Do you often feel overwhelmed by too much information? Do you find it hard to sleep after watching TV or browsing through social media, and yet often catch yourself doing this?
In this episode of Highly Sensitive and Successful podcast coach Anastasia shares insights from her new book, Homo Distractus: Fight for your choices and identity in the digital age and discusses why it's very important for highly sensitive people to limit and control their information and tech consumption, and how they can do that without losing touch with their social circle.
And how do you take care of your brain online? Post your tips in the comments!

“I started setting boundaries the moment I accepted my sensitivity, decided to trust it and stopped thinking that there is something wrong with me”, says Katerina Barampouti, the hero of the new episode of “Highly Sensitive and Successful”. Katerina is an artist, actress, musician, trainer and a highly sensitive person. Born in Greece, she lived in many countries and currently resides in London.

In the episode, we talk about how in the world of arts people are trained to be more sensitive, more open to be able to cooperate and interact with fellow actors and musicians without looking at them, how a highly sensitive person can learn to set up psychological and energetic boundaries, and present his or her own sensitivity to other people in the way that is clear to them. We also talk about why mindfulness is the best tool an HSP can learn.

“Highly Sensitive and Successful” is a series of interviews with highly sensitive people, who managed to build their lives on their own terms. They come from different backgrounds and do very different things – work in the arts, business, social services, science etc. My goal is to understand, how they use their sensitivity to their advantage and inspire those sensitive people who might still be struggling to accept their sensitivity.

How do you set up the boundaries? How do you talk about your sensitivity? Post your reply in comments!
Also, watch the first episode of Highly Sensitive and Successful on how we disempower ourselves!

​Way too many highly sensitive people I’ve met struggle to accept their sensitivity and blame it for problems in their careers and relationships. The world around them is too overwhelming, they say, and the corporate world is just too harsh for an HSP, let alone running your own business. This victim mentality certainly doesn’t help improve the situation, as doesn’t denying your sensitivity and trying to be like everyone else.

So having seen so many disempowered people I became curious – are there any highly sensitive people out there who actually made it in their career or business (and maybe not even in spite of, but thanks to their sensitivity)? What is it like to be them? It turns out, there were quite a few among people I knew. This is how “Highly Sensitive and Successful” project was born. It was created with an idea to empower those sensitive people, who feel that sensitivity is an obstacle to their life, financial freedom and ability to make changes in the world.

I talk to HSPs from different backgrounds – British, French, Russian, Kazakh, Greek, who work in different fields – in the corporate world, non-profits, arts, or run their own business. They are lawyers, bankers, coaches, writers, designers, actors, marketers, volunteers, scientists, economists, mums and dads. I ask them the same questions – what is their experience of being a highly sensitive person? How do they turn sensitivity to their advantage?

I define “success” not in terms of money or fame. In fact, most highly sensitive people I talk to belong to middle class. Success for me is that they built their lives and finances on their own terms, honouring and using their sensitivity. I hope these conversations will be an inspiration for those of you who are still looking for your ways.

I decided to make the first interview from "Highly Sensitive and Successful" series with a sensitive man. A rare species, according to some social standards (although sensitivity is even distributed between men and women). What’s even rarer, he is perfectly fine with his sensitivity, while clearly exhibiting some traits of an “alpha-male” behaviour. We talk about sensitivity and masculinity, putting labels on yourself and others, and disempowering stories we tell ourselves that we can turn into empowering ones.

Meet Adam Woodhall, a sustainability consultant and public speaker, who is also well known in London alternative dancing scene. 

How do you disempower yourself? And what could you do to stop doing that and start self-empowerment? Post comments under this video!

The short answer is, no.

I often get clients who think that bragging is below their standards, and their great professionalism should speak for itself. They come to me after they didn’t get a promotion or realize they are severely underpaid, often resentful and perplexed about why others don’t appreciate their work. This happens to both genders, but women in particular and all highly sensitive people are prone to this problem.

It’s no fault of theirs, of course, as we’re told early on that we should do a good job, and people will notice. Unfortunately, this is only part of the truth. We are taught how to be professional, but not how to build relationships, which defines at least 50% of your career or business success. In fact, the lack of self-promotion is called one of the top career blockers. 

