The Anxious Achiever

Latest Episodes:

This Leadership Expert’s Experience Managing Autism Can Help Everyone Enjoy Work More Aug 16, 2023

Show notes

Tara McMullin was diagnosed with autism at the age of 38, and it put her previous struggles with work and the structures we have around work in a new light. Now, she knows how to build her work day and work relationships in a way that’s healthier for how her brain works. The author and business coach shares what work was like for her before and after diagnosis, and what anyone in the work world can learn about controlling how and when they work.

You can listen to Tara’s podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-works/id1054027973

LinkedIn Live: Am I Too Old for This Role? Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

Do you ever wonder if you are “aging out?” This week, Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with executive coach Nihar Chhaya about the realities of age bias, expectations, and the stress it brings.

Catch more of Morra and Nihar’s LinkedIn Live sessions here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morraaaronsmele/

Best of Anxious Achiever: Pressure, Achievement, and Self-Compassion Aug 09, 2023

Show notes

High achievers and those who struggle with mental health often find it hard to give themselves compassion. We revisit one of our favorite episodes about self-compassion, featuring Mark Goldstein, a lawyer at Reed Smith who speaks about his journey with depression, OCD, and breaking down stigmas; and psychologist and author Dr. Kristin Neff on how people can build more self-compassion to impact their work and lives.

Learn more about Mark Goldstein’s story: https://abovethelaw.com/2019/02/biglaw-depression-story/

Dr. Kristin Neff’s Self-Compassion Exercises: https://self-compassion.org/category/exercises/#exercises

“I Could Work 16 Hours a Day and Not Have It Affect Me… I Thought” Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

We don’t always immediately see the ways that anxiety, trauma, or institutional inequities show up for us - and our bodies - at work. Deepa Purushothaman began her career as a classic overachiever, until she couldn’t physically do it anymore. She was done “ingesting” toxic work culture and “acting in” her emotions, as she puts it. She came to realize a lot of the ways that corporate America can be toxic for women of color in particular, and she set out to change that.

Purushothaman is the cofounder of nFormation, and she wrote the book The First, The Few, The Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America.

Real Leaders Get Emotional: Cloudfm CEO Jeff Dewing Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

Today, Jeff Dewing runs a successful facilities management technology corporation. He’s had a dramatic career. Mark began his career in refrigeration repair but quickly got bit by the entrepreneurship bug.

Over his lifetime he’s seen the ups and downs of his industry and the working world, and has learned to embrace vulnerability and mental health concerns on his way to running a better company. That includes a moment during the pandemic where he cried during an all-staff meeting - and had to admit, “I don’t know what to do.”

Learn what he’s learned from great successes and great failures, and how he believes leadership today is changing.

LinkedIn Live: Is Mental Health at Work a “Gen Z Thing”? Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

Older generations have heard the stereotypes, and maybe seen anecdotal evidence that supports these biases: Gen Z, newish to the workforce, is a bit too aware of their feelings and their mental health; but sometimes we just need them to do the work. In this LinkedIn Live session, Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with executive coach Nihar Chhaya about ways to reframe intergenerational conflict at the office, especially as it pertains to being open around mental health concerns.

How MLMs Hurt Women’s Mental Health Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

Multi-level marketing businesses, or MLMs, offer people - often women who don’t work outside the home - the chance to be entrepreneurs, face new challenges, and grow their social circles. The reality is a situation that can prey on mental health issues, the emotional strain and isolation of motherhood, and even trigger substance abuse concerns. Sobriety coach, author, and former MLM worker Emily Paulson shares the story of how she came to MLM, the career she hoped she’d have, how stuck she felt, and how she’s now working to help others.

Learn more:

https://www.amazon.com/Hey-Hun-Sisterhood-Supremacy-Multilevel/dp/1955905258

https://themighty.com/topic/mental-health/mlms-exploit-mental-health-conditions-chronic-illness-disability/

https://www.scarymommy.com/mlm-selling-affects-womens-mental-health

The “Goal Conqueror” Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder During the Pandemic Jul 12, 2023

Show notes

Natasha Bowman always thought of herself as a goal conqueror: someone who could seemingly take on any project, multitask any number of things, and come out on top. It wasn’t until the global pandemic temporarily slammed on the brakes of her career that some of the underlying reasons for this came to the surface. At age 42, the HR executive was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

She speaks with Morra Aarons-Mele about the events that led up to her diagnosis, and how she integrates her mental health with her achievement and success today.

Bowman is the author of the book Crazy A.F.: How to go from being burned out, unmotivated & unhappy to reclaiming your mental health at work. A note that this episode includes brief mentions of suicide and self-harm.

LinkedIn Live: How to Handle Envy, FOMO, and Jealousy Jul 07, 2023

Show notes

Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with executive coach Nihar Chhaya about what Morra calls the "triangle of doom" - envy, shame and scarcity - as part of their regular LinkedIn Live series. These concepts are natural feelings that we all deal with at some point in our lives, but that can really hamper our productivity, and our careers. It's time to get honest about them. Nihar and Morra offer their strategies for managing envy, FOMO, and shame.

Best of Anxious Achiever: Can Workplaces Help Us Heal? Jul 05, 2023

Show notes

With all of the issues in corporate America, in startup culture, and in workplaces biases and inequalities, it can be easy to forget the ways in which work can be a positive part of our life. Susan Schmitt Winchester, co-author of Healing at Work: A Guide to Using Career Conflicts to Overcome Your Past and Build the Future You Deserve, argues that the workplace is actually a better place than we think. Host Morra Aarons-Mele revisits this conversation with Schmitt about our working lives, how our childhood trauma might show up, and how to use our workplaces - in person or remote - as settings to change our behavior and our mental health.

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