Burnout Recovery

Ep#173 Overcoming Adversity in High-Stakes Careers

• Dex Randall • Season 4 • Episode 173

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In this episode, we take a bold look at adversity—not as the thing that breaks you, but as the exact furnace that forges your next level of leadership, clarity, and power.

If you’re a senior professional facing burnout, overwhelm, or high-stakes pressure, this conversation is for you.

We explore:

  • Why burnout might be your soul’s wake-up call—not a sign you’ve failed
  • The CEO trap: high performance masking deep exhaustion
  • How to reframe adversity from “Why me?” to “What now?”
  • The difference between coping and transforming
  • 3 key moves to break out of burnout—without blowing up your life

You’ll also hear real client stories—like Dan’s, a high-level operator who went from hopeless and trapped to fully re-energized and reconnected to his power. Not by escaping adversity, but by meeting it with a whole new mindset.

Burnout doesn’t mean you're broken. It might mean you’re being invited to lead differently—from deeper presence, truth, and self-respect.

✨ This is transformation, not just survival.

If this resonates, and you're ready to reclaim your energy, clarity, and leadership edge—reach out for a free call at https://mini.dexrandall.com

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[00:00:00] Hi everyone. My name's Dex Randall, and this is the Burnout to Leadership Podcast where I teach professional men to recover from burnout and get back to passion and reward at work.

[00:00:22] Hello my friends. This is Dex and welcome to this week's episode on Overcoming Adversity, specifically in the context of burnout, which is currently affecting up to 66% of the professional workforce. And the higher up you go, the harder it hits because you're supposed to have it all handled.

[00:00:42] So if you find value here today, in this episode, share it with somebody else who's quietly suffering. It's how we break the silence. 

[00:00:50] So what do you do when the career you've built starts to burn you out? Because in burnout, of course, it goes without saying that you are facing adversity. Does it feel like threats and challenges are coming at you from every quarter, whilst help and appreciation for your efforts is a bit thin on the ground? No wonder then if you feel depleted, demotivated, and frankly pissed off. 

[00:01:18] But what if adversity isn't the enemy, but the invitation? 

[00:01:23] I once coached a CEO who told me I'm winning at everything except the stuff that matters. His burnout didn't start with exhaustion. It started when his adversity became invisible. He was overloaded, exhausted. The president and three of his management team had resigned, and he felt the board were muscling in and telling staff how to do their business. Instead of looking at what he could control, he was focused on what he couldn't. He didn't see how his exhaustion was warping his leadership.

[00:01:58] He was reacting, firefighting, overcommitting, watching himself burn out and feeling powerless to stop it. And it was clear to me that the chaos wouldn't stop until he did. 

[00:02:11] There is always a way through burnout, but for us, when we are in burnout, we're in reactive survival mode, and we are the last to see the path forward.

[00:02:22] We also feel blame, shame, and resentment, which occupy our minds each day and certainly at night. So right now, if you are burning out, I invite you to consider the transformation that is available, into a post-burnout success that you've silently dreamed of. 

[00:02:42] Do you feel that possibility? Let's explore it a bit further.

[00:02:47] So, the kind of adversity we're talking about isn't always external. It's really, in burnout, losing your spark, your edge, your joy, feeling trapped in success. Working harder, but caring less, and maybe feeling like you're failing your team or your family, just quietly. Yet burnout doesn't mean you're weak.

[00:03:11] It means your old strategies have outlived their usefulness. There's a new, deeper, richer seam of contribution inside you ready to shine forth, that you can release with small and subtle shifts in behavior, of which you are already capable. Your habits of thought and action can lighten up, to launch this new era of enthusiasm and leadership.

[00:03:37] And although everything bad appears to be happening to you, and you may blame others for this or feel that people are against you, it's ultimately not about you. Adversity is inevitable. Personalizing it is optional. We all have some -no life escapes adversity. If you have burnout, 66% of the workforce has recently experienced this. 

[00:04:03] You are not alone. It's not a punishment, and it's not aimed at, or reserved for, you. 

[00:04:09] Why does that matter? Well, really because as soon as you think about it as My burnout, as soon as you think about it in terms of what's happening to Me, your ego is in play and your ego, once awakened, is the part of you that seeks to blame others.