People around you live in their own bubbles, have their own agendas, and are overwhelmed most of the time (just think how many emails one gets per day!) Of course, they will only notice what’s on the surface – and it’s your, and not their job to build the bridge! When you say that your work should speak for itself, what you are essentially saying is “I don’t want to deal with relationships”. Funny enough, this is the opposite of what you want for yourself – arrogance instead of respect.

Nobody likes a bragger. What people like to know though is what’s in there for them. The massive difference between bragging and explaining people how what you do helps them/the company is that the first one creates resentment, and the second one builds relationships. 

This week, I invite you to think about how your work is helping people around you, and find an opportunity to talk about it in their own language. I’m looking forward to hearing how this one goes (and if you want to learn about more authentic self-promotion strategies, I'll be happy to chat about individual coaching)!

I have just finished running a free coaching training called The Money Marathon, where participants for one week were given a virtual sum of money to spend every day. This helped them explore, what was in the way of getting as much money as they wanted. I'm sharing below some observations and tips that will hopefully be helpful to everyone who wants more financial abundance in the lives. These tips will be especially useful for you if you don't care much about money, and think there are more important things in life.

1. Money is NEVER a problem
Spending petty cash daily is easy, and this gives us an excuse that "we have no money to follow our dreams". However, when The Money Marathon participants were suggested to spend large sums (from 50,000 pounds and above) and the money suddenly stopped being a problem, most of them still felt very uncomfortable and ended up spending on things they didn't think they need or refused to spend it at all! What often blocks us from abundance is not money, but unwillingness to take the responsibility for our own decisions, to make choices, or the fear of making a mistake.
What to do about it: to identify your blockage around, train your imagination. Imagine you needed to spend a certain sum daily (without being able to save it for the next day), and multiply it by 2 every day. When do you get blocked?

2. Silence these voices
If you lack money, you most likely subconsciously associate it with problems. For instance, if you believe that "earning money means sacrificing my health", of course you would avoid any opportunity to earn a bit of cash, or only find those that actually make their life harder, making this belief a self-fulfilling prophecy. As absurd as it may sound, such beliefs often come from our family and often act on a subconscious level and are often difficult to identify.

What to do about it: make them conscious! Do an audit of your beliefs about money and check where these beliefs come from (most likely you inherited it from your close family members). Then decide if you still want to use it in your life, and if not, reformulate it into something better.
For example, if your belief is "earning money costs health", and this has got you to the place where you aren't earning anything and as a result you are constantly stressed and got sick because of it, this isn't a very good belief, is it? So you can consciously re-formulate it into something like "Earning money allows me to take of my health".

3. Use your body wisdom
Your body is the first to know whether you have any blocks around money. It will know that faster than your brain (no wonder, as it has millions of nerve cells perceiving information!). You will feel discomfort or a liberating sensation when thinking about spending it in a particular way.

How to use it: If you need to make an important purchase (i.e. a new car, or a new house), but have no money for it, use your body to experience what it could be like to own this thing. Go to a test-drive, try on some really luxurious items in the shop or arrange a few viewings of flats (even though you don't currently have any cash in hand). Money may not fall out of nowhere, but when you use your body to experience what it's like to "own" the thing, you get more motivated to look for ways to earn/gain money. Many people who used this trick found ways to get credit/earn extra within weeks of engaging their body into the process.

4. Time IS money
Often people who struggle with earning or saving money also struggle with time management. Think about how you spend money and compare with how you spend time. What do you spend it? How do you talk to yourself when you procrastinate? Do you value your time, or are you happy to give it to anyone who asks for it at any point? Do you make "time investment" into some activities that are important to you? What are some patterns between spending money and time that you can identify?

I'd love to read how these tips make a difference - post them in the comments!

You can read the whole marathon tasks and do them here - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7.

It’s the last day of the marathon, and a somewhat unusual one. No spending today. Instead, I will tell you a story about Richard Branson.

