Burnout is a factor. Let’s be honest with each other for a second: most media professionals I know are really bad at unplugging. And yes, I am looking square in the mirror when I say that.
We are a breed of people conditioned to treat every text notification like an active air-studio fire. We call it “staying on top of things,” but it’s actually just an addiction to the noise.
But if you are redlining your personal engine 24/7/365, your team is not getting a sharp, strategic leader. They are getting a jittery, short-fused version of you running on pure caffeine and adrenaline. And let’s be totally honest — if your team is not the one getting hit with that short fuse, the people you care about most at home probably are. You cannot pour from an empty cup.
Your Most Critical Asset
Today, we are putting the spreadsheets aside to talk about the most critical asset in your entire operation: your mental battery. And the only way to keep it charged is by finding, and fiercely protecting, your Happy Place.
For me, that reset button is at the lake.
There is something transformative about trading glowing screens for wide-open blue skies, the smell of the outdoors, and a night sky packed with a million stars. It is the absolute antithesis of the media cycle. Just water and trees.
And before you write this off as a touchy-feely speech, it’s actually hard science. Psychologists and neurologists study this under what is known as Attention Restoration Theory (ART). The corporate media grind requires constant “directed attention” — an unnatural, exhausting type of mental focus that literally wears out the prefrontal cortex. Nature, on the other hand, triggers what they call “soft fascination.” Doctors have proven that stepping outside drops cortisol levels almost instantly and resets your capacity for creative problem-solving. You literally think better when you stop thinking for a minute.
You Need Training Wheels
But actually disconnecting is hard for us. We need training wheels. So here is a fun, encouraging challenge for the next time you try to slip away.
Start small: let your phone die. Seriously. Don’t panic-scramble for a charger cord the second the battery bar turns red. Let it slip down to 2%, watch the screen go entirely black, and just let it stay dead. Now, resist the temptation to hurl that $1,000 piece of glass into the water. You need to stop just short of skipping it like a flat stone across the lake — even though we’ve all wanted to. Just lay it down on a table and walk away.
I saw an Instagram meme the other day that perfectly nails the boundary we need to set. It showed a picture of a breathtaking, quiet landscape with the caption:
“This is my happy place. Don’t f it up.”* (There’s a country lyric in there somewhere)
It made me laugh, but it’s a profound rule for survival. The only person who can ruin your happy place is you by inviting the office back into it. If you sit by the water but keep your Apple Watch buzzed with email alerts, you haven’t left the station. You just changed your coordinate location.
If you want to protect your happy place and actually return to your team — and your family — at 100%, here is your playbook for a true disconnect:
- The Digital Air-Gap: When your phone dies, leave it dead for a few hours. Set a definitive out-of-office message that empowers your team to handle things without you. If everything collapses because you took 24 hours offline, you don’t have a vacation problem — you have a delegation and alignment problem. Trust your people to keep the ship afloat.
- Lean Into the Soft Fascination: Find an activity that forces your brain to stay present. Whether it’s sitting on a dock with a cold drink, fishing, or just looking at the stars, pick something that demands you look up, not down.
- Treat Rest Like Prep: We spend hours prepping for morning shows, programming clocks, and client pitches. Start treating your downtime with that same level of respect. Schedule it. Protect it. Make it non-negotiable.
Our industry will happily take every single ounce of energy you are willing to give it until there’s nothing left. Don’t let it.
Find your lake. Let your phone die. Lock down your boundaries and protect your happy place like your career depends on it — because it does. (Though honestly, I am a little curious how many smartphones are currently lying at the bottom of the lake, right next to all those lost pairs of sunglasses).
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As the Executive Director of Programming & Operations for Pamal Broadcasting, Kevin Callahan oversees 25 stations across five markets, including the company’s four Country brands. An award-winning brand specialist, Kevin is a passionate advocate for talent development, dedicated to mentoring personalities and restoring our medium to its most vibrant, high-impact form. His career is highlighted by 12 years as Audacy’s West Coast Regional VP of Programming for the Country format, where he managed premier brands across major markets including San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix, Riverside and more. Today, Kevin balances his corporate leadership with his role as President of Sonic Maple Media, serving as a fractional executive advisor to broadcast leadership and fractional programmer and talent coach to broadcasters nationwide. He can be reached at kevin@pamal.com
