Burnout, Boundaries & Building the Capacity for More Money w/ Keriann Peart

Episode Number: 465

Episode 465: Burnout, Boundaries & Building the Capacity for More Money w/ Dr. Kerriann Peart

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Show notes

Burnout is often treated like a personal failure but what if it’s actually a signal that something deeper is out of alignment?

In this episode of the Journey to Launch Podcast, I’m joined by executive coach and organizational change strategist Dr. Kerri Ann Peart for a powerful conversation about burnout, boundaries, identity, and what it really takes to grow into higher levels of financial success without sacrificing your well-being.

We talk about how burnout actually shows up in high-achieving women, how perimenopause and work stress can overlap, and why earning more money isn’t just about doing more, it’s about becoming the person who can sustainably hold more.

In This Episode, Kerriann Shares: 

  • Burnout isn’t a personal failure it’s often a sign that your work, identity, or values are out of alignment
  • You can’t out-earn burnout; if you don’t do the inner work, it follows you from job to job and even into entrepreneurship
  • Financial growth requires expanding your capacity and competency, not just working harder or longer
  • Boundaries, self-respect, and who you’re being day-to-day determine how much money and responsibility you can sustainably hold

What’s New in the Paperback Edition of Your Journey to Financial Freedom:

  • A bonus chapter: When Life Happens: Staying on the Path to Financial Freedom Through Setbacks, Shifts, and Uncertainty
  • A book club and discussion guide with prompts, exercises, and action steps
  • Updated corrections from the original hardcover
  • Exclusive bonuses when you purchase the paperback, including:
    • The Fire Starter Course
    • The Find Your FIRE Number Worksheet

Other related blog posts/links mentioned in this episode:

Connect with Dr. Kerriann:

Connect with me:

Dr. Kerriann Peart 0:02

So you have to take account of what you did and figure out why you did that. Was it for the dollar sign, or was it a matter of intentionally wanting to grow your capacity and competency? Most of us are looking at things like, oh, this gives me a level up title, Bada bing bada boom and sacrificing the Who are you being as you're about to step into these things.

Intro 0:30

Welcome to the journey. To launch podcast with your host Jamila Souffrant as a money expert who wants her talk she helps brave journeyers like you get out of debt, save, invest and build real wealth. Join her on the journey to launch to financial freedom in 54321,

Jamila Souffrant 0:57

if you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode in the show notes, you'll get the transcribed version of the conversation, the links that we mentioned, and so much more also, whether you are an OG journeyer or brand new to the podcast, I've created a free jumpstart guide to help you on your financial freedom journey. It includes the top episodes to listen to, stages to go through to reach financial freedom, resources and so much more you can go to journey to launch.com/jumpstart to get your guide right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode. Hey, hey, hey, journeyers, welcome to the journey. To launch podcast. I am your host, Jamila Souffrant, today I have Dr Carrie Anne Pierre, who is an executive coach and organizational change strategist with over 15 years of experience, inclusive of organizational culture, design and professional well being, she is the founder of peert Consulting LLC, where she provides identity, informed, coaching, consulting and speaking services. She is going to come on the show and give us a bit of her background. I'm very interested to learn more about her, her journey, and then also to give us tips about really, not just becoming financially well, which is what I talk about. But what she's going to help us with is focusing on our full selves, our well being in general, so that when we do attain the financial success we want, we can bring our whole selves there and not burn out on the way. So welcome to the podcast. Dr Carrie, Ann,

Dr. Kerriann Peart 2:31

thank you so much. It's nice to be here. Jamila, nice to see you and to meet you.

Jamila Souffrant 2:35

Yes, yes. Okay, so maybe let's go back a little bit, because I am interested in how you became a entrepreneur and where you are today. You currently live in Barbados, but you're Jamaican, and you spent some time studying in the States. So I'd love to get just a background of how you came to where you are today, in terms of educational to entrepreneurship and all the things, sure,

