In this solo episode of the On a Roll series, host Mike Michalowicz opens by acknowledging that everyone experiences stress and then shares practical strategies to reduce it. He first promotes the Swagster S3 agency that helped market his book, and recommends Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, as a foundational resource. Michalowicz then outlines three concrete stress‑reduction tips: (1) live in “day‑tight compartments,” meaning focus only on today’s problems and defer future worries; (2) define the realistic worst‑case scenario, accept it, and then work to improve upon it; and (3) stop saying yes to everything, learning to say no to unnecessary commitments. Throughout the episode he intersperses humor with props (a pumpkin sign, a penguin, a sculpture) to keep the tone light and engaging.
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Welcome to On a Roll. And now here's your host, Mike Michalowicz. Do you struggle with stress? And if you say no, you're a liar because everyone does. So on this episode of On a Roll, we're going to talk about how to overcome stress. First, my Swagster S3 agency. This is the agency that promoted my book. If you want to promote your book successfully, these are guys you should hire. And they gave me a shirt that fits instead of these baggy ones. Us skinny guys can't wear baggy ones. So s3 agency. One other thing, I don't know if you check out the little sign I have up here every so often the pumpkin is coming. That is not from my new book. That's actually a porn movie about Halloween. So let's talk about stress. First thing you got to do is get this book, how to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie. It's one of the best books about stress management I've ever read. I'm going to share a couple tips from him and plus one of my own. First tip is live in day tight compartments. What this means, instead of stressing what's going to happen over the next day, week, month and year, just focus on the day. Just focus on the problems you have now until you put your head down on that pillow. Then when the next day comes about, worry about it. Then by compressing down the amount of time you worry about, your stress will be reduced. Now here's tip number two. It's about setting the worst case scenario and then determining how you can improve upon it. You see, with stress, you have to first accept what is realistically the worst thing that can happen. Once you define that and you accept it now, you can start working on improving it. So set the worst case scenario in your mind and accept it. Then work on improving it. Tip number three is from me, myself. This isn't a Dale Carnegie ism. This is a Mike McCallough Schmitzel ism. And here's what it is. Stop saying yes. A huge problem with stress is yes. That sounds almost like Martin Luther King ish. A huge problem with stress is yes. And you're saying yes way too much. The more things you say yes to, the more responsibilities that get on your shoulders and the less you get done and the more stress you feel. Start saying no. It's okay. Say no to other things. You don't have to do them. You don't have to do what people are asking you to do. You don't have to do anything. Shoot, you don't even have to pay your speeding ticket. You can say no to that and go to jail, but you can say no to that. Start saying no, and the stress will go. Say yes and you'll gain. Stress. Talk about stress. These boys, Thaddeus the Penguin up there, Tepe and and Ollie, my Olmec sculpture. They are in every single video. You guys must feel tons of stress, right? We are figments of your imagination. We haunt your subconscious. We haunt your every thought. That's a good point, actually. Very good point.
