Performance Under Pressure

The Nickel Collective
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Performance Under Pressure is a podcast for high-achieving women navigating ADHD, motherhood, business, burnout, and the invisible pressure behind doing it all. Hosted by Katie Nickel, performance strategist and trained mental health counselor, the show explores the real-life pressure patterns that keep capable women over-functioning—and what happens when the systems that once worked stop working. Through honest stories, conversations, and practical insights, we’ll unpack how to build a life and business that actually works in real life. Performance isn’t the problem. Pressure is.

  1. 1d ago

    Why Being Good Under Pressure Is Breaking You | ADHD & Motherhood

    Being really good under pressure isn't a strength. For a lot of us, it's the thing that's slowly breaking us. Baby #3 is here, and this was supposed to be my breakthrough season. I left the job that was draining me, launched my own business, kept up with grad school during nap times, and pulled off childcare at the very last second. Win after win after win. So why did everything feel like it was on fire? In this episode of ADHD & Motherhood: How I Got Here, I'm taking you into the season when I thought I'd finally figured it out. It's also when I realized I had no idea how to operate without pressure. Each last-minute win was teaching my nervous system the same lesson: pressure works. Until the bill came due. In this episode: Why baby #3 was my easiest baby in my hardest seasonWhat happened when a full-time job stopped holding my ADHD togetherThe daycare scramble, the part-time identity crisis, and leaving to start my own businessHow every "win" became more proof that pressure worksThe crash, and my first-ever therapy appointment (while in grad school for counseling, no less)Survival Over Performance: why your nervous system stays on edge even when things are going wellIf you remember one thing:Before you count the win, count the cost, because your nervous system is taking notes either way. Connect with Katie:📲 Follow along on Instagram: @thenickelcollective💬 Raising neurodivergent kids? DM me on Instagram if you'd like an episode on how I handled it. New episodes every Monday. If this one hit home, follow the show and share it with the mom who always "has it handled." Performance isn't the problem. Pressure is. EPISODE CHAPTERS (00:00) Why being good under pressure is breaking you (02:00) Baby #3: my easiest baby in my hardest season (03:50) Losing the job that held my ADHD together (05:30) Part-time work and my identity crisis (07:00) Leaving to start my own business (08:00) Grad school during nap times (08:45) The crash and my first therapy appointment (10:30) Pressure works… until the bill comes due (12:40) Why this hits ADHD women so hard (13:50) The reframe and one takeaway (14:10) Survival Over Performance + where to find me

  2. Sep 22

    ADHD & Motherhood | The Year Everything Broke

    I went from feeling like I was on top of the world to watching it end... in nine months. This is that story. This is the next chapter of ADHD & Motherhood: How I Got Here — and it's not about ADHD symptoms. It's about what happens when being "the fixer" becomes the thing that keeps you stuck. I unpack two ideas I keep coming back to: The Competence Trap (capable people get handed more, just because they can handle it) and Leadership Gravity (why it's almost impossible to admit you don't want to carry something anymore). If you're a high-achieving woman with ADHD who's exhausted from proving you can handle everything, this one's for you. 🎧 Subscribe to Performance Under Pressure for weekly conversations on ADHD, burnout, motherhood, and the pressure behind trying to do it all.💬 DM me on Instagram @thenickelcollective — I read every message myself 🎙️The Competence Trap Episodes: Burnout, Decisiveness, 🎙️Leadership Gravity Episodes: Leaders, Systems, Home, Action

  3. Sep 15

    Adult ADHD & Motherhood | I Thought I Had a Discipline Problem

    Motherhood is not a discipline problem...it’s a pressure problem. If you’re an ADHD mom who keeps thinking, I just need to be more organized, more disciplined, more on top of it, this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar and deeply relieving at the same time. Katie Nickel shares the raw story behind the moment she thought she had motherhood handled, then found herself pregnant with baby number two, drowning in two daycare bills, two kids in diapers, a shifting job situation, and a life that looked fine from the outside but was cracking underneath. What starts as a personal origin story becomes a powerful reframe for every woman who has ever blamed herself for not being able to hold everything together. You’ll discover: Why “just try harder” is the wrong fix for ADHD momsHow pressure, not laziness, can quietly break down your entire systemWhat happens when control turns into survival modeWhy over-preparing, hyper-focusing, and self-blame often show up as coping strategiesHow Katie began shifting from forcing a perfect version of motherhood to building a more sustainable one Katie also gets honest about the emotional cost of carrying the role of good mom, good wife, good friend, good sister, good daughter, good neighbor, and good professional all at once. The result is a story about exhaustion, identity, and the moment when “doing everything right” still isn’t enough. If you’ve ever cried in the bathroom, spiraled over a missed detail, or wondered why motherhood feels harder than it should, this episode will help you feel seen. It’s an essential listen for high-achieving moms, especially those navigating ADHD, burnout, and the pressure to keep performing when what you really need is relief. Episode 3 Spotify and Apple. Find out more about sustainable systems here. Follow the show on instagram with The Nickel Collective

  4. Sep 9

    Adult ADHD & Motherhood: I Didn’t Know I Had ADHD | Becoming a Mom

    Follow on Instagram @thenickelcollective For more information on Sustainable Systems visit the website. I became a mom before I knew I had ADHD—and from the outside, I looked like I was handling it just fine. Welcome to the first episode of ADHD & Motherhood: How I Got Here, where I’m telling the real story of becoming a mom, raising three kids, experiencing burnout, and eventually discovering I had ADHD. In this episode, I’m going all the way back to becoming a mom for the first time. At the time, I didn't know anything about adult ADHD, executive dysfunction, or why some parts of motherhood seemed to require so much more effort from me than they should. I just thought I needed to try harder. I was working. I was parenting. I was managing life. And I was really good at making it look like I had everything under control. But becoming a mom was the beginning of a much bigger story—one that would eventually lead to worsening ADHD symptoms, postpartum struggles, burnout, and a complete reset of how I approached my life. In this episode: Becoming a mom before my ADHD diagnosis The early signs of ADHD I didn't recognize What motherhood looked like from the outside vs. what it felt like internally The pressure to keep performing and keep everything together Why I thought I simply needed to try harder The beginning of my journey toward understanding my brain differently If you're a mom with ADHD—or a mom wondering why motherhood feels harder than it seems like it should—start here. This is how I got here.

