Taking the long view
🔥 Avoiding burnout with a sustainability perspective
Last month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hazel Anderson-Turner about her new book on using coaching in burnout contexts.
Hazel has considerable experience using Acceptance and Commitment Coaching in the workplace, which is a great fit for the podcast. I think she did a great job of demystifying the topic and explaining why burnout is a destination it's so important to avoid.
(Many listeners will be already familiar with the Acceptance and Commitment Theory (ACT) framework and the benefits that the resulting psychological flexibility can bring. You can click here for an insight into the essentials.)
A few things jumped out for me from our conversation.
Just like any personal change, whether it's the cultivation of a habit or progress towards a meaningful goal, burnout doesn't happen all at once. It's a gradual experience, the result of multiple events, experiences and responses to workplace demands.
Secondly, the fact that it may be feedback from others that raises our own awareness of the risk of burnout. The longer hours, the relentless striving, the eventual distance and cynicism. What appears to us as simply doing our best may well look quite different to those around us.
Finally, I've been reflecting on the importance of sustainable behaviour. If we think about sustainability more broadly, it implies a focus on how resources are sourced and utilised, and requires a concern for the impact of this activity on the wider environment.
Where we intentionally invest our limited time, attention and energy to focus on what matters, flagging our challenges with others and changing our approach when it no longer works. Sustainable coping responses to life's challenges are things we can continue to do, without a likely negative impact on our wellbeing.
Sustainability isn't about how we're feeling and behaving right now - it's about the cumulative impact of these responses, these habits, over time. It requires us to be honest with ourselves and consider the possibility that what we're doing to solve a problem now is going to cause bigger problems down the line.
Avoidance, procrastination, use of substances, skipping sleep, micro-management, longer hours. All can seem 'sensible' ways of dealing with pressure and hassles in the moment, but ultimately cause us more trouble.
🎬 Lights! Camera! Action!
Since I started the my pocket psych podcast eight years ago, I've really tried to keep our focus on workplaces jobs and types of employment as broad and inclusive as possible.
But despite my best efforts and probably based on my own familiarity, lots of the examples I've kept coming back to office-based work and office-based professionals. Mea culpa.
In the latest episode of the podcast, we get a peek into quite a different kind of work. I'm joined by actor, writer and coach Lena Kaur to discuss what it's like to be an actor. As outsiders, we might think acting is all about glamour, fun and fame. For the actor, it's a job. No matter how successful they are, it's still a job. And a tough one at that.
As a coach who uses ACT-based coaching to bring psychological flexibility to life in her clients, and as an actor, with extensive experience on stage and screen, Lena is extremely familiar with the challenges that actors face and what to do about them. As Lena points out in our discussion actors are in the business of difficult thoughts and feelings. So skills like cognitive defusion (seeing thoughts for what they are - simply thoughts) are incredible useful for performers.
I was particularly interested to learn about how actors cope with so much rejection - think about all of those auditions they have to go through! - and also how a couple of weeks of glamorous recording for a high profile show can end suddenly, leaving the actor going back to that regular job as a barista on the High Street. Talk about coping with change!
I really enjoyed chatting with Lena and I hope you enjoy the episode. I always learn so much from my guests and this was an excellent reminder to think broadly and inclusively when thinking about work and workplaces in general. Note to self: not everyone is sat in front of a computer all day.
You can find Ep 179 of 'My Pocket Psych' wherever you get your podcasts, or watch our conversation in the video below.
🧠A real focus on your wellbeing
A quick reminder that cohort two of 'Thriving with Psychological Flexibility' is now open. This course teaches you the skills that boost your psychological flexibility and your wellbeing. If you've been thinking about working on aspects of your health - physical, psychological or social - then this course will teach you how to introduce change that will last.
It's comprised of a combination of self-directed learning, practical skills application, and interactive online workshops. All the details and sign-up form can be found here. Registration gives you a full twelve months access to the course materials and future workshops and events.
🎥 Here's the video I recorded to introduce the course last year. It all still applies, and I'm looking forward to meeting all the new delegates.
Thanks for reading - see you next month!
