Decode Your Burnout (formerly Optimize Your Life)

Do you feel like no matter how much you sleep, you can't get enough rest? If you're a busy professional, it might feel like you can't press pause. You want to get off the treadmill but you don't know how.

In this week's episode of Decode Your Burnout, pediatrician Michelle Quirk shares her burnout story that turned her on to running, a sport that helped her continue to lace up her sneakers and keep going at work. She shares three tips to help you manage the daily grind to avoid burnout.

About Michelle Quirk:

Dr. Michelle Quirk is a board-certified pediatrician and a certified run coach with the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA). She founded Mindful Marathon to help make running easy and fun for busy professionals. Using an informed, enjoyable, and effective approach, she coaches her athletes to a life-long love of running!

Get in touch with Michelle:

Website: mindful-marathon.com

IG: mindful.marathon

Resources:

Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/fYzgLakRs3w

Download a copy of the Burnout Checklist at: https://www.drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

Take the first step to decode your burnout: http://decodeyourburnout.com/

Are you late to the game when it comes to setting boundaries? Did you miss the memo that you are supposed to have your own ideas about what you need and what's good for you?

In this week's episode of the Decode Your Burnout podcast, Amy Armstrong debunks 3 myths around boundaries:

Myth #1: Compromise is the best way to resolve disputes

Myth #2: Parents should not fight in front of their kids

Myth #3: Boundaries are always about saying NO!

Find out how to set boundaries in a way that feels collegial at work and good at home.

About Amy Armstrong:

​​Amy is a coach and coach trainer, and spends her days listening to moms and dads fight over kids and money. She helps parents set boundaries and solve problems so they can reduce stress, save money and get their kids out of the middle of adult conflict. She brought coaching to the arena of family court, and champions innovative practices to transform the domestic court system.

Get in touch with Amy:

LinkedIn: @coachamyarmstrong

Website: www.thecenterforfamilyresolution.com

Coaching: www.thecenterforcoachdevelopment.com

Get the award-winning book: Real-Time Parenting

Resources:

Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/ixu9FLddZ-w

Download a copy of the Burnout Checklist at: https://www.drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

Reprogram your subconscious: www.thepriminglab.com

Just when the people closest to you don't believe in you, your mission in life gets defined. You become determined, even hooked on proving yourself. The trouble is, this compulsion can lead to burnout and even become an addiction.

This week on Decode Your Burnout, Dr. Stephan Neff, an anesthetist who's had more than a fair share of trauma in his life, shares how his addiction to work led to substance abuse, burnout, and a loss of identity. He worked hard and played hard until he ended up in the fetal position, an empty shell.

During his struggle, Dr. Stephan tried to drown PTSD, depression and anxiety in industrial doses of vodka but had to learn the hard way that those critters can swim. Nowadays he lives a very different life, where self-love, humility, integrity and transparency actually mean something. He hosts the show MY STEPS TO SOBRIETY, and has just released the second edition of his book under the same name.

Connect with Dr. Stephan:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ5Rgw59jOX4y3iDeMAXpwQ (YouTube show)

https://stephanneff.podbean.com/ (podcast)

https://www.mystepstosobriety.com

Resources:

If you're experiencing burnout, download the Burnout Checklist: https://drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

"Parenting is the hardest thing we've never been trained for." Ain't that the truth? Raising kids can turn you into a ball of stress where you're screaming and yelling but still not getting the results you want.

That's where Sue Donnellan found herself years ago. She was a reluctant parent to begin with who got thrown into the deep end when she went from having one child to adding triplets to the family. She was also the primary breadwinner for the family. As she tried to juggle entrepreneurship with parenting, she found herself exasperated and exhausted – desperately grabbing sleep where she could, including snoozing at red lights.

If you're tired of feeling tired and flying by the seat of your pants, check out this week's episode of Decode Your Burnout where you'll find what can help you build relationships of trust with your kids, take some of the burden off your plate, and guide you toward parenting without punishing, yelling, and time outs.

