The Executive Realm
Often, business and psychology are viewed as different and distinct ideas, but we believe business is driven almost exclusively by the psychology of people. Breaking the barrier into a new realm where the strategic business lens is focused on the behavior of your team, your customers, and your competitors can open a world of possibilities for growth. Join two Business Psychologists, from very different backgrounds, explore the complex intersection of business strategy and clinical psychology in today's rapidly-changing business world. Welcome to the Executive Realm with Dr. D and Dr. K.
The Executive Realm
Finding Inspiration at Work: Motivation, Burnout, and Purpose
Episode Description for Podcast Services
Title: Finding Inspiration at Work: Motivation, Burnout, and Purpose
In this episode of The Executive Realm, Dr. D and Dr. K unpack what it really means to stay inspired at work, especially when the routines get repetitive or burnout starts creeping in. They explore where inspiration comes from, how to reignite it when it's fading, and why it’s essential for leaders to model it. From the "50/50 rule" of workplace motivation to the role of purpose, learning, and even the Dunning-Kruger curve, this conversation blends business psychology with real-life leadership practices. You’ll hear strategies to reconnect with your why, support others through inspiration, and use feedback, mentorship, and coaching as tools to revive energy on your team. Whether you’re a leader looking to energize your culture or an employee in need of a spark, this episode delivers actionable insights for finding meaning and motivation at work.
Hello and welcome to the Realm. I'm Dr. D; I bring the strategy.
Dr. K:I'm Dr. K; I bring the psychology. We are business psychologists in your guides to the executive realm where we bring strategy and psychology together.
Dr. D:So you can bring your best to your C-suite, your teams, and your customers. Today we're talking about finding and creating inspiration at work, keeping connected to the motivation so you can continue to deliver great work and maintain optimistic wonderment at the potential of what you and your team can accomplish. So let's get to work. Dr. K. It's so important to stay inspired and connect with work that you're doing. How do you encourage your clients to stay inspired when it's tough to show up at a day job, day after day, doing the same thing over and over again.
Dr. K:I'll start with trying to find out, what's happening in the first place. Where did we lose inspiration? Is this a, personal struggle that we're having at home, outside of work? Is it a struggle inside work? And then we advance from there a lot of times. It can be people starting to become burnt out. Some anxiety, maybe there's a little bit of sadness, depression in there. But the first place I like to, go is just finding out where they think might be the problem. Oftentimes, I also work with what inspired you in the first place. If there was a reason why you started this career, what led you to want to do this career? Because along the way, you have politics and you have red tape, and you have, the day-to-day grind. And we sometimes forget what inspired us to do the job because no matter how much you love your job, there are days where it's just not as easy as others.
Dr. D:I use the 50 50 rule. If I am not inspired, committed, feeling, super motivated, more than half the time that I'm at work, then I have to evaluate whether or not I'm doing the right things. If I'm not feeling motivated, you're not gonna walk into work every day and feel that whiff of inspiration and that push of, pull of motivation. It just doesn't happen every day. But on balance, it should be at least half the time or more that you're feeling compelled to get some work done. And if you're showing up not feeling that way, then. It is gonna translate into the work product that you develop. And as a leader, it's going to be really difficult to inspire and motivate people around you and your teams or your peers or even your leadership in order to continue to go on. So I like the 50 50 rule and, some weeks are better than others. Some months are better than others. On balance, I feel like half the time or more, you should feel pretty good about going to work.
