YOUR OXYGEN MASK FIRST

CEOs typically place their first call to coach Kevin Lawrence if they have a crisis. They stay because of his business acumen and no-holds-barred style. Kevin’s career spans 20 years, over a dozen countries and four continents. He’s worked with hundreds of CEOs and executives, helping them to break through business challenges, grow their companies and find personal success along the way.

Your book ‘Your Oxygen Mask First’ deals with the problems of overwhelming stress, burnout and mental health of CEOs and Senior Executives. What causes these problems? The root cause of these problems comes when very ambitious people try to make a big impact on the world and, on a regular basis, commit to things beyond their capability and/or stamina. Then, when a perfect storm comes along, they’re burdened with additional things all at once, the stress becomes unbearable, and they are mentally pushed over the edge.

All high achievers have a lot of pride in their ability to succeed and, when they’re not able to, there’s a lot of shame and embarrassment. That only amplifies the problem. And because nobody talks about it, when they experience burnout or a mental issue, they think they are the only one and there’s something wrong with them or that they are weak. And that’s not true.

You mention 17 habits on how to deal with these issues. How do I determine which habits are right for me? To help people with this we created an online self-assessment - or you can go right to the back of the ‘Your Oxygen Mask First Workbook’ - to determine, at any given time, where you’re strong and get some awareness about which area would be most beneficial. You want to focus on the area you believe would have the biggest impact. You can find it at OxygenAssessment.com

The concept of ‘work life balance’ is flawed according to your book. Why? Well there are two reasons. Firstly, most high performers don’t even strive to have work life balance if they’re trying to do something significant. It makes them feel guilty because, at some level, they don’t want it and, at another level, will never achieve it.