Erin Stafford: Type A Trap
We’ve all experienced it: that feeling of being stuck on an endless treadmill. It can be soul-crushing, but our guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times is a peak performance coach is here to help us change the narrative heading into 2024. Erin Stafford, author of "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life," explains to Host Chris Schembra the underpinnings for her five mindset shifts. Each of her valuable techniques is designed to check and challenge the assumptions that leave us stuck in overdrive. You’ll learn how to interrupt hyper-focused pursuits, be agile in the face of dead-ends, let go of counter-productive self-criticism and celebrate the wins that are often all too fleeting. “Burn-out will keep knocking on our door. It’s not going anywhere,” says Erin, who has herself been on the frontlines as marketing director for a healthcare brand undergoing exponential growth, “but there are tools you can gather to get you out of that black hole.” Find out about the tools this dynamic keynote speaker uses to help business leaders connect with and honor their highest selves with an attitude of gratitude all along the way!
Ready to read Erin’s new book? Click here to get your copy of "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life." Or click here to book a discovery call!
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KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you don’t give enough credit or enough thanks to – that you’ve never thought to thank – who would that be? So many amazing people, but most importantly a high school math teacher, Randy Scott, who showed Erin respect and taught her to simplify hard things.
The Trap: Why so many of us don’t realize the full-scale stress we’re under until a life-altering (often painful) experience opens our eyes to the toll “success” is taking.
Type A Profile: What it looks like to define success based on ability to achieve and derive self-worth based on a scarcity mindset.
Getting Off the Treadmill with Five Key Mindset Shifts:
Decoding Your Flow: Realize that you don’t have to do it all.
Releasing the Reins: Focus on letting go, rather than grasping and controlling.
Pivot Like a Pro: Be nimble and able to shift away from a singular goal.
Slow Down to Speed Up: Be okay with doing a little less.
Take that Victory Lap: Enjoy your wins before moving on to the next challenge.
Stress Is Here to Stay: Why Erin believes there’s no silver bullet for curing (or avoiding) burn-out. It’s the small decisions we make and self-care we practice daily.
Moving Towards Gratitude: How human connection is crucial in today’s world and finding like-minded people leads us deeper into our most authentic selves and self-acceptance.
What’s Your Status? Why everyone can benefit from taking Erin’s self-assessment (featured in her book) to determine their place on the burn-out spectrum and set a course for inner balance.
QUOTABLE
“The more simple you can make it, the more you actually understand the subject matter.” (Erin)
“I think we live in a world that rewards stress, burnout and anxiety. We idolize people who are ‘doing it all.’ … but we don’t know the toll it is taking on their physical and mental health, relationships and spirituality.” (Erin)
“You can have the big dream of things you want to accomplish AND you can take care of yourself and the people around you and do it in an efficient way. Both can be true at the same time.” (Chris)
“Just because you’ve said you’re going to do something doesn’t mean that if it’s no longer interesting you can’t pivot. Move! Change. Be okay with cutting losses.” (Erin)
“We have to make the mindset shift. We have to change ourselves, our thinking, our behavior, so that we don’t burn out again.” (Erin)
“All you really need to make this full shift away from burn-out into well-being is yourself. You don’t have to rely on your external situation to make the change.” (Chris)
“Burn-out will keep knocking on our door. It’s not going anywhere … but there are tools you can gather to get you out of that black hole.” (Erin)
LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Find out more about Impact Eleven trainings at this link.
Listen to this talk by Laura Gassner Otting to find out why “I’ll be happy when” are the four worst words in the English dictionary.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Erin Stafford is a marketing guru, burnout survivor and hyper-growth business leader. From working with the world’s highest achievers throughout her 20+ year career, being a Type A poster child herself and interviewing Olympians, start-up founders, Fortune 500 CEOs, leading researchers and celebrity coaches, Erin has seen firsthand how Type A personalities and constant over-achievement are coveted in the world of business, yet can lead to debilitating burnout. In addition to her current role as the head of marketing for the country’s largest healthcare staffing company, where she leads dozens of marketing professionals and has helped the organization grow by 9x in two years, Erin has made it her mission to help leaders, most recently with her book: "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life."
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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