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Looking for real advice on beating burnout and building a work-life that actually feels good? This episode features Lindsey Barnett, executive coach and bestselling author of "Working Hell to Working Well," joining host Adam Larson for a refreshingly honest chat about rethinking your relationship with work.
Lindsey opens up about her leap from the corporate HR grind to flexible part-time—and what she’s learned about balancing ambition, burnout, and everyday life. Expect practical strategies you can try right away, like mindful moments during your day, “job crafting” to take control of your workload, and how even the simplest actions (like buying a bigger water bottle!) can help recharge your energy.
No generic corporate pep talks here—just easy, actionable ideas and real stories that might finally help you bridge the gap from “working hell” to working well. Tune in for relatable insights, lively conversation, and the reminder that you deserve a work life that fits you.
Check out Lindsey’s bestselling book for even more of her wisdom!
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Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Count Me In. I'm Adam Larson, your host. And today, I'm joined by Lindsey Barnett, executive coach and bestselling author of working hell to working well. Lindsay shares her story of moving from a world of corporate HR to designing a life with more balance and purpose.
Adam Larson:In this episode, we find practical ways to tackle burnout and find true work life harmony. Lindsay offers actionable tips on mindfulness, job crafting, and communicating your needs whether you're in a demanding job or on your own path. If you're feeling stressed or looking for realistic changes, Lindsay's advice will help you get started. Stick around and discover how small steps can lead to healthier, more fulfilling work life. Well, Lindsey, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Adam Larson:I'm excited to talk with you about workplace and burnout and a bunch of other things together. I wanted to take a step back and get to know about your story a little bit because you took the leap from a full corporate HR role to rethinking your relationship with work, you did kind of part time stuff. And so I wonder if you could tell a little Yeah. Bit about your
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. I mean, I think for me, one of the common threads in my life when I reflect back on, you know, twenty years and generally the corporate world is I was always really seeking some form of flexibility. Right? So when my is I was looking for flexibility to be able to travel and all my hobbies and hang out with my friends and things like that. And, you know, as I had a family and have other responsibilities, I had to really look and figure out, okay, how do I how do I make this work?
Lindsay Barnett:And so when I had companies that offered flexible work arrangements, which now seem like maybe they have gone to the wayside, I always took advantage of those. So one of the ones that you referenced that I took advantage of right around, you know, kind of in the first year of the pandemic, it was a great resignation. Companies were throwing, you know, all sorts of things at people, and one of the options was part time. And so I pitched working part time to my manager or boss at the time. Thankfully, he and I had worked together for a while, had a lot of trust built up, and so I got approved to shift to part time hour.
Lindsay Barnett:And it really opened my eyes to the ways that I had been working in in the past. And so, you know, from there, I unfortunately, the downside to part time is it likely makes it easier for you to get laid off. Mhmm. So I ended up on the layoff list, but I ended up pivoting into doing my own thing, which has been great. And I have a lot of the flexibility that I've been seeking.
Lindsay Barnett:So it's been great. You don't have to work for yourself to have, but, you know, I've I made it work in in corporations for many, many years, which is part of what I tried to put into my book. So
Adam Larson:yeah. Yeah. So talk a little bit more about that. Like, how did working part time kinda help you better understand your needs and kinda discover what you, you know, what you needed to make?
Lindsay Barnett:I think a lot of it for me really became about having a nervous system reset. Right? When you're working full time and you're going from meetings to meetings to meetings, and then when all the meetings are done, and then you're working into the night and and whatnot, you almost lose sight of what normal is anymore. And so I think because I shifted to part time, you know, in a lot of ways, the job didn't fully exist. Right?
Lindsay Barnett:We took a lot of strategic projects that somebody had to lead and put it together. So the combination of the workload really being well contracted to be done in a part time schedule as well as me just having time and space for being in the rest of my life really allowed me to see that work is just part of my life.
Adam Larson:Mhmm.
Lindsay Barnett:And I can, you know, really feel into when I am my best self. Mhmm. And I think being in that best self place made me more productive in my part time role. In a lot of ways, I feel like I was getting as much, if not more work done than I was in my full time schedule. And I just could feel into, hey.
