Unwritten Potential

Why Wellness Apps Can't Fix Workplace Burnout

In Episode 47, certified health coach Noemie Mooney explains why nearly half of workers globally are burned out and why individual wellness fixes can't solve what's structurally broken at work, drawing on BCG's 2024 burnout research, Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon's "push factors versus pull factors" framing, and the concept of ethical fading from Tenbrunsel and Messick (2004). In a 2024 survey, the Boston Consulting Group found that 48% of workers across eight countries are grappling with burnout, which means we’re well past the point of calling this an individual problem. In this episode I unpack what Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon recently named at the Legal Profession Symposium 2025: people aren’t leaving careers because they’re being pulled to something better, they’re being pushed out by what work has become. Favourite Line: “Helping people cope with a broken system is not the same as changing the system that is breaking them. Both things have to happen at the same time.” In This Episode * Why is workplace burnout structural rather than personal? * What is ethical fading and how does it degrade your judgement at work? * Why don’t wellness apps and resilience training actually fix burnout? * What are push factors versus pull factors when people leave their careers? * What did BCG’s 2024 burnout research find across eight countries? * Why does workplace culture stay broken even when leaders say they want change? * How do you tell the difference between coping and actually solving burnout? Timestamps 00:00 Intro 02:17 Welcome from Rio 03:20 Push factors versus pull factors 05:13 BCG and the 48% statistic 06:10 What ethical fading really means 07:53 Why wellness apps fall short 10:45 What this means for you Mentioned in This Episode * Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Opening Address at the Legal Profession Symposium 2025 (Singapore, 29 July 2025) * Ethical fading, Ann Tenbrunsel and David Messick, Social Justice Research (2004) * BCG, “Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout” (2024) Your Experiment for This Week Notice one workplace habit that your industry, your team, or your company treats as completely normal. Name it. Then ask yourself who that habit actually serves. Not the work, not the people, but the inherited idea of professionalism it might be propping up. You do not have to fix it. You just have to see it clearly for one week. What is one workplace habit your industry treats as normal that is quietly making everyone exhausted? Noemie x Noemie Mooney is an ACE Certified Health Coach, ICF-trained Behaviour Change Specialist, certified yoga instructor, and creator of the MAKE SPACE Method™ [https://unwritten.coach/makespace]. She writes Unwritten Potential, a newsletter about evidence-based wellbeing, sustainable habits, mental wellbeing, and health behaviour change for people who are done with hustle culture and wellness BS. ⚡️Join 2000+ readers getting my free, 5-min newsletter to design a life that actually feels good in 2026! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unwrittenpotential.com [https://www.unwrittenpotential.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Why Fixing People Backfires

⚡ Most habit advice tells you what to add. I help you subtract first, so your habits actually survive real life. Join 2,000+ burned-out humans learning evidence-based behaviour change without toxic wellness, hustle culture, or self-help BS. I’m Noemie Mooney, ACE Certified Health Coach, ICF-trained Behaviour Change Specialist, and creator of the MAKE SPACE Method™. Subscribe for weekly tools that help you do less, better. ---- The urge to fix, solve, and advise before someone has even finished talking has a name: the righting reflex. In this episode, certified health coach Noemie Mooney explains William Miller and Stephen Rollnick’s work on motivational interviewing, why well-meaning advice often creates resistance, and why high achievers often turn the righting reflex inward. Because sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is not fix. It is to listen. In this episode * What the righting reflex is, and why the urge to help can make change less likely * What motivational interviewing is, and why it has become such an important evidence-based coaching approach * Why unsolicited advice often backfires * Miller and Rollnick’s “dancing vs wrestling” metaphor for coaching, guiding, and behaviour change * Why high achievers often struggle with self-compassion * How the simple shift from “but” to “and” can change your relationship with difficulty * A practical experiment to try this week in your relationships, and with yourself Timestamps 00:00 Intro02:00 Welcome and first Substack Live prep04:00 When corporate problem-solving backfires05:30 The righting reflex explained08:00 How we do it to ourselves09:30 The “but” vs “and” reframe11:00 Your experiment for the week Mentioned in this episode * The righting reflex: Miller and Rollnick’s concept from motivational interviewing, describing the urge to fix, correct, or solve before fully listening * Miller, W.R. & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change (3rd ed.) * The “but” vs “and” reframe: A coaching tool drawn from acceptance-based frameworks and positive psychology coaching * Interoception episode: Last week’s episode on listening to your body [🎧 listen here] Your experiment for this week Next time someone you care about tells you about something hard, try this: No solutions for the first five minutes. Instead, ask three questions: * What does that feel like? * What’s the hardest part? * What do you think you need? Notice the urge to fix. That’s the righting reflex. Advanced version: try the same three questions on yourself. Favourite line The space between someone sharing a problem and you offering a solution is the most important space in any relationship. Including the one you have with yourself. Reflection question What’s the last thing you tried to fix that actually just needed to be heard? Noemie x --- Noemie Mooney is an ACE Certified Health Coach, ICF-trained Behaviour Change Specialist, podcast host and the creator of the MAKE SPACE Method™ [https://unwritten.coach/makespace], a science-backed framework for sustainable habits and mental health. She writes on Substack about burnout, habit formation, and evidence-based behaviour change psychology for people who want practical tools without the self-help BS. Every week I help 2000+ burned-out humans build sustainable habits for real, messy life. No toxic wellness. No hustle culture. No BS. ⚡️Let's goooo! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unwrittenpotential.com [https://www.unwrittenpotential.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

