Welcome to the A Bit Of A Boost Burnout Series!

This is a topic I've explored on the podcast before, and one that comes up regularly in coaching sessions, workshops and conversations with high performing professionals.

What's become clear is that it doesn't just suddenly hit you. It creeps up, gets normalised and isn't always easy to spot until it's too late.

In this series I'm sharing real conversations with people who've experienced burnout firsthand.

Not the theories or frameworks, but the personal stories of what happened.

How it felt, what was going on at the time, the contributing factors, and the signs that were missed, that in hindsight seem so obvious.

We also explore what people learned from the experience, and the changes they made to avoid ending up in the same place again.

You may recognise yourself in parts of these stories. Either because they echo your own experience, or reflect something you're going through right now.

My final guest in this series is Matt Adamson, now a career coach after a 20 year career in banking.

In this conversation, Matt shares his personal experience of burnout - and how some of his tendencies to seek validation and positive feedback lead to unsustainable self-expectations and work practices.

You can find out more about Matt or connect with him via LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattadamsoncoaching

Welcome to the A Bit Of A Boost Burnout Series!

This is a topic I've explored on the podcast before, and one that comes up regularly in coaching sessions, workshops and conversations with high performing professionals.

What's become clear is that it doesn't just suddenly hit you. It creeps up, gets normalised and isn't always easy to spot until it's too late.

In this series I'm sharing real conversations with people who've experienced burnout firsthand.

Not the theories or frameworks, but the personal stories of what happened.

How it felt, what was going on at the time, the contributing factors, and the signs that were missed, that in hindsight seem so obvious.

We also explore what people learned from the experience, and the changes they made to avoid ending up in the same place again.

You may recognise yourself in parts of these stories. Either because they echo your own experience, or reflect something you're going through right now.

My next guest in this series is Lucinda Powell, a psychology teacher at an Oxfordshire secondary school .

In this conversation, Lucinda shares her personal experience of burnout - how she normalised being exhausted all the time, and regularly weighed up the relative merits of going into work versus crashing the car on the drive there

You can connect with Lucinda here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucinda-powell-fbpss-635120a3

Welcome to the A Bit Of A Boost Burnout Series!

This is a topic I've explored on the podcast before, and one that comes up regularly in coaching sessions, workshops and conversations with high performing professionals.

What's become clear is that it doesn't just suddenly hit you. It creeps up, gets normalised and isn't always easy to spot until it's too late.

In this series I'm sharing real conversations with people who've experienced burnout firsthand.

Not the theories or frameworks, but the personal stories of what happened.

How it felt, what was going on at the time, the contributing factors, and the signs that were missed, that in hindsight seem so obvious.

We also explore what people learned from the experience, and the changes they made to avoid ending up in the same place again.

You may recognise yourself in parts of these stories. Either because they echo your own experience, or reflect something you're going through right now.

My next guest in this series is Severine Helms, an in-house business coach at Nestle.

In this conversation, Severine shares her personal experience of burnout - and how talking about some of the early signs is something she encourages within her team

.

You can find out more about Severine or connect with her via LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/severine-hemms

Welcome to the A Bit Of A Boost Burnout Series!

This is a topic I've explored on the podcast before, and one that comes up regularly in coaching sessions, workshops and conversations with high performing professionals.

What's become clear is that it doesn't just suddenly hit you. It creeps up, gets normalised and isn't always easy to spot until it's too late.

In this series I'm sharing real conversations with people who've experienced burnout firsthand.

Not the theories or frameworks, but the personal stories of what happened.

How it felt, what was going on at the time, the contributing factors, and the signs that were missed, that in hindsight seem so obvious.

We also explore what people learned from the experience, and the changes they made to avoid ending up in the same place again.

You may recognise yourself in parts of these stories. Either because they echo your own experience, or reflect something you're going through right now.

My next guest in this series is Martin Summerhayes, Managed Services Director at Northdoor.

In this conversation, Martin shares his personal experience of burnout - how it built up over time without him realising, and how some of his behaviours changed in that time.

You can find out more about Martin or connect with him via LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinsummerhayes

Welcome to the A Bit Of A Boost Burnout Series!

This is a topic I've explored on the podcast before, and one that comes up regularly in coaching sessions, workshops and conversations with high performing professionals.

What's become clear is that it doesn't just suddenly hit you. It creeps up, gets normalised and isn't always easy to spot until it's too late.

In this series I'm sharing real conversations with people who've experienced burnout firsthand.

Not the theories or frameworks, but the personal stories of what happened.

How it felt, what was going on at the time, the contributing factors, and the signs that were missed, that in hindsight seem so obvious.

We also explore what people learned from the experience, and the changes they made to avoid ending up in the same place again.

You may recognise yourself in parts of these stories. Either because they echo your own experience, or reflect something you're going through right now.

