Are you a doctor, attorney, high level manager, CEO or business professional in a high stress environment? And did you know that according to a recent Gallup Poll that teaching, and nursing are tied for daily stress? Teaching can be a lonely profession when educators lack support, training and strategies for classroom management, leading to lack of job satisfaction, disintegrating health, depression, and teacher attrition.

Whatever profession you are in, we can’t escape the demands of everyday life, so on today’s episode we will cover new strategies for overcoming work burnout before it takes a toll on our health, job satisfaction, productivity, and motivation.  Today, on EPISODE #212, we will be speaking with Dr. Sharon Grossman, otherwise known as the Burnout Doc who will provide us with a fresh perspective of an age-old problem, with tools and strategies that she has used on many of her own clients, to take the steps to prevent work burnout BEFORE it occurs.

Watch this episode on YouTube here https://youtu.be/kDjQCyffiCk

On this episode you will learn:

✔︎ How we can recognize work burnout vs boredom or lack of challenge.

✔︎ Knowing how and when to set boundaries when the workload is too high.

✔︎ What to do the minute you feel "resentful" at work.

✔︎  What's at the root of work burnout.

✔︎ Tips for creating your ideal work environment.

For returning guests, welcome back, and for those who are new here, I’m Andrea Samadi, author, and educator, with a passion for learning, understanding difficult concepts, and breaking them down so that we can all use and apply the most current research to improve our productivity and results in our schools, sports environments, and modern workplaces.

Today we are going to look at work burn out from a different angle. We did launch the year with Nick Jonsson on EPISODE #188[i] on “Strategies for Overcoming Stress, Anxiety and Depression in the Workplace” and Mood and Stress Expert Erika Ferzst on EPISODE #198[ii] on “Using Your Brain to Prevent Workplace Burnout” but I saw something different with our next guest and here’s why.

Dr. Grossman sent me an email that went above and beyond ANY email I’ve ever received. She took a considerable amount of time not only create a VIDEO introduction to her work, but to let me know how the content on our podcast resonated with her and her work with stress management. She mentioned all of the ways that we would have a great conversation, as we dig deeper into our theme of Season 7 on “Brain Health and Well-Being.” I sometimes even forget myself what our theme is (even though I have a note on my computer monitor to remind me and keep me on track) but Dr. Grossman not only knew our theme, but how she could provide new insight and ideas into work burnout, with the brain in mind, and take our content to another level.  

What I didn’t know after her incredible introduction that caught me off guard as I began to read her book, The 7E Solution to Burnout[iii] is I realized that Dr. Grossman is not much different from anyone else, EXCEPT for the fact that she experienced work burnout herself, and noticed that she was not going above and beyond for her clients, so she created a system that she used herself, in addition to now sharing it with others, to impact change to combat work burnout and she wants to share he system with all of us.

I can’t wait to dive deeper into some solutions for this issue that I’m sure many of you listening have faced in the past, if you aren’t experiencing it to some extent today, with some ideas of how an understanding of our brain can help us to better manage our mind while under stress.

Let’s meet Dr. Grossman…

Welcome, Dr. Sharon Grossman, thank you for such an engaging intro to your work that you sent over. You really did make a memorable impression.  

Way to set the bar high and create an immediate interest on a topic that I know you can see we’ve covered a few times on the podcast.

INTRO Q: Dr. Grossman, can we begin with when you noticed some early signs of burn out when you stopped wanting to go above and beyond for your clients. When you said this, I can look back to times when I lost the zest for what I was doing, and didn’t recognize this as work burnout.  Can you explain what happened, how you knew it burnout, and where this all began for you?

Q1: Dr. Grossman, what I love is that your strategies are solutions that work from the inside out, without anyone having to change their environment. This is how I think long-term change can occur because even the most stressful work environments can be turned around with your 7E Solution. Can we take a common workplace scenario that causes most people to become overwhelmed, and you walk us through your 7E Solution so we can figure out how to apply your method to combat stress?

SITUATION: It’s 8pm at night, and you are still working. Your work day began at 7:30am with calls,(of course after dropping the kids off at school) and your calls go straight through until 5:30pm. You need to finish a report that you will present to the entire company in the morning, so instead of throwing it together in the morning, you are working on it late at night and feeling resentful that your work day seems to never end.

What would you say to someone who’s work day looks like this every day? How can such a stressful day be turned around to be more manageable?

Q2: How can we become more stress-hardy and gain more control over too many demand/not enough time to complete them, especially as a perfectionist who wants to complete everything perfectly and on time?

Q3: What is at the root of this problem? Why does the traditional definition of success leave many of us burned out?

Q4: What are ways that we can train our mind to work for us, rather than against us?

Q5: Is there anything important that I haven’t asked you about?

Thank you very much Dr. Grossman for your time today on the podcast. For people who want to learn more about you, you are offering a FREE "Dial Back Your Stress" Breakthrough Session http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com/

Thank you for this offer and for all of your tips today.

FOLLOW DR. SHARON GROSSMAN

Podcast https://drsharongrossman.com/podcast/optimizeyourlife/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharongrossman/

Website https://drsharongrossman.com/

Free Burnout Checklist https://drsharongrossman.com/burnoutchecklist/

BIO: Dr. Sharon Grossman

You know how high achievers struggle with constant stress and end up working to the point of exhaustion? Imagine if you could continue doing the work you love, create a life you’re wild about outside of work, and have time for that life. What Sharon Grossman, the Burnout Doc, does better than others in her industry with her 20 years of experience as a psychologist, is she gives you a roadmap for managing stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. In just 90 days she helps you go from friend and frazzled to energized and exhilarated.

FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  

Website https://www.achieveit360.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/ 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  

Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 

REFERENCES:

[i]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #192 with Nick Jonsson on “Strategies for Overcoming Stress, Anxiety and Depression in the Workplace”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/nick-jonsson-on-strategies-to-overcome-isolation-stress-anxiety-and-depression-in-the-workplace/

[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #198 with Erika Ferszt on “using Your Brain to Prevent Workplace Burnout” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/mood-and-stress-expert-erika-ferszt-on-using-your-brain-to-prevent-workplace-burnout/

[iii] The 7E Solution to Burnout by Dr. Sharon Grossman https://coachingbysharon.teachable.com/p/7e-solution-burnout/?preview=logged_out