Ep 81 - How to Stop Overworking in Your Business - An Interview with Kay Dewar

Episode Show Notes

Many health professionals leave the NHS for one main reason: freedom.
More time. More flexibility. More space to actually live.

But...
So many of us trade NHS pressure for entrepreneurial overwhelm - and we don’t even realise it’s happening.

You’ve got the systems. You’ve left the shifts. And still, you’re working through lunch, skipping rest, and cramming your day with back-to-back calls.

This post is for you if you’re wondering:
“Why am I still overworking in my business… even after I left the NHS?”

Let’s dig into the mindset, subconscious beliefs, and small-but-mighty changes that can help you finally create the business (and life) you originally set out for.

 

Why Regulated Professionals Struggle to Rest

Let’s start with the obvious-but-unspoken: we’re conditioned to overwork.

If you trained in the NHS or another clinical system, you’ve likely absorbed years (if not decades) of:

• Saying yes even when you’re overwhelmed
  
  
• Being “on call” - mentally, emotionally or physically
  
  
• Holding yourself to impossible standards of perfection
  
  
• Associating rest with guilt or laziness
  
  

These beliefs don’t just disappear when you go freelance.
They follow you - quietly - into your business.

In fact, many regulated professionals recreate the same burnout conditions they were trying to escape. They just happen to be in their own home office now, not a ward or clinic.

 

The Subconscious Patterns Driving Overwork

In my podcast interview with Kay Dewar, intuitive psychology coach and operations expert, she explained it this way:

“95% of what we do is subconscious. So unless we pause to check in with ourselves, those old NHS patterns will keep running the show.”

Let’s unpack some of the most common subconscious drivers of overwork in health entrepreneurs:

Perfectionism

You’re used to being clinically precise - because people’s health depends on it. But in business, perfectionism becomes a productivity killer. It delays launches, blocks momentum, and keeps you stuck in “just one more tweak” mode.

Guilt

So many clients tell me they feel bad when they’re not “doing” something. Guilt shows up as over-delivering, under-charging, saying yes to everything - and feeling like you’re still not doing enough.

Always-On Mode

You might not carry a pager anymore, but your nervous system hasn’t caught up. You still check your DMs at 10pm. You still fill every available slot. And you still carry that sense of pressure - even if there’s technically no emergency.

 

The Simple Shift That Starts to Change Everything

Kay explained that one of the most powerful tools we have - especially when overwhelm hits - is simply stopping.

“We don’t need to constantly be doing. Just pause, check in with your body, and ask what it’s trying to tell you.”

This might sound simple, but it’s incredibly effective. Your body often gives you clues before your mind catches up - tightness in the chest, a racing heart, clenched jaw. These are signs that something’s out of sync.

Instead of pushing through, give yourself five minutes. Step away from the screen. Close your eyes. Ask:

• What am I feeling right now?
  
  
• Where have I felt this before?
  
  
• What might this be telling me?
  
  

This mini check-in can stop you from making pressure-driven decisions and bring you back into alignment - without needing an hour-long meditation or another task on your to-do list.

 

So What Can You Do Differently Today?

If you’re ready to shift out of the overworking loop, start with these small-but-impactful steps:

• Create micro-pauses throughout your day. Even 5 minutes to check in with your body can prevent an entire afternoon of tension.
  
  
• Journal this prompt: Where in my business do I feel like I’m “on call”? Notice what comes up.
  
  
• Use tech to protect your time. Systems like automated bookings, reminders and workflows aren’t restrictive - they’re support. Let them carry some of the load.
  
  
• Notice what energises vs. depletes you. Kay suggests asking: Does this feel like expansion or contraction?
  
  

You Left the NHS For Freedom — Don’t Rebuild a Cage

The truth is, you deserve a business that genuinely feels good.
One that supports your health, your family, and the lifestyle you set out to create.

But ease doesn’t just “happen.”
It comes when we unlearn what no longer serves us - and rebuild from a place of clarity, alignment and support.

So if this post has you nodding…
Take your next 5 minutes for you.

No guilt. No shoulds. Just… pause.

 

The Master Plan:

Helping you build the business of your dreams. Get your 22 point step-by step workbook here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

Connect with me:

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

 

Episode transcription:

Welcome back everybody. Today we're focusing on how to bring ease into your business. Now, often we start our businesses because we want a life of freedom, but we end up being chained to our desks, even after learning and implementing systems.

