On any given day in Los Angeles county, the roughly 8,000 frontline homeless workers in the region are desperately trying to help their unhoused clients find a pathway to a permanent home and a new life.
For those trying to help parents living on the street make the jump, the significant lack of childcare facilities and daycare can make an already challenging effort seem like a Herculean task.
[Photo: Paul Vu]
At a former Dennys in Reseda, California, a first-of-its-kind experiment in offering on-site childcare to homeless parents in hopes of making the path to recovery that much easier. This new daycare and early childhood education facility will help make the adjacent Woodlands, a former hotel turned transitional housing site for homeless families, into a more holistic service center.
The preschool and community centera $3 million renovation project which just held an opening celebration in early August and will begin operations in early Septemberfills a void in most homeless housing and service centers. Services for children and families remain very hard to come by, preventing many single parents and families that are unhoused from transitioning to a more stable and secure housing situation. The Betty Bazaar Center is the first state-licensed childcare center to open adjacent to homeless housing.
[Image: courtesy Hope the Mission]
According to a 2023 statewide survey in California by the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, roughly 7% of participants were adults in homeless families, typically with one child with a median age of 7. Ken Craft, CEO of Hope the Mission, a nonprofit that operates 33 housing shelters in and around L.A., and worked with Childcare Resource Center (CCRC) to staff the center adjacent to the Woodlands, said kids in this situation experience real hardships.
[Image: courtesy Hope the Mission]
Families at the Woodlands, the former motel turned into a family-centric homeless shelter focused on single moms, is a 100-unit, 400-bed facility that opened in the spring of 2023, also run by Hope the Mission, and designed by Kadre Architects. Families seeking space must go through the traditional homeless intake process and qualify for housing vouchers.
Studies have shown that kids that become homeless are four times more likely to have developmental problems as they go through school, and that’s because of the instability of their living situation and poor nutrition, he said. Many homeless shelters will have volunteers come in to watch the kids, but there typically isnt the budget, staff, or space to create a true preschool environment.
[Photo: Paul Vu]
Craft said he was thinking of all the single moms who struggle to work and provideoften taking long trips on public transportation and failing to find reliable, affordable childcarewhen Hope the Mission was able to take control of the old hotel that would become the Woodlands. He saw the dilapidated former Dennys as an opportunity, and reached out to CCRC and the Mary E. Bazar-Robin Foundation to discuss funding and operating a space for kids.
The design of the 4,500-square-foot center reflected the architects desire for a vibrant, colorful building on Venture Boulevard, a main thoroughfare, that would create both a landmark for the neighborhood and an inviting place for children. Nerin Kadribegovic, founder and lead architect of Kadre Architects, has deep experience working on homeless housing, transitional homes, and tiny home shelters.
[Photo: Paul Vu]
Designed to reference airplane wings and aviation motifsthe namesake Betty Bazaars family fortune came from aerospace and selling aviation antennaethe exterior of the building and roofline contain layers of blade-like pieces of aluminum, painted white and perforated. It creates a layered, almost ghostly facade that wraps the building and gives it an elevated presence. The extensive solar array on the buildings rooftop provides enough power to make it a net-zero facility.
[Photo: Paul Vu]
Kadribegovics designs also called for scraping away the fume hoods and HVAC systems on the top of the former restaurant, and creating a roof with a series of skylights and a carved ceiling that offers the appearance of an abstract belly of a plane.
[Photo: Paul Vu]
Add in the colorful walls, filled with blocks of bright paint meant to reference the contours of microchips, and the building offers an engaging space for kids. Open space on the campus between the community center and housing includes outdoor play space for children; roughly half of the 400 residents of the Woodlands are under 18.
These kids arent just playing or being babysat during the day, said Craft. Theres important education, reading, social integration, and elementary preparedness taking place with CCRC staff.
Were excited to be on the tip of the spear and help make this happen, said Craft. What we’re trying to do is to build really a complete, cohesive center that really addresses all the needs of a mom, of a child, of a teenager.
Reigning National Football League MVP Josh Allen met Therabody founder and chiropractic doctor Jason Wersland at his first Buffalo Bills training camp in 2018. Three years later, Allen became an investor in the company (along with a laundry list of other athletes and celebrities), and now he is becoming the brands first-ever performance adviser.
