The Anxious Achiever
Episodes
Is Work Fundamentally Broken?
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Laurie Ruettimann is a former human resources leader and current author and speaker on work place culture. She looks at how the overall system of ca...
Hacks for Managing Yourself and Others: Understanding Attachment Styles
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of us have a basic understanding of how attachment styles - secure, anxious and avoidant - affect human beings in their relationships. But we do...
What Companies Should Do For Workers in an AI Age
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to managing our mental health as AI takes over the workplace, there’s a lot on our plate. But in a world that is also driven by system...
Disruptive Change and Shifting Mindsets Around GenAI
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to anxiety, the best thing we can do is figure out what is in our control and shift our energy away from the what ifs and the negative t...
Does Discomfort Reflect What We Value Most?
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, you have to look scary change in the eye and approach it with flexibility instead of fear. Dr. Diana Hill is a clinical psychologist and le...
Morra Joins The Next Big Idea To Talk Anxiety As a Trait of Great Leaders
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Host Morra Aarons-Mele recently spoke with Rufus Griscom on LinkedIn’s The Next Big Idea to talk about leadership. She speaks about how anxiety is a...
AI, Work and Mental Health: Nilay Patel on Tech and the Future
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Like anxiety or depression, AI is now a constant companion for millions of people around the world. We might be benefitting from the use of AI at work...
Is Passion Driving Burnout?
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There’s often a direct connection between how much you achieve at work, and how high you climb, and how much passion you have for your work. It’s ...
Hope as an Essential Ingredient of Life and Work
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We humans need hope! A lack of hope contributes to much to mental health struggles across the board, and that’s why it’s important to learn more a...
You Can’t Change the World If You’re Unhappy At Work
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve come a long way in the last five years, but there’s so much still to be done when it comes to our working lives and our mental health. In th...
Adapting Your Career to Your Neurodivergent Needs
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What if all your assumptions about people with neurodivergent conditions… were all wrong? In this episode, host Morra Aarons-Mele speaks to two peop...
When Your Job Revolves Around The Tumultuous U.S. Election
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The news is overwhelming, and thinking about the upcoming election makes many of us anxious. Political veterans know how to get things done in a never...
A Former Olympic Rower on Grit, Heartache and Success
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2012, Michael DiSanto graduated from a prestigious university. But instead of following the path of his peers, he set out to achieve a lofty goal: ...
ADHD Expert (and Diagnosee) Dr. Ned Hallowell on Unwrapping Our Gifts and Changing Labels
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Ned Hallowell has ADHD himself, and is a well-respected doctor who focuses on counseling people of all ages with similar disorders. But he’s qui...
Dan Ariely on Resilience as the Antidote to Stress
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Ariely is a famed behavioral economist who looks at the irrational, upside-down ways that humans think and act. His recent interests include resil...
Is People Pleasing Hurting Your Career?
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you fall into certain people-pleasing behaviors at work, we have news: it’s not just an individual problem. Kathleen Smith, therapist and author ...
More Than Breadwinners: The Mental Health of Working Fathers
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Just as working mothers increasingly feel pressure from all sides to achieve and be the best family members possible, expectations for fathers have sh...
Tools and Tricks for Neurodivergent Leaders
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Clayton Lord breaks the mold of what you might expect someone’s career to look like if they are on the autism spectrum. He’s Director of Programs ...
Burnout, Balance, and Why Work From Home Isn’t Working
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shirley Leung is a columnist at the Boston Globe and host of the podcast Say More, and in 2020, she hit “rock bottom.”Being stretched on all sides...
Craig Robinson on Following Your Passion, Forgetting What Others Think, and Bringing out the Best in People
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Craig Robinson, brother of former First Lady Michelle Obama, is a basketball legend, former NBA executive, coach, and Executive Director of the Nation...
Coming Soon: Season 10
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Starting June 5th, the Anxious Achiever is back to celebrate its tenth season. We’ll be diving into the topics and challenges you’ve asked about m...
Thinkers50: The Limits and Responsibilities of Leaders
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Leaders of organizations have a large responsibility when it comes to their own mental health, and of those in their organization. When they speak up ...
Thinkers50: Can We Banish Burnout?
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Burnout doesn’t come on because of weakness, and it doesn’t come about overnight. Many of us are walking around with some degree of burnout! On th...
Thinkers50: Stop Being Your Own Worst Enemy, Start Being Your Best Friend
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As part of a month long series with Thinkers50 and The Silicon Guild, in this episode host Morra Aarons-Mele explores constructive ways we can improve...
Thinkers50: Improving Work, Improving Mental Health (For Everyone)
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What are some of the most important management ideas out there in today’s world? Thinkers50 is an organization that aims to identify and share these...
