From Panic Attack to Running $60M Team (Calmer Than Ever)

Keith Weightman runs a $60 million sales team at Bullhorn.

He writes two newsletters. His kids play travel soccer.

And he feels calmer now than he did five years ago when he had a third of the workload.

Here's how that happened.

The panic attack

In 2021, Keith had a panic attack.

He was drowning. Overwhelmed. Couldn't delegate. High sense of ownership to the point of detriment.

He had two choices: quit and find something else, or learn how to manage his internal chaos.

He chose the second.

And here's what he realized: 99% of his overwhelm was self-inflicted.

It wasn't the workload. It was how he was working.

Wildly inefficient. No systems. Notifications pulling him in every direction.

So he built two systems that changed everything.

System #1: Eliminate notification hell

Keith turned off all notifications on his phone.

Email? Paused. Checked three times a day. Not constantly.

Slack? He stopped using the desktop version (because you can't turn off the red bubble). Uses the web app in a closed Chrome tab.

The fear: people will think I'm not responding.

The reality: he never missed anything important.

His team knows: if it's urgent, text him. Otherwise, it can wait.

And here's the kicker. He stopped messaging his team after 5pm.

Why? Because if a leader sends messages at 6 or 7pm, reps feel compelled to respond.

Then it becomes a culture of always-on. Nobody can turn off notifications because their leader is messaging them at all hours.

Keith broke that cycle.

System #2: Task manager as a second brain

Keith uses Todoist.

Any thought, idea, or to-do? He immediately puts it in there.

Why? Because keeping stuff in your head is overwhelming.

You're always thinking: I have this proposal. This meeting. This pickup. This follow-up.

The task manager clears his brain. He knows it's captured. He won't forget.

So he can focus on what he's doing right now.

Before this system, if something popped into his head, he'd Slack it to his rep immediately. Just to get it out.

Now? He asks: when's the next time I'm talking to them? Is it urgent?

If not, it goes in Todoist. He'll bring it up in the next one-on-one.

His reps aren't getting pinged constantly. He's not context-switching constantly.

Everyone wins.

The result: tripled workload, calmer mindset

Keith now runs a $60M team. Writes two newsletters. His kids are in travel soccer.

He's doing more than he's ever done.

But he feels calm. Balanced. Present.

Compare that to 2021. Less workload. No newsletters. Younger kids (not in travel sports yet).

But he was drowning.

The difference? Systems.

Call coaching at scale

Keith's team scores 200+ calls per year.

How? Every leader scores one call per week using SalesLoft scorecards.

They share clips in Slack when someone does something well. Reinforces the behavior. Builds a coaching culture.

And here's what Keith sees as the biggest gap in middle-pack reps: sales courage.

They lack poise. They let the customer dictate the process instead of leading it.

Top performers? They say: "Based on what you're saying, here are the next steps. Let's put those in motion."

Middle-pack reps? "What do you think our next steps should be?"

One leads. One follows.

Keith's advice

If you're drowning, 99% of it is self-inflicted inefficiency.

Turn off notifications. Check email 3x/day. Use a task manager.

Stop messaging your team after 5pm.

And build systems that let you breathe.