Nia Thomas [00:00:00]:
Hello, and welcome to the Knowing Self, Knowing Others podcast where we discuss self aware leadership with thinkers from around the globe. I'm your host, Nia Thomas. Join me as we talk to today's guest.

Nia Thomas [00:00:13]:
I'm delighted to introduce our guest, Syed Sadeghzadeh today. Syed is a remarkable blend of experience and insight to our conversation with a rich background in leadership and personal development. Sayed's not just a mentor, but a trusted ally on the transformative journey of self discovery. He was a senior leader and overachiever who was faced with burnout in his thirties, and he's been on a quest to balance work and life ever since. His own journey of recovery over the past decade has been illuminating, and it's helped shape his work, life, and the support he now offers to others. Saeed's experience spans self awareness, self care, mindfulness, and resilience building, empowering leaders to thrive in every aspect of their lives. His impact extends to industry giants like Hyundai, Qatar Airways, and HSBC, where he's developed strategies for leadership development and organizational excellence. Syed, it's great to have you join me today.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:01:15]:
Thank you very much. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I would start off to say that I thoroughly enjoy listening to your podcast, and I look forward to reading the book, particularly like the the practical approach you've taken with that by including the reflection journal, and it's one of the pillars of self awareness itself. So congratulations, and I'm sure both myself and the audience will massively benefit from this.

Nia Thomas [00:01:36]:
Thank you so much. So tell us about your journey to burnout.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:01:42]:
Okay. So when I reflect on this, I often like to take a few steps before the professional aspect of this journey and take it out of context of work only because I often find it's it's much more than that, and there's more to it. So this included my conditioning, upbringing, culture, perfectionism, and workaholic tendencies, my values and how my outlook lens, I'm thinking, defines success at the time, more particularly, what my boundaries look like. So I found myself caught in, let's call it, a trap of perpetual achievement where my overachieving tendencies put immense pressure on how I saw myself, and and and I believe that success at that point was defined by relentless effort and sacrifice. And in that journey, I neglected one of the most crucial aspects of success itself, which was my own well-being. Now I sort of believe this journey resonates deeply with many leaders, and I've and then the ones that I've worked with in particular over the years that where they often find themselves in a similar cycle, where they're striving for success at the expense of their health and happiness. And my own experience also serves as a testament to that, where leadership is should be combined ideally with elevated self awareness. And it wasn't until I hit rock bottom that I realized the true power of self awareness and being able to navigate, say, the complexities of leadership in overcommitting, neglecting self care, and ignoring the warning signs.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:03:22]:
Now many leaders face these struggles and addressing them needs a deep understanding of oneself and the courage to make the necessary changes. And and that's what happened to me back in 2014 when I experienced burnout to the point that I wasn't sleeping. I wasn't eating. I had consistent fatigue. I had no energy after work. I was constantly stressed. I was aggressive in my behaviors, very impatient. I couldn't do it anymore.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:03:50]:
So I admitted to my wife that I can't do this. I had to then seek out a therapist counselor and join the sole recovery program or a healing program, which I instill part of today, but I'm lucky in the aspect of being the support group coach and accountability partner now instead of an individual needing help.

Nia Thomas [00:04:13]:
It's quite a journey. And you you said that you got to a point where you had to admit. I'm assuming that wasn't something that happened over a matter of days or possibly even weeks. I'm assuming this is months months to get to a point where realized yourself that this can't continue?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:04:34]:
Absolutely. It's it was a case of and it's one of those where if if someone would ask me how I'm feeling and how I'm doing, I would say I'm fine, and that's a box standard response. Yeah. If they ask me 3 more times, I could be talking half an hour nonstop about my stresses, my issues, my challenges. And but it was very difficult for me to solve, ask for help, and seek help because up until that point, it was a case of there was 2 things that were constantly in my mind. A, this is part of who I am. This is part of my personality. This is a personality trait where I'm programmed to feel this way, and I'm different to other people so I can overcome this.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:05:17]:
And this is a common one that I see in my clients where we often think that we're we're built differently. This is part and parcel of the job and responsibility, and we need to be able to take it and handle it, basically. And that was the exact mindset I had back in the day. But when it got to a point where it was affecting my health very drastically, It it was a case of what do I do. There was a lot of confusion in there. I was finding myself being less and less productive at work, making bad decisions nonstop. I could sort of feel the change in my day to day. And like you said, it did take several months before I came to that full admittance that I can't do this anymore, and this is a problem that I need help with.