Lindsay Barnett:Like, this is what it's like to not be stressed all the time, frankly.
Adam Larson:So that sounds really nice. And I think all of us would be like, yeah. Can I do that too? But then reality sits in, and a lot of us maybe can't do part time because of financial reasons or for whatever reasons. And, you know, burnout is a real real thing.
Adam Larson:Like, it's really happening for a lot of people. A lot of organizations are tightening their belt. So if you're not on the chopping block and getting, oh, you're still there trying to make everything still work. So, you know, what are some maybe maybe we could talk about, like, what are some practices that you've seen can make a real difference in organizations and trying to address that burnout?
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. So I think a couple things. Well, I was able to have the part time experience because I'm an executive coach. What I found is that a lot of my coaching clients worked full time hours. They they weren't on a part time schedule, but a lot of the practices that either we worked on or they already had in place really supported them in having a better work life harmony.
Lindsay Barnett:A lot of it for me comes down to just mindfulness and how do we work more more mindfully. So how do I start to notice that I'm fidgeting in my chair and my body is telling me, you need to take a break. Doesn't matter what it is, but you need to take a break.
Adam Larson:Yeah. Yeah.
Lindsay Barnett:How how can I, you know, be in tune with my emotions? Right? Where, okay. I'm working on this project, and I'm feeling super, super stressed out. Do I need to do to calm myself?
Lindsay Barnett:Do I just need to take some breaths? Do I need to connect with a colleague and, you know, just thought partner with them for a little bit? So a lot of it is figuring out what are the strategies that are gonna work for you when you notice that you're in that place of overwhelm or burnout. And I've had a lot of times before going to part time. I battled burnout on a couple occasions while still trying to figure out how to do this in the full time space.
Lindsay Barnett:You know, some of it is taking is having courage to be able to communicate solutions that will work for you, and hopefully, they're win win solutions. Right? You're not walking into your boss's office with, you know, these are my list of demands. Right? Usually, it's the little things.
Lindsay Barnett:Right? Like, hey. You know, I've just absorbed Johnny's work. And while that's great and I'm excited about the possibility of x y z, I wanna look at some of this work that is currently on my plate. Maybe this report doesn't need to go out every week.
Lindsay Barnett:Can we ship that to every other week? You know, I was thinking this work that I'm doing, you know, Susan might be ready for a new project herself. Right? She wasn't impacted by the recent round of layoffs as so many people were and are, you know, and I can tell from my conversations with her, she's really wanting to grow. This would be developmental for her, and it would take it off of my plate so I can focus on the new work or the more strategic work.
Lindsay Barnett:So a lot of it is, you know, some of the mindfulness really looking at ways to what I the term I like is job craft. Okay. You know, how do I look at what I'm doing, what the people are doing around me, and start to to see what shifts can be made. But it it it is work in and of itself to do that, and you do need time and space, either carved out or otherwise.
Adam Larson:Well, it it's funny because when we get so busy, sometimes the first thing to go is the taking the time to think, taking the time to better ourselves. Because if we're doing those things, we become better employees, we can get our work done better. But if we're so busy that we have to remove that, that's I feel like that's where the beginning of burnout starts.
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. It's it's really hard. You have to be really intentional about creating that time and space because you're always gonna feel like that it can't exist. And so, you know, I remember talking with one of my coaching clients who, you know, I think was feeling a little bit stuck in her role. And I asked her about, well, are you networking to, you know, try to find your your next opportunity?
Lindsay Barnett:And her answer, of course, was, oh, I just I don't have time. And I said, let's just do an experiment. Just put thirty minutes on your calendar, whatever day of the week is the lightest day, let's say Friday. Just put thirty minutes on your calendar and try to protect that time. See what happens with the rest of your week.
Lindsay Barnett:And then when she reported back, she was like, okay. Yeah. I had I was able to find the time, and I set up a bunch of networking calls, and now they're on my calendar, and now we're good. Right?
