Death of a Workaholic: Recent Episodes
Jenny Lynne
It doesn’t matter how tough you are, we could all use a confidence booster every now and again.
If someone is constantly tearing you down, imagine how that can affect you and your performance. If you keep getting it “wrong” then you might start to feel like you will never get it right.
What if that person tearing you down is you? What if you don't even realize it?
What if you're that voice in someone else's life?
For Tammy Barlette, a prior Air Force pilot turned mental performance coach, she made the discovery that speaking positivity and life can impact your capabilities in many ways.
Key Takeaways
- Embrace the belief others have in you. A big part of how you show up is what you believe about how you're showing up and how you see it.
- Recognize the signs and become self aware of when you're practicing negative self talk.
- Dig in to how you’re feeling to figure out where that negativity is coming from.
Key Moments
{8:57} “There is something to be said about just that little bit of encouragement at the right time.”
{13:27} “We might not be able to see our potential, but when someone else I trust says, ‘Hey, you should do that, you'd be great.’ I might not believe it inside my own head at first, but I trust them.”
{16:48} “We don't often see the picture correctly from inside of ourselves. So I recognize that and I look from the outside.”
More about Tammy
Tammy Barlette, a US Air Force fighter pilot, retired in 2018 as a Lieutenant Colonel. She is now a professional speaker, founding Athena’s Voice, a speaker referral business featuring female military pilots from around the United States and founder and CEO of Crosscheck, a mental performance training business Tammy served in the US Air Force for over 20 years, flying multiple aircraft. She is also a graduate of the prestigious US Air Force Weapons School and has a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry. Tammy is married to a US Federal Agent and has three children.
Get in touch with Tammy
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammybarlette/
https://tammybarlette.com/mental-performance-course
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Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
Imagine a relationship that feels so good, that it totally consumes you and everything in your life.
For Corban, when he is loving the work he’s doing, full of creativity, and he just feels good, he doesn’t want it to end, ever. But he realizes that a relationship shouldn’t completely consume you.
Tune in to hear what Corban’s soundtrack to work is, and how he integrates that into his personal life.
Key Takeaways
- If you are not quite sure where your relationship with work is or where that line is, get into your body and learn to feel it.
- Don’t seek for work to give you meaning or purpose, seek the meaning in the work you’re doing.
- Outsource and trust good employees to take the load off of you. You don’t have to control every detail.
Key Moments
{10:00} “If I'm feeling really stressed or disconnected, or I'm feeling like I don't have as much of, of certain things in my life, work can be an antidote to that. Like it's a distraction, you know?”
{19:38} “I feel a devotion to the work. I also feel a devotion to just working because I just like it.”
{25:03} “Before I just I wouldn't eat for two days. I would just keep working from 6 in the morning until 10 o'clock the following night.”
More about Corban
Corban David Jenai is an entrepreneur, speaker, writer, and the leader of HopeGuide, a company devoted to helping people heal - the smart way - from trauma, grief, depression, and anxiety.
Get in touch with Corban
www.hopeguide.com
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Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
Tabby joined me again for a recap of the 2nd season of Death of a Workaholic, The Messy Middle.
Each story has a uniqueness about it, but a common theme around when they realized that they were sinking in the mud.
These guests went through trials with family members and friends; ended careers; and had mental breakdowns when they realized that there had to be a better way. I mean who wants to live with a weight constantly dragging them down?
It all comes back to figuring out what is ultimately most important to you in this life, and creating a work life that works with it and around it.
Tune in to find out
- Season 2 top 3 episodes
- The most helpful nuggets from Season 2
- What’s next for Season 3 (hint: We plan on having some creative fun) 🙂
Key Moments
{5:35} “It all kind of goes hand in hand together, just prioritizing your time and what's most important.”
{15:01} “Season 3 is really about unpacking this idea that we all have reasons for working. We all have our relationship with work.”
{15:55} “Because if you can't define work for yourself and your relationship with work, it's very hard to recognize is that relationship actually working for you.”
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
Do you define success based on what others think, or what makes you happy?
Kiley Peters had a vision to be successful to hit all of her numbers at her current company, while building a new company, while planning a wedding, while trying to plan for a family.
Now those are all amazing and exciting things, but at the same time, can you be successful with each?
It wasn’t until after she spent all of 2021 trudging through the muck, that she realized that if this was the supposed definition of "success," she needed to give herself space, and redefine her own vision of success.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t compare your success to others. You have no idea what it took for them to get there or what they are currently going through.
- Make sure your work is supporting your definition of success. If your work isn’t in alignment with your goals as a human, there might be another solution for you.
- Create a board of advisors for your life, and have them help you live out the answer to your own question of, “what do I want?”
Key Moments
{1:35} “I had spent a whole year balancing both of these, feeling like, ‘it'll work. I'll be fine. It'll all be fine.’ And then I got engaged. We celebrated my agency's five year anniversary. And then shortly after that, I realized I'd been having heart palpitations all year and I was like, ‘so it's probably not great. And also I hate all of this, like this all sucks.’”
{6:42} “And so in a lot of ways, I felt like I had failed. I felt like I had built something and I had abandoned and failed everyone who had ever given me the great gift of being able to make it a reality. And I wrestled with that for a long time.”
