MONDAY MINDSET RESET · EPISODE 6

Urgency is not a signal to act

11–13 min · Season 1

In the middle of change, urgency masquerades as direction. It tells you to decide, to move, to resolve this, now. This episode separates urgency from clarity: one is trying to end a feeling, the other is moving toward what matters. Follow the wrong one and you make decisions you later have to undo.

IN THIS EPISODE

→ What urgency actually is from a nervous system perspective, an activation response, not a compass

→ The difference between action that ends discomfort and action that moves toward what matters

→ Why people leave situations they needed to stay in, and stay in ones that are eroding them, on urgency's signal

→ The Urgency Check: three questions to run before you move

→ This week's reflection question

THE URGENCY CHECK

→ Am I actually in danger right now? Not uncomfortable, not uncertain, in actual danger. Almost always, the answer is no.

→ What am I trying to escape by making this decision right now?

→ What value should be guiding this decision, and is urgency honoring it, or bypassing it?

That last question separates a reactive decision from an aligned one.

THIS WEEK'S REFLECTION

What decision have you been trying to force from inside the urgency?

You don't have to make it this week. You just have to name it, and name what the values-aligned version of that decision would actually look like.

ANCHOR STATEMENT

Urgency is a signal to pause, not a signal to act. The discomfort you are feeling is your system adjusting, not evidence that something is wrong.

ABOUT THE HOST

Latosha D. Leonard, MS, LPC is a licensed professional counselor, licensed clinical supervisor, and founder of NextACT in Austin, TX. Her work centers on the Middle of Change framework, the philosophy that the space between what ended and what hasn't started yet is a real, navigable place. She is an Air Force veteran, AALI Alum, and Fall 2026 doctoral student in Counselor Education at Texas A&M University.

RESOURCES

→ The Middle of Change framework — nextacttherapy.com

→ Free quiz: nextacttherapy.com/quiz

→ Live with Latosha — free monthly virtual conversation — third week of each month

CONNECT

→ Website: nextacttherapy.com

→ Instagram: @nextacttherapy

→ LinkedIn: Latosha D. Leonard, LPC

Next Monday, what your body has been trying to tell you. We get specific about somatic signals: tightening, depletion, and the body's knowing. Subscribe so it's there when you wake up.