305: High-Performance Leadership Starts With This: Burnout, Self-Care and Small Changes with Sheetal Ajmani

Burnout isn't a personal failure. It's a clinical condition with three specific characteristics — and understanding exactly what it is may be the first step toward actually recovering from it. Sheetal Ajmani, physician turned speaker, coach, and consultant, joins Toni for a conversation that reframes burnout and self-care from the ground up. Sheetal practiced pediatrics for over 16 years and experienced burnout multiple times across her career — the first time in 2006, when nobody was talking about it, and the most recent in 2022, when she made the decision to step away from clinical medicine entirely. This episode goes deep on what burnout actually is, why high-achieving women are so skilled at missing the signs, and what self-care genuinely needs to look like to make a difference — hint: it's not the bubble bath. What we cover: ⏹  The clinical definition of burnout — three characteristics, and why naming them matters ⏹  Eustress vs distress: where helpful stress ends and burnout begins ⏹  Why high-achieving women are the last to see burnout coming in themselves ⏹  Anticipatory burnout — the specific exhaustion that comes from knowing a change is coming but not being able to make it yet ⏹  Self-care redefined: why the most impactful forms take less time than you think ⏹  Micro moments of self-care — what they look like and how to find yours ⏹  The difference between self-care and self-improvement (they are not the same thing) ⏹  The Ayurvedic whole-person lens on well-being — and why your emotions, relationships, and career all affect your health ⏹  The one thing Sheetal wants every woman to start doing today ⏹  Why small changes make a larger impact than grand wellness gestures ⏹  The inner critic that adds layers of judgment on top of an already hard experience ⏹  Why burnout is an individual stress response within a social context — and what that means for systemic change   Connect with Sheetal Ajmani  ⏹  Website: radiantlivinginstitute.com  ⏹  Podcast: Essential Self Care: https://www.radiantlivinginstitute.com/podcasts/essential-self-care  ⏹  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sheetalajmani