The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Official Launch: Get Your Copy of The Stability Equation Book on Amazon!

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Hey everyone!I'm excited to officially announce the launch of my book, The Stability Equation: 7 Pillars for a More Balanced Life! This subreddit was created to discuss the principles and practices outlined in the book, and I'm so grateful to have you all here.This book is deeply personal, born from my struggles with anxiety, trauma, and the journey to find lasting mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. It shares the roadmap I developed – the 7 Pillars – that helped me reclaim my balance.This book can serve as a practical resource, and this subreddit can become a supportive community where we can explore these pillars together, share our experiences, and encourage each other on our paths to greater stability.If you're interested in learning more, you can find the book on Amazon here:https://a.co/d/1V1tpGII look forward to engaging with you and building a supportive community around The Stability Equation. Let's work towards a more balanced life together.Godspeed y'all,Kevin

Welcome back to the People Process Progress podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Pennell. First off, I want to apologize for the slight delay in our usual schedule. Usually weekly, it's been the past couple of weeks or so and I haven't put an episode out. I've been incredibly focused on putting the final touches on something that I'm really excited to share with you all. My new book called The Stability Equation, Seven Pillars for a More Balanced Life.

The previous episode was an episode I did focused on those pillars. This book really is a labor of love from my own journey to find greater equilibrium in my life and I really believe that it holds valuable insights that can significantly benefit you or someone you deeply care about as it did me. So if you've ever felt the way to overwhelm frustration of stagnation or yearning to be like more grounded and fulfilling existence, the books for you. There's an ebook, there's a hardcover, there's a paperback disability equation. It's not theory. It's science backed. It's my what worked, what didn't, what are they like, what didn't.

And really what a lot of people Google search for, what they go on forums like Reddit to find. Google search for what they go on forums like Reddit to find. I've shared the principles from this book for a few years now in those places and decided to put it all in one place in the book. And so, you know, it's built on those seven pillars. And it also like the name of this podcast, it's a process, right, for becoming more resilient as a person. And I really believe it will help you or somebody else that that reads it, that takes action, as you'll see, takes ownership

pillar one to make progress in every aspect of your lives. Right? So at the heart of the book, as we get into it, are the seven essential pillars I talked about on the previous episode, right? They're each designed to address kind of a crucial aspect of well-being that I really found made a difference as I worked through them.

I didn't realize there were seven. I, you know, in hindsight, look back and I was like, wow, of a crucial aspect of well-being that I really found made a difference as I worked through them. I didn't realize there were seven. I, you know, in hindsight looked back and I was like, wow, these things that I focused on made a big difference. And so let's just go through this list real quick. So the first one is ownership, right? We have to own where we are and where we want to be in life, but personally and professionally. And it all starts with that.

And in the book, I talk about Jaco Willink and Leif Babin who wrote the book, Extreme Ownership, Big Influence on Me plus Jaco Podcast, a shout out there. But it's more than just the leadership aspect they really talk about, and they talk about every aspect of your life. It's really saying, hey, I need to stop looking or in addition to looking outside of me

at what's the doctor gonna do for me? What are my friends gonna do? Why aren't they doing this for me? It's saying, what am I doing? What am I not doing? What should I start doing for myself? And there are many areas that we'll look at and some of those are the pillars.

Like, are you sleeping well? Are you eating okay? You're hydrating, you're exercising. Do you talk to humans? So the first thing is ownership. You have to do it. Nobody else can help you get better from a completely external perspective unless you are all in and to do it. Nobody else can help you get better from a completely external perspective

Unless you are all in and you own it and part of my catalyst for that is that ownership that I had to take I felt because Traditional medicine isn't super good at mental health or being holistic like how are you sleeping? What are you eating? Are you hydrating? What's your exercise regimen like? Do you pray? Are you getting regular movement? Do you have connection? Are you by yourself a lot? These are questions doctors should ask.

I really believe if these seven pillars were part of a screening, when you go to your doctor, not just a checklist, right, for a general anxiety checklist or something, we all get that, and then it's like, okay, here's these pills, and then maybe you get some therapy. And then with the therapy, that varies so much by the therapist. So I say that to say, you need to be your own advocate and own where you get to. And it's hard to kind of sift through that. And in the book, I share some really practical,

if you're feeling anxious now, here's some tools to use and then the long-term things like a constant meditation practice and faith and stuff like that. So the second pillar is mindfulness, right? Helping you focus, be in the moment. What are some good tips to do that, right? Paying attention to somebody, asking good questions.