When Anxiety Sneaks Up on You, Try Something Different
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine you are having an anxious moment at work. Instead of letting yourself slip into old patterns of negative thoughts or self-criticisms, today’...
Are You And Your Employer In An Abusive Relationship?
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Burnout culture is everywhere - case in point, a lawsuit brought against Goldman Sachs earlier this year by a former employee claiming that the relent...
Mental Health Literacy Can Change Lives - and Careers
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There was a time when everyone masked their mental and emotional struggles at work; or worse, didn’t even know that what they were experiencing migh...
Think Your Family Background Doesn’t Affect You At Work? Think Again
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Just as members of a family have different roles to play and different patterns of behavior they keep, so too can our family dynamics play out in the ...
Are You Harnessing Your Anxiety for Good?
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Anxiety rarely feels good, so it might feel counterintuitive to think about it as a positive thing. But in this episode, we revisit a conversation wit...
Trauma-Informed Leadership: Is it Right For You?
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the quest to be a more empathetic and effective leader or manager, the lens of trauma-informed leadership might be helpful for you. It’s the idea...
Accent Bias: How It Impacts You and Your Work
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Heather Hansen challenges the notion of "good" and "bad" English. Good communication is about getting the message across. She’s based in Singapore a...
Are You Good at Embracing Uncertainty?
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Uncertainty and anxiety are highly linked in our brains: when we aren’t sure what will happen, we often go into planning, defensive mode, trying to ...
Dan Harris: 10 Percent Happier, 10 Years Later
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We all have big moments that shift the course of our life - and our relationship with those moments also change over time. Dan Harris was a long time ...
Toxic Bosses, Mean Girls, and Trusting Yourself
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You know the feeling when you know that something is off with a relationship at work, but feel like you can’t speak up? Many of us have felt this fe...
The Toll of Selling Your Business: Two Entrepreneurs Share Their Stories
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We put so much of ourselves and our identity into our work; that’s especially true for entrepreneurs. It can be hard to deal with the emotions of se...
Is Your Anxiety a Habit You Need to Break?
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For many of us, anxiety is a partner on our journey of life: it is always there. But a helpful reframe could also be the idea that anxiety is a habit....
Former Head of Mental Health and Wellbeing at Google on Why Teams and Culture Matter
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How far have we come in terms of mental health at organizations, and how far do we still need to go? Kristin Maczko leads Strategic People Programs fo...
What You Still Don’t Understand About Imposter Syndrome
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Studies show that over 70 percent of us feel imposter syndrome at one time or another. But there’s a lot we still don’t know about the why, the ho...
“I Have Always Cared a Lot What Other People Think of Me”
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Congressman Adam Smith spent years quietly struggling with both anxiety and physical pain, while serving the people of his state and the entire countr...
Micromanaging, Mental Health, and Breaking Free
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Leaders out there who are guilty of micromanaging might not immediately realize that it comes from a need for control, and probably a bit of anxiety. ...
LinkedIn Live: From Digital Transformations to Personal Transformations
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Charlene Li is someone who has spent her career focusing on digital transformations and disruptive leadership. And she practices what she preaches - s...
“You See Flashes of Really Deep Emotion in the Heat of These Competitions”
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What can we learn about performance and mental health from professional athletes? As we start a new year off, Morra Aarons-Mele revisits her conversat...
Pressure, Perfectionism, and Passion: What Medical Professionals Face
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The limelight - and appreciation - given to medical professionals early in the pandemic has largely faded, but the stresses they face continue. In thi...
The Loneliness Epidemic and Work (with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy)
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you feel lonely, even when you’re almost never alone? It’s a common feeling for many workers in the U.S. right now - with around 50 percent of ...
We All Experience Class At Work (And Why We Should Talk About It)
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ever been at work and everyone starts talking about their recent trip to Italy, or their Ivy League college reunion coming up… and you just feel l...
Want To Run A Good Company? You Can’t Ignore Menopause Anymore
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The working world has gotten a lot more open about a lot of things, from mental health challenges to the realities of being a working parent. But a to...
How Your Family History - and Tensions - Affect You At Work
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many in the U.S. this week are celebrating the holiday of Thanksgiving - which, unfortunately for many, can mean difficult conversations with family...
Building Your Career When You Have Borderline Personality Disorder
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s guest always seemed to seek out chaos in his career. It wasn’t until a diagnosis that he learned to manage his emotions, stay still, and p...
Farnoosh Torabi on Fear, Money, and Career Success
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Farnoosh Torabi is a veteran journalist and personal finance expert who has spent much of her life trying to help others have a healthier relationship...
LinkedIn Live: How to Speak Up
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Speaking up is an essential skill in work and in leadership, but it can be scary and anxiety-inducing for many of us. This week, Morra Aarons-Mele spe...
