From Burnout To Brilliance – Exclusive Interview With Aditi Kumar
- Oct 30, 2023
- 5 min read
In a world overflowing with hustle culture and the paradoxical 'busyness trap', Aditi Kumar arises as an influential leader from Sydney, Australia. Her mission is to support women to reach their full potential, shatter glass ceilings, and align with their purpose. Aditi's journey is multifaceted, spanning the landscapes of Education and Corporate Finance, into the Coaching & Personal Development World. Her pivotal transformation from burnout to brilliance forms the foundation for her Mindset Coaching, which is described as a unique fusion of Neuroscience, Positive Psychology, and energetics. Aditi is passionate about supporting high-achieving, impact-driven women to overcome chronic stress and rewrite the script for their success.
Aditi Kumar, Mindset & Empowerment Coach
Tell our readers something unique about you that we may not know.
Aditi is an Indian name that means "Freedom", "Limitless" and "Boundless". It deeply resonates with my energy, my top values, and more importantly my mission. I'm passionate about helping young women achieve inner freedom, rediscover their potential, and live an extraordinary life without limitations.
Your passion shines through your work. Where has this come from?
My educational pathway led me to university, where I enrolled in a degree in Education and Psychology. This sparked my deep curiosity to explore early childhood education, cognitive development, and the power of the mind. However, I quickly realised that the avenue of a traditional classroom teacher did not completely align with my desire to create an impact on a larger scale. This inner knowing and desire for something grander was a constant presence while growing up. I have always known that my soul's work is to help and educate others in some capacity. I am grateful that coaching beautifully encapsulates this.
Your transformation from burnout to brilliance is a profound part of your journey. Tell us about this!
My early career commenced in the corporate world at the young age of 17, working within the finance industry. I was quickly confronted by feelings of stress, overwhelm, and workaholism. My journey directed me away from the corporate landscape for a brief period where I pursued a different business, only to face similar challenges and experience the profound limitations of my own restrictive beliefs. I later returned to the corporate world where I experienced what many would describe as the pinnacle of my career. Within 9 months, I had been promoted from associate to team leader, followed by a secondment managing a national team as the youngest leader. From an external lens, my career appeared to be rapidly advancing with success and recognition. While I am incredibly grateful for this period, it brought with it immense stress, isolation, fatigue, and several personal challenges. The demands of the role sparked a decline in my well-being, and at first, it was gradual, but suddenly I did not recognise myself. Burnout took a toll on my health and I began to feel stuck and hopeless. The conclusion of my secondment served as a beautiful awakening and ego dissolution, where to my surprise there wasn't a permanent management role available for me. Although this was challenging to navigate, it was a beautiful reminder that one's health should never be taken for granted, and more importantly, work should never take precedence over your well-being. During this time, I was also confronted by a life-changing health scare, which was pivotal to my journey. I was hospitalised three times within a week. I faced severe chest pain, a rapid resting heart rate, and aggressive palpitations, which prompted several tests in desperate search of answers – including various blood tests, countless ECGs, and even a CT scan. Despite the fear, I found hope within, and I knew that this was yet another beautiful wake-up call. It was a reminder of how fragile and precious one's health is, but also a significant indicator of the impact of chronic stress. It served as a profound push towards living in alignment. Shortly after this, I began the process of reinventing myself, following an inner calling and realigning my whole life – a process of complete surrender to the intuitive guidance received from within. I believe everything happens for us (not to us) and even the most challenging experiences offer contrast, perspective, protection, and redirection.
What advice would you give to someone feeling stressed, stuck, or out of alignment?
It is never too late to reinvent yourself or change the trajectory of your life. A life in alignment with your purpose and core values is always worth the risk. From a Neuroscience perspective, it's important to understand that feeling 'stuck' can be linked to the presence of longstanding neural pathways in the brain that keep you living in an automatic habitual state. 95% of the brain's activity is unconscious, which means that most of your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, behaviour, and actions are beyond your conscious awareness. The average person has between 60,000 - 70,000 thoughts per day and 90% of these thoughts are the same as the day before, so it makes sense if the repetitious cyclical nature of your unconscious thoughts or emotions leaves you feeling somewhat stuck. Breaking the cycle of unconscious habits requires a mindful decision to do so, but what often prevents one from doing this is the limiting beliefs that hold you back. Most of your belief system is formed between the ages of 0-7 while your brain is in an early developmental stage. During this time your brain is like a sponge, and you absorb everything you witness as truth. This includes your childhood observations about work, success, money, love, relationships, and more. Through my work, I've discovered that ambitious high achievers typically have deep unconscious childhood programming and a skewed perception of success, which results in greater susceptibility to feelings of stress, burnout, "being stuck" or living out of alignment in the pursuit of success. If you wish to create sustainable change, my advice is to become aware of your habits and make a conscious effort to interrupt these patterns. Focus on identifying your core values so you can begin to live in alignment with them and I highly recommend working with a Mindset Coach to help you review your 'blueprint of success'. This is your unique perception of what success is, including what it looks like, feels like, how it must be attained, and what you believe is available for you to achieve.
How can our readers cultivate a growth mindset and overcome limiting beliefs?
Embrace challenges as an opportunity for growth and begin to view effort, resilience, and commitment as your path to self-mastery. Challenge limiting beliefs by seeking counterevidence and reframe negative self-talk by using "not yet" language, rather than definitive "I can't" terminology. Research into belief formation indicates that beliefs can be updated by confirming or disproving new evidence. Keep a journal of your most predominant limiting beliefs and begin to cultivate a list where you reframe these beliefs into a modified empowering version. Then build your library of evidence to support your new belief system, by journaling, visualising, or enjoying new experiences that support the life you wish to create. I delve deeper into this in my Mindset Mastery Program.
What are your favourite stress management practices?
I love to focus on practices that promote my parasympathetic nervous system response, such as Meditation and Breathwork. I recommend guided meditation tracks for beginners! Mindfulness is something I try to incorporate frequently, and this can be as simple as mindful eating, going for a walk, or simply slowing down and leaning into the gift of presence.
How can women work with you?
To explore the path towards living in alignment, join Aditi's 6 Week Program aptly titled 'Mindset Mastery' - a fusion of Neuroscience, Positive Psychology & Energetics, to help you Master Your Inner World. You can also grab her free values workbook and her best-selling ebook 'Empowered' here. Aditi also offers Private Coaching and the application form can be located on her website.