Dr. K:Yeah, I would agree. Sometimes there's an internal motivation or inspiration. And sometimes we have to draw inspiration from others. Sometimes we need to draw inspiration from the people around us if we're not feeling it. As a leader, you see your team just putting the grind in and working together as a team. You can look at that and go, okay, I'm not feeling this. But I'm doing something right that is making my team feel this. Let me draw off their energy. Now, I'm definitely one to say, don't always draw off other people's energy because you've gotta find your own energy. But there are times that we just need the energy of others and that's where that inspiration can come in. Or if, I always go to the employee level. If you're an employee and you're not feeling it, but you see your leader, putting the grind in, putting the work in, you can be inspired by that. Okay, yes, I'm not feeling it today, but let me get this done because she is working just as hard. Dr. D: It's important as well that the phrase, fake it until you make it, but sometimes as a leader you have to fake motivation and inspiration to keep those around you who are looking to you for leadership to find that extrinsic, that external, focus of motivation. Your team is not going to be motivated all the time. But they have to gain motivation and inspiration from you. And this is about inspiration. How do you inspire others to feel motivated? And part of that comes from how do you stay inspired yourself? Absolutely. And I think you have to start with the inspiration yourself. If you don't even have a vision of where your project is going, or your part of the project, or where the company itself is going, it's gonna be difficult to. Pass that on to others. So as a leader, I think, starting with inspiring yourself or being inspired or being excited or motivated that's where it needs to begin. Now, will that be a give or take at times? Absolutely. Will you have struggles? Of course. But starting with the yourself going, okay, I believe in this. I see this can work. Is in itself a good place to start as the leader and also a good place to start to give to your team. To give to others.
Dr. D:We have a long history of talking about purpose at work and connecting what you do to your personal motivation a good source of motivation or inspiration can be. What is my purpose here? What am I accomplishing? Because often when you get into your day-to-day routine, it's very difficult to see the forest for the trees to see how this task, or this project, or this path that we're undertaking as an organization connects to what we're trying to accomplish for our customers, for our community, or for our larger world. So whenever you are feeling a lack of motivation or a lack of inspiration, I always suggest to think about what is it that you're trying to accomplish and who are you trying to accomplish it for? What is your purpose in the work that you're doing? How does what you do? Make sure that the organization thrives, that the people that you're serving thrives and that the community and the customer base that you are delivering your ultimate work for. How do they thrive as a result of the work that you do? And that can be a very motivational and very inspirational feeling to draw
Dr. K:What would you say as a coach, you do to inspire yourself?
Dr. D:For me, as a coach, often we'll lean in exactly on that principle. How am I helping this person achieve their goals? How am I helping this person achieve their mission? Whatever that mission is, I often think back to, what is the clear and compelling purpose that I use to define who I am and how I get satisfaction out of the world, and how does the work that I'm doing here, or what work could I be doing to further that intrinsic purpose? So being aligned with the vision of what I'm trying to accomplish and being able to really connect the work that I need to do and that I want to do with that. Broader vision, is important. The other thing that I do as a coach to keep myself motivated is I push myself beyond my limits. It's fun because when I get in there, I can get into the flow state. I can feel like I'm being successful. But another way that I feel successful is by learning a new skill or a new capability and really pushing myself beyond my comfort zone. Diving in head first into something that I know will help the community that I'm trying to serve, or the people that I'm trying to serve. Add to my own skillset so that I can do things in a new or interesting way or gain a new perspective. So I will rely on myself and push myself to learn or take on a project or do something that's gonna push me out of my comfort zone so that I. Well, one, I get a lot of satisfaction from that because even though it's a struggle and it's hard to learn new things, and sometimes it's easy to feel like I'm never gonna get this, but once I do start to get the hang of it, I now have this whole new skillset. And anybody who knows me knows that I love to headfirst into the deep end and try to figure out something
Dr. K:Yes, for sure. Absolutely. And I appreciate that you. Bring up, just at the very end you were like, I just dive in head first. A lot of times that can be very scary for people. It's stepping out of the comfort zone. But what people tend to forget is that everything's out of our comfort zone until we learn it or try it. It's uncomfortable, but you want to draw from that nervousness, that excitement. That's the inspiration. Oh my gosh, this is so scary. But let me dive in. Let me figure out how to do this. Not just dive into this, but learn about it. What I always, work with people is individualize it to you, how it would work for you. As we know, I'm not the best techie person, so I maneuver ways to make it all work for me. Is it as quick, easy as everybody else out there? Probably not, but I figure out a way to make it work. And when I do, I get excited and I'm like, okay, I am not anti computer anymore. Being out of your comfort zone doesn't mean that it's wrong. It is just different.
