What Is Burnout?
In this blog post, we are going to talk about burnout. Not the thing that you did in your father’s Mustang in the high school parking lot. No, I would like to speak with you about our tendency to allow ourselves to become overworked. I want to start with a personal anecdote, then will discuss some facts about being continuously pushed to the redline. Finally, I hope that you will see that it comes down to the management of our most valuable asset, time.
To begin, I would like to take you back to April of 2015. At the time, I was working for a company that was building, owning, and operating hydrogen fueling stations. During this period, I took my first trip with my boss to visit a site. These initial experiences were exciting and fun. After all, we ate as much sushi as we wanted on the company! However, this was the start of a slow degradation. Think of something like placing a crab into a pot of water and slowly turning up the heat. Eventually, without the crab knowing, the container will be boiling. Well, by February of 2016, I was cooking! I was living in an Air BnB with my boss and several colleagues, working seven days a week and tacking on upwards of 70 hours. This period was burnout at it’s finest.
What people don’t tell you is that several things happen once you surpass 40 hours. The first thing is that productivity decreases. According to a Stanford study, productivity at 60 hours worked in a week is less than two thirds that of someone who works only 40 hours. This effect is primarily due to a decrease in efficiency. On top of that, a study published in the British Medical Journal showed that if we work 49-54 hours per week, our likelihood of risky alcohol consumption increases by 13%. This dangerous consumption is defined as 14 and 21 drinks per week for women and men, respectively. When all of these forces combine, it surely makes for a spoiled quality of life.
An additional factor that can leave us feeling drained and burnt out is our emotional connection to our work. Are we doing the tasks simply to get a paycheck, or can we see the intrinsic value in labor? Are we being pushed to do this as a responsibility, or pulled because it is our calling? It makes sense that we would get tired and worn out when we are forcing ourselves to do things we dislike, or worse yet, hate. Part of our attempt to solve this burnout needs to take into account what thrills and fulfills us. The catch twenty-two is that we are the ones who choose what brings us our feelings of purpose and meaning. We can find it in the most menial and mundane of tasks, but it is a tough choice that has to be born from within at a deep level. The more natural path is to keep trying different positions until we find one that suits us well.
“Just contemplating the energy required to make small talk tired him.” ― Stewart O’Nan
As of late, it seems as though there might be an additional factor that could contribute to feeling emotionally depleted and less than inspired, this being social interaction. Now that we are stuck in an at-home working situation, we do not get the kind of in-person social interaction that may, at one point, have fueled our creativity and inspiration. This emotional and social connection is a fundamental human need. If we are feeling disconnected, lost, alone, uninspired, or less than motivated during these times, it makes sense that we take note of this and add it to our things to be grateful for when we can return to the in-person working environment. Now, of course, each of us has our unique requirement, so some folks might be enjoying the isolation of working from home better than having to muster the energy for human interaction.
Now, to return to my situation in 2016. I felt like I was trapt. I hated my working conditions, and my boss was an overbearing tyrant. I could not reconcile his behavior. So in October of 2016, I quit my first job, with no plans for the future. As frightening as it was, this was my solution. However, I realize that this is not proper for all of us, so what might we be able to do about this sort of situation?
The first thing to ask is, “Do I need to be putting in these sort of hours? Is there an iron fist pushing me to do this, or am I feeling the force of an invisible hand?” If our boss is driving us, perhaps bringing studies like the ones mentioned in this article to their attention will have some impact. As a society, we might take some lessons from other countries. We can look at places like Germany, France, and Belgium, where they work, on average, 35 hours per week. If all of these facts do not sway our leadership, perhaps it is time to begin a career search. After all, what is more important in our life than our time? If someone is not willing to respect that, do we want to give them our most valuable asset?
Because of my experience, I have changed my approach toward my career. The first thing I do when looking for a new position is that I select based on the manager, not the company. We end up spending most of our time taking direction directly from this person, and as a result, they will determine the quality of our experience. Secondly, I don’t give 100% effort right out of the gate. I hold back and show about 60% of my maximum potential. This way, when it comes down to it, and I give 100% performance, it appears as though I am giving 120%. This approach prevents me from hitting the redline too often.
“Burnout is nature’s way of telling you; you’ve been going through the motions your soul has departed; you’re a zombie, a member of the walking dead, a sleepwalker. False optimism is like administrating stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.” - Sam Keen
Now, to conclude, I hope that you have been able to realize that burnout comes down to time management and finding our sense of purpose. If we are aware of the possible negative results along with strategies for its prevention, perhaps we won’t have to face such burnout in the future. If you are feeling overworked, I challenge you to take back control of your life and to plant meaning where you see fit.
“As Aristotle said, ‘Excellence is a habit.’ I would say furthermore that excellence is made constant through the feeling that comes right after one has completed a work which he himself finds undeniably awe-inspiring. He only wants to relax until he’s ready to renew such a feeling all over again because to him, all else has become absolutely trivial.” - Criss Jami
Further Contemplation
Revisit the post focused on our problem of needing to achieve and not knowing what it is that we are supposed to attain in “The Doer’s Dilemma.” If we are wandering about, not feeling inspired, or motivated, perhaps we are not burnt out, but we are simply “stuck.”
“We might put it in this way: “getting stuck” is a typical event which, in the course of time, has evoked typical reactions and compensations.” - CG Jung
This article “A Letter To Those Who Are Feeling Lost or Stuck” explores the notion along with what we might be able to do to continue to move forward. Perhaps if we are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed, we can take a step back and contemplate reality for what it is, which is what the article “A New Type of New Year’s Resolution” attempts to do. This last post can help with motivation by understanding what it is and how to apply it to our lives in the article entitled “Mechanics of Motivation.”