Latest / LIFE Podcast with Dr. C / Beyond the Gym: Finding Movement You Love to Beat Workplace Burnout

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Beyond the Gym: Finding Movement You Love to Beat Workplace Burnout · LIFE Podcast with Dr. C

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hola and welcome back to the Life Podcast, where we learn, inspire, flourish, and evolve together on the journey to our best, most authentic selves.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: C, and today's conversation is all about finding movement you love, and we'll be looking at it through the lens of our physical wellness.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had one of those days where five o'clock hits, you shut your laptop, rub your eyes, and somehow feel like you just ran 10 miles even though you haven't left your desk chair since 9 that morning?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: If this resonates with you and your shoulders are crept up by your ears right now, drop them.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Unclench your jaw and take a deep breath.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: We spend so much time treating burnout like a strictly mental problem.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: We try to outthink it, outplan it, or push through it.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: But after years of studying why good, smart people burn out inside organizations, I can tell you that exhaustion rarely lives just in your head.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: When the World Health Organization officially classified workplace burnout, the very first thing they pointed to was chronic energy depletion.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, half the time we feel hollowed out because our bodies are stuck in one chair all day and then we beat ourselves up at night for not wanting to go suffer on a treadmill for an hour.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: This week kicks off our flourish forward month where we strip away complicated wellness noise and get right back to basics.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Today is part one of a special two-part series, and we are starting with your body.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere along the way, we all bought into the lie that movement only counts if it hurts.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you aren't dripping sweat in a crowded gym, why bother, right?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Wrong! Hear me on this.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Movement is a celebration of what your body can do, not a punishment for what you ate.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Back in 2012, researcher Teshera and his team analyzed dozens of studies on why people actually stick with physical activity, building on what psychologists call self-determination theory.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: What they found is simple.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Guilt is terrible fuel.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: When you force yourself to work out because you're mad at your body or feel like you should, you eventually burn out and quit.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Every single time.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: The people who stay active for decades move because the movement itself feels good in the moment.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe for you that really is a sweaty gym session.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's a calming walk in nature, a mindful yoga flow, or turning up a song and dancing in the kitchen while dinner is in the oven.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Your heart and your muscles don't know the difference between an expensive fitness studio and your kitchen floor.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: They just want circulation, oxygen, and a little bit of joy.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: I saw this play out in real life with a leader that I coached a couple years ago.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Let's call her Maria.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maria ran a busy nonprofit, cared deeply about her community, but was completely fried.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because she was a high achiever, her solution to feeling exhausted was buying a brutal 5 a.m.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: boot camp package.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: You can probably guess how that went.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: She dragged herself out of bed in the dark for three days, wrecked her joints, crashed by Thursday, skipped Friday, and spent the entire weekend drowning in guilt for lacking discipline.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: She was trying to cure burnout by punishing herself harder.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we used the life blueprint to stop this vicious cycle, and I asked her to quit the boot camp for 30 days.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, we made a deal with one rule: only move in ways that make you smile.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maria loved music and she loved trees.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So she started taking a 10-minute walk down her tree-lined street every morning before doing any work.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: She called it her scenic commute to work.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And at 3 p.m., whenever her energy dipped, she put on one song and stretched or walked through the hallways.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Within three weeks, she was sleeping through the night.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the wildest part?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: She ended up moving her body more minutes a week than she ever did with that 5 a.m.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: gym membership because she actually looked forward to it.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take a quick pause here for a second.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Wherever you're listening, in the car, at your desk, folding laundry, take a slow breath all the way down into your belly and let it out slowly.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Notice how just five seconds of intentional breathing shifts your energy.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Taking care of your body really can be that simple until a busy schedule tries to talk you out of it.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what happens when 3 p.m.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: rolls around this week and your brain says, I'm too tired to move and I don't have 45 minutes anyway?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Use the five-minute permission slip.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Tell yourself you only have to move for five minutes.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: One song, one walk down the hall, one gentle stretch on the rug.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to stop when the five minutes are up, you have full permission to stop.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Behavioral scientist Michelle Seger found that when we reframe movement as an immediate way to feel good right now, rather than a debt we owe our future health, that heavy internal resistance disappears.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if your calendar is booked solid back to back, build three tiny movement anchors into your work day.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: First, do three slow neck rolls between every video call.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Second, take one audio only phone call a day standing up or pacing the room.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Third, when you close your laptop at 5 o'clock, reach your arms toward the ceiling for 60 seconds to tell your nervous system the workday is officially over.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you string these small choices together, you stop treating your body like a stubborn machine that has to be whipped into shape on Monday and repaired on Saturday.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: You start treating your body like a partner.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So here is my challenge for you tomorrow morning.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Before you touch your phone or read a single email, give your body three minutes of movement that feels like pure relief.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Roll your shoulders, sway to a song, or step out onto the porch and breathe the morning air.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: As you head into your week, keep this tucked in your pocket.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Movement is a celebration of what your body can do, not a punishment for what you ate.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Prioritize you today, and make sure you're subscribed because in part two of this series, we're looking at the room your body sits inside and how greening your workspace can rescue your focus and stop afternoon brain fog in its tracks.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep on learning, stay inspired, continue to flourish, and never stop evolving.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: C, and this is the Life Podcast.