Nia Thomas [00:06:01]:
Was there anybody in your work environment who was having conversations with you about concerns about changes in your behavior or concerns about your well-being? Was there anybody in your corner raising the mirror to you?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:06:19]:
There was there was a couple of conversations I had with my soft boss at the time about a couple of the bad decisions I've made, in related to individuals on on on my team at the time, but these were never directly correlated with well-being. It was more of a case of you just may basically made a bad decision that's out of your character, and it was left at that. And Okay. One of the reasons for that was because I didn't have a direct even though I had a direct report, it was I had 2 to 3 direct reports at the time. And I was and they were based remotely, so it wasn't I wasn't working closely with them on a day to day basis. It was very difficult for them to also gauge some of the challenges that I was going through every day.

Nia Thomas [00:07:03]:
So where does self awareness fit into your journey? You've mentioned it once or twice, but but how does it become such an important thing on your journey and a way for you to move from burnout into recovery?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:07:19]:
I think self awareness and self regulation, as a whole, it's a huge part of the broader emotional intelligence category where where AI is not only effective for leadership, but it's but it's be it self leadership or this leadership, but it's also significant when it comes to well-being yourself. So for me, self awareness is of being able to identify emotional needs, triggers, patterns that and lead to a greater sense of control and agency. But it wasn't until I experienced burnout firsthand that I truly found the power of self awareness. I would say for me, this was a foundational step to get a grasp on what my emotions and thoughts and words and actions were, and how they align or misalign, and the pressure they they were placing on me. So I had to look at my values and purpose and passion and process. And then after that came habit making and breaking, that's all backed by neuroscientific methods to help me break free from some of the repetitive negative habits. So to be able to do all this, I think self awareness was key to be able to register, acknowledge, analyze, and measure, and then subsequently rescript my thinking. And I often refer to this process as breaking and starting again, like for the soul, as it's not really about self vlogging.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:08:39]:
But for me, it's about accepting my limitations, embracing my imperfections, and remaining vulnerable as a way to be able to continue learning and growth. So through daily self self reflection methods that I use for both myself and my my clients, I was able at the time, I was able to recognize some of the effects of overcommitting myself, neglecting self care, ignoring warning signs, for example, that I also find all too common with ambitious leaders. So I learned over time the self awareness has all enabled me to learn to be able to listen to my body and my mind, to be able to identify triggers of stress and and help find strategies to to mitigate them. So I would say it didn't only just transform my life, but it also deepened my commitment to guiding brothers as well towards success in both their professional and personal lives. And it's it's very it's one of the pillars of my mission that I I I continue to do today.