The move reflects a broader trend of brands expanding the job description of ambassadors to go beyond mere promotion, with roles that include key investors or roles in product and R&D. We’ve seen it with On and Zendaya, David Beckham and IM8, even the Kelce brothers and Garage Beer, among others.
“For me, it’s not just about the recovery, it’s about preparing and being ready to perform,” Allen tells Fast Company. “I’m excited to bring what I’ve learned that works for me on the field into the product development side to help push some innovation forward.”
Allen says Therabody products like the Theragun Pro Plus, JetBoots Pro Plus, and ThermBack LED wrap play a significant role in his preparation, training, and recovery routines. The company is launching a new ad campaign starring Allen, as well as two exclusive Josh Allen Performance Bundles in the U.S. from September 7 through November 22, built around products Allen uses in his personal routine.
Make it official
Therabody chief marketing officer John Solomon says that making Allen an official performance adviser is just formalizing a process and relationship hes already had with the brand since that first training camp.
We wanted to formalize that process with Josh, as a longtime investor and Therabody user, but also as someone who is having a huge moment right now, Solomon says. It allows us to get insights quicker and for him to be a part of the process, which makes him an even more enthusiastic advocate when products are launched.
This new role is aimed at strengthening the brands place in sports and performance, which has exploded with copycat and competitive products since the first Theragun was launched in 2016. In more recent years, the company has branched out to include wellness (pain, stress, sleep) and beauty (focused on antiaging). Since expanding, Solomon says the company has seen double-digit year-over-year growth, only recently interrupted by tariffs.
Authentic Allen
Allen says that his relationship with Therabody is rooted in the same process he uses for all of his business and commercial partnerships.
It’s really about the authenticity of itnever putting my name on something that I personally don’t believe in or I wouldn’t use, he says.
In the past year, Allen has starred in ads for Gatorade, Pepsi, and Snickers. He credits his close advisers and some Hall of Famers with helping him navigate this side of his career. I’m very fortunate to have a really good team around me, obviously with my wife and my family, he says. And then, I’ve had small talks with guys like Peyton [Manning] and Tom [Brady], because they’ve done pretty well for themselves off the football field as well.
Earlier this year, Allen signed on as the first New Era brand ambassador to have a direct investment stake in the headwear company, and he also joined the Cashmere Fund, a Nasdaq-listed interval fund led by former Endeavor exec Elia Infascelli. He sees this latest move with Therabody as another way to utilize his present to help secure his future.
At the end of the day, you can only play football for so long, but you can use your expertise in other fields just like this, Allen says. It’s a chance for me to help a brand and become better at something outside of the game of football.
On 10 wooded acres outside of Tallahassee, Florida, a curved, wood-paneled home juts out of the natural landscape like a ship thats been permanently grounded on land. Its the only residence designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the whole state, and its currently on the market for $2.1 million.
[Screenshot: NAI Global]
Nicknamed the Spring House after a nearby natural water feature, the home was completed in 1954 as a commission for husband and wife George and Clifton Lewis. According to the Spring House Institute (the organization responsible for the propertys preservation), the Lewises asked Wright to design a space for them with the stipulation that they had a lot of children and not much money.
The resulting 2,000-square-foot structure is an example of how Wrights experimentation with complex curved geometries shaped the tail end of his careera fascination that’s also apparent in his design for New York City’s iconic Guggenheim Museum.
[Photo: Swcopeland/Wiki Commons]
What the Spring House has in common with the Guggenheim
For most Americans, the name Frank Lloyd Wright probably calls to mind a structure dominated by artfully arranged parallel lines and hard anglesthe kind of geometry exemplified by some of Wrights most iconic buildings, like the Fallingwater home in Pennsylvania or the Ennis House in Southern California.
However, in his later years, Wright became more interested in understanding how carefully conceived curves could change the utility of a space.
This curve-based approach, termed Wrights hemicycle style, involved designing semicircular floor plans behind large curved glass walls to allow the building to receive the full arc of the sun during the day. In the Spring House, thats most evident through the homes back wall, which features a sweeping semicircle that looks out into the back yard and is almost entirely paneled in glass.
Per the Spring House Institute, the Spring House is one of just 11 hemicycle houses designed by Wright, and one of only two hemicycle houses with its “unusual boat-like shape,” derived from the intersection of two arcs.
