Guy Winch — internationally renowned psychologist and author of Mind Over Grind — joins Dr. Dan for a masterclass in taking radical responsibility for your emotional health. From his own burnout in private practice to helping five clients navigate workplace toxicity throughout his new book, Guy delivers battle-tested strategies for rumination, stress reframing, and mental detachment from work. With his signature blend of compassion and tough love, Guy dismantles myths about stress ("It's not an 11 — be nuanced"), reveals why we do "unpaid overtime" by replaying arguments for three hours, and shares the simple-but-powerful interventions that take one minute but change everything: making your bed, changing clothes, putting "Rest and Recharge" in your calendar.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Why emotional health requires doing the opposite of what feels natural in the moment
How mental detachment from work is the critical first step to recovery and resilience
The calendar technique that helps you actually rest and recharge
Why healing from heartbreak or burnout is a fight, not a journey—and how to win it
The language shift from "I don't have time" to "I don't make time" and why it matters
How Guy's identical twin brother inspired his commitment to impact through psychology
LEARN MORE
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February 12, 2026
Guy Winch
Mind Over Grind: How to Beat Burnout, Rumination, and Workplace Stress
"Getting over heartbreak is not a journey. It's not this pretty thing. It's a fight. And you have to fight it all the time, every day at the beginning, every minute."
TIMESTAMPS
02:28 – Twin psychologists: Guy and his identical twin brother both independently chose psychology
04:56 – Guy's brother's company: Hiring people with severe disabilities, creating emotional adaptations (not just physical)
07:22 – Emotional health work is uncomfortable: Disengage autopilot, do the opposite of what you feel like doing
10:14 – Work stress infects your home: Your partner can develop burnout symptoms from your work stress
11:58 – Work stress happens when you leave work: That's when you process (and ruminate about) the day
17:48 – Burnout recovery: First order of business is recover, not assess (you don't have emotional data to assess)
21:53 – Defining rumination: Replaying upset vs. productive problem-solving (one makes you feel worse, one eases distress)
28:57 – Guy's rumination practice: Catch it fast, develop disdain ("Get out, I'm not doing that"), use distraction
SHOW NOTES
In this eye-opening interview, Dr. Dan Peters talks with internationally renowned psychologist Guy Winch to explore how emotional health, rumination, and chronic stress quietly hijack our lives highlighting that burnout doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t stay at work when the workday ends. Dr. Dan and Guy also discuss his new book Mind Over Grind: How To Break Free When Work Hijacks Your Life.
Guy shares why burnout clouds our judgment, why rumination is one of the most damaging (and overlooked) habits in modern work culture, and how emotional health skills can prevent anxiety and depression before they become clinical. Dr. Dan and Guy unpack the science behind mental detachment, responsibility-taking, and why recovery not productivity must come first.
On this episode listeners will learn practical, science-backed strategies to break the cycle of rumination and mental replay, recover from burnout, create psychological boundaries when working from home and reclaim evenings/relationships/personal identity from work.
LINKS & RESOURCES
Guy Winch
TED Talks — Available on guywinch.com and TED.com
Books
Mind Over Grind: How to Break Free When Work Hijacks Your Life by Guy Winch
Winning with Underdogs by Gil Winch (Guy's twin brother who founded CY)
Key Concepts from the Episode
"If you're still thinking about work, you're still at work"
Language reframe: "I don't make time for X" vs "I don't have time for X"
Emotional health requires disengaging autopilot and doing the opposite of what feels natural
Healing is a fight, not a journey—set expectations for uncomfortable work
Recovery requires first mentally detaching from work before you can reconnect to life
Your brain takes calendars seriously—use them to commit to rest and recharge
GUEST BIO
Guy Winch, PhD, is an internationally renowned psychologist, author, and advocate for integrating emotional health into daily life. His science-based self-help books have been translated into 30 languages. His three viral TED Talks have garnered over 35 million views. He advises startups in the mental health space, has worked with the US and UK governments, and created emotional health programs for Fortune 500 companies. He is co-host of the AMBE-nominated podcast Dear Therapists and maintains a private practice in Manhattan. His new book is Mind Over Grind: How to Break Free When Work Hijacks Your Life.
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