Nia Thomas [00:09:41]:
So what have you learned about balancing work and life? And I know some some people, they prefer not to talk about work life balance. And I know when we're talking to Dan Pontefract, he calls it work life bloom because actually the the maybe there isn't any balancing, that it isn't a balancing act, that both have to have to be nurtured and grow together. But but what have you learned about those two parts of life when you're in work and when you're not in work in terms of how you make sure that you stay well, you stay healthy, and you stay productive in your world of work.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:10:15]:
But I'd like to also comment on the the notion of work life balance because, I I agree. It is it does imply a juggling act. Like, it is too much of a stark separation between work and life, where work is part of life and a rush and stress to get the balance right often means trying to switch completely from one to the other and and expecting an instant mindset shift to start the other one, which is very unlikely. So I I advocate for the notion of harmony instead, which I believe is not only more realistic, but it's also it's flexible, it's adaptable, and more personalized to to an individual's need. So to me yeah. So harmony. So to me, promotes alignment, values, priorities, energy, time, self awareness is fluid instead of it being time sensitive and rigid. So one of the key insights I've gained is the importance of aligning work with personal values.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:11:13]:
As someone who's very committed to guiding leaders towards success nowadays, I've seen the transformative power of authenticity and purpose in leadership. So and that is only achieved through prioritizing activities that resonate with core values where we can create a sense of alignment and fulfillment that transcends the traditional notion of work life balance. So my background in mindfulness and self care is it's underscored that the importance of well-being and being able to recharge and renew. And as leaders, I often find that they neglect their well-being. And one of the reasons for that is just simply because it's I'll I'll get to it when I find the time, and I'll leave it for the weekend. Whereas for me, it's always been, a daily thing where self care is a nonnegotiable, where it's part of of being able to nurture your physical and mental and emotional health daily. So I I empower leaders to to cultivate a sense of harmony and fulfillment in both their personal and professional lives. And it's not just about achieving success in one area, which is what I was doing at the time.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:12:23]:
My my thinking at the time was, let's just go and strive for success at work and everything else will work itself out. Whereas, in reality, I was doing that at the expense of my life and my well-being. And and the end result was obviously burning out and having to start from new.

Nia Thomas [00:12:39]:
So what are those challenges that your your clients and and leaders that you work with are really facing in trying to harmonize their work and their life. Because I think there is still this notion that work life balance or work life harmony is fluffy stuff, and it's because you can't cope with the world of work and you need to back off from from the world of work. How do you work with your leaders to to help them navigate that?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:13:07]:
It's an interesting question, though, because it it it, a, it depends on the individual circumstances. But my common belief is you when you're able to talk the language of someone, you're better positioned to be able to convince them to convince themselves to take action. So, for example, if someone turned around to me and said, you just couldn't hack it, for example, and and this is not what business life is, and this is not what the reality is, it's all fluff. I would take a leadership development approach with that person. I would start challenging some of their assumptions and beliefs when it came to leadership, and use that as a gateway to get to self awareness and self care. And that provides a good basis because it's the language they speak more often. It's one they understand better, and they're better positioned to answer questions when it surrounds leadership. And that means I can then open up to discussion of self awareness after that.

Nia Thomas [00:13:59]:
I I guess the leaders that you work with, you've got really gotta work with them on their, confidence and authenticity to really get them to this point. Because to be able to say to an organization, well, we're long hours and working to the point of burnout is just the way they do things around here means that that the people who work in that organizations are gonna have to take a stand. And to take a stand, you're gonna have to have that confidence and and authenticity to be able to do that. So how how are leaders doing that? How do you support leaders to to have that work life harmony and to be confident to to explain that and talk that through with their organizations?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:14:39]:
I think, for me, personally, I think authenticity comes before confidence in the sense that once your thoughts, words, and actions are aligned, you'll achieve the confidence you need to to achieve work life harmony. Although I I I usually exercise caution because I think it's commonly advertised to be authentic no matter what, but I'm I I sort of disagree with that. And and because I think simply being authentic to yourself could be both harmful to you and others. Mhmm. I won't get into the definition of authenticity, but an example of this is if you're focusing on simply being true to yourself, that could not sit well with others. It could harm you at work. For example, if you're a people pleasing leader with with those tendencies and you find it hard to set boundaries and say no because you're simply being authentic, that could cause you various issues, and it could cause it could cost your well-being. Or Or on the other hand, if you if you feel like alignment with your core values through authenticity is to speak without a filter because you're being authentic.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:15:45]:
That could harm others. So you need to be able to balance that and have a a respectful approach and consideration where the social and cultural filters apply there. But going back to the question, authenticity for me when when it done correctly in leaders, it translates to being able to set boundaries, say no, work to their values, speak up, and be committed to both their success and their team's success. And I find it's contagious in a way because when you when you emphasize that on leadership development through self awareness and self management, it isn't typically to get the leader to to get the progression or the salary they're chasing, but it gets them to advocate and promote this with their teams as well. So going back to emotion leads with intelligence, this this helps a leader to be more effective when it comes to empowerment, influence, impact, team development. So by embracing authenticity, I I find leaders can cultivate a sense of alignment and purpose that transcends the normal and traditional notions of of work life balance and and rather one that becomes part and parcel of what they do every day, which is beneficial to both themselves and their teams and when it comes to managing offers as well as downloads as well.