My next guest in this series is James Perryman, a leadership development consultant with a corporate background in the telecommunications industry.

In this conversation, James shares her personal experience of burnout - the physical symptoms he noticed before a doctor eventually told him what was happening, and how he has found better work life balance with a set of non-negotiable practices.

You can find out more about James or connect with him via LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesperryman1

Welcome to the A Bit Of A Boost Burnout Series!

This is a topic I've explored on the podcast before, and one that comes up regularly in coaching sessions, workshops and conversations with high performing professionals.

What's become clear is that it doesn't just suddenly hit you. It creeps up, gets normalised and isn't always easy to spot until it's too late.

In this series I'm sharing real conversations with people who've experienced burnout firsthand.

Not the theories or frameworks, but the personal stories of what happened.

How it felt, what was going on at the time, the contributing factors, and the signs that were missed, that in hindsight seem so obvious.

We also explore what people learned from the experience, and the changes they made to avoid ending up in the same place again.

You may recognise yourself in parts of these stories. Either because they echo your own experience, or reflect something you're going through right now.

My third guest in this series is Paige Wheeler, senior account executive at SugarCRM.

In this conversation, Paige shares her personal experience of burnout - how it has recurred several times, the patterns she's figured out and how to hopefully catch it before it gets a hold next time.

.

You can find out more about Paige or connect with her via LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-wheeler-68004362

Welcome to the A Bit Of A Boost Burnout Series!

This is a topic I've explored on the podcast before, and one that comes up regularly in coaching sessions, workshops and conversations with high performing professionals.

What's become clear is that it doesn't just suddenly hit you. It creeps up, gets normalised and isn't always easy to spot until it's too late.

In this series I'm sharing real conversations with people who've experienced burnout firsthand.

Not the theories or frameworks, but the personal stories of what happened.

How it felt, what was going on at the time, the contributing factors, and the signs that were missed, that in hindsight seem so obvious.

We also explore what people learned from the experience, and the changes they made to avoid ending up in the same place again.

You may recognise yourself in parts of these stories. Either because they echo your own experience, or reflect something you're going through right now.

My second guest in this series is Clare Brown, director at Microsoft.

In this conversation, Clare shares her personal experience of burnout - what was happening at the time, and how it took an intervention from her family to finally make some changes

.

You can find out more about Clare or connect with her via LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-brown-78a1532

Welcome to the A Bit Of A Boost Burnout Series!

This is a topic I've explored on the podcast before, and one that comes up regularly in coaching sessions, workshops and conversations with high performing professionals.

What's become clear is that it doesn't just suddenly hit you. It creeps up, gets normalised and isn't always easy to spot until it's too late.

In this series I'm sharing real conversations with people who've experienced burnout firsthand.

Not the theories or frameworks, but the personal stories of what happened.

How it felt, what was going on at the time, the contributing factors, and the signs that were missed, that in hindsight seem so obvious.

We also explore what people learned from the experience, and the changes they made to avoid ending up in the same place again.

You may recognise yourself in parts of these stories. Either because they echo your own experience, or reflect something you're going through right now.

My first guest in this series is Rachael Malton-Smith, head of business performance and projects at Babcock International Group.

In this conversation, Rachael shares her personal experience of burnout - what was happening at the time, how she noticed her behaviour change and some of the lessons she took away from it.

You can find out more about Rachael or connect with her via LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-malton-smith-cp-apmp-098b0762

We're kicking off the 2026 podcast episodes with this insight to the 6 different levels of thinking.

When we set goals, most of us consider just the ONE level: what BEHAVIOURS do I need to change?

This is important, but it's not the only level we need to consider if we want more rapid and permanent change.

I first came across the 6 Logical Levels when I was stydying for my NLP practioners course, and have used it regularly since then.

In this short episode I will walk you through all 6 levels - environment, behaviours, capabilities, beliefs & values, identity and purpose - and explain how you can use it to expand your thinking when you're considering a new goal or change.

In the introduction I also share the reason I believe this podcast is still going - 5 years after the first episode back in January 2021 - and my approach to some of the solo episodes I have produced in that time (including this one!)

Whatever your goals are for the next 12 months, I wish you success, motivation and all the resilience you need to get back on track when you face the inevitable challenges along the way.

Thank you for listening to A Bit Of A Boost!

In this final episode of 2025 I share 16 questions that will help you extract more of the lessons from the last 12 months, and get clear on what is most important for the next 12.

These are the exact questions I sat down to answer a couple of weeks ago as part of my traditional annual review.

I looked at 4 areas:

1) The successes from the 205

2) The setbacks

3) What I need to amplify or release for 2026

4) The goals, mission and objectives for the year ahead

Whether you just think through your answers to these 16 questions as you listen to this episode, or spend some time writing them down and going deeper, I hope that you get some benefit from pausing and reflecting, and resetting for 2026!