July 14, 2025 • 26 mins
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Have you ever felt that flicker of guilt when leaving work "on time" even when you've completed everything you needed to do? That nagging voice wondering if colleagues might think you're not dedicated enough?
This subtle pressure to constantly appear busy and productive is destroying our effectiveness. Looking at shocking research from the Workplace Wellbeing 360 report, Australia's rate of presenteeism—showing up for work when not fully capable of performing effectively—stands at a concerning 44%, higher than the global average. This phenomenon costs Australian organisations an estimated $34 billion annually in lost productivity.
The mounting evidence is clear: our obsession with constant productivity is backfiring dramatically. South Korean researchers have found that working more than 52 hours weekly actually changes brain composition, particularly affecting areas responsible for focus, decision-making, and emotional regulation. When we try to fit 48 hours of work into 25 available hours, something has to give—and usually, it's our wellbeing and ultimately our true effectiveness.
But there's a powerful alternative approach. Being at peace with your natural pace isn't about working less—it's about working right. It means recognizing that each person has their own optimal rhythm and energy pattern. For some, that might mean intense focus in the morning hours; for others, creative bursts in the evening. Some thrive with intermittent rest periods throughout the day, while others need longer recovery after intense project work.
I share five practical steps to cultivate this healthier relationship with pace: pause to reflect on judgments, assess your optimal personal rhythms, align flexibility with business needs, plan realistically for downtime, and communicate clear expectations that normalize recovery and prevent burnout.
Ready to transform how you work?
Download my free ebook "Overwhelmed to Impact" at brilliance-inspiredkit.com/overwhelmedtoimpact for practical tools to help you reset your approach to leadership and work in a way that honors your natural rhythm while maximising your impact.
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I am a Confidence and Impact Coach for leaders, Organisational Development Consultant and independent Leadership Circle Profile® Certified Practitioner. Information shared about this tool is courtesy of Leadership Circle®, all rights reserved. www.leadershipcircle.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jolynne Rydz (00:01):
You know that awkward feeling when you leave
work before your colleagues,even if you started two hours
earlier than they did and you'vewrapped everything up for the
day.
It's that tiny flicker of guiltor that worry of what might
they think.
Are they going to think I'mlazy?
Are they going to think I'm notpulling my weight?
We don't just feel these things, we internalize them and often
(00:26):
then we try and push harder andwork longer just to show that we
are doing what we're meant tobe doing and show up even when
we're unwell, all in the name ofkeeping up.
But what if the realproductivity killer isn't
slowing down?
It's the pressure to never slowdown.
I'm going to say that againwhat if the real productivity
(00:51):
killer isn't slowing down?
It's the pressure to never slowdown.
In today's episode we're goingto explore what it means to be
at peace with pace and howletting go of that pressure to
keep up with everyone else mightbe the boldest leadership move
that each of us can make.
So eight weeks ago I posted thelast episode for this podcast,
(01:16):
so if you've been watching livethen, yes, you've had an eight
week break.
My apologies, and the reason isbecause I've been focusing on
some really exciting projects,and even whilst I was doing that
, I did have some guilt, becauseI know some people love to take
time of their day to listen tothis podcast.
(01:37):
You've told me and thank you,and I appreciate that and I'm so
honored that you would do that.
And then I feel, oh, I'mletting them down and insert all
this other negative self-talk.
I did worry about the algorithmand how it was going to treat
me, and the reality is I'mgenuinely really self-aware
(02:00):
about what pushes me to thepoint of being overworked,
stressed and unwell and before Iknew this, I used to get sick
so many times throughout theyear, and now it's much less and
so I thought I'd share that,because it's an excellent real
life example of this topic ofbeing at peace with pace.
(02:21):
In today's fast-paced world,we're almost compelled to keep
up with others.
We're constantly comparingourselves to others about what
they've achieved and what wehaven't, what's showing up on
LinkedIn and what we haven'tposted, and if you drill down to
the root of it, what I've foundis that it's driven by fear of
(02:42):
not being enough, and thisrelentless push can lead to
things like overwork,sacrificing sleep, sacrificing
personal time and relationshipsand our overall wellbeing.
Yet when we consider slowingdown so many of us I know, I
know because I speak to clients,I speak to friends, I speak to
family and they all raise thesekinds of questions they have
(03:10):
doubts about whether they shouldbe slowing down.
Are they just being lazy?
This internal conflict can oftenresult in the workplace as
presenteeism.
So presenteeism simply isshowing up and not really being
in a state to be productive, butshowing up because you have to
show up.
And now predominantly, whensomeone does that, often the
(03:32):
first instinct is to think thatmaybe they're disengaged, they
don't actually want to be here,they've checked out.
But there's so many otherreasons why people show up, but
they're not actually fit to befully productive at that moment.
So a few examples whensomeone's sick, have you ever
gotten out of bed going?
Oh, I really don't feel like Ican come to work today.
Oh, but I have to because I'vegot that presentation and I
(03:54):
can't reschedule it because it'sgoing to affect too many people
.
I'm just going to do it.
So people push through and inpushing through, they hop onto
the train, they spread theirgerms to all the commuters that
are also needing to go into theoffice that day they get into
the office and potentiallyspread the germs to an immune,
compromised colleague, or maybea parent who's got a newborn and
(04:18):
they're already sleep deprivedand the last thing they want is
to get your sickness.