Dr. Kerriann Peart 3:00

sure, sure, sure. So I'll give a kind of snapshot. So I did High School and sixth form. I know most Caribbean people will be like, Oh, Sixth Form, yes, those days. Did those pieces at home in Jamaica, and then left to do University in Atlanta, Georgia. So I did my undergrad there at Emory University. Had a great time, and then decided that I wanted to do something that was not necessarily medicine, but more on the social services side of things, but not social work. And so I found a middle ground with public health. And so I pursued my Master's of Public Health in Washington, DC, at GW, and really had the opportunity to step into a world that really addressed psychosocial wellness. And so I think that part of my career journey, as well as academic journey, because I was working full time while pursuing my master's, really allowed me to think a little bit more broadly about what it meant to just to be healthy as well as to be well. So both the concepts of health and well being kind of started to emerge for me in that space. After doing my master's, I then pursued a certificate in child and adolescent development because I thought I wanted to stay working with the Munchkins, and then realize, no, that is not what I want to do for certain reasons. And so I decided to study the systems and organizations that munchkins and their families have to navigate. And so I did my doctoral work under the umbrella of international psychology, studying organizations and systems psychology specifically, and so that is what I have been able to marry with my behavioral science work from public health with my psychology work to really kind of now hone into. Of these experiences people have in the workplace,

Jamila Souffrant 5:04

it sounds like so I'm very interested in people's career paths, even before they reach entrepreneurship, in terms of finding the niche that works for them, because I find that so many people, they start out thinking they want to do something. I love how you said like you wanted to go into public health, but you didn't want to be a social worker. And I think sometimes some people don't even know the options that are out there for them to pursue degrees in or for careers. So how did you learn about these niches or these topics that you can further explore for other people who are like, well, I want to like, be helpful, but I don't know if I want to do social work. Maybe you didn't think it would be enough money. I don't know exactly why, but what did that decision and how did you start making those informed decisions?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 5:46

What helped was being at an institution that had multiple options. So Emory University at the time I was there, had School of Theology, School of Business, School of Public Health, School of Nursing. And those were the ones that, if I'm missing anything, any EU alums listening to this, forgive me, it's been a moment, but those were the ones that were prominent at the time that I was there. And out of all of those, I was very curious as to what public health was about. I could understand public health, okay, the health and care of the public and populations. But what was it about, what would I? Who would I be, the public health practitioner? And just asking? I asked a few questions, and I decided to enroll in one of those kind of auditing processes to audit some of the classes at the master's level within the School of Public Health at Emory. At the time, I was also involved, deeply involved in HIV and AIDS research and advocacy in Atlanta, and so that really clicked for me, like, Oh, this is a body of work, behavior science and stuff that I just geek out on, but didn't know necessarily what the words were, the fancy lingo. And doing the HIV and AIDS work, working with the folks in the community that I grew to love dearly, really sparked for me when I saw how public health would allow me to deepen those relationships and also serve at a level that I really believe was possible for me. Can you

Jamila Souffrant 7:32

explain what an audit is? Sure, sure,

Dr. Kerriann Peart 7:35

so you still have to pay. Unfortunately, you don't take the class for free, but you you pay at a discounted rate to go into a course of interest, or courses of interest, and you're able to sit in on particular class sessions and get a gage for how a professor may lecture, as well as the content That would be explored in that particular class. So I had audited bio statistics, social behavioral sciences and environmental health. So I audited throughout three courses, kind of over a year about and said, Yeah, this felt apart from the bio stats. I was like, this, this felt good,

Jamila Souffrant 8:21

no, and I'm asking that just to ask to shed some it's been a while since I've been back in national schooling, but I think all these things are available to I think at most schools I you know, I'm not sure, but, yeah, right. Like where, I mean, you can explore. And I just think exploring your curiosity and being a self starter is something I'm always trying to teach my kids. Like, I'm like, you have to ask questions. If you're interested, you have to raise your hand. And I think things like this is what separates people who kind of just like, let life pass them by, versus those who kind of take the reins and say, Wait, I need to be interested or I need to find something I'm interested in. So I just want to throw that out there for anyone who has kids who has kids who are in college or adults who can maybe audit others. You know, they go back and matriculate into school?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 9:08

Absolutely, I encourage it, particularly now the traditional academic path, right where you move a, b, c, d, that type of thing, like you go to school, you do that, you then you graduate, that you'd go out to the next academic institution you do, that you graduate and you find yourself a good government job. I think that that trajectory is quite dated and not necessarily accessible to all of us, or the majority of us, so definitely ask questions and try things on.

