Spacious Success

What if your fractured focus was never yours to fix?

That question lands differently once you see who is most worried about it. Not the women navigating menopause. Not the ones managing chronic illness or complex caregiving. The youngest ones. Six in ten women aged 18 to 24 report concerns about their attention span, against two in ten women aged 65 and over. If this were a hormonal story, the numbers would run the other way.

Dr Kristy found her own version of it at 30,000 feet: three and a half hours to Cairns, no signal, a book, coffee, nobody asking for a snack, and she could not get past the third page. A woman with a PhD in how the brain processes information, watching her attention slide off the paragraph like water off a windscreen.

What follows is not a lecture about willpower. It is the science underneath the experience, from the attention economy to attention residue, the organisational cost most leaders are absorbing without measuring, and three protocols any woman can put in place this week.

In this episode Kristy shares

• Six in ten women aged 18 to 24 are worried about their attention span, the highest of any age group
• Why the age inversion is the finding, and what it rules out
• The flight to Cairns: uninterrupted time, and still unable to read
• Focus Quotient depletion, and how it differs from burnout and from stress
• Why the workplace tools built for efficiency are quietly fragmenting us
• The attention economy, where interruption is a design decision rather than an accident
• Attention residue: why you are never fully present in the task in front of you
• What feels like multitasking is rapid task switching, and what the switch actually costs
• Popcorn brain, and why it is a description rather than a diagnosis
• Best thinking versus most persistent thinking, and what fragmentation costs an organisation
• Power-zone hours, and how to build a fortress around your focus
• Ultradian rhythms, ninety-minute blocks, and thirty seconds with your eyes closed
• Auditing your attention environment, and why red notification badges are never neutral
• "Your urgency is not my emergency", and why most responsiveness pressure is self-imposed
  

Key Quotes

"This is not a focus problem. This is a design problem."

"You are not getting their best thinking. You are getting their most persistent thinking."

"Your attention system is not broken. It is responding perfectly rationally to irrational conditions."

Timestamps

(00:11) The statistic that stopped me

(02:26) Unable to read on a flight to Cairns

(04:24) Focus Quotient depletion, and what it is not

(05:27) The Jean Hailes data, and the age inversion

(07:02) A prefrontal cortex built for a different world

(07:28) The attention economy

(08:07) Attention residue

(09:32) Popcorn brain

(10:04) What feels like multitasking is not multitasking

(12:09) Best thinking versus most persistent thinking

(12:56) Power-zone hours, and a fortress around your focus

(14:18) Ultradian rhythms and the thirty-second visual break

(15:24) Auditing your attention environment

(17:01) Your urgency is not my emergency

(17:20) The reframe, and this week’s Power-Up

Spacious Success with Dr Kristy Goodwin

🟩 Website: https://drkristygoodwin.com/spacious-success/

🟩 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkristygoodwin/

🟩 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkristy/

🟩 Speaking enquiries: https://drkristygoodwin.com/speaking/

🟩 Chronotype Assessment and Report: https://drkristygoodwin.com/product/chronotype/

References

Arain, M., Haque, M., Johal, L., Mathur, P., Nel, W., Rais, A., Sandhu, R., & Sharma, S. (2013). Maturation of the adolescent brain. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 9, 449-461. https://www.dovepress.com/maturation-of-the-adolescent-brain-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-NDT

Foerde, K., Knowlton, B. J., & Poldrack, R. A. (2006). Modulation of competing memory systems by distraction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(31), 11778-11783.

Jean Hailes for Women’s Health. (2025). 2025 National Women’s Health Survey. https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/research/womens-health-survey/2025-reports

Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 168-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002

Mark, G. (2023). Attention span: A groundbreaking way to restore balance, happiness and productivity. Hanover Square Press.

Levy, D. M. (2011). "Popcorn brain", as attributed in reporting on Levy’s work at the University of Washington Information School. A colloquial term, not a clinical diagnosis.

Other episodes you may be interested in

EP001 From Code Red to High-Res (the burnout story the flight anecdote calls back to): https://drkristygoodwin.com/spacious-success-code-red-to-high-res/

EP007 Productivity Hijackers (context switching and attention residue): https://d

What if the exhaustion isn't a time problem, but a nervous-system one?

That question lands differently when you're a senior leader who has held it all together for years, and your body finally calls it in on the first night of your holidays.

Manelle Merhi knows that moment intimately. General Manager of Marketing and Customer Experience at Kennards Hire, mentor to women in a male-dominated industry, mother of twins, she did all of it at what she calls full velocity. Until 19 December, when the surge capacity ran out.