So today we're going to be digging into that with my guest, Kay Dewar. Now Kay is a master intuitive psychology coach and an operations consultant, and she helps people run their businesses and so also live their lives with ease. She empowers clients to overcome limiting beliefs and chaotic behaviors, providing practical tools to navigate challenges and move away from overwhelm to a more ease-filled way of being.

So with that said, welcome Kay, thanks so much for coming on today. So I'd love to start by just finding out a little bit about your journey.

 

Kay (00:50)

Thank you so much for having me.

 

Sarah Bushell (00:55)

Can you tell us how you started helping people to bring more ease into their businesses?

 

Kay (01:01)

Yeah, sure. So I started out supporting businesses with systems and operations and that was helping them create structure so that things run more smoothly. But what I realized quite quickly was that even when people had the right systems, they still often resisted using them. So that's when I also trained in intuitive psychology, because I could see the missing piece was internal. It was our subconscious patterns, fears, and that resistance to change.

So now I combine the two, the practical systems and the inner work. And it means that I can help people not only set up their businesses to work for them, but also clear any blocks that stop them from embracing that ease.

 

Sarah Bushell (01:45)

So I think a lot of healthcare professionals, when they decide to leave the NHS and move into self-employment, they leave with this dream of freedom, of having more time to do fun things in life, but they actually can end up feeling, well, just as overwhelmed or if not more. I'd love to get your take on why you think that might happen.

 

Kay (02:04)

Yeah. Yeah, that's often because they have swapped one set of pressures for another. So they've left their NHS role, which is known for the long hours, the high demand, and they then step into self-employment, but they carry those same habits and expectations with them. So they're still overworking. They're still putting others first before what they actually want.

They feel guilty often for resting and not being constantly on and working. And without realising it, they then create the same conditions that potentially led to their burnout in the first place. It's just a new situation, a new environment.

 

Sarah Bushell (02:48)

I think I can see myself in that actually, because I worked in the NHS for 22 years before I decided, you know, I was going to do, I put all my time into this business and I'd had this business running for a long time before that. But, you know, I still worked all the hours and for long time I worked evenings as And you're absolutely right. You do feel guilty when you decide to take a little bit of time for yourself.

Even this morning, actually, I have a PT who comes to my house and we do exercise together once a week. It's just once a week. And even this morning I was thinking, should I just cancel Rachel? Because I've got a podcast episode to edit and I could really do with that hour. But actually it's about saying, look after yourself, take a bit of time for your own self care. It's really important to do that. Although it's really tempting not to because you've learned you've been conditioned from working in this high pressure environment, which is exactly what the NHS is like.

 

Kay (03:45)

Yeah, and you say, it's those boundaries and maintaining the elements of your day or your week that you know are beneficial for you and are going to actually set you up longer term for more ease and more ability to actually run your business the way that you do want to.

 

Sarah Bushell (04:03)

So do you think that there's some subconscious beliefs that we gather from those high pressure environments that we bring into our businesses? So I think, you know, from one of the things I often see with a lot of my colleagues is there's a big thing around perfectionism, particularly because we are regulated healthcare professionals.

So we need to make sure that we get everything right, because otherwise we could be damaging somebody's health. And so there is a lot of concern around making sure that everything is perfect before we take steps, before we implement. So I definitely think that's there.

And also, you know, often we are often on call, so to speak. So perhaps we don't work shift or carry like on call. I used to carry an on call phone, but a lot of people don't. you are at the beck and call of your clients, particularly if you work in a hospital setting where the ward could phone up and say, can you go and see somebody? Your pager goes off. Can you go and do this thing? Do you think that those sort of things actually become subconscious beliefs and translate into how you run your business?

 

Kay (05:05)

Yes, 100%. Those old patterns and those old ways of being and doing play a huge role in what you're now potentially doing in your current day to day. They will be running the show behind the scenes without you realising. 95 % of what we do is subconscious and it is built on all of these past behaviours, past expectations, past conditioning that set you up to run in the way that you're currently working.

So you aim for the perfectionism that you mentioned. There could be a subconscious belief in there telling you that you're only valuable if everything's perfect, if you're constantly available, if you are at the end of that pager or phone constantly. And that is how you end up pushing yourself beyond what you realistically are capable of doing.

