The Charlene Gisele Show

What if the biggest difference between a great performance and a poor one isn’t your ability, but the mindset you bring into the moment?

Dan Abrahams, sport and performance psychologist, has spent the last 20 years working with some of the best sports competitors in the world, including as consultant psychologist for Aston Martin F1, Lead Psychologist for England Golf and England Rugby, and psychologist at six Premier League clubs. He is the author of four bestselling books, including Soccer Tough, which Gareth Bale credits with changing his life.

In this episode, we explore why the psychology of elite sport has so much to teach us about performance in the corporate world, why elite performers are often the ones most at risk of burnout, the three pillars Dan uses to build sustainable high performance, and why you cannot force a great performance no matter how much pressure you put on yourself. Dan breaks down his game face technique for building instant confidence under pressure, explains why establishing meaning beyond your career is essential before a major transition, and shows how the exact same mental frameworks used by elite athletes apply directly to boardrooms, client meetings, and high-stakes negotiations.

This episode is about performance psychology, burnout, confidence, identity, and why the pressure to perform perfectly is often what stops you from performing well.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

04:14 Why the greatest performers are most at risk of burnout

09:55 How to balance ambition with rest and recovery

10:48 The three Ms: mindset, mastery, and management

16:19 Navigating identity transitions and retirement

23:06 Using purpose to build a deeper sense of meaning

25:54 Managing performance anxiety and sleep before a big day

38:00 Overcoming imposter syndrome and confidence erosion

39:01 The game face technique for instant confidence

53:58 Why visualisation can feel uncomfortable and how to use it anyway

 

What We Cover

How to build a high-performance mindset without becoming consumed by outcomes

The role of rest and recovery in sustainable performance

How to create your own Game Face for high-pressure situations

Using visualization and mental rehearsal without making it feel “woo-woo”

What elite sports psychology can teach lawyers, executives, investors and other high performers

What sports psychology actually involves, beyond just mindset

Why the hardest workers and most intense competitors are often the most burnout-prone

The difference between practising and performing, and why corporate life is performance-heavy

The three Ms framework

 

Key Takeaways

You cannot force performance and you cannot control outcomes. You can only control your mindset going in.

Quality beats quantity. Mastery comes from purposeful, deliberate practice, not simply doing more.

Recovery is part of performance. Rest and recuperation are essential to sustaining high performance.

Build multiple sources of meaning. Your profession can be central to your identity without becoming your entire identity.

Create a Game Face. Define the qualities you want to embody under pressure, then use them as a practical performance blueprint.

Your psychology is embodied. Confidence and mindset show up in how you move, communicate, decide and execute.

 

Guest Resources

Check Dan’s website: https://danabrahams.com

Listen to The Sport Psych Show podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Pf4uOIQJhbel1kYNzz39z

Get Dan’s new book, Compete: https://hawksmoorpublishing.com/book/compete-developing-a-mental-playbook-for-performance-under-pressure-in-sport-dan-abraham

 

Connect With Me
🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/
✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/

What if your pursuit of better health, performance, and longevity could actually become another form of stress?

In this episode, Salim Najjar, founder of The HRV Guy, brings the lens of an engineer to the human nervous system, guiding CEOs, founders, and elite performers toward nervous system sovereignty using heart rate variability as the compass. After raising his own HRV from 32 to over 100, he created the A.R.T. of the Heart framework, a path to turning stress into an ally rather than an enemy.

After years of pushing his body through intense biohacking, minimal sleep, endurance training, fasting, and relentless optimisation, Salim experienced burnout and discovered HRV as a completely different way of understanding his body. What began as an obsession with optimising a number on a wearable eventually became a practice of listening to his nervous system rather than trying to control it.

This episode is about HRV, burnout, biohacking, nervous system health, and why your body's wisdom is the only guru you will ever need.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

04:06 Salim's transition from corporate to nervous system work

05:27 Losing his father and the roots of his type A drive

07:48 Launching a beverage company and discovering biohacking

10:04 Finding HRV and the science of cellular inflammation

17:50 What HRV actually measures and why it matters

25:11 The five pathways and Salim's HRV journey from 30 to 170

39:44 Pathway one: sleep as the foundation

43:14 Pathway three: reframing and the shoulder dislocation story

47:38 Pathway four: intentionality and purpose

52:36 How to apply the five pathways as a busy executive

58:06 How long to track HRV and which device to use

 

What We Cover

The hidden downside of extreme biohacking

Why high achievers can become addicted to optimisation

How burnout can happen even when you're “doing everything for your health”

What HRV is and why it can be useful

How to use HRV as a language rather than a performance metric

The five pathways of nervous system sovereignty

How hormetic stress can build nervous system capacity

The power of reframing difficult experiences

How community and relationships influence nervous system health

How to use wearables without becoming obsessed with the data

 

Key Takeaways

Chronic stress is the leading cause of cellular inflammation, which drives most aging and disease.

