Useful Thinking is a weekly practice for your mind, hosted by clinical professor and mind coach Laura. Each episode works the fundamentals of how your brain actually operates: your mental patterns, your identity, your limiting beliefs, your subconscious wiring. You'll learn practical tools to direct your attention, filter out the noise, and think with more clarity and power. This is mindset work for people who want strategies grounded in how your brain and energy actually work. Think of it as a gym for your mind. Show up weekly and master the one skill that will impact every other area of your life.

All Episodes

Latest Episodes

All Episodes
#24

Ep 22: Point Your Brain Before You Walk Into Anything

We give our deepest, most sustained attention to the same handful of problems we've been circling for years. And then something crosses our path that could actually help, and we skim it. This week Laura gets into why our attention is being compromised, why the people who learn to train it are about to have an enormous advantage, and the three-part framework that turns "set an intention" from something vague and aspirational into an instruction your brain can act on in five seconds. Plus why aiming this at your biggest hurdles is exactly the wrong place to start. This episode covers: How the way we take in information is costing us What becomes possible when you can use what you take in instead of just consuming it Why most intentions are too soft for your brain to do anything with The three components of a training-level intention Why you should stop aiming this at the hardest things in your life How many reps are actually available to you in a single day Real examples from Laura's day, from the shower to the dog walk to a glass of water The one thing to do if you want to start tomorrow Referenced in this episode: Episodes 4 and 5 cover the reticular activating system in depth. If you're new here and wondering what your RAS is and how to program it, start there. Get MEMO: MEMO is Laura's private audio library with over 180 mini coaching sessions to shift limiting beliefs and mental patterns at the root. Podcast listeners get an exclusive discount. Use code USEFUL to save 30% off lifetime access. [Get MEMO]  Connect with Laura: Instagram: @think.laura Join Laura's Free Thinking Practice on Substack: ThinkLaura
#23

Ep 21: Signature and Shadow: Your Built-In Energetic Alignment Check

Human Design is, at its foundation, an energy management system. And one of the most useful things in the whole system is also one of the simplest. Every type has a signature feeling that shows up when you're using your energy the way you're built to, and a shadow feeling that shows up when you've drifted too far off track. This week Laura walks through all five types: what each signature actually feels like day to day, what the shadow looks like, and the first place to look when it's showing up. Plus why the same exhaustion can mean opposite things for two different people, and why applying the wrong fix will make it worse. This episode covers: The simplest check in Human Design and why we forget to check it How to tell the difference between a rough week and a real signal that something is off Generators: why frustration usually isn't a sign you picked the wrong thing Manifesting Generators: why you get two signals at once, and what your pile of unfinished projects actually means Projectors: the one thing to check before you decide bitterness means it's time for a change Manifestors: where your anger is really coming from, and the small habit that keeps your flow clear Reflectors: why disappointment lands harder on you than on anyone else The first place to look when your shadow feeling shows up, for every type How two people can say the exact same thing about being exhausted and need completely opposite solutions Look up your own chart: If you want to follow along as Laura  weaves in elements of human design, you can pull up your free chart and your Gene Keys profile to see your own blueprint. You'll need your birth date, exact birth time, and birth location. (Chart resource links below.) Human Design Blueprint (Laura originally trained with Eric Claire Jones and loves her practical approach) Get MEMO: MEMO is Laura's private audio library with over 180 mini coaching sessions to shift limiting beliefs and mental patterns at the root. Podcast listeners get an exclusive discount. [Get MEMO] Use code USEFUL to save 30% off lifetime access. Connect with Laura: Instagram: @think.laura Join Laura's Free Thinking Practice on Substack: ThinkLaura
#22

Ep 20: How to Stop Wishing Things Were Different

Almost every bad mood you have traces back to one thing: the feeling that what's happening, or what already happened, shouldn't have. You're probably doing it right now without realizing it. This episode is Laura's Excedrin for the mind — something to keep in the cabinet and come back to whenever you catch yourself in the loop. She breaks down what resistance is actually doing in your brain, why it feels like a perfectly reasonable reaction, and three specific moves for the three different ways it shows up. Save this one. It's built to be replayed. This episode covers: The hidden sentence underneath almost every bad mood Why you don't feel like you're resisting anything, and the one test that tells you the truth The difference between accepting a thing and accepting that it happened What your brain is actually attempting to do when you're frustrated, and why it can never work When frustration is a gift, and when it's just burning your energy The network in your brain built for replaying the past and rehearsing the future A ridiculous game Laura plays in traffic that works every time What to do when you can only see 1% of the situation The one question that tells you you're really done with it Get MEMO: MEMO is Laura's private audio library with over 180 mini coaching sessions to shift limiting beliefs and mental patterns at the root. Podcast listeners get an exclusive discount. [Get MEMO] Use code USEFUL to save 30% off lifetime access. Connect with Laura: Instagram: @think.laura Join Laura's Free Thinking Practice on Substack: ThinkLaura
#21

Ep 19: Where Does Our Intuition Actually Come From? (Find your super sense)

Your body is picking up information all day long that never reaches your conscious mind. This week Laura gets into the science of how your body gathers intelligence beneath your awareness, then into the Human Design layer that reveals which of your six senses is your strongest channel for it. Find your super sense, learn what to actually do with it, and honor the signal your body has been sending you your whole life. This episode covers: What kids at play reveal about how we're each built to take in the world The card game experiment where people's bodies knew the answer before their minds did Interoception: the constant internal monitoring you're almost entirely unaware of What brain scans show about your ability to register someone else's fear Why "I have a gut feeling" is more literal than you think The six cognitions, and how to identify yours Practical tools for each sense, including what to do when you're facing a big decision Why you have to get in the room, and what remote decisions are costing you How to layer your super sense into manifesting so it actually works for you What weakens your intuitive signal, and what strengthens it Look up your own chart: If you want to follow along as Laura  weaves in elements of human design, you can pull up your free chart and your Gene Keys profile to see your own blueprint. You'll need your birth date, exact birth time, and birth location. (Chart resource links below.) Human Design Blueprint (Laura originally trained with Eric Claire Jones and loves her practical approach) Gene Keys (useful for looking up different language for the gates in your chart) Connect with Laura: Instagram: @think.laura Join Laura's Free Thinking Practice on Substack: ThinkLaura