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Balance and Beyond is the podcast for ambitious women refusing to accept burnout as the price of success. Here, we’re committed to empowering you with the tools and strategies you need to achieve true balance, where your career, relationships and health all thrive and where you have the power to define success on your own terms.
156 Episodes
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We explore the crucial difference between change driven by fear versus change pulled by desire, and why many women struggle to connect with what they truly want. This mindset shift is essential for breaking free from burnout and creating a life of joy and fulfillment rather than mere survival. • Running from fear (the modern "lions" of bosses, inboxes, and perfectionism) creates unsustainable change and leads to burnout • Sustainable change happens when we're pulled toward our desires, not p...
If you’ve ever been told you’re “too much,” this conversation hands you the mic back. We trace the quiet conditioning that teaches high achievers to shrink—dial down ambition, soften edges, and convert natural ease into proof of effort. That script morphs into “because I could, I should,” a mantra that hijacks strengths and turns them into obligations. The result? Endless hustle, moving goalposts, and wins that feel strangely hollow. We open up about the years spent overfunctioning—carrying ...
We're navigating a once-in-a-generation shift as women balancing careers and motherhood. Understanding our place in history helps us recognize we're not alone in wanting both professional success and present parenting. • Within just one generation, women have moved from needing male cosigners for bank accounts to comprising half the workforce • Until the 1960s, it was legal to refuse employment to women solely because of their gender • Most families today require two incomes, yet our subcons...
As AI capabilities rapidly advance, women who've built their identities on being the smartest and most dependable in the room are facing a confidence crisis as these traits are being replaced by technology that doesn't tire or have family obligations. • Many women are responding by working even harder and trying to "outgrit the algorithm" • Learning about AI is valuable, but using it just to get more done accelerates burnout • This technological shift is threatening not just roles but identi...
People pleasing behaviours develop in childhood and become deeply ingrained by age eight, creating a pattern where we believe we must earn love through meeting others' needs. This psychological conditioning leads to resentment, career limitations, and an inability to set boundaries that ultimately holds us back from becoming true leaders and women of influence. • People pleasers have a strong need to be liked, are often high achievers, perfectionists, and struggle to say no • The pattern beg...
We often hide parts of ourselves that we've been told are "too much," but reclaiming these disowned aspects is key to wholeness and freedom. I share my personal journey of hiding my intelligence because it made others uncomfortable, creating compensatory behaviours and identity fragmentation. • Intelligence became something I downplayed despite teaching myself to read and finding school came easily • Developed hypervigilance about how my achievements might make others feel • Created unhealth...
The journey from proud perfectionist to recovering perfectionist is crucial for career advancement and personal wellbeing. Perfectionism acts as a ceiling that limits growth, creativity, and influence when left unchecked. • Perfectionism often stems from early career mistakes that damage confidence • Common signs include excessive time spent on details, procrastination, and fear of making decisions without complete information • Perfectionism and procrastination always come together, both dr...
The transformation of logical, high-achieving women who discover the power of intuition is becoming increasingly common. This shift represents not an abandonment of intelligence but an expansion of it—combining analytical thinking with deeper knowing for a more fulfilling life. • Even the most logical, no-nonsense women are beginning to trust their intuition • Many discover this path after burnout or exhaustion from constant pushing and striving • Women are questioning if there's an easier w...
The "Get Shit Done" identity that once propelled your career may now be causing burnout and limiting your potential. This episode explores why being efficient, reliable, and productive is no longer enough in today's workplace, and offers strategies to transition from being someone who "gets things done" to someone who "makes things happen." • Three characteristics of GSD people: high achiever tendencies, efficiency obsession, and external validation dependency • Warning signs your GSD approa...
Embracing the word "selfish" as a compliment rather than an insult marks a revolutionary shift in how we approach self-care and personal boundaries. • Breaking free from constant permission-seeking behaviours like asking to take a shower or go out for dinner • Letting go of mental calculations that track who "deserves" free time based on previous activities • Redefining selfishness as a positive trait rather than something to avoid at all costs • Understanding that women today spend 50% more...
