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Stressed Out? Try Combating Stress Using Resiliency

The NAPA Connect conference kicked off on Sunday, June 25th with a focus on resiliency.

We all know the difference between a smooth-running life and the frantic one that revolves around caffeine, sugar, fat, and ending the day in front of the TV to unwind. We also know the latter is not sustainable if we want to be our best selves (or fit in our pants long-term).

Jenny Evans, founder and CEO of PowerHouse Performance with degrees in kinesiology with an emphasis in psychology, posed this question to the women advisors at NAPA Connect: Do you think your job is ever going to ask less of you? How about your loved ones?

If that hit you square in the face, as it did the audience, you might find her approach to resiliency valuable.

Rather than teaching how to fit more into your day and better manage your to-do list, Evans focuses on the physiological aspect to better equip your mind and your body to bounce back from the stress we endure every day.

Here are a few key takeaways from her presentation:


  1. Your “caveman” brain and your logical brain are at odds with one another. The fight-or-flight stress response allows the caveman brain to take control of the wheel and drive. This results in decision-making focused on the short-term (Oooooo, doooonut!) and kicks off a cascade of body chemistry changes that result in lousy sleep, extra fat around the middle, and less than ideal biological functioning.

  2. You can restore the logical brain as the driver in your life faster if you strategically use short bursts of movement to help restore the logical brain. Got a minute? Run up the stairs. Evans offers a whole program of these microburst exercises to reset the brain and body chemistry.

  3. Just as we put defaults in place in retirement plans to set participants up for success, you can design your environment with healthy defaults. Eat off smaller plates to control portions, stock the snack pantry full of low-glycemic snacks, park in the furthest spot in the lot, take the stairs. Small defaults like these built into your environment can keep your caveman brain at bay.


Who knows better than advisors that will power is finite and inertia is hard to overcome!

You can read up in detail about Jenny Evans’ philosophy and all her suggestions for building healthy defaults in your life in her book, The Resiliency rEvolution, or find her online at www.ph-performance.com.

Courtenay V. Shipley, CRPS, AIF, CPFA, is President and Chief Planologist, Retirement Planology.

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