238 episodes

FRIED. The Burnout Podcast is on a mission to #endburnoutculture. You'll hear interviews with guests who have been through it all and lived to tell the tale and solo episodes from FRIED's host - Cait Donovan and FRIED Burnout Coach Sarah Vosen. Our promise is that you'll have at least one major take away from every single episode that will help guide your recovery.

FRIED releases on Sundays at 12:00am EST which has earned it the unofficial title of 'Burnout Church'. We're here with your sermons, it's time to change your life.

FRIED was created and is hosted by Cait Donovan, Keynote speaker and coach on burnout, boundaries, and her favorite emotion - Resentment.

Fried. The Burnout Podcast Cait Donovan

    • Health & Fitness
    • 4.7 • 135 Ratings

FRIED. The Burnout Podcast is on a mission to #endburnoutculture. You'll hear interviews with guests who have been through it all and lived to tell the tale and solo episodes from FRIED's host - Cait Donovan and FRIED Burnout Coach Sarah Vosen. Our promise is that you'll have at least one major take away from every single episode that will help guide your recovery.

FRIED releases on Sundays at 12:00am EST which has earned it the unofficial title of 'Burnout Church'. We're here with your sermons, it's time to change your life.

FRIED was created and is hosted by Cait Donovan, Keynote speaker and coach on burnout, boundaries, and her favorite emotion - Resentment.

    #straightfromcait: Navigating Leadership Burnout: A Guide For Business Owners and Leaders

    #straightfromcait: Navigating Leadership Burnout: A Guide For Business Owners and Leaders

    Hey, FRIED fam! On today’s episode of The Burnout Podcast, Cait is answering written questions from bosses and leaders, asking how to deal with burnout while balancing all of the other concerns of their company and employees. How can you maintain a healthy workplace culture while recovering from burnout? How do you deal with employees who punch up out of frustration? What if restructuring the business to promote a healthier workplace results in layoffs? 

    First, Cait makes the distinction between what is and is not a leader’s responsibility. It is their responsibility to implement, enforce and model a healthy and productive workplace culture. It is not their job however, to fix it individually. Hiring an outside party is essential regardless of cost. She reveals one of the biggest drivers of employee burnout, its actual physical effects, and the point at which leaders may just need to get over themselves. 

    As a boss, you’ll learn #straightfromcait how to positively influence company culture so that everyone wins. 

    Quotes
    “We have to understand that if your workplace culture was healthy, it’s more likely that you wouldn’t have ended up here.” (1:39 | Caitlin Donovan)“You don’t do it alone. You get support. This is something you have to invest in. It might not have been in your budget. And guess what? You have to do it anyway.” (4:21 | Caitlin Donovan) “If you are someone who typically burns out, and you’re a people pleaser and a perfectionist, as a business owner, you’ve likely hired other people who are people pleasers and perfectionists. So, you might have employees who are holding on just to help you out and really they’ve wanted to go for two years.” (5:08 | Caitlin Donovan) “I’m not actually sure that we can challenge the assumption that the burden of setting and resetting the culture rests in the leader, because it does. Leaders have to be the drivers of change and employees can contribute to that but not before the leader sets the tone and the direction. That is literally the job.” (12:25 | Caitlin Donovan) “One of the things during burnout—and this is fascinating—is you lose some of your peripheral vision, actually, physically, lose peripheral vision. This kind of also works in a brain way. You also can’t see solutions that are not right in front of you. So, when you’re burnt out you kind of tunnel vision yourself and it’s really hard for you to see the bigger picture and how everything is interacting.” (14:45 | Caitlin Donovan) 
    Links
    https://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/karina-schneider-how-to-prepare-for-your-return-to-work-after-burnout-or-mental-health-leave
    https://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/straightfromcait-what-can-companies-do-to-reduce-burnout-risk
    https://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/straightfromcait-how-companies-can-use-burnout-to-heal-culture-issues

    Connect with Cait:
    Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcait
    Initial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahv

    Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

    • 17 min
    Andrea Owen: Building Shame Resilience for Burnout Recovery

    Andrea Owen: Building Shame Resilience for Burnout Recovery

    “Shame is driving the bus of our lives,” says life coach, keynote speaker, author and “hell-raiser” Andrea Owen, who joins the FRIED podcast. In this episode, Andrea shares a four-step process toward building shame resilience, which she learned while studying under author and professor Brene Brown. Many of the behaviors that we engage in–perfectionism, people pleasing, control– are what Brene Brown calls “the armor”. These tactics are means of avoiding shame. 

    One initial helpful step to building resilience is to become aware of how our shame manifests. Another major step toward building shame resilience is reaching out to others whom you can trust and who have earned the right to hear your story. 

    Andrea and Cait have advice for those who feel they have no one to whom they can reach out. For those who have always been the “shower-upper” in the relationship, they get into the specifics of how to set the groundwork to allow people to show up for you. 

    There is no escaping the feeling of shame. It is a human emotion, like joy or sadness. We all experience it and pretty regularly. Instead, we can build resilience to it, and talking about it, as we are on this episode of FRIED, is also a major part of building that resilience.