⚡️ My First Live: Spring Healthy Habits + Q&A

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unwrittenpotential.com [https://www.unwrittenpotential.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Why You Can't Tell If You're Hungry, Tired, or Anxious

‘Listen to your body’ is the most repeated and least useful phrase in wellness. In this episode, certified health coach Noemie Mooney explains interoception, the science of reading your own body signals, why type A overachievers get it wrong, and the 60-second check-in that rebuilds the skill. What does ‘listen to your body’ actually mean? Nobody tells you. The skill has a name: interoception. It’s how your body communicates through sensations, and a study in Biological Psychology found it breaks down into three things: * how well you detect signals, * how good you think you are at it * and the gap between those two In this episode, I’m sharing how I ignored every signal my body was sending in a hotel gym in Panama City, what a researcher at the University of Washington found after 20 years of studying this skill, and the 60-second check-in that rebuilds the connection. In this episode: * What is interoception? The science of reading your body’s internal signals that ‘listen to your body’ never taught you * Why do type A people ignore body signals? The confidence-accuracy gap in interoception research * How do fitness trackers affect body awareness? When external data replaces internal signals * Can stress make you unable to read your body? How chronic stress scrambles hunger, fatigue, and anxiety signals * What is the 60-second body check-in? The pre-workout pause that rebuilds interoceptive accuracy * Why do people get injured every spring? The annual cycle of overcommitment and burnout Timestamps: * [00:00] “Listen to your body.” Four words. Zero instructions * [02:00] Welcome + why this episode is late (and why that’s the point) * [04:00] The Panama City gym: arriving flat and training anyway * [05:30] What interoception actually is and why nobody taught you * [07:00] The three components: detection, confidence, and the gap * [08:30] How trackers and apps replaced your internal signals * [09:30] Stress scrambles everything: the University of Washington research * [10:30] The spring trap: why people burn out by May every year * [11:30] Your experiment: the 60-second check-in * [12:30] MAKE SPACE Method live cohort + Substack live event Your experiment for this week: Before your next workout, pause for 60 seconds. Ask: how does my body feel right now? Not what the plan says. What is my body actually telling me? You don’t skip the workout. You just notice what’s there before you start. The noticing is the practice. “The body doesn’t shout. It’s more like a very patient colleague you keep putting on mute.” What signal has your body been sending that you keep overriding? Noemie x Noemie Mooney is an ACE Certified Health Coach, ICF-trained Behaviour Change Specialist, podcast host and the creator of the MAKE SPACE Method™, a science-backed framework for sustainable habits and mental health. She writes on Substack about burnout, habit formation, and evidence-based behaviour change psychology for people who want practical tools without the self-help BS. Every week I help 2000+ burned-out humans build sustainable habits for real, messy life. No toxic wellness. No hustle culture. No BS. ⚡️Let's goooo! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unwrittenpotential.com [https://www.unwrittenpotential.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Sleep Anxiety: The Counterintuitive Fix That Works