Adam Larson:Mhmm.
Lindsay Barnett:Sometimes it's a little bit of really getting clear on what are my intentions. You don't have to pick something really big. It could be picking something small to do. Like, I'm gonna do a one minute rest in between calls of just sitting in my chair and getting in touch with my body. That could be enough.
Lindsay Barnett:Whatever it is, it's just finding that one thing and committing to it. You'll start to see more and more open up as you pick the next thing and the next thing, in my experience at least.
Adam Larson:It's fun. The analogy that kinda came to mind as you were talking is, like, you don't always need to use an axe when a scalpel or a small little, like, butter knife will do. Like, you'd always use your axe in your in your work time and your schedules. Just a little butter knife, like, the thirty minutes, like you were saying. Yeah.
Adam Larson:It's like that's like a it's it's something to keep in mind because you can't always you can't tackle everything right away. You have to do small things.
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. Like, I'm a huge believer in plan d. Like like, plan a is dreamy. Right? And sometimes we get stuck in this black and white thinking of, you know, and I see this a lot with people, particularly with taking care of themselves, like exercise.
Adam Larson:Yeah.
Lindsay Barnett:You know, the gym doesn't call you up and say, hey, it's time to go to the gym, but your boss is emailing you all the time. So, you know, there's you. You've got to figure out how to own that for yourself as well as negotiate with others. So they know what your needs are and what you're trying to do. But, you know, plan d, there are days like I am committed personally to doing some meditation and some yoga every day.
Lindsay Barnett:Some days I have a lot of time. Great. I can do, you know, my my goal time period. Sometimes it's take a breath, do a downward dog, and we're on with our day. Right?
Lindsay Barnett:But that's my plan D, but I always know that I have a plan D that is still self honoring, and I'm gonna do whatever that looks like. But most days, it's plan B and C.
Adam Larson:No. I I can't help but think of your title, you know, to your book, Working Hell to Working Well. And it's interesting because a lot of stuff we've been talking about are the steps you need to take to get from hell to well, I guess, that that bridge that gap. And maybe we can start by just kinda talking a little bit. Like, how do you bridge that gap?
Adam Larson:Because sometimes when you feel like work is hell, it it takes a a long and it's not an easy process to get to
Lindsay Barnett:go. And
Adam Larson:so maybe we can start by, like, what how do you start? How do you where do you start?
Lindsay Barnett:So I think there's a couple things to just call out because for me, I think one of my big ahas as I was writing the book is there's a little bit of a stalemate that's happening right now in organizations. And I think organizations are saying, hey, it's you. You gotta you gotta take care of yourself. We just give you the work and pay the big bucks. Right?
Lindsay Barnett:And then individuals are saying, hey, you're giving me too much work. I can't I can't take care of myself. Right? But we're doing this and then we're not getting anywhere. And so I think there are a couple things that for me really stand out, which is how do we take a kind of dual accountability role in all of this, which is what are the things that I own that I can do?
Lindsay Barnett:And PS, if I can role model this for others, it starts to create a safer space for others to take care of themselves as well. And the more of us that are starting to do this, the more we can shape shift the culture, the more of us there are as allies to go to the organization, to go to our manager or boss and say, hey, this is what's working for us.
Adam Larson:Mhmm.
Lindsay Barnett:So there's a little bit of, I think everyone's kind of waiting each other out. And I think what I'm trying to advocate for is just do whatever you can. Like, go be the change. We can't wait for organizations to change. That's like asking, you know, Titanic to, like, course, you know, like, we've gotta do a little bit at a time together, but role modeling and making it safe for us all to to start taking advantage of our well-being can can help.
Lindsay Barnett:But starting with you, but figuring out what are the things that, you know, that I can do. And then if you're in a manager or leadership role, what are the things that you can do? If you're in a, you know, an HR or organizational leader role, what are the things you can do? We get I find we sometimes fall so victim to black and white thinking of, like, it's all or nothing that we just don't do anything, and that doesn't serve us.
Adam Larson:Mhmm. Yeah. Processing.
