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Burn the Map
Burn the Map episodes
- 48: Aren't You Supposed to Be Resting?
Your job didn't just give you a paycheck. It gave you a reason to show up somewhere at the same time every day, even on the days you couldn't stand it.
This episode is about what happens when that structure disappears overnight, and why an open calendar is harder to live in than it sounds.
What you'll learn:
- Why the routine you resented was quietly doing more for you than you realized
- Why losing that structure disorients you the same way it disorients a toddler off their nap schedule
- Why an open-ended to-do list can produce more doomscrolling than an actual work day did
- Why you might still feel compelled to justify your time to the people around you, even though no one's asking
- One small, sustainable way to build back just enough structure — without turning your recovery into a second job
If you've ever had an adrenaline spike over a meeting that no longer exists, tune in.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn8 min - 47: Nobody Knows What You Did
Your title worked as shorthand for years. Inside the building, everyone knew what it meant. Outside it, that shorthand stops working overnight.
This episode is about what's actually left once the title's gone.
What you'll learn:
- Why the status you had at work was never really yours to keep
- What gets lost at the same time as the job: identity, social status, the ability to be understood at a glance
- Why leaving is where the hiding ends, and what that exposure actually feels like
- What you're afraid of when you can't explain yourself in five words to a stranger
- What actually travels with you once the title doesn't. It isn't what you think
If you've caught yourself fumbling an introduction since you left, this one is for you.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn8 min - 46: What You Left Off Your Resume
The resume editing is just the surface. Behind the polished gaps and sabbatical euphemisms is a much longer editing project: one that's been running your personality for years.
This episode is about what that cost, and what's still in there underneath it.
What you'll learn:
- What the things you left off your resume reveal about what corporate asked you to hide
- How the adaptive personality develops, and why numbing yourself to moral injury was a rational response to an irrational system
- Why the corporate version of you is made of borrowed traits, not character flaws
- What it actually takes to drop the persona, and why the grief of doing so is real
- Two paths forward, and what makes each one a legitimate choice
If you've looked in the mirror lately and not quite recognized the person looking back, this one is for you.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn9 min - 45: Change Is a Magnet
End of summer tends to concentrate change. Kids leaving, job searches ramping up, early retirement decisions. These feel enormous on the inside and invisible to everyone else.
And then other changes start piling in.
What you'll learn:
- Why big internal changes attract more change, and the need for visible proof that something is different
- The difference between additive changes that are overdue and generative, and the ones that feel a little panicked
- Why visible changes and good conversations with friends both fall short of the acknowledgment you're looking for
- What you're really seeking when you show up one day with new hair or a taiko drum
- How to tell whether an additive change is moving you toward something joyful or away from something painful before you cut your own bangs at 11pm
If you're in the middle of a big transition and other changes keep piling in, this episode will help you make sense of it.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn8 min - 44: Why You're Not Doing the Thing
Not doing something isn't the same as not wanting it. Most of us live in the murky middle (wanting to leave the job, speak up, follow through) and just not doing it. This episode is about figuring out why.
There are two categories of not-doing, and they require completely different responses.
What you'll learn:
- Why the gap between intention and action is sometimes environmental and sometimes something much deeper
- How habit stacking works for logistical not-doing — and where it breaks down
- What Bob Kegan and Lisa Lahey's Immunity to Change framework reveals about why you keep doing the opposite of what you say you want
- How to identify the competing commitments and big assumptions that are keeping you exactly where you are
- Why your resistance to change is probably more rational than you've been giving it credit for
If you keep saying you want to do something and keep not doing it, tune in.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn9 min - 43: Did You Do Enough?
Between layoffs and early retirement packages, a lot of people in midlife are on the other side of a long corporate career, and running an internal audit that isn't returning comfortable results.
This episode is about who's actually keeping score, and whether they earned that job.