Jamila Souffrant 9:38

Yep, right, now you graduate your degree. What are you doing at that point? And when did you start your entrepreneurial journey?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 9:51

Sure, so I left. I will. I finished masters in 2014 and then I questioned even more. Did a search? Advocate. And finished that in 2015 under the child, an adolescent thing. And then between 2015 and 2020 I was doing my doctoral work, so graduated with that in 2020 a lot of things came up for me during that bracket of time, academically, I was still working full time throughout a number of pieces. And so there are particular reality checks that I want people to please be aware of. If you haven't embarked on full time work and full time academic pursuits, please prepare yourself accordingly with particular, you know, family resources, friendship resources, because you'll need that to kind of maintain yourself throughout the process. So after graduating with the doctorate, so in 2020 I decided that I had to have a couple of things. By that point, I had already experienced three cycles of burnout. By 2020 I was now at the point where corporate as I knew it, was not sustainable for me as just an individual navigating career, but I think especially as a woman of color, a Caribbean woman, a black woman, you know, all the identifiers that people use, it wasn't sustainable, and my health, all of the bells that were ringing prior that I ignored because I was in this whole idea of pushing through all those alarm bells were going off so loud In 2020 and I had to take take a real serious break, and I had surgery, and it was at that point I said to myself, yeah, this is not sustainable, and you can't be the only one that has gotten to this point. And so after having multiple conversations, I had also lost my mother in 2017 and seeing what she had to go through in the work environment, in the US too, some things started just coming up that were consistent signs and signals kind of thing. And that is when I started. I founded my business in 2020 to help women, black women, women like me going through toxic workplace scenarios or situations, to really help them figure that out in a way that could be more sustainable. Yeah? So that's what I started to really apply all that academic time?

Jamila Souffrant 12:41

Yeah, well, we probably can touch upon the academic because I have some questions, just in terms of to like you spending all that time in school, perhaps having loans, not sure, I'm assuming right, and for you, I mean, obviously, to get your turn your doctorate, you need to go through that schooling, but knowing what you know now and teaching what you teach now about burnout, would you have done it the same way, or went to or have done all the things with what you know now?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 13:11

I would have done all the things. However, with more resourcing, I still would have pursued a doctorate. I still would have worked. I don't necessarily think I would have worked in some of the companies I elected to join, but I would have done the things, but with better resourcing and acknowledging things sooner.

Jamila Souffrant 13:38

And what do you mean by resourcing

Dr. Kerriann Peart 13:41

Sure, so I would have certainly tapped into coaching sooner. I would have also possibly redesigned my days between work and school differently. I was very much the kind of person back up. So I describe myself as a recovering a type personality, right? Where you just gotta be on it. You do the thing. This is what you said you're going to do, follow through, commitment, commitment, right? I'm recovering from that personality because that led to my burnout. So knowing all of that, I would, yes, still do the work I did, but with more pacing, with one or two coaches that would have helped more with finding points, greater points of alignment in my work that I would have pursued more than just doing work, right? I because you do things that you don't necessarily feel aligned with in the workplace. And so knowing what I know now, which I coach my clients on, I think that would have been beneficial back then.

Jamila Souffrant 14:57

And how does one now determine like, if. Are going through a burnout. What does that look like for someone? Is because someone may be listening, because, you know, part of, most of what I talk about, the big picture, is getting to this, this place where you have financial freedom and independence and autonomy over your time. And sometimes it does feel like you have to be a workhorse and do all the things to get there, depending on especially when you start, or how far behind you feel, right? So I know I have a lot of listeners and journeyers who are at different stages, but are in the grind moment where they are working a lot. So what does that look like to know if you are really experienced in burnout, right?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 15:35

Yeah, yeah. So the likelihood is that you are, let me just put it that way, a lot of the research has confirmed, particularly work from Gallup that I really respect and appreciate. They did a study, I think, in 2023 where evaluating a pool of managers, something like 76% of the managers interviewed had reported signs and symptoms of burnout within a period of six months prior to being surveyed, burnout has become a very common place experience for professionals in particular, and it's kind of what many of us as Members of the society are navigating based on the inundation of information, and information that's not necessarily wholesome or uplifting, right? So there's a large likelihood that for majority of folks listening, are experiencing burnout. How do you know? Well, it's important to kind of watch and monitor your signs and symptoms. I often say, if you can monitor something, be diligent and disciplined to monitor your behaviors and particular responses and reactions over a period of three months, 12 weeks, then you can come to a good assessment about whether or not you're probably experiencing burnout. So I also want to make the distinction between burnout, particularly for women, burnout, and perimenopause, because there's they overlap. But for burnout, we're looking at signs, possibly panic attacks or anxiety attacks. Maybe you even go as far as just feeling numb, a flat disposition, you're no longer interested in the work you're doing, or you don't necessarily find much fun in things that you used to do, like reading or exercising or hanging with friends in the workplace. You may be telling yourself, this isn't really sparking me, but I have to just get it done anyway. So your alignment with work has completely shifted, right? Some people, it gets to a point of physical manifestation. So we can talk about ulcers, migraines, having those situations, sleep disruptions. We've also recognized that in a number of individuals and very severe burnout can look like depression to the point where individuals actually have a diagnosis of depression. So it looks and feels different depending on the person, but those are kind of the common identifiers.

