From Burnout to Breakthrough: Self-Awareness Strategies for Startup Executives | Josh Perry
About this episode
Josh Perry discusses the importance of self-awareness in overcoming burnout and the loneliness often felt by high-achieving executives.
"Surrounded by all these people, they never felt lonelier. That's the paradox — they bring all these people in and they still feel alone." — Josh Perry What if the performance strategy you've been sold is the thing burning you out? Josh Perry has lived both sides of this. A former X-Games athlete who overcame multiple brain tumors, he's now a high-performance coach — and his take on performance will make a lot of "just work harder" advice feel exactly as hollow as it's always been. He calls it the negation of self: when your goals are secretly wired to prove you're enough, the pursuit only reinforces the lack. More effort. More exhaustion. Less connection. Repeat. Karl and Josh dig into the real reason so many high-achieving executives feel isolated at the top — and why the leaders who look the most successful are often the furthest from themselves. In this episode, you'll get: Why high performance starts with self-awareness — not more discipline, more hustle, or more systems The "negation of self" trap: how chasing success to fill a void actually reinforces it The paradox of executive loneliness — why the higher you climb, the fewer real connections you have, and what to do…
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