I do talk about the practice of meditation, which is not the same as mindfulness, but 10 minutes out of your day for yourself to listen to your breath and your body and just be there is very effective in helping you develop or redevelop your ability to calm yourself down when you need it. The third pillar is movement.

That's daily exercise, something. Yoga, runs, weights, jujitsu, whatever you like. Going for a walk, I found, and I do this whether I lift weights or not, is I get up and I walk a mile. I walk my dog's a mile every day. It warms me up. It also gets me outside. For half the time, I listen to a daily reflection that I listen to on the Halo app,

then I take my earbuds out and I just listen to the nature. Sometimes it's dark outside, sometimes it's not, and it's well worth it. But moving during the day is critical. When you're, especially I found in a depressive mood, right, just sitting around, you just stew on your issues. Same thing for anxiety, right? Move a muscle, change a thought.

I talk about that in the book as well. Pillar four is boundaries. Sometimes we need to set boundaries between us and what's negatively affecting us or what we're allowing to affect us. And my gosh, right now in April 2025, we're getting bombarded with negative stuff online, on the news, et cetera. So how do you meter some of that out? The other thing is what boundaries have you set for yourself that you're holding your back?

Like, oh, I'm too depressed, I can't go outside, or I'm so anxious to go try the gym, which I totally get. If you've never gone and you're out of shape, or you just have some sort of anxiety, that's it. But sometimes we need to push ourselves outside of and through our boundaries. ProloFive is a connection. We, of course, a few few years ago all were isolated.

Some people have stayed isolated, we work remote, we maybe don't see each other when we're on calls, we don't hang out with other people. That's not good for humans. We're pack people, right? We're meant to be near other people. In some fashion we need to have some sort of connection, right? In some real way with our family, with friends, with people we don't know,

with groups we could join in the community, something that makes a big difference. I isolated myself and it was horrible for my mental health. Pillar five is sleep. Sleep is the time when our body and mind heal, when we can recover from maybe a hard workout or give our mind a rest when it's been racing for whatever grief or worry we have.

But sometimes we get in a cycle, and I talk about this cycle of when you have bad sleep, you start to blame yourself and so that hurts your sleep cycle more and more. So in the Stability Collision book, I really speak to how we have to change that mindset and then some tools from cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia to really have a good plan, have a process if you will, that people can follow where in the evening, a couple hours before bed, you're going to turn the lights down and you're going to turn the temperature down. And these are all known things in the kind of the sleep community, if you will.

But if you've never heard them before, it sounds like, wow, I have to have this regimented wind down routine. And yes, if you're in a place where you're not sleeping, you have to reset. In some extremes, you have to go to to again that I talked to the sleep restriction. But read more about that in the again the e-book hardcover paperback of the stability equation then pillar seven for me is faith. I reconnected with my faith. I've been in up and down.

I grew up going to Catholic Church, then I decided I didn't want to go. And then when I was in military and public safety, some horrible stuff I've seen, I really didn't understand how that could happen. And I'm sure many of you have had those questions with God, with whatever God you believe in or don't believe in. But faith in something bigger than ourselves helps take the weight off of us. It can also be if you pray or how you pray and whether that's outside of nature or in a church or just before dinner or whatever it is,

that it's a form of meditation, It's a form of being more mindful that you're thankful. We're all here We're like a one in a trillion or one in four billion all these numbers basically humans you Specifically are the only copy of you that's ever gonna exist and that ever has existed and that to me is just amazing So what what will you gain from the book? You'll get some from this podcast That to me is just amazing. So what will you gain from the book? You'll get some from this podcast, but really if you get the book, you'll dive into it and there's some worksheets in the back.

