Episode 3

full
Published on:

3rd Apr 2026

Quick Spoon: Not Today, Kevin

What if your inner critic had a name… and you didn’t have to believe it?

In this Quick Spoon, Dr. Jill Stoddard shares a simple but powerful technique for creating distance from self-doubt.

“Not today, Kevin” might be exactly what you need.

People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.

Visit Ross' Website.

Connect with Ross on LinkedIn

People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life

He's now also on Bluesky

The People Soup Website on CAPTIVATE

Dr Jill Stoddard

Jill's Website.

Jill's Books.

Jill's TEDx Talk - How to Succeed in Every Moment Even When You're Failing

Connect with Jill on LinkedIn.

Transcript

QS02 - Not today, Kevin

Jill: [:

Speaker 4: Hi there, and welcome to People Soup, quick Spoon, real conversations about work leadership and being human grounded in behavioral science. With practical ideas you can actually use. I'm Ross Macintosh and here's your quick spoon.

Jill: So the book's only been out a handful of days

but of my first, what, four or five reviews, one of them was a one star review. from Kevin, and Kevin wanted a different book. Kevin basically said, you didn't deliver on your promise to build my self confidence and get rid of my anxiety. I'm like, oh yeah, sorry, you're right. That's not actually what this book was about.

There's lots of other books that claim to do that. This book is like kind of the opposite that. So he just, he wanted a different book. But I've turned this into my own diffusion exercise.

o that's like kind of in the [:

But I got this. Right? And it's sort of this way to, like, detach from that thinking and put it, put it over here. Not suppress it, not try to push it away, but just sort of, like, observe it and detach from it. And when I was telling one of my, my friend Emily about this, Kevin review in our back and forth. At one point she said, not today, Kevin.

And I just laughed so hard. I was like, Oh my my diffusion. I'm going to like, you know, she, I'm going to put Sheila's going to take a back seat. And from now on, when that voice pops up, I'm going to be like, not today, Kevin. I've got this. You can give me that one star review and I'm going to keep doing my thing.

Speaker 4: And that's your quick spoon. Imposter thoughts are part of being human, not a sign that something's wrong.

your critical mind a playful [:

Speaker 4: If this was useful, why not share it with someone who might need to hear it?

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About the Podcast

People Soup
Real conversations about work, leadership and being human
A podcast exploring work, leadership, and being human through real conversations — grounded in behavioural science and full of practical ideas you can apply straight away.

About your host

Profile picture for Ross McIntosh

Ross McIntosh

I'm a work psychologist. I want to help you navigate the daily challenges of work by sharing behavioural science in a way that's accessible, useful and fun.
I'm originally from Northumberland in the UK and I now live near Seville in Spain with my husband.