Complimentary gift, value $197
The Permission Slip
A 10-Minute Reset for High Performers
Presented by Fred Moss, MD, The UnDoctor · Welcome to Humanity
"You have been performing at a high level for a long time. You have gotten very good at pushing through. This is not about pushing through. This is about coming back. Ten minutes. That is all this takes."
Before you begin
What This Is
The Permission Slip is not a productivity tool. It is not a mindfulness exercise. It is not designed to make you more efficient.
It is designed to remind you of something you may have forgotten: that underneath the performance, the titles, the responsibilities, and the pressure, there is a human being. And that human being deserves a moment of return.
Find a quiet place. Set a timer for ten minutes. Put the phone face down. You are off the clock.
The Reset: 10 minutes
Five Steps, Two Minutes Each
Step 1 · Minutes 1 to 2: Arrive
Stop Performing
Sit down. Both feet on the floor. Close your eyes if that feels right. Take one slow breath in through your nose. Let it out through your mouth without controlling it.
You do not need to do anything right now. Nothing is on fire. Nothing is waiting that cannot wait two minutes.
Ask yourself: Where am I right now, honestly? Not where I should be. Where am I?
Step 2 · Minutes 3 to 4: Release
Put It Down
Think of one thing you are carrying right now that is not actually yours to carry. A worry about someone else's reaction. A standard you set for yourself that no one else set. A fear dressed up as a plan.
You do not have to solve it. You do not have to let it go forever. Just put it down for the next eight minutes.
Say quietly, or just think it: I am putting this down for now. It will still be here if I need it.
Step 3 · Minutes 5 to 6: Remember
Who You Were Before
Before the title. Before the responsibility. Before you learned to be so capable, there was a version of you that wanted something purely because it mattered to you.
Think of one thing you used to love that you do not make time for anymore.
Ask yourself: What did I used to do just because it felt like me?
Step 4 · Minutes 7 to 8: Receive
The Permission
This is the part most high performers skip. Read this slowly.
You are allowed to not have it figured out. You are allowed to be tired. You are allowed to need more than you are currently getting. You are allowed to want something different than what you have been chasing.
There may be nothing wrong with you. There may never have been.
Step 5 · Minutes 9 to 10: Return
One True Thing
Before you go back to the world, write down one true thing about yourself that has nothing to do with your performance. Not what you have accomplished. Not what you are working toward.
Something true about who you are.
Example: I am someone who genuinely cares. I am someone who sees what others miss. I am someone who keeps showing up.
You just gave yourself ten minutes.
That is not a small thing. Most high performers will not do this. Most will read it and mean to do it. You did it.
If something shifted, even slightly, that is the work. That is what Welcome to Humanity is about.
Continue the Conversation"There may be nothing wrong with you."
Welcome to Humanity: A Psychiatrist's Memoir and Case Against the Mental Health System. Available now.