Do you find yourself going full speed ahead all week, only to crash the moment Friday evening hits? Matthew Cooke is a nervous system expert who coaches senior leaders to find sustainable success by working with their physiology. Matthew is also the founder of Body-Based Breakthrough, a leading somatic coaching program designed to teach nervous system literacy.

In this episode, Matthew shares his personal story of hitting burnout at 24, dives into how this age of "Computer Consciousness" is driving the mistaken belief that humans can run like machines, and shares how this damages our wellbeing and our performance – showing that we cannot override our biology without consequence.

We explore why so many high-performers live in a state of "Functional Freeze," going through the motions of leadership while totally disconnected from their physical selves, and how the science of the "Window of Tolerance" can bring your nervous system back to a responsive state.

Matthew argues that the future of work depends on "nervous system literacy," teaching us how to balance "directed attention" with necessary states of rest and creativity.

You will leave this conversation with a practical understanding of how to read your body’s signals. Matthew also shares a simple, 10-second "Orientation" tool to help you reset immediately, which, trust us, really works!

Find out more about Sarah and Matthew's Nervous System Summit here.

You can connect with Sarah on her website, on LinkedIn and Instagram, or by subscribing to Sarah's Field Notes newsletter.

If you’d like to revisit this conversation, you can check out the transcript here.

Production support from Ollie Peart at Rethink Audio & Alice Giuditta

If you’ve ever looked around and thought, “there’s GOT to be a better way of doing this,” you’re not alone.

We Don’t Have to Live Like This invites you into conversations that challenge the status quo of how we work, lead and live, offering alternative perspectives on creating more fulfilling lives and a more functional society.

Sarah Thorpe Scott Sarah is an Executive coach, Founder of Thorpe Scott Coaching & Advisory. Previously Managing Director, EMEA of The New York Times, she now works with corporate leaders, investors, and multigenerational family enterprises to tackle complex challenges, prepare the next generation of leadership, and drive meaningful impact.

Sarah is joined by global leaders in their fields, to explore the systems – corporate, societal, and personal – that often fail us, and reimagine how they could better serve us.

If you’re looking for honest, human conversations to improve how you work, lead and live, and build a better world for generations to come – then you’re in the right place.