Meditation is a workout for the part of your attention that decides what to hold and what to drop. Across a large review of trials it gives moderate reductions in anxiety and low mood, similar to what you'd get from other active treatments. Claims beyond that are mostly oversold. Evidence: decent
No app needed. A timer and a chair. The wandering is the exercise, not the failure.
Same theme: Ahead of it
Ahead of it
Move before the hard thing
Presentation, interview, difficult meeting: half an hour of moderate movement, an hour or two before. A fast walk or an easy jog.
30 minEvidence: decent
Ahead of it
Write about something else first
Before a review or a conversation you're dreading, spend ten minutes writing about something you care about that has nothing to do with it. Your kids, your trade, a friend.
10 minEvidence: worth trying