Mark: A recent survey of ten thousand people found that over 99.5% of them struggle with the exact same problem. It’s not money, it’s not relationships—it’s a civil war happening between their ears. And it’s costing them more than they know. Michelle: Whoa, 99.5 percent? That's basically everyone. That’s not a niche problem; that’s the human condition. So what is this internal civil war? Mark: It’s overthinking. That endless loop of doubt, worry, and criticism that plays in our heads. And today we’re diving into a book that offers a surprisingly practical solution. It’s called Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking by Jon Acuff. Michelle: I know his name. He’s a bestselling author, right? Known for being pretty funny and relatable. Mark: Exactly. He’s known for blending humor and hope. But what makes this book so compelling is its origin story. Acuff admits he kept this "secret" for 13 years, using it to transform his own life after being paralyzed by the fear of public speaking. This isn't just theory for him; it's a system born from his own struggle. Michelle: Oh, I like that. It feels earned. So what's his big secret? How do you solve a problem that nearly every single person has? Mark: Well, that’s the first big idea we have to tackle. His solution starts by telling us we've been fighting the battle all wrong.

Mark: Most of us think the goal is to find an 'off switch' for our negative thoughts. We want to just silence the inner critic, permanently. Acuff says that’s an impossible goal, and it sets us up for failure. Michelle: That's a huge relief, honestly. The pressure to be 100% positive is exhausting. It feels like another thing to fail at. So if there's no switch, what's the alternative? Mark: He tells a great story about meeting with a family counselor named David Thomas. Thomas told him, "The problem is we all want a switch. But it’s not a switch, it’s a dial. The goal isn’t to turn it off forever, the goal is to turn down the volume." Michelle: A dial… I love that metaphor. It’s not about eradication; it’s about management. But what does 'turning down the dial' actually look like in practice? Mark: Acuff gives a perfect, and painfully funny, example from his own life. He calls them 'broken soundtracks'—these repetitive, negative thought loops. Years ago, he was on vacation in Florence, Italy, with his pregnant wife, Jenny. Before the trip, his dad had casually mentioned that the climb up the Duomo tower was really narrow and claustrophobic. Michelle: Oh no, I can see where this is going. He planted a seed of anxiety. Mark: A seed that grew into a forest. As they started climbing the hundreds of stone steps, the broken soundtrack "I'm trapped, I'm stuck" started blaring in his head. It got so loud, so overwhelming, that he did the only logical thing he could think of. He started sprinting. Michelle: He sprinted? Up a medieval tower? Mark: Full-on sprint. He just bolted, leaving his pregnant wife behind, elbowing tourists out of the way, convinced he was going to get stuck forever. He gets to the top, breathless and panicked. Twenty minutes later, Jenny finally arrives and just looks at him, completely bewildered, and asks, "What was that?" And he had no good answer. His broken soundtrack had taken over. Michelle: Oh my god, that's both terrible and incredibly relatable. That feeling of irrational panic just hijacking your body. So his 'dial' was cranked to eleven. How does he suggest turning it down in a moment like that? Mark: That’s where he introduces 'turn-down techniques.' These are simple, personalized actions you can take to shift your brain out of that emotional, fight-or-flight state. The key is that they have to be flexible and accessible. He learned this the hard way, too. He tried to make 'writing in my favorite seat at my favorite coffee shop' a technique, but if someone was in his seat, it just triggered another broken soundtrack about how his day was ruined. Michelle: Right, so the technique can't be a fragile, perfect ritual. What are some examples that actually work? Mark: They can be incredibly simple. Making a to-do list is one he loves, because a list is the fastest way to bring clarity to chaos. Another is doing a minor task with a massive payoff, like finally making that dentist appointment you've been dreading. It gets the brain a quick, tangible win. He even lists 'friends' as a technique, because as he says, "The easiest lies to see through are someone else's." A friend can spot your broken soundtrack from a mile away. Michelle: Okay, so turning down the volume is the first step, a way to get some breathing room from the panic. But what about the thoughts themselves? You can't just ignore them forever. How do you actually challenge these 'broken soundtracks' once you have a moment of quiet? Mark: That’s the perfect question, and it leads directly to the core of his practical method. It’s a simple toolkit that anyone can use.