Jamila Souffrant 18:24

I'm so glad you also just brought up perimenopause. How does one then know the difference between the burnout and perimenopause?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 18:31

Right? Right? So perimenopause, I'm in it. I love it.

Jamila Souffrant 18:35

She's, let's, let's define what it is too. Yes, I will.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 18:40

So perimenopause is another period of woman's life where biological changes, primarily hormonal changes, are taking place that cause particular or prompt, I should say, particular signs and symptoms. Perimenopause is, on average, a 20 year period for us as women, starting at the age roughly of 35 and going to about 55 some women up until the age of 60, right? So it's, it's different again, for us, but that's roughly the 20 year, 20 year plus block of the experience of perimenopause, you will have situations where women are talking about sleep disruptions, which overlaps with burnout. That's common brain fog, right? You just your thoughts just get jumbled. You just lose your train of thought really often and easily. So the brain fog is there. You may even have bouts of irritability, like out of nowhere. You just snap at people, right? Or you just can't you just your regulation is a bit off. You don't self regulate in the same way as you used to. Energy flow shifts throughout the day. And in a way that you feel it drastically. So you may be fine in the morning by two o'clock, one o'clock, you are dragging right. That also overlaps similarly to burnout. So these are why I say it's it. They can be masking each other other things with perimenopause, change in body odor, change in the in the way you see your period cycle, it may come one month and then not for another month. So it kind of, you know, different women, different things, that the length of your period might be shorter or longer, but it is not until you don't have a period, so that when you step into menopause, it's the point at which you have officially not had a period for a whole entire year that the doctor then says, Okay, we're now in menopause, and menopause has its own invitation of signs and symptoms. So this is why we have to pay attention to what's going on with us as women? I was just having another conversation earlier this morning about listening to our womb as women, particularly as women of color and black women and Caribbean women. It's something that we inherently know how to do, but because we have started to adopt and adapt to environments that really and truly don't have the same cultural or heritage rooting that we're coming from. We forget those inherent skills. So really paying attention to our bodies is a big thing with burnout and feel yes and how we feel Yeah.

Jamila Souffrant 21:39

So what if someone is, someone could be listening that someone might be me. It's like, wait a second, that sounds like some of me, right? But like, you know, feeling like, all right, I don't really feel that burned out. Like, I don't really do too much right now, in my job, I feel or with journey to feel burnt out. So based on my age, it could be, you know, definitely perimenopause, right? But can you narrow down one or the other? Do you go to a doctor to get this? There's something you do to figure this?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 22:08

Yeah, yeah. So blood work, getting your blood work done when you're in a space where you're feeling these things, you can't quite pinpoint what it is, right? Then having I last year, I think I did my did my blood work, first round in March, then another round in June. So I did about two or three panels, and that is what will really help you to hone in on what is actually going on. Is it perimenopause? Is it burnout. Is it both, right? Because there are markers in your blood panel that will that will frighten you. It's kind of like, well, that's not a reading I ever had before, right? Like, why is this all of a sudden coming up and understanding where your hormonal fluctuations are that possibly are contributing to these funny results, is that moment where you say, Oh, this is what perimenopause is doing to me on a chemical level. And so you can see that now, of course, cortisol levels also impact that, which is why doing the blood work and assessing the hormonal players at particular intervals helps us to really distinguish is it burnout or is it perimenopause? So yes, your doctor has to be involved in the process.

