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Have you ever encountered a coworker who drains your energy, pushes your buttons, or just rubs you the wrong way? You don’t have to like everyone you work with, but you do need strategies to protect your focus, energy, and professionalism.

In this episode of The Brain Coach podcast, executive function coach Mary Turos breaks down how to work with people you don’t like without being fake, self-sacrificing, or emotionally exhaust yourself.

Drawing on principles from neuroscience, psychology, and coaching, Mary reframes these potentially awkward interoffice situations as skill-building opportunities rather than personal failures. Learn how to identify a long-term goal (effective collaboration vs. low-stress coexistence), shift interactions from personal to task-oriented, set clear boundaries without drama, and conserve your mental energy.

The episode offers three realistic workplace scenarios—talkative coworkers, passive-aggressive comments, and personality clashes—and offers calm, practical responses for each.

Office relationships are not about forced friendliness, instead the focus should be on emotional regulation and protecting your executive functions so you can do your best work.

For more information, visit www.braincogcoach.com

We’ve all done it—laughed at jokes we don’t understand, forced eye contact when it feels uncomfortable, or said we’re “fine” while feeling completely overwhelmed.

Maybe you even feel like you have a “work self,” a “family self,” and a “real self.” These patterns might be signs of masking.

In this week’s episode of The Brain Coach podcast, brain coach Mary Turos explores how and why we mask in social situations, and why it’s especially common for people who are neurodivergent (autism, ADHD, etc.) or who have a history of trauma.

Mary breaks down:

• Social, emotional, and sensory masking
• The impact: exhaustion, burnout, anxiety, and feeling fake or misunderstood
• Trauma-based masking and people-pleasing
• Realistic, gentle ways to start unmasking and setting healthier boundaries while still feeling safe

If you’ve ever wondered why you feel drained after social interactions or why different people seem to know different “versions” of you, this episode will help you understand what’s going on beneath the surface, and what you can do about it.

For more information, visit www.braincogcoach.com