Lindsay Barnett:What are you processing there?
Adam Larson:You really got me processing because it's one of those things where that stuff sounds really nice. But what's like, how about practical application? Because sometimes when you when these things happen, when burnout happens and organizations are trying to help their employees, a lot of times, what you run into is presentations with a lot of corporate jargon and the nice things from the self help books, but it's not a lot of, hey, this is a practical things you can do to help. And so how do you get from, like, this, hey, this sounds really nice on paper to these are things I'm actually doing?
Lindsay Barnett:So I think there there are a lot of different things you can do. I think the the key thing that I would say, though, is there is no silver bullet. So what works for you may not work for me. There are some general things that we know help with burnout. So for example, there was a recent study done by the Society of Human Resources Management that said people who experience a sense of belonging are two and a half times less likely to experience burnout.
Lindsay Barnett:So if we know some of the, you know, and there's a ton of science around burnout and things like that. But some of it is figuring out what is it that is going to work for you. You know, I'll share an example from one of my clients. One of my clients wanted she she's an amazing manager, wanted to be, you know, always available for anyone who needed her, but she was doing it at the sacrifice of her own well-being. Mhmm.
Lindsay Barnett:And so one of the things that we worked on was just carving out thirty minutes for lunch. What you know, and we we literally had to talk through what's the smallest increment that you can feel comfortable managing the the kind of polarities here of I I I need to be available and I also need to be in my best self. What's that smallest increment of what you can do that can allow you to be okay with both. And so we got to a place of, well, no one's really gonna miss me for thirty minutes. Right?
Lindsay Barnett:So she ended up carving out lunch and I was like, amazing. You're role modeling for your team. It's okay to take care of yourself. You are taking care of yourself and bonus points, her husband joined her for lunch. So she was building connection with her husband, taking care of herself, nourishing herself, and then she would go back into her day.
Lindsay Barnett:So now I give that example. Some people listening may be like, I can't even afford thirty minutes for lunch. What whatever it is, it's it's really starting to notice. Even if you just take a week, do a time audit, how am I spending my time? How how do I wanna be spending my time?
Lindsay Barnett:Where are there little things that I can incorporate into my day? I'll give you one other example. I had one client who was and and she was working global hours. So she really was, you know, burning the candle at both ends. And so we just talked about, well, what are your current habits?
Lindsay Barnett:Like, what do you do now that's even modestly taking care of yourself? And she said, well, I, you know, I usually grab tea in between meetings. I said, great. Let's put a sticky note on your tea canister that says breathe. So while you're waiting for your tea to steep, you're bringing in an element of mindfulness.
Lindsay Barnett:You're allowing your nervous system to regulate a little bit more. And so we just tried that. Right? So they're just little things that even though they sound like, how is that gonna make an impact? You do that little thing, and then you do the next little thing, and it starts to build over time.
Lindsay Barnett:But you have to have that intention and that commitment, which is hard. This is where, you know, working with a coach is helpful. Right? Like, lot of my clients had me in the back of their head saying, don't forget to breathe, which sometimes is the accountability, that that we need. So understanding how does how does accountability work for you can also help.
Adam Larson:Yeah. Like, you have a coach? Do you have a mentor that you can connect with? A coach, a boss, a colleague, somebody who you who you work in the office with? Find that person that works for you because not not everybody may have access to a executive coach.
Adam Larson:Not everybody may have access to a mentor, but find that person that works best for you. And it it and it it reminded me again of another, like, analogy of that snowball effect where you start with a little snowball at the top of a hill. As it keeps rolling down, if it's the perfect elements, though that'll keep growing and growing. And so we have to do little things to make big changes, which just sounds weird to say.
Lindsay Barnett:I know, but I I don't know. I'm a big believer in the little things.
Adam Larson:Yeah. And you've mentioned mindfulness a couple times, and I was wondering if you could we could maybe take a step back a little bit and maybe you could define what you mean by mindfulness in this case and that we can help people understand what we're talking about.
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. Yeah. So I'm not a mindfulness expert.