Sue's 3 parenting tips:

Tip 1: Give your child autonomy, which gives you more breathing room and helps them build confidence

Tip 2: Make sure you get your needs met rather than wait for your kids to meet them

Tip 3: Work on yourself rather than try to change your child

About Sue Donnellan:

Sue Donnellan is an award-winning author, Parenting Strategist, an entrepreneur, wife, and mother of four (including surprise triplets). As a one-time reluctant parent and reformed yeller, Sue has lived the mom-stress balance firsthand. She is a revolutionary thinker who has been advising parents, transforming households, and reducing overwhelm for over 20 years with her unique parenting methods that have become the The Proven Playbook for parents.

Connect with Sue:

Sign up for a FREE 20 minute call with Sue: https://askmomparenting.com

Book: Secrets to Parenting without Giving a Fuck: https://amzn.to/3Lwxi54

Find Sue on social: @askmomparenting

Resources:

If you're experiencing parental burnout, download the Burnout Checklist: https://drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/4aJbxgRVAVE

Sometimes our programming lends itself to burnout. We have beliefs that lead us to seek out professions, such as medicine, where we push ourselves to the point of exhaustion and that behavior is expected or at the very least welcomed. We believe we have to give it our all and this just sucks the life out of us.

In this week's episode of Decode Your Burnout, Dr. Robyn Alley-Hay shares her burnout story which started in residency. She powered through 120 hours of work while pregnant with her third child. Given that we have 168 hours in a week, that leaves less than 7 hours per day for anything outside of work including sleep.

She shares her encounter with the Dalai Lama and its effect on her burnout recovery as well as three tips for sustainability at work to prevent burnout based on her lived experience.

Tips:

1. Utilize coaching to examine your beliefs from the past and see which ones are no longer serving you. This can help you set boundaries, engage in self-care, and detach your productivity from your worth.
2. Learn to say no. It's a full sentence and it's a big part of becoming healthy.
3. Get clear on what fulfills you and choose to do what's important to you rather than just show up.

About Dr. Robyn:

Dr. Robyn Alley-Hay is a women's empowerment coach, physician coach, speaker, and author. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Kansas, Wichita. She is a Certified Physician Development Coach and a Fellow at the Institute of Coaching. And if that weren't enough, Dr. Alley-Hay also works with a non-profit that at the invitation of the Dalai Lama provides Western medicine to a Tibetan Buddhist population in the far reaches of the Himalayan mountains.

She is currently living and loving in Dallas, Texas with her husband, two longhorn cows, twelve goats, three dogs, two cats, one duck, and several chickens.

Get in touch:

Dr. Alley-Hay can be reached on social media, or at her website DrAlley-Hay.com for speaking, coaching, and consulting inquiries.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/life-coach-robyn-alley-hay/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dralleyhay/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robynalley/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DralleyHay

Resources:

Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/r4Gf5_J4VqA

Download a copy of the Burnout Checklist at: https://www.drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

Do you tell yourself you're "doing just fine" when really you're just going through the motions, experiencing death by a thousand cuts? That's how Dr. Harry Karydes described his experience as an emergency physician in a community hospital. As is the norm there, Dr. Harry would do shift work and within his first hour on the job would see eight patients. In retrospect, he calls this a "pretty risky pace" because when you're the only physician working, you're all alone and the buck stops with you.

Imagine the toll working at this pace has on you, especially when you can't always save everyone. Then a baby died during his shift, which described as "a sledgehammer across my face." He didn't have time to grieve on the job and when he got home, he didn't want to "burden" his wife with the news. He kept it to himself, a huge red flag of burnout that's pushed many others in a similar situation to suicide.

This week's episode of Decode Your Burnout is dedicated to anyone whose blurred the lines between work and home, who finds themselves in in burnout territory, and who needs a wakeup call. It's also dedicated to physicians who want specific resources for creating a shut-down routine after work.