Jamila Souffrant 23:35

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Dr. Kerriann Peart 25:16

Yeah, yeah. So I know that not everybody has the ability to get up and just change jobs, right? That is a fact. For me, that's what I did. I was able to move from one job to the next successfully. But when you realize that the symptoms you're feeling are not getting any better, because that's what happens, sometimes you get to a point in one job, you're like, I'm tired, I'm exhausted. I just need a different environment altogether. And then you move to another one, you feel great for the first three months, and then all of a sudden, right, the burnout you you carry it wherever you go, unless you really sit down and work through it with a therapist and or a coach sometimes working simultaneously with both in the professionals is paramount, and that's what I actually did. So I navigated my grief with my therapist, because I had lost my mom in 2017 and so that grief component really exacerbated my perimenopause pieces, right? And then it also amplified the burnout. So by that point, I was entering my third bout of burnout, by 2017 2018 and I had to get a therapist, get a coach, to help navigate the grief and the burnout pieces, because the perimenopause stuff was light. It was there, but not as loud as my burnout pieces, journeying into what I call the self work of the process like I guess some people call it the come to Jesus moment, figuring out where am I out of alignment with my professional identity. What is it that I saw myself pursuing for my professional career, and how are these jobs playing uplifting role or a detracting role or depleting role, in that process. And so figuring out those energy alignments is really a big assessment to take, and then also fine tuning, where are your values lying at this point, because the values that you had when you started a job may change as you grow in the job. So assessing those things before you then say, Okay, I need to jump ship to something else. So I work with a number of women who are just in the job and they can't quite jump ship. So we spend time doing the realignment, the values realignment, the identity realignment, because many of us are performing roles and not truly desiring to be in certain professional spaces. We're just there because the money is good, right? Or the bills have to get paid. So it's really an identity realignment and values realignment process.

Jamila Souffrant 28:19

So, so how do you align with that? Because some of it, a lot of people are just working. They don't really care necessarily about the work. Maybe they do, but maybe they don't. It's really, I'm right for the paycheck. I'm here so I can get to my financial goals and to pay the bills. So how then would you, how do you get in alignment, if that's your view on things, right?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 28:37

So you know, getting to financial goals really is a matter of capacity and competency specific to your body of work with financial success, right? I think with any goal that we set, or set of goals that we set for our our lives, it is a matter of competency and capacity. And when I say that, I mean, if it is financial success that we're seeking based on the job you're in or the career trajectory that you've planned, how are you growing your capacity? What are you actively engaged in to learn more and apply your learning to particular behaviors, because what got you to 80,000 a year isn't necessarily all the way going to get you to 150,000 a year, right? There are certain behaviors and identities you have to level into to grow that capacity for financial success, the competency piece has to deepen. You have to deepen your competencies, right? And that is part and parcel of that self work I was talking about. Who are you, who have you been and who are you currently in? Being based on what you're doing, because a lot of us are caught in a cycle of just, I'm doing, I'm doing, I'm doing, I'm doing, and not necessarily valuing who I'm being as you're doing things. So that is that self work? What am I doing? But how is that impacting who I'm being? Is it deepening my competency? Is it expanding my capacity so that I can embody a new level? It's all part of that right process.

Jamila Souffrant 30:30

It sounds almost like the burnout being misaligned. You're misaligned with maybe the environment and what you're doing, and then doing that self work to even if you're there for just a check, because it's, you know, perspective. It's also like perspective. It's all these things that you know, can be labeled a different way, but it's really just even if you're only there for a check, I find that when I was working and I was only there for a check, I was more unhappy everything, more because I was only there for this thing versus finding and deepening and finding a purpose in the work regardless, correct, right? And so it sounds like that, where it's like, even if you feel like I hate everything about this job or these people, it part of that could be true. They can be annoying the job, the work can be, you know, you feel silly, but it sounds like part of that is owning your own part and how you show up, right and like exactly, finding a finding a way to care exactly.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 31:31

You have to hold yourself accountable. You have to right, because you made the choice to be in that company, that position, in the company, you made a choice. And I know, trust me, I've been there where you, you made the choice. You're like, it was supposed to be great, and these people are like, stretching me to the point of insanity. This makes no sense. How could I have done this to myself? You know, you are active player in this, so you have to take account of what you did and figure out why you did that. Was it for the dollar sign, or was it a matter of intentionally wanting to grow your capacity and competency? And a lot of us are not approaching roles with the lens of it. This is going to increase my capacity and deepen my competency. This, most of us are looking at things like, oh, this gives me a level up title with, you know, $20,000 more a year, Bada bing bada, boom, and sacrificing the Who are you being as you're about to step into these things?