Mark: Once the dial is turned down, Acuff says you need to put that broken soundtrack on trial. And he gives you three questions to act as your cross-examination: Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it kind? Michelle: I love how simple that is. It’s memorable. Let's break them down. 'Is it true?' seems like the most straightforward, but our feelings often feel true even when they're not. Mark: Exactly. Our brains are surprisingly bad at telling the truth, especially about memories. He cites research showing that even our most vivid 'flashbulb memories,' like where we were on 9/11, degrade in accuracy by about 60% over time, even though our confidence in them stays high. We trust our brains, but they can be unreliable narrators. Michelle: So we need to be detectives of our own thoughts. Does he have an example of this question in action? Mark: A fantastic one. He tells the story of Sal St. Germain, who managed an electrical shop in Hawaii. His team was working on a project that was failing miserably. Their collective broken soundtrack was, "We can't do what's needed because our parent organization has all these rules and regulations holding us back." It felt completely true to them. Michelle: A classic case of 'our hands are tied.' I've heard that a million times in corporate life. Mark: Right. But Sal decided to actually ask the question. He went to his boss and asked, "Is it true that we're constrained by these rules?" And his boss just laughed. He said, "No, you guys are the experts! We expect you to educate us on what needs to be done." That single question flipped their entire mindset. They went from feeling like victims to feeling like partners. Michelle: And the result? Mark: They implemented the change in record time and saved the company about $14 million over five years. Michelle: Wow. A single question saved $14 million. That’s incredible. Okay, what about the second question, 'Is it helpful?' How does that work? Mark: This one targets the useless rumination loops. He talks about a woman named Erin who, after every conversation, would spend days agonizing over what she should have said differently. Her soundtrack was a constant post-game analysis full of shame and regret. Asking "Is this helpful?" immediately reveals that the loop is pointless. It's not leading to a solution; it's just draining her energy and keeping her stuck. The helpful action would be to just send a quick text to clarify things, but the unhelpful soundtrack prevents that. Michelle: That one hits close to home. The mental energy we waste on things that are already over. Okay, finally, 'Is it kind?' This one feels... softer. Does being kind to yourself really boost productivity? Some critics of self-help say it can lead to complacency. Mark: Acuff has a great comeback for that. He points to a massive study Google did, called Project Aristotle. They spent millions trying to figure out what made their most successful teams tick. They measured everything imaginable. And the number one predictor of success wasn't individual talent, or hierarchy, or workload. It was psychological safety. Michelle: Psychological safety. In other words, a culture of kindness. Where you feel safe to take risks, to be vulnerable, to fail without being shamed. Mark: Precisely. An environment where the collective soundtrack is kind. Acuff argues we need to create that same environment inside our own heads. He shares a personal story about how he used to feel immense guilt about business travel. His broken soundtrack was "Good dads don't leave their families." So he'd make these big, dramatic, sad goodbyes. Michelle: Oh, he was performing the guilt. Mark: Yes! Until his wife finally told him, "You're making the kids feel terrible and you're teaching them that your work, the thing that provides for us, is a bad thing." His soundtrack wasn't just unkind to himself; it was unkind to his family. Asking "Is this kind?" revealed the damage it was doing. Michelle: So the three questions are a complete system. 'Is it true?' tackles the lies. 'Is it helpful?' tackles the useless loops. And 'Is it kind?' tackles the self-attack. It's a powerful filter. Mark: It is. But as you know, identifying a bad thought is one thing. Making the new, good thought actually stick is the real challenge.