Adam Larson:Okay.
Lindsay Barnett:But I am trained as an integral coach. And so as an integral coach, what that means is trying to integrate and help people integrate between the three intelligence centers. So mind IQ, heart EQ, and body BQ. Right? So there there are all these intelligence centers.
Lindsay Barnett:And so a lot of us walk around as a brain on a body. Right? Like, we don't really have a lot of connectivity with our emotions. You know, many people only know kind of happy, sad, mad. Like, that's the extent of our emotional, you know, intelligence around, like, how to name our emotions or our body.
Lindsay Barnett:Right? If you're sitting in front of a computer for eighteen hours a day, you may be generally disconnected from your body. So a lot of what, you know, I was trained in and what I try to support clients in is being able to access some of those different centers of intelligence so that you can really have a choice in how you're going to respond to things. Because if we're not being mindful, I think the shortest answer is when you're mindful, you are not just reacting, you're responding. You're taking that one second pause to say Yeah.
Lindsay Barnett:What do I want in this next moment? I like that.
Adam Larson:Yeah. No. That does help because it's one of those things where you hear that word a lot and, you know, at its base thing, you're being mindful. You're thinking about something else. Right?
Adam Larson:You're thinking not just of what's right here. That's, like, at its base level. But I appreciated that kind of overarching overview because when it comes to being humans and working in a corporate in, like, a corporate environment, any type of business environment, I think sometimes the lines between employee and human kind of blur, and we focus on, I just have to be the employee and do the best that I am. We forget that I'm a human, and I have to remember about how I'm feeling. And sometimes, hey.
Adam Larson:That person said that to me, that really rubbed me the wrong way, but I don't know why it rubbed me the wrong way. How should I think about that? And those aren't always things that we address, and maybe we snap at somebody. Why did I snap at them? Oh, you know what?
Adam Larson:I got up at 3AM because my baby woke me up, and then I had to go to this meeting at 6AM, and I was snapping everybody. And why was it doing that? Oh, because I woke up, like, you know, all these things. But unless you have unless you take the time to be mindful and have that emotional intelligence and say, okay. Hold on a minute and say, hey, Susie.
Adam Larson:I'm so sorry I snapped at you. You know, I had a rough morning, and I shouldn't have taken out of you. Can you like, can we, like, be okay? And those things don't happen enough. And because in
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah.
Adam Larson:In so many environments, it's, like, fast paced or we have to you know, it's it's a high pressure, so you don't wanna seem like you're vulnerable at all. But I feel like that degrades what we as humans can just be our best selves, I guess.
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. And also, you know, kind of even just having time for for pause is really hard. Like, I think about Yeah. Meetings. So many meetings have, like, you know, a half hour meeting with a seven item agenda.
Lindsay Barnett:Like, people don't even have time to fully process what we're talking about before we're like, okay, we're done, we're all agreed, great, moving on to the next Mhmm. Topic. And I see this happen a lot with teams, especially cross functional teams, where they're just slowed down so much because they move too fast too soon that they end up kinda having to circle back on so much. But if we could just incorporate a little bit little bit of time for pause. That's all it is.
Lindsay Barnett:A little pause. We can be kinder, more thoughtful, more aware.
Adam Larson:It's all good. Yeah. I I remember somebody challenged me once to, like, to, you know, schedule you know, don't schedule a thirty minute meeting. Schedule a twenty five minute meeting. Don't schedule an hour.
Adam Larson:Schedule a fifty minute meeting. Give everybody, like, five minutes or ten minutes back into their day so they can go from one meeting to the next. And and I remember they were saying, like, if you do that, this is how much time you get back in your week. And I'm like, what? And but I started I set my in Outlook, I set my default to twenty five and fifty, and I started doing that.
Adam Larson:And I started ending meetings earlier if I could. And I was like, wow. I can breathe. Because, you if you start work at 08:30 or something like that and you don't have a break until noon, that's really rough. And there's no like, every meeting went to the exact end.
Adam Larson:That can really that can really put a huge burden on you and and get cause a lot of stress sometimes.
