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Lesson 2: Distancing Yourself from Your Problems | Ethan Kross
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October 13, 2025
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October 13, 2025
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7:42Now PlayingIn the early 1990s, Stuart Smalley, a popular (and wildly insecure) character on Saturday Night Live, opened each talk-show-style sketch by looking in a mirror and declaring, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me,” before encouraging his viewers to practice daily affirmations, too.
Though meant as parody, research now suggests that Smalley’s advice was on the right track! In this video lesson, psychologist Ethan Kross discusses how stepping back from your problems and coaching yourself in the second person can help you solve them.
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About Ethan Kross:
Ethan Kross is one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind. An award-winning professor and bestselling author in the University of Michigan’s top ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and relationships.
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