Cat the Coach: Turning Burnout Into Breakthroughs

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor hear another episode of High Velocity Radio in. This is going to be a good one. Today on this show we have Catherine Peters, who is Gomez Cat, the coach who is the author of an instant bestseller called the Itty Bitty Burnout book Stress Management Strategies for Burnt Crispy Professionals. Welcome.

Catherine Peters: Hi. How are you doing?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. So excited to learn about your practice. Tell us about your coaching practice before we get into the book.

Catherine Peters: Well, I, I coach kind of the same audience that I wrote the book for and that’s burnt crispy professionals, professionals who have who are usually pretty high achieving. They’ve hit a certain point in their career where they’ve just reached a certain level of success, but they just kind of hit a wall and they don’t have the capacity. Whether it’s in time, energy, focus, momentum to get to that next level. And so that’s where I come in.

Lee Kantor: So are they typically corporate executives or are they entrepreneurs. Like do you have a niche.

Catherine Peters: You know this this was the hardest thing because I, I try to niche. And really when you’re dealing with stress and burnout, it it’s so endemic in so many areas. And so I find that I don’t want to limit myself to just executive just business or just life coaching. So I really do all three. I do executive coaching, business coaching and life coaching. And I like doing that because I like meeting people where they are. So I do have a lot of experience coaching high level executives in the corporate environment, as well as a lot of high level government employees. And then I also coach entrepreneurs and people trying to build businesses, as well as people who just want some help in their personal life.

Lee Kantor: Now, does burnout look the same for each of those kind of constituents? Because I would imagine if you’re kind of going up the corporate ladder, the challenges there are different than somebody trying to, you know, run a startup that’s created something from nothing.

Catherine Peters: So I’ll say this the circumstances are different, right? The circumstances don’t always look the same. The two things that remain constant are pretty much number one, the symptoms of burnout. If you’ve actually reached burnout, which is a little bit burnout, is different than stressed out. But if you stay stressed out for too long, you’re going to end up in burnout. And then, as well as the kind of internal mindsets that are causing stress and burnout, those two things stay consistent. Regardless of whether you’re a high powered executive or a stay at home mom. And so if you’d like, I can kind of give you the highlights of what? What the symptoms of burnout look like, as well as as some of the internal mindset issues that I encounter across the board.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Why don’t we started some of the symptoms or signals a person might be having that are clues that, hey, maybe something’s amiss here.

Catherine Peters: So this is actually codified by the World Health Organization. There’s there’s three main symptoms of burnout. And one is a loss of efficacy. It takes you longer to do the same amount of work. You are making more mistakes. Your focus is shot. So you’re just not firing on all cylinders. So that’s number one. And number two is really kind of this feeling of being checked out and not having more any more FS to give so to speak. So in, in the healing or the rescue organizations, we might this might look like compassion fatigue, which most people are familiar with that term, but it can apply to any situation in which you just find yourself not caring anymore. Your level of emotional investment has been shot. And then the third symptom is exhaustion. And this is the kind of tired that a nap or a good night’s sleep is not going to fix. You wake up tired. You dread thinking about Mondays. You go through your your workday and even your evenings just feeling exhausted and depleted. So those are the big three symptoms of burnout.

Lee Kantor: So when you get to the point where, especially if you’re an entrepreneur and you don’t feel like going into work on Monday, that’s got to be the reddest of all red flags. It’s like that feeling of hopelessness. Or why am I doing this? I mean, that could cripple your business.

Catherine Peters: Absolutely. And I see it time and time again. Where, Ah, um, the exhaustion coupled with that lack that you’ve lost your passion, you’ve lost your drive. Well, then how do you move yourself forward? Other through sheer force of will, which might sustain you in the short term, but is not sustainable in the long term.

Lee Kantor: Now is something happen where they reach out and get help? Is there a trigger or something that is a stimulus that gets them to finally get help? Because I could see this just, you know, ending poorly if they just keep ignoring this and something that it kind of it makes clear to me that all this emphasis on, you know, hustle culture and, and, you know, the grind and 24 over seven that just can’t be helping this at all.

