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Welcome to another can't-miss episode of Build a Better Agency! Drew McLellan is joined by Rita Ainsworth, a media buyer turned nervous system coach who works with agency people and performance marketers to help them recognize and reverse the slide toward burnout prevention before it costs them their health or their team.
In this episode, Ainsworth breaks down why performance doesn't actually drop during high stress, it only craters once you cross into true burnout, and why that makes burnout so easy to miss until it's severe. You'll learn the subtle early warning signs your body sends long before things get loud, from difficulty switching off after work to a creeping sense of irritability and disengagement. If you've ever wondered why your smartest, hardest working team members seem to run themselves into the ground, this conversation explains the nervous system science behind it.
Ainsworth and Drew dig into why high performers often don't feel safe when they slow down, and how that belief gets wired in long before anyone ever takes a client call. They cover practical, in-the-moment tools like orienting, breathwork, and a simple eye pressure technique that can shift your nervous system state in under a minute, plus the supplements that help replenish what chronic stress depletes.
Whether you're an agency owner quietly running on fumes, a leader trying to build a healthier culture for your team, or someone who just wants to perform at a high level without burning out doing it, this episode gives you real, usable tools. Tune in and start paying attention to what state you're actually in.
A big thank you to our podcast's presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They're an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.
What You Will Learn in This Episode:- Why performance doesn't drop during normal stress, and why that makes burnout so easy to miss until it's already severe
- The early warning signs your nervous system sends before you hit full burnout, from irritability to disengagement to trouble sleeping
- Why high performers often don't feel safe when they slow down, and where that pattern actually gets wired in
- How to reconcile wanting to be generous and available for clients with protecting yourself from burnout
- A simple orienting exercise you can use at your desk to shift out of a stress response in seconds
- How breathing with a longer exhale calms your nervous system, and how to use it during a stressful call
- A one-minute eye pressure technique (the "eye support" exercise) that can feel like a micro nap =
- Which supplements help replenish what chronic stress depletes from the body
- How to build a team culture that treats rest as a performance tool instead of a weakness