And ultimately that can lead to burnout. Again, it comes back to that guilt as well. If you rest, if you take time out, if you don't have those boundaries in place, then you're not showing up for your clients in the way that you think you should be when actually the opposite's true. And I always say the only place that perfect exists is in the dictionary. So it's that perfectionism piece is a big one that we need to unlearn and aim to become aware of how that is running the show for you.

 

Sarah Bushell (06:29)

Yeah, yeah. And I think it's how we would measure that we've done a good job, that we're doing well in our jobs, but perhaps it's the wrong measure. So how do you tap into these subconscious beliefs? How do you tap into those? How can you, well, first of all, identify them if they're subconscious, but also what can you do to help overcome them?

 

Kay (06:35)

Hmm. Yeah, sure. So your subconscious, it's always there and it's about really understanding yourself. So a big part of that is slowing down and stopping, closing down your eyes. When we close down the eyes, we are taking away all the external stimulus. We're taking away all the noise that is around us and we're allowing ourselves to really tap into what is in there.

And it's a big piece about noticing, really notice and get curious about yourself. What is your subconscious trying to tell you? What is your body trying to tell you? Often we find that people do mindset work or they go to the gym, but they don't link the two together. And as they often say, the body keeps the score.

So the body's trying to tell us a lot often. So if you've got niggles or pains or any sort of sensations showing up, that can be your subconscious trying to tell you something as well. So it's about really understanding yourself, bring awareness to it and stop fighting against yourself. It's never about brushing anything under the carpet. It's not about having feelings of guilt or perfectionism and just brushing it away. It's about understanding why you have that feeling and working with it instead of fighting against it.

When we constantly try and fight against something, that's when we create more issues and more problems. So it's about having that awareness so that you can say, okay, I understand that, I understand that's something that I have done previously, but I want to change that now. I want to do it differently and working with that rather than the alternative of fighting against it. It's never about just minimizing feelings or pushing it down because that then creates more problems. It's about bringing that awareness to yourself and working with it so that you don't stay constantly in that cycle.

 

Sarah Bushell (08:43)

Yeah, so it's noticing the feeling in your body first and then noticing what emotion might be attached to that, would you say?

 

Kay (08:48)

Yeah. Get curious with yourself as well. So ask yourself internally these questions. Why is this showing up? What is this trying to tell me? Where have I noticed this before? Like, is it a situation that is potentially stressful? Is it a situation where you are a bit nervous? Get curious around the situation and the emotion and what is underneath that and what you are trying to figure out within yourself.

 

Sarah Bushell (09:19)

So I guess, you you need a bit of time, don't you? And I like what you said earlier there about, closing your eyes, getting rid of that external stimulus so that you're really just at one with your thoughts and trying to ask yourself these questions and work out what might have triggered it, what might have happened before, where have you felt that before in the past, what's it associated with? So would you suggest almost doing it as like a bit of a meditation in a way?

 

Kay (09:42)

It is like a meditation, yeah, but often people can think that that's about completely quietening the mind and switching off your thoughts where understanding yourself and your subconscious is obviously the opposite of that is being curious, getting that awareness and really listening to what your body is and your mind is trying to tell you. And it doesn't need to be a hugely lengthy practice. It could be five minutes every morning or five minutes when a situation arises that you are feeling a bit overwhelmed about. It's just allowing yourself that space to step back and understand and work with what your body and your mind is trying to tell you.

Because often we do just push through and we just keep going and keep going and going and that again exasperates the problem and we risk burnout, we risk illness, we risk so many other situations coming that are not going to be beneficial for us.

 

Sarah Bushell (10:38)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I was just about to ask you then how much time, because I can imagine people who feel like they're overwhelmed because they've got so much work to do and they're really pressured to get everything done, finding the time to actually stop and notice and ask yourself questions actually just feels like another job to do. But if it's literally just five minutes when that situation arises, hopefully we could all find five minutes in our day to be able to just stop and take notice of things.

So it's not an extra thing that you have to do.

 

Kay (11:10)

Yeah, and that's it with a lot of these things. That's where the barriers can come in and what can put people off because they think, no, that's another thing on my to-do list. That's another thing I need to consider when they are already large to-do lists, large amounts of things they think they need to get through, really busy, really exhausted. They don't want to think I need to tackle yet another thing. So yeah, this isn't about adding more to the plate or adding further pressure. It's very much short ways to try and understand yourself better and give yourself just that bit of breathing space to prevent cycling into something more than it needs to be.