{21:44} “I want people to be able to figure this out. Faster and less painfully than I have, and so I ended up reverse engineering what I found my journey to be and adding my own, you know, touch to it in hopes of helping other people.”
More about Kylie
Kiley Peters is a keynote speaker, international award-winning serial entrepreneur, and small business advisor with over 20 years of entrepreneurial experience. She built and successfully exited her digital marketing agency to launch RAYNE IX, her executive leadership consultancy, and has helped hundreds of women launch, leverage, and exit their businesses in pursuit of greater autonomy, financial freedom, and ownership of their lives. She’s also the host of the “Welcome to Eloma” podcast.
Get in touch with Kylie
rayneix.com
kileypeters.com
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
I think most of us can say that at some point in time, we’ve felt some kind of weight on our shoulders that we aren’t sure how to get off.
Tonia Jahshan struggled with anxiety and mental health for 10 years and just kept pushing on while growing her family and business… ignoring the side effects that workaholism had caused.
Much of her anxiety was fueled by feeling responsible for other people's success, and that responsibility became her driving force until she couldn’t carry the load anymore and checked herself into a mental health facility.
Key Takeaways
- Recognize the physical signs your body is telling you when enough is enough and it’s time to ask and receive help.
- Being authentic isn’t a weakness, it helps you thrive as a leader.
- You cannot create success for someone else, only they can. Let it go.
Key Moments
{2:36} “It wasn't until 2018 when I had a complete, complete mental breakdown that I realized that I needed help for sure, and I had to step back from my business, my family for six weeks.”
{17:12} “I had just gone through a horrible ordeal with my mental health I was still struggling. Just, you know I just wanted to work, work, work.”
{19:40} “I'm not doing anything anymore unless it has purpose. Unless it has a big purpose within my life and my family”
More about Tonia
Tonia Jahshan embarked on her visionary journey over 17 years ago, armed with a cup of tea and a mission to infuse the joy of loose leaf tea into people's lives. Through her social selling venture, Sipology, she not only shared the love for tea but also empowered numerous business owners, providing them with extra income and a supportive community. Today, Sipology has blossomed into a renowned North American health and wellness brand, offering matcha, essential vitamins, and super greens – a bouquet of well-being.
In 2012, Tonia and Hatem made their mark on CBC's Dragons' Den, impressing Jim Treliving and David Chilton with their pitch. This dynamic duo returned to the Den multiple times, cementing their legendary status in the entrepreneurial realm.
Fast-forward to the present, Sipology has expanded its reach, achieving millions in annual sales and building a dedicated network of Sipologists across North America. Their mission extends beyond products, encompassing health, sustainability, and government-approved quality. Year after year, Sipology shines on the PROFIT 500 Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies list, and Tonia's accolades continue to accumulate, from Canada's #1 Female Entrepreneur to the Ernst and Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women award. Forbes recognizes her as one of the Women to Watch.
In the end, Tonia Jahshan's journey, rooted in a humble cup of tea, embodies growth, resilience, and a passionate commitment to purpose.
Get in touch with Tonia
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonia-jahshan-29977410/
https://www.instagram.com/toniajahshan/
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
We don’t admire chicken’s running around with their heads cut off, so why do we act like that sometimes?
People we typically admire are strong, calm, and productive, like lions taking their careful time to make a move, or a tree absorbing energy to grow bigger and stronger.
Monica Park struggled with saying yes and doing everything she could to be financially safe and sought after. Once she realized that it wasn’t fulfilling her, she hit the brakes and asked for help.
It turns out once she slowed down, she was able to find strength she could not imagine.
Key Takeaways
- Do nothing. When you pause and allow yourself the space to think and be with your thoughts, a clearer sense of purpose breaks through.
- Recognize the signs of what’s not working for you anymore. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Use your space to listen to what your body is telling you.
- Asking for help isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength.
Key Moments
{10:03} “But the fact that I chose myself, my sanity, my peace, asking for help, I think that was the important decision because everything changed after that.”
{18:02} “Pace of life is not frenetic. It is powerful and it's forward, but it's not like rushing that feels very human made busy to be busy, always distracted doing more and not really hitting it…I love sharks like great whites and lions. They're not rushing around. They're taking their time and they dictate the piece and nature too is going forward. And it may look boring, you know, but it is very powerful. It's very fertile. It's very alive. And that's what I wanted to tap into because I felt like I was draining a well every day because I wasn't going deep enough into what I'm sucking into and like what's feeding me.”
{20:55} “I'm like, I need your help. I can't do this anymore. I feel like a failure. And I was emotional. I was crying to him. I was like,’ I feel like a failure. And I've worked 20 years and nothing's working out. It's not, but I need to do something else. And I need, I need your help.’”
More about Monica
After a 20-year, fast-paced career in fashion marketing, manufacturing, resale, and circularity start-ups, I returned home to Minneapolis, determined to put down roots and connect with people in a more meaningful way. Now, as a Certified Death Doula, I’ve taken a sacred oath to help my clients prepare for the inevitable. I manage the process, they take comfort in knowing their families won't be left scrambling or feeling burdened and overwhelmed.
Get in touch with Monica
monica.e.park@gmail.com
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
If you had just twice as much energy to put into your relationships that you put into your work, what do you think would happen?
