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Why your inner voice is causing your reading slump – and how to fix it

How to Manage Your Emotions so They Don’t Manage You

Shift

For anyone who has wondered whether they’ll ever be in charge of their emotions, this book has the answer: yes.

This book does much more than make sense of emotions – it breaks new ground on how to manage them.

Packed with gems of wisdom and endless actionable advice on emotional regulation, Shift is essential reading for everyone. I couldn’t put it down.

In Shift, Dr Ethan Kross presents a revolutionary guide to mastering your emotional life. With groundbreaking research, Dr Kross dismantles persistent myths — such as the notion that avoiding our feelings is inherently harmful, or being present is always best — and offers a fresh perspective on harnessing our emotions as a source of strength. Whether you're navigating daily frustrations or significant upheavals, Shift offers actionable strategies to ensure your emotions amplify your capabilities, rather than hinder them.

Charles Duhigg, author of Supercommunicators and The Power of Habit

A rare double threat. His academic research is world-class ... and don't we all need help regulating our emotions?

Ethan Kross is one of the world's leading experts on emotion regulation. An award-­winning professor in the University of Michigan’s top-ranked Department of Psychology and its Ross School of Business, he is the director of the Emotion &amp; Self Control Laboratory. Ethan has participated in policy discussion at the White House, spoken at TED and SXSW, and consulted with some of the world’s top executives and organisations.

'For anyone who has wondered whether they'll ever be in charge of their emotions, this book has the answer: yes' - Angela Duckworth, author of Grit 
 
'This book does much more than make sense of emotions – it breaks new ground on how to manage them' - Adam Grant, author of Think Again 
 
Whether it’s anxiety about the dentist, boiling rage when we’re stuck in traffic or devastation after a painful break-up, our lives are filled with situations that send us spiralling. But as difficult as our emotions can be, they are also a superpower. When they’re activated in the right ways and at the right time, they function like an immune system, alerting us to our surroundings, telling us how to react to a situation and helping us make the right choices. 
 
But how do we make our emotions work for us rather than against us? Acclaimed psychologist Dr Ethan Kross has devoted his scientific career to answering this question. In Shift, he dispels common myths – for instance, that avoidance is toxic or that we should always strive to live in the moment – and provides a new framework for shifting our emotions so they don’t take over our lives. 
 
Shift weaves groundbreaking research with riveting stories of people struggling and succeeding to manage their emotions – from a mother whose fear prompted her to make a spur-of-the-moment decision that would save her daughter’s life mid-flight to a nuclear code-carrying Navy SEAL who learned how to embrace both joy and pain during a hellish training activity. Dr Kross shows us that we already have access to a wide array of tools and demonstrates how to harness them to be healthier and more successful. 
 
Filled with actionable advice, cutting-edge research and inspiring stories, Shift puts the power back into our hands, so we can control our emotions without them controlling us – and help others do the same. 
 
'Packed with gems of wisdom and endless actionable advice on emotional regulation, Shift is essential reading for everyone. I couldn’t put it down’ – Chris Evans 
 
'A revolutionary guide to mastering your emotional life' – Charles Duhigg, author of Supercommunicators

How to Stop Overthinking and Calm the Voice in Your Head

Chatter: The Workbook

Rumination. Worry. Self-critique. We’ve all gotten stuck in loops of negative self-talk, or as acclaimed psychologist Dr Ethan Kross calls it, chatter. Whether it manifests as anxiety, imposter syndrome or other detriments to our mental health, chatter has the power to derail both our professional and personal lives. However, it is possible to change how our inner voice talks to us, making it work for us rather than against us. 
 
In his internationally bestselling book, Chatter, Dr Kross describes how to utilise the hidden power of our inner voice. This workbook delves deeper, featuring writing prompts, checklists, visual guides, thought exercises and more, teaching you how to harness your chatter. You'll discover: 
<ul><li>Internally focused tools: Activities to help you normalize, reframe, and redirect your thoughts.</li><li>People tools: Techniques for seeking support and advice from other people.</li><li>Environmental tools: Ideas for creating order in your environment and benefitting from awe-inspiring experiences.</li></ul>Perfect for anyone who wants to break free from endless cycles of negative self-talk, this workbook will help you harness your inner voice and transcend the worst effects of chatter.

Ethan Kross

Completely fascinating... it's already changed my life

Are there right and wrong ways to communicate with yourself, and if so, are there techniques that might usefully be employed by those with inner voices that are just a little too loud?...Kross has found answers to some, if not all, of these questions...[Chatter] could hardly be published at a more opportune moment.

Fresh and riveting, Chatter is a masterpiece-a landmark book that will change the way you think about human nature. Ethan Kross is one part sage, one part mensch, and one part world-class psychological scientist. When I need advice, it's Ethan I call. Now, through Chatter, everyone has a chance to learn about their inner voice from among the wisest people I know. Required reading for all.

Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit

So accessible and informative - a fantastic addition to our understanding of our mind, and how it emphatically changes our day for good or bad.

Julia Samuel, psychotherapist and bestselling author of Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass

Ethan Kross isn't just a world-renowned scientist, he's an expert storyteller too. In Chatter, he shows why our inner voice is indispensable, and reveals how we can master it. Urgent, lucid, and compelling, Chatter is the groundbreaking and transformative book the world needs now.

Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Quiet and Quiet Power

I've demonstrated throughout my career how negative thoughts can spiral and undermine people's success. In Chatter, Ethan Kross weaves cutting-edge science with riveting stories to reveal the tools people can use to manage these experiences. Chatter is a truly compelling and valuable book.

Chatter isn't just thought provoking - it's thought transforming.

This book is going to fundamentally change some of the most important conversations in your life - the ones you have with yourself. Along with being a pioneering psychologist and neuroscientist, Ethan Kross is an unusually gifted writer and storyteller. He shows that instead of trying to silence your monkey mind, you can learn to educate it, motivate it, and even reason with it.

Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B

I talk to myself. And so do you. Yet this remarkable capacity for introspection can sometimes lead us astray. Ethan Kross has written the definitive work on how to redirect our inner voices away from rumination and self-criticism and toward reflection and self-improvement. Chatter is a profound and practical book-one that will leave you with both a fresh understanding of yourself and new strategies to live a fuller life.

Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Drive, To Sell is Human, and When

Stimulating . . . Kross, the director of the University of Michigan's Emotion &amp; Self Control Laboratory, debuts with an eye-opening look at managing 'the silent conversations people have with themselves'.

[A] fascinating narrative, fluidly written and packed with insight. . . . [Kross] shows us how we might have better chats with ourselves, ones that make us happier, healthier, and more productive. . . . A book that will truly change minds.

Ethan is a deep and original thinker and a thorough, always thought-provoking researcher. He's one of the psychologists whose work I always read whenever I see his name.

Maria Konnikova, bestselling author of The Biggest Bluff

A practical, useful guide to quieting one's inner noise.

Ethan Kross illuminates and solves the crucial issue of mastering self-talk in this modern classic. Compulsively readable and refreshingly original, Chatter will help you win the argument with yourself.

Dave Evans, bestselling author of Designing Your Life

*Best new wellness books of January 2021

The Voice in Our Head and How to Harness It

Turn your inner voice from critic to coach 
 
As humans, we all have a special ability that is unique to our species: an inner voice. It helps us focus, achieve our goals and reflect on life’s most joyful moments. But it can also be our biggest enemy, chewing over painful emotions and replaying embarrassments, hijacking our thoughts to run amok with ‘chatter’. How does this source of wisdom turn into our biggest critic? And how can we take back control? 
 
These are the questions one of the world’s leading experts on the conscious mind set out to answer twenty years ago, when he started on an audacious mission — to study the conversations we have with ourselves. In this hugely anticipated book, that expert, the award-winning neuroscientist and psychologist Ethan Kross, reveals the sheer power of the inner voice, and shows us that we all possess a set of tools for harnessing it. Hidden in plain sight, they are in the words we use and the stories we tell ourselves, in the conversations we have with our loved ones and in the habits we undertake when tackling our goals. They are even sometimes in our bizarre rituals and lucky charms. 
 
Fascinating, entertaining and full of original insights and tips, Chatter will change the conversations you have with yourself forever, and help you lead a happier, more productive life.

Ethan Kross

Praise for Chatter

Completely fascinating... it's already changed my life

Are there right and wrong ways to communicate with yourself, and if so, are there techniques that might usefully be employed by those with inner voices that are just a little too loud?...Kross has found answers to s ...

Fresh and riveting, Chatter is a masterpiece-a landmark book that will change the way you think about human nature. Ethan Kross is one part sage, one part mensch, and one part world-class psychological scient ...

Completely fascinating... it's already changed my life

Are there right and wrong ways to communicate with yourself, and if so, are there techniques that might usefully be employed by those with inner voices that are just a little too loud?...Kross has found answers to s ...

Fresh and riveting, Chatter is a masterpiece-a landmark book that will change the way you think about human nature. Ethan Kross is one part sage, one part mensch, and one part world-class psychological scient ...

Completely fascinating... it's already changed my life

Are there right and wrong ways to communicate with yourself, and if so, are there techniques that might usefully be employed by those with inner voices that are just a little too loud?...Kross has found answers to s ...

Fresh and riveting, Chatter is a masterpiece-a landmark book that will change the way you think about human nature. Ethan Kross is one part sage, one part mensch, and one part world-class psychological scient ...

Books by Ethan Kross

Articles featuring Ethan Kross

Why your inner voice is causing your reading slump – and how to fix it

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