[00:04:28] The ego is the source of negativity in you: unfairness, frustration, anger, rage, impatience, jealousy, irritation, grudges, resentment, aggression, the list goes on. But all of those responses are non-productive for the most part, in burnout. They just disempower you further. In addition, ego is the trigger for self-blame, self-doubt, shame, imposter syndrome, self-criticism, anxiety, fear and addictive escapes and self neglect. 

[00:05:06] As soon as you associate burnout with yourself, My burnout, the ego will seek to preserve that link. The ego doesn't like change. It keeps you stuck. It will lock you in to who you think you are, and you'll start to defend your burnout, when you see it as part of yourself.

[00:05:29] It will entrench and grow. Burnout really is from that perspective, a closed doom-loop, and you will feed it with your thoughts and you will blame others more fervently. So really, burnout is not who you are. You wouldn't say "I am a thunderstorm". You'd say "a storm is passing through". And burnout's the same.

[00:05:55] It's a transitory experience that when you address it at the root causes will resolve, but that is simply your unconscious mind telling you that there's a problem. 

[00:06:07] Adversity forges your next level self. Not by giving you new tools, but by forcing you to wield the ones that you've forgotten. If this seems beyond your reach, ego is at play in you. Don't worry! Your self-trust and self actuation will be restored through coaching. I can guide you so that healing is not only possible, but quite rapid.

[00:06:31] Your next level self is who you already want to be and uses the skills you already have, but redeployed to greater effect and with more ease on your part. " Hard choices, made with a good heart, create powerful men or women". The first person to benefit from those choices will be you, as you rebuild a more authentic and connecting presence inside you.

[00:06:57] You need more of yourself back. Right now, many of your inner resources are neglected as you most likely overfocus on what's missing, what's wrong, where you fall short and what you aren't doing. So really that's your amygdala talking there and your ego.

[00:07:16] And when you feel backed into a corner, don't you defend? Or attack? 

[00:07:20] So remember instead, your youthful passion and vigor and determination, your good heart, your will to serve. Take your mind back to that energy for a moment. See yourself as that person. Imagine deploying those traits effectively, again, for the greater good. That's what you're going to do post burnout.

[00:07:42] The version of you that got you here won't get you there. You can make new choices to uplevel your MO, shaking off any doubt or fear driven habits such as overwork and people pleasing that ultimately no longer serve you or others.

[00:07:58] You'll simply practice new habits that nurture you, your potential and your positive connection to your work and other people. You might call it a 180 from burnout, and that's what my coaching program both teaches and facilitates for you, and that's why I'm able to guarantee burnout recovery.

[00:08:18] If you hear the call, I can facilitate your transformation. It won't be a 10% or 20% relief. It will be a reinvention. Your energy and mood will swing back from stormy to sunny. That's how it works. 

[00:08:35] My client, Dan, had a resume that most people would envy, but burnout doesn't check your credentials, it checks your foundations. 

[00:08:43] Dan transitioned from being partner at a top 10 CPA firm to a not-for-profit CFO, but he wasn't prepared for the organizational culture and style of governance that he met. He took over an underperforming team and failed to get things done with his usual flair. He lost confidence and started having panic attacks.

[00:09:04] The CEO suggested he take a month or two break, which is when he reached out to me. By this time, he'd become withdrawn, reactive, losing connection at home with his wife and kids. He was worried he'd have a heart attack like his dad. Insomnia, loss of appetite and anxiety worsened his fears. Panic attacks continued.

[00:09:29] He tried therapy, but from my podcast, coaching seemed to him like a better option. So the turning point, when we talked through his challenges together, he could see that adversity was the invitation to stop outsourcing his self-worth. He learned how to sit with discomfort without anxiety, rather than reaching for a quick fix.

[00:09:52] His panic attacks soon stopped. We worked through all of his difficulties at work from a new core of conscious self-belief. He learned new habits of self support, deeply rooted in his authentic self, and this fueled the return to his power, skillsbase, success and passion at work. 

[00:10:12] When we first met, his goal was to feel engaged at work, to feel good about getting up in the morning; to leave work and be present to his family; to turn off, worry, recharge, and find joy; to finish work at the end of the day and feel good about his achievements and to do good things for the organization. 

[00:10:32] Here's what he said on completion of his Burnout Recovery coaching program with me and I quote:

[00:10:38] 'I can't thank you enough for helping me be the best version of me. You were a light during a very dark time and help me more than you know.