Nia Thomas [00:17:00]:
I have to say, we are very much aligned on the idea of authenticity because I think the the bandying about of the term authenticity, I think, is potentially dangerous if people aren't being authentic from a place of awareness. Because you're right, if if you are not aware of the impact of your behavior, and I'm a true believer that what goes around comes around. And as you say, if you are unfiltered and you behave in a way that you don't consider the impact on others, that behavior and the impact of that behavior comes back at you. So I think the authenticity has to be played out in the world of work from a place of awareness and a choice that you are making and an active choice that you are making rather than wild abandon and being authentic because that's what I read on Instagram, and I think that's a very different thing.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:17:58]:
Absolutely. I agree with that 100%. Yeah.

Nia Thomas [00:18:01]:
So tell us about how your leaders are having the conversations with their organizations about, I want to be a better leader. It's not about, I want to do less. I want to be well and healthy. Because I think that's another challenge that that people have in work life harmony. It's the notion that was for trying to prevent burnout. What you're actually saying, I want to do less work, but it's far bigger than that, isn't it?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:18:30]:
It is. And I think that that there's several aspects to consider here. When we talk about organizations, for example, how leaders translate this into an organizational context, I think culture plays a big part of that. I've I've worked with companies on organizational culture in the past. And what I often find is is is culture is all great when it's written in the vision and mission, and and it's shown as this ideal of what the company wants it to be. But in reality, the implementation of that culture is done day to day through the leadership team. And their job is to actively promote that where their teams and their staff can live that every day. And that just means not provide certain perks and benefits, not have a fantastic Christmas party and say this is our good company culture.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:19:25]:
It's rather one where you embed your translation or your or or your definition of culture into every single thing that you do, whether it's your processes, whether it's your interactions with your staff, whether it's interactions with your customers, your suppliers, how you deal with change management. It's all part of this cultural context. So that's one aspect of it. So having the culture that supports this, I think, is very important. And being the leader, you're better positioned to be able to put that culture in place. Secondly, we go back to the whole conversation about self awareness and self care where I mentioned previously, it's it unfortunately, it's still being a luxury for many, whereas it's an essential component of leadership and well-being. So this is another issue with work life balance where self care is only applied when you have free time because it falls into the life part of the balance spectrum. So for me, focusing on pro productivity and taking the focus away from getting less stone should be reframed as getting less stone with more impact.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:20:31]:
So I I help individuals identify high impact activities that drive meaningful results. And it's and it's a common thing where your highest impact activities are typically the outcome of 20% of what you do, whereas 80% of what you do is is not high impact. So I I just help them emphasize and highlight that. So by streamlining their workload, they can eliminate nonessential tasks. They learn to delegate effectively, and the result of that is they can create a space for their self care without having to sacrifice their productivity at the same time. So by empowering others to take on responsibilities, the result is typically a lightened workload, freeing up time, delegation done properly because we there's various definitions of that. Some legacy delegation are simply brushing off tasks to a team member. Whereas if it's done properly, not only is it not a sign of weakness, it's it's actually a strategic decision that helps leaders leverage their strengths and resources more effectively while also being able to develop others in the process.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:21:38]:
So self care is not about doing less in my world. It's about doing things differently by adopting a mindset of just have compassion and prioritizing activities that help you nourish your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It helps leaders and their teams be more resilient, effective, and have more fulfillment in both their professional and personal lives, and that's what I advocate for.