HRV is a language your nervous system speaks to you, not a score to compare against anyone else.

Your relationship to a stressful event can change your physiology as much as the event itself.

A minimum of three months of consistent tracking is needed before HRV data becomes genuinely useful.

The best HRV device is the one you will actually wear consistently, not the most accurate one.

Sleep creates the foundation. Hormetic stress builds capacity. Reframing changes your relationship with reality. Intention creates alignment. Community amplifies it.

 

Guest Resources

Take Salim's free HRV archetype quiz: https://thathrvguy.com/hrv-quiz

Explore Salim's courses and coaching: https://thathrvguy.com/offerings

 

Connect With Me
🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/
✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/

You built the career, the title, and the financial independence you always wanted. But did anyone ever tell you what that timeline was costing you biologically?

Dr. Sasha Hakman, double board-certified OB-GYN and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility specialist, helps driven, career-focused women understand their fertility before it is too late to act on it.

We explore why so many ambitious women delay motherhood without understanding the trade-off, why female age remains the single biggest predictor of reproductive success, and what it means to plan your fertility the same way you plan your career. Dr. Hakman breaks down egg freezing versus embryo freezing, shares her own fertility journey as a career-driven physician, and explains the regret she hears most often in her practice.

This episode is about fertility, career and motherhood, egg freezing, and why understanding your own biology is one of the most powerful things a high-achieving woman can do for her future.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

03:07 Sasha's mission and who she helps

04:04 What infertility actually means

06:13 The main causes of infertility and how they have evolved

11:43 Why women are trying to conceive later than ever

17:25 Why female age matters and why that is not anti-feminist

22:27 Egg freezing versus embryo freezing explained

28:36 The right age to consider egg freezing

33:29 The most common regrets Sasha hears from patients

36:43 How to get a fertility evaluation

37:31 The biggest lesson from Sasha's own fertility journey

 

What We Cover

What infertility means medically and how the definition has recently changed

The most common physiological causes of infertility, including PMOS (formerly known as PCOS) and endometriosis

Why the rate of infertility has increased significantly in just a few years

The real physiological trade-offs in delaying motherhood for career reasons

The biological reason egg quality and quantity decline with age

The real difference between freezing eggs and freezing embryos

Who is and is not a good candidate for egg freezing at different ages

The regrets a fertility doctor hears most often from patients in her practice

Why a fertility evaluation before trying to conceive can save time and heartbreak

How to stay emotionally grounded while going through fertility treatment

 

Key Takeaways

Female age is the single biggest predictor of reproductive success.

You are born with all the eggs you will ever have, and egg quality declines well before quantity runs out.

Freezing your eggs gives you full autonomy over your future fertility, regardless of what happens in a relationship.

At 43, it typically takes around 50 eggs to produce one chromosomally normal embryo.

Unexplained infertility affects 15 to 20 percent of couples, and around 40 percent of those cases trace back to endometriosis.

Guest Resources

Learn more about Dr. Sasha Hakman: https://www.sashahakmanmd.com/

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sashahakmanmd/

 

Connect With Me
🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/
✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/

When did you last feel truly rested, not just physically, but in every part of who you are?

Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, board-certified internal medicine physician, speaker, and bestselling author of Sacred Rest, shares the framework that has helped over 500,000 people identify and recover from the specific types of rest their body and mind are missing.

We explore why sleep alone cannot solve the kind of exhaustion most high performers carry, how rest deficits show up differently depending on who you are and the work you do, and why so many driven professionals are producing at a high level while running dangerously close to empty. Dr. Dalton-Smith breaks down all seven types of rest, from physical and mental to emotional, social, creative, sensory, and spiritual, and explains what depletion in each area actually looks and feels like.

