Share the Mental Load
How to Get Your Partner To Actually Own Their Share
with Zach Watson, M Ed
The work of raising kids and running a household goes far beyond the chores you can see. There’s also the constant noticing, remembering, planning, anticipating, and following up — the invisible “mental load” that so often falls disproportionately on moms.
Mental Load Coach Zach Watson joins Renee to unpack why “helping out” isn’t the same as truly sharing the load, what it looks like for a partner to take full ownership of their responsibilities, and how couples can start making that shift without every conversation turning into an argument.
Zach Watson is the leading male voice on invisible labor. A coach, content creator, and educator specializing in mental load, he has built an audience of more than 1.4 million people across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. His work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Forbes, New York Magazine, and Upworthy. His first book, A Better Way to Do Better, is forthcoming from Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in 2027.
Before becoming a coach, Zach was a math teacher with a Master’s in Education, a background that shapes his signature approach: named frameworks, structured tools, and real examples instead of lectures. He is a certified Fair Play Facilitator, works with men directly through his coaching community Mental Load Mastery, and speaks regularly at national conferences including Mom 2.0, the Bigger Life Summit, and The Happy Mom Summit.
Zach’s work began with his own marriage. After years of believing he was an equal partner while his wife carried the family’s mental load, a separation forced him to confront what he wasn’t seeing. He started documenting what he learned in short videos, one small moment at a time, and men and women alike recognized themselves in them. His message is consistent: awareness is the starting point, not the finish line.