How to Be Awesome at Your Job

1016: Untangling Identity from Your Work to Rediscover Yourself with Dr. Janna Koretz

Dec 5, 2024

Dr. Janna Koretz, founder of Azimuth, specializes in mental health for high-pressure careers. She dives into the dangers of letting work define your identity and how it can impact mental well-being. Dr. Koretz emphasizes the need for 'protected thinking time' to foster creativity and self-reflection. She discusses the importance of identifying personal values and separating them from professional roles. This episode encourages a mindset shift, promoting a fulfilling life aligned with true aspirations while combating workaholism.

38:43

Episode guests

Dr. Janna Koretz

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Dr. Janna Koretz emphasizes that career enmeshment can lead to serious mental health issues, making it crucial to separate identity from work.

Incorporating values-based self-reflection can help professionals rediscover their true selves and achieve a more balanced life amidst career pressures.

Deep dives

Understanding Happiness Beyond Negativity

Happiness is often misinterpreted as the absence of negativity or negative experiences, which is unrealistic. Instead, it involves managing challenges in a way that still fosters joy and well-being. Embracing the complexities of life, including stress and failures, is part of a holistic approach to finding happiness. Acknowledging that it is impossible to eliminate all negative feelings allows individuals to focus on living well despite the challenges they face.

Intro

3min

Embracing Self-Worth and Identity Beyond Work

10min

Exploring Personal Values for Growth

5min

Finding Balance: Reclaiming Joy in Work and Life

18min

Rediscovering Self Beyond the Professional Identity

4min

Exploring Personal Insights and Professional Dynamics

2min

Dr. Janna Koretz reveals the pitfalls of letting your job become your identity and what to do about it.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) Why career enmeshment harms mental health

2) The power of protected thinking time

3) The root cause of workaholism–and how to cure it

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1016 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT JANNA —

Dr. Janna Koretz is the founder of Azimuth, a therapy practice specializing in the mental health challenges of individuals in high-pressure careers. She has spent over a decade helping her clients face and overcome their mental health issues by developing a unique understanding of industry-specific nuances in fields like law, consulting, finance, and technology.

Dr. Koretz has been featured in many publications, including Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal, focusing on the importance of recognizing career/identity enmeshment. She also writes and speaks on the challenges of discovering and living your personal values.

In addition to therapy, Azimuth provides a set of free online tools that have helped tens of thousands of people, including the Burnout Calculator, Career Enmeshment Test, and Values Navigator. The practice is also developing a values-based journaling iOS app, set to launch later this year, based on the popularity of its Values Navigator tool.

• Website: AzimuthPsych.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Book: The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

• Past episode: 873: Dr. Steven Hayes on Building a More Resilient and Flexible Mind

• Study: The Stanford Prison Experiment

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

• Lingoda. Visit try.lingoda.com/Awesome50 and save up to 50% off with their biggest sale of the year!

• Jenni Kayne. Use the code AWESOME15 to get 15% off your order!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.