Addressing Workplace Burnout with Becca Powers

Memorable Moments:

• 4:49 I’m my biggest cheerleader. I’ve been in sales a long time. You know, “I know, I can do this.” And so that mantra, that attitude, is something that is one of my strengths. But it also became my greatest weakness because I powered through situations that were actually breaking me down. And I ignored lots of what I call signs and symptoms of burnout.
• 7:57 Burnout really starts in what I call the unders and overs…what I found is that 88% of the 1000s surveyed are feeling the Unders while they’re working. And the top five unders would be undervalued, underappreciated, underpaid, underestimated, and under[recognized]. And when our unders are triggered, we go into overcompensation, which is why I call it the overs. And there’s five primary overs as well. We overwork, we over stress, we overwhelm, we overextend as I mentioned in my personal story, and we overcommit, those are the five primary things.
• 9:40 When someone’s feeling undervalued, what’s really happening, the root cause of burnout is, they’re feeling unsafe, you know, the core feelings, I’m not safe, I’m not worthy, I’m not valuable. You know, something’s wrong with me, those feelings are triggered, which is why we try to hide them by overcompensating.
• 12:14 Our choices either serve us or they sabotage us.
• 14:41 If I was to give a tip or a tool, it would be prioritize. Give yourself permission to prioritize your wellbeing amongst all the other things you’re prioritizing.
• 15:45 As I’ve interviewed people on burnout is the things that matter, most of them, their top priorities are often shifted down to levels 3-4-5-6. And so my answer to that is permission to prioritize your wellbeing and the things that are important, in addition to prioritizing the yeses and the work. So it’s a movement towards both.
• 16:53 When I was first coming out of burnout, I call it one big boundary, but it was like, if saying yes to something else meant that I was saying no to myself, then I had to say no. And that was really hard because I hadn’t yet turned inward enough where my validation came from within and my confidence came from within, like all of that I was still seeking outside me.
• 21:25 When someone’s feeling under-something and then they’re overcompensating, they’re longing for belonging.
• 26:36 It’s not a game of perfection. It’s a game of progress.
• 28:44 I think that the biggest misconception [about workplace burnout] is that there’s something wrong with us, there’s something wrong with the individual. What I would say in the space of workplace burnout specifically, which is where I really spend majority of my study time, we have never and I say this we as a leader, have never really been taught the skills to help someone who doesn’t feel valued or who is struggling with their self worth. There’s not a coaching model for that in the workplace. And I feel like the biggest misconception is that it’s the employees problem. It’s everyone’s problem.
• 31:51 What matters most to me right now is my health and wellbeing. I love being a mom. I love my husband and my projects and all that stuff, and I don’t get to do any of it if I don’t take care of myself.

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This podcast is hosted by Allison Walsh and Dr. Angela Phillips. It is produced by Allison Walsh, Ashley Tate, and Nicole LaNeve. For more information or if you’re interested in being a guest on this podcast, please visit www.therecoveryvillage.com/dearmindyoumatter.