Catherine Peters: Yeah, that’s very true. There’s usually some trigger, um, just like I just can’t take it anymore. And either that, or they’ve seen me on social media, which, as much as I don’t like to be, I don’t I. You know, I have my own mental, um, tapes that play internally. I don’t want to bother anybody. You know, I don’t want to be that person who’s constantly on social media at the same time until you hear a message in a way that resonates with you, and it usually has to come from outside of you. Like your internal messaging, your internal voice is what got you there. It’s not going to be what what saves the day. So until you hear that, that voice from outside of you saying, it doesn’t have to be this way, stop it right now. Your time on earth is limited, right? It’s time to. And number three, you cannot pull yourself up by your bootstraps and fix this on your own. It’s time to bring in the big guns. It’s time to get some outside help. Uh, until people start hearing those messages outside their own heads. They’re pretty slow to get help. So I think it’s really important to do things like this radio interview to to find people where they are so that they can hear that there is another way it is possible. It does not have to be this way. You don’t have to stay stuck.

Lee Kantor: So say somebody raised their hand and says, Cat, I’m in. I feel like I have a problem. Let’s start. Let’s go to work. So what are those kind of initial conversations? Maybe some of the exercises you share with them. Maybe the pre maybe there’s pre-work they have to do before they even, you know, start meeting with you. But can you talk about the beginnings of a relationship with you and your coaching?

Catherine Peters: Absolutely. Um, I do one on one coaching and I do group and masterminds. And with one on one coaching, we really get to tailor their coaching journey to their specific agenda and their specific needs and outcomes, and then with with the group and mastermind coaching. As a group, we kind of go through the six different hidden areas of burnout that I discuss in my book and really tackle each one kind of on a deep dive basis. But one thing remains consistent pretty much with all of my clients, whether personal or in a group and or mastermind setting. And that is, we focus on managing the mind first. We focus on building awareness. We focus on kind of getting in under the hood and seeing what’s going on in people’s belief patterns and their thought patterns and their judgments in the what they what they take at face value as they’re going throughout their day. Because really, it’s usually those kind of unquestioned thoughts and beliefs that have gotten them into trouble in the first place. So that’s usually where we start across the board.

Lee Kantor: So are there some exercises or some activities a person right now that might be struggling, they can do as they listen to this. Or there’s some easy kind of, uh, low hanging fruit here that can help somebody.

Catherine Peters: Yeah, I’ll I’ll share an.

Catherine Peters: Easy three step process. But what I want to preface this by is, um, again, not pulling yourself up by your bootstraps concept that so many of us have can be really tough when it comes to mindset work and thought work. It’s kind of like a brain surgeon doing surgery on himself, or like cleaning or cleaning out your closet with a blindfold. Right. It’s really hard to have the objectivity to catch your thoughts, which is why it’s so helpful to work with somebody. But there is a tool that I use with my clients all the time, and it’s a three step process. And the first step is noticing the not. And it’s because we usually experience stress is a very physical response. So you usually know you’re stressed because your shoulders tighten or your jaw tightens, or you get knot in your stomach or in your chest or your throat. So the first step is just notice the knot. Where in my body am I having a stress response? Oh, or am I even having a stress response? Ooh. Oh, wow. Okay. I’m like, something’s going on with this. Say that you have a big presentation coming up next week to to the stakeholders. And you’re you’re trying to plan this out. You notice the not oh my God. Like, just even thinking about this presentation gives me a knot in the pit of my stomach. Okay. Number two, what’s the thought behind the knot? And here’s here’s why we do this. Because it’s never the circumstance that is causing the stress. It is always your thoughts about the circumstance, Right. And I this is something that I kind of drill into my clients over and over and over again. It’s never the circumstance. It’s your thoughts about the circumstance.

