Editor's Note: Welcome to the Pilot Issue of FiveMinFix. You are the first ones here. Thanks for trusting us with your inbox.
Happy Sunday.
Here are 3 practical adjustments to help you stop spiraling, clear out old anger, and reset your professional habits before the new week starts.
Let’s get to the fixes.
[Struggle Fix] The "Catastrophe Loop"
The Signal You are sitting in a safe room, but your heart is racing because you are having a vivid argument in your head with someone who isn't there. You play out the worst-case scenario until your body reacts as if it’s actually happening.
The Insight Your brain is a simulation engine. It cannot distinguish between a perceived threat (a thought) and a real threat (a tiger). When you ruminate, you are manually triggering your body's "Fight or Flight" response for a danger that doesn't exist. You aren't "predicting" the future; you are traumatizing yourself in the present.
The Fix
The "Evidence List": Don't just try to "stop" the thought. Write it down. Next to it, create two columns: "Facts supporting this" and "Facts opposing this." You will usually find the "Supporting" column is empty.
Manual Override: Your brain thinks you are in danger. Prove you aren't by engaging your physical senses. Name 5 things you see, 4 things you can touch, and 3 things you hear. This forces the logical part of your brain (prefrontal cortex) to take over from the panic center (amygdala).
[Life Fix] The "Sunk Cost" of Grudges
The Signal You are still angry at a person (ex-partner, old boss, friend) who hurt you years ago, even though they are currently living their life completely unbothered.
The Insight Anger is usually an attempt to reclaim power. But holding onto it is an "emotional sunk cost." You are investing energy into a past event that cannot yield a return. You aren't punishing them; you are renting them space in your head for free.
The Fix
Update the File: Stop expecting them to have changed or waiting for an apology. Accept the data point: "This person was hurtful." That is a permanent fact. Close the file.
The "Invoice" Method: Every time you spend 10 minutes thinking about them, visualize sending them an invoice for your hourly rate. Realize they will never pay it. Stop working for free.
[Work Fix] "Workplace PTSD" (The Phantom Boss)
The Signal You are hiding your work, hoarding emails to "cover your back," or over-explaining your decisions, even though your current team is supportive and chill.
The Insight You likely survived a toxic environment by being defensive and secretive. Those were survival traits then, but they look like incompetence now. You are running a war-time protocol in peace-time. This wastes energy creating defenses against an enemy that isn't there.
The Fix
Flood the Zone: Instead of hiding work until it's perfect (a defense mechanism), share early drafts intentionally to build trust.
The "Calibration" Question: Explicitly ask your new team: "I'm used to documenting everything, is that necessary here, or do you prefer a quick Slack update?" Reset your baseline to the current reality.
That's it for this week.
If one of these fixes helped you today, hit reply and tell me which one.
See you next Sunday.
— The FiveMinuteFix Team