What followed wasn't a slow-down. Manelle hasn't lost an ounce of ambition. It was a rebuild: an operating model tied to her biology rather than fighting it. In this conversation she and Dr Kristy trace the science underneath the story, from the letdown effect to attention residue, and the structures any leader can borrow this week.

In this episode Manelle shares

• Why her body "held on" until it was finally safe to collapse, and the science of the letdown effect
• What burnout actually looks like in a high-functioning senior leader
• Treating energy as a bank account: are you in credit, or heading for deficit
• Why knowledge workers are paid for judgement, not hours, so energy is the real lever
• No-decision days: protecting her biggest calls for a rested brain
• No-meeting Fridays, and the research linking meeting-free days to higher output and lower stress
• Closing the mental tabs: 15-minute transitions and the science of attention residue
• Why women may be the first generation carrying full-velocity work and intensified parenting at once
• The ambition gap that's really a wellbeing gap in disguise
• Why you can't champion other women on an empty tank
• "Can you hear the birds?" — the question that brought her back to presence
• Designing a life you don't want to escape, rather than waiting for the weekend

Key Quotes

"Now I think about my energy as a bank account."

"Let me design a life I don't want to escape."

"Your urgency is not my emergency."

Timestamps

(00:00) Meeting Manelle Merhi

(11:34) The wake-up call: burnout on the last day of work

(18:08) Duck syndrome and the letdown effect

(22:24) Energy as a bank account

(23:37) The three human currencies and the Energy Audit

(26:51) No-decision days and meeting-free Fridays

(31:54) Mental open tabs and attention residue

(34:37) The first generation to carry both

(37:48) The ambition gap that's really a wellbeing gap

(41:26) Why you can't champion others on an empty tank

(43:17) Can you hear the birds?

(46:55) A breath that resets: dignity, safety, belonging

(52:27) Design a life you don't want to escape

Manelle Merhi

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/manellemerhi/ 

Spacious Success with Dr Kristy Goodwin

• Website: https://drkristygoodwin.com/spacious-success/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkristygoodwin/
• Instagram: https:https://www.instagram.com/drkristy/ 
• Speaking enquiries:https://drkristygoodwin.com/speaking/ 

References

Laker, B., Pereira, V., Budhwar, P., & Malik, A. (2022). The surprising impact of meeting-free days. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-surprising-impact-of-meeting-free-days/

Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 168–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002

McKinsey & Company, & LeanIn.Org. (2025). Women in the workplace 2025. https://womenintheworkplace.com/

Other episodes you may be interested in

EP002 The Stress Superstorm (stress cycle and hormones), (https://drkristygoodwin.com/spacious-success-episode-02-the-stress-superstorm/)

EP007 Productivity Hijackers (context switching and attention residue), (https://drkristygoodwin.com/spacious-success-episode-07-productivity-hijackers/)

EP013 We Don't Have an Ambition Gap. We Have a Wellbeing Gap (the reframe Kristy revisits at 38:16), (https://drkristygoodwin.com/spacious-success-episode-13-we-dont-have-an-ambition-gap/)

If your brain has felt unfamiliar in recent years, this episode is for you.

Dr Kristy Goodwin unpacks the ADHD and perimenopause collision: why so many high-performing women hit their late thirties and forties and find that the strategies that carried them for decades suddenly stop working. Estrogen is one of the brain’s most powerful neuromodulators, and when it starts to fluctuate, it destabilises the very dopamine circuits that govern attention, working memory and emotional regulation.

Drawing on a 2025 population study of more than 5,000 women published in European Psychiatry, plus new analysis from King’s College London, Kristy explains why women with ADHD experience severe perimenopausal symptoms at nearly double the rate of other women, why nearly half are not diagnosed until midlife, and why perimenopause can unmask, worsen or mimic ADHD.

You will learn how to build a coherent symptom picture before your next medical appointment, why this is the season to protect rather than strip back your support systems, and how to advocate for yourself when you are told everything looks fine.

This episode is not medical advice. If you recognise yourself here, please speak with a medical professional who understands both ADHD and perimenopause.

Relevant Links

Speaking enquiries: https://drkristygoodwin.com/contact/ 

Ovum app: https://www.askovum.com/ 

Episode References

Chapman, L., Gupta, K., Hunter, M. S., & Dommett, E. J. (2025). Examining the link between ADHD symptoms and menopausal experiences. Journal of Attention Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547251355006

Jakobsdottir Smari, U., Valdimarsdottir, U. A., Wynchank, D., de Jong, M., Aspelund, T., Hauksdottir, A., Thordardottir, E. B., Tomasson, G., Jakobsdottir, J., Lu, D., Nevriana, A., Larsson, H., Kooij, S., & Zoega, H. (2025). Perimenopausal symptoms in women with and without ADHD: A population-based cohort study. European Psychiatry, 68(1), e133. https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2025.10101

Eng, A. G., et al. (2024). Cyclical hormonal fluctuation and ADHD symptom severity across the menstrual cycle. Hormones and Behavior. 

Osianlis, E., Thomas, E. H. X., Li, Q., Bellgrove, M., May, T., Chapman, D., Kulkarni, J., & Gurvich, C. (2026). ADHD in females: Survey findings on symptoms across hormonal life stages. Journal of psychiatric research, 193, 208–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.11.035

Why do so many high-functioning women hold it together all day, then unravel somewhere between the front door and dinner preparation? In this episode, Dr Kristy sits down with registered psychologist, bestselling author and international speaker Dr Vanessa Lapointe to unpack the invisible emotional load ambitious women carry as the steady anchor of their families, teams and workplaces.

Vanessa shares the single most reframing idea in this conversation: all overreaction is an age regression. When you snap over the shoes in the hallway, it is rarely the grown-up in you speaking. Together, Kristy and Vanessa explore identity whiplash, the childhood programming that makes boundaries feel unsafe, the science of rupture and repair, and why atonement beats apology every time. Vanessa also shares, with disarming honesty, what buying into the myth of having it all cost her, and the simple morning ritual that now anchors her day.

If you are the emotional thermostat of your household or your team, this conversation is your permission slip: even on your worst day, you are still your people's best bet.

Dr Vanessa Lapointe’s website- https://drvanessalapointe.com/ 

Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/dr.vanessalapointe/ 

References from the episode:

Tronick, E., & Gold, C. M. (2020). The power of discord: Why the ups and downs of relationships are the secret to building intimacy, resilience, and trust. Little, Brown Spark. 

Elkind, D. (2007). The power of play: Learning what comes naturally. Da Capo Press. 

In-episode claim that one of the highest consumer uses of generative AI chat tools is seeking parenting advice. \

https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/blog/ai-parenting-statistics/ 

In-episode description of oestrogen as a hormone of accommodation; this is a colloquial framing, not a clinical term.

You can manage your time, set your boundaries, take the holiday, and still find that you cannot switch off. In this episode, Dr Kristy unpacks why so many high-achievers keep overworking even when every external reason to slow down has gone.

Drawing on new research into what scientists call the “doer identity”, and the striking pattern of eldest daughters in senior leadership, she explains why rest can register as a threat to your nervous system, names the three identity profiles driving the behaviour, and shares three shifts to begin loosening the grip. This is not a time-management problem. It is an identity problem. And it is one you can work with, not against.

Book Dr Kristy to speak: https://drkristygoodwin.com

Coaching: https://drkristygoodwin.com/executive-coaching/ 

What if confidence was never the thing holding women back? In this episode, Dr Kristy Goodwin sits down with digital safety expert, speaker and former police officer Yasmin London to unpack what is really keeping capable women from stepping forward. Yasmin shares preliminary findings from her First Movers Women's Confidence Study, including the striking gap between how confident women feel in the role they already hold and how rarely they apply for the next one. Together they explore why burnout is a systemic condition rather than a personal flaw, why courage comes before confidence and not the other way around, the unspoken tax women pay for being visible online, and how households and workplaces can redistribute the invisible load. It is a candid, science-backed conversation about backing women in ways that actually work.

Why does a messy house feel like a personal failing for so many women, even when their partner insists no one cares? In this episode I unpack the research on mess perception, kinkeeping and office housework that reveals what I call the Invisible Tax: the cognitive and emotional load women carry at home and at work that is rarely seen, rarely measured and almost never rewarded.

I share a study where more than 600 people judged identical messy rooms differently depending on whether the name on the door was John or Jane, and a moment from one of my keynotes where I asked a room full of women to raise their hands for every piece of invisible labour they had performed that month. I explain why this load is not a perception problem but a working memory problem, drawing on research into the cognitive dimension of household labour and the second shift.

Then I share three strategies for making the invisible visible, protecting your cognitive prime time and reducing the tax you are paying without even realising it.

References

Daminger, A. (2019). The cognitive dimension of household labor. American Sociological Review, 84(4), 609-633.

Hochschild, A. R. (1989). The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home. Viking.

Saxbe, D., & Repetti, R. (2010). No place like home: Home tours correlate with daily patterns of mood and cortisol. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(1), 71-81.

Enquire about Dr Kristy speaking at your event: https://drkristygoodwin.com/speaking/

Links

• Chronotype Assessment and Report - https://drkristygoodwin.com/product/chronotype/ 
• Fair Play book and cards - https://www.fairplaylife.com/ 
• The Imperfects episode on The Elephant in the Relationship | Marriage and The Mental Load - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGwzKFu4ckU 

Taryn Brumfitt has reached more than 200 million people with one message: your body is not the problem. As the 2023 Australian of the Year, founder of the Embrace Movement and creator of the EMBRACE films, Taryn has spent more than a decade doing the work that most of us were told was impossible. Changing the way women feel about their bodies.

In this conversation, Taryn and I explore what actually happened the night she posted those now-famous before-and-after photos and went to bed. We talk about why women struggle so persistently with body image in a world designed to profit from their insecurity, and how to reclaim your power in a digital environment built to make you feel not enough. We cover the compare-and-despair cycle, how to tame self-doubt and choose courage in small, repeatable ways, and why the superwoman identity is a myth we need to stop celebrating.

Taryn also shares what she has witnessed as a high-profile woman on the receiving end of online abuse, and why calling it out is not optional. We close with her definition of spacious success, which is doing what you want, how you want, when you want, and sitting with the discomfort of even saying that out loud.

This is one of the most honest, funny and quietly courageous conversations I have had on this podcast. Taryn is proof that one action taken from truth can change the world.

Resources 

Taryn Brumfitt website: tarynbrumfitt.com 

Body Image Movement: bodyimagemovement.com 

The Embrace Hub (free resources): embracehub.com 

EMBRACE and EMBRACE KIDS films

Taryn Brumfitt on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarynbrumfitt/) and Instagram Taryn (https://www.instagram.com/tarynbrumfittkeynotes/) and Body Image Movement (https://www.instagram.com/bodyimagemovement/)

There is a thought that many high-performing women have quietly entertained, and almost never say out loud. Sometimes I wish I could just get sick for a week. Not seriously. Just enough to stop. Just enough that the world would stop asking things of them without needing an explanation.

In this episode, Dr Kristy Goodwin unpacks why this fantasy is more widespread than we admit, what it is actually signalling, and why it is not a resilience problem. It is a design problem.

Drawing on research into anticipatory labour, cortisol recovery patterns, and the neuroscience of mirror neurons, Kristy reframes the illness fantasy as a loud biological signal: high-performing women are operating beyond their bandwidth in systems that only grant permission to rest when the body forces it.

You will leave this episode with a clearer understanding of why your body is sending these signals, and three practical ways to start reclaiming rest as a performance strategy, not a reward.

Resources:

Nicola Jane Hobbs’ Book The Relaxed Woman (https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-relaxed-woman-9781846048067)

Nap Ministry- https://www.instagram.com/thenapministry/?hl=en

Amplified Program- https://drkristygoodwin.com/executive-coaching/ 

Amelia Phillips is a sports scientist, nutritionist, bestselling author, and co-founder of the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation. For over two decades she has worked with women on the science of energy, recovery and performance, and today she brings her precision lens to the conversation Spacious Success listeners are hungry for.

In this episode, Amelia and Dr Kristy Goodwin go deep on what is actually happening inside the bodies of ambitious women in their late 30s, 40s and 50s, the data Amelia is seeing in her programs, and the practical steps that make a measurable difference. They cover the cortisol test that revealed only 5 out of 65 women had a healthy stress response, the difference between chronic stress and adrenal fatigue and why the treatment approach is completely different, why vitamin D deficiency is rampant in Australia and how it directly impacts energy and mood, the reframe of discipline as freedom rather than restriction, and how to protect your energy capital so you are not running on empty.

This is not generic wellness advice. It is evidence-led, biology-first and built for the woman who is done guessing.

Key Topics Covered

• The red thread through Amelia's career: health, women and behaviour change
• What the data shows in the Inner Vitality program: the four stress response types
• The cortisol curve explained: chronic stress versus adrenal fatigue versus dysregulation
• Why only 5 out of 65 women returned a healthy stress response
• The micronutrient deficiencies most commonly found in high-performing women: vitamin D, magnesium, ferritin, iodine
• Can't sleep versus won't sleep: two very different problems requiring very different solutions
• Discipline as a framework for freedom, not restriction
• The daily breath, weekly pause, seasonal restore model for stress management
• Energy capital: deposits, withdrawals and what that means for your week
• The Superwoman Myth: Amelia's take on why nobody actually feels like a superwoman

RESOURCES

Amelia’s Website (https://www.ameliaphillips.com.au/)

Energy Quiz (https://v360.health/sp/energy-quiz-2/)

Vitality 360 Program (https://v360.health/)

Healthy Her podcast (https://www.ameliaphillips.com.au/podcasts/)

Follow Amelia on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/_amelia_phillips/)