About Dr. Harry Karydes

Dr. Harry Karydes is an emergency physician and medical toxicologist who practices in the Chicagoland area. He understands the issues that physicians face every day including stress, lack of motivation, and mental fatigue that have become commonplace in medicine

For years, he struggled to keep things balanced while growing at work and thriving at home, and his success came at the expense of his health and family. Something needed to change.

Harry has crafted habits that focus on reaching personal and professional goals without sacrificing one for the other. As a writer and national speaker who has a passion for physician wellness, he helps overwhelmed physicians, residents, and medical students to live a life of focus and balance. His mission is to give you the courage and the tools to learn, grow, and thrive in the important areas of your life. His main platform is at www.medicinerevived.com where he has a blog and podcast.

Dr. Harry's Tips:

Tip #1: Create a self-care routine before and after work. This will trickle down to better relationships at home and at work.

Tip #2: Minimize distractions including from others while you're working so you can focus on your tasks.

Tip #3: Schedule time with people you care about in advance. This helps prevent isolation and a feeling of loneliness.

Resources:

Download Dr. Harry's post-work shutdown routine: https://courses.medicinerevived.com/shutdown-routine

Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/8ZyByNp2Jiw

Download a copy of the Burnout Checklist at: www.drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

If you regularly feel stressed out, humor can be your secret weapon for burnout prevention. This week on Decode Your Burnout, I interviewed Heather Tolley-Bauer, a stand-up comedian who shares her wisdom about comedy and tips for successful living. She reminds us that not everything is a laugh out loud moment, but we need to find the things that are and laugh when we can. She also shares one of the formulas for being funny.

Heather Tolley-Bauer is a drop-dead funny, stay-at-home mom, wife, and colorectal cancer-survivor. As a stand-up comedian, she provides all kinds of audiences with much-needed laughs to cope with everything from marriage, middle-age & millennials to parenting, Pinterest, the PTA, a Pandemic and so much more.

She books, hosts and produces a wildly popular show called Laugh-Lines & Stretch-Marks®️, has opened for nationally touring comic Brian Moote, appeared on the Weather Channel's original program, Weather Gone Viral, and was recently selected to perform at the prestigious LaughFest in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Her top 7 tips include:

1. Don't take yourself too seriously, but take your business seriously. You will not be for everyone, so just be OK with it.

2. You don't have to have it all figured out before you take action

3. Once you have some tested material under your belt, you can customize the experience for the audience and do it without the message being fully baked

4. If you're going to do work that takes you away from your family, have it be meaningful

5. As an entrepreneur, you need to know how much it costs you to do business and how much you want to make. This will help you figure out how much wiggle room you have in your pricing when onboarding a new client so you're never giving away what you're doing in terms of money or energy. By establishing your bottom line, you give yourself permission to hold the line around your pricing.

6. If you're a people pleaser and you tend to give the farm away because you want people to like you, because it's hard for you to say no, because you feel guilty, or because you think it's selfish to focus on yourself, then take this to heart: Figure out what your bottom line is, which means in your case, what are you already committed to? What do you need for yourself? What are the essentials that you need to protect yourself from burnout so that you can still show up for other people without showing up so much that you're not showing up for yourself?

7. It's up to each one of us to define what it means to be successful.

Follow Heather:

Instagram: @hyphen_up

Website: Hyphenup.com

Resources:

Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/QUAN5aIfXDI

Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

Download a copy of the Burnout Checklist at: www.drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

Are you a self-published author who's struggling to get your book in front of more eyeballs? This week's guest on Decode Your Burnout is Alex Strathdee, an Amazon ads expert who debunks the myths of what it takes to be a successful author. These tips will be relevant to you as an entrepreneur even if you're not an author.