Logically speaking, they can only get better. Tim Ash had a recalibrating moment when he went to a Men’s Initiation Weekend to discover his purpose.
He went from a “get shit done person” to focusing on the right things that lead him towards his purpose.
Key Takeaways
- Step outside your comfort zone because getting comfortable with discomfort is the first step towards personal growth.
- Care more about less, and do more with less. When you have your energy back, a new world opens up to put more energy into the things you care about most.
- Instead of setting rigid goals, focus on the direction you want your life to take. It’s an endless journey.
Key Moments
{3:08} “What kind of legacy do I want to leave? What imprint am I having on them? It was really more much more of a recalibration of purpose at the purpose level, I would say, instead of being on autopilot.”
{12:12} “I realized that my whole self concept and part of this was about being competent, about carrying the weight for other people, about being the head of the family or the provider, all of those more traditional roles. And now that was built into me, and it was based on this flawed assumption that I was the star of the movie.”
{16:58} “We're always trying to figure out what to prioritize, how to rebalance, and we're never going to be perfect or good at anything. And then even if you do get good at something, who says that was a good investment of your time and life force? So I think starting with that sense of ‘no, it's always going to be in work in progress.’ There is no end goal.”
More about Tim
Tim Ash is an acknowledged authority on evolutionary psychology and digital
marketing. He is a sought-after international keynote speaker, and the bestselling author of Unleash Your Primal Brain and Landing Page Optimization. Tim has been mentioned by Forbes as a Top-10 Online Marketing Expert, and by Entrepreneur Magazine as an Online Marketing Influencer To Watch. For nineteen years he was the co-founder and CEO of SiteTuners – a digital optimization agency. Tim helped to create over 1.2 billion dollars in value for companies like Google, Expedia, eHarmony, Facebook, American Express, Canon, Nestle, Symantec, Intuit, Humana, Siemens, and Cisco.
Get in touch with Tim
PrimalBrain.com
TimAsh.com
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
Once you hit the age of 50, would you look at your life and say “wow I have lived this life I’ve always dreamed about” or would you have regret, wishing you had done things differently?
When Travis Parry’s dad passed away unexpectedly at the age of 49, it forced him to look at his life and his years ahead.
Was he on track to live the life he always wanted? So he started some heavy research on parenting, finances, and psychology, and created a model for others to live without the burden of working too much or worrying about finances.
He, his wife, and his 7 kids take 16 weeks off throughout the year to vacation. His own life is proof that his model works!
Key Takeaways
- When parenting is in-sync and you both are on the same page financially, that stressor goes away.
- Once you boil everything down to your needs and wants, then you can prioritize where your money is going and know exactly how much you are going to spend.
- The LIFT model helps families or couples create a happy and balanced life.
Key Moments
{1:57} “It all just kind of hit me at that moment. Dad was able to become the person that he wanted to become. And I had this come to Jesus moment where I realized I wasn't where I needed to be.”
{9:21} “I felt stuck and I got back into that mode where it was like, wow here I am again, nothing's going to change if I don't change literally everything. So, the first thing that we ended up changing was our financial situation.”
{16:41} “When you have that freedom and you don't have the stress, it allows me to say, ‘yeah, I take Fridays off.’ I take 16 weeks off and we go travel the world with our kids and with my wife and do trainings or public speak, whatever it is that we're doing as we're traveling around. And we homeschool our kids.”
More about Travis
Dr. Travis G. Parry the author of the #1 Bestselling Book “Achieving Balance”, Host of the Balanced Advisor Podcast, and Founder of the Make Time Institute. He’s earned a doctorate in family and human development to better understand stress and goal achievement. Dr. Parry founded the Make Time Institute to help financial advisors achieve balance. More importantly he is a homeschooling father of 7 incredible children and the husband to 1 amazing and talented wife of 20 years.
Get in touch with Travis
https://www.balancedgrowthbook.com/
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynneerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
Book for your audience
Want to book Jenny for your keynote? Email at jenny@jennylynneerickson.com
If it doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t…
Your body knows best.
Have you ever thought about doing something but didn’t because you were afraid of what others would say?
That’s fear of judgment, when you feel like you SHOULD do something, rather than what you truly want to do.
Well Gianna Biscontini reached a point where she had 0 f@*ks left to give to anyone else. She started listening to her internal wisdom and quit caring what others thought.
Key Takeaways
- If it feels wrong, accept that you are on the wrong mountain, don’t fight it. No matter what you think you “should” be feeling about it or how others are telling you to feel about it.
- Conduct mini experiments and put yourself out there to try. Truly listen to what your body and inner wisdom is telling you about the experience.
- White space allows for creativity. When you give yourself that calm time, that’s where the magic happens when you are doing something that brings you joy.
Key Moments
{5:54} “I gave myself that space. I took a whole summer, and then ended up. Changing my entire life. I got even more into meditation. I started creating courses for people in my industry of healthcare with high burnout.”
{7:27} “But instead we judge ourselves, right? Oh, I'm not dedicated enough. I'm lazy. I'm not enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not whatever enough. Instead of going, what's my body telling me right now, this is the wrong freaking mountain. Like I'm, I'm going the wrong way.”
{14:52} “I remember being a kid and being like. ‘Man, being a kid is so much fun. Why don't adults ever smile? Why don't they ever look happy like kids are?’ And as I started getting older, I'd get parking tickets and I had bosses and I had these soul crushing moments.”
