How Good Can It Get

This week's episode is another special reshare from the vault—one that feels just as relevant today as it did when it first aired. Bree sits down with entrepreneur and business coach Ina Coveney to explore what happens when you're forced to rethink your career, your identity, and the stories you've been telling yourself about success. After being passed over for a promotion while on maternity leav...

This week's episode is a special reshare from the vault — and one of the most listened-to conversations in the show's history. Bree sits down with Christy Bowman-White, who went from middle school dropout and teenage parent to principal of a Distinguished School in Washington state... and then burned out completely. Christy's story centers on a metaphor that's stuck with Bree ever since this conve...

Something big is coming. Bree is pulling back the curtain on what the How Good Can It Get? team has been quietly building behind the scenes — and it might be the most exciting thing this podcast has ever produced. New guests. New series. Conversations so good she almost cried in the recording booth. Tune in to hear what's on the way and why the wait is going to be very, very worth it. The best is...

We've regulated. We've rewired. Now it's time to take your agency back. In the final installment of the Work Isn't Working series, Bree introduces the third step of the Work Recovery Method: Reclaim. This episode is an honest look at the "good enough" zone so many high-achieving women quietly settle into, the victimhood cycle that keeps us pointing outward instead of turning the mirror around, and...

Most of the rules running your life were written before you were old enough to question them. In this episode, Bree introduces the second step of the Work Recovery Method — REWIRE — and breaks down the invisible operating system underneath all of our behavior: your ABCs (agreements, beliefs, and conditioning). If you've ever changed jobs and still ended up in the same cycle or pattern of dissatisf...

Work Isn't Working, Now What? Part 4: Regulate When work stops working, the instinct is to think harder, plan faster, and do more. But what if the doing is exactly what's keeping you stuck? In part four of the Work Isn't Working series, Bree introduces the foundational step most high achievers skip entirely: regulation. Before strategy, before decisions, before any meaningful next step, your nervo...

What happens when the thing you built your entire identity around disappears? In this episode of Work Isn't Working, Bree gets personal — sharing how the intoxicating elixir of career success quietly consumed her identity through her twenties and into her thirties, until the whole thing came crashing down and forced her to ask the hardest question: Who am I without my work? This is the episode for...

How Work Is Quietly Harming You — Physically, Mentally & Emotionally Part of the Work Isn't Working series on the How Good Can I Get? podcast In this episode, host and former employment attorney digs past the surface-level conversation about workplace stress to expose the measurable, documented ways chronic work pressure is harming your body, reshaping your brain, and eroding your relationship...

New Series: Work Isn't Working...And It's Not Just You Episode #1 Burnout gets all the attention — but what if it's not actually the root problem? In this episode, host Bree Johnson digs into why treating burnout like a time management or resilience issue keeps you stuck in the same cycle, and what's really going on underneath the surface. If you've tried all the "fixes" and still feel off, this o...

What if the life you've been working so hard to build is actually getting in the way of living it? In this personal episode, Bree reflects on a cultural conditioning that keeps so many of us perpetually future-focused — always planning, optimizing, and preparing — while the richness of ordinary life quietly slips by. Influenced by the recent passing of her 94-year-old grandfather, Bree shares an h...

Episode 125: C'est la Vie – A Spring Restart Spring isn't just a season change—it's an invitation. Q1 has been rough for many of us. Work let us down. The world felt heavy. We carried burdens that weren't ours to carry. But what if you could give yourself permission to let it all go and start fresh? This episode reframes "c'est la vie"—not as resignation, but as permission. Bree explores why sprin...

Business is unusual and it's not just you that sees it. The work machine is operating exactly as designed. In this episode, Bree challenges the belief that burnout, exhaustion, and disillusionment are personal failures, revealing instead how modern work systems are built on extraction. This conversation reframes the “rat race” and our pervasive work hard until retirement conditioning — and invites...

In this episode, Bree Johnson reflects on the instability many people are feeling in 2026—from rapid AI-driven changes in work to political volatility and the growing sense that systems we once relied on are less predictable. When structures feel unstable, the nervous system naturally searches for certainty. That uncertainty often shows up as irritability, anxiety, or a constant sense that somethi...

