how small, practical adjustments can make goals easier to reach.

Topics include how to set priorities based on values, realistic planning strategies, common thinking traps like the planning fallacy and task completion bias, and ways to reduce wasted effort. The episode also covers tools for organizing materials, managing time and attention, handling procrastination, and knowing when emotions are interfering with efficiency.

Throughout the discussion, the focus remains on responsibility without shame, customization over comparison, and building systems that work with your brain rather than against it.

Subscribe for more conversations on mental wellness, executive functioning, and practical strategies for daily life. Questions can be sent to richthoughtspoorjokes@gmail.com.

Rich Thoughts, Poor Jokes, is brought to you by Compass Coaching. At Compass Coaching, we specialize in executive coaching by collaborating with you on your goals, giving you reliable information, skills development practice opportunities, goal-oriented behavioral strategies, and help in tailoring these skills to your specific situation. We offer both topic-specific, empirically-based programs for businesses, organizations, and companies, all built on cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused principles.

Learn more and connect with us at www.compasscoachingforlife.net