{21:23} “We don't live in a world that encourages calm. And so when we have it, it feels very wrong.”
More about Gianna
Gianna is first and foremost a dog-loving, nature-obsessed digital nomad having the time of her life living one wild social experiment after another. She is the bestselling author of Fuckless: A Guide to Wild, Unencumbered Freedom and the founder of W3RKWELL, an analytics firm currently pioneering the integration of organizational culture and wellbeing. Challenging the status quo has become her raison d'être and fills her with excitement and gratitude every day.
Get in touch with Gianna
gianna@w3rkwell.com
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynneerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself.
Book for your audience
Want to book Jenny for your keynote? Email at jenny@jennylynneerickson.com
When you break your leg, you have no choice but to let it rest because of the cast you wear.
But when you sustain a brain injury, it can be easy to keep going because you can’t see the injury.
Nina Nesdoly had a life plan to follow and nothing was going to get in her way. Until she didn’t take a break and rest. She suffered from Post Concussion Syndrome after getting a concussion — while taking a yoga class.
She was forced to take 7 months off and learn the skills to decipher when enough is enough.
Key Takeaways
- Listen to the cues. Your body is telling you that it’s had enough.
- Put your wellbeing first. When you put yourself first, everything else will benefit when you’re healthy.
- Cling to the things you like about yourself that are independent from work. If you are a compassionate person, you can be compassionate in anything you do.
Key Moments
{2:24} “I was incredibly burnt out and exhausted from the emotional toll of the cancer from the workload that I was taking on, but I had this plan. My plan was a once per week yoga class for self care. And if I just stuck with that yoga class and a couple of workouts a week, I was going to be fine.”
{15:55} “But because I was prioritizing my wellbeing so much, it meant that I had space for my mind to wander and to think about things and to reflect.”
{20:58} “I had this sense that nothing I was doing was ever good enough, which in the burnout dimensions as defined by the world health organization is very much reduced professional efficacy. That's the term they use for it when you lose your sense of accomplishment.”
{24:45} “I just didn't want to do anything that wasn't goal driven, goal focused, goal oriented, wasn't willing to even really make a lot of small talk with people. Didn't have time for that. Didn't seem like a productive activity.”
More about Nina
Nina is a work-life balance, stress, and burnout prevention expert. She is a keynote speaker, researcher, and consultant working with organizations across North America. Nina has a BSc in Neuroscience, a Masters in Management, and is currently pursuing a PhD studying work-related stress. She loves fantasy novels, Latin dance, and biking.
Get in touch with Nina
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-nesdoly/
https://www.instagram.com/ninanesdoly/?hl=en
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
https://www.jennylynneerickson.com/contact
If you’re winning an award, you’d think that you’d be over the moon excited.
But for Sue Ryan, all she could think was “what’s next?”
That was a pivoting moment for her. She realized that something needed to change within to truly fulfill her.
It wasn’t until she took an in-depth journey of self exploration to come up with a practice of how to use her wisdom to help others, rather than what would personally satisfy her.
Key Takeaways
- There’s a difference between the words “should” and “choose.” One of them puts you in control.
- You can become truly self aware by giving yourself the grace of space.
- By using The Wheel of Life tool, you can align your priorities to be in harmony with one another rather than balancing them. This helps you to see which one needs more alignment at that moment in time.
Key Moments
{2:10} “...and it would really hit me that I wasn't able to be present in the moment and enjoy this amazing moment.”
{7:01} “ I did not know how to become self-aware. I had not focused on asking myself what I really wanted. I had looked at what do you want based on metrics of performance in my job? Not what made me happy in my life and where I wanted my life to go.”
{17:30} “I'm on a perfectly imperfect journey. I'm meant to be on this journey. All the experiences are meant to be here for me to have to learn for me, and to share with others.”
More about Sue
Sue’s mission is to empower and embolden individuals to maximize the opportunities and potential change will bring. As a speaker, change strategist, author, executive coach, caregiving coach and mentor, she lives this through two passions of her purpose. She guides and inspires leaders and emerging leaders committed to business growth and next-level leadership to be great leaders of themselves and others. And she guides non-professional caregivers to become confident, balanced, and supported in all phases of their caregiving.
Get in touch with Sue
sue@sueryan.solutions
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’re wondering what you need right now and how to manage your time, take the space test and see for yourself:
https://www.hellojennylynne.com/space-test
“Here lies Jenny. She just had to send one more email.”Change is never clean and tidy – it's a swirling, gooey, messy adventure.
I prided myself in my work ethic for my entire life and felt like that was the only option out there, but boy did I have a tough time when my kids’ dad was diagnosed with cancer.
I was confused, lost, and just mentally exhausted. How was I going to take on both roles? How was I going to be mentally present with my kids while running a business?
After I hiked the Camino in Spain I found my answers. I went from “I don't know where I'm going" to "I know exactly where I need to be.”
Key Takeaways
- Embrace the mess. Grab hold of the reins knowing it will be a bumpy and sticky ride. Change can be both torturous and filled with possibilities.
- Don’t wait til you’re on empty to refill the gas tank. You’ll find that the power of self-renewal and fostering meaningful relationships feeds your soul.
