In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about how to recognize and address burnout. My guest this week is Garrett Wood, founder of Gnosis Therapy, whose work helps high performers understand and treat the effects of chronic stress and burnout. Here Garrett shares how his own experience with chronic pain and overwork changed the way he understands burnout. What looked like isolated physical symptoms were actually signals of a nervous system under constant strain. That insight reshaped his career and now informs how he helps others address burnout at its root.

In our conversation, we talk about why high achievers are especially prone to burnout, how pushing through stress can shrink our window of tolerance and why so many people suffer in silence while assuming everyone else is doing fine. Garrett explains how stress blurs physical and emotional symptoms and why managing stress in place is often more effective than making drastic life changes.

We also explore practical tools for regulating stress, including simple nervous-system-based techniques that can be used in real time. Garrett shares how small interventions can widen capacity, restore balance and make it easier to function without adding more pressure.

About My Guest
Garrett Wood, NBC-HWC, is a clinical hypnotherapist and executive functioning specialist helping high-achievers turn burnout into breakthrough with his A³ Framework for sustainable success.

~

Connect with Garrett:
Website: https://www.gnosistherapy.com/about
Assessment: https://gnosistherapy.scoreapp.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gnosistherapy/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gnosistherapy/

~

Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://www.kimmeninger.com

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we explore a powerful reframe of impostor syndrome and what it looks like to build confidence without waiting for self-doubt to disappear. My guest this week is Joy Rowland, a leadership and business coach who brings a deeply personal and neuroscience-informed perspective to overcoming impostor syndrome.

Joy shares her journey as a solo immigrant who moved to the UK at age 25 without family or community support and spent more than two decades navigating corporate life while quietly wrestling with impostor syndrome. For Joy, self-doubt was not theoretical. It was lived. She opens up about how her background, identity, and early experiences shaped the beliefs she carried into her career and how she eventually learned to stop treating impostor syndrome as something that needed to be eliminated before she could succeed.

In our conversation, we talk about why impostor syndrome often intensifies during periods of growth and why its presence can be a signal that you are stretching into something new rather than proof that you do not belong. Joy explains how our brains are wired for survival, not confidence, and why understanding concepts like negativity bias, neuroplasticity, and the role of the prefrontal cortex can completely change how we relate to self-doubt.

Joy also shares practical tools she uses with her clients, including how to build an evidence bank to counteract harsh inner narratives, how community accelerates confidence by giving our brains proof of what is possible, and why waiting to feel ready keeps so many capable women stuck. We walk through simple practices like brain dumps and reverse engineering desired outcomes to help listeners take back agency over their thoughts, emotions, and results.

About My Guest
Joy—known as The Neuro Reset Success Coach—is a transformational coach who helps high-achieving women break through impostor syndrome, dissolve subconscious blocks, and step into their next level of success with confidence and clarity. After battling her own cycles of overthinking, perfectionism, and chronic self-doubt, she discovered that impostor syndrome isn’t a mindset problem—it’s a nervous system pattern. Today, she blends neuroscience, identity work, and practical strategy to help women rewire their beliefs, expand their capacity for success, and create results that feel authentic and sustainable.

~

Connect with Joy:
Free $10k Months Blueprint - https://explore.joyrowland.com/10k-months-blueprint/
Connect on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/joy.rowland_/
~

Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://www.kimmeninge

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we explore what it takes to build a life that feels as good as it looks. My guest this week is Brandi Hudson, a performance coach who works with senior leaders in tech and finance to help them navigate pressure, redefine success and reconnect with internal fulfillment.

Brandi shares her remarkable journey from being relentlessly driven by external achievement to realizing that success on paper didn’t automatically translate into happiness. Raised by teenage parents who equated success with safety and stability, Brandi learned early to meet every metric and exceed every expectation. From Ivy League acceptances and elite athletics to leading multimillion-dollar sales organizations, she did everything she was taught would guarantee fulfillment. And yet something was missing.

In our conversation, we talk about Brandi’s relationship with pressure and worry, including how she once believed anxiety was the price of success. She explains how dense emotions often signal misalignment rather than motivation and why learning to hold pressure lightly can transform how we perform and lead. We also dig into the patterns high achievers develop early in life and how those patterns can quietly shape careers long after they stop serving us.

Brandi walks us through powerful reflection practices she uses with her clients, including how to document success across your lifetime, re-train your brain to notice what’s going right and build internal validation instead of chasing external proof. We explore why self-awareness is the gateway to breaking unhelpful patterns and how understanding the root causes of our behaviors creates space for lasting change.

We also discuss why personal growth doesn’t need to feel like a second full-time job, how intentional inner work creates more ease rather than more effort and why the most effective leaders learn to operate from clarity instead of fear.

About My Guest

Brandi Hudson is a Performance Coach, speaker, and former executive who helps accomplished professionals create sustainable results through a repeatable process for success, grounded in alignment, not force. Her work blends strategy, systems, and emotional intelligence to help people trust their power—and know their success is inevitable.

~

Connect with Brandi:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandibhudson
Substack: https://substack.com/@brandibhudson

~

Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://kimmeninger.com