Overcoming Fawning: How to Set Boundaries in Your Career
About the episode
Here, we explore:
- What the fawn trauma response actually looks like in high-performance careers.
- How to differentiate your adult self from the "exile" parts of you that learned people-pleasing as a survival mechanism.
- Tactical ways to set boundaries and pause before you say "yes."
- How to detach from the outcome when setting boundaries (spoiler: their reaction is theirs, not yours).
- Moving toward a freer, more fulfilled life by embracing authentic relationships
Timestamps:
01:17 Personal Story: Hannah's Workplace Fawning
02:45 Defining Fawning & Why It Happens
03:38 Taking Action: Stopping the Cycle
04:42 Why We Self-Gaslight at Work
06:15 The IFS Approach to People-Pleasing
07:00 Managers vs. Exiles: How Our Parts Work
08:30 Connecting Old Survival Strategies to Today
09:15 The Power of the Pause
10:33 How to Find "Expanders" to Model Boundaries
12:30 Detaching from Other People's Reactions
14:10 Why This Work is Uncomfortable (But Worth It)
15:10 The Freedom of Authentic Relationships
15:55 The "Cruise Ship" Analogy for Change
16:18 Life & Work Transformation Program Info
Hi there, I'm Hannah
Executive Coach, podcaster, speaker, writer, and builder of big f*cking Dreams. My mission? To help ambitious professionals build self-acceptance, self-trust in their careers.

The Ultimate Career Confidence Course
Discover how to show up with more confidence in high-pressure meetings, advocate for yourself at work, and be the leader you know you can be.


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