So often these thoughts don'tnecessarily come through
people's minds, but or they doand they override it with no
showing up, for thatpresentation is more important,
and sometimes it might be, andsometimes it's important to stop
and check whether it is trulyas important as we think in that
(04:42):
given moment.
Now, I used to always use theanalogy of unless you're a
surgeon and there's someone openon the operating table, is it
actually as much of a priorityas you think?
And in this example, if you'resick as a surgeon, you don't
want to give the patient thatillness either, right?
So some other things that canhappen is people show up when
(05:03):
they're not in a fit state towork because they're not wanting
to let their team down.
Maybe the team'sunder-resourced and them being
away is going to add extrapressure to the team and they
care so much that they don'twant to do that.
So that's like the opposite ofengagement.
It's like they're so engagedand caring that they just show
up at their own expense.
Sometimes it can be becausepeople are stressed and
(05:26):
overwhelmed and they're therebut they can't physically and
mentally be there fully.
And sometimes it goes to theother extent that people
naturally know the rhythm atwhich they work but they feel
like they're being watched orobliged and have to show up for
this nine to five, 40 hour aweek rhythm.
That's considered the norm.
(05:46):
And I find it hilarious when Ihear what people do to get
around these things, like whenthere's companies recording
keystrokes.
I've heard of people leaving adrill on their keyboard so it's
constantly pressing, like theletter Z, or people very smart
people smarter than me writing aprogram to make sure that the
(06:07):
computer does some randomkeystrokes every intermittent
sort of timing.
So the fact that people areusing all of this energy to try
and show up and do the rightthing but not actually be in the
right headspace to do the rightthing means that they're
missing that opportunity to restand recharge so they can show
(06:27):
up fully engaged and present andproductive.
It's sort of like that sameanalogy of when the oxygen mask
drops on a plane.
In an emergency you don't goaround and put the mask on
everyone else first, you have toput your own on first so that
you can help others.
And if you fail to do this timeand time again, yes, it might
(06:48):
not be as immediate as on aplane, but over the months,
weeks, months, years, you're theone that ends up really unwell
and then you have to take alonger time out to recover.
In 2024, the Workplace Wellbeing360 report by Intellect found
(07:09):
that presenteeism is on the riseand that Australia's rate of
presenteeism is 44% versus 41.2%globally.
Both of those numbers are high.
If almost half of yourworkforce is showing up because
they have to rather than becausethey are in a right state and
they want to, that's a bigproblem.
(07:30):
That means you're paying foronly 60% of that salary that
you're paying.
You're only getting 60% value.
Now I'm not saying that wemanage people to this 100% thing
all the time.
What I'm saying is we reallyneed to get at peace with pace,
and I'll explain what this means.
(07:50):
In 2019, a report done by theCentre of International
Economics estimated that $34billion annually is lost from
lost productivity withinAustralian organisations because
of presenteeism.
That's a lot of money.
(08:11):
So that's what it could looklike if you're looking at that
44% spread out across all thesedifferent organisations.
And what's even worse is when wespend so much money on
wellbeing and engagement, andeven personally, when people try
and do all these meditationsand exercise and eat well, and
they spend so much energy ontrying to be well, to outdo the
(08:33):
overwork and the overburden,rather than just resting when it
feels natural for them to rest,we're making it more complex
than it needs to be.
So what if?
What if the solution were to beat peace with pace?
So what this would mean forindividuals is that there's
better wellbeing, less stress,more energy and less risk of
(08:56):
burnout when you actually honoryour body's natural rhythms
instead of overriding them.
Now, from a human designperspective, there's some of us
are designed to work, work, work, work, work, work.
On one condition that we areactually engaged and lit up by
the work that we're doing, thatwe are actually engaged and lit
up by the work that we're doing.
(09:17):
Now, that alignment it's notthe majority or the norm that I
come across, and it's part of alot of the work that I do with
my individual clients is findingthat alignment for them, so
they can feel energized by theirwork rather than drained.
And so for other people,they're designed to work in a
much more intermittent way.
They might have an energy thatis designed to get something
(09:38):
started, so thinking of like anentrepreneur get this project up
and running and then hand itoff.
So there's this incredible push.
So if you have seen thosestrong people in the Guinness
World Book of Records likepushing an airplane, the amount
of force and energy that needsto just get the plane moving,
and then, once it's moving, it'seasier and they can step back
and someone else could keeppushing it.
(09:59):
That's what I'm talking about.
Some people are designed forthat, so you need to let them go
hard and early and then letother people take over for them.
And then there are people thatjust intermittently throughout
the day, need a lot more restbecause they might be super
productive, way more productivethan anyone else, and they can
do that in two, three hours andthen need the rest of the day to
(10:20):
recover.
But the thing is, our societyand our traditional way of
working doesn't allow for that.
So if we do allow people to beat peace with pace, we can also
improve focus and productivity.
People to be at peace with pace, we can also improve focus and
productivity.
So if people aren't constantlyrushing or multitasking, your
attention can actually deepenand you can drop into your own
(10:40):
individual flow much better.
You build stronger self-trust.
So if you learn to listen toyour own needs and your capacity
, not just external expectationsthat are placed on you, this
actually builds your ownself-respect and trust that you
actually know what's best foryour body.
An easy example is I actuallyknow when I start to get run
(11:04):
down because I've been excited,I've been pushing really hard,
because I've been so excitedabout what I've been doing that
I've been going to bed latebecause I just want to keep
working.