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. And it's interesting too what you bring up. I think a lot of times people focus we hyper focus on time. Mhmm. And I think one of the things that I like to introduce into a lot of conversations is there's time and there's energy.
Lindsay Barnett:Right? We all have twenty four hours in a day. But if I'm just, like, invoicing and doing admin stuff in the course of the day, eight hours feels like twenty hours. But if I'm in conversations with people like you and, you know, enjoying myself and taking people on walking meetings with me and, you know, doing all this stuff, oh my god. You know, eight hours feels like two in my body.
Lindsay Barnett:Right? Like, if we think of ourselves a little bit like a battery, how much are we draining versus how much are we charging? And so, you know, in addition to looking at time, also looking at what are we doing with our time, and is it things that are recharging us or or draining us, and how do we manage around that?
Adam Larson:Yeah. I think it's hard too because we especially, you know, in many corporations probably in The US and around the world, we're we're stuck in time time blocks. Hey. Your your your time is between this time and this time. If you're an hourly worker, you have to clock in at this time and clock out.
Adam Larson:And so we we're governed by the time, and so that that permeates everything. So what your examples you were giving, it, like, it, like, shakes somebody who's like, wait. But I have this meeting, and I have this meeting. I have to keep this calendar. Like, I have a I have my my work calendar, my family calendar, and my other like, I have three different calendars on my one calendar on my phone just so I can keep track of everything.
Adam Larson:Yeah. I know. And so how can you still keep track of everything but do what you were saying? And that's like, I think that's what the question I was trying to say get to.
Lindsay Barnett:It's hard. I mean, in a lot of ways, like, we're all struggling with that.
Adam Larson:Yeah.
Lindsay Barnett:Right? I mean, I have the same thing. Like, people try to schedule time with me, and I'm like, shoot, I didn't check that calendar. You know, it's hard. You know, I I will say this, though.
Lindsay Barnett:It's possible. Like, I have seen people be really ruthless about it. You know, I have a friend who's, you know, an executive and she just, I think, I don't know, the the end of the year or whatnot, she said, that's it. I am canceling all standing meetings. I am going to, you know, only take meetings of the strategic variety.
Lindsay Barnett:She communicated to her team. If if know, we previously had meetings on this and that. This person's taking it, this person's taking it, and this person's taking that. These are the kinds of things that if you want a meeting with me that I would love to hear about. And she got so much of her time back to focus on the things that give her energy that really matter to her, and it made a big, you know, shift in her life, but she was managing both the time and the energy.
Lindsay Barnett:Right? Yeah. So it you know, how do you put put the two together? But sometimes you gotta be ruthless.
Adam Larson:Yeah. It sounds like you have to be ruthless. It sounds like you have to kind of make some like, you you mentioned courage earlier in the conversation. You have to kind of have some courage to say, hey. No.
Adam Larson:I can't come to that meeting. Or hey. Can you have tap on so and so to do that? Or hey. You know what?
Adam Larson:I'll get to your I'll get to what you're asking me to do in September. But why? Well, this is why. Being able to have those tough conversations, and I think sometimes we're afraid to do that whether the environment you work in is it you feel like you can't say no. And, actually, you can.
Adam Larson:It's just it's it's unfortunate that your culture is like that. And then so it's like, how can maybe we can talk about how like, what are some steps to getting to that courageous moment?
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. So there's a couple things. One of the things that I share in my book is this model called more time now.
Adam Larson:Yeah.
Lindsay Barnett:And so what it is is really looking at what are the fears that are holding me back from that courage to be able to negotiate for what I need. And so the more in that is more is better. Right? We we often have this more is better thinking, which usually comes from a fear of, you know, fear of inadequacy. Right?
Lindsay Barnett:Like, so more is better. And so if we can acknowledge that I have that fear and find a way to to contradict it, then I won't have a lot of the behaviors that are putting me in this place of over performance and thing, you know, because sometimes we again, this is how do we start with ourselves? What are we doing to hurt ourselves first? And how do we break clear of that? The other one is, you know, time, which is I have no time, which is usually I find a little bit a fear of failure.
