The Shift

The Internal Dial Method 

I've recently been exploring an idea about our emotional landscapes. 

Imagining parts of ourselves as a control panel with different dials. A dial for Self-confidence. Self-esteem. And Self-worth.

And life can turn these dials up or down, without you even realizing it.

This got me wondering: What if we could take control and adjust the dials ourselves? Are there ways to intentionally crank up self-confidence before a job interview? Or raise self-esteem by challenging your interpretation of events? (Check out last week’s article for more on this.)

A Masterclass in Dial Adjustment

Writer, photographer, and avid walker, Craig Mod, shared a powerful application of this concept. (His story is more impactful than my abridged version. Listen here).

In a recent interview on The Tim Ferriss Show,  Craig shared his experience living in Japan.  He hit rock bottom after a devastating breakup and described it as “the biggest psychic damage” of his adult life.

The weight of the heartbreak was crushing. For a while, it seemed like the only way to cope was to drown his sorrows with alcohol.

One night, instead of his usual bender, he decided to go for a run. And? It felt… surprisingly better. It wasn’t a cure-all, but it was a start.

From there, he made other small changes: He cut back on the booze. Committed to his health. And even raised his consulting fees. Small dial shifts.

But inside? He still felt wrecked.

Craig was adopted and spent much of his life carrying the weight of a narrative he had created. “I was thrown away." The breakup reinforced that painful story.

So, Craig took an impromptu trip to Nepal to climb Annapurna. (Don’t worry, you don’t need to scale one of the deadliest mountains in the world to adjust the dials.) 

In the solitude of the Himalayas, far removed from the noise of modern life and the distractions of technology, something extraordinary began to happen. Craig was paired with a young guide and quickly developed a brotherly bond. It reignited what Craig thought he had lost: magic, love, wonder.

Back home — he found himself trying to put his transformative experience into words. He wrote a review of the camera he used on his trip, an odd choice, perhaps, but one that was deeply personal.

It. went. Viral. He made 20x his usual income.

The lesson? Craig made tiny recalibrations, small intentional shifts, and it changed his old narratives and his life. 

The Science

The more I dug into the research, the clearer it became. These three qualities are deeply interconnected, and adjusting one can influence the others.

Each dial requires its own specific approach to create meaningful change.

Self-confidence 

• Remarkably contextual—a trust in your capacity to handle specific challenges based on experience. We build confidence through accumulated skills, preparation, and domain-specific successes. (Boosting self-confidence alone won't necessarily shift deeper feelings of self-esteem or self-worth if those underlying beliefs aren't addressed.)

Self-Esteem 

• Your overall opinion of yourself—how deeply you like and respect yourself across all dimensions of life. This dial fluctuates with your interpretation of traits, accomplishments, and social standing.

Self-Worth 

• Reflects something deeper—a fundamental belief in your intrinsic value regardless of external achievement. This is perhaps the most stubborn dial, often set early through childhood experiences long before we developed conscious awareness.

However, none of these dials are permanently fixed.

Neuroscience confirms this through the principle of neuroplasticity—your brain's lifelong capacity to restructure itself through new experiences.

Each time you face challenges with determined effort, your brain strengthens neural pathways supporting confidence. Every time you risk vulnerability and allow love in, you open the way to accept belonging. The dial clicks up.

Click. Click. Click.

But every instance of avoiding a difficult situation, nurturing self-doubt, or rehearsing catastrophic thinking, reinforces circuits that anticipate failure. The dial clicks down.

Click. Click. Click.

Casual one-off actions rarely create lasting change. If you want to turn the dials up to 11 , you need deliberate, repeated, meaningful emotional experiences.

What Steph Smith refers to as: “the sequences of events that seem minimal at each juncture, but compound into major gains.” (Full article here).

This is the power of compounding.

Internal Shift: Tuning Your Inner Dials

While we can't necessarily control our initial dial settings, we can adjust the levels over time.

This recalibration might include deliberately expanding your comfort zone through manageable risks (like Craig asking for more pay). Or setting boundaries by declining commitments that deplete you.

It could mean practicing radical self-compassion when failure inevitably occurs (talk to yourself like you would an 8-year-old). Or even just letting positive feedback fully sink in rather than deflecting the compliments.

The most effective starting point? Activities and environments that naturally energize rather than drain you. Craig loved to walk, write, and take pictures. It felt good, and it was an easy way to turn the dials. Perhaps most importantly, surround yourself with people who reinforce your authentic worth rather than those who manipulate these dials for their own purposes.

Recalibration is the culmination of many micromoments. A process that deserves patience and kindness as the brain quietly does its slow, essential work.

What is one thing you can do this week that could help turn your dials in a positive direction?

The Essentials

YOUR WEEKLY TOOLKIT

Resources for your emotional & mental toolkit - including articles, strategies, techniques, frameworks, videos, people to check out, links, and anything else I find helpful.

Want a question answered? Submit your question here.