And then, if I ignore that andkeep pushing, I'll then want
something like a coffee to helpgive me energy the next day.
And then, once I do that, mybody just doesn't like it.
It then can't sleep and then itdoesn't get enough rest and
(11:26):
then I tend to get sick, andit's happened so many times that
I know that it's a pattern forme.
So building that self-trust toknow when you thrive and when
you need to pull back is soimportant.
And then the fourth thing isthat this helps sustainable
success.
So then, when you know yournatural rhythm, when you're at
(11:48):
peace with your pace, you canshow up consistently and not do
this boom and bust cycles thatare overcompensating for that
overwork cycle, because yourpace becomes aligned with your
life and your energy.
So when you're at peace withpace for leaders and teams, it
creates a healthier culturebecause your team will feel more
(12:10):
psychologically safe to restLike it's okay.
It's okay to take time after abig project to recover.
It's okay to work in ways thatsuit them.
Some people are so switched onat six, seven o'clock at night
versus, you know, 9am at themorning.
So if it's not critical for thebusiness for them to show up at
nine, then let's be okay withthem showing up later.
It can increase engagement.
(12:31):
So when people feel trusted tomanage their own pace, their
motivation and commitment canrise because they feel like you
see them and you're not justforcing them to this arbitrary
nine to five movement.
And it creates this ability forsomeone to be autonomous and
have respect.
(12:52):
I liken it a lot to when I wasgrowing up.
I went to a Montessori schooland the whole premise of
Montessori is that the studentis responsible for their
learning.
So we never really had ateacher out the front presenting
a lot of information orlearning.
There was just a lot ofdifferent activities and we
chose them at our own pace.
(13:12):
We chose when we wanted to workon something, for how long we
wanted to work on it, and wejust had like a weekly guideline
that we had to get through eachweek and so at the end of the
week you'd review and see howyou went.
So that is so much moreempowering and individualized
that you don't have to controlyour teams as much because
(13:33):
you're just allowing them toflow in the way that they work
best.
Which leads me to the thirdpoint, which is when you're at
peace with pace with your teams,there's more flow and less
friction.
So when your team understandand respect each other's rhythms
, there's not this chitter,chatter of like why is that
person always leaving early orwhy do they get more time off
(13:55):
than they do?
It takes away that negativityand people can just respect and
collaborate with each other muchmore effectively.
It can reduce turnover andburnout.
When people are not constantlyfeeling overwhelmed or judged
for managing their own energy.
Feeling overwhelmed or judgedfor managing their own energy,
(14:17):
they're more likely to stay andcommit and show up fully.
And I think there's a bigdebate at the moment which is
around, return to office andwhat that means for people who
prefer to work at home versuspeople who prefer to work in the
office, and there's so muchjudgment being lobbied at both
ways, and I think what's missingfrom the conversation is that
some people work best in anoffice environment with lots of
(14:38):
people around, some people workbest in a quiet environment that
they have a lot of control over, and some people work best with
a mixture of the two, and sowhen we don't honor that, that's
when people just show upbecause they have to and you're
tapping into that obligationenergy rather than that
(14:58):
passionate, vibrant energy, thatdiscretionary effort, energy
that, when you tap into, is sopowerful and so much way more
productive than the obligationone, and it's a smart use of
resources.
So when people aren'tpretending to be productive and
sitting there like they'relooking, like they know what
(15:19):
they're doing, they can actuallyrest, recover and be way more
productive tomorrow, and you canmake more accurate decisions
about workload and staffing andpriorities.
In 2025, researchers from threeSouth Korean universities
studied some healthcare workersand they found that working long
hours may actually change yourbrain composition.
So for people working more than52 hours a week, they actually
(15:42):
saw a noticeable change in theparts of the brain that helped
with focus, decision-making andemotional regulation, and so,
while the brain was adaptingthey don't know necessarily
whether that's a good thing ornot they are thinking at this
early stage that it might be thebrain's way of coping with
stress, but over time that itcould make it harder to regulate
(16:04):
emotions and think clearly.
And I don't know about you, butI'm seeing a lot of people
struggling to think clearly atthe moment and maybe struggling
to regulate emotions wherepreviously in the past they
would have been able to.
And I think it's because it'sthis boiling pot scenario where
our stress, our baseline stresslevel, has gone up and up and up
(16:26):
and up and up and we haven'tpaused to go hang on.
This is not actually healthyfor me and it's not actually
helping me to work at my optimumpace.
As an example, 18 months ago Ijoined a program.
It was a speaker's program andpart of it was to develop your
core model that you could speakabout, and during that program I
(16:50):
came up with an idea and I ranwith it and it never felt right.
And after that program everyoneelse was running with their
stuff and I remember comparingmyself to them going.
Why can't I just do what theydo?
Why can't I be clear on who Iwant to work with?
Why can't I be clear on what mymodel is?
Why is everything so complexand just floating around my
(17:10):
brain in overwhelm?
And it wasn't until 18 monthslater that it just suddenly
clicked and landed for me, andthat's when I realized I needed
to be at peace with my pace,because I was comparing myself
to people that had a differentlife situation to me.
They didn't have kids, you know, they didn't necessarily.
(17:31):
Some of them didn't even have apartner.
Some people had differenthobbies and interests.
Some people had a differentcapacity to work than I did, and
that's okay.
Some people had differentpriorities, and that all of
that's okay.