Jamila Souffrant 32:36

Yeah, right. And you had mentioned before too that if you don't address this. You might think leaving a situation, going somewhere else will address the burnout, just like I think about so many people who think, Oh, it's just a job, I find that a lot of people want to reach financial independence because they don't like their job, and so they're just like, I just want to quit. I want to do my own thing or be an entrepreneur. And same feelings that you had you can you bring with you and will still be the issue no matter where you go. So it's almost like you can't run from it if you don't start to fix those issues and and confront yourself.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 33:13

Yeah, absolutely, I forget who. There's a there's a popular quote everywhere I go, there I am. I forget who, who, who it is by but yeah, everywhere you go, there you are with all of the baggage, with all of the identities that you've played up until that point, you cannot escape yourself, right? So you are either going to come to an account and do the self work, and change your practice, change your way of thinking, in order to experience a different reality of the financial success that you are seeking or you're not. It comes down to that. And it's, it sounds simple, Jamila, it really does like, Okay, let me just change my thoughts. Yeah, I could do that. It is very challenging to get on to a different mental conditioning, because we've been socialized for so long to believe certain things about financial success when there are some very core principles to it that relate to our capacity and competency that we had not gained proper support for, right?

Jamila Souffrant 34:34

And just even the idea of being feeling happy or people don't like when you say it, but it's like, even the people who have reached all the goals and have all the money, or sometimes it's still the unhappiness, because, oh yeah, the money does not solve the issues reaching the goals does not solve, like who you are and whatever that is with you. So I agree there. And one of the other things is that I know that it's gonna it takes. Self work to get where you want to go. Is there a way to and I know we can only control ourselves, right? And we're responsible for ourselves, but what if you do feel like it is? It's the environment you're like, all right? I've been working on myself. I'm doing these things, but it's it is this person or not? You know, I'm also contributing, but part of it is the environment and these people. Is there a way to invite people also to maybe where that's boundaries, or something where you are influencing the environment and people around you, where you can start to change that feeling?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 35:33

Yes, yes, yes, yes. So through your self work, there are new boundaries that you will come to realize, right, particularly the work I do, one of the boundaries that I often support my clients in establishing is the cutting off of you being overextended. We allow ourselves to be overextended in so many ways, particularly we women of color, because we come from very communal identities where we're helping this person, that person helped you. You give back with some form of help and service, right? So we're always giving. We're a very giving diaspora that is fantastic, until you get into environments that only know how to exploit your giving. So boundaries have to come into play, and establishing boundaries in a way that is conducive for your self leadership is a priority in the way I coach and consult with with clients. So once you can get to that point and start crafting your boundaries and practicing day to day that the reprogramming and the mental shifts of the capacity and competency adjustments, then we can start making that progress, as you're saying, towards, you know, a more expanded experience, even while in your situation that's uncomfortable, because once start leading into your boundaries, once you start moving with a different energy, and you're not just complacent and compliant, right? You're not disrespectful and out of line, but you're not just drinking the Kool Aid. People recognize you're moving with a different intention energy, and either fall in line or fall away, right?

Jamila Souffrant 37:24

Okay, couple questions there. What's an example of that in real life? From versus not having a boundary to setting that boundary in like a scenario at work?

Dr. Kerriann Peart 37:32

Sure, so not having a boundary, okay, people recognize that your quality of work is good, and so it's, oh, my goodness. You know, Kerry works so quickly and effectively on this. Just keep giving her the work to do, because she's going to get it done. And if you have no boundaries, then you're thinking to yourself, oh my gosh. All right, this is just work. I have to perform, right in order to keep this job. Let me just perform and get it done. And so I now move into a space where over extension becomes my default, and people around me believe I am willing to be overextended. That's the no boundary area. And so the burnout or landing in the ER comes into play. Boundaries in place now where you've done some self work, you're practicing. You're walking in this new kind of energy frame. You are 10 toes down for yourself and your identity, right? It is, oh, you know, thank you for appreciating my approach to the work. However, at this time, this isn't going to be conducive to what I have on my plate. Could we discuss a more paced approach to this, and could we involve somebody else? Can I delegate or tag team with someone to pace this out differently? Because right now my priorities are different, right? It is using your voice in a manner that says, Thank you, but no thanks, right now, right? There are other efforts that I have to prioritize. I can still get this done, but with some backative Right?