Catherine Peters: So okay, what what is the thought behind the not what are you thinking about that big presentation of the stakeholders next week? Oh, I’m thinking I don’t want to look like a Nimrod. I, I’m thinking I’m I’m scared of messing up. I’m thinking they’re going to think that I’m not up to the task. I’m thinking that if I don’t win this, this argument that I’m going to lose funding. I’m thinking that, you know, I’ll be out on the streets, I won’t be able to feed my family, whatever the thought is. Right? You could have a million different variations on that. Okay. Step three very simple question. And the trick is, when you’re asking the question, I don’t want you to have an answer. I want you to just get curious, who would I be without that thought. That’s it. And then once you’ve asked the question, I just want you to get curious and quiet. Who would I be without the thought that they’re going to think I’m a fool? Huh? Oh, okay. Maybe you can take a deep breath for the first time in weeks. Maybe your shoulders drop. Maybe there’s a sense of spaciousness. Maybe suddenly you remember why you’re so excited about sharing that information with the stakeholders. You have a message to deliver, and it’s valuable and impactful. And so you get re-energized by the purpose behind the presentation just because you’ve asked. Asked yourself, who would I be without that thought? Oh, I might be somebody who’s really passionate about my work and my message. So that’s that’s the three step process I use with my clients over and over and over and over again. And if you can use it effectively, it can be life changing.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that, um, like, stresses seems to be everywhere nowadays for everybody. And it’s I guess it’s hard to know when you’ve kind of crossed the line from stress to burnout and that you’re, that it’s now negatively impacting, uh, things around you. And it’s just not like it’s okay to have some stress, right? Like some stress is healthy or is this something that we have to eliminate stress of all kinds at all times?

Catherine Peters: Um, I would say that there’s there’s not a world in which we don’t have a stress response. Right? It’s biologically wired into us. And yes, I would say that some stress is healthy. And I would say that it’s it’s not realistic to think that you’re never going to have a stress response. It is kind of that juice sometimes. It really is when the stress is getting in the way, when it’s getting in the way of you producing the results that you want, when you’re shutting down, when you’re quitting, when you’re giving up, when when you’re stuck. And I think if there’s any kind of really simple way to determine is this stress manageable, or do I need to to get some help and additional resources on board? It’s that word stuck. That’s when I hear from my clients over and over and over again. I feel stuck, like I just, I can’t move forward. I don’t know how to quit being on this hamster wheel. I keep experiencing the same problems over and over again. When you feel stuck in terms of where you are or where you want to be, that that’s the time when your stress response may have become unmanageable, or may have resulted in some behaviors or patterns that aren’t serving you.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you talk to a leaders of organizations, um, is it something that they see as, uh, a challenge within their organization that they should be trying to solve for this? Um, because it could be impacting so many of their employees, or when you’re working with folks or are you working you mentioned, uh, individual and group coaching, but are those individuals and those groups, um, are are they on behalf of a larger organization? Because I would think that this type of coaching would be extremely useful in an organization because there has to be, you know, you hear quiet quitting and all this stuff about people who are just there over it and the the leaders, you know, haven’t fully accepted it yet.

Catherine Peters: Yeah. Uh, Lee, what I do see is really not much awareness in leadership often. And so my focus is really on executive coaching and getting as many leaders as possible into an executive coaching relationship. Because in an executive coaching relationship, we’re focusing on how you’re showing up as a leader, which really derives from how you’re showing up as a person. And there is nothing more detrimental to an organization than stressed out leaders, because you’re having a ripple effect on your team and on their teams and on your clients and your customers. Stress is contagious. If there’s one message I could get across to all leadership and all organizations, stress is contagious. It’s more contagious than any communicable disease out there. And I mean this euphemistically, like, as as one might think. Like you just, uh, that negative Nelly, you know, their, their emotions kind of rub off on you. But I also mean it scientifically and literally, because what they find is the stress hormones that people emit when they’re in a stress response are actually airborne, and they are picked up by the people around them. So what science is discovering is that it’s not just a euphemism. Stress is literally contagious. And so you’re having one stressed out leader has an outsized effect on their team and their company in so many ways that I don’t think a lot of organizations fully are educated on or appreciate. I mean, and and we know that it’s true because 70% of every person that leaves an organization is leaving their boss. They’re not leaving their company. Think about that. 70% are leaving their boss, and so often it’s because they’re tired of working for an emotionally stressed out boss who is overwhelmed.

Lee Kantor: Well, that’s a part that. That’s that’s why I’m having a disconnect of why an organization wouldn’t want to address this. I mean, I would think that the statistics are pretty clear, and the research is pretty clear that, uh, your people are stressed, uh, at too high of a level. Most of them, especially your high performers, probably. And, um, and it’s not good for them. Or. And they could be on the way out. You may not know it yet. Um, all these things are bad for an organization. I wouldn’t I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want to take a more holistic approach to their own corporate culture, to try to improve this situation by at least educating people that this is happening and that give them some resources that can help them alleviate some of the suffering that’s happening. You know, like you said, in, in, you know, well over half of the organization.

Catherine Peters: Yeah.