But it's about knowing andbeing at peace with pace for
yourself and forgetting whateveryone else is doing and just
(17:53):
doing what you can and what youknow best when you honor your
own rhythms.
So how do you be at peace withpace?
So, to cultivate a culture thatreally embraces people's
individual work rhythms, there'sfive steps I want to go through
.
The first step is to pause andreflect on whether you are maybe
(18:16):
judging others, even if it'sjust in your head, or it's the
subtle way you look at someone,or maybe it's you're judging
yourself for not working hardenough.
So an example of this that Iencountered was once I was
working in an organization and Iwas speaking with a manager
about putting someone forwardfor a high potential program and
(18:37):
the manager didn't want tosupport this person to go on the
program because they thoughtthey lacked commitment.
And when I delved deeper, thereason they thought they lacked
commitment was because thisperson, intermittently
throughout the day, actually gotup and walked away from their
desk, and this would happenmultiple times a day.
Now, when I spoke with theactual staff member, they
(19:00):
actually had a physicalcondition where they had to get
up and walk and move around tobe able to sit there comfortably
and keep working.
So unless you know deeply whatpeople's rhythms are and why
they do them, it's reallyimportant to check whether
you're applying an assumptionabout why someone's doing what
they're doing, rather than youactually know for a fact.
(19:22):
So the second way to be atpeace with pace is to assess, so
determine that optimal pace foryourself.
It might need some testing andthen, once you know that for
yourself, you can set theexample and seek to understand
that of your team.
Be really open about this.
The third step you can take isto align.
(19:44):
So, once you know everyone'sindividual rhythms, how do you
integrate this with the businessneed?
So ensuring there's flexibilitywhere possible and also meeting
the needs of the business.
And so ensuring there'sflexibility where possible and
also meeting the needs of thebusiness.
And that's the piece thatsometimes people don't do.
So then they get resentful whenthey feel like employees are
taking advantage or they go toofar the other way and they don't
(20:07):
allow that flexibility becausethey want to control everything.
But then the end outcome isactually less productivity than
what they would get if theyallowed that bit of flexibility.
So there's a real fine linethat you've got to.
It's nuanced and it's differentto every single team.
Now the fourth step to be atpeace with pace is to plan for
(20:27):
downtime.
And when this hit home for mewas when I was talking to
someone about full-time work andthey said yeah, when you have a
full-timer, you've got to allowfor at least six weeks off,
because there's four weeks ofannual leave and about a week of
sick leave, and the thought hadnever occurred to me.
(20:48):
I mean, it might have occurredto you, but it never occurred to
me that you literally, ifyou're going to plan out
people's work, you've got toonly account for, you know, 10
and three weeks of the yearbeing work time.
And now, if you layer onto thatall of the sort of social and
collaborative commitments thatpeople might have which are
(21:09):
valuable for the business,actual productive individual
doing their own work time dropseven more.
And if you layer onto thatbureaucracy of things that
people need to do just to tickoff certain I don't know
policies, procedures or riskmitigate, again that adds an
extra layer into what isactually productive work time.
(21:32):
So the more you can one bereally clear about the true
available time, the better.
And it actually hit home evenmore once when I was trying to
work out why was I feeling sooverwhelmed?
And what I did was I sat downand I mapped out all of the
things that I did and how longit took and I compared it to the
(21:53):
hours I actually had available.
So what I realized was I wastrying to fit 48 hours of work
into 25 available hours.
No wonder I was doing my headin and I was constantly stressed
Once I was at peace with thispace of okay, you've only
actually got 25 hours, so whatis the best use of those 25
(22:14):
hours?
And the rest will have to wait?
Why?
Because I am being reallyintentional about how I want to
spend my time, because I've beenthere.
If you know me and I'm not goingto go into this story in depth,
but I was the person that usedto get up at 5.30 AM, hop on a
bus, go into work to try and getas much as I could done and
clear my emails not that thatwas ever possible and come home.
(22:40):
I would get home at 9.30, 10o'clock at night and do the
whole thing again and again, andagain.
So it's not like I'm notcommitted to work, but I didn't
realize how unproductive I wasand that my own expectations on
myself was causing me to burnout, and that impacted me and it
impacted my team.
So the fifth step in being atpeace with pace is to
(23:04):
communicate.
Once you know all of this, bereally clear about your
expectations so that people cantake time off without guilt and
prevent burnout.
One example I've seen of peopledoing this really well is if
someone's even remotely sick,there's actually no tolerance
for them to be at work.
They actually need to go homeand rest.
And what that teaches the teamis that actually me resting is
(23:29):
really important so I canperform at my best.
Because if you put, if we thinklet me use a sports analogy
just for fun If you put a playeron that's got an injury, that
maybe if you rested them a weeklonger, would come back for full
productivity, full ability forthe rest of the season.
But you decide to play themeven though they're injured, and
(23:52):
then they're out because theydeepen their injury, and then
they're out for the next, therest of the season, when they
could have been playing.
It's the same thing in aworkplace, but it's just so much
more subtle.
The cost is the emotional toll,the overwhelm, the stress, the
overburden, and then we try andfix it down the track with other
band-aid fixes.
(24:12):
So let's get to the root cause.
So normalizing, taking a breakand using your holiday time as
an example for full holidaydisconnect and actually recharge
is so, so important.
So those are the five ways tobe at peace with pace To pause,
(24:33):
assess, align, plan so important.
So those are the five ways tobe at peace with pace to pause,
assess, align, plan andcommunicate.