John Waters, preservation program director at the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, says he believes the Spring House is a reinterpretation of an earlier design known as the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House, which similarly employed a curved exterior to let in maximum light.
“There are a number of aspects of the Spring House, like the way its second story is suspended from the roof, that are similar to the second Jacobs house,” Waters says. “But there are also some really interesting tweaks. Either end of the interior balcony gracefully extends out beyond the glazed wall to exterior balconies on either side. I think it’s just a very elegant design in that way.”
[Photo: NAI Global]
Waters notes that Wright used similar design principles to simultaneously create the Guggenheim Museum, recognizable for its interior of concentric white circles, as well as the David and Gladys Wright House, which features a circular spiral design.
“It’s probably a chicken-and-egg situation in terms of which design was leading the others, but they are all sort of conceptualized at the same time,” Waters says.
Summer is drawing to a close, back-to-school season is here, and its the final sprint toward 2026. Cue “The Great Lock In of 2025.”
In mid-August, social media started buzzing with posts about The Great Lock In. As the name suggests, its built around the Gen Z slang for fully committing or hyperfocusing on a task, goal, or activity. From now until the end of the year, the idea is to “lock in” and to get your life in order and your goals checked off before 2026.
@meechiexx It is upon us ladies and gentlemen #fyp #xyzbca #real Slowest Stargazing – Marcelo De Carvalho
According to the Know Your Meme website, the trend began with creator @shmeat27, who last month posted NBA highlights captioned: “The type energy we bringing to the great lock in aug-oct 2025.” That video has nearly a quarter of a million views and has since inspired a wave of similar content.
@shmeat27 Ts been a hall of fame start already #fyp #typeshyt #shmeat27 original sound – new9ra
The great lock in of August to December 2025 can make generational change for your life, another creator posted. Ive been slacking all summer, he continued. That means Im gonna be working hard all winter.
@acoth.will WHY NOT US BOYS WHO IS GONNA CARRY THE BOATS AND THE LAWWWGGGGGS original sound – Prem – Prem
Social media loves nothing more than a self-development trend. On X, user @quinnslcm wrote: “I don’t think you understand how serious the great lock in from August to December 2025 is.” They continued: “You can feel it in your bones, the air starts tasting different, there’s a restlessness in your soul that knows something is shifting.”
i dont think you understand how serious the great lock in from August to December 2025 is. you can feel it in your bones, the air starts tasting different, there's a restlessness in your soul that knows something is shifting. 2016 all over again.— quinn (@quinnslcm) August 16, 2025
There are no hard-and-fast rules for “The Great Lock In of 2025” beyond, well, locking in. In many ways, its a rebrand of 2024s Winter Arc, another self-improvement trend that encouraged a seasonal focus on discipline and momentum after summer indulgence.
Of course, the pressure of locking inand the reminder that there are only a few months left in the year to hit whatever goals you scribbled down in Januarycan feel overwhelming. But time is a social construct, and life is more than a relentless quest for optimization.
Still, if the start of a new season and that nostalgic back-to-school energy have you feeling renewed, it might just be the perfect time to lock in.
Anxiety and ambition often go hand in handbut we rarely talk about that openly, especially in the context of leadership. Morra Aarons-Mele, author of The Anxious Achiever and host of the award-winning podcast of the same name, has built a career helping high performers understand and reframe the role anxiety plays in their lives. In our conversation, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity, she shares why anxiety doesnt have to be a weakness, how anxious achievers can set boundaries without losing drive, and why learning to work with our inner criticrather than against itcan be a powerful force for growth.
JW: What does the term anxious achiever mean to you and how can we begin to reframe anxiety not as a weakness but as a potential source of strength?
MAM: An anxious achiever is someone who channels anxiety into ambition, work ethic, productivity, and leadership. Along the way, theyve learned that performance equals value. Many people tell me, When I achieved, I was loved. I learned thats what I should doand the fear of losing keeps me moving forward. Others say, I grew up poor, with a single mom who struggled and a dad who didnt pay the bills. Ill never be that vulnerable again. For them, the anxiety of scarcity drives their determination.
Anxiety is really a misunderstood emotion. We have a lot of social stigma against what anxiety represents in our culture, especially in leadership. And therefore we pretend we don’t have it, which is crazy because everyone experiences anxiety. We need to have anxietyits what has kept us alive as a species. It’s our body’s way of preparing us for action. So, we shouldnt want to rid ourselves of our anxiety, but we may need healthier ways to manage it.
