April 6, 2025

MM#401--The Power of Tools Over Attitudes

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We've all heard the advice: "Just change your attitude!" But what if that's not enough? In this eye-opening exploration of Phil Stutz and Barry Michels' groundbreaking book "The Tools," we discover why attitude adjustments often fail where specific behavioral tools succeed.

The frustration cycle is familiar—we commit to change, but our behaviors remain stubbornly the same. As Stutz and Michels powerfully state, "A new attitude means nothing unless followed by a change in behavior." This episode unpacks their revolutionary approach to personal transformation through five distinct psychological tools designed to combat specific challenges: the Reversal of Desire for confronting pain and avoidance, Active Love for releasing anger, Inner Authority for building confidence, Grateful Flow for shifting to gratitude, and Jeopardy for maintaining motivation through consequences.

What makes this wisdom particularly fascinating is how these modern psychological techniques quietly echo traditional Judeo-Christian virtues—a connection we explore while examining the practical applications of each tool. Whether you're struggling with procrastination, fear, anger, or lack of confidence, these tools offer concrete procedures to implement at the exact moment you need intervention. This isn't about passive enlightenment; it's about active engagement with your challenges. As we emphasize at the Mojo Academy, the goal isn't just to collect wisdom but to move from theory to action, creating real and lasting changes in our lives. Ready to build your psychological toolkit and transform those good intentions into meaningful behavior change?

Key Points from the Episode:

• Attitudes alone cannot control behavior—specific procedures are required for specific problems
• The Tools presents five practical psychological techniques developed by psychotherapists
• Reversal of Desire helps confront pain and avoidance to take action
• Active Love releases anger through cultivating forgiveness
• Inner Authority builds self-confidence by connecting with inner strength
• Grateful Flow shifts from negativity to gratitude
• Jeopardy encourages sustained effort by visualizing consequences of inaction
• These tools parallel traditional Judeo-Christian virtues despite secular presentation
• Consistent application of these tools transforms theory into action

Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademy.com, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

Other resources:

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00:00 - Welcome & Opening Quote

01:35 - Introducing The Tools Book

02:30 - Five Psychological Tools Explained

03:28 - Religious Foundations & Insights

05:28 - Theory to Action Takeaways

06:22 - Episode Closing

WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, david Kaiser, flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

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Hello, I am David, and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.

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As always, let's open this episode up with a pull quote.

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A change in attitude won't stop you from screaming, because attitudes can't control behavior.

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They're not strong enough To control behavior.

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You need a specific procedure to use at a specific time to combat a specific problem.

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That's what a tool is.

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The point is that a tool, unlike an attitude adjustment, requires you to do something.

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Not only does it take work, it's work you have to do over and over again every time you get frustrated.

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A new attitude means nothing unless followed by a change in behavior.

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The surest way to change behavior is with a tool, and that comes to us from Phil Stutz and Barry Michaels from the book the Tools.

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The Tools was written in 2012, and it introduces us to a set of practical and psychological techniques that are designed to help us overcome personal challenges, to break negative patterns and to unlock their own potentials.

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Now the authors both are psychotherapists.

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They draw from their clinical experience to present in the book five specific tools that aim to address common emotional struggles such as fear, anxiety, procrastination and lack of confidence.

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It's quite fascinating actually, I'm not all the way through distinct exercises, each geared towards a specific purpose.

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Are the tools?

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First tool is the reversal of desire it helps to confront and move us through pain and avoidance to ultimately take action.

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Second tool is active love, a technique to release anger and resentment by cultivating quote-unquote love and forgiveness.

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Third tool is inner authority that builds our self-confidence by connecting with an inner sense of strength.

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The fourth tool is the grateful flow shifts from negativity to gratitude, thereby combating worry and despair.

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And the fifth tool is jeopardy it encourages sustained effort by visualizing the consequences of not taking action or inaction, of not taking action or inaction.

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Now, what I love about all these tools is that, from everything I can tell, they are the building blocks of a personal Judeo-Christian ethic or virtue, something that all of Western civilization seems to have forgotten.

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Now you will have to get over the fact that the authors refer to each one of these tools as referencing a higher force, as if we're in the middle of Star Wars or something.

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And well, just welcome to our post-modern, post-objective truth, post-christian world, as we sit here today at the quarter pole of the 21st century.

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But if you can get past that, let me share two nuggets with you where I think these tools can in fact help us.

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For example, the emphasis on overcoming fear and fostering love reflects Jesus Christ in his sermon on the mount and his call for a radical ethic.

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Now, while the tools focus on inner strength and accountability, that echoes Christianity and, more specifically, catholicism's universal call to personal holiness.

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So if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, you can pull away the weeds from these pretty good nuggets of wisdom, the weeds from these pretty good nuggets of wisdom.

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Now, I say all this because it's quite remarkable, based on all my research, that neither author has openly declared their faith in one way or another.

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So we'll take a look at these tools as a book for the win, the tools book for the win, the tools book for the win, and again, that's the tools by Barry Michaels and Phil Stutz.

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So in today's Mojo Minute super quick Mojo Minute that is we know we can't be librarians of the great nuggets of wisdom that we read and learn about here.

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We need to take action, and the authors, phil Stutz and Barry Michaels, they've provided us with those tools.

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There's five pretty good tools at that to help us with taking action in our lives.

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Theory to action that's our motto here at the Mojo Academy, moving from reading these good and great nuggets of wisdom to putting them into action in our own lives.

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And here's to that Moving from theory to action in our lives, and to keep fighting the good fight and to keep fighting the good fight.

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Thank you for joining us.

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We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

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Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

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Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.

MM#401--The Power of Tools Over Attitudes

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