Amina AlTai on The Ambition Trap: From Burnout to Wholeness |EP 689
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Passion Struck Network
4.9 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amina AlTai, executive coach and author of The Ambition Trap, joins John R. Miles to expose why top achievers burn out despite “having it all.”
They dismantle hustle culture’s grip, swap wound-driven ambition for gift-aligned purpose, and unpack Amina’s 3 E’s (Excellence, Enjoyment, Ease) plus the Resentment Line to end self-abandonment.
From her near-death wake-up to systemic ambition penalties, they prove rest is resistance and wholeness at work heals teams and organizations.
Listen + Watch + Go Deeper
Full shownotes here: https://passionstruck.com/amina-altai-the-ambition-trap/
All episode resources—including guest links, John’s books You Matter, Luma and Passion Struck, The Ignited Life Substack, and the Start Mattering Store—are gathered here:
To learn more about Amina AlTai, visit aminaaltai.com.
🧠 About the Episode
- The Wake-Up Call: How Amina’s workaholism and toxic relationship to success nearly cost her life—and what it took to rebuild both her health and her definition of success.
- Painful vs. Purposeful Ambition: The crucial difference between ambition driven by wounds and ambition driven by purpose—and how to know which one is guiding you.
- The 3 E’s Framework: How identifying what brings Excellence, Enjoyment, and Ease helps you uncover your inner genius and design a life aligned with it.
- The Resentment Line: Why burnout begins when we live below our “resentment line”—and how to set boundaries that honor your worth.
- The Ambition Penalty: How gender, race, and identity shape the way ambition is judged—and why historically excluded groups face a double bind when they strive.
- Rewriting Hustle Culture: Why “working more” doesn’t make you more valuable, and how leaders can redefine productivity through presence and permission.
- Collective Wholeness: What it means to move from individual achievement to collective ambition—a model of success where we rise by being more ourselves, together.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up next on Passion Struck. |
| 0:02.2 | Last year, as I was finishing up the book, I was working seven days a week. |
| 0:05.9 | And now that I had a big burst of energy on the book tour, that finished, I have a bit of a slowdown period. So I've been working three days a week for this. And that to me feels right. Last year, when I was working seven days a week, nobody asked, are you okay? This year, when I'm working three days a week, people are like, are you okay? Yeah, I'm great. But we're so indoctrinated to believe that going 90 miles an hour |
| 0:26.5 | all the time is the way that when somebody slows down to take care of themselves, we think |
| 0:30.1 | that's the problem. I think the biggest lie is that the more you work, the more valuable |
| 0:36.3 | you are. Welcome to Passionstruck. I'm your host, John Miles. |
| 0:40.3 | This is the show where we explore the art of human flourishing |
| 0:44.3 | and what it truly means to live like it matters. |
| 0:47.3 | Each week, I sit down with change makers, creators, scientists, and everyday heroes |
| 0:52.3 | to decode the human experience and uncover the tools that help |
| 0:55.8 | us lead with meaning, heal what hurts, and pursue the fullest expression of who we're capable |
| 1:01.3 | of becoming. Whether you're designing your future, developing as a leader, or seeking deeper |
| 1:06.1 | alignment in your life, this show is your invitation to grow with purpose and act with intention. Because the |
| 1:12.7 | secret to a life of deep purpose, connection, and impact is choosing to live like you matter. |
| 1:26.1 | Hey friends, welcome back to Passion Struck. I'm your host, John Miles, and this is episode |
| 1:31.3 | 689, where science meets soul, where data becomes devotion, and where we turn the invisible threads |
| 1:39.0 | of human connection into superpowers you can feel in your bones. We're in week two of our series, |
| 1:45.1 | Irreplaceables, |
| 1:46.6 | rediscovering human worth in an age of acceleration. |
| 1:49.8 | If this podcast has ever inspired you |
| 1:51.9 | or helped you live and lead more intentionally, |
| 1:54.7 | here are two quick ways to help it grow. |
... |
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