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JW: What are your go-to strategies for managing anxious thoughts in the middle of a workday?
MAM: I’m a big believer in understanding the physical roots of anxiety. I have found that I need to calm my body before I can go into any cognitive reframing (the process of reframing our thoughts to try to change our mind or compartmentalize). So I have props on my deska pen, a water bottle, this egg shaped rock that I love and I use these visceral tools to ground myself. So if I’m feeling my anxiety rise and I’m on a Zoom call, I might grab my water bottle or my rock and just really tune into it, feel it.
With practice, Ive trained my body to downregulate a bit. Then I use breathing to bring my brain back online and reengage. Anxiety can spiral in a meeting when your nervous system ramps upyou cant breathe, cant focus, and feel shaky. Thats why grounding practices are so important.
JW: How can anxious achievers set boundaries in workplaces that often reward constant availability and overachievement?
MAM: Yeah, it’s the rub, right? Anxious achievers often land in environments that both reward and exploit them. Too often, it takes burning out to realize they can set boundariesand thats where therapy can be transformative. I love ACT therapy because it helps people reconnect with their values and sense of self. Why does it feel so good when my boss calls me all day? Is that really what I want? Does this serve me?
When you clarify your values, you reclaim agency. Many of us repeat old patterns because they once workedwe were the perfect kid. But adulthood gives us the chance to ask, Why am I driving myself so hard? Do I want to keep doing this? Thats the deeper work of therapy. The practical side is learning to set limits. Boundaries are powerful, but without definition, theyre just amorphous.
So maybe run an experiment: For two nights a week, log off at six, not check email until morning, and see what happens. Can you try that for a month? Slowly, you realize the world doesnt fall apartand that you can build a life more in your control. But it starts with asking: Why do I do this? Is it just habit? What are my real values?
For years, I had terrible flying anxiety, especially when my kids were little. As a consultant, I flew weeklyit was stressful, every boundary crossed. On top of fearing the plane, I carried mom guilt: my kids were home with the nanny, I missed milestones, I felt like a terrible mother. But when I clarified my values, I saw that providing for my children and running a socially impactful business mattered deeply to me. Flying aligned with those values. That shift helped me move past the anxiety. It was hard, but powerfuland thats the kind of clarity values work can bring.
JW: The inner critic drives high achievers, and for many parents that critic is especially loudboth at work and at home. How do you recommend quieting that voice without losing motivation or drive?
MAM: One of my biggest aha momentsthanks to Judd Brewers workwas realizing that anxiety is a habit. Our inner critic, what I call the voice, is also a habit. Weve relied on it so long that it runs on autopilot. Same with our cognitive distortionsthey become familiar companions. As anxious achievers, we even use them as fuel. But breaking those habits is transformative.
Take Newton Chang, a Google executive and world champion powerlifter. During the pandemic, he faced a serious mental health crisis. He told me that for most of his life he woke up every morning hearing, Youre lazy. Not from his parents, but from this ingrained voice. Of course, he wasnt lazybut in the pandemic, when he felt responsible for solving the unsolvable, the habit broke him down. He finally saw that this old pattern wasnt serving him and had to let it go.
The work starts with noticing when the voice kicks in, naming it, maybe even giving it a character so it feels less like a part of you. The goal is to get to that place of choice: Do I listen to it because it motivates me, or do I tell it to shut up?
And its also okay to acknowledge that this is part of who you are. I love Dr. Basima Tewfiks research at MIT on imposter syndrome. Shes shown that people with imposter feelings often outperform peers and are rated as more interpersonally effectivebecause they try harder and are more attuned. In one study, doctors with imposter feelings had better bedside manner. So sometimes, reframing matters: maybe this anxious, inner-critic-driven part of me isnt all bad. Maybe its also whats helped me get here.
JW: If you could give one message to working mothers who feel like they’re holding everything together on the surface while managing intense anxiety underneath, what would it be?
MAM: This too shall pass. Anxiety feels urgent because your body believes its under threatits just trying to protect you. But the truth is, it will pass, and you will get through it. As a mom with kids heading into high school and one still in elementary, I look back and hink: it all went so fast, and I wasted too much time on guilt and anxiety.