And if today's episode hasstirred something in you maybe a
moment of guilt you felt forslowing down or a reminder of
how much pressure has beenapplied that's driving your pace
, I want you to know this You'renot lazy and you're not falling
(24:54):
behind.
You're human, and being at peacewith your pace might be the
very thing that allows your bestwork to come out and your
fullest self to show up.
So if you're ready to be atpeace with pace in a way that
actually honors your energy andyour values, I've created
something for you, honors yourenergy and your values.
(25:15):
I've created something for you.
It's a free ebook calledOverwhelmed Impact, and it's
packed with practical tools andreflection prompts to help you
reset how you lead and work in away that maximizes your impact.
So you can download it now atbrilliance-inspiredkitcom.
, and I'll pop the link in theshow notes too.
(25:35):
And if this episode spoke toyou, I'd love for you to share
it with a friend or leave aquick review.
It helps more and more peoplefind their way back to their own
true pace.
So always remember you wereborn for a reason.
It's time to thrive.
You know that awkward feeling when you leave
work before your colleagues,even if you started two hours
earlier than they did and you'vewrapped everything up for the
day.
It's that tiny flicker of guiltor that worry of what might
they think.
Are they going to think I'mlazy?
Are they going to think I'm notpulling my weight?
We don't just feel these things, we internalize them and often
(00:26):
then we try and push harder andwork longer just to show that we
are doing what we're meant tobe doing and show up even when
we're unwell, all in the name ofkeeping up.
But what if the realproductivity killer isn't
slowing down?
It's the pressure to never slowdown.
I'm going to say that againwhat if the real productivity
(00:51):
killer isn't slowing down?
It's the pressure to never slowdown.
In today's episode we're goingto explore what it means to be
at peace with pace and howletting go of that pressure to
keep up with everyone else mightbe the boldest leadership move
that each of us can make.
So eight weeks ago I posted thelast episode for this podcast,
(01:16):
so if you've been watching livethen, yes, you've had an eight
week break.
My apologies, and the reason isbecause I've been focusing on
some really exciting projects,and even whilst I was doing that
, I did have some guilt, becauseI know some people love to take
time of their day to listen tothis podcast.
(01:37):
You've told me and thank you,and I appreciate that and I'm so
honored that you would do that.
And then I feel, oh, I'mletting them down and insert all
this other negative self-talk.
I did worry about the algorithmand how it was going to treat
me, and the reality is I'mgenuinely really self-aware
(02:00):
about what pushes me to thepoint of being overworked,
stressed and unwell and before Iknew this, I used to get sick
so many times throughout theyear, and now it's much less and
so I thought I'd share that,because it's an excellent real
life example of this topic ofbeing at peace with pace.
(02:21):
In today's fast-paced world,we're almost compelled to keep
up with others.
We're constantly comparingourselves to others about what
they've achieved and what wehaven't, what's showing up on
LinkedIn and what we haven'tposted, and if you drill down to
the root of it, what I've foundis that it's driven by fear of
(02:42):
not being enough, and thisrelentless push can lead to
things like overwork,sacrificing sleep, sacrificing
personal time and relationshipsand our overall wellbeing.
Yet when we consider slowingdown so many of us I know, I
know because I speak to clients,I speak to friends, I speak to
family and they all raise thesekinds of questions they have
(03:10):
doubts about whether they shouldbe slowing down.
Are they just being lazy?
This internal conflict can oftenresult in the workplace as
presenteeism.
So presenteeism simply isshowing up and not really being
in a state to be productive, butshowing up because you have to
show up.
And now predominantly, whensomeone does that, often the
(03:32):
first instinct is to think thatmaybe they're disengaged, they
don't actually want to be here,they've checked out.
But there's so many otherreasons why people show up, but
they're not actually fit to befully productive at that moment.
So a few examples whensomeone's sick, have you ever
gotten out of bed going?
Oh, I really don't feel like Ican come to work today.
Oh, but I have to because I'vegot that presentation and I
(03:54):
can't reschedule it because it'sgoing to affect too many people
.
I'm just going to do it.
So people push through and inpushing through, they hop onto
the train, they spread theirgerms to all the commuters that
are also needing to go into theoffice that day they get into
the office and potentiallyspread the germs to an immune,
compromised colleague, or maybea parent who's got a newborn and
(04:18):
they're already sleep deprivedand the last thing they want is
to get your sickness.
So often these thoughts don'tnecessarily come through
people's minds, but or they doand they override it with no
showing up, for thatpresentation is more important,
and sometimes it might be, andsometimes it's important to stop
and check whether it is trulyas important as we think in that
(04:42):
given moment.
Now, I used to always use theanalogy of unless you're a
surgeon and there's someone openon the operating table, is it
actually as much of a priorityas you think?
And in this example, if you'resick as a surgeon, you don't
want to give the patient thatillness either, right?
So some other things that canhappen is people show up when
(05:03):
they're not in a fit state towork because they're not wanting
to let their team down.
Maybe the team'sunder-resourced and them being
away is going to add extrapressure to the team and they
care so much that they don'twant to do that.
So that's like the opposite ofengagement.
It's like they're so engagedand caring that they just show
up at their own expense.
Sometimes it can be becausepeople are stressed and
(05:26):
overwhelmed and they're therebut they can't physically and
mentally be there fully.
And sometimes it goes to theother extent that people
naturally know the rhythm atwhich they work but they feel
like they're being watched orobliged and have to show up for
this nine to five, 40 hour aweek rhythm.