What you'll learn:
- Why the grief of abandoning a goal you never worked toward is real and has a name
- How the metrics you measured your career against were probably borrowed from someone else without examination
- What rumination actually costs; not just time, but the present moment itself
- Why the change that matters now is one of orientation, not identity
- The one career audit worth running: what you're good at that you actually like doing
If you're on the other side of a long career and the internal verdict is harsher than you expected, this episode is for you.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn10 min - 42: The Snob's Advantage
When everything feels uncertain (the job, the applications, the new identity you're building), your brain is working overtime on problems with no clear outcome. What it needs is rest that isn't sleep, isn't scrolling, and isn't zoning out.
This episode is about finding it in something you're already good at.
What you'll learn:
- Why learning under stress is so cognitively expensive, and what your brain is actually asking for when you reach for TikTok or salt and vinegar chips
- What happens neurologically when you do something you're skilled at, and why it looks surprisingly similar to genuine rest
- Why the closer you get to mastery, the further away it seems; that's good news
- How to tell the difference between skill that restores you and skill that pulls your soul out through your throat
- Why the thing you're already good at can't be touched by a layoff or a terrible job market
If you've been a beginner at everything lately and you're running low, this episode is for you.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn7 min - 41: The Wrong Kind of Safe
243,000 people have already received layoff notices in 2026. This episode isn't for them; it's for the ones who survived and aren't sure how to feel about it.
If part of you wanted the package, this one's for you.
What you'll learn:
- Why surviving a layoff you wanted to be included in creates a particular kind of emotional confusion, and why that's harder to name than it sounds
- How layoffs fracture work relationships in ways that don't get talked about, and what goes unsaid between people on opposite sides of the cut
- Why "you are headcount" is actually useful information, not just a cynical observation
- What a portfolio career looks like in practice, and why it might start with a grocery store flower department
- What to do with the window between this layoff and the next one, before it closes
If you're still at your desk after a round of cuts and the relief isn't quite landing, tune in.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn7 min - 40: Start, Then Keep Starting
Corporate trains you to perform: polished, error-free, ready for an audience. That training works against you the moment you start figuring out what comes next.
This episode makes the case for a different posture entirely.
What you'll learn:
- Why treating your next venture like it needs to be "performance-ready" before launch keeps most people stuck
- What it actually means to start, and then keep starting, and why that's different from "perfect is the enemy of good"
- Why the learning that matters only happens in motion, with other people, not in planning documents
- A practical way to manage the exhaustion of experimenting in public: keep one thing you're already good at
- Why there's no opening night waiting for you on the other side, and why that might be the most useful thing to accept early
If you're stalling on launching something because it doesn't feel ready yet, this episode is for you.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn8 min - 39: Flattery Softens the Will
Flattery is a destabilization tactic, and corporate environments have had decades to perfect it. When someone tells you you're the only person they trust with this, the request and the recognition arrive as a package deal, which makes declining both at once much harder than declining either one alone.
What you'll learn:
- How flattery bypasses your critical judgment before you've had a chance to use it
- The difference between peer flattery and boss flattery and why boss flattery carries higher stakes
- Why the cycle kept repeating even when you could see it happening
- How a simple pause before responding changes what you're actually agreeing to
- Why the question isn't whether their appreciation is genuine; it's whether your will was there to begin with
This episode is for anyone doing a career review who keeps finding work they never quite meant to take on.
Shelley McIntyre works with people who have left corporate (or are close enough that the date feels real) to figure out who they are when the role stops defining them. She spent decades in corporate strategy and technology before leaving to build something of her own.
Work with Shelley:
Own Your Edge: A 90-minute session for people at or near the exit
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/own-your-edgeReinvention Partnership: Five months of one-on-one coaching for people leaving corporate
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/work-with-shelleyFree Guide: 4 Moves to Get Unstuck
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/guide/Get the weekly newsletter on the identity work below the career question:
https://burnthemapcoaching.com/newsletter/Let's connect:
LinkedIn9 min
About Burn the Map
From the publisher's feed
Burn the Map is for people who have left corporate, or are close enough that the date feels real.
Host Shelley McIntyre spent decades in corporate strategy before leaving to…
build something of her own. She knows what it takes to untangle your identity from a title you've outgrown, and what gets easier and harder on the other side.
Bi-weekly episodes on the work that comes before the job search: who you are when the role is gone, what got deferred over a long career, and what it looks like to build something that actually fits.