Why do we keep falling back into habits we know aren’t working for us?

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman talks with engineer, entrepreneur and manifestation coach Aparna Dubey about the patterns that keep us stuck, from overworking and constant busyness to distraction, multitasking and the belief that productivity equals worth.

Aparna explains her approach to manifestation as more than simply wishing for an outcome. She discusses attention, repeated thoughts and behaviours, nervous-system familiarity and the role she believes they play in determining what we notice and how we act. She also shares practical techniques she uses with clients, including activity and energy audits, visualization, journaling, somatic work and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) tapping.

In this episode:

• Why familiar patterns can be so difficult to change
• How busyness and overwork can become part of our identity
• Why focus can feel uncomfortable when we’re accustomed to constant stimulation
• Aparna’s four-part activity and energy audit for examining where your time actually goes
• Practical foundations for focus, including sleep, movement, nutrition and hydration
• Visualization, mindset and behaviour change
• What somatic practices and EFT tapping are and how Aparna uses them
• The difference between changing your own patterns and recognizing when the environment itself needs to change
• Why awareness creates an opportunity to make a different choice

About Aparna Dubey

Aparna is an engineer, serial entrepreneur and manifestation coach and the founder of The Logical Manifestor. Her work combines mindset, habit and somatic practices with her interpretation of neuroscience to help entrepreneurs work toward personal and business goals.

Find her website at: https://thelogicalmanifestor.com/

Wired to Work explores the science behind how we think, lead and perform.

🎧 Listen to Wired to Work:
https://wiredtowork.buzzsprout.com/

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https://wiredtowork.substack.com/

Chapters:

00:00 — Why Your Nervous System Keeps You Stuck
00:37 — Meet Aparna Dubey: The Logical Manifestor
01:56 — Is Manifestation Really “Woo-Woo”?
03:04 — What Manifestation Actually Means to Aparna
05:09 — Why We Repeat Familiar Patterns
09:17 — When Being Busy Becomes Part of Your Identity
10:18 — Changing Habits Through Somatic Work & EFT
12:41 — Is It You—or Does Your Environment Need to Change?
13:14 — The Activity & Energy Audit
15:56 — How to Improve Focus at Work
16:29 — How Hydration Affects Focus & Decision-Making
17:50 — Sleep, Movement & Better Brain Performance
18:20 — Why Your Physical Environment Matters
19:11 — Stop Trying to Focus on Everything
19:59 — Journaling & Meditation for Mental Clarity
22:07 — What to Do When You’re Overwhelmed at Work
24:02 — What Is Somatic Work?
27:08 — What Is EFT Tapping and How Does It Work?
30:00 — Breaking the Link Between Busyness and Self-Worth
31:54 — Rewiring Old Patterns Through Repetition
32:18 — Aparna’s Advice for Creating Change
33:31 — Where to Find Aparna

#neuroscience #leadership #performance

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with organizational design and culture change expert Erin Stadler to challenge some of the assumptions we’ve built around workplace culture, growth and change.

Because organizations are always changing. People join. People leave. Teams grow. Products evolve. Markets shift. And every one of those changes affects how an organization actually works.

So instead of asking how we can better manage change, Erin asks a different question: how do we build organizations that are designed for it?

Jess and Erin get into why company culture is about much more than a set of values, what happens to culture as organizations scale, why onboarding should be treated as a year-long experience, and how founders can unintentionally lose the very ways of working that made their company successful in the first place.

They also explore change fatigue, the pressure to protect what’s already working, and why the ability to continually adapt may be one of the most important things a leader can build.

As Erin puts it, business strategy tends to focus on markets, customers and financials. But there’s another strategic question we often leave out:

How do we work?

Because the thing you’re building isn’t just the product.

It’s the organization capable of building what comes next.

keywords

culture change, organizational design, systems thinking, change management, leadership, onboarding, organizational behavior, culture shift, founder insights, adaptive organizations

key topics

The distinction between values, behaviors, and principles in culture
How to start building culture at the founder level
The importance of behaviors and principles in organizational change
Redesigning onboarding as a year-long experience
Managing expectations and energy during change
The role of systems thinking in organizational adaptability

sound bites

"Workplaces that meet my preferences aren't always safe"
"Behavior is the principle we make decisions on"
"Managing change is like managing risk, not opportunity"

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Erin Stadler and the episode's focus
02:14 The importance of starting culture from scratch at the founder level
05:53 Key advice for founders on establishing culture early
07:19 The distinction between values and behaviors in culture design
11:30 The role of mindset and principles in organizational behaviors
16:46 Using psychoanalysis as a tool to understand organizational entity
20:20 The risk of scaling culture without clear principles
23:17 Redesigning onboarding as a year-long, co-created experience
30:32 The difference between managing change and creating opportunities
35:49 Shifting from change management to embracing uncertainty
41:32 The importance of framing and collective responsibility in change
47:27 Building a culture resilient to pivots and pivots as opportunities
52:09 Erin’s upcoming book on creating conditions for change

What happens when a brilliant employee is working in a system that fights the way their brain works?

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with entrepreneur and C-suite leader Remy Meraz for a candid conversation about neurodivergence, ADHD, dyslexia, masking, accountability, and what workplaces can do differently.

Remy was diagnosed with ADHD in her 30s and later discovered she was dyslexic; experiences that helped make sense of years of frustration, exhaustion, and feeling like certain things that seemed easy for everyone else took far more effort for her.

Together, Jess and Remy explore:

• What neurodivergence actually feels like at work
• Why masking can be exhausting
• How ADHD can show up as both strength and friction
• Why accommodations don’t have to mean designing a different workplace for every person

They also tackle a question that often gets avoided:

Where does workplace support end and personal accountability begin?

Because neurodivergence isn’t an excuse to opt out of expectations. But expecting every person to think, communicate and perform in exactly the same way isn’t good leadership either.

If you want to create workplaces with enough flexibility, clarity and humanity for different kinds of brains to succeed - this one's for you!

🎧 Listen to Wired to Work:

https://wiredtowork.buzzsprout.com/

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https://wiredtowork.substack.com/

#WiredToWork #Neurodiversity #ADHD #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #FutureOfWork #Neurodivergent #InclusiveLeadership