That's considered the norm.
(05:46):
And I find it hilarious when Ihear what people do to get
around these things, like whenthere's companies recording
keystrokes.
I've heard of people leaving adrill on their keyboard so it's
constantly pressing, like theletter Z, or people very smart
people smarter than me writing aprogram to make sure that the
(06:07):
computer does some randomkeystrokes every intermittent
sort of timing.
So the fact that people areusing all of this energy to try
and show up and do the rightthing but not actually be in the
right headspace to do the rightthing means that they're
missing that opportunity to restand recharge so they can show
(06:27):
up fully engaged and present andproductive.
It's sort of like that sameanalogy of when the oxygen mask
drops on a plane.
In an emergency you don't goaround and put the mask on
everyone else first, you have toput your own on first so that
you can help others.
And if you fail to do this timeand time again, yes, it might
(06:48):
not be as immediate as on aplane, but over the months,
weeks, months, years, you're theone that ends up really unwell
and then you have to take alonger time out to recover.
In 2024, the Workplace Wellbeing360 report by Intellect found
(07:09):
that presenteeism is on the riseand that Australia's rate of
presenteeism is 44% versus 41.2%globally.
Both of those numbers are high.
If almost half of yourworkforce is showing up because
they have to rather than becausethey are in a right state and
they want to, that's a bigproblem.
(07:30):
That means you're paying foronly 60% of that salary that
you're paying.
You're only getting 60% value.
Now I'm not saying that wemanage people to this 100% thing
all the time.
What I'm saying is we reallyneed to get at peace with pace,
and I'll explain what this means.
(07:50):
In 2019, a report done by theCentre of International
Economics estimated that $34billion annually is lost from
lost productivity withinAustralian organisations because
of presenteeism.
That's a lot of money.
(08:11):
So that's what it could looklike if you're looking at that
44% spread out across all thesedifferent organisations.
And what's even worse is when wespend so much money on
wellbeing and engagement, andeven personally, when people try
and do all these meditationsand exercise and eat well, and
they spend so much energy ontrying to be well, to outdo the
(08:33):
overwork and the overburden,rather than just resting when it
feels natural for them to rest,we're making it more complex
than it needs to be.
So what if?
What if the solution were to beat peace with pace?
So what this would mean forindividuals is that there's
better wellbeing, less stress,more energy and less risk of
(08:56):
burnout when you actually honoryour body's natural rhythms
instead of overriding them.
Now, from a human designperspective, there's some of us
are designed to work, work, work, work, work, work.
On one condition that we areactually engaged and lit up by
the work that we're doing, thatwe are actually engaged and lit
up by the work that we're doing.
(09:17):
Now, that alignment it's notthe majority or the norm that I
come across, and it's part of alot of the work that I do with
my individual clients is findingthat alignment for them, so
they can feel energized by theirwork rather than drained.
And so for other people,they're designed to work in a
much more intermittent way.
They might have an energy thatis designed to get something
(09:38):
started, so thinking of like anentrepreneur get this project up
and running and then hand itoff.
So there's this incredible push.
So if you have seen thosestrong people in the Guinness
World Book of Records likepushing an airplane, the amount
of force and energy that needsto just get the plane moving,
and then, once it's moving, it'seasier and they can step back
and someone else could keeppushing it.
(09:59):
That's what I'm talking about.
Some people are designed forthat, so you need to let them go
hard and early and then letother people take over for them.
And then there are people thatjust intermittently throughout
the day, need a lot more restbecause they might be super
productive, way more productivethan anyone else, and they can
do that in two, three hours andthen need the rest of the day to
(10:20):
recover.
But the thing is, our societyand our traditional way of
working doesn't allow for that.
So if we do allow people to beat peace with pace, we can also
improve focus and productivity.
People to be at peace with pace, we can also improve focus and
productivity.
So if people aren't constantlyrushing or multitasking, your
attention can actually deepenand you can drop into your own
(10:40):
individual flow much better.
You build stronger self-trust.
So if you learn to listen toyour own needs and your capacity
, not just external expectationsthat are placed on you, this
actually builds your ownself-respect and trust that you
actually know what's best foryour body.
An easy example is I actuallyknow when I start to get run
(11:04):
down because I've been excited,I've been pushing really hard,
because I've been so excitedabout what I've been doing that
I've been going to bed latebecause I just want to keep
working.
And then, if I ignore that andkeep pushing, I'll then want
something like a coffee to helpgive me energy the next day.
And then, once I do that, mybody just doesn't like it.
It then can't sleep and then itdoesn't get enough rest and
(11:26):
then I tend to get sick, andit's happened so many times that
I know that it's a pattern forme.
So building that self-trust toknow when you thrive and when
you need to pull back is soimportant.
And then the fourth thing isthat this helps sustainable
success.
So then, when you know yournatural rhythm, when you're at
(11:48):
peace with your pace, you canshow up consistently and not do
this boom and bust cycles thatare overcompensating for that
overwork cycle, because yourpace becomes aligned with your
life and your energy.
So when you're at peace withpace for leaders and teams, it
creates a healthier culturebecause your team will feel more
(12:10):
psychologically safe to restLike it's okay.
It's okay to take time after abig project to recover.
It's okay to work in ways thatsuit them.
Some people are so switched onat six, seven o'clock at night
versus, you know, 9am at themorning.
