Ep 22 - The Wellbeing Lie: Part 2 - When High Achievers Break

with Alec Pearson and Dr Calvin Lightbody

In Part 1, Alec and Calvin took apart the comfortable version of wellbeing - the fruit bowls, the tick-box initiatives - and named the warning signs leaders are so good at driving past.

This time it gets personal. Because there's a harder question sitting underneath all of it: what's really happening to the high achiever who keeps pushing long after the tank is empty?

When we feel stuck, the instinct is to work harder. Calvin has watched where that leads - in senior clinicians, in managers, in himself.

There's a concept from healthcare that explains it better than any wellbeing survey ever could: the slow, repeated wear that cracks even the strongest people, one small pressure at a time, until something gives. It has a name most leaders have never heard, and once you understand it, you start seeing it everywhere. Including in yourself.

We explore:

• When you feel stuck, why is working harder so often the wrong move, and what's really hiding underneath it?
• What quietly gets worse the higher you climb, not better, and why does no one at the top talk about it?
• There's a kind of damage that builds up one small knock at a time. What is it, and why isn't it just a healthcare problem?
• If you've recognised yourself in any of this, what's the one thing to do tomorrow morning?

If you've been holding it together for longer than you'd care to admit, this one is worth your time.

To submit an anonymous question for discussion in part 3, visit: Beyond Leading: Ask Calvin & Alec – Fill in form

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