If you have ever wondered:

💭 "Why am I switched on all day, but never actually powered up?"

💭 "Why do I feel guilty the moment I try to rest?"

💭 "Why do I keep waking at 3am, wired and exhausted at the same time?"

- this episode is for you.

In this fascinating and deeply practical conversation, Tess and Layne welcome Dr Kristy Goodwin - one of Australia's leading neuro-performance scientists, a PhD researcher, keynote speaker to Apple, Deloitte, EY and Qantas, and the author of Dear Digital, We Need to Talk.

Dr Kristy's mission is to help high performers stop paying what she calls the success tax: the moment achievement starts costing you your health, your relationships and your sanity. And she learned it the hard way. At the height of the pandemic she was coaching leaders on stress and burnout while quietly ignoring the whispers of her own body, until she woke up convulsing on her bedroom floor and was rushed to a code red ward on a ventilator. The diagnosis was not just COVID. It was years of chronic stress.

From that hospital bed, she made a pledge to stop living in ways that were incompatible with what she calls our human operating system. In this episode she translates the science into plain language: why you cannot outperform your own biology, why recovery makes you more productive, what your 3am wake-ups are really telling you, and how to empty an overflowing cortisol cup. She also shares, with remarkable honesty, the run of events that recalibrated her values, including her husband's stage four cancer diagnosis and the sudden loss of a close colleague.

This is a conversation about listening to the whispers before they become screams, and learning to live and work in a way your brain was actually designed for.

You will hear about:

Why high performers are the last to know they are burning out, and what the success tax really costs

Why you cannot outperform your human operating system, no matter how capable you are

How proactive recovery makes you 26% more productive, and what a peak-performance pit stop looks like

What your 2 to 4am wake-ups are telling you about an overflowing cortisol cup

A practical daily toolkit: phone-free mornings, delayed caffeine, piccolo breaks and protecting your focus

Join the Awake Collective Community for monthly masterclasses

https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/awake-collective-sales

Get Awake's transformative book: Know Yourself Grow Yourself to live a happier more purposeful life.

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/awake-academy-9781761345869

Follow Layne on Instagram @Laynebeachley

Follow Tess on Instagram @tesscbrouwer

Follow Awake Academy on Instagram @awake_academy

Awakes TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@awakeacademy_

Sponsor our podcast https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/contact

Book us for a workshop https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/contact

Connect with Dr Kristy Goodwin https://drkristygoodwin.com

Disclaimer

The A Wake Up Call podcast is created for general informational, educational, and inspirational purposes only. The stories, tools, and insights shared are designed to support your wellbeing journey - not to replace professional medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. In fact, we believe therapy is non-negotiable in life.

If you're experiencing a medical or mental health condition, please seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Never ignore or delay seeking professional advice because of something you've heard on this podcast.

Your wellbeing matters. Take care of yourself, stay curious, and remember the real wake-up call is listening to what your body and mind are trying to tell you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you have ever wondered:

“Why do I give my best under pressure sometimes, and completely fall apart others?”

“How do I stay calm when everything is riding on this moment?”

“Is it possible to rediscover my fire after I have walked away from the thing I worked hardest at?”

- this episode is for you.

In this episode, Tess and Layne sit down with Kieran Perkins - Olympic gold medallist, CEO of the Australian Sports Commission, and the man who won gold from lane 8 at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in one of the most iconic moments in Australian sporting history.

Kieran takes us inside the hours before that race: the panic, the adrenaline hijack, the dark spiral of consequences, and the single question that flipped the switch - “How did I used to do this?” He unpacks the physiology of pressure, the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic drive, and why the only job in any high-stakes moment is to get out of your own way and let your preparation speak.

Together they explore the gap between chasing excellence and defending it, the surprising differences between elite sport and corporate performance, and the honest story of Kieran’s own health journey - losing over 30 kilos by first stopping exercise entirely.