At 21, Alex convinced 11 colleges to send his book to 40,000+ students across the US. Now, he's the founder of AdvancedAmazonAds.com (200+ books and $300,000+ in ad spend) where he helps authors get their books read. He works from various countries from around the world. A minimalist at heart - everything he owns fits into a backpack and duffel bag. When he's not working, you can find him sitting out on a surfboard, waiting for the next big wave.

Myth 1: All you have to do is put your book on Amazon and it's going to sell. The truth is that you need to be specific, know who your audience is so you can speak their language when you market to them.

Myth 2: What works for one author will work for another. Each book is different so you need a more targeted approach when it comes to selling it. Find out what your ideal reader is searching for so you can have ads that include those keywords. This is true in business when it comes to your ideal client because your niche will set you apart and make your offer relevant.

Myth 3: When it comes to Amazon ads, you have to go big or go home. It's better to start small and get some data before you outsource Amazon ads to someone else. You don't have to do it all yourself.

Resources:

1. Kindlepreneur.com - free resources for authors including a free Amazon ads course
2. To sign up for newsletter and to register for Alex's free course on Amazon ads: advancedamazonads.com
3. Reach out to Alex to see about fit: [email protected]

4. Download a copy of the Burnout Checklist at: www.drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

5. Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/Gs2DnP0eOXI

6. Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

Sometimes, getting a pink slip can be your ticket out. This week on Decode Your Burnout, we hear the story from a former single mom to three kids who burned out working in a high stress nine to five corporate job. Getting fired may have put her out of her misery, but it was her promise to singer Billy Ray Cyrus that helped her find her dream.

Today, Michelle Kulp is the bestselling author of over 20 books. In 2020, Michelle decided to write, publish and launch a book a month as an "experiment" and created thousands of dollars in passive income by writing books. Her books also connect her with clients for her Bestselling Author Program.

She joins us to debunk the myths of what it takes to be a successful author and we learn how to apply her tips to life in general to prevent burnout.

Tip 1: Sometimes we think that we need something big to happen, but you can do a lot more yourself and you can have more control of the process. Get active and find ways that you can apply the tips that are out there from other people who have done it to whatever your project is that you'd like to accomplish.

Tip 2: Don't just set it and forget it. have some sort of follow-up.

Tip 3: If you've got writer's block, show up anyway. You've got to hold yourself accountable by having some sort of a timeline and structure around when you show up for your work.

Connect with Michelle:

Website:https://bestsellingauthorprogram.com/

Resources:

Download a FREE Burnout Checklist at: www.drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/aKvnFzK1Fzc

Crack your personality code in 90 seconds:

https://bit.ly/crackmycodein90sec

Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

Are you someone with ADHD who feels burned out? Does it feel like no matter how hard you try, you can never get through the thousands of items on your to do list? Do you tend to take on more than you can handle?

If that's you, tune in to this week's episode of Decode Your Burnout where I interview ADHD expert and coach, Linda Walker, who shared her journey through and recovery from burnout.

Linda helps overwhelmed entrepreneurs and executives with ADHD or ADHD tendencies find clarity of purpose, achieve better focus, and adopt better time management techniques. She is the author of "With Time to Spare: The Ultimate Guide to Peak Performance for Entrepreneurs, Adults with ADHD, and Other Creative Geniuses."

Here are the tips Linda shared:

1. Prioritize and manage tasks using a top-down approach. Look at the project or big picture first and then at the individual tasks
2. Find out what you've already committed to before you take on any new tasks
3. Force in a social life and time to do things that are creative and fun outside of work even if you love what you do
4. Plan your work around periods in your day when you're better focused
5. Use the calendar rather than rely on memory for your to-dos

Connect with Linda:

Website: https://www.coachlindawalker.com

Grab the free guide, The Top 3 Productivity Hacks for Creative Genius Entrepreneurs at: http://www.creativegeniusreport.com

Resources:

Download a FREE Burnout Checklist at: www.drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist

Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/g9t5z56lmto

Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

Crack your personality code in 90 seconds:

https://bit.ly/crackmycodein90sec