This episode is about rest, burnout, performance, recovery, and why learning to restore yourself is one of the most strategic things a high achiever can do.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

03:10 Why rest is not the same as sleep

04:43 The seven types of rest and why they matter

08:51 Rest deficits, anxiety, and burnout

15:29 How to identify your personal rest deficit

19:06 Rest needs in relationships and couples

27:07 Breaking down each type of rest: where to start

27:31 Physical rest: signs, symptoms, and how to recover

32:12 Mental rest deficit and how to quiet a busy brain

46:09 Emotional rest and the cost of professional emotional labour

49:35 The difference between trauma dumping and emotional rest

50:28 Creative rest and why it matters for leaders

55:19 Spiritual rest and reconnecting with purpose

57:33 Sensory rest and digital overload

 

What We Cover

Why sleeping and resting are not the same thing, and why that distinction matters

The seven types of rest and what depletion in each area looks like in real life

What physical rest actually involves beyond sleep, including body ergonomics and movement

Why mental rest is often the area where high achievers are most depleted

How emotional labour at work creates a hidden rest debt that follows you home

The difference between trauma dumping and true emotional rest

Why creative rest is relevant for leaders even if they do not consider themselves creative

What spiritual rest means for people without a religious practice

How sensory overload compounds burnout, especially for neurodivergent high performers

 

Key Takeaways

Sleep cannot fix a creative, emotional, or social rest deficit. You need the right type of rest, not just more rest.

Lying down is physical rest. But if your brain is still running, you are not mentally resting.

Your area of daily struggle is often a direct signal of where your rest deficit is.

Identifying your partner's rest needs is as important as knowing their love language.

You can be visible without posting anything yourself. Engagement matters as much as output.

True self-care is not pampering. It is knowing yourself well enough to protect what you need.

 

Guest Resources

Take the free rest deficit quiz: https://RestQuiz.com

Get the Sacred Rest book by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: https://amzn.to/4jwa8xN

Visit Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s website: https://DrDaltonSmith.com

 

Connect With Me

🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/

✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/

Did you know your LinkedIn profile is losing you clients before you've even had a chance to speak to them?

In this conversation, Steve Bruce, one of Asia's leading independent LinkedIn trainers, shares how senior executives, business owners, and corporate teams can use LinkedIn to build visibility, attract the right clients, and grow their business without feeling like they're selling.

We explore why so many high-achieving professionals have outdated profiles that are quietly costing them opportunities, how LinkedIn works as a relationship tool rather than a sales platform, and why being visible online is no longer optional, even for the busiest people in the room.

This episode is about LinkedIn, personal branding, visibility, networking, and why the professionals who don't tell their story are leaving business on the table.

 

Timestamp

00:00 Intro

01:26 Why LinkedIn still matters after 20 years

03:24 What busy senior executives get wrong about LinkedIn

05:02 How to build a 100% complete LinkedIn profile

06:20 The biggest LinkedIn profile mistakes

09:00 Why your headshot matters more than you think

13:30 How to use your LinkedIn banner like a billboard

15:35 Can you be too salesy on LinkedIn

26:07 Imposter syndrome and LinkedIn comparison culture

33:58 The four pillars of LinkedIn success

51:00 Is LinkedIn Premium worth it

57:23 How to follow up without feeling pushy

 

What We Cover

Why an incomplete LinkedIn profile is quietly costing you clients

The difference between a tidy profile and a truly effective one

Why your headshot, banner, and bio do more work than you think

How to write about yourself in a way that feels natural, not salesy

The four pillars of LinkedIn success and how they work together

How to stay visible on LinkedIn without posting every day

Why engaging with other people's content matters more than most people realise

How to use LinkedIn alongside in-person networking for better results

Whether LinkedIn Premium is worth it and what it actually gives you

How to follow up and start conversations that don't feel like a pitch

 

Key Takeaways

Your LinkedIn profile is often the first impression a potential client gets of you.

An outdated photo, missing banner, or third-person bio is quietly working against you.

You don't have to post every day to be visible. Engaging with others counts.

The four pillars are a strong profile, targeted connections, active presence, and strong relationships.

You can build a presence on LinkedIn in as little as 15 minutes a week.

The goal isn't to sell. It's to stay on the radar until the client is ready.

Guest Resources

Connect with Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/upgradeyourprofile/

 

Connect With Me

🌍 Website: https://charlenegisele.com
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlenegisele
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlène-gisèle-bourliout/
✉️ Subscribe to my Life Less Burnt Out Newsletter: https://charlenegisele.com/newsletter/