Dr. D:That's all I had. A lot of people are familiar with the Dunning Kruger effect. This is where people are overconfident because they've learned a little bit about a new topic, and then they spout it like they're. PhDs in that particular topic, well, the Dunning Kruger curve is more than just that effect. It's also the humbling that comes when you think you're starting to get a hold of something and then you end up in this, what they call the pit of despair. You end up in this, this is so overwhelming and so much bigger than I imagined or you have some humbling experience where you're explaining it to a real expert, and that real expert goes, well, actually, it doesn't work that way. Then people end up in this pit of despair. But what comes after the pit of despair is this true? Knowledge and after you work your way through the, this is really big. I'm never gonna get this. All of a sudden the pieces start to fall in place. And that's very motivating. And with expertise comes inspiration. And the more domains that you start to gain some. Workable knowledge in not that Dunning Kruger peak, where it's surrounded by overconfidence, but working your way into that pit of, I'm not quite sure how this works, or if I'm gonna ever get it to that point of, Hey, I'm pretty comfortable with this topic. The more domains that you have like that, the more. Areas you can draw on for inspiration. You can make broader connections between topic A and topic Z and connect dots that other people who don't have that particular skillset or those domains of knowledge to be able to make those broad connections across and bring new solutions to challenges a big part of staying motivated and being inspired is being confronted with a challenge that is big enough for you to try to solve and working within yourself and within your network to find solutions to those challenges. So a big part of staying inspired and inspiring your team is to not allow yourself fall into the doldrums of repetitiveness you have to find a way to break out of what you're doing and solving a problem or solving a challenge together with a team of people is a inspiring and motivating way to get people engaged in whatever you're trying to do. It breaks up the monotony of the doldrum work, and it brings in. Real brainpower and gets people thinking creatively on working through a problem or a particular challenge. And as you work through that problem, you solve that problem and you make the world better for the people that you're solving it for. And that is inspiring and you can draw on that to tackle the next big problem.
Dr. K:Absolutely. And one of the things that you brought up was, tackling the problems I always will I do this for myself and I will talk to it with, clients and stuff, is if you lose motivation or the inspiration, sometimes it's learning again. Because sometimes we get into a place where it's mundane and we forget some of the intricate parts of the things that we've learned. That make us excited for what we're working on or for what we're doing or how to do it, when I work withpeople that arein the mental health field they can easily get burnt out. One of the things that I willwork with them on is, okay, go do an education class. One of my friends was getting a little burnt outin her job and she's aexecutive producer and so I was like, well, are there classes or anything that you can take that would be helpful? Andthis person was able to start one of those masterclasses that you see on TV with people and feltsuper excited to go in and use some of the things learned. So it doesn't have to be that you do an education class. It's wherever you can gain inspiration, that then you can become inspired as the leader, and then you canput that forth towards your employees. And that's a way toinspire. Not only get yourself inspired, but to inspire others.
Dr. D:You bet. The point that you bring up is important, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a person that is known to you. Signing up for a masterclass is a great way to do this, but surrounding yourself with positive and motivated people. If you surround yourself with positive and motivated people, you. Are inspired to be motivated yourself, and it's important for you to be a positive and motivated individual for somebody else who is there with you.'cause we've all been around that non-motivated Debbie Downer person who doesn't bring positive energy or bring enthusiastic energy to any of the work. Maybe they're a complainer, maybe they always see. The negative side of everything, but don't offer any solutions around that negativity, that can suck the inspirational energy out of the room. And you don't want to be that person yourself. You also don't wanna wear rose colored glasses all the time.'cause people aren't going to take you seriously. You have to. Bring real perspective, but find a path of optimism to work your way through whatever it is on the other side. I love the idea that your friend went and took a masterclass because that shows, well, there is a person who is an expert People who have made genuine lasting cultural impact, that's easy to be motivating, but sometimes the work that you are doing yourself might not feel motivating. Or might not feel inspirational, but there is somebody who is watching the work that you do, and they are incredibly motivated by the things that you are taking for granted because you've already become an expert in that field. So a great way to. Find inspiration and motivation, not just for yourself but for others, is to mentor, to coach. And you asked me what value do I get out of coaching? Well, I get a lot of value out of helping others or as a consultant, bringing my expertise that is second nature to me, to other people who might not see the world or have the lived experiences that I have. Bringing a new perspective is. Fun when I realize that even though something I'm talking about for the 50th time is a little bit boring to me, is motivating or inspirational to somebody else, and I can draw on their inspiration and that knowing that I am helping in some. Way, to make a difference. So coaching or mentorship is a great way to continue to find your motivation and there is no better way to learn than to teach. I think I know a topic, and then as soon as I have to explain it to somebody else, I realize where my limitations are. Once I feel very comfortable about teaching a topic or talking about a topic, then I know, okay, I've kind of got it, but I don't really know something until I've taught it to somebody else.