It sounds cliché, but dont let anxiety cannibalize your time. Give yourself moments free of it. Remember: anxiety is an emotion, not the truthand like all emotions, it passes. If it doesnt, get help.
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Suddenly, as office buildings closed during the pandemic and millions of parents started working from home, many of us breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, no more commuting. More time with our kids. A once in a lifetime opportunity to concentrate on career and family with fewer hassles. Answer emails while cooking pasta sauce, join team Zoom in yoga pants, and always be there for bedtime. But five years into the remote-hybrid experiment, the arrangement is tougher than we expected. Yes, this flexibility has given us choices that did not exist before, but its also erased the lines so much that many working parents arent even sure if its freedom they are experiencing or just a different kind of trap.
Flexibility: Leash or a lifeline
This new way of working was liberating at first. Parents could make school pick up without getting the side-eye from coworkers. Doctors appointments for your child, no problem; just log back on after dinner. It was a way of easing the stress that we feel from the need to be perfect in the workplace and at home. The problem is that the work never actually stops. The laptop on the kitchen table is both a liberation and a ball and chain. Slack messages buzz through the entire swim meet, and the always on culture makes boundaries virtually disappear.
This flexibility, surprisingly, has made life more difficult for some parents. If you can work from wherever, you end up working all the time. The mental load (doctors appointments, playdates, meal planning) is now just part of the workday. And having it all now means you do it all at the same time.
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The messy reality of integration
In theory, hybrid work offers the best of both worlds: days at home for focus and days in the office for face time and collaboration. But in reality, it can feel like living in two worlds at once. Parents ping-pong between spreadsheets and science projects, quarterly reports and permission slips. Life has become a constant state of multitasking. The cost: more burnout and guilt than you had before. You are working and you are parenting. You are parenting, but your mind is on your inbox.
Lets face it: having it all was always a set up. It suggests that you can have a fulfilling career and blissful family life, and that you should. If you dont, youve failed. Unfortunately, remote and hybrid work didnt dismantle this myth. It repackaged it. We have gone from work-life balance to the fantasy of work-life integration. But integration does not mean harmony. Parents say they have longer days, shorter tempers, and a feeling they are failing at both work and life.
Getting real about what matters
The real question isnt whether parents can have it all. Its how we redefine what all even means. Does it mean being equally devoted to quarterly earnings and the bedtime routine? Or can we accept that sometimes a big presentation takes priority and sometimes its okay to step back for our family? We should give ourselves permission to choose what matters the most in different seasons of our lives. Employers must step up too by setting clearer norms about availability, respecting true off-hours, and offering flexibility that is functional, not suffocating.
The reality is nobody has it all. Not the CEO. Not the stay-at-home parent. And certainly not the hybrid worker. What we can have is a life that reflects what matters most to us. It might be messy, and it definitely wont be perfect, but at least it will be realistic.
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AIs promise was it would liberate us from busywork. Instead, its becoming a new dependency. Maybe its an email you didnt feel like writing. A brainstorm you didnt feel inspired to lead. Code that would take you hours to program. A bio or outline that felt just a bit too hard to begin.
You used to do these things on your own. But now AI makes it so easy to skip the effort that you barely notice youre outsourcing your thinking. I use AI to research companies for my venture fund, deep dive into new industries and technical topics, design presentations, and record my meetings. I am an advocate for AI use and literacy, but the more my work started to become intertwined with AI, the more I started to think about the looming digital addiction crisis.
So I wasnt surprised to see that some researchers have begun labeling compulsive overuse of generative AI as a potential behavioral addiction. They found that over time, excessive reliance on AI can impair cognitive flexibility, diminish problem-solving abilities and erode creative independence. In other words, AI can enhance human capability, but if used unchecked, it can also start to replace it.
In 2024, over $100 billion was invested into generative AI startups globally. But not enough money is being spent to understand or mitigate AIs psychological impact. At PsyMed Ventures, we want to change this by investing in a new generation of companies focused on digital wellness, cognitive resilience, and mental health in the AI era.
However, while investing in research is a long-term fix, in the short term leaders can combat AI addiction by helping their teams implement AI boundaries.
Signs You or Your Team Are Overusing AI
How do you know when your AI use is becoming harmful? One early sign: you cant start working without it. Maybe you once drafted memos or solved problems on your own, but now you wait until an AI tool gives you a prompt or plan.
