Becca Powers is an award winning fortune 500 high tech sales executive, founder and CEO of Powers Peak Potential, a best selling author and a speaker. With over 20 years of high level sales experience, she spent most of her life being an overachiever and unwittingly drove herself into major burnout. Becca’s burnout came after a particularly challenging sequence of 12 hour work days in a job where she was majorly overextending herself and unable to spend any time being there for her family. In hindsight, she recognizes that there were signs from her body mere months into the position telling her that it was not the right fit, but she dismissed those signs at the time. It took falling apart on the floor of her bathroom in a complete nervous breakdown after feeling like she was letting her children down for Becca to realize that change was overdue. 

“Burnout ignites in feeling ‘undered’ and whether that's undervalued, underpaid, under-resourced, under-recognized, under-appreciated. I mean, you can put the under attached to it but it triggers our worth or it triggers deeper feelings of being unseen, unheard and feeling like we don't matter. And when that happens, we ‘over’,” shares Becca Powers. Becca grew up with hippie parents who were very involved in their band and party scene. She learned as a child that in order to gain her parent’s love and attention she needed to overachieve. This feeling unknowingly followed Becca into adulthood and caused her to overcommit at work which ultimately led to her feeling undervalued. The pattern of going over and above and then feeling the ‘unders’ is one that is very intrinsic to the burnout experience. The ‘overs’ and ‘unders’ can put you into a feedback loop that is difficult to extract yourself from. 

When you find yourself feeling underappreciated, undervalued, or under-resourced, it is a sign that you need to implement healthy boundaries and take control back over your own energy. You do not have to overextend yourself constantly in order to have worth and it is okay to say no or ask for help. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Becca Powers about how the ‘unders’ lead to the ‘overs’ and what you can do to pull yourself out of that loop. 

Quotes

· “So many of us have the full plate and we don't really get to talk about it and we kind of be like, ‘Oh I'm okay’. Well, are you really? You got a full plate, it's okay not to be okay.” (4:53-5:03 | Becca)

· “When I was broken on the bathroom floor, all of a sudden, I remembered that I was the CEO of my life… I remember thinking, ‘If I'm the CEO of my life, then I'm a lot more powerful in this situation than I thought’.” (7:45-8:09 | Becca)

· “Is what I'm doing serving me or is it sabotaging me?” (9:54-9:56 | Becca)

· “Burnout ignites in feeling undered and whether that's undervalued, underpaid, under resourced, under recognized under appreciated, I mean, you can put the under attached to it but it triggers our worth or it triggers deeper feelings of being unseen, unheard and feeling like we don't matter. And when that happens, we over.” (11:59-12:24 | Becca)

· “For me to get the attention, love, and acceptance I wanted from my parents I had to overachieve. I had to do. I had to over a lot.” (15:19-15:29 | Becca)

· “Burnout is a very external response to us seeking externally what we weren't able to either give ourselves internally or like you said to our childhood just didn't get. It's not programmed in us to know that we have the innate wisdom within to give ourselves everything that we need.” (20:16-20:37 | Becca)

· “In hindsight, what I have learned is when I was surviving, my kids were surviving. And when I'm thriving, my kids are thriving.” (26:51-27:00 | Becca)

· “By building boundaries, you can create space for other people's growth and success.” (34:25-34:31 | Cait)

· “What is your role? And are the actions and responsibilities that you're doing supporting the role that you have and want in your life, whether it's at work or at home?” (38:19-38:31 | Becca)

Links



SPONSORS:

Cuely - the AI + you tool to help you get those health habits in place - in a way that really works for your calendar! https://cuely.ai/FRIED

Bearaby - the antianxiety weighted blanket that Cait swears by! https://bearaby.com 

Connect with Becca Powers

https://www.instagram.com/beccapowers1313/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccapowers1313/

https://www.beccapowers.com/burnout

Connect with Cait:

Cait Donovan is a keynote speaker, author, and host of FRIED: The Burnout Podcast, specializing in burnout, mis/match, and sustainable performance at work. She partners with corporate leaders, teams, and professional associations through keynotes, workshops, and leadership sessions that treat burnout as data, not failure, to help organizations reduce burnout without blame or shame and build healthier, high performing cultures.

To bring Cait to your organization or event, book an inquiry call here: https://bit.ly/bookcait

Learn more about Cait’s speaking work: https://www.caitdonovan.com/speaking

Short on time? Watch this 3-min video: https://bit.ly/caitdreel2025

https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm