The Mental Offload Podcast

Whether you're looking at the business press, or the motivation quotes on Pinterest, you'll often get a one-dimensional look at what it takes to be successful.

"Go for GROWTH!"

It's so ingrained in our culture's approach to success, that you can feel like a failure if you're not constantly trying to achieve the Next Big Thing, personally or professionally.

I was sitting in my office with a client, who was almost apologetic about her desire to ratchet down the pace as she adjusted to a new baby in the family.

"I'm not sure this is a growth year for me," she admitted. "Is that terrible?"

She was slightly terrified by the idea that if she dared to slow down the career treadmill, she'd never regain her speed.

The idea that a career needs to be linear, with a steady pace, seems really tidy, but it's not necessary in order to be successful.

That's why, as you consider your ambitions for a new year, it's critical to consider this as well:

Your pace.

Specifically, whether you want to aim for a Growth, Balance or Pivot year.

This episode will help you set your own pace on the route to success.

What You'll Learn:

• Why plotting your pace for the year is as important as plotting your goals for the year

• 3 ways to set your pace: growth, balance or pivot

• Why society treats some paces as "better", and how to get comfortable with your own pace

• The tradeoffs that come with each pace

To learn more, visit The Mental Offload.

The start of a new year is an invitation to change. You think about what you want to achieve this year. Make a few New Year's resolutions. As the clock starts midnight, you're ready to get started: new year, new you. Right?

But the statistics tell a depressing truth: most new year's resolutions fail. In fact, most resolutions are abandoned before January is even over.

What's going on with resolutions? Is there a way to make change in the new year that actually works?

In this episode, we'll explore what you need to know about successfully achieving your goals for the year ahead.

What You'll Learn:

• Why most New Year's Resolutions fail

• How to "fail-proof" your resolutions

• 2 alternatives for successful goal setting

To learn more, visit The Mental Offload.

Is it possible to thrive in a biased world?

It can feel like an impossible task, one where we're always at risk of failing someone else. Or our own standards. Trying to navigate a world that has soooooo maaaannny rules for how we're supposed to do things can be utterly exhausting. And thankless. It also leaves many of us as perfectionistic people-pleasers.

But where did those rules, standards and expectations come from anyway? In this episode, we break down the process of how we ended up in this state, starting with "good girl" conditioning.

We also take a glimpse of how conditioning of additional cultural identities can compound the pressures of socialization.

And we talk about the tools for breaking free of all of it.

What You'll Learn:

• What Good Girl Conditioning is, and how it turns into internalized sexism

• How we end up carrying around a "Manual", and how we end up deferring to it

• How our cultural background impacts the Manual

• The problem with the Manuals we have for ourselves

• Why breaking free of Good Girl Conditioning requires re-writing our Manual

To learn more, visit The Mental Offload.

When overachievers become mothers, something strange can happen. And it's rarely discussed. It's Mom-poster syndrome.

Most people have heard about imposter syndrome. Those feelings of being not good enough, of feeling like a fraud, that can sneak up on us.

We mostly think of imposter syndrome in our professional lives. But our inner critic can also come up around our "other" job as mothers. It might hit when you're expecting, or as a new mom, or at a major developmental transition.

Our inner critic can amplify all of our other worries, doubts and guilt. Left unchecked, Momposter syndrome can send your career off the rails, it can drive a wedge into your marriage, and may even contribute to post-partum mental health struggles.

Let's break down Momposter Syndrome.

What You'll Learn:

• Why Momposter Syndrome seems more prevalent in younger generations and for Type A mothers

• 2 very different ways that Momposter Syndrome can show up for working mothers

• How understanding the lies of the Momposter & inner critic can help us find freedom from it

For more information, visit The Mental Offload.

Mom Guilt seems to lurk everywhere. Especially if you're a working mother. Work long hours? You're supposed to feel guilty about not being a good enough mother. Missing meetings when your kid is sick yet again? You're supposed to feel guilty about not being a good enough employee.

How to escape from the guilt trap? Is it even possible?! In this episode, we go deep into Mom Guilt, and how to get rid of it. Mom Guilt truly is optional when you learn this approach.

What You'll Learn:

• The root cause of mom guilt

• 3 sneaky things that we don't realize cause guilt

• How to "opt out" of mom guilt

To learn more, visit The Mental Offload.

In an always-on culture, where work is more and more "greedy" about wanting our time and availability, how can we achieve balance?

At the Mental Offload, we've created a framework for achieving balance. It has 4 elements, that work together to support – or undermine – your balance. Your time, your team, your systems, and your mindset.

Your balance will only be as good as the weakest of these 4. In this episode will talk about how it only takes one "wobbly leg" to throw us off balance. What You'll Learn:

• The 4 pillars of balance, and why you need each one

• How the pillars work together to support balance

• The major mistake that high-achievers don't realize is sabotaging their balance

• How failing to address our weakest pillars can lead to burning out

For more information visit, The Mental Offload.

'Tis the season…for school holiday events. But what happens when those events clash with your work schedule?

Whether you're dealing with multiple events scheduled right in the middle of the workday, a busy season at work that makes taking any time off tricky, or every working mom's favorite…that last minute notice about a school event, the result is usually the same. You feel terrible.

This was doubly the case for a mom in one of my parent circles. Not only could she not make the school event, but as one of the only working mothers in her school community, felt like the only one who wouldn't be there.

For many mothers, that's a cue for guilt, shame, and fear that you're somehow failing your child.

Time to unwind that noise.

In this week's episode, we'll cover 3 simple coaching practices you can use to regain your balance, and confidence, when you can't be there for school events.

What you'll learn:

• How working parents in France deal with work-school conflicts (and how you can cultivate that same mindset)

• Why it pays to get curious about your kids really feel about your absence

• What to do when you want to prioritize being at school for an event

For more information visit, The Mental Offload.

Sometimes, we get so busy on the hamster wheel at work that we lose sight of the longer-term picture.

It might feel like it's impossible to slow the wheel down and catch your breath.

But it's necessary if you're in the world of knowledge work.

Being strategic at work requires us to slow the hamster wheel down to a comfortable jog from time to time. This allows you to see the bigger picture and set strategic direction.

One technique for doing this: plan regular Think Weeks.

Think weeks are a tool of leaders and CEOs, but they can be adapted at any level of an organization.

A Think Week will get you out of day-to-day execution mode, and give you the luxury of time for forward planning.

What You'll Learn:

• How a Think Week accelerates your personal and professional goals

• Tactical tips for crafting your own Think Week

• Common saboteurs for Think Weeks…and how to avoid them

For more information, visit The Mental Offload.

'Tis the Season. Fall is a holiday time in so many cultures: Halloween, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's…they're all on the calendar.

But whether you're celebrating one holiday or several, there's so much extra stuff to take care of. Hosting relatives, parties, religious gatherings, cooking, shopping, decorating…It's all packed into a short spurt of time, and it's overwhelming!

Holidays are high pressure for working moms. Each holiday is its own deadline, along with a new to-do list, and you somehow have to find a way to manage it on top of everything else you're already juggling.

But you don't have to resign yourself to stressful, overwhelming holidays.

In this episode, we'll tackle what really causes holiday overwhelm, and how you can make the holidays more peaceful, warm and enjoyable.

What You'll Learn:

• The thoughts that drive overwhelm at the holidays
• How The Barefoot Contessa (yes, really!) inspired a complete rethink in my approach to the holidays
• One key shift you can make to ditch holiday overwhelm

For more information, visit The Mental Offload.

Anxiety at work usually seems like a problem to be managed. Or even a crisis. Definitely something to get rid of.

Especially when your anxiety has you sweating over your upcoming meeting. Or has work living rent-free in your brain around the clock.

But, is anxiety all bad? Work from Morra Aarons-Mele (author of The Anxious Achiever) asks us to rethink anxiety. Data suggest that leaders disproportionately grapple with anxiety.

Why is this the case? And does anxiety have important benefits for us?

What You'll Learn:

• Anxiety can take you down at work, but learn how it can also be a leadership strength

• Rethink your goals for anxiety management

• 5 Hidden benefits of anxiety for leaders

• Coaching tools to reframe anxiety

For more information, visit The Mental Offload.