Leadership, Burnout, and Breakdowns (and Why Coaching Can Help)
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone needs support at work, whether that comes in the form of coaching, therapy, some combination - or something else. In this episode we look at ...
Mood and Food: What You Need to Know About Gut and Mental Health
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While information about the connection between food, gut health, and our overall well-being has come into the spotlight in recent years, it can still ...
The Israel-Hamas War and Managing Grief
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It was an emotional and scary week for millions of people around the world following the horrific attacks in Israel and subsequent ramp up of war. In ...
20 Minutes a Week Devoted to Culture Building Can Improve Mental Health for Grocery and Retail Workers
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anthony Sartori knows just how overlooked the mental health of retail workers can be. After finishing college in 2018, and seeing the plight of frontl...
Mindfulness to Be A Better Colleague - and Stop Being Passive-Aggressive
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We bring ourselves to work - or to our Zoom calls - every day with the desire to be professional and to achieve. That often means trying to put whatev...
“He’s a Jerk Who Got Rich and Now He Hates Everybody”
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gabe Howard had a successful tech career when, at the age of 26, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. To the outside world, many people thought it ...
"I Have Everything to Gain and Nothing to Lose, and I Have a Responsibility to Use My Voice"
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A huge part of breaking down stigma around mental health challenges at work is about being open and honest about our experiences. Mita Mallick is head...
“When I Was Diagnosed with PTSD I Was Treated Like Damaged Goods” (Part II)
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We continue the conversation with Dean Yates, a Tasmania-based mental health advocate, former journalist, and author of the book Line in the Sand.
“I Wanted to Cover War Without Having Any Clue What War Was Like” (Part I)
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dean Yates was a foreign correspondent and worked for Reuters for decades until the traumatic events he witnessed took their toll. Over time, he reali...
“I Didn’t Know What the Word Burnout Meant”: One Teacher’s Mental Health Journey
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The public school system in the U.S. lost at least 300,000 public school teachers and administrators between February 2020 and May 2022, according to ...
Behind the Scenes of Meditation and Mental Health with the CEO of Headspace
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first time that Russell Glass tried meditation, he wasn’t really sure what to make of it. Flash-forward several years and lots of practice later...
LinkedIn Live: Weight-Loss Drugs, Food Noise, and Mental Health
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Host Morra Aaons-Mele has an informal chat with author and entrepreneur Meredith Arthur about how Wegovy - a drug similar to Ozempic - has changed her...
This Leadership Expert’s Experience Managing Autism Can Help Everyone Enjoy Work More
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tara McMullin was diagnosed with autism at the age of 38, and it put her previous struggles with work and the structures we have around work in a new ...
LinkedIn Live: Am I Too Old for This Role?
11 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you ever wonder if you are “aging out?” This week, Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with executive coach Nihar Chhaya about the realities of age bias, ...
Best of Anxious Achiever: Pressure, Achievement, and Self-Compassion
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
High achievers and those who struggle with mental health often find it hard to give themselves compassion. We revisit one of our favorite episodes abo...
“I Could Work 16 Hours a Day and Not Have It Affect Me… I Thought”
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We don’t always immediately see the ways that anxiety, trauma, or institutional inequities show up for us - and our bodies - at work. Deepa Purushot...
Real Leaders Get Emotional: Cloudfm CEO Jeff Dewing
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Jeff Dewing runs a successful facilities management technology corporation. He’s had a dramatic career. Mark began his career in refrigeratio...
LinkedIn Live: Is Mental Health at Work a “Gen Z Thing”?
21 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Older generations have heard the stereotypes, and maybe seen anecdotal evidence that supports these biases: Gen Z, newish to the workforce, is a bit t...
How MLMs Hurt Women’s Mental Health
19 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Multi-level marketing businesses, or MLMs, offer people - often women who don’t work outside the home - the chance to be entrepreneurs, face new cha...
The “Goal Conqueror” Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder During the Pandemic
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Natasha Bowman always thought of herself as a goal conqueror: someone who could seemingly take on any project, multitask any number of things, and com...
LinkedIn Live: How to Handle Envy, FOMO, and Jealousy
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with executive coach Nihar Chhaya about what Morra calls the "triangle of doom" - envy, shame and scarcity - as part of their...
Best of Anxious Achiever: Can Workplaces Help Us Heal?
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With all of the issues in corporate America, in startup culture, and in workplaces biases and inequalities, it can be easy to forget the ways in which...
When High-Powered Careers Come to Define Us
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever daydreamed about quitting your stressful job and hitting the open road? It isn’t something everyone can afford to do with their time a...
I Get This Question a Lot: Should I Try To Make My Corporate Job Work?