[00:10:47] You're very relatable and genuine, and coaching with you felt natural. Your way of pulling stuff out of me, getting me to see the good in me and come out of burnout was really powerful." 

[00:10:59] And I share this story with you to inspire hope, because when I was in burnout, I thought I never could, or would, recover.

[00:11:07] So it's important to know that you can! 

[00:11:11] And if you are stuck in burnout right now and you need a map, here are the three key moves that unlock real lasting recovery.

[00:11:20] Number one. Radical self-honesty without shame. No shame, just truth. I work with my clients on every one of the negative experiences and feelings they have in burnout.

[00:11:35] Minimizing them, seeing past the pain is one of the quickest ways to restore confidence, energy, and efficiency. 

[00:11:42] And taking responsibility for your experiences gives you the agency to transform them. This will be your new power base. Effortlessly authentic to who you actually are. 

[00:11:53] Shame in particular is toxic to health because the story it tells you is that you as a person are wrong, which is immutable.

[00:12:05] You can never escape who you are, right? 

[00:12:07] Of course, shame lies about that, and because it both promotes and thrives in secrecy, it blocks healing. So there is a terrific method for healing shame, and removing it as a block, and I will teach you how with coaching. So that's number one, self-honesty. 

[00:12:23] Number two, you can't lead others while lying to yourself.

[00:12:27] And that includes lying by omission, by overwork, or by pretending everything's fine. 

[00:12:33] As burnout builds up, have you deflected blame onto other people? Because this is a natural response to overwhelming adversity, and it becomes a default response once burnout takes hold, and failures all around and your doubt and fear take over.

[00:12:52] So if you do, it's normal. Don't give yourself trouble about that.

[00:12:56] But know that you can only fix what you take personal responsibility for, and that applies whether you are at fault or somebody else is. So if you take responsibility for everything, you don't let other people off the hook, but your agency comes with that extreme ownership over problems . 

[00:13:18] I can teach you an easy and really relatively painless way to achieve this, then you can stop lying to yourself about anything because being the real you is okay.

[00:13:30] If you want to read more on this, there's a book, Extreme Ownership that I'm going to put in the show notes. So that's number two. Don't lie to yourself. 

[00:13:39] Number three, find a safe mirror and guide because to recover from major adversity of any kind, illness, divorce, bankruptcy, but particularly burnout, you need an ally.

[00:13:52] You've got the vision for where you'd like to go, but you do need a clearer lens. 

[00:13:57] And some expert support. In fact, I think you need a person who sees beyond your current struggles, is impartial, not in close relationship with you, that muddies the waters, has expertise in the root causes, symptoms, and resolution of, in this case, burnout.

[00:14:17] Who believes in you, your good intention and talent. Who has the wisdom, compassion, and skill to help you minimize both the difficulties and the pain that comes with them. Who can facilitate your transformation into your next growth phase. And who performs these acts in service to you, your family, your workplace, in an efficient way that leads to long-term recovery.

[00:14:42] So number three, you need a trusted ally and guide. 

[00:14:45] You also will need to disengage to reengage. Not all progress looks like pushing forward. Sometimes power is restored in stillness. I think you know you can't outrun overwork and you can't fix overwork by working harder.

[00:15:04] Same goes for self-criticism and shame. Boundaries have been lost for you that need to be restored and balance must be reestablished before you can move forward in a new way. 

[00:15:14] So if any of this resonates for you, just while you're listening, ask yourself these questions. 

[00:15:20] Where in your life are you pretending everything's fine? And why?

[00:15:26] What's the adversity you haven't let yourself name yet? And why not? 

[00:15:31] Who are you blaming and losing your power to? 

[00:15:35] And what if this isn't your failure but your initiation? Can you embrace that idea? 

[00:15:44] And of course, would you like support through that initiation to your next level? 

[00:15:49] Burnout doesn't mean you're done. It means something deeper in you is ready to rise. 

[00:15:55] And I've walked this path myself.

[00:15:57] In the last seven years, I've helped thousands of professionals like you reclaim their fire using a proven step-by-step method. Book a free call with me at dexrandall.com and let's find your turning point. 

[00:16:12] Alright, that's what I have for you today.

[00:16:14] Thank you for listening. Catch you next time!

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Dex Randall

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