Key Moments
{2:07} “I was a proud expert at doing the next thing on my list instead of the best thing in my life, and I had no desire to change that for 20 years. It was working for me in so many ways.”
{5:00} “I realized that over this whole period, other than the occasional favor I called in, I sucked at asking for and accepting help.”
{10:49} “If we are going to be that best person, if we are gonna love in the best way possible, if we are gonna parent in the best way possible, if we are gonna work with our best ideas, if we are gonna lean into life, then we have to take that armor off and we have to embrace the mess.”
Get in touch with Mejenny@hellojennylynne.com
Share your StorySend it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond WorkaholismIf you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
https://www.hellojennylynne.com/contact
For the last episode of this season I thought it would be fun to recap with the one behind it all, my podcast producer, Tabby.
She carefully listened to all 10 episodes and took in everything. Each one was unique with a different story to tell.
After listening to them all, something happened, and then something else happened.
She found herself seeing workaholic traits in herself in the beginning, but by the end she knew how to prevent it and manage those traits, just by hearing other people's stories.
That’s what we want for everyone.
Tune in to find out:
- What’s next for season 2
- The top 3 episodes
- Key takeaways from the season
Key Moments
{02:58} “When I started this, I had just started working more hours and then when I like what I'm doing, I'm just excited about doing it. And so I wanted to work on the weekends. I wanted to do all this ‘cause I was so excited about it. And then as I kept listening to the episodes and getting the takeaways and the advice, it's caused me sort of to not,[work on the weekends] if that makes any sense. It was helpful.”
{08:59} “You hit the nail on the head as to why I got so passionate about workaholism in the first place. And that was because it took a crisis for me too actually, I was forced to change. And I talk about it as it wasn't a want, it was a need. I didn't have a choice.”
{18:17} “ There's nothing wrong with being a workaholic in your twenties. It's just about being aware of when it's driving you to the point where it's no longer serving you. Those you and those you love and the world, be aware of that.”
Get in on the Research
Your story and situation can help turbocharge a movement. Reach out to us at podcast@jennylynneerickson.com and we will get a conversation rolling.
Looking to Redefine your Relationship with Work?
Book a spot in one of our upcoming Find Your Path workshops or email Jenny at jenny@hellojennylynne.com
We all need help at some point. Some of us ask for it, and some of us don’t.
Those who don’t can be left crying in the shower…while keeping a poker face around everyone else.
Jesse Johnson opened up to me about the challenges he faced as a young, single dad of 4. His cup was empty and finally asked for help.
It was night and day the relief he felt from receiving help in all areas of his life.
Key Takeaways
- Ask for help. Not asking doesn’t only hurt you – it hurts other people who ultimately want to give and connect meaningfully in the same way you do.
- Create a system that captures what relationships in your life take priority and allows you to understand how your decisions impact what’s important to you.
- Once you have a system in place that fuels your well-being, monetary needs, and impact, follow the blueprint. When things change, reassess your plan.
Key Moments
{6:57} “One of the things that I had to learn early on was how to prioritize relationships. And we hear that if everything's important then nothing is important. And if you take that principle back into our relationships, then it's, ‘is my employee at my company more important than my kids?’ And I don't think it's a black and white static answer. I think there's a continuum and attention point that we have to manage on a consistent basis.”
{9:39} “I think my cup was so empty. It was like a negative bank account that had been overdrawn forever and it almost felt like you couldn't get another loan, cause you damaged your line of credit for so long. And it was challenging. That's where it was, but I knew that's where it shouldn't live or shouldn't be.”
{18:01} “I just very am committed to that process of impacting and moving forward with people and screaming it from the rooftops that just because it's been this way, it doesn't have to continue to go that way or just because that might be your history, it doesn't have to be your destiny. You get to pick.”
More about Jesse
Jesse is the founding CEO of Champion Empire, a Spokane-based collection of businesses and professionals united to support free enterprise, small business, and the community in which we live. Jesse’s vision for Champion is to foster more generosity than any other leadership network, and to be known as THE trusted guide for information and resources needed to grow. He has been a business owner from a young age, is a devoted father of 6, a lifelong learner and advisor to those that want to make an impact rather than just an income.
Get in touch with Jesse
Jesse@championempire.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-johnson-champion/
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Get Beyond Workaholism
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How do you get ahead of the bear?
Is it completing a to-do list of 9 different things, to say “yes, I did it!”
Or is it sitting outside with a book (or even without a book), and just doing anything that brings you joy?
Either one can be the right answer!
Having white space, or downtime can really create something beautiful so that you are able to 1) relax, and 2) narrow down your unnecessarily long to-do list.
John Arms is on a mission to help people find their dream work and life by breaking down a normal idea of 9-5 working for one company and helping people go fractional in their work.
But his journey started with his own adventures.
Key Takeaways
- We are set up to be connected to nature. When you take time to be outdoors as a therapeutic outlet, you can stay level headed and not let anxiety take over.
- Plan your day like an ecosystem. Not a list, and not even in chronological order. Plan to do more thoughtful, whitespace activities.
- Let it soak. There is no rush to make a decision now on something important. Let it marinate and see how it turns out to make the best decision.
