The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) television studios, UDCtv, provides the Washington, DC area with programming geared to foster health, political and environmental awareness. Dr. Katherine Marshall Woods hosts this UDCtv show entitled “A Healthy Mind” featuring guests from a myriad of professions lending information to promote healthy living and lifestyles. Entries entitled: “A Healthy Mind” share these interviews.
On August 24th, 2020, Michael Levitt was invited onto the show to offer his expertise in Burn Out prevention and recovery. Michael Levitt is a Fortune 500 consultant, #1 bestselling author, and host of the Breakfast Leadership Show, a top 200 podcast on iTunes. He is also a 2x Top 20 Global Thought Leader on Culture with Thinkers360.
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Dr. Marshall Woods: “Hello, my name is Dr. Katherine Marshall Woods and your host for this episode of A Healthy Mind. The purpose of this show is to inform and educate the public regarding mental health, from emotional disorders to socio-political problems that effect healthy minds.”
“According to Psychology Today, burnout is a state of mental, emotional and physical exhaustion brought about by constant stress. Prolonged stress that causes burnout has an impact on one’s functioning within parenting and caretaking roles, romantic relationships and the relationship had with oneself. With me today is Mr. Michael Levitt, founder and Chief Burnout Officer of The Breakfast Leadership Network. He is a certified NLP & CBT therapist, author of five books and a world leading authority in burnout recovery and prevention.”
“Welcome to the show.”
Michael Levitt: “Great to be with you today Katherine.”
Dr. Marshall Woods: “Thanks again for coming on. So let’s just jump right into what is burnout exactly? I know we have some definitions from what Psychology Today offers; but, how is it that you define burnout being an authority in this field?”
Michael Levitt: “I define burnout is definitely workplace related. And, sometimes people ask the question, ‘How is burnout different from depression?’ because you see a lot of similarities between the two fields. But, burnout tends to be workplace related; because that’s where we spend the majority of our time is in working hours. Since this pandemic, maybe not at the office or a place of work so much, but that’s been replaced by working from home. But, my view on burnout is it’s prolonged unaddressed stress that leaves you fatigued, wiped out, making mistakes, lack of clarity, a fog or a daze, a lack of motivation, all of these things that play into it. And, it’s prolonged if not addressed and, you know, and some symptoms and causes by it that makes it worse is, for example a lack of sleep. And, I’m a big advocate for getting a good night’s sleep, because we do damage to our bodies on a daily basis. And our sleep, if we get good deep sleep, our bodies can repair that damage. Now, if we’re not getting good sleep, well then our bodies can’t repair the damage. So, today’s damage gets piled on to tomorrow’s damage and then it just proceeds to the point where you start having some physical problems. And, you’re aware of this, that almost, I think, it’s 25 or 26 chronic diseases; stress is one of the leading factors of how people obtain that chronic disease. So, if you don’t address your stress, not only could you burn out, but you could develop all types of physical health issues just because you’re not dealing with your stress. So, that’s a very long-winded answer of how I view burnout and why I’m so passionate about trying to eradicate it from society.”
Dr. Marshall Woods: “Well, it’s interesting you say eradicated from society and how would one go about that. I mean, you’re saying, getting a good night’s rest, reducing stress, and things of sort. And, many people would say that all sounds nice, and I have all of these responsibilities, I have these demands that I have to make sure are done, and there’s no one else to do it. And, so when they think about hours of sleeping and reducing stress, they don’t necessarily see a way to be able to navigate that. Do you have suggestions for those people?”
Michael Levitt: “….my favorite word in the world is….”
To see the remaining interview with Michael Levitt, Chief Burnout Officer, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qNMtm7vGlo