Lindsay Barnett:And so sometimes by looking at, you know, our our standards too high. Right? Do we create this bar of perfection or whatnot for ourselves because of this fear of failure? What would happen if we dialed that back even just a little bit? And then the last one is, you know, now.
Lindsay Barnett:And so this is all about, you know, people coming to us. Okay. You need it now. Right? The cycle of of hyper responsiveness, which usually comes from a fear of rejection.
Lindsay Barnett:And so if we can open up and, you know, turn the mirror inward and say, okay, what are the fears that might be driving some of my behavior? That can open us up to say, okay, what can I do for myself? And what do I actually have to negotiate? Because and what am I afraid to negotiate on? And, you know, the the the more is better.
Lindsay Barnett:Sometimes you can negotiate with others. Right? Do you when you're thinking of what good looks like, are you thinking, you know, 20 page deck or are you thinking like a one page memo? Right? Because it and I see this happen a lot actually with when I've talked to executives where sometimes they make what they think is a simple request.
Lindsay Barnett:Sometimes they don't know what a request entails, but sometimes they don't actually clarify what the conditions of success are, and then they get back like a 50 page deck that someone worked all night on and they're like, I just wanted to know this one thing. So sometimes we have to just ask what, you know, what does success look like? What is outcome? And that may not be take need to take a lot of courage, but I also acknowledge the fact that if an executive just sends you a ping on the way to a meeting, you may not be able to get more time with them. But Yeah.
Lindsay Barnett:You know, how do you start to figure out some of those things that either you're doing to yourself, or what are the questions that I can ask to either get more information or to figure it out?
Adam Larson:I think that's, you know, that's everything you're saying, I feel like we all can take little bits of it and apply it in what works best for us because, you know, like, as you're saying stuff, I'm like, maybe I should try this. Maybe it's like, I I'm getting ideas as you're talking
Lindsay Barnett:because I
Adam Larson:feel like there's constantly times where you can feel overwhelmed, and it could lead to burnout. It could lead to missing things. It could lead to making mistakes, and you have to find that time to take time back for you. And I think that's a lot of what you're saying is is like, hey. Remember you.
Adam Larson:Remember you. You're you're important because if you keep doing this to yourself, you're gonna take yourself out of the equation, which is gonna be worse. So how about you take time for you? And I and that's a it's a huge reminder for for for accounting professionals, for HR professor, for anybody in any in any industry because we all are feeling the feeling the pressure. We're feeling the pressure of the turmoil of everything that's going on around us, and we can't forget about that we're humans and that we need time.
Lindsay Barnett:Yeah. Yeah. It's hard. It's really hard. I know, I mean, even though I'm sharing, like, well, could try that or you could try that.
Lindsay Barnett:Like, you know, the idea for me is how do we expand the aperture so we can see a few more options? Doesn't mean they're gonna be easy. I try to share easy stuff so that it feels easy. Right? Like, you know, one of the examples that I share in my book is a story of a friend who, you know, she wanted to get healthier.
Lindsay Barnett:She just bought a bigger water bottle. That's it.
Adam Larson:Wow.
Lindsay Barnett:And she lost weight. Her skin was glowing. She felt better. Right? So what's your water bottle?
Lindsay Barnett:Right? Like, how do you find the easiest thing? Because action is what really starts to release us from that stuckness. And so just the the littlest things, whatever feels easy, just do it because it always will feel hard. And so how do we make it as easy as possible for ourselves?
Adam Larson:Lindsey, I think we should stop there. I think that's a perfect way to end it. That's a perfect sound bite.
Lindsay Barnett:Find your water bottle.
Adam Larson:Get your find your water bottle and run with it. I just wanna thank you so much for this conversation, for coming on, for sharing your knowledge. I encourage everybody to check out Lindsay's book. The link will be in the, show notes. And, thanks so much for coming on.
Lindsay Barnett:Thank you, Adam. Really appreciate you having me here, and good luck in finding your work life harmony.
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