  5. Aug 31

    What Losing My Dog Taught Me About Starting Over

    Starting over rarely feels like joy. Usually it feels like failure... Failure to stick with something, failure to pivot, failure to rise to the challenge. This week, Katie walks through her own three-day arc from defeat to regret to excitement over a decision to start over, and traces it back to something that happened this summer: 12 days spent searching for her missing dog, Priscilla, in the middle of a family Disney trip. And through all of it, nothing fell apart, the kids were taken care of, clients were taken care of, life looked normal from the outside. But it cracked open something Katie had been avoiding: Sustainable Systems was built for the wrong person. In this episode, Katie shares: The full story of Priscilla going missing for 12 days and how she found her Why "the program is awesome, the audience was wrong" was the real problem all along The repositioning of Sustainable Systems away from "high-achieving women reclaiming 10 hours a week" and toward the audience it was always meant for What it actually feels like when starting over comes from clarity instead of pressure Little is changing about the podcast. Big changes are coming to Sustainable Systems and to Katie's content this episode is where it starts. If this episode speaks to you, DM Katie on Instagram @thenickelcollective Subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode.

    What Losing My Dog Taught Me About Starting Over

  6. Apr 30

    We'll Be Back: A Note from Katie

    A quick and honest note before the break. Twenty episodes in, Katie is taking two intentional weeks away from the podcast — not because something went wrong, but because something is going right. She's pausing to look at what's worked, do research she's genuinely excited about, and work on something bigger that she can't wait to announce. This is not burnout. This is the thing she keeps telling you to do. Back in two weeks. Stronger. With something worth coming back for. Stay connected with Katie on Instagram here Visit the website for more information here In the meantime — leave a review if this show has been worth your time. Five stars if you mean it. It keeps the show visible while Katie is heads down. Topics: podcast break, Performance Under Pressure update, The Nickel Collective, Katie Nickel

  7. Apr 24

    How to Practically Get Over Fear: Your Executive Action

    Tuesday named the fear. Today we do something about it. Pause. Process. Proceed. You've heard these words before. You haven't heard them like this. Pause is not a deep breath. It's one second and three words. Process is not resolution — it's one sentence with a blank to fill. Proceed is not going all in — it's the smallest possible action that gets you past the moment where fear makes the decision. And then there's the thing nobody says out loud: sometimes fear is right. Sometimes the move is don't proceed. Today Katie names the difference between fear that's protecting your ego and fear that's protecting something that actually matters — and why getting that distinction wrong is just as costly as letting fear stop you entirely. One move. The P3 Move. Under two minutes. This week. Builds directly on Episode 19 — Getting Over Fear: Why High Performers Stay Stuck. Listen to that one first. Full show notes ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get one the Performance Index waitlist ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow on instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thenickelcollective Topics: overcoming fear women entrepreneurs, fear and high performers, imposter syndrome burnout, scarcity mindset women, high performer mindset, ACT therapy fear, burnout and fear, Performance Under Pressure, The Nickel Collective

    How to Practically Get Over Fear: Your Executive Action

  8. Apr 22

    Getting Over Fear: Why High Performers Stay Stuck

    You know the feeling. You had every reason not to go. You went anyway. And somehow still managed to rehearse a pitch you already knew in a parking structure while almost walking into a concrete wall. This is an impromptu episode — it came from real life last night. And those are usually the ones that needed to happen. Today Katie names the pressure pattern underneath fear for high performers — the Scarcity Pull — and the one word swap that changes what feels possible. Not a framework. Not a five-step plan. One word. This week. Plus the full story. Including the concrete wall. You deserve the full story. And a reframe for fear that might change how you talk about it starting today: fear as an emotion is a battle you will always be fighting. Fear as an alert tells you to pause, process, and proceed. Let's give it the second job. It's better at that one. Friday: the practical moves for getting over fear. None of them are in a self-help book. Full show notes ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get one the Performance Index waitlist ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow on instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thenickelcollective Topics: fear and high performers, overcoming fear women entrepreneurs, imposter syndrome entrepreneurs, scarcity mindset women, burnout and fear, high performer mindset, Performance Under Pressure, The Nickel Collective

    Getting Over Fear: Why High Performers Stay Stuck
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Performance Under Pressure is a podcast for high-achieving women navigating ADHD, motherhood, business, burnout, and the invisible pressure behind doing it all. Hosted by Katie Nickel, performance strategist and trained mental health counselor, the show explores the real-life pressure patterns that keep capable women over-functioning—and what happens when the systems that once worked stop working. Through honest stories, conversations, and practical insights, we’ll unpack how to build a life and business that actually works in real life. Performance isn’t the problem. Pressure is.

Information

  • Creator
    The Nickel Collective
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    26
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The Nickel Collective
  • Show Website
    Performance Under Pressure