​When he was still in the early stages of building his business empire, Branson and his girlfriend went to take a break on British Virgin Isles. Somebody told him that when people say they wanted to buy an island, they got to stay in a local villa for free, and so Branson played as if he was going to buy islands. He and his girlfriend toured islands daily, asking whether the agency had any other islands on sale (of course Branson wasn’t going to buy anything as it was far beyond his budget, it was just a way to extend his free stay).
At some point, there was only one island left to watch, called Necker. And here something unexpected happened: Branson liked it so much that he wanted to buy it, and asked how much it was. $6M, he was told. Branson made a counteroffer: $150,000 (he didn't have even this money at hand, but this seemed reasonable to collect). His proposal was not met with a great understanding, and the agent kicked Branson out of the villa straight after.
However, the Necker island got into Branson's head. So when back to London, he found the way to get in touch directly with the owner and repeated his proposal, which was rejected again. However, a few months later, the owner got back to him and said he was ready to sell the island for $180,000 as he was in a desperate need of cash.

The moral of today's story is, never assume you can’t afford something until you tried.

So today we will challenge ourselves a bit to play “Richard Branson” and try your "Necker island" on yourself. Pick one place where they sell something that’s potentially too expensive for you (good cars, luxury underwear, real estate agency). Go there today and try it on yourself. Then describe the experience in the comments. Notice, I am not asking you to commit to buying anything, just to experience what it's like to actually live this life for an hour?
If you feel scared and resistant to do this task, explore this resistance. What exactly are you afraid of? Identify where the resistance is in your body and talk to it, as we've previously done.

Tomorrow - a final post about the whole marathon with some conclusions and recommendations.
​Previous challenges here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5 and Day 6.

Well done everyone who passed the previous days! Only two days of the Marathon left, and here's your next task! Note: do not do this challenge unless you've done the previous ones, otherwise you will find it difficult.

1.    Today you’ve got £200,000 (or $290,000) to spend in any way you want to (spend all or partially, save etc).

• What’s changing?
• How are you feeling right now?
• What will you spend it on?
• Breath in and listen to yourself – any blocks in the body?

2.    Imagine I asked you to do something that feels very uncomfortable: i.e. go into an expensive restaurant, in a super luxurious shop, test-drive a car you would never ever be able to afford, ask for a business loan etc. It needs to be something that makes you scared and around what you have a belief “I will never be able to afford this to myself”.

• What’s the feeling arising when I ask you to think about it?
• What are you scared of?
• How would you prepare yourself to doing this in stages?

Traditionally, post your answers in the comments!
​Previous challenges here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5.

We've done great work over the last few days. Today is the time to start doing a bit of reflection. I also encourage you to read other people's comments as we often find that we have some limitations while reading what others say.

1.    Look at your answers over the last 4 days. What are you noticing about your beliefs around money? Is there some part of yourself that seems to be afraid of money?
How does it do it (either by preventing you from earning or making you spend uncontrollably)? 
Imagine what this part may look like and talk to it. Ask it what it’s wanting for you and from you? Why is it trying to make you get rid of money/not earn any?

2.    Now (and only after you’ve talked to this part) get to your new spending: £10,000 (or $14,500) to spend today plus £50,000 to spend in any way to you want, not necessarily today.
​
What’s the feeling arising? Is this scary?
Do you feel like you’d like to stop following the marathon? Notice whatever is appearing, and identify where this resistance "sits" in your body.

Post your answers as comments here if you want feedback! 
If you are just joining, here are Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 of the marathon.

You've been doing great on spending money so far. It's getting more complicated now. Two tasks today:

1.    You get to spend £5,000 (or $7,250) today (and only today, all money will disappear at midnight unless spent). What will you spend it on (again, as before, be as specific as you can)?

​2.    Now second part – in addition to this part, you suddenly receive £25,000, which you can spend in any way you want (i.e. save, invest etc – it won’t disappear).
a) What do you do with this money?
b) What happens with your body and feelings when you read this task and when you are thinking how you'll spend it?

If you just joined the Money Marathon, here're Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 tasks.