In this deeply personal episode, Bree Johnson shares the third major lesson from the “Winter of 2026”: the incredible power of community rooted in service. What began with a phone call from a grieving teacher — and a devastating story involving a young student — became a catalyst for Bree’s immersion into community care work across Minnesota. Through rapid mobilization, fundraising, storytelling,...

What happens when the map you’ve followed your entire life suddenly disappears? In this conversation, Bree talks with writer, speaker, and podcast host Heather Morgan to explore what it really looks like to move through a major life reset — divorce, career change, identity loss, and rebuilding from the ground up. Heather shares her journey from Fortune 500 strategist to creator of Wandering the Wi...

Why Courage Isn’t Fearlessness—It’s Action in the Face of Fear In this powerful second lesson from the Winter of 2026 series, Bree Johnson explores what courage really looks like when life feels unstable, overwhelming, and uncertain. We’re often taught that courage belongs to the bold, the confident, the fearless. But real courage? It’s feeling scared out of your mind… and choosing to move forward...

In this deeply personal episode, Bree shares the first lesson from the Winter of ’26: learning that she had been too quiet. After years of compartmentalizing herself to “protect” her growing business, Bree reflects on what it cost her—and her community—to edit her voice, soften her truth, and outsource her authenticity in the name of success. She opens up about leaving the employment law firm she...

What if the leadership skills we’ve been taught to develop are no longer the ones that matter? In this episode, Bree Johnson co-hosts with Andrea Tessier to name what many leaders are quietly feeling as we move toward 2026: the old playbook is breaking down. Strategy isn’t enough. Performance is no longer sustainable. And certainty is gone. Together, they explore what leadership actually requires...

There’s a quote I keep returning to: Some years are questions, and some years are answers. For me, 2025 was an answer year. Not because everything was easy but because the growth was undeniable. In this episode, I share five lived lessons from a year that asked me to stop negotiating with myself, simplify radically, experiment with contentment, trust the timing of the universe, and listen to my in...

The holidays have a way of amplifying what we’ve been carrying all year. In this brief year-end episode, Bree explores why resentment often shows up during the holidays—and why it’s not a personal failure. Drawing on Brené Brown’s research, she unpacks how resentment is frequently rooted in unmet needs and unspoken envy, especially for rest, ease, and space. This episode invites listeners to stop...

We’ve been sold the wrong story about wellbeing. It’s not that leaders don’t care enough. It’s not that they aren’t resilient enough. And it’s definitely not that they need one more productivity hack. The real problem? Leaders are hemorrhaging energy trying to control things that were never theirs to manage in the first place. In this episode, I break down the single biggest barrier to wellbeing I...

Bree discusses transforming work into a craft, emphasizing the need for personal empowerment and the identification of resistance in one's professional life.   She invites listeners to join her Soul Goals workshop 11:30 CST Dec 16 and reflects on her journey of redefining her work to focus on individual needs rather than corporate demands.   Bree encourages listeners to embrace their resistance as...

Bree Johnson hosts guest Stephanie Wall Morrow who advocates for integrating genuine self-care into daily life. They discuss the creation of The Self Care Circle, accessible self-care practices, the significance of mindfulness and intention, and the myths surrounding self-care. Stephanie also shares insights on navigating self-care with ADHD, effective time management strategies, and the importanc...

The often unrecognized burden of meeting others' expectations, particularly for women who are caregivers, is intense and time consuming. Bree reflects on her personal experiences during the holiday season and emphasizes the importance of reclaiming time and energy for oneself.   She encourages listeners to recognize the invisible weight of expectations and to prioritize their own desires and joy,...

Bree addresses the challenges many face during the holiday season, particularly those who feel they are merely surviving rather than thriving. She emphasizes the importance of acknowledging one's struggles and introduces the concept of the wellness wheel, which consists of eight core areas of well-being. Bree advocates for making small, manageable adjustments in life rather than overwhelming yours...