Jamila Souffrant 39:14

And I find that that can apply to just different areas of your life, not just work, but a partnership with children, right family,

Dr. Kerriann Peart 39:25

especially with the kids, right, right?

Jamila Souffrant 39:28

Because we are focusing on career right now, but honestly, like the burnout, because I think as women in general, we are even if we're doing all the things at work, then you typically, we're doing all the things at home, even if you have a partner, just depending on your personality, like, if you like to take over things, you're just doing it all right, doctor's appointments, this and that every all the little things that mental or the emotional load and that contributes more to the burnout that we're experiencing,

Dr. Kerriann Peart 39:55

exactly and when we're taking on all the things, bringing it back to your financial. Realm when we're taking on all the things we are unnecessarily filling the capacity that we have with things that are not conducive to the financial well being that we're seeking. So you can't receive more money, because your capacity as where it is now is filled up with you, doing the laundry, dropping off the kids, picking up the kids, being the manager, the senior director here, doing that, going to the grocery store, oh, remembering the medical appointments. Where's where's the capacity for sitting still, shifting energy to grow so that you can actually receive financial success? Where's the capacity and energy to now receive opportunities for mental stability, emotional growth? It has this is a capacity. So I say a lot of this financial, well being, physical well being, emotional well being. There are like eight different types of well being within the overall umbrella. They don't happen until we increase our capacity and deepen our competency, right? So your financial success, the delay. Many of us feel like we're delayed in our financial success. I know I did for a number of years, and again, you have to have that come to Jesus moment, like girl, it's you, right? It is you. I have not allowed myself to grow to be the kind of person, that identity I need to be to not just attain, let's say, $500,000 a year, but to hold that, and to multiply that, it takes capacity. But if I keep filling my days and my capacity up with the laundry, this and that, where's the money going to be held, right?

Jamila Souffrant 41:53

Well, there's going to be someone who's going to say, okay, but who does the laundry? Or how do I get those things done? If I'm not doing it, it doesn't get done. So I have to do these things.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 42:02

Yeah, I have a number of those clients, oh my gosh, and my query to them. And a number of them are married and are in partnerships, solid partnerships, I would, I would, dare I say, and I often say, that's a recalibration of your relationship, right? If you feel that it has to be you for everything, then maybe you marry the wrong person or or maybe you have muted the person that you're married to, because this is a whole nother side of a podcast, Jamila, but really quick, I'm going to touch on this, because I speak to this a lot in my work, the ways in which we allow for other people's competency and capacity to be exercised, and if we don't allow the men in our lives that we're either dating or married to to also be fulfilled in those ways, it's just not going to work, or it's not going to work in the most fruitful way, is what I should say, right? So it is a matter of coming to terms and saying, Hey, listen, we need to tag team more on the laundry, or we need to tag team more on cleaning the whatever it is, or tag team on homework time with the kids, like my husband and I come to tag team moments around all those things. Actually, I tell him, like, listen, today is not the day you're gonna come home and find dinner. So let me just tell you that, you know, I message in the middle of the day like today is not the day I don't have the capacity to fill dinner now. So when you get home, please and thank you, right? That prepares him to now step into his capacity to do that right? Right there these, these are important aspects for us to think about in that totality of well being.

Jamila Souffrant 44:05

Yeah, no, it's, it's definitely true, in which you can overcompensate and then not allow that person to grow into their autonomy and to make decisions and to where you're stressing yourself out, where it's like the person, if you even came to them, would say, I didn't know that you needed that or done it again. This goes for work, friends, family, Yup, exactly. Partnership, kids. Same thing with kids all the time.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 44:32

Yes, yes. With the children. So I have a bonus son, and we do homework time on Saturdays together, and it's been very entertaining for me to to navigate through this. But even in that scenario, I asked him, what are you what are you responsible for in this moment? And he tells me, okay, I have math, grammar, comprehension, whatever it is. Fantastic. Do. Remember the process by which we're going to do homework from now on? He's like, Yes, I get to listen to music for 20 minutes, move through a body of work. In that time, I get to take a break and then come back, like, I have him on the Pomodoro type of process.