Key Moments
{9:41} “There's some wonderful research that's been done on Native American cultures and even ancient cultures , yes, they were running from the bear. But they weren't grinding through days like we do now in modern society. Very much time for spirituality. A ton of time for communities very connected to nature. Those were beautiful societies and I think they had it right. And I think we can learn a lot from those societies.”
{13:44} “I think there's a difference between working a lot and working hard and workaholism.”
{19:55} “You're seeking approval. Look at me. Look how hard I work. I stay. I mean, just think about the, what you know: ‘Are you gonna stay till midnight?’ The judgment that happens in the workforce is terrible. Shame. I wrote about shame this week. Like, you know, it's just the shame if you didn't work, if you didn't sacrifice your health and your family, there's some shame associated with it.”
More about John
I am a former CEO and workaholic. Now I spend my time inspiring others to find balance, joy, health and prosperity in a decidedly un-workaholic manner, Fractional.
Get in touch with John
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnarms
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
https://www.hellojennylynne.com/contact
You’re there, but not really there.
Janet Barrett shares her lifelong journey with presenteeism, which is when someone shows up for work or life but isn't mentally present.
She used work as a way to escape or to numb herself from her problems.
But after 49 years, she broke. Her husband wanted a divorce and it was that turning point where she realized she had to unpack her giant backpack full of emotional baggage that she kept putting away her entire life.
Key Takeaways
- The key to releasing emotional baggage is to connect the mind and body with the triggering event and find safe ways to express negative emotions.
- Emotions always have a physical embodiment, and if you don’t know how to express it safely, you can trap them inside your body.
- Workaholism can show up in life, not just work.
Key Moments
{02:23} “Presenteeism showed up across the board in my life where I would be physically at my kids' game. But mentally I wasn't there. I wasn't really watching, I wasn't really engaged in what was going on. I was thinking about a million other things and I was distracted by things and I was thinking about emotions and whatever.”
{03:36} “I used work to numb all of my emotions. I used work to distract me from problems that were happening in my life. And I was one of the most productive people.”
{07:07} “Prior to my break, I had no awareness that that isn't how life should be. I had no understanding that there could be more, that you could actually really feel an emotional connection with something.”
{20:32} “If you know your warning signs, they can help prevent that break from happening and help prevent some of those stressors from being in the pressure cooker that explodes, or the Pandora box that opens.”
More about Janet
Janet is a proactive mental health advocate, speaker, and writer. She is the Founder and CEO of Cerebral Health, a company focused on eliminating the stigma around mental health and helping individuals learn to thrive. She earned her Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology in 2022. Prior to this, Janet worked for and advised some of the largest retail and wholesale consumer brands on category management, product and consumer segmentation, and merchandising strategy. Janet and her four children reside outside of Boston. When she’s not spending time with her kids, you can find her outside or in the yoga studio working on staying in balance!
Get in touch with Janet
www.StopTheBreak.LIFE
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Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
https://www.jennylynneerickson.com/contact
We all love a good horn toot, right?
Once you experience the feeling of being valued and being recognized, it’s so hard to let that feeling go.
In 7th grade, Jennifer Fondrevay recalled her first flirtation with workaholism, and since then it’s been a roller coaster of a relationship.
It is stressful when you are constantly trying to prove yourself to others, when they really don’t care.
But once she let go of proving her worth to everyone else, she found her own personal value. And that was serving and helping others.
Key Takeaways
- You do have to work hard to achieve success, but you also have to find a balance that works for you.
- Finding purpose and value in your own work requires a willingness to let go of distractions and noise.
- If you’re feeling unsure of how to make a change in your life, focus on the mark you want to leave behind. What is your purpose in your work?
Key Moments
{03:51} “I think I just got into my head at that point. You gotta always be working at this, like you can never let up.”
{05:53} “But it came from that really painful moment of realizing I was exhausting myself and no one was caring.”
{10:05} “You become less fixated on holding onto the past because you're okay with the future, you know your value. So anything that comes your way, you got it. You're good.”
{21:28} “I remember just saying to my husband, I don't want my obituary to say, you know, ‘oh, she was a great chief marketing officer,’ right? I thought, man, if my legacy was about helping businesses do better by their people and to improve the success rate, that could be something I'd be proud of.”
More about Jennifer
CEOs call me the M&A Whisperer. Frontline leaders call me the Brene Brown of mergers and acquisitions. I help CEOs, leaders and teams understand what to expect during a merger or acquisition. I help people embrace uncertainty.
Get in touch with Jennifer
jennifer@jenniferjfondrevay.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-fondrevay/
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
https://www.jennylynneerickson.com/contact
Do you struggle with saying no?
For Ana, overcoming dyslexia at a young age, and conquering a Master's Degree in a foreign language was just the beginning.
She remembers thinking of herself as the energizer bunny, to keep going and going to outlast everyone else.
She said yes over and over again, until she couldn’t anymore.
Then she was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. It was a wake up call that made her get clear on her priorities and shift from 'pile-it-all-on' to being selective with her time.
Key Takeaways
- You can't erase the past, but we can learn from it. If you look at productivity differently you can achieve the same results, just in a smarter way - that's the key. Work hard, but more strategic.
- There are 3 pauses for growth: macro, scheduled, and micro. Pressing 'pause' gives space to choose response, grow, and find freedom.
- If you can’t take a deep breath, empty the cup first. Exhale fully until you engage belly muscles. Then, you can take full advantage of the power of a deep breath to re-center you.