Nia Thomas [00:22:03]:
So if I'm a leader and I call you up and I say, I am deeply stressed, my health is starting to take a dip, How are you going to help me to recover, to feel calmer, to improve my well-being, to to generally feel better and feel more able to do my role?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:22:24]:
I think we need we need to look at the definition of stress first that I often find this with. And and that's one of the first questions I ask and and challenge because we're we're biased in a way to see stress as a negative. Whereas stress is is an inevitable of leadership. It it becomes habitual in the sense that leaders, because they're expected to perform day in and day out, and their effectiveness and and measurement are often tighter results and outcomes. They they often feel this constant stress every single day. I find the importance of this is how they respond to the stress rather than trying to eliminate the stress as this isn't always inherently bad. So stress could actually be a great motivator for performance, for problem solving, for decision making. For me, it all comes into how they respond that makes the difference in in their well-being and effectiveness.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:23:18]:
So one of the key strategies I use to encourage leaners is to pause and step back from the situation, reflect, take a a brief hiatus from the stressor, and seek to gain clarity and insight into their emotions and reactions to then be able to understand how it's effective, then what the consequences are, and how they can respond differently. And one of the ways they can do that is under, because we often underestimate the power of of support through mentors, colleagues, counselors, our support groups. So being able to leverage its support network, I find is is it does wonders in that instance, sense, and it's okay to ask for help. A lot of leaders believe that this would be a sign of weakness, and it isn't really because it helps you grow, it helps you develop, and it helps facilitate a safe and supportive space where you can explore your challenges, your concerns, and build resilience at the same time. And I often promote being kind to yourself because that's essential in being able to navigate stress because you don't wanna add to the stress. So when you treat yourself with the same care that you you extend to others, you're much better positioned to be able to seek clarity in your approach. So one of the ways I I help people do that is with stress at its essence and use it as a way to work with it rather than against it. Because if you try to work against it, it's like you're going up against your inner critic and inner voice instead of trying to understand the the underlying message and what your body and mind is trying to tell you and how to respond to that stress through an effective approach rather than think you have to battle and fight against it.

Nia Thomas [00:25:00]:
Where do you think mindset fits then within that context of stress can sometimes be good, stress can sometimes be bad, and maybe it's how you receive it.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:25:12]:
Yeah. I think mindset is very important in in when it comes to stress. And and and I think the reason for that is when we talk about mindset, it's to me, there's there's various aspects to that. There's assumptions. There's conditioning. There's beliefs. There's biases, and and in particular, confirmation bias. So we often try to make sense of things.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:25:36]:
Whereas the way I understand it is mindset is is there as a as a sign, as a trigger to lean into your curiosity, to lean into your strengths, and and and see what the underlying message is. So having, say, a negative mindset towards stress isn't typically a reason to say that you need to deal with the stress badly. It's more to say, you've got this negative mindset. Why? Where is it coming from? What is what is causing you stress? What is your emotion towards it? Why are you labeling it? Are you labeling yourself? Are you labeling the behavior? And you need to really dissect this to be able to be better positioned to deal with it. And, again, that goes back to self awareness. So the mind a mindset for me is just a combination of all these thoughts and beliefs and feelings and emotions and and what we've learned and how we've been conditioned to bring us to that point. But it's all open to discussion. It's open to change.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:26:36]:
It's open to recovery, and it's open to healing. And that's what I've experienced because, like I said, my mindset, for example, was achieving x y zed was the only way to be recognized, And this was something that I was conditioned to believe as a as a child by my parents to say, if you don't achieve x y zed, nobody will take you seriously. So that was my mindset, and that's one of the main reasons for my burnout. So I think mindset is open to interpretation.