You will hear about:

How Kieran interrupted a full amygdala hijack in the hours before an Olympic final

Why defending a title is psychologically harder than chasing one

The difference between an athlete’s finish line and a corporate one - and how to close the gap

Why Kieran believes you cannot force elite performance on someone who does not truly want to be there

How stopping exercise was the first step in Kieran’s 30-kilo transformation

The one walk through Melbourne that reminded him what presence actually feels like

Join the Awake Collective Community for monthly masterclasses

https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/awake-collective-sales

Get Awake’s transformative book: Know Yourself Grow Yourself to live a happier more purposeful life. https://www.penguin.com.au/books/awake-academy-9781761345869

Follow Layne on Instagram @Laynebeachley

Follow Tess on Instagram @tesscbrouwer

Follow Awake Academy on Instagram @awake_academy

Awakes TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@awakeacademy_

Sponsor our podcast https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/contact

Book us for a workshop https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/contact

Disclaimer

The A Wake Up Call podcast is created for general informational, educational, and inspirational purposes only. The stories, tools, and insights shared are designed to support your wellbeing journey - not to replace professional medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. In fact, we believe therapy is non-negotiable in life.

If you’re experiencing a medical or mental health condition, please seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Never ignore or delay seeking professional advice because of something you’ve heard on this podcast.

Your wellbeing matters. Take care of yourself, stay curious, and remember the real wake-up call is listening to what your body and mind are trying to tell you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you have ever wondered:

"Why do I feel like I am performing a version of myself that has nothing to do with who I really am?"

"How do I separate who I am from what I do?"

"What does it actually take to be vulnerable and still feel strong?"

- this episode is for you.

This episode airs in Men's Mental Health Week, and it is one of the most important conversations we have had. In Australia, nine people a day take their own lives. Seven of them are men. So we asked Harry Garside - Olympic boxer, author, ballet dancer, poet and one of the country's most outspoken voices on masculinity - one simple question: who are you, underneath everything you have achieved?

In this raw, honest and deeply human conversation, Tess and Layne welcome Harry Garside - the boxer who broke Australia's 33-year Olympic medal drought with bronze at Tokyo, a Commonwealth and Pacific Games gold medallist, nine-time national champion and Paris Olympian - for a conversation that goes far beyond the ring.

Harry opens up about the moment he wept on national television, telling Australia he had let them down, and asking for a few days to find his strength again. What came back was an avalanche of support. He traces it all the way back to the Reach Foundation walking into his life at sixteen and giving him the first safe space he ever had to be vulnerable as a young man.

He shares the contradiction he has lived his whole life: the conqueror he becomes in the ring, and the curious, tender six-year-old underneath who only ever wanted to be loved. He talks about a mother's post-natal depression and the quiet story it planted that he was not lovable, about chasing world-class success to earn approval, and about the part of him that still tries to blow up the good things before they can leave him. This is a conversation about taking the mask off, and trusting that who you are underneath is enough.

You will hear about:

Why so many men perform a version of themselves that slowly suffocates who they really are

How to separate your identity from your achievements, and why your worth was never in the medal

The difference between competing in fear and competing in love

Why suppressing your intensity makes it dangerous, and how to harness it instead

What it really takes to make vulnerability feel safe for men

Join the Awake Collective Community for monthly masterclasses

https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/awake-collective-sales

Get Awake's transformative book: Know Yourself Grow Yourself to live a happier more purposeful life.

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/awake-academy-9781761345869

Follow Layne on Instagram @Laynebeachley

Follow Tess on Instagram @tesscbrouwer

Follow Awake Academy on Instagram @awake_academy

Awakes TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@awakeacademy_

Sponsor our podcast https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/contact

Book us for a workshop https://www.awakeacademy.com.au/contact

Disclaimer

The A Wake Up Call podcast is created for general informational, educational, and inspirational purposes only. The stories, tools, and insights shared are designed to support your wellbeing journey - not to replace professional medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. In fact, we believe therapy is non-negotiable in life.

If you're experiencing a medical or mental health condition, please seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Never ignore or delay seeking professional advice because of something you've heard on this podcast.

Your wellbeing matters. Take care of yourself, stay curious, and remember the real wake-up call is listening to what your body and mind are trying to tell you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.