You're Not Lazy—You're Overloaded: NLP Strategies to Prevent Burnout

What if the thing you’ve been shaming yourself for—procrastination, exhaustion, “laziness”—is actually your body’s last act of leadership?

In this deeply personal and paradigm-shifting episode, I dismantle one of the most dangerous myths in high-performance culture: that burnout is a discipline problem. Drawing from NLP, nervous system regulation, and my own lived experience of building—and rebuilding—multiple six- and seven-figure businesses while becoming a mother of three, I reveal why overwhelm is not a mindset flaw, but a biological signal of overload.

If you’re a visionary leader who starts the week inspired but crashes by Wednesday… if your to-do list feels impossible no matter how capable you are… this episode will change how you see yourself forever.

We explore how subconscious success strategies, unrealistic expectations, and unexamined “shoulds” quietly lock your nervous system into freeze—killing momentum and joy. You’ll learn how sovereign leaders replace shame with strategy, build systems instead of self-sacrifice, and shift from hustle-based success into sustainable, burnout-proof growth.

This is about simplifying without shrinking. Leading without self-abandonment. And reclaiming your power by listening to your body instead of overriding it.

If you’re ready to stop forcing productivity and start leading from clarity, capacity, and conscious authority—this episode is your initiation.

You’re Not Lazy—You’re Overloaded: NLP Strategies to Prevent Burnout

[00:00] Introduction: What If Laziness Isn’t the Problem?

Kimberly Spencer (host): What are your so-called laziness? Was actually your body's last line of defense against burnout? If you've got a to do list that is longer than your toddler's bedtime stalling tactics, or you start the week motivated, but then by Wednesday, you're like God. Lord help me. Or if you're just wondering, like, why can't I get it together? And you have so many things that are on your plate.

What if it's not a mindset issue? What if it's not even a time issue? What if it's actually a nervous system issue disguised as procrastination that your body actually knows might be attached to your subconscious success strategy?

In this episode, we are asking what if your laziness is actually a signal from your subconscious mind that you're overloaded, not underperforming, and because your subconscious success strategy is attached to it? What if it's actually setting you up for greater success? When we decode the subconscious signals through NLP? We can shift the shame to strategy, replacing self-blame with your own sovereign leadership.

[03:30] Meet Your Host & The Burnout Myth

Kimberly Spencer (host): Hey there, I'm Kimberly Spencer, founder of Crown Yourself, master Mindset coach, subconscious success strategist, visibility and high performance business strategist, bestselling author, TEDx speaker and mom of three, and I can say that I come from a very long line of the skill set of burning out more than once, from building my business to multiple six figures, to having a newborn, to burning 85% of my business down last year.

I learned the hard way that burnout is not a badge of honor. It is actually broken down boundaries and belief systems that you get to recalibrate and alchemy into a new identity.

[07:00] Burnout, Identity, and the Portal of Motherhood

Kimberly Spencer (host): So nine months ago, I just had a baby I and it was a baby girl. Like, I have two boys and a baby girl, and I have never had moments where I questioned my purpose, where I questioned having a business.

I was in this portal of examining because with my pregnancy, with my daughter, I was tired, I was borderline anemic. I had gone through a massive pivot of my our sister business, Communication Queens, from a done for you podcast casting agency to a consultative visibility agency. And that pivot plus letting go of 85% of my team, plus being pregnant, plus having just come out with the bestseller award winning book, I was tired.

[12:30] From Operator to Sovereign Leader

Kimberly Spencer (host): I was looking at the two businesses that were currently running right now and that were, quite frankly, running me. And I looked at the models of what do I love doing and what are the things that I need more support with.

It wasn't laziness calling me to shrink. It was actually a call to expand. It was overload of the role that I was operating in as an operator in my business, and I actually needed to shift and pivot out of that freeze mode that my nervous system was in, because no amount of pushing was going to help.

[18:00] NLP Insight: Procrastination as Nervous System Freeze

Kimberly Spencer (host): When you're on the borderline of burnout, your nervous system is actually in a fight, flight, and freeze space. Most people who think that they're lazy—I guarantee you, as a high performer, you're probably running circles around other people.

When your nervous system locks up, it's not laziness. It's a protective response, not a productivity problem.

[23:30] Expectations vs. Legitimate Limitations

Kimberly Spencer (host): If the real problem isn't actually your lack of action, but your excess of expectations, what are the expectations that you have that are legitimate limitations?

I had to look at what my expectations of being this mom were, as well as being a business owner. And when I started to strip away some of the expectations, I didn't do it by just chucking them. I did it by delegating them out.

[29:00] Building Systems to Prevent Burnout

Kimberly Spencer (host): When I feel those moments of overwhelm, I ask: what system needs to be built? Obviously there's something in the system that's not working.

And so I brought in a sales center, and that helped free up the space so that I'm not overwhelmed. Because the expectation before was that I had to do it myself.

[35:30] Simplification as Sovereign Leadership

Kimberly Spencer (host): Simplify. We need to reduce the inputs. What are the things that need to be reduced or taken off your plate and put onto somebody else’s?

Genius is making complex ideas simple, not making simple ideas complex.

[41:00] NLP Strategy: The Six Priorities Method

Kimberly Spencer (host): You take your entire gigantic to do list, and you boil it down to just six main things. Just six. Then you organize them in order of importance and let your subconscious mind work on them overnight.

The conscious mind is the goal setter. The subconscious mind is the goal getter.

[47:00] Structure, Self-Permission, and Reclaiming Power

Kimberly Spencer (host): Replacing I should with I choose was one of the hardest but most powerful shifts. That’s how I regained my power.

Cancel. Clear. Is the pattern interrupt when shame shows up.

[53:00] Community, Accountability, and Sustainable Success

Kimberly Spencer (host): If you need a community that will hold you, support you, and celebrate the fact that you did it anyway—that’s what the Collective is for.

[58:00] Closing Activation

Kimberly Spencer (host): If this episode was exactly what you needed to hear—thank you for letting me walk this with you.

As always, my fellow sovereigns. Own your throne. Mind your business. Because your reign is now.