Key Moments
{05:25} “And I kept working during my cancer treatments. I kept working because that was one of the parts in my life that I could keep some normality going, and I felt a human still. But I had to learn to work smarter and not harder. That was the wake up call. At that level, I could not push because I was pushing myself to go through the treatments enough and with the little energy that I had left.”
{07:07} “I say, ‘no, no. I cannot do that.’ That was something that I was not used to doing. I was used to taking advantage of any opportunity that showed up. And what I realized is that if I kept focus on the things that I chose, I could still make an impact.”
{09:31} “I felt ‘okay they have my back.’ I had their back for so long, they had my back now. That felt really good to have the support. They really stepped into the occasion and that was a rewarding thing to see that people were there for me.”
{20:38} “I could enjoy life more and I could have more time and energy to enjoy my family, to travel, to exercise. And even now I manage to read one book per week because I develop habits that are in the service of a life that I want to live.”
More about Ana
Ana Melikian, Ph.D., is the host of the Mindset Zone podcast listed alongside "On Being" and "TED Radio Hour" by The Huffington Post's "15 Podcasts That Will Leave You Pondering Life's Big Questions." Ana combines extensive research, life experiences, and two decades of work in human potential to help others cultivate mental wellness while increasing their effectiveness and strengthening relationships. She has a captivating presentation style and a gift for making complex concepts easy to understand.
Get in touch with Ana
https://anamelikian.com/
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Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
https://www.jennylynneerickson.com/contact
Whoever said you have to “work first, to play later,” never met Max. Imagine planning your vacations and days off first, THEN figuring out how you will make your business work…
Yes, it is possible!
Max Traylor is a fully rehabilitated, short-lived workaholic. He tells his clients to put their personal lives first, and helps them figure out how to live their lives that way.
Key Takeaways
- There is no better time to enjoy your life than now. If you set up your business to be able to enjoy personal time, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of rewards.
- It’s important to surround yourself with like-minded people to help you achieve what you are pursuing. In order to do that, you have to talk to people. Expand your network. You won’t know if someone is interested in what you are offering, unless you get to know them.
- Get uncomfortable. Practice new skills and become good at them so that you can fully succeed. You have to shoot your shot!
- If you are operating your own business and trying to succeed, track your time. This will help to find areas of improvement.
Key Moments
{4:09} “I started thinking about the type of dad I wanted to be. And the thing that I knew I wanted to do no matter what, was be around. And if I stayed at that agency, I was never gonna be around. And if I was, I wouldn't be present.”
{7:35} “You have to exercise different muscles, you have to be uncomfortable. And so I'm willing to be uncomfortable in the working environment so that I can fully enjoy the rest of it [life].”
{12:14} “Having a delegation partner was a life changer for me. A third party was aware of what you were trying to accomplish. I speak out what I'm committing to, and if something's on that list three times in a row and it's not done, it's either gone or they take it from me.”
{13:59} “If you really want a sobering lesson in how much time you're wasting, track your time. Cuz the other thing we'll do is we're good at lying to ourselves about how much time we spent on things.”
{20:25} “One of the keys to moving forward is finding people, and you said, ‘who are as crazy as you,’ (which I love), but people who want the same things that you want so that you can co-create a world in which the things you're pursuing are reinforced.”
{24:59} “If I have to put thousands of people on the back burner to have a conversation with you to help you, I'm gonna charge you for that.”
More about Max
Max helps consultants put their personal lives first and build a business that works for them, not the other way around.
Get in touch with Max
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxtraylor/
Share your Story
Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
https://www.jennylynneerickson.com/contact
Ep 003 - Quality Over Quantity - Nadya Rousseau“I can go 80% of the day now without checking my email.”
Imagine not feeling the urge to check your email and constantly make sure everything is okay at work, when you’re enjoying family time or out on vacation? I’ll let you in on a secret- It is possible.
When you’ve been trained that success = “go, go, go,” from childhood, that instinct carries into your adult life.
Nadya’s workaholism gave her a sense of control, but it also limited her growth. It took releasing that control and bringing in the right help, with the right systems, to lay the foundations for her next round of growth.
After being the sole reason your business got off the ground, how do you get out and gain freedom? Will you lead your team in the weeds, or allow yourself to release that feeling of control?
Key Takeaways
Constantly having your (fingers in all the pots) doesn’t help you grow after a certain point. It Keeps you from growing. Letting go of control is a process:
- Delegating or outsourcing work can give you freedom to focus on your vision.
- Designing systems that are constantly improving are the key to keeping quality high when you can no longer touch every client.
- The quality of your team is more important than the quantity. If you don’t believe that someone on your team can get the job done and support everyone else, then it’s your job to find someone who can.
- Outside people help you see what you can’t. Professional coaches and consultants are skilled at scaling to see what you can’t. So you can focus on bringing your dreams and visions to life.
Key Moments
{03:35} “I was producing the show, I was building my client base and I was going to school part-time, so I was working 70 hours a week that year regularly. At that time it felt very much like, I gotta go balls to the wall if I wanna achieve this goal and be leading this company.”
{03:57} “I felt like if I wasn't doing something or I wasn't really putting all my energy almost all the time into work, it was like I wouldn't be successful.”