 

Sarah Bushell (11:48)

Yeah, yeah, great. So I'd love to know what are some of the common internal patterns that you have seen before with healthcare professionals who are either starting or working in their own businesses and how they can lead to things like overwhelm, even when they've learned the strategies, they've got things in place. Yeah, so what are the sort of common internal patterns that you see?

 

Kay (12:11)

Yeah, so we've touched on a few of them already, the big ones being like over giving perfectionism, guilt around rest or taking some time for yourself. And it comes back to that you're constantly feeling needed. You feel as if self sacrifice is a measure of worth or success. And therefore when you start to run your own business, you over deliver, you undervalue yourself and that pattern continues and you believe that hard work is the only path to success. So the thought of ease feels uncomfortable or unsafe and when we feel unsafe in our nervous system, that is when a lot of the problems arise.

So it's about bringing that safety into yourself so that you are aligned in what it is that you want to achieve. You are aligned in how you want to show up in your business and how you actually want to create the business and the life that you want.

 

Sarah Bushell (13:17)

Yeah. Okay. Brilliant. Excuse me. So we've talked a little bit about sort of practical tools about, you know, how to start tapping into this, but are there any like smaller sort of mindset shifts that listeners can start applying literally today after they've listened to this episode to start feeling more in control and to reduce their stress level sound a bit?

 

Kay (13:37)

I think it does just come back to that stopping. We don't need to constantly be always doing. We can take that five minutes when we do feel in a situation of overwhelm or just a bit chaotic in ourselves. So it really is the simplest way is just to pause and check in with your body.

Also, it's very important to do that before you make any important decisions, any decisions that you're potentially deliberating over or unsure over. Take that pause and check into your body, ask how it's feeling and ask if it feels like expansion or contraction because often we can mistake fear for excitement.

So when we're making decisions in our business around, should I take this risk? Should I do this next step? Should I create this new offer? Whatever it might be, we can get ourselves caught up in thinking that it's not right for us when actually it's that fear again, trying to hold you back and keep you safe. So it's important to check in with yourself when you are making decisions and ask that question so that you know you're doing it for the right reasons and then the right way for you.

 

Sarah Bushell (14:54)

Yeah. And do you ever see it the other way around where you might have lots of ideas to do things and you start doing things and suddenly you end up in that state of overwhelm because you're like, my God, I hadn't realized how much work this was going to be. And I've still got all my existing work and I've started this new thing as well. I sometimes find myself in that state and sometimes, well, often actually it's, it is literally the volume of work. It's like back to back to back to back meeting. So yeah, I'm interested to whether you see that the other way around as well.

 

Kay (15:21)

It can be, but again, it's checking in. So are you back to back back to back to back because you feel you need to be? Because you are potentially filling your day with things that aren't valuable and moving the needle? Or is it things that you're okay with having a busy day for a week or a few weeks because you really want to achieve something? It's always about coming back to that alignment.

Don't fill your day just because you think you need to be busy or you think you to be working 9-5 or 9-6 or whatever your old story was. Fill your day because it is something that excites you and it's really something you're happy to focus on and for short bursts of time that's okay. None of us can work ridiculous hours long term. That's a surefire way to burn out as well.

But for a short burst of time, for something that really excites you and really lights you up, that's always going to be okay. But just make sure that it is set up for the right reasons and for the right ways that you want to work.

 

Sarah Bushell (16:27)

Yeah, absolutely. And that's exactly what mine is. It's often client calls, recording content for new courses, updating old courses, doing things like this, the podcast episodes. And it's often like back to back to back to back for maybe six weeks in a row, and then quieting down a little bit. So yeah, that's often the cycle with me.

 

Kay (16:47)

And again, recognizing that and knowing that you do have those cycles and you're okay with that, you've designed that for your flow, your way that you like to work.

 

Sarah Bushell (16:53)

Yeah, absolutely. And it is a cycle. It does happen like that. And then, you know, you take a step back. You don't create any more new courses. You're happy with the courses you've got a little while. Yeah, definitely. So I want to switch gears a little bit because I know that we're talking quite a lot about the mindset stuff, but you'll also, you know, do a lot around software and processes and operations and that kind of things. So I would love to get your take on how systems can support freedom and reduce that mental load.

 

Kay (17:24)

Yeah, absolutely. So my view is always that good systems aren't about restriction, they're about rhythm. So people often think of systems or structure and think that they're essentially being pigeonholed into a box, they're being forced to work in a certain way and that therefore they won't have freedom around that or they won't be able to be creative or they won't be able to do the different things that they love to do.