So if it's not critical for thebusiness for them to show up at
nine, then let's be okay withthem showing up later.
It can increase engagement.
(12:31):
So when people feel trusted tomanage their own pace, their
motivation and commitment canrise because they feel like you
see them and you're not justforcing them to this arbitrary
nine to five movement.
And it creates this ability forsomeone to be autonomous and
have respect.
(12:52):
I liken it a lot to when I wasgrowing up.
I went to a Montessori schooland the whole premise of
Montessori is that the studentis responsible for their
learning.
So we never really had ateacher out the front presenting
a lot of information orlearning.
There was just a lot ofdifferent activities and we
chose them at our own pace.
(13:12):
We chose when we wanted to workon something, for how long we
wanted to work on it, and wejust had like a weekly guideline
that we had to get through eachweek and so at the end of the
week you'd review and see howyou went.
So that is so much moreempowering and individualized
that you don't have to controlyour teams as much because
(13:33):
you're just allowing them toflow in the way that they work
best.
Which leads me to the thirdpoint, which is when you're at
peace with pace with your teams,there's more flow and less
friction.
So when your team understandand respect each other's rhythms
, there's not this chitter,chatter of like why is that
person always leaving early orwhy do they get more time off
(13:55):
than they do?
It takes away that negativityand people can just respect and
collaborate with each other muchmore effectively.
It can reduce turnover andburnout.
When people are not constantlyfeeling overwhelmed or judged
for managing their own energy.
Feeling overwhelmed or judgedfor managing their own energy,
(14:17):
they're more likely to stay andcommit and show up fully.
And I think there's a bigdebate at the moment which is
around, return to office andwhat that means for people who
prefer to work at home versuspeople who prefer to work in the
office, and there's so muchjudgment being lobbied at both
ways, and I think what's missingfrom the conversation is that
some people work best in anoffice environment with lots of
(14:38):
people around, some people workbest in a quiet environment that
they have a lot of control over, and some people work best with
a mixture of the two, and sowhen we don't honor that, that's
when people just show upbecause they have to and you're
tapping into that obligationenergy rather than that
(14:58):
passionate, vibrant energy, thatdiscretionary effort, energy
that, when you tap into, is sopowerful and so much way more
productive than the obligationone, and it's a smart use of
resources.
So when people aren'tpretending to be productive and
sitting there like they'relooking, like they know what
(15:19):
they're doing, they can actuallyrest, recover and be way more
productive tomorrow, and you canmake more accurate decisions
about workload and staffing andpriorities.
In 2025, researchers from threeSouth Korean universities
studied some healthcare workersand they found that working long
hours may actually change yourbrain composition.
So for people working more than52 hours a week, they actually
(15:42):
saw a noticeable change in theparts of the brain that helped
with focus, decision-making andemotional regulation, and so,
while the brain was adaptingthey don't know necessarily
whether that's a good thing ornot they are thinking at this
early stage that it might be thebrain's way of coping with
stress, but over time that itcould make it harder to regulate
(16:04):
emotions and think clearly.
And I don't know about you, butI'm seeing a lot of people
struggling to think clearly atthe moment and maybe struggling
to regulate emotions wherepreviously in the past they
would have been able to.
And I think it's because it'sthis boiling pot scenario where
our stress, our baseline stresslevel, has gone up and up and up
(16:26):
and up and up and we haven'tpaused to go hang on.
This is not actually healthyfor me and it's not actually
helping me to work at my optimumpace.
As an example, 18 months ago Ijoined a program.
It was a speaker's program andpart of it was to develop your
core model that you could speakabout, and during that program I
(16:50):
came up with an idea and I ranwith it and it never felt right.
And after that program everyoneelse was running with their
stuff and I remember comparingmyself to them going.
Why can't I just do what theydo?
Why can't I be clear on who Iwant to work with?
Why can't I be clear on what mymodel is?
Why is everything so complexand just floating around my
(17:10):
brain in overwhelm?
And it wasn't until 18 monthslater that it just suddenly
clicked and landed for me, andthat's when I realized I needed
to be at peace with my pace,because I was comparing myself
to people that had a differentlife situation to me.
They didn't have kids, you know, they didn't necessarily.
(17:31):
Some of them didn't even have apartner.
Some people had differenthobbies and interests.
Some people had a differentcapacity to work than I did, and
that's okay.
Some people had differentpriorities, and that all of
that's okay.
But it's about knowing andbeing at peace with pace for
yourself and forgetting whateveryone else is doing and just
(17:53):
doing what you can and what youknow best when you honor your
own rhythms.
So how do you be at peace withpace?
So, to cultivate a culture thatreally embraces people's
individual work rhythms, there'sfive steps I want to go through
.
The first step is to pause andreflect on whether you are maybe
(18:16):
judging others, even if it'sjust in your head, or it's the
subtle way you look at someone,or maybe it's you're judging
yourself for not working hardenough.
So an example of this that Iencountered was once I was
working in an organization and Iwas speaking with a manager
about putting someone forwardfor a high potential program and
(18:37):
the manager didn't want tosupport this person to go on the
program because they thoughtthey lacked commitment.
And when I delved deeper, thereason they thought they lacked
commitment was because thisperson, intermittently
throughout the day, actually gotup and walked away from their
desk, and this would happenmultiple times a day.
Now, when I spoke with theactual staff member, they
(19:00):
actually had a physicalcondition where they had to get
up and walk and move around tobe able to sit there comfortably
and keep working.