{04:13} “It's not about working hard or working long. It's about working smart. It's about working efficiently, and it's about kind of giving away the stuff that you don't wanna do and giving it to people who do wanna do that and can grow in that.”
{14:33} “If I feel like, ‘oh, I say I'm gonna work a little bit this weekend’, and then the weekend comes and my energy is not saying it wants to work, it wants to relax, it wants to just be like, you know what, nevermind, I'll just tackle this on Monday.”
{18:41} “Start with your life and what you want your life to look like in five or 10 years, and then back into what your business needs to do to make that happen. That’s where purpose and profit can come together.”
More about Nadya
Nadya Rousseau is a writer, producer, and the founder and CEO of purpose forward marketing, PR, and media company Alter New Media. In just five years, she has serviced over 600 mission-driven companies.
Get in touch with Nadya
Email: nadya@alternewmedia.com
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Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
https://www.jennylynneerickson.com/contact
“What fills your cup?”
A lifetime of reinforcing that “doing more” = “doing better”. Is the reason many of us find ourselves workaholics later in life.
But what is at the root? Is it perfectionism? Is it workaholism? How do you unpack the two and figure out how to grapple with each set of voices so you quiet them and show up fully in work and life.
Brittany takes us on her journey. It took a problem bigger than she could outwork (and a panic attack) – to hit the moment where workaholism (and perfectionism) weren’t working for her anymore.
Key Takeaways
- It takes different activities to complete your work-life balance. There isn’t ONE thing that fills your cup up.
- Find people who live a balanced life (according to your definition) and then ask them how they did it.
- Entrepreneurship can be the doorway to releasing perfectionism - because good enough has to be good enough if we are going to stay in business.
Key Moments
{6:03} “Our patterns run deep, the way we show up, the things we do, the belief systems we hold, those were built over decades. And they were reinforced daily over decades. And so for me to think I was gonna make huge changes in 500 people from my desk at the office, was delusional.”
{8:57} “It's not part of my identity that I would ever be fired or told I wasn't doing a good job. But that's what happened.”
{12:07} “Being an employee, it [workaholism] was more rewarded, almost. The reward path was clearer as an employee to support being a workaholic because if I did more, if I helped people out more, if I just kept saying yes, then I got positive rewards for it.”
{15:42} “Instead of making that energy and focus about me, I made it about being in service of others. And that felt so much better.”
{20:04} “What fills your cup? Like what do you engage in where you leave with better energy than you came into it?”
More about Brittany
Brittany empowers entrepreneurs and leaders to become confident leaders, build better teams, and catalyze culture change. She hosts a weekly podcast, Eye Openers, to share stories of overcoming challenges in running a small business and capitalizing on your best opportunities. Businesses hire Brittany to improve performance, develop leaders, and build company culture. Brittany is obsessed with mastering human motivation and perfecting business management. Away from the office, Brittany is a mom to two little girls and loves to kitesurf!
Get in touch with Brittany
Email: brittany@brittanydrozd.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanydrozd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brittdrozd/
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Get Beyond Workaholism
If you’d like to make a change, send me a message at
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“I was eager, and I was a quick learner.”
These two traits are a dangerous recipe for success. I loved to learn new things, and to be successful at taking on new challenges and defeating them. So I did it for my whole life. It fed me.
When my kids lost their dad, and I was left to parent two grieving kids solo, I quickly realized that this wasn’t right. This wasn’t how I wanted to live my life. I couldn’t live my life like this anymore. So I worked and made the change.
This first story is all about:
The start of my map: The moment when I fell in love with work at 16
My entrepreneurial journey: The influences of being a business owner on my relationship with work
And the turning point in my map: My first step to fully integrate my life over 20 years later
You don’t have to be a workaholic to have a successful business or a successful life.
Key Takeaways:
- If you don’t change your relationship with work, you’ll fight yourself every step of the way. You shouldn’t feel guilty about taking time off, or decreasing work hours. If you constantly feel like you need to be working, it’s time to make a change.
- Just like any behavior, workaholic behaviors are learned. We can learn something and we can unlearn something. How will you apply your successfully learned skills, and integrate that into a balanced life?
- Ask yourself. Have you built something that only you can do or decided that only you can do it? If you answer yes to either question – it might be time to commit to building your map beyond workaholism.
- Don’t wait until tragedy strikes because it happens to all of us at some point. Be there for the people and life waiting for you BEFORE you need to.
{3:10}”I easily worked 70 to 80 hours a week, not because anyone was making me, nor because I was getting paid for it or punching a time clock for it. I wasn't, but because I loved every freaking minute.”
{3:51}”Fast forward a year. I am exhausted, burned out, and struggling with health issues because what I didn't know at the time is that my body, mind, and spirit aren't separate things. We are whole and integrated people and we mess with one. We mess with it all.”
{7:07}”It was January, 2021 and I am, eyeing 40 in the nuts. I was standing in the kitchen staring at a piece of paper and there was a few words on it that I understood, likely malignant tumor.”
{9:55}”You are not a workaholic. Your workaholic is an outfit that you put on top of who you are. It's an outfit you can choose to put on, and it's an outfit you can choose to take off.”
If you’d like to share your story, contact me here:
podcast@jennylynnerickson.com
If you’d like to make a change, contact me here:
https://www.jennylynneerickson.com/contact