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Neuroscience, Nervous Systems & Navigating Pressure with Matt Follows
How can someone pursue ambition, creativity and high performance without burning out along the way?
In this episode of Mad Influence, Helen Saul is joined by Matt Follows, a coach and performance psychologist who works with founders, creative leaders and senior executives operating in high-pressure environments. Before moving into psychology, Matt spent more than 15 years in the creative industries, working his way from junior copywriter to executive creative director.
Today he helps leaders understand how stress, trauma and subconscious patterns can influence the way they work, make decisions and lead others. Drawing on training in clinical psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and multiple psychological disciplines, Matt works with individuals and leadership teams across organisations including Disney, National Geographic and Toyota.
Matt’s perspective is shaped by his own experience of burnout. After years of pushing himself in the creative industries, he ended up in hospital at the age of 29 following a severe anaphylactic shock linked to alcohol during a shoot. The moment forced him to confront the cost of the lifestyle he had been living and rethink the relationship between ambition, identity and wellbeing. Not long afterwards, he stepped away from advertising and began rebuilding his career in psychology.
As Matt puts it: “You can’t push your nervous system, you can’t push your physiology, you can’t push your brain continuously.”
This conversation explores sustainable high performance, the hidden psychological drivers behind workaholism, and why many high achievers are motivated by a subconscious belief that they are “not enough”. Helen and Matt also discuss hustle culture, flow states, identity collapse after losing a job, and the difference between chasing external success and building a life you never feel the need to escape from.
Music written by Joseph McDade
Site: mattfollows.com
Follow Matt
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattfollows/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattfollow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfollows/
Follow Helen Saul
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/helensaul/
Follow Mad Influence
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@madinfluencepod
Instagram: www.instagram.com/madinfluencepod
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@madinfluencepod
View all episodes
By Helen SaulHow can someone pursue ambition, creativity and high performance without burning out along the way?
In this episode of Mad Influence, Helen Saul is joined by Matt Follows, a coach and performance psychologist who works with founders, creative leaders and senior executives operating in high-pressure environments. Before moving into psychology, Matt spent more than 15 years in the creative industries, working his way from junior copywriter to executive creative director.
Today he helps leaders understand how stress, trauma and subconscious patterns can influence the way they work, make decisions and lead others. Drawing on training in clinical psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and multiple psychological disciplines, Matt works with individuals and leadership teams across organisations including Disney, National Geographic and Toyota.
Matt’s perspective is shaped by his own experience of burnout. After years of pushing himself in the creative industries, he ended up in hospital at the age of 29 following a severe anaphylactic shock linked to alcohol during a shoot. The moment forced him to confront the cost of the lifestyle he had been living and rethink the relationship between ambition, identity and wellbeing. Not long afterwards, he stepped away from advertising and began rebuilding his career in psychology.
As Matt puts it: “You can’t push your nervous system, you can’t push your physiology, you can’t push your brain continuously.”
This conversation explores sustainable high performance, the hidden psychological drivers behind workaholism, and why many high achievers are motivated by a subconscious belief that they are “not enough”. Helen and Matt also discuss hustle culture, flow states, identity collapse after losing a job, and the difference between chasing external success and building a life you never feel the need to escape from.
Music written by Joseph McDade
Site: mattfollows.com
Follow Matt
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattfollows/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattfollow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfollows/
Follow Helen Saul
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/helensaul/
Follow Mad Influence
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@madinfluencepod
Instagram: www.instagram.com/madinfluencepod
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@madinfluencepod