We explore the critical distinction between success and fulfillment, explaining why external achievements often leave us feeling empty despite societal programming. This mindset shift can transform how you approach life's goals, helping you find genuine contentment instead of chasing hollow victories. • Success is external, measurable, and something you do—often defined by others through material possessions, titles, and achievements • Fulfillment is internal, personal, and a state of being ...
The lifelong training we receive as women to be agreeable, low maintenance, and undemanding is at the core of people-pleasing and burnout. This good girl conditioning teaches us to stay small and shrink ourselves to meet others' expectations, creating an impossible tightrope of contradictory behaviours. • Good girl conditioning trains women from childhood to be quiet, grateful, and not make a fuss • This conditioning forces us to walk an impossible tightrope of being strong but not intimidat...
We explore the powerful concept of somatic coaching and how unresolved emotions stored in our bodies can sabotage our best attempts at positive thinking and personal growth. Jaclyn, our mindset coach, explains why affirmations sometimes fail to create lasting change and offers practical approaches to finally process stuck emotions. • Somatic coaching focuses on the body (soma) rather than just the mind • Unprocessed emotions remain stored in our nervous system, creating a mind-body disconnec...
Every tiny "yes" we say when we mean "no" is a drop in our resentment bucket, creating a heavy weight that contributes to burnout more than we realize. These "dirty yeses" might look like generosity on the outside but are actually moments of self-abandonment that leave us feeling resentful and exhausted. • Small acts of saying yes when you mean no accumulate over time • Dirty yeses create feelings of resentment, exhaustion and scorekeeping • People pleasers often feel they have no choice but...
Our body's fight-or-flight response treats everyday stressors the same as life-threatening situations, making it impossible to experience joy while in survival mode. Breaking free from this cycle requires embracing discomfort and understanding that what we truly want—joy, calm, and fulfillment—lies on the other side of temporary unease. • Your body can't distinguish between being chased by a lion and waiting for your boss's email response • We often stay stuck until the pain of our current s...
The Women's Agenda Ambition Report reveals women want to develop communication, empathy, resilience and adaptability in 2023, but these are skills women already excel at. What women truly need isn't more skills but permission—permission to set boundaries, focus on themselves, rest without guilt, and anchor in their authentic identity. • Communication: women need directness, not diplomacy—learning to speak up without apologising for taking space • People-pleasing dampens our ability to commun...
We often know exactly what we need to do to improve our lives, yet fail to follow through despite our awareness. This common pattern stems from becoming chemically addicted to emotional states like guilt and shame, creating barriers that prevent us from making positive changes. • Recognising when we give others advice we need ourselves • Understanding how our brain prioritises survival over happiness • Breaking the cycle of guilt and shame that weighs us down • Learning why comfort zones are...
Being visible isn't optional in today's professional landscape—it's a crucial part of your job. High-achieving women have been fed the dangerous lie that keeping your head down and doing excellent work will eventually get you noticed, but invisibility now comes with an accelerating cost. • A pivotal moment when my chairman told me "if no one sees it, it doesn't count" • In a world being swallowed by AI, invisibility is no longer neutral—it's a risk • The truth about why ambitious women stay ...
Strategies for balance don't work without the right mindset to support them. No matter how many wellness tools you try, they'll only become effective when paired with crucial mindset shifts that ambitious women often miss. • Meditation works when you shift from trying to stop thoughts to letting go and processing your day • Time blocking requires detaching from the belief that busyness equals importance • Waking up early needs preparation and clarity about why that time matters to you • Self...
Making part-time work arrangements successful requires more than just reducing hours – it demands unshakable confidence built from the inside out rather than being dependent on external validation or productivity. • Unshakable confidence is essential for setting and maintaining boundaries in part-time roles • Women often try to prove themselves by maintaining full-time workloads in part-time hours • Finding your voice is crucial for negotiating appropriate workloads and expectations • Clear ...
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