Dr. K:Absolutely agreed. And through my coaching or being a therapist, one of my favorite things is when, we discuss something, I am educating or teaching and what inspires me is watching, they'll ask a question, I'll give them, maybe a minimal response depending on what the question is. And then I can see the wheels turning in their head and they, as I always talk about, individualize it to themselves and then they, if they go, well, is this what you mean?'cause this is how I heard it. And I'll be like, absolutely. And I can see the change in them, which makes me be inspired so some of my inspiration, which I give to others is watching the process happen.
Dr. D:Absolutely. And we, a few episodes ago we talked about coaching and bringing an outside person, somebody who is not connected to the day-to-day work that you're doing, and getting a third party perspective from somebody who's just hearing it. At surface level, but has the ability to understand beyond just what they're hearing, can add some new perspective and bring in some real value into that conversation. So another way to inspire is to hire a coach. Bring in a coach, or for your team. Increase access to coaching experiences, training experiences, so that your leadership, your supervisors, your managers, the directors, even some of your frontline staff that have real potential, getting them access to coaching is one I. But two, it gives them a person that can add another point of perspective and bring them to a higher level by motivating them to think in different ways. And that can be very inspirational.
Dr. K:Absolutely. If you're, unless you are a solo worker, as in you're the only person in this business, you have others as a leader, that you need to lead, that's why you're called a leader. And being approachable and responsive to any team members showing them. Hey, this is how much I believe in you. This is how much I believe in the team, and this is how much I believe in the company. By bringing in, the availability of coaching, it doesn't have to be where you are bringing in an individual coach for each individual person. Maybe it's a coach for your team. Maybe it's access. Here's the opportunity. Ask them, is this something that you would want to do? Bring them in to see maybe what is necessary, where they would like to thrive. And hearing your team saying, I would love to better understand this, or, I think this is where my struggle and having a coach would be really helpful, can be inspiring as the leader, because you see, that spark inside. No, they're saying yes, I would love to improve this area in my career, or I would love to, this is where I struggle. Let me work on it. But let me, I would love to take advantage of bringing in expertise in this area.
Dr. D:Yeah, I mean being a coach myself and having a team of coaches that work with us, I can tell you for myself, I love working with executives. You get a lot of fulfillment and understand a lot of challenges, and you can help a senior leader develop in a compelling way. Those. Types of coaches that work with senior executives are expensive and people who are used to working with executive coaches have a hard time translating the cost of that to, how do I bring this in for my whole team? Well work with your coach and they can find a solution to bringing coaching. More available to your frontline staff. It doesn't have to be a break the bank proposition to get 20 or 30 or 50 people on your team coached. It can be affordable and can add a lot of value to your organization such that it pays for itself. There are solutions. So if you have an executive coaching team that you're already working with and you wanna expand it to more people, then they should have options available to you, if your coach is unwilling to do that or brings a cost prohibitive solution to you that doesn't work and isn't willing to negotiate, reach out to us, we'll figure out a way to make that happen.
Dr. K:Yes, we will. We've got plenty of, team members that have different skills sets and different approaches. So we're available to many different areas.
Dr. D:Yep. And if we don't have the solution, we'll find somebody who does.
Dr. K:Yes.
Dr. D:So burnout is a real challenge. It's really hard to stay motivated in burnout. And one of the causes of burnout is getting stuck in what feels like an overwhelming situation where you're not being challenged, or it's so repetitive and so stressful for so long that. Mentally, you just can't engage in other activities because you're exhausted at the end of the day. It's one of the ways to find inspiration and break out of burnout, aside from taking a break. Working on something else is to take on something that is inspirational, that does reinvigorate that sense of purpose in what you're trying to accomplish. So overcoming burnout is not just not. Working on the things that you feel stuck working in, but it's finding or maybe even encouraging yourself or having somebody else encourage you to take on an activity or to do something that is outside of your normal routine so that you can. Find, refine your purpose and find that motivation again so that you can rebuild that self-confidence that can get lost when you are feeling burned out.
