Breaking the burnout cycle

Episode 2 of Tilted, A Lean In Podcast: Breaking the burnout cycle – Lean In

As we enter the holiday season we found a podcast episode that seemed to be a great reminder during this crazy year to be conscious of how we’re taking care of ourselves. It’s called Breaking the burnout cycle and features conversations with Arianna Huffington (founder of Thrive Global) and Emily Nagoski (author of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle). We also thought it would be a great time to re-introduce a podcast series that we’ve featured before, but that recently started a new season - Tilted, A Lean In Podcast.

In the episode both guests talk about ways to recognize stress and burnout, how to identify patterns that might lead to burnout, and how to start new patterns one micro-step at a time. They also discuss some interesting points around how burnout culture in companies directly impacts along gender lines.

Suggested discussion questions (if you need something to start the conversation):

• Arianna says fixing the burnout culture is critical to fixing the gender gap. Was this as eye opening to you as it was to us? Is there a burnout culture in your company? What things might need to change to help fix it?

• What do you think about the concept of Thrive time? Has COVID-19 impacted your normal patterns for self-care? vacations? thrive time?

• What are some micro-steps you might be able to take this week? Or that you’ve taken recently?

• Traditionally many companies have given their employees “sick days”. Even though companies might say it’s ok to use sick days for mental health, is there still a bit of a stigma with the name? What if we were to rebrand them “wellness days”?