You get real world strategies, right? They're just not, hey, we think this works. I share who I learned from, where I learned it from. If you get the ebook, there's links in there. If you get the paperback or the hardcover, you can just look for it, right? Great resources on YouTube with Therapy in a Nutshell, Dr. Tracy Marks. There's it right great resources on YouTube with therapy in a nutshell. Dr. Tracy marks There's there's so many great resources out there and part of my mission as a person who's been a planner and someone that executed plans

I really dove into these and put all these tools together and now in this book I'm sharing them with you. These are actionable exercises that are in there right with every pillar every pillar you're going to get here's a background, here's a little bit about my story, here's somebody that influenced me that really did all the science for it, and here's some exercises. There's a whole section near the end of the book that's just quick hit references for these things. They're science backed, right? Very well, especially when it comes to sleep, when it comes to the power of movement for your mind and body and in every other area, some great references, Johann Hari, I reference, I read his book Lost Connections, which is just

amazing, which again speaks to the power that human connection has and how it can help us heal and it empowers you the whole theme of the book. And as I say on this podcast And as I say in the book is that it's a start right these here's all the resources that you probably will look for over a given amount of time but you don't have to take that long to look for them because they're all in one place now in the stability equation book and Now it's on you Now you need to read the resources I gave you you need to go watch the videos that are recommended, and now you need to decide, okay, how do I wanna implement these?

And I'll work through that and I'll start adding more actionable plans again to this podcast, but it really is on you and that's okay, because we are taking ownership, which is step one, right? Who's gonna benefit from the book? Everybody really, I think everybody will, but particularly if you're overwhelmed with stress and anxiety, stuck in a rut, right, personally or professionally, because taking

ownership doesn't just apply to I feel bad or I'm anxious. It's also do I want to work here anymore? Or what kind of job do I want to have? All these different things, right? If you're longing for deeper connections, more purpose, struggling to prioritize, right? Some of the exercises are like, what do I need to do first? How do I need to do it? Practical, practical application of it as well. And there's also some kick in the butt that some of you might need that I know I've gotten as far as excuses why you're not exercising or why you're not being more mindful, right?

But if you recognize you or somebody else needs it, it'd be great if you shared it. I'll share the link to that in the description of the show. But if you go to peopleprocessprogress.com, there's a stability equation link. You can get it. And I'll say the call to action I'd say for this, one, thank you for listening, but is to invest in your stability and wellbeing.

And it sounds like for sure a sales pitch for the book and it kind of is, but it's really you're investing in yourself, right? I poured a lot of my heart and experience into this, which doesn't mean you owe me anything, but I want you to benefit from the hardship that I worked through so you don't have to as much, right? So you don't have to try medication and then feel awful

and then come off it and then feel awful and then not sleep and not understand why you're not sleeping. I want you to have those tools and that doesn't mean it's gonna be a walk in the park if you're in a tough place right now and that doesn't mean you're gonna instantly get better, quite the opposite, but you'll have those tools. And that doesn't mean it's going to be a walk in the park. If you're in a tough place right now, that doesn't mean you're going to instantly get better quite the opposite.

But you'll have the resources, I believe, to really, really restabilize or rebuild that right whether you prefer any book to click through right or you want to hold a book. I like the paperback version. I got a proof of it. It's pretty sweet. I have a proof of the hard copy coming, but I like to hold a book, especially something like this. I remember during you know, when I was building my pillars,

particularly, I think this one like Faith and read Man's Search for Meaning, I've read that book three times now. Just holding the book at late at night when I couldn't sleep really made a big difference for me. But I'm not a big iPad ebook reader. But thanks for hidden play for tuning in to the people process progress podcast I'm excited for you to explore this ability equation and and here on the podcast which I'll I'll link I'll have more focus on the elements of that. I'll still do some planning stuff

But I really think folks need some help need some stability need some tools And so that's what i'm going to share in the in the pillars, you know in your own life I'll be interested to hear from you If you want to follow me on Twitter and Instagram or accent Instagram, it's hard not to say Twitter anymore, isn't it? I'm at PenelKG, P-A-N-E-L-L-K-G. I have a YouTube channel called the Penel Five Fitness Club.

Pretty much all focused on pillar three movement, right? But there's also some cold plunge, some jujitsu. And I will start being more regular, again, sharing elements of the book here and have more guests on in the future I really appreciate your time. Please share this episode or share the book link with others if you find it helpful There's also a subreddit called the stability equation. So if you're a redditor, which I have been more and more That's where I've helped a lot of folks

I believe and gotten good feedback for a few years now with all these elements there and in person But again, thank you so much. You can follow and connect in the places I just said, or go to peopleprocessprogress.com and all the socials are there as well. And when you start your day tomorrow, I hope that you all get up. I hope that you all get after it and I wish you all Godspeed.