Dr. K:And one thing to remember is that just because you are burnt out, does not mean that you can never find inspiration again. And a lot of times, when I work with people, they subconsciously worry that this is the state they will always be in. And that's not true. Now, does it take work to get out of it? Yes. Maybe learn something new or, I often will tell my clients, go take a break. Go take a walk. I don't care if it's a five minute walk around the office, get out of your little cubicle. Or if you're working from home, get out of the home for a few minutes, walk outside, whatever it might be, and take a breath. Because you can get out of that state of burnout. You can be inspired again. You can get motivated, but when you allow yourself to stay in that state. And you don't do anything to break out of those. And I often will say it break out of those four walls, break out of your own head. Then you are perpetuating the situation and you remain stuck. And yeah, it might sound something as simple as, you want me to just go for a walk? Yes, I do. I don't want you to take your phone. I don't want you to, unless you listen to music, when you take your phone, I don't want you checking emails and text messages and slack messages and all of that stuff. I want you to take a break, take a breath, ask, why am I doing this? Ask yourself some questions and then come back with a little bit of a clearer head or a clearer mind space. Because if you stare at a computer for eight straight hours and you're like, I don't understand why I'm lost, it's because everything blurs and looks the same. So you wanna find a way erase that and find that inspiration, that motivation, even if it's just a little to see whatever you're working on from a different place. Easier said than done, but it doesn't mean it's impossible. So if we're in a state of stress or a state of burnout, remember you can be inspired again, but you have to do the work. If you're looking for someone else to always be your inspiration, you might end up being more stuck.
Dr. D:Yeah, and sometimes you have to set the goal for yourself that I'm going to find something to be inspired by, even if it's, you said, going outside, walking around and being inspired by the blue sky and a bird or a squirrel that you see in a nearby tree. And just taking a break, and enjoying your surroundings. Being in the moment, thinking about the here and now rather than. What that last meeting looked like, or the big deadline that you've got just around the corner. There is something about being present in the moment and in an environment that allows you to just reset your mind, I am going to go find something to inspire me. And make it a goal and go on a walk, as you said. Or if it's raining outside, look out the window and marvel at the fascination of the earth and the rain that comes down. That's a little too hippie for me, but it'll work for some.
Dr. K:Yeah. And sometimes it might be go talk, if you're in office. Go talk to your, your work husband, your work wife, whatever it might be. Go talk to them and don't talk about work. See what time you're going to lunch or what they're doing over the weekend, or how their dog is or their kid. It doesn't have to be that you talk about work, or if you work from home and you can have a few minutes, call a friend. That makes you laugh. My best friend hears from me all the time. And I'll just be like, tell me a story. And I had a minute to shut my brain off. So it's take people in the workplace need to, and leaders need to allow it, allow and find moments of peace, because with the way technology is and all the different, the email and the messages and the texting and the phone calls and all of that, that comes through, things get the importance of what you're working on can get lost. So we wanna find what we're working on to find that inspiration again.
Dr. D:It is often very inspiring to get positive feedback from a leader. It is also very inspiring to give positive feedback. some leaders have a hard time balancing positive and constructive feedback. Employees tend to complain or tend to experience, and you may experience this yourself that you get a lot more, boy, this could be better, or, this is a problem, we need to work on this and not. You did this really well. Here's the thing that I liked very specifically about what you did and how you did it and why it made a difference. But they get, Hey, good job on that project, and then here's 15 things that could have been done better. The balance is off, and that's human nature, I would say. However, if you're not finding inspiration yourself, you can find inspiration by giving someone else inspiration. It's a great reason to get out, chat with somebody on your team and tell them what a great job they did in very specific terms. Here's what you did. Here's why it made a difference. This is the impact I'm really proud of you. Just here's you did a great job. Here's why. Giving that kind of positive feedback to somebody is inspiring for them. And if you are not motivated by inspiring somebody else, by giving them that kind of feedback, it will inspire you as well. And it'll take you out of whatever that moment is that you're in, and it'll put you in a more positive frame of mind and you'll go back to your desk and I promise you will feel more motivated and inspired.
Dr. K:I would agree.