Jamila Souffrant 45:17

Yeah, yes.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 45:19

Even in that it's that ability for him to exercise. He has competency in something, and he's growing his capacity to focus on this something in that period of time while it frees me up to do what I need to do at the same time. So we both tag team on work. He works with me in my office on the weekends. And like you say it's it's not just about what we're doing to gain the money, right, but it is. How do you practice those behaviors day to day? So you you embody a new energy and experience. So that money comes, trips, come health comes all the things come as you are increasing the capacity. So, yeah, everybody is on a capacity and competency train with me at home, right? Yeah.

Jamila Souffrant 46:08

And it reminds me of that, do you know the Be? Do have model where, yes, come that first before you know people think you have to do first to end up having and then you become the person you want to be rich is like, embody the who you want to be, who you think, whoever you think you're going to be when you have the freedom and the money and whatever goals you set, embody what that person would do in those moments, even without those things. And then move towards those things absolutely.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 46:35

Be that now, be that if you want to be that person who you you think $500,000 a year makes you feel fulfilled and light and joyous. Kind do it right now, right?

Jamila Souffrant 46:51

Like, yeah, you're you're more, maybe meticulous. I tell again the kids all the time with their things, even myself, right? Like, I've had, like, like, the car. Like, they always say, Oh, Mom, get a new car. I'm like, or get this new thing. And I'm like, Do you respect the thing you have now, the way you treat the thing you have now, to me, shows how you're going to treat the thing, the big goal you're setting for yourself. So let's first practice how that energy you would bring to the new car. Because right now, if you're not respecting the car, that gets us everywhere. Why would you then, why would we get a new nice car when you can't respect this currently,

Dr. Kerriann Peart 47:25

absolutely I love that you said that. I love that you said that because self respect seems to have completely gone out the door. The whole concept of being respectful to self, to then be able to be respectful for all the things that you've acquired. It's part of that gratitude effort, right with and with my with my bonus son, too. It's the same thing with with him. I say, Listen, the way that you put your homework together is telling me that you don't particularly respect yourself so much. And he looks at it like, What do you mean? Like, you just scribble that there and your pencil wasn't sharp enough. And then, come on, don't you respect yourself? Of course, I do. You know, he gets into this like, What do you mean? And I'm like, Well, if you respect yourself, tell me that you do through your homework. Tell me that you respect yourself by making up your bed. Show me self respect by the way you tidy up your toys. It's the same thing with our children that we then maneuver to in the workplace, self respect in the workplace, your boundaries, right? How you articulate that you need help with something, and that Here is how you believe the outcome should look and feel and sound for the goal that has been put before you. It is all of that. So it, it's, it's, yeah, it's a lifelong journey.

Jamila Souffrant 48:55

Yes, oh my gosh. We, I feel like we, we covered so many faces and talked about so many amazing points that will help anyone listening, but I do want them to be able to get in touch with you. So can you just please share where everyone can find you find more about your work and work with you.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 49:10

Yeah, so right now I'm on the, you know, the common platform of LinkedIn, so they can search me on LinkedIn under K, E, R, R, I A n, n, and my last name, P, E, A, R, T, pierced. You can also find me at by emailing Hello at pierret consulting.org so that's a common place for you to drop in. And I'm on Instagram, but nothing that's too like, you know, fancy and dandy, but my instagram handle is at D, R, dot, K, E, R, R, I underscore p. So yeah, yes,

Jamila Souffrant 49:55

I will link all of that in the episode show notes. But this was, I think, really insightful conversation. Thank you so much for joining the show.

Dr. Kerriann Peart 50:02

Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. Don't

Jamila Souffrant 50:05

forget. You can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this and you can still grab your jumpstart guide for free to help you on your journey to financial freedom by going to journey to launch.com/jumpstart

Jamila Souffrant 50:25

if you want to support me and the podcast and love the free content and information that you get here. Here are four ways that you can support me in the show. One, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen, whether that's Apple podcasts, that purple app on your phone your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen, just subscribe so you are not missing an episode. And if you're happening to listen to this in Apple podcasts, rate review and subscribe there. I appreciate and read every single review. Number two, follow me on my social media accounts. I'm at journey to launch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and I love, love, love interacting with journeyers. There three, support and check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you, sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here, so show them some love for supporting your girl. Four, and last but not least, share this episode, this podcast, with a friend or family member or co worker, so that we can spread the message of Journey to launch. All right, that's it until next week. Keep on journeying. Journeyers. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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