So unless you know deeply whatpeople's rhythms are and why
they do them, it's reallyimportant to check whether
you're applying an assumptionabout why someone's doing what
they're doing, rather than youactually know for a fact.
(19:22):
So the second way to be atpeace with pace is to assess, so
determine that optimal pace foryourself.
It might need some testing andthen, once you know that for
yourself, you can set theexample and seek to understand
that of your team.
Be really open about this.
The third step you can take isto align.
(19:44):
So, once you know everyone'sindividual rhythms, how do you
integrate this with the businessneed?
So ensuring there's flexibilitywhere possible and also meeting
the needs of the business.
And so ensuring there'sflexibility where possible and
also meeting the needs of thebusiness.
And that's the piece thatsometimes people don't do.
So then they get resentful whenthey feel like employees are
taking advantage or they go toofar the other way and they don't
(20:07):
allow that flexibility becausethey want to control everything.
But then the end outcome isactually less productivity than
what they would get if theyallowed that bit of flexibility.
So there's a real fine linethat you've got to.
It's nuanced and it's differentto every single team.
Now the fourth step to be atpeace with pace is to plan for
(20:27):
downtime.
And when this hit home for mewas when I was talking to
someone about full-time work andthey said yeah, when you have a
full-timer, you've got to allowfor at least six weeks off,
because there's four weeks ofannual leave and about a week of
sick leave, and the thought hadnever occurred to me.
(20:48):
I mean, it might have occurredto you, but it never occurred to
me that you literally, ifyou're going to plan out
people's work, you've got toonly account for, you know, 10
and three weeks of the yearbeing work time.
And now, if you layer onto thatall of the sort of social and
collaborative commitments thatpeople might have which are
(21:09):
valuable for the business,actual productive individual
doing their own work time dropseven more.
And if you layer onto thatbureaucracy of things that
people need to do just to tickoff certain I don't know
policies, procedures or riskmitigate, again that adds an
extra layer into what isactually productive work time.
(21:32):
So the more you can one bereally clear about the true
available time, the better.
And it actually hit home evenmore once when I was trying to
work out why was I feeling sooverwhelmed?
And what I did was I sat downand I mapped out all of the
things that I did and how longit took and I compared it to the
(21:53):
hours I actually had available.
So what I realized was I wastrying to fit 48 hours of work
into 25 available hours.
No wonder I was doing my headin and I was constantly stressed
Once I was at peace with thispace of okay, you've only
actually got 25 hours, so whatis the best use of those 25
(22:14):
hours?
And the rest will have to wait?
Why?
Because I am being reallyintentional about how I want to
spend my time, because I've beenthere.
If you know me and I'm not goingto go into this story in depth,
but I was the person that usedto get up at 5.30 AM, hop on a
bus, go into work to try and getas much as I could done and
clear my emails not that thatwas ever possible and come home.
(22:40):
I would get home at 9.30, 10o'clock at night and do the
whole thing again and again, andagain.
So it's not like I'm notcommitted to work, but I didn't
realize how unproductive I wasand that my own expectations on
myself was causing me to burnout, and that impacted me and it
impacted my team.
So the fifth step in being atpeace with pace is to
(23:04):
communicate.
Once you know all of this, bereally clear about your
expectations so that people cantake time off without guilt and
prevent burnout.
One example I've seen of peopledoing this really well is if
someone's even remotely sick,there's actually no tolerance
for them to be at work.
They actually need to go homeand rest.
And what that teaches the teamis that actually me resting is
(23:29):
really important so I canperform at my best.
Because if you put, if we thinklet me use a sports analogy
just for fun If you put a playeron that's got an injury, that
maybe if you rested them a weeklonger, would come back for full
productivity, full ability forthe rest of the season.
But you decide to play themeven though they're injured, and
(23:52):
then they're out because theydeepen their injury, and then
they're out for the next, therest of the season, when they
could have been playing.
It's the same thing in aworkplace, but it's just so much
more subtle.
The cost is the emotional toll,the overwhelm, the stress, the
overburden, and then we try andfix it down the track with other
band-aid fixes.
(24:12):
So let's get to the root cause.
So normalizing, taking a breakand using your holiday time as
an example for full holidaydisconnect and actually recharge
is so, so important.
So those are the five ways tobe at peace with pace To pause,
(24:33):
assess, align, plan so important.
So those are the five ways tobe at peace with pace to pause,
assess, align, plan andcommunicate.
And if today's episode hasstirred something in you maybe a
moment of guilt you felt forslowing down or a reminder of
how much pressure has beenapplied that's driving your pace
, I want you to know this You'renot lazy and you're not falling
(24:54):
behind.
You're human, and being at peacewith your pace might be the
very thing that allows your bestwork to come out and your
fullest self to show up.
So if you're ready to be atpeace with pace in a way that
actually honors your energy andyour values, I've created
something for you, honors yourenergy and your values.
(25:15):
I've created something for you.
It's a free ebook calledOverwhelmed Impact, and it's
packed with practical tools andreflection prompts to help you
reset how you lead and work in away that maximizes your impact.
So you can download it now atbrilliance-inspiredkitcom.
, and I'll pop the link in theshow notes too.
(25:35):
And if this episode spoke toyou, I'd love for you to share
it with a friend or leave aquick review.
It helps more and more peoplefind their way back to their own
true pace.
So always remember you wereborn for a reason.
It's time to thrive.
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