Dr. D:We've talked many times about. Organizational atmosphere. Now, for folks who might not have listened to some of those episodes, organizational atmosphere is the feeling that you create moment to moment meeting, to meeting interaction to interaction within your broader organization or the broader experiences. Your organizational culture is the direction that the organization. The mood and the rules and the culture that you're trying to create within your organization, which comes with organizational climate. It's how people feel engaging in that culture. But organizational climate is created by the organizational atmosphere that each individual bring to the organization to create the climate, a function of your organizational culture. And if you are feeling oppressed within your culture, you have to create an atmosphere. You have to generate the atmosphere around you of inspiration. You have to create the atmosphere of I'm going to come bringing my best for the people around you with a clear purpose. And I'm going to make those interactions that I'm having with people around me more meaningful and more. Genuine or more inspiring. And by creating that atmosphere around you, you influence the organizational climate. And at the end of the day, can reshape the organizational culture by bringing the right atmosphere to the people around you. And you will find that by being inspiring to others, no matter your level in the organization. You'll find people will respond by being more inspiring and you can draw on that inspiration yourself.
Dr. K:I agreed. I don't have any, because I was looking at all the points and I was like, I feel like we hit them all. We definitely always talk about demonstrating good, strong work ethic. That's always there.
Dr. D:I'll ask you one more question and then we'll wrap up. Okay. So Dr. K, you're a licensed therapist and we've been talking about staying motivated and staying inspired. We talked about the balance of being inspired or being motivated by your work more than 50% of the time. For some people, that's difficult there are personal issues that are weighing them down or they're miscast within their organization and just can't find that motivation. Sometimes that means talking to somebody and getting a coach, but sometimes it's deeper, sometimes it might require therapy. With the challenges that people have around the idea of mental health. What can somebody do to find a therapist or talk to their therapist about some persistent lack of motivation in their life, or lack of inspiration in their life? How can a therapist help them overcome that? And for somebody who doesn't know, how would they even find a therapist?
Dr. K:Well, one is, for people that have insurance. The first thing I would recommend is calling your insurance company and seeing what your options are, what the availability is. Now, I know some insurance companies, every insurance company has their policies around mental health, around telehealth, around therapy. It has improved greatly over the last few years, what is available. So that would be the first step. Actually, let me back up a minute. So the first step is. Recognizing and acknowledging and accepting that maybe talking with someone outside of work, outside of your friendship circle, outside of your family may be more beneficial. The one good thing, and I've had clients tell me this, is they tell me, you don't have stake in my game. It does not matter what I do to an extent. It's my choice. I get all this so I can talk to you because I never have to talk to you again if I don't want to. It's very, I'm the objective person. I'm not there to fluff someone up. And make them feel better when what they wanna do is be heard. So that's the first thing, you wanna think about is, am I ready to talk to someone? Because the one thing I will recommend is if you decide to go to a therapist, whether you pay through insurance or you pay out of pocket, is honesty. I know this cliche honesty is the best policy, but it really is. Because we need the honesty so that we can go in a direction that's based on honesty. If you tell me one thing, and I think that that's the truth, I'm gonna go that way. If you tell me, no, everything's fine at work. But come to find out that there's a lot of anxiety at work and you're bringing it home. I'm only gonna work on home stuff. So honesty is the first thing. It's acknowledging that you need to talk to someone, it is not a bad thing I often will get, people in my family think that I'm crazy 'cause I need to, and people will use that word, because I need to talk to someone. You just need to talk to someone. That's it. It's as simple as just needing to talk to someone. And so then you'll go to the next step of, if you can, if you have insurance. If you can go through your insurance, great. They'll give you referrals and all that. You can also look on psychology today.com and you can put in your insurance and nowadays with telehealth, you don't have to make it directly. In your area. If you're in the state of California, you can have anyone that practices in the state of California. So that broadens, the amount of people that you have the opportunity with. If you don't have insurance or you don't like your insurance policies, you can go private practice. And again, you can go on Psychology Today. Everyone has a different scale. Everyone, has a different pricing. It's also some people will have a sliding scale. So the next step would be figuring out which way you're gonna go with a therapist, and then the final step is therapists shop. If you don't feel a connection, I always say, give your therapist two to three sessions. If by the third session you're not feeling a connection, I recommend. Try someone else.'cause you have to be able to have that connection to get inspired by your therapist, to get motivated by your therapist. If you're just like, I, nothing happened. It's not gonna go anywhere for you. It's a waste of money who, however it's being paid for. Now if on your first therapy session, the intake, you're just not feeling it. Again, therapist shop. Once you find someone that you feel that a connection can be built, then it's game on. And then you let them know what you're feeling, give or take how your therapist works. They may dive deep into stuff from your past. You need to let them know, I wanna work on this. And maybe the past gets brought up. But one of the key things is just be honest with your therapist. I know it's scary. One of the cool things about therapy is everything's confidential. To an extent. We do have limits, but to an extent, everything is confidential. So anyone can call and say, I wanna talk to, you know, I wanna talk about Dr. K. Your therapist cannot say anything. So it's important to remember this is for you, not for anyone else.
