Overcoming the Overwhelm: Avoiding Professional Burnout

I first met Susan Guthrie several years ago when I sponsored an event Susan helped produce. Apparently I arrived at the event early – those of you who know my challenges with time management are shocked at what I just typed – and jumped in to help the team slice bagels, chop fruit, and prep the continental breakfast station. Side note: as we return to IN PERSON events, it’s a good bet that you’ll find me near the food.

Susan is nationally recognized as one of the top family law and mediation attorneys in the country. She is also an online mediation expert who has helped thousands of professionals move their mediation practices online, an essential service during the pandemic.

Most importantly, Susan is passionate about sharing resources with her audience — resources that help people maximize their professional and personal potential.

Susan reached out earlier this year with a request: would I come on her Learn to Mediate Online podcast and share techniques to help her listeners overcome the overwhelm that we’ve all experienced over the last year.

Our schedules finally aligned, and I am STOKED to share our conversation!

Speaking of sharing, last month I mentioned my weekly LIVE In The Moment coaching sessions on Instagram. They happen every Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT, and if you miss the live session you can watch the video on my IGTV channel.

One of my favorite episodes is The Happiness Backlash. (Ironically, it’s the ONE video in my channel where I look like I’m having my photo taken at the DMV.) I received a number of praise pile-worthy notes of thanks about that episode, including this one from @chicrckstr:

“Anyone else taking advantage of the way the pandemic has given us access to services we may not have even appreciated we needed? One example for me is the content @benkiker is kicking out on his IGTV Live “In The Moment” coaching. Many of you have heard me grumble about the over-hyped morning routing. This “yes / and” discussion and the idea of “shifting the dial” toward positive action really resonated in a meaningful way for me.”

Thank you, Lisa, for that feedback – and for sharing the episode with a Traci Turnblad-style wig atop my head as an homage to my reference to “Good Morning Baltimore” from the musicalHairspray.