Awesome work, everyone! It's day three of our marathon! If you just joined the marathon, Day 1 and Day 2 are here. 
Today’s 2-part task:

1. Spending day again. It’s £5,000 to spend today (or $7,250). Oh, yes.
Condition: all this money MUST be spent today. As you are spending, answer these four questions:
a)    What’s the feeling arising when you hear that you need to spend this money today? Lightness, happiness or discomfort? Where do you feel this sensation? What is it like?

b)    Will you discuss with anyone the spending or tell anyone about the money?

c)    What will you spend it on (please, be very specific as in the Day 2 post – actually plan your spending, study the prices, imagine/describe the experiences or things you’ll buy. I.e. instead of saying “I will buy a new bag” say “I will get a dark grey Chanel bag for £2,700). I want you to experience the spending process with as many sense as you can, ok?

d)    What’s happening with your body when you imagine yourself spending this money?

2. Remember, what’s the favourite phrase/tradition in the family regarding money? For example, “we have no money for it”. Or “earning money is difficult, don’t waste it”, or maybe some story related to money comes up for you (how somebody lost/found it etc).

Share your answers in comments!

Well done everyone who answered yesterday's questions! Today we continue to examine the patterns of your perception and behaviour in regards to money. 

Today, you get £3,000 (or $4,400) to spend under one condition: you MUST spend it before the end of the day. You cannot put it in the bank/save etc. - everything must be spent before Wednesday!

1. What will you spend it on? 
When writing an answer to this question, please be as specific as possible. I.e. do not generally write "I'll get a private tuition with a piano teacher, go to the restaurant, book a massage and buy a dress", but specify, what you will eat (study the menu!), what kind of dress it will be, where the massage will happen etc, and what it should cost.

For instance:
- Private class with a piano teacher in The Royal Opera House - 200 pounds
- Buy a beautiful long purple dress made of silk in Harvey Nichols - 850 pounds
- Buy a train ticket from London to Paris for 250 pounds to go out to Jules Verne restaurant, ordering the experience 6 course menu for 230 euro.

Got it? Really do your research, study the website or go out and check the place where you'd love to go!

2. What is the sensation in the body when you are working on this task?
Do you feel excitement, warmth, or are you short of breath, frozen etc? Are all parts of your body feeling the same? Where exactly do you have sensations you can identify?

Post your answers below and check this space later as I might ask you extra questions!

Welcome to The Money Marathon! For 7 consecutive days, you will get one exercise per day that will help you understand how you relate to money, identify any blockages you have around getting or saving it, and learn to claim your self-worth. Post your answers to your daily tasks in the comments to this post or on our Facebook page

Here’s the task for day one. Do them one buy one as you read questions, don’t jump to question 3 until you’ve done the first two!

1. Imagine that you have found £1,500 (around $2,200). Assume it’s you who forgot it somewhere/or you can’t find the owner/or you brought it to the police and they said you can take it for yourself/or whatever makes you feel comfortable to actually have it now.What will you do with this money? What will you spend it on? What will you NOT spend it on? Will you tell your family you found this amount?
 
2. Now imagine your closest ones have found the same amount (your mom, dad, grandparents or whoever has been your caregiver and shaped you in your childhood). How will they spend this money? What will they NOT spend it on? (If you can’t ask them, assume what they would’ve done). 

​3. Now look at your answers. What are some patterns in your perception around money do you notice? What do these patterns have to do with your family history? Write your answers in the comments! 

UPD I changed the comments settings to private as a few people didn't feel comfortable to share their money stories on Facebook. However, this has removed all your previous comments! Sorry about it and please post them again in this new format if you want to. ​

Do you dream big, but somehow end up leading the same unfulfilling/mildly fulfilling lifestyle for years?Highly Sensitive People are especially prone to overthinking and postponing their lives until they're ready. Today’s Tuesday Tip is about how to break through whatever you’ve been putting off in your life.

The key thing that you need to understand is that the breakthrough process is not linear. Sometimes if you are stuck in your career or finance, you need to work on entirely different matter. For instance, Tony Robbins makes his clients do the fire walk. I am not that radical, but have a similar story to share with you. Click below to learn it!