23 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For many people, the choice between a corporate job or entrepreneurship comes down to the freedom and flexibility they might get on their own… versu...
The Relationship between Ambition, OCD, and Culture
21 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many high achievers have a complicated relationship with their own health, and their own ambition. Things like anxiety can fuel us but also wreak havo...
Do Entrepreneurs Need Specialized Mental Healthcare?
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Freeman is a psychiatrist and professor looking to better understand and better support the mental health of entrepreneurs. A fourth generatio...
LinkedIn Live: I Get This Question A Lot
09 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this new series, host Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with executive coach Nihar Chhaya about some of your most pressing questions around mental health, c...
Marketing Expert Dorie Clark on Being Yourself and Being Valued For It
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Does your career path feel uncertain, or at the very least, unsteady? In a world where jobs aren’t guaranteed, we increasingly need to advocate for ...
A Recent Morehouse College Grad On How He - and Gen X - Handle Mental Health
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anthony Hunter is someone just setting out in what most of us consider to be adulthood: just graduating from college and joining the workforce full-ti...
Rep. Becca Balint Has Struggled with Anxiety and Depression. Now She’s Fighting for Mental Health Support and Policies.
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Representative Becca Balint is a new member of Congress, joining this January after several years in the Vermont Senate. She didn’t start her career...
Is American Motherhood (and Work) Sustainable?
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“I didn’t want to accept myself as someone who had mental health struggles. And having kids made me be like, oh no, this is a health issue that yo...
The Ritalin and Adderall Shortage and How It Impacts Work
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Millions of Americans depend on prescription medication like Ritalin and Adderall each day to help them accomplish their tasks. Whether taking these p...
Hospitality Entrepreneur Chip Conley on Mental Health, Wisdom, and Generation Gaps
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chip Conley is an entrepreneur who has built a number of companies from the ground up, and also served as Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy at A...
Do You Have Codependency Issues at Work?
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Codependency is the existence of unhealthy relationship where one person fixates on taking care of or even controlling the other, forgetting their own...
What Psychedelic Research Might Mean for Leadership and Work
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve seen an increasing number of headlines around the study and use of psychedelics like psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA and LSD. As research continues...
What A Divorce Taught This Leader About Facing His Fears
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Those of us who put pressure on ourselves to achieve do it in all aspects of life - from school to work to family. That means that when our sense of s...
Disrupting Yourself and Your Career
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Disruption is the name of the game in so many businesses today, and that’s the case for many high performing individuals as well. But how do we thin...
“I Had All My Money with SVB”: An Entrepreneur on Bank Failure and the Anxious Echo Chamber of Social Media
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On March 10th, the FDIC announced the closure of Silicon Valley Bank, marking the second largest bank failure in U.S. history. If you were watching ...
How This NBCUniversal Exec Publicly Dealt with Mental Illness (And Teamed Up With A Psychologist to Better His Workplace)
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The film and television industry is incredibly pressure-filled, high stakes, and visible. That’s true for the actors and actresses - but there’s o...
Are Women Punished For Being Emotional At Work?
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The question of how and when to show certain emotions at work is evolving, and it’s subject to a lot of bias. There are still double standards aroun...
Recognizing and Working with Anxiety at the Negotiating Table
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever had to go into conversation where you needed to advocate for yourself and really feel like you weren’t coming from a position of power...
Breaking the Stigma of Mental Health for Men in Business
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You know that cliche phrase "leaving to spend more time with my family" that so many people us when they leave a job? For Lenny Mendoca, the phrase di...
Your Anxiety Needs a Product Manager
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meredith Arthur is a self-described recovering overthinker. She is chief of staff at TwoTwenty, a in-house incubator for new projects at Pinterest. Sh...
This Father and Son Transformed Their Relationship and Careers After Mental Health Challenges
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Craig Kramer was someone with an impressive corporate career. His son, Peter Lee-Kramer, was on a track of academic and athletic success. Then mental ...
Here’s How to Plan for Difficult Conversations
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It might be a confrontation with a colleague who is constantly late to meetings. You might need to finally ask for that raise. Or it could be approach...
What Athletes Teach Us About Mental Health
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most offices are rife with sports metaphors, from hitting the target to being a team player. There’s a lot we can learn from athletes and those who ...
Facing Loss Amid the Tyranny of Positivity
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of challenges in our lives that can help us achieve. And then there is the reality that there ARE going to be times that are traumatic...
What Mental Health Leave Taught One Google Executive
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
People who end up in leadership positions at huge companies are usually overachievers: they’ve succeeded in school, internships, early career jobs, ...
Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein is an Anxious Achiever
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Harley Finkelstein is president of Shopify, the e-commerce platform that has processed over 1 billion orders. For years, Harley’s anxiety troubled h...