Catherine Peters: So here’s my hunch. My hunch is, because I do know that a lot of fortune 500 companies are really having their investing in coaching heavily because they see the financial incentive to do that. Right? It’s so much of of the science over the last ten, 20 years in regards to coaching has shown the ROI for coaching and that the companies that have coaching programs actually have much better bottom lines. Like, it really impacts the bottom line. So your larger organizations are doing that. Your military, the U.S. military, invests in coaching. I have coached, um, I’ve I’ve coached Navy, air force, Maybe Airforce, and I think those are the best. But I’ve also coached government. You know, they’re investing in coaching because they know it impacts performance directly. Where I think I see the disconnect is maybe in your midsize to smaller level organizations because they don’t they’re so busy on the hamster wheel that they don’t even have time to to look up and and think holistically. And they also, some of them may have an idea that the investment is too big. When I think that’s really a misnomer. I think there’s so many great coaches out there that everybody can find something that would fit their price point for their organization. But I really do think it’s it’s so many of them are so overwhelmed themselves and so stressed out themselves that they don’t have the opportunity to think strategically.

Lee Kantor: Well, at least they’re buying into the importance of coaching within the organization, because I think that that is a key differentiator for companies nowadays. If you’re offering that to your people, you’re going to have happier people and more productive people. So at least they’re doing that.

Catherine Peters: Well, yeah, absolutely.

Catherine Peters: I mean, honestly, I do think it’s when when the data started coming in about the bottom line and, and companies who have coaching programs ultimately being more profitable, that’s when the larger organizations really started to buy in. And I think the smaller organizations are too busy or they just have, um, a misconception about how costly it’s going to be.

Lee Kantor: So is there a story you can share about, uh, a person that came to you with struggling and you were able to help them get to a new level? Obviously don’t name the name, but maybe share the challenge that they were having or the struggle they were going through and how you were able to help them.

Catherine Peters: I have so many. I have so many. Okay, but here’s one of my favorite. This is a woman who was an executive who had been targeted for the leadership program. And then right before we started coaching, she was she was taken out of the leadership program because they’re like, yeah, we just don’t think you’re quite ready. So she and I started coaching together. She she was actually it was a government organization. She was so burnt out. She was a people pleaser. She was overwhelmed. She wanted to have a family, but she also wanted to be successful in her career. And she wanted to advance. And she’s like, how could I possibly advance and take on more than I’m already doing? I’m already maxed out. So we worked together on, um, boundaries. We worked together on, um, some techniques for focus. We worked together on this kind of people pleasing persona that she had. We worked together on executive presence. And through all of this, she learned that she could set boundaries around her time and set boundaries around her work without pissing people off. And in fact, what happened is that she gained more respect. She had better visibility, and she felt less overwhelmed, and her work product improved. And in the time that we were coaching together, she had two huge promotions. She is now doing some fertility treatment treatments for IVF. She got her pilot’s license and she’s just a happier, healthier, more productive human.

Lee Kantor: Wow. That’s amazing. Now, if somebody wants to learn more, have a conversation with you. What is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Catherine Peters: So my website is super easy. It’s Kat, the coach. Kat is because my my name Katherine begins with a C, so it’s Kat, the Koch comm. You can find me on Instagram at Cat the coach. You can find me on YouTube at at Cat the coach. There’s full contact details on my website I am doing, and I think this will air just in time to let people know about this. I’m doing a two day free masterclass called refuel, and it’s how to reclaim your your time and energy and momentum. It’s going to be incredible. And so it’s it’s two hours each day. So if you’re interested in getting a peek at what working together would look like, or you just want some immediate support in helping you de-stress and figure out how to get out of burnout, this is an incredible, great, free, fun, awesome experience. And just reach out to me. Um, at Cat, the Coach Comm or again, Instagram at Cat coach and I will send you the details on how to get signed up for that, and that happens on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

Lee Kantor: And then, um, the book, if somebody wants to get Ahold of book, Amazon, the usual places or at the website as.

Catherine Peters: Well as Amazon, it’s also there’s a link to it from my website. And if you buy the book, there’s a great free resource that I offer in terms of how to determine, you know, which of those six areas of burnout are you suffering from most, so that you kind of have a game plan on where to start?

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, Catherine, thank you so much for sharing your story today, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Catherine Peters: Thank you, thank you. I’ve really enjoyed talking with you today.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.