Nia Thomas [00:27:08]:
So if we have leaders listening to the podcast now and we want to intervene early and we want to make sure that early interventions means that they don't reach crisis or they don't reach burnout. What advice are you going to give them now whilst they're busy and they're starting to feel a little bit stressed, but they're not to the point of burnout? What are what advice or guidance would you give them at this point so that they don't get to that point of crisis?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:27:40]:
I think I would advise them to look at a number of things. A, lean into what your body and mind are telling you. So if you find yourself there's physical signs to this. So if you find yourself constantly fatigue, you've got sleep disturbances, you've got frequent headaches, there's emotional symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, This could all signal that you're on your way to burnout. Now there's other red flags to this where there's if you're neglecting relationships, for example, you're withdrawing from loved ones, and you find that your work life harmony is just turned into work, work, work, then you need to look at your productivity, your time management, what your priorities and values are, whether you're working towards those values or whether you're working against it. Do you find your work fulfilling? Do you find that you'll a lot of the activities you do, Charles, do you not have the right energy. And this is a conversation I like to have where we talk a lot about time management, and I like to talk about energy management because I think we don't talk enough about energy. I often find that we're able to exert positive energy towards something that aligns with ourselves much better.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:28:53]:
It's not necessarily about managing your time more effectively because even if you were to say, I'm gonna get done a certain number of tasks, for example, that I have 8 hours time for in 4 hours. If those tasks are still daunting in the sense that you find it very difficult to do or exert positive energy to, the chances are it's gonna affect you mentally in the same way if you were to do the same in 8 hours. So to me, time management is not a good way to look at it. It's more energy management. So if something's giving you energy and positive energy, for example, you're you're more inclined to to do more with that specific task. But if you're finding all your tasks, for example, are are daunting, your stress is giving you stress and negativity, then that could be a sign that you're on your way to burnout.

Nia Thomas [00:29:49]:
I think I'd also add to that list of things that if you're if you're trying to spot whether you're on on the rocky road to burnout is whether you're holding holding your breath and whether you're breathing in a different way. Well, I certainly know over the years that where I had periods of stress, I've I've caught myself almost not being able to breathe properly, that I have to do it consciously as opposed to subconsciously. And that's made me, as as exactly what you said, to stop, step back, and think, oh, hang on a minute. I I need to think differently about this. And you do lean into your mindset to say, actually, I can do this. I can park this. I can reprioritize that, and I can do things in a different way. So if, listeners, you you are experiencing any of those kind of symptoms, then it's probably a good time to stop reevaluate what what you're doing and how you're doing it.

Nia Thomas [00:30:44]:
So tell us a little bit more about energy management. You said time management isn't necessarily where you'd focus your attention, but energy management. So if somebody you mentioned journaling right at the very beginning, and you're right. I've I've got a journal coming out as part of my book. How do you ensure How how do they even capture thoughts about energy? How how do they even capture thoughts about energy?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:31:14]:
Well, I I find there's where where there's flexibility. So, for example, for me, one of the roles and probably one of the most recent ones before my burnout was was one where, for example, there wasn't any there was not a lot of creativity and autonomy involved.

Nia Thomas [00:31:29]:
So

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:31:30]:
I often find myself doing the same things day in, day out with very little sort of creativity or very little change and difference. When I talk about energy, it's it's more to say, for example, if journaling is part of your daily morning routine, what could you do differently? What would make you feel better? What task can you take and do a bit differently? What can you add? What can you take away from it? And this is not just in a business context. This is for the day ahead. So one of the things that I encourage my clients to do, and I do I I still do myself, is I do, journaling in the morning and journaling in the evening. So this could be just a either a simple brain dump to stop just to get the thoughts out because I find when you do that, you remove a lot of the fiction from the fact because you make these stories and you have these dialogues with yourself to say, if I was to do x y zed, the consequence would be the worst thing that could ever happen in the world. But then when you put it on paper, it doesn't sound as bad, and you take a lot of that fiction out. So that's one of the things I encourage my clients to do. When they do that, they they suddenly see this shift in energy.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:32:45]:
So, for example, I've got this client who's very keen on writing a book this year, and he struggles to start. And one of the reasons he struggles because he finds that he finds that he's got imposter syndrome. He finds that he hasn't got anything to say. He finds that he's severely underqualified for writing the book. So So one of the exercises that I did with him was write down what is the worst that can happen. If you were to write this book, get it published, get it released, and people didn't like it, what would happen? And then he he broke this down into a number of different areas. Then when he wrote the reason, the consequence, the worst case scenario, and the lesson he could get from those, it made much more sense to him that a lot of it was fiction, a lot of it wasn't fact. And he he ended up having renewed energy to say, I'm gonna go ahead with this because a lot of these thoughts and stories I tell myself about how bad it's gonna be is not true.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:33:45]:
So that gave him a a an energy shift to to commit to writing 2 pages a day or 3 pages a day, whereas before that, he wasn't doing anything. So that's what I mean by energy management is is being able to bring out those fears on paper, bring out those thoughts, take friction away from fact, and and see if that changes your energy towards it. Because if it does, then you're more inclined to to do that activity.