Did you like this video? Share it with your friends and leave the comments below!

Do you notice how much unnecessary noise you're exposed to on a daily basis?

I was brought up in one of the world’s craziest cities, Moscow, and live in London, another quite intense megalopolis. I enjoy things happening around me, but also need my moments of silence to restore myself, think deeply and be creative. But nowadays, finding silence has become an incredible luxury only available to the most well-off individuals, unless you choose to move out of the city and not do any corporate job.

Have you ever wondered why the most prestigious areas in the city are usually the quietest? Why executive business lounges in the airports have no bright screens/ads/loud music/shouting announcement (very different from normal waiting areas)? Why in the top fashion boutiques and high-end restaurants they play a very low-volume pleasing music, if any? Why is silence valued so high?

Having no excessive stimulation allows our brain to process information we’ve got already, think deeper, and as a result, be creative. Creativity and conscious decision-making requires space in your head. You can’t be creative if you are constantly distracted, because our brains aren’t wired to multitask. You also need silence to better understand yourself, otherwise you stop making conscious choices. Yet, unless you have lots of money, you are condemned to daily distractions, which are presented as something completely normal, and those who say it’s not, get publicly (or silently) shamed.

Forced to listen
​
I spent my worst years working in the open space offices – with hundreds of people talking, walking around, listening to music etc., not to mention multiple computer screens that kept causing me severe headaches. How can you possibly expect someone working in such atmosphere to be able to concentrate and come up with amazing work. Our natural rhythms vary between solitude and collaboration, but most work environments don't support that. It has been proven by multiple research that pure open space ruins productivity, and yet, if you speak up and say you need silence, you’ll be seen as “difficult” or unsociable. 

I left the corporate world mainly because I was made to work in an environment that didn’t work for me, and I was quite a highly-paid specialist. Now I know now that there was nothing wrong with me and I was not "picky" or "difficult" - I just belong to 20% of humans who are highly sensitive – perceiving the world much stronger, brighter and noisier than the rest, and there’s nothing wrong with me (high sensitivity is not a medical condition, but a different gene, like blue or brown eyes). But why is there public shaming around sticking to your natural rhythms?

Another personal “favourite” of mine are fitness classes, where instructors switch on the music so loud, as if we were in a rock concert. I get it that they want to encourage participants, but why put that on a level that makes ears hurt? And most importantly, why is it that people in these classes are embarrassed to ask to put the volume down (it turns out, many feel uncomfortable with it, but don’t say anything unless I ask)? Gyms lost me as a client, because when I go there, I don’t have a choice not only of a music, but also of the volume I need to listen it to.

A right for everyone

Today we are constantly challenged to perform our best, while living in the environment that absolutely doesn't support, or rather, undermines that peak performance. Today I have the luxury to manage my own noise and stimulation level, because I am self-employed, but many people don’t. In fact, there are whole countries where this stimulation is excessive – China being one of them.

Silence and the ability to choose the level of stimulation a person wants/can handle should be the natural right of everyone, and not just the privilege of rich people. All it takes is a recognition that we might be different, and creating an environment that supports that shouldn't be that difficult. Technology is here to support, too– silent disco is a great example of what’s possible, when this recognition happens. Or perhaps fitness instructors could use a decibel measuring app to test the volume.

What are your mornings like? Are you swamped with tonnes of unread emails, trying to follow-up on multiple requests, just to find out that by lunchtime they have only multiplied? Busy, but not doing much?
Morning is the only time when your nervous system is still not overloaded and you aren’t yet influenced by other people’s problems or emotions. So take advantage of it! Watch my Tuesday Tip to find out how!

Also, to help you design your perfect morning, I've create this magic checklist - print it out and use every morning before you go to work! It's magic because it allows you to seamlessly achieve what you want by focusing your attention on the right things. To make sure it works, read first these 10 productivity tips - they work especially well for Highly Sensitive People (you can know if you are one of them by taking this quick test).

Did you like this tip? Share it with your friends! I'd also love to learn how it worked for you - leave your comments below!

Want to learn fast about similar video tips?
Sign up for my newsletters!