I made a rookie business mistake when I started my consulting business. I was still working full time in my 9-5 on a hospital neuroscience team, and using all my free time to start my side hustle: figuring out how to design my website on my lunch break, staying up past midnight writing emails, and using every vacation day, weekend, and even some sick days to see clients.

Then one day, I put my then-two-year-old daughter in the bathtub half-dressed, then locked myself in a stairwell. Twice. In the same week.

I had burnt out my brain—a rookie mistake, especially for a neuroscientist.

I knew that my schedule wasn’t sustainable. So I had the brilliant idea to hire support—and that makes sense right? I have 230 things on my to-do list. It’s impossible for me to do them all. I’ll hire help. (Here comes rookie mistake #2.)

So I hired one assistant to help with my podcast and a second one to help create social media posts. It was a disaster! I was more stressed out and overwhelmed than ever—and it was my own fault.

My assistants were great. They did exactly what I asked of them. My brain was the problem. I’d brought all my bad productivity........

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