Nia Thomas [00:34:09]:
I like that idea of of of taking fact and fict fiction, and separating the 2. I think that's something quite powerful with journaling, and it's it's something that, Andrew Bryant talked to me about as well, that he journals. And when you put your thoughts on paper and you read it back or you read it aloud, sometimes you think, well, that's a ridiculous notion, and and I I really wouldn't think that or that's totally improbable. And it's a a really helpful way of of putting those things together and and, I guess, putting up your own mirror to yourself so that you can reflect on your thoughts and taking back your prediction. That's a great idea. Tell listeners how they can get in touch with you if they would like to work with you, and they have concerns about burnout, and they think that maybe working with you might help?

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:34:56]:
Well, I'm currently active on LinkedIn. So if they they can connect with me, they can follow me, connect with me on LinkedIn through my profile. I do post all 3 times a week on LinkedIn at the moment. I post some leadership development and and self awareness, self development, self management. So they could connect with me there. They can engage with me. They can send me a message, and we could talk further. If there's anything I can help them with, I have a number of services that I can offer through 1 to 1 coaching, group coaching.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:35:26]:
And we could talk further, and and we can align with each other and see what what I could do for them and how I can help them.

Nia Thomas [00:35:32]:
Amazing. That's brilliant. Syed, it's been really interesting having a conversation with you. You're you're still new to the world of coaching, but you you clearly have a lot to offer to the world and from your experiences and from from everything that you've said today. It's very interesting, and and hopefully you will be able to help many people who are towards burnout or maybe recovering from burnout on the other side. Sayeed, thank you so much for joining me. It's been a really interesting conversation.

Saieed Sadeghzadeh [00:36:01]:
Thank you very much for having me. Thanks for the opportunity. It's been a pleasure, and thank you for the audience for listening in as well. I I hope I could add value and it's beneficial to them in some way. So thank you very much.

Nia Thomas [00:36:14]:
I'm thrilled, delighted, and so excited to announce the launch of my book, The Self Awareness Superhighway, Charting Your Leadership Journey. The book has got 3 parts. Part 1, why are you here, traveler? Which is all about defining and describing self awareness, leader effectiveness, and leadership at all levels, and setting out why it's important to you, the reader, me, and us. Part 2, Where Are You Going? Sets out the 9 directions of the self awareness compass. The 9 chartable compass points cover things like care, humility, authenticity and reflection and chartable is a mnemonic chartable l e. Part 2, also explores the signposts and directions that enable you and the roadblocks and trip hazards that obstruct you on your journey during your working life. Part 3, how will you get there? This describes, the variety of tools, techniques and methods that I've come across during my exploration of self aware leadership that you can use to develop your self aware leadership skills and it covers things like mindfulness, journaling, coaching coaching and 360 degree assessments. I've dedicated my book to those who want to care better for others and those who want to be better cared for by others.

Nia Thomas [00:37:43]:
I think it's gonna be of most interest to people who manage people and have a desire to improve their leadership and management practices. And I also think that it's going to be of interest to people who've been led by poor leaders and people who want to know how they can in turn better and do better than the people that have managed them. Please remember to leave a rate and review on Amazon because rates and reviews influence rankings. And the higher my book goes in the rankings, the more chance we have of developing self aware leaders and self aware workplaces.

Nia Thomas [00:38:19]:
Thank you for joining me on today's episode, where we aim to develop self aware leaders around the globe to generate kinder, more respectful, and creative working relationships through reflection, recognition,

Nia Thomas [00:38:41]:
podcast and book. Looking forward

Nia Thomas [00:38:43]:
to having you on my learning journey.