“There are no unresourceful people, only unresourceful states”. 

This is a basic presupposition of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). My coaching philosophy centers around this vitally important statement and underpins the work we do in The Crucible.  

If you are a successful woman trapped in a vicious cycle of stress, overwork, and toxic overwhelm, understanding how to attend and befriend your emotional state is vital. It is THE KEY to your personal wellbeing, time freedom, and ultimately, career success. It’s not time-management.

In my experience as an Executive Coach for Corporate Women under high pressure, having a self-identified philosophy is the starting point of the work we do to eradicate burnout. In this article, I am going to share with you 3 critical tenets of the coaching philosophy we operate under at Teresa Vozza Coaching. I will also show you HOW this helps our clients enjoy more career freedom, personal autonomy, and emotional wellbeing.

1. All Procedures Should be designed to increase Wholeness & Choice

2. Behaviour and Change are to be evaluated in terms of context and ecology

3. Transformation starts when we make a decision to live on the side of cause rather than effect

All Procedures Should Be Designed To Increase Wholeness & Choice

“I have no choice but to work late….” 

I hear this often with new clients. The truth is we always have a choice. One of the first outcomes in The Crucible is that we increase the quality of choices women have available. We also help women distinguish between what is truly a fact vs what is an opinion. I have no choice is often an opinion. When a client is in a severe state of distress, choices don’t come easy. Our neural pathways haven’t been practised enough yet to start seeing alternative options.

Here’s another one: “My personal life has nothing to do with my career”.

Oh yes it does.

Eradicating burnout among corporate women (and people everywhere!) involves the whole self. The definition of whole self is described as “the interrelationship between the various aspects of life”.

In essence, to treat each area of our life as separate and not interconnected doesn’t yield optimal results. The most positive outcomes occur when we treat all parts of us – personal and professional – as integral to success. For instance, if a client shares with me that they are having personal problems in addition to stress at work, there is no doubt that will impact their effectiveness (and happiness!). So yes, your personal life does matter and will come up.

Behaviour and Change are to be evaluated in terms of ecology.

“I don’t want to let my colleagues down”. 

In NLP, ecology refers to the study of consequences. There are four levels of ecology that I watch for when coaching clients.

1. Self to Self

2. Self to Others

3. Self to Society

4. Self to Planet

We make every attempt to look for win-win. How do the actions of the client affect all four interrelated parts – self, others (family), society, and the planet. So, in the case of the burnt-out executive who repeatedly says that she “doesn’t want to let her colleagues down”, she is potentially violating Self To Self (she is exhausted). She may even be violating Self To Others (she feels guilty for not having time for her kids). That choice is not ecological, nor does it increase her wholeness. When you are thinking ecologically, you are looking at all aspects of a situation.

Make a Decision to Live on the Side of Cause rather than Effect.

The universal law of cause and effect states that for every effect there is a definite cause, likewise for every cause, there is a definite effect. I am not going to get into the law of attraction because I feel that it is so misrepresented by most people. It’s not a short-cut to Mansions, Maseratis, and Millions. Instead, here’s where I am going:

Your thoughts, behaviors, and actions create specific effects. Therefore, when we make a decision to live on the side of cause, we are taking personal responsibility for what happens to us, the effects. Therefore, we are consciously accepting responsibility for what happens in our lives. This cuts away the noise and distraction of what “other people” are doing “to us”. Instead, living by this law places us directly in charge of our thought life. 

To be clear, toxic workplaces, toxic leaders, and toxic cultures DO exist, and they DO contribute to burnout. That’s not being disputed. However, in the coaching relationship, we focus on creating resourceful emotional states. Once our physiology has reached a state of coherence, ie. I feel less anxiety and distress, THEN we can get to work on leaving the toxic workplace.

Burnt out women can google time management apps and calendaring software. True transformation starts with a desire and willingness to change your emotional state, confidently and consistently.