That reliance can weaken your ability to think independently. A study from MIT used EEG to observe people using ChatGPT, Googles search engine, or nothing at all. Out of the 54 test subjects, ChatGPT users were found to have the worst brain engagement and consistently underperformed across neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. This small study is the first step into the need for longitudinal studies to assess potential long-term effects on cognition, learning, and critical thinking.
Another clear sign youre overusing AI tools is when you find yourself zoning out in meetings because you know the tool will capture, summarize, highlight action items, or even give real-time responses for you to say live. A 2025 mixed methods study on cognitive offloading shows that, while delegating comprehension to external aids can boost short-term efficiency, it undermines recall and independent reasoning when the aid is unavailable. Over time, relying on these tools can dull your ability to follow complex discussions in real time and chip away at your confidence in making judgments without algorithmic backup.
Your decreased confidence can show when you hesitate to share an idea in a meeting until youve first run it through an AI for validation, even on topics where you have direct expertise. You might also notice yourself redoing projects or emails multiple times based on AI suggestions, even when the original version was solid.
From AI Literacy to AI Boundaries
In a rush to adopt generative AI across workplaces, most leaders are focusing on AI literacy, without thinking about the consequences of overreliance. However, AI literacy also requires focusing on AI boundaries. Similar to healthy screen time or smartphone use, guidance for ourselves and our employees on when to lean on AI and when to deliberately step back will help us use this tool in a way that benefits rather than harms us.
A good first step is treating AI as a collaborator, not a crutch. AI is immensely helpful for ideation, summarization, and drafting, but it shouldnt replace human reasoning or judgment. One practical shift is to use AI to support your thinking, not to start it. For example, if youre drafting a report, write your main argument or outline yourself before prompting a tool like ChatGPT to help you refine, expand, or stress-test what youve already written while you still do the core thinking, analysis, and structuring on your own.
Just as we schedule physical workouts, its worth building in analog workouts for the brain. These are AI-free moments of problem-solving, brainstorming, or creative writing without any digital help. This could mean gathering at a whiteboard to map out workflows without laptops, drafting meeting agendas or strategy notes by hand, solving a technical bug without a copilot, holding quick debates or design sprints without digital aids, or jotting down meeting takeaways from memory before checking notes. These small acts protect human creativity and maintain our ability to think deeply without an algorithms influence. Consider digital wellness check-ins or even AI detox periods, especially for younger employees who may be more prone to skill erosion.
Its also valuable for leaders to outline where not to use AI. Every team should establish task boundaries like AI can be used for general research or a second set of eyes, but never for a final output. Look for ways to limit its influence on high-stakes or irreversible decisions, like hiring, strategic pivots, policy changes, or investment selection. AI should serve as a research and analysis assistant not the ultimate decision-maker. This not only guards against overreliance on AIs outputs but also preserves accountability, ensuring that critical choices remain the product of deliberate human judgment rather than automated consensus.
Avoiding The Digital Addiction Crisis, Together
Some may argue that enforcing AI boundaries can slow progress or undermine the very operational or financial efficiency gains these tools promise. But ignoring these limits risks a hidden cost of eroding the skills, confidence, and independent thinking that keep a business resilient. Saving time today is meaningless if your team loses the ability to problem-solve tomorrow.
Other common objections include fears that boundaries will make the company less competitive, that employees will ignore them, or that skilled staff dont need them. In reality, boundaries are about using AI better, not less, by protecting teams from overreliance.
Leaders can frame boundaries not as top-down restrictions, but as a shared investment in long-term capability by inviting employees into the conversation about where AI should support and where human judgment must lead. This collaborative approach turns guardrails into a cultural norm, rather than a compliance burden, and reassures teams that the goal isnt to strip away autonomy but to protect it.
Yes, AI can make work faster and cheaper but the healthiest workplaces will bethose that treat efficiency as a means to strengthen people, not replace them.
The vast majority of people85%, to be exactadmit they lack confidence in the workplace: they avoid taking on leadership roles, they dont speak up in meetings, and they doubt themselves. For those who feel marginalized, the feelings of low confidence can be even more stark.
Imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and fear of failure can slow down our decisions and hold us back from sharing inventive ideas. But fear-based action rarely leads to promotions or breakthroughs. Left unchecked, imposter syndrome can slowly start to limit our ability to succeed. But with a resilience framework, anyone can learn strategies to silence self-doubt, reframe setbacks, and build confidence.
Lets rewind for a minute
At the age of 21, I wasnt sure Id be alive at 22. I awoke from an 11-hour cancer surgery at UCSF to find that the doctor had removed not only half of my nose but also half of my upper lip, muscle, and bone from my right cheek, the shelf of my right eye, six teeth, and part of my hard palate. I was attached to my chest with a delto-pectoral flap because so much tissue had been removed from my face.
My world was turned upside down. More cancer surgery. Reconstruction that didnt work. Two steps back for every step forward. I was spiraling quickly, and I began to struggle with my self-esteem. It took years for me to become content with who I was again. But my openness and awareness of what was transpiring around me allowed me time for reflection that would change the course of my life.
A survival kit and resilience framework
Over the course of many years, I developed a survival kit and a resilience framework that helped me rebuild who I was. Ive come to call this framework ReBAR: Reflect, Build, Act, Renew. This approach helped me rebuild self-belief and step into challenges with more confidence.
Here are seven strategies that can help anyone strengthen their resilience and overcome self-doubt.
1. Prepare with purpose
Preparation became a cornerstone for my self-belief. In the early years of my work life, post-cancer recovery, I felt like a fraud, and I overprepared for every meeting.
But then something interesting happened: I began to realize that over-preparation gave me increased self-confidence, because I was always trying to stay one step ahead, and anticipate objections I might encounter. My over-preparation was improving my knowledge base, and I became more confident in my business proposals and recommendations. I had data to support my suggestions, and people began to trust my ideas.
2. Set achievable goals
Confidence builds in increments, not leaps. Early on, I committed to one personal and one professional goal at a time. Reaching those milestones proved to me that progress was possibleand each success made the next challenge less intimidating.
Start small: finish a certification, commit to speaking up once in a meeting, or complete a project youve been postponing. Small wins create a ripple effect that builds real momentum.
3. Practice reflection and gratitude
Daily reflection was transformative. I asked myself: What did I learn today? What am I proud of? What can I improve tomorrow? Coupled with gratitude, reflection shifted my focus away from what was lacking to what was already working.
Gratitude is not just a feel-good exercise: it actually rewires your brain toward optimism, making it easier to recognize opportunities and solutions instead of obstacles.
4. Build your support system
Resilience doesnt mean you have to go it alone. In my case, I leaned on close friends, family, and even group therapy. Opening up about my insecurities was uncomfortable at first, but it turned out to be freeingI realized I wasnt the only one wrestling with self-doubt.
Confidence tends to grow when youre around people who encourage you, point out your strengths, and help you see opportunities you might have overlooked. On the flip side, protecting yourself from constant negativity saves energy and keeps you focused on what matters.
5. Take consistent action
Confidence doesnt show up by waiting until you feel ready. It comes from doing. I started asking myself, Whats one thing I can do today that will move me forward tomorrow? Sometimes it was as simple as raising a new idea in a meeting, volunteering for a project, or reaching out to someone I admired for advice.
Each small step added up. The more I acted, the more capable I felt. Action turns vague goals into real progress, and every bit of practice builds resilience.
6. Reframe setbacks with better self-talk
Everyone has that inner critic. The trick is to rewrite what it says. Instead of Im not ready, try Im still learning and growing. Instead of I failed, try That gave me experience I can use next time.
The way we talk to ourselves has power. Positive self-talk interrupts the negative loops that can keep us stuck. Each time you swap a destructive thought for a constructive one, you strengthen your ability to bounce back. But if you dwell too long on the negative, it slowly chips away at your confidence.
7. Celebrate progress and renew your commitment
A lot of people forget to do this, but celebrating winseven small onesis key. Take time to notice the effort, the creativity, and the persistence that helped you get there.
When you do, your brain starts linking hard work with reward, which makes it easier to keep pushing forward. And when setbacks come (because they always do), looking back at your past wins reminds you of what youre capable of. Then, reset, refocus, and move forward with a stronger sense of purpose.