The 8-hour sleep rule is a myth, catching up on weekends doesn't work, and the technique that actually helped is counterintuitive: try to stay awake. In this episode, certified health coach Noemie Mooney shares how 3 weeks of teaching across timezones wrecked her sleep, and the evidence-based tools that rebuilt it. Does the 8-hour sleep rule actually matter? Not as much as you think. A 2023 study tracking tens of thousands of people found that sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration. In this episode, I'm sharing how 3 weeks of teaching across timezones wrecked my sleep routine, and the evidence-based techniques that rebuilt it. I'll walk you through why catching up on weekends doesn't work, why the desperate effort to fall asleep is the thing keeping you awake, and paradoxical intention: Viktor Frankl's counterintuitive technique where trying to stay awake actually helps you fall asleep. In this episode: * What is paradoxical intention for insomnia? The Viktor Frankl technique where trying to stay awake helps you fall asleep * Does sleep regularity matter more than sleep duration? What a 2023 wearable data study tracking tens of thousands of people found * Can you catch up on sleep at the weekend? Why consistency beats compensation every time * What is sleep performance anxiety? Why monitoring yourself in bed sends alertness spikes through your nervous system * How to rebuild a sleep routine after disruption using Rooted Routines (implementation intentions) * The Stuff You Should Know sleep hack: why listening to a podcast at minimum volume works when trying to sleep doesn’t Timestamps: * [00:00] The 1am brain: “If I fall asleep right now, I’ll get five hours and forty-three minutes” * [01:57] Welcome + teaching Singapore from Panama City * [04:07] What happens when your sleep schedule is disrupted * [04:28] The 8-hour lie: why regularity matters more than duration * [05:25] The catching-up myth: why sleeping in on Sunday makes Monday worse * [06:14] Paradoxical intention: Viktor Frankl’s counterintuitive sleep technique * [07:25] Why it works: sleep performance anxiety and the nervous system * [08:33] The Stuff You Should Know sleep hack * [09:01] Your experiment: one Rooted Routine for tonight * [10:14] The 7-Day Sleep Reset workbook Mentioned in this episode: * Paradoxical intention: Viktor Frankl’s clinical technique for insomnia, where the instruction is to try to stay awake rather than force sleep * Sleep regularity study, 2023: sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (wearable data, tens of thousands of participants) * SMART Goals episode: the Rooted Routines format for attaching new habits to existing ones [🎧 listen here [https://www.unwrittenpotential.com/p/smart-goals-dont-work-a-guy-at-a]] 7-Day Sleep Reset workbook [https://unwritten.podia.com/sleep]: seven days of structured sleep tools, worksheets, and evidence-based techniques. $17 USD. YES, IMPROVE MY SLEEP! https://unwritten.podia.com/sleep [https://unwritten.podia.com/sleep] Your experiment for this week: Pick one Rooted Routine. Choose something you already do every evening and attach one small sleep-friendly action to it. After I brush my teeth, I’ll put my phone in the other room. After I get into bed, I’ll do five slow breaths. One anchor, hold it for a week. “The thing keeping you awake isn’t the noise or the temperature. It’s the desperate effort to sleep.” What’s your 1am brain’s favourite lie? Noemie x Noemie Mooney is an ACE Certified Health Coach, ICF-trained Behaviour Change Specialist, podcast host and the creator of the MAKE SPACE Method™ [https://unwrittenpotential.substack.com], a science-backed framework for sustainable habits and mental health. She writes on Substack about burnout, habit formation, and evidence-based behaviour change psychology for people who want practical tools without the self-help BS. Every week I help 2000+ burned-out humans build sustainable habits for real, messy life. No toxic wellness. No hustle culture. No BS. ⚡️Let's goooo! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unwrittenpotential.com [https://www.unwrittenpotential.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]