Michelle: Exactly. It's one thing to challenge a thought in the moment, but how do you prevent the old broken one from coming back tomorrow? This is where a lot of self-help falls apart for me. It’s easy to get inspired for a day, but hard to make it a real habit. Mark: This is the final and most crucial part of Acuff's system: Retire, Replace, and then Repeat. The repetition part is non-negotiable. He actually did a research study with a PhD on this. They created something called the 'New Anthem,' a list of ten positive affirmations, and had thousands of people repeat it for 30 days. Michelle: Okay, I have to be honest, Mark. The phrase 'positive affirmations' can sound so cheesy. It brings to mind Stuart Smalley from SNL: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!" I've seen some reviews of the book that question the scientific depth here. How does Acuff prevent this from just being wishful thinking? Mark: He totally gets that skepticism. That’s why he backs it up with data. The results of his study were shocking. Participants who repeated the New Anthem at least twenty times over the month were 250% more likely to reduce their overthinking. People whose overthinking decreased were 400% more likely to reach their goals. Repetition literally rewired their approach to their lives. Michelle: Four hundred percent? Okay, that's a wild statistic. That's not just a small bump. But what about when the new soundtrack feels fake? Like you're just lying to yourself if you're having a terrible day and you're repeating, "Everything is awesome!" Mark: That’s the other half of making it stick. He says you need two more things: evidence and symbols. A new soundtrack needs proof to become believable. He tells this great story about coaching he got from a famous art director, James Victore. Victore dared him to start repeating the mantra, "Everything is always working out for me." Michelle: That's a bold one. I can see how that would feel like a lie on a bad day. Mark: For sure. But Victore told him, "Your job now is to go out and gather evidence that it's true." You have to actively look for the proof. Fear comes free, he says, but faith takes work. You have to build a case file for your new belief. Michelle: I like that. 'Gather evidence.' It makes it an active, investigative process, not a passive wish. And what about symbols? Mark: The symbols are what make the new soundtrack tangible. This is my favorite part of the book. He tells a story about his terrible habit of texting and driving. He knew it was dangerous, he felt guilty, but he couldn't stop. He tried everything—putting his phone in the trunk, turning it off—nothing worked. Michelle: A very common and very dangerous broken soundtrack: "I can just send this one quick text." Mark: Right. So he came up with a symbol. He went to the bank and got $200 in one-dollar coins. He put them in a big Mason jar. Every single time he drove somewhere—to the store, to school—and didn't touch his phone, he would take one of those heavy, satisfying coins and put it in a cup in his car. And every time he messed up, he had to take a coin out. Michelle: Oh, that's brilliant! It's a physical representation of a win. It's not just a thought; it's something you can see and touch. You're building a literal pile of evidence. Mark: Exactly! It took him three months to move all 200 coins from the jar to the cup. But it worked. He broke a decade-long habit. The symbol made the new soundtrack—"I am a safe driver"—real. And that’s his final, crucial point. A soundtrack without action, without evidence, without a symbol to ground it, is just a fortune cookie. It’s a nice sentiment, but it won’t change your life.

Mark: So when you put it all together, it's a really elegant and practical system. You're not fighting this unwinnable war against your own brain. You're just lowering the volume on the negative static, questioning its validity with three simple questions, and then systematically building up a new, better playlist, reinforced with repetition, evidence, and symbols. Michelle: What I love most is the sense of agency it gives you. You're not a victim of your thoughts; you're the DJ. And it’s not about some vague, new-age positivity. It’s a pragmatic, step-by-step process. It reminds me of his story about opening for Dolly Parton at the Ryman. He never would have gotten there if his original soundtrack was "I could never be a public speaker." He chose to believe "I think I can do this," and then he spent twelve years gathering the evidence to make it true. Mark: That’s it exactly. The effort is the evidence. Michelle: I think for anyone listening who feels stuck in that 99.5%, the takeaway isn't to try and change your entire brain overnight. The first step is just to become aware of the music that's playing. Maybe just pick one recurring negative thought you have this week—that broken soundtrack that always shows up—and just gently run it through those three questions: Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it kind? Mark: You don't even have to have a new soundtrack ready yet. Just start by questioning the old one. That alone can create a powerful shift. Michelle: It's a perfect place to start. Just notice what you're listening to. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.