The ReBAR FrameworkReflect, Build, Act, Renew
ReBARreflect, build, act, renewcan help you tie this together. Reflection helps you build a positive mindset and commit to taking risks with new ideas, building helps you develop a supportive environment to navigate lifes challenges with more positivity and optimism, action moves you closer to your goals, and renewal ensures you keep growing. With this approach, youre firmly in the drivers seat of your own life. Confidence isnt about perfection; its about practice, perspective, and persistence.
Follow these steps, and youll not only quiet self-doubtbut also strengthen the resilience you need to take on bigger challenges.
There’s more bad news for Tesla rival Lucid Motors.
On Tuesday, shares of the luxury electric vehicle company Lucid Group (Nasdaq: LCID) fell a whopping 10% as the EV maker began trading following its 1-for-10 reverse stock split, which went into effect after Friday’s market close.
In case you missed it, here’s what to know.
What is a reverse stock split?
In short, a reverse stock split is when a corporation consolidates the existing number of stock shares so that there are fewer, higher-priced shares, according to Investopedia.
To be clear, this is the opposite of a stock split, where investors gain multiple shares, often at a lower price.
In an effort to avoid being delisted on the Nasdaq stock exchange, which, like the New York Stock Exchange, requires companies to meet a minimum trading price of $1, Lucid consolidated every 10 existing shares into one, cutting outstanding shares from about 3.07 billion to roughly 307.3 million. That means investors got one share for every 10 they owned, reducing authorized shares from 15 billion to 1.5 billion.
The Nasdaq gives companies 180 days to raise their share price once shares fall below the $1 threshold for 30 consecutive trading days. The exchange publishes a running list of all the current and upcoming reverse and regular stock splits.
In addition to meeting the Nasdaq’s listing requirements, a reverse split has the potential to make a company more attractive to institutional investors.
However, in Lucid’s case, it hasn’t seemed to help the company win back investors, as stock continued to fall on Tuesday. The stock is currently down more than 30% year to date.
Lucid’s most recent earnings
Lucid reported a Q2 2025 revenue of $259 million, missing expectations, with a net loss of $855 million for the quarter, compared with $790 million for the same period last year.
For fall fanatics nationwide, the return of Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Latte was an August highlight. But its safe to say that no one was happier than Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol.
In a message sent to employees on September 1, Niccol shared that the coffeehouse’s fall menu launch on August 26 led to its strongest Tuesday sales day evermomentum that continued through the following days and ultimately notched a record-breaking sales week for the company. In response to Fast Company‘s request, Starbucks declined to share more specific numbers for the week’s sales.
Every coffeehouse I visited this week was buzzing with energy, Niccol wrote in the memo. And Ive heard fantastic feedback from customers and partners that they see and feel the difference. Your passion is showing up in every cup and every interaction.
Since exiting his post as the head of Chipotle last August to helm a beleaguered Starbucks, Niccol has been on a mission to turn the coffee chain around. So far, Starbuckss sales numbers have not entirely demonstrated that the chain is reboundingbut the fall launch might just be the data point Niccol needs to signal that an upward trajectory is finally incoming.
Starbucks says it’s “gaining momentum”
Niccols Back to Starbucks plan is pulling a few different levers at the company. To start, Starbucks is updating its in-store experience to align more closely with its early roots, bringing back more seating and personalized touches like handwritten notes on cups.
Its also pivoting away from a pandemic-induced focus on mobile ordering in an attempt to reframe the coffee shop as a desirable third space. And, recently, the company has begun introducing new menu innovations geared toward younger customers, like a protein cold foam and a TikTok-inspired secret menu.
Predictably, none of these moves has been a one-off fix to Starbuckss broader problems. On July 29, the company reported its sixth consecutive quarter of same-store sales declines (a metric that measures the revenue change of established locations over time). Revenue, however, was up 4%, to $9.6 billion. At the time, Niccol told investors in a video message: While our financial results dont yet reflect all the progress weve made, the signs are clearwere gaining momentum.
He added in a press release that, based on his experience in turnarounds, the company is ahead of schedule. In 2026, well unleash a wave of innovation that fuels growth, elevates customer service, and ensures everyone experiences the very best of Starbucks, Niccol wrote.
Right now, its too soon to tell how the fall menus early success will impact the companys fourth-quarter financials. But, given the undeniable fandom thats emerged around the PSL, it wouldnt exactly come as a surprise if the fall season helps nudge Niccols turnaround plan into high gear.
