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I was 41 when I had my first appointment with Newson Health and was immediately prescribed HRT, testosterone, oestrogen and progestogen, in fairly high doses that just kept rising over a period of months.

In that appointment I felt heard for the first time in nine years.

At 32, as a result of my first Burnout, I had developed severe Endometriosis and Chron's disease due to the stress my body had been under for a prolonged period of time.

By the time the stress had taken hold of my physically, what followed was seven months of hospital admittances due to the physical pain that was causing me to pass out. 

I once passed out at the top of the escalator at Liverpool Street Station from the street level to the concourse, and would have gone back to work if I hadn't ripped my clothes and instead headed straight home on the train and worked from the kitchen table for the rest of the afternoon.

Seven months after the physical pain had started to impact my body, I was in...

Can you reach Burnout more than once is a question I get asked a lot.

It's often also the biggest fear of the clients I work with through one to one coaching, reaching Burnout again.

And yes, you can reach Burnout more than once.

Many people live in the Burnout cycle, not quite reaching the point of full blown Burnout, and some keep repeating the crash and burn Burnout cycle over and over again.

So how can it happen again?

Why does the cycle often repeat itself?

And quite frankly, why don't people just learn their lesson?

I am a repeat offender.  My first Burnout made me seriously ill.  My second almost killed me.  And still I I know that I could reach Burnout again.

My biggest fear is that I wouldn't be able to survive Burnout number three.  And this fear in itself isn't really helpful, because at times I hold myself back, and in holding back I add to my stress even more, and then, thanks to the Bipolar that my Burnout caused, I can quickly spiral into a...

The closer you get to Burnout the more people around you will be trying to get you to take a break, to take some time off work and to slow down. 

But you can't.

You don't even feel like you need to. 

You feel like you need to keep going. 

You don't understand why people are insisting that you make some changes. 

And you can't see the warning signs that everyone around you can.

So, what is it that others can see and why can't you just take the break that could stop Burnout in its tracks? 

For the answer to that, let's understand a bit about the brain science that's keeping you pushing forward.  

When you're calm, you're able to function from the intellectual part of your brain. 

The intellectual part of your brain is positive, creative, innovative, and when you're operating from this part of your brain, you're able to think clearly and make decisions quickly and effectively.

When you're experiencing high and chronic stress levels, however,...

Burnout sucks your confidence, your self-worth, your relationships, your clarity, your decision-making ability, your trust, your energy, your health, your sleep, your life.

Every part of your life is impacted when Burnout knocks on your door.

The World Health Organisation when they categorised Burnout in 2019 called it a workplace syndrome and said it could only be related to the workplace.

A three-year research project conducted at KU Leuven proved that Burnout is not just limited to work and the workplace.

And for anyone that has experienced Burnout, you'll know it's a lot more than workplace stress.

And yet when it does relate to the workplace, our addiction to work is what becomes the most overwhelming part. It's the most obvious sign, and the one we often ignore.

You panic at the thought of taking time away from work.

You can't think about anything other than work.

You eat, sleep, and breathe work.

You're checking your emails and your phone every five seconds.

You panic about...

• In 2023 AXA Reported that Burnout was costing the UK economy £28bn a year.

• Harvard Business Review reported that in the US, the cost of Burnout was more than $500bn a year.

• WHOOP Unite reported that the costs to the global economy are more than $1 trillion a year.

• WHOOP also estimated that the cost of turnover for each person is 1.5 to 2 times their salary in both loss of knowledge and skills, and the cost to hire someone new.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Varying reports and surveys from Gallup, Workhuman, Deloitte and Harvard Business Review over the years have stated that between 62% and 70% of Executives are or have considered leaving their jobs for workplaces that care more about wellbeing, and in the same studies, 50% to 60% of people outside of management roles want to quit for similar reasons.

Yet still, so many Exec teams refuse to admit that Burnout is a thing that’s worth focusing on or talking about.

Studies show that 65% of leaders have...

In 2022 I was contacted by an event company to ask if I could deliver keynote talks about Burnot at two of their Leadership events, one was for CFOs the other was for HRDs.

They provided the dates along with a link to view the events online, where I could arrange a call with the organiser if I'd be willing to attend and speak.

My first question, was why the CFO event was three days and two nights, with a gala dinner at a luxury resort, while the HRD event was one day at an ok-ish conference venue in London. No dinner, no gala, no luxury, not even any networking drinks - just show up, listen to the speakers, and leave.

In 2014 when I'd set up my company, having worked away from my hometown for the last 10 years, I started to attend some local HR events. 

I wanted to get to know some of the local HR Leaders, find out what was happening locally, and generally, just build my support squad now I was no longer in London five days a week, attending London events, or part of a large...

"We'd like to say thank you to everyone involved in making this project a success, we know you've all worked hard, put in a lot of extra hours, and made a lot of sacrifices over the last few months.  You've done a great job ..." individually thanks all of the teams involved, excludes HR.

I was once part of a quiz team called Human Remains.

I was newly appointed and the Senior HR Team members were in consultation as part of a restructuring, the Head of HR included.

They each asked me to accompany them to their consultation meetings, where nobody who knew about HR was present.  The legal team had provided a script of things to say, questions to ask, and answers to provide as part of the meetings - I controlled the meeting.

The HR Team were all under instruction to not discuss this with anyone outside of the team, and that we should show a united front at the company quiz night, especially as the event was raising money for charity, the CEO was not impressed by the...

How often, as an HR Leader, have you said that you hate people?

I mean, I lost count during my in-house days.

And of course, I don't actually hate people, but after the thousandth interruption of the day, you do start to wonder why some people do really stupid things.

I've always believed that nobody gets up in the morning and decides, today I'm going to be an utter d*!k at work, and yet every day, we see and hear of people doing just that.

Like the couple who were having an affair and decided that the storeroom would be a great place to 'get it on'.

Or the other couple who were having an affair, and replied all in an email chain with some extremely private pictures.

The driver who refused to mention the 37 parking tickets he'd gotten in a week.

The woman who didn't think anyone would notice the money she was stealing.

The IT Director who was selling out of hours IT support to help people hide their search history, and this is quite literally just the tip of the iceberg.

Or the...

HR Leaders can banish burnout, and live and lead happier and healthier lives with the right support squad around them.

Often when I start coaching Senior HR Leaders, they’ve felt alone and undersupported for a long time, they’re exhausted, frustrated, and on the brink of Burnout.

For years, whilst they’ve been the shoulder of support for so many others, although they’ve had their team around them, their support squad stops there.  And whilst protecting their team from so much of what is going on in the organisation, they need extremely broad shoulders indeed.

The role of HR, and that of the Senior HR Leader is often misunderstood and underestimated by so many, and when you finish work unless you have friends, family, or partners in the profession, they don’t understand why you care so much.

They don’t understand the often complex, demanding, and varied role of HR.

One minute you’re discussing strategy around the Boardroom table, and the...