Sarah London was tapped to lead healthcare company Centene in 2022, making her the youngest woman ever named CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
One of the biggest lessons she’s learned since then is the importance of balance, she told Julia Boorstin on the latest episode of the “CNBC Changemakers and Power Players” podcast.
London “barely saw my kids for the first nine months” after becoming CEO, she said. She stopped waking up at 4 a.m. every day to read a binder full of materials and exercise.
“Work took precedence over everything else, including my family,” she said.
Riding in the car with her children caused London to reevaluate her work-life balance. “I realized it was the first time I drove my kids to school all year,” she recalled. “They asked me about work, and one of them said, ‘What’s going on? You seem really stressed.'”
That was London’s “first clue” that her children were aware of how taxing her job was on her, she said.
She recognized that she was suffering from burnout, which she said manifested itself in London as a “depletion of energy.” Additionally, she realized that her demanding schedule was “not really improving my ability to do my job,” she said.
London then worked with an executive coach to revise her routines and priorities, figuring out what she needed to do to cope with stress and “tackle work and challenges every day,” she said.
Secure non-negotiable time
Many high achievers fall into the trap of sacrificing their happiness for work, executive coach Alison Tibbs told CNBC Make It in September. “They believe that in order to be productive, they have to work late at night or early in the morning, or skip lunch, or do all these things,” Tibbs says.
Self-care is a top priority for the most successful clients, Tibbs added. “Their performance, creativity, leadership, self-confidence, and relationships are greatly influenced by how they care for themselves.”
While some people view having a busy schedule as a badge of honor, it can actually get in the way of achieving your goals, career coach Megan Hellerer told CNBC Make It in January.
She recommends checking your calendar and noting which activities or obligations are overwhelming you or making you feel stressed or anxious, and reducing the amount of time you spend on those tasks. “We have to let go of what’s draining us,” Hellerer said, to make room for things that feel meaningful and fulfilling.
Part of London’s solution to burnout, she told Boorstin, was to make exercise and rest a non-negotiable part of her routine.
To continue self-care, London has had to “stay pretty disciplined” with her schedule, she said.
Reading fiction (mainly mystery and romance novels) is another “big outlet” in London, she told Boorstin. There is a “direct correlation” between her sense of well-being and “the amount of good books she has to read.”
London said, “I wouldn’t say I’m perfect” when it comes to prioritizing my health. But her priority is “creating balance in my life.”
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