But when they are able to see that reframe around it not being a restriction, it's actually about having that rhythm. It's about creating ways that reduce your mental load, they reduce your decision fatigue and they allow you more time to actually be creative or have the freedom that you want to do. And that is when the game changes a bit instead of them viewing it in a way that is going to restrict what they want to do and how they want to do it.

 

Sarah Bushell (18:27)

Yeah, yeah. And have you got any examples of sort of small practical systems that you can implement that have a massive impact or a big change? Perhaps something that you might have helped a client with who came to you feeling overwhelmed.

 

Kay (18:40)

Yeah, there's loads of options. Like everything we do day to day is the basis of a system, but people can get bogged down thinking it needs to be something really complex. So a perfect example is client sessions. We can create really easy calendar booking systems with automated reminders. So again, that decision fatigue and mental load is taken away from the person because they don't have to worry about forgetting meetings. They don't have to worry about having said in an email, I'll meet you at two o'clock on Wednesday, for example. They know it's been booked, it's formalized and it's in the calendar and they can relax and know that they've got more time to focus then on things that actually matter rather than their mind being plagued with, have I remembered that, have I done what it was meant to do.

 

Sarah Bushell (19:34)

Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you. think one of the first things that I did when I started my business was set up a calendar system so that you weren't having that back and forth trying to arrange meetings, you whether it was like client consultations or just meetings to discuss things in your business. And, you know, I just ended up setting, you know, 20 minute links, 30 minute links, 40 minute links, whatever I needed and being able to just hand those out to people so that the onus was on them to find a date and time that works.

And I could set my availability, which meant that, you know, I wasn't booking back to back to back all day long. You know, I did have time for breaks and things. So how can combining those systems and processes with the inner work help create that long-term ease and actually the sustainability around business growth? How does it, how does that work?

 

Kay (20:14)

Yeah, that's it. Yeah, so when you do blend the two together, you're removing both the internal and the external friction. One without the other still leaves a bit of friction somewhere. So when you combine the two, you have removed both of those areas of friction. Your inner work clears your subconscious resistance and your practical systems remove the chaos on the outside.

And when you work with both and understand both, then your business does become sustainable. You're no longer at the same risk of burning out. You're not stuck in constant firefighting and the freedom, growth and ease that you did desire starts to become possible. You start to see where that is something that's achievable for you.

 

Sarah Bushell (21:16)

Yeah. And would you say that people start with the practical systems first and then build in the inner work or do do it gradually bit by bit?

 

Kay (21:25)

Yeah, it's a bit of a mix. Different people come at different points. I think it's definitely that holistic approach that makes the difference. As I said, a lot of people do mindset work, but it's not actually that full inner person and what your full nervous system is trying to tell you. And then the practical tools on the outside as well.

They may have a lot of stories about tech and systems. So many people say, I'm not a systems person, I don't do tech. There's so many stories around that, that it is a barrier for people. They don't want to navigate it because they have the belief that it is too difficult. So it's definitely that blend of the two is the sweet spot.

 

Sarah Bushell (22:12)

And I guess every everybody's unique. So you do whatever needs to be done at the time that you know, you're working with them. And I know that you've got a an ease reset, haven't you, which is a five day short audio series that people can listen to to help them get started with this to overcome blocks and move forward with a bit more clarity. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that?

 

Kay (22:20)

Yeah, absolutely. So as you mentioned, it's five days, five audios over the five days and super short, they're less than five minutes because again, it's not about adding something significant else to your plate. It's just a really short, quiet space for you to come into yourself, to start asking yourself those questions, to start learning how to listen to yourself and listen to what it is that you actually want and what potentially is blocking you at that point in time and just giving you some guides to start understanding that and working with that. So it's really short and simple just to bring your awareness and help you move out of any resistance you're feeling.

 

Sarah Bushell (23:20)

Brilliant, that's great. And I'll pop the link to that in the show notes so people can just click and download that straight away. Kay, it's been a pleasure talking to you today. Where can people find you if they want to get in touch?

 

Kay (23:34)

So my website is kandosupport.com with a K. I'm on Facebook as kandosupport and also LinkedIn as KDewar. So happy to, for anyone to reach out and ask any questions they might have after listening to this.

 

Sarah Bushell (23:48)

Brilliant. Thanks ever so much for your time.

 

Kay (23:50)

Thank you.