    Quotes
    “Shame likes to hide. Shame is a solo-preneur It likes to be behind the scenes. It’s like a ghostwriter, almost. It doesn’t like to be named.” (12:04 | Caitlin Donovan and Andrea Owen)“Largely, shame is an unconscious feeling and experience that we have because when it is that way, it’s able to do its job better. Its job is to keep us small; its job is to keep us from connecting with other humans; its job is to keep us in line.” (20:23 | Andrea Owen)“That was sort of the eye-opener for me in my training of, ‘Oh, all of these behaviors that the women in my audience engage with—me, too, by the way— we’re doing that in an effort to avoid shame. Therefore, shame is driving the bus of our lives.” (22:53 | Andrea Owen)“Get very, very familiar, get in bed with those [physical] symptoms so you know when it is happening. One of the goals is that you know when you’re in it, you can become resilient to it.” (31:24 | Andrea Owen)“Like we can talk about joy, like we can talk about gratitude, shame is just another human emotion and experience.” (45:37 | Andrea Owen) 
    Links
    https://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/dr-kristin-neff-self-compassion-being-human-and-living-with-an-open-heart


    Connect with Andrea Owen:
    Website: https://andreaowen.com/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyandreaowen/
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heyandreaowen/
    Book: https://andreaowen.com/free
     
    Connect with Cait:
    https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com
    https://caitdonovan.com
    Book an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcait
    Book a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahv
    Get info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried 

    Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

    • 52 min
    Dr. James Gordon: Transforming Trauma for Burnout

    Dr. James Gordon: Transforming Trauma for Burnout

    Dr. James Gordon, Harvard educated psychiatrist, founder and CEO of the Center for Mind Body Medicine, is recognized throughout the world for his use of self-awareness, self-care and group support to heal population-wide psychological trauma. He joins us on this episode of FRIED to discuss techniques featured in his new book “Transforming Trauma: The Path to Hope and Healing.” He begins by dispelling two prominent myths. Trauma is not relegated only to those who have extreme experiences. We all have dealt with or will deal with trauma sooner or later. Divorce, death of loved ones, facing immortality, major career setbacks or disappointments, all have traumatic impacts. What’s more, contrary to popular belief, we are not doomed to carry our trauma with us for the rest of our lives. We can not only heal ourselves but in doing so come through the other side as better human beings—wiser, kinder and more thoughtful. 

    One highly effective component of Dr. Gordon’s recovery program as described in “Transforming Trauma” is the method of shaking. For those stuck in a freeze response, shaking our bodies, often to music, brings us back into the present. He tells a beautiful story of his time spent working in Haiti with a group of female nursing students who were barely out of their teens. They had recently lost 90 of their classmates and friends to the 2010 earthquake. Dr. Gordon led them through a shaking exercise and the results were both life affirming and hilarious. 

    Another element that keeps us frozen is our judgment—of ourselves and others– a vicious cycle that prevents us from feeling joy and spontaneity. Dr. Gordon explains how we can free ourselves from this rigid, dogmatic state. Any trauma recovery program should be comprehensive, and requires experimentation and mindfulness of our own needs. When we free ourselves from our frozen state we open our minds to infinite possibilities.

    Quotes
    “If trauma doesn’t come early in life because, in fact, you have been abused or neglected or you have a congenital deformity of some kind or because you live in a community of violence or poverty, it will likely come in young adulthood or midlife, when we have terrible disappointments, when relationships break up.” (4:31 | Dr. James Gordon)“Change is possible and you can create that change yourself.” (11:04 | Dr. James Gordon)“[Shaking] is the body’s natural way of dealing with certain kinds of overwhelming stress. This is a method that is native to vertebrates, in general. You can see it if you have a dog who’s been in a fight with another dog. After that fight, you pull the dog away on the leash, and the dog is going to shake. It’s shaking off that high level of stress that’s come about from that confrontation. So, it’s part of us, biologically.”(16:00 | Dr. James Gordon)“It’s a vicious cycle, in which you’re judging others and you’re looking for their judgment, it just goes on and on. It’s what inhibits change and it’s what inhibits joy, and certainly inhibits spontaneity.” (16:00 | Dr. James Gordon)“That mind, which can be so useful, needs to be a tool. It shouldn’t be running us.” (40:24 | Dr. James Gordon)
    Links
    https://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/home/search/trauma

    Connect with Dr. James Gordon:
    Website: cmbm.org
    LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jamesgordonmd
     
    Connect with Cait:
    https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com
    https://caitdonovan.com
    Book an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcait
    Book a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahv
    Get info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried 

    Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

    • 45 min
    Lee Dryburgh: Biohacking Your Burnout Recovery with SiPhox Health

    Lee Dryburgh: Biohacking Your Burnout Recovery with SiPhox Health

    Hey FRIED Fam,
    Welcome to a very special sponsored episode where we dive into the transformative journey of Lee Dryburgh, a longevity and biomarker industry expert whose personal and professional experiences offer invaluable insights into wellness, burnout recovery, and the revolutionary impact of accessible health data.
    Key Highlights & Timestamps:
    The Catalyst of Change [00:01:13-00:07:23]: Lee shares his early burnout story, starting from his high-pressure career at Cisco, leading to a pivotal moment of physical and emotional collapse at an airport. This experience forced him to reconsider his lifestyle and embark on a decade-long sabbatical in Ljubljana, Slovenia.Post-Burnout Growth & Self-Discovery [00:07:23-00:18:26]: Lee discusses the profound personal growth following his initial burnout. He speaks about the importance of slowing down, embracing the present, and how a series of unfortunate events, including tumultuous relationships and familial losses, led him to therapy and a significant mental shift towards "beingness."Journey Into Functional Medicine [00:19:36-00:28:00]: A chance encounter with a blood lab revealed Lee was pre-diabetic, sparking his interest in functional medicine, biomarker optimization, and the role of diet in health. His exploration into supplements and continuous health monitoring transformed his well-being.Introduction to SiPhox Health [00:28:00-00:42:39]: Lee explains his collaboration with SiPhox Health, a company aiming to democratize access to health data through at-home blood testing. He highlights how understanding biomarkers can aid in managing stress, inflammation, and overall health, emphasizing the kit's role in proactive health management and burnout recovery.This episode not only sheds light on the physical and emotional facets of burnout but also introduces groundbreaking tools for health optimization. Lee's story is a testament to the power of introspection, the value of health data, and the potential of technology to enhance our well-being.
    For more details on SiPhox Health and to take advantage of a special discount for FRIED listeners, visit siphoxhealth.com/fried.

    • 43 min
    #straightfromsarah Lean In and Trust Your Intuition Again

    #straightfromsarah Lean In and Trust Your Intuition Again

    Hey listeners! I'm Sarah Vosen, and I am delighted to be with you today. In this episode, I will discuss the importance of tuning into your body's signals for guidance, decision-making, and prioritizing self-care practices during burnout recovery. Follow me as we do an exercise to identify what physical sensations signify yes or no answers to better understand your body’s needs. Tune in to boost your intuition and make choices aligned with your needs during burnout recovery!

    Episode Highlights:

    Learning to recognize and differentiate between yes and no feelings in the body through sensory exploration of scenarios. Sarah guides listeners in an exercise to tune into their body's physical sensations when imagining saying yes or no to different scenarios. This helps them recognize what a yes and no feel like nonverbally so they can better understand their body's signals.

    Prioritize self-care practices based on your body’s signal. Rather than overloading your plan with various self-care practices, Sarah encourages you to list options and check in with your body. This helps you prioritize based on current needs indicated by your body's response, whether a clear yes or no.

    When dealing with tough decisions that require steps you're hesitant about but are necessary for your goal, Sarah suggests paying attention to that resistance. This helps you determine what kind of support you need to take those initial steps, adding depth to your decision-making process. The process of listening and trusting will get easier as you continue practicing.
    .
    Connect with Cait:
    https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com
    Book an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcait
    Book a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahv
    Get info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

    • 16 min
    The Cure for Burnout (New Book Release!)

    The Cure for Burnout (New Book Release!)

    Today, I have a special guest who will share her amazing story of overcoming burnout. She is Emily Ballesteros, a resilience advocate with a background in industrial organizational psychology. She has transformed her own experience of prolonged exhaustion into a powerful journey. She will reveal the insights and solutions she discovered along the way, culminating in her upcoming book, "The Cure for Burnout," set to launch on February 13, 2024. Fried fam, get ready for an inspiring conversation with Emily about resilience and the path to overcoming burnout.

    Episode Highlights:
    In this insightful episode, Emily dives into the dynamics of internal and external validation, urging listeners to prioritize internal fulfillment over societal expectations. She shared practical advice on crafting a high-quality life, emphasizing the significance of personal values in decision-making.

    Experimentation takes center stage as a tool for personal growth, challenging the fear of making the "right" choices. The episode explores burnout recovery, assuring listeners that the tools gained during recovery serve as a safeguard against complete regression.

    The concept of burnout by boredom is introduced, highlighting the need for novelty and variety in life to prevent chronic disengagement. The hosts discuss finding balance between external and internal perspectives, especially when facing discomfort or dissatisfaction.

    Connect with Emily Ballesteros:
    https://www.emilyballesteros.com/
    https://www.instagram.com/emilybruth/?hl=en
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-ballesteros

    Connect with Cait:
    https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com
    https://caitdonovan.com
    Book an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcait
    Book a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahv
    Get info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

    • 50 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
135 Ratings

135 Ratings

Ana Melikian ,

Great podcast about burnout!

I binged several of #straightfromcait episodes and I’m now following this podcast! Cait does her homework and has a lot of experience on burnout recovery. LOVE IT! Can’t wait to keep listening and exploring her interviews too! Highly recommend!!!

ncramer34 ,

From burnout to breakthrough with my confidence!

thank you for hosting such amazing guests and providing such amazing content on your show Cait! The episode with Nicole Kalil gave me so many valuable takeaways about the true ways to build confidence in myself!

cassiejo2711 ,

So helpful!

Love the advice for overcoming burnout and the tips to help prevent it in the future!

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