Dr. D:Yeah. An underutilized resource, if it's available, most organizations have it available. Is your employee assistance program, EAP. First place to start. I cannot, whether it's a coach or a therapist, a chemistry session is important. Most therapists. Offer a chemistry session. Take 15 or 30 minutes just to get to know the person. It doesn't usually cost anything or it shouldn't cost anything so that you can interview them and know whether or not this person's right for you so that you don't have to get two or three sessions deep. Pick three that you think you want to chat with. Go have a 30 minute chemistry session with each one, you'll feel a connection hopefully with one of those, if not all of them. And then you can make your choice from there and not waste a lot of time getting into raw emotional issues with somebody that you don't feel comfortable sharing with. So it's important, once. And then of course, insurance and payment options. Most therapists have a lot of options and they'll be candid with you on what they can support or what they can't support. Hopefully, I know we do this try to make therapy as easy as possible, provide lots of payment options and, make it affordable. But once somebody comes in Dr. K and has a session with you. I know this is not medical advice and it's not meant to be medical advice, just legal disclaimer there, but if somebody is feeling a lack of motivation, what kind of things are you listening for to try to understand how you can help them?
Dr. K:Usually with the lack of motivation, it's not that I have to listen. I don't have to listen very hard because usually people are just, they get it, they're not motivated, and then they just say, I'm not motivated. Then it's asking the questions of when did the motivation start declining? What used to motivate you are you motivated in other areas of your life? Just because you're not motivated at work doesn't mean you're not motivated, at the gym or, working on a car or whatever it might be. Most of the time I have found that people recognize they're not motivated. It's better understanding when it started. Has it been varying degrees of lack? How long's the frequency, intensity, and duration of this lack of motivation? How long has it been what you've done in the past to, course correct. Also, if you've never had to course correct and this is new for you, there might be a level, sometimes I often if people are like, I just don't have energy and I've lost inspiration, motivation, your PCP Oh and getting a workup. Just to check, make sure you are, you're not deficient in a vitamin or, hormones or something like that. I will often recommend getting that done because sometimes it's not a mental thing. Sometimes it's actually just a physical thing and I can't do that. That's definitely not in my scope. So I will recommend that. And then sometimes, I've had people be like, oh, I was shorten this. I started taking this vitamin, it didn't make them go from no motivation to, running a marathon, but it helped them to not feel so low because of the lack of motivation. And then we figure out, where the motivation stopped and maybe what the issue was then. And course correcting that issue or that struggle. And seeing if that leads forward. So it's a little bit, I don't have a set protocol for lack of motivation because one of my things is I individualize it to everybody.'cause everyone's different.
Dr. D:Absolutely. So lack of motivation can be drawn in by four things. It can be your environment, it could be situational, it could be physical, and it could be mental, and it's important to break down why you might not be feeling that motivation and explore each of those options. People will often blame their environment or their situation without thinking about the physical or the mental, and that's why it's so important to, talk to your doctor, reach out to your therapist, or get a therapist. Get some outside party who has expertise to help you talk through your situation . And I think that's where therapy is a great resource and it's often an underutilized resource. Well, great conversation. I enjoyed it. I feel like I learned something from you as I usually do, of course. Happy to be here. And to all of you joining us on this journey to the realm. Thank you so much. I'm Dr. D.
Dr. K:And I'm Dr. K. And we are looking forward to your next visit to the executive realm.
