Drive an hour to work in heavy traffic. Get into the office and syphon through your e-mails, making sure to respond to every single one before the first meeting of the day. Have the meeting. Schedule another. Head back into the office and clear those new e-mails. Take some calls. Write some notes from the meeting before you head into the next one. Wrap up the last project. Get started on the next one. Eat a sandwich while catching up on e-mails. Get some work done. Check your e-mails one last time. Drive home in the same traffic from this morning. Cook a nutritious meal. Spend some quality time with your family. Check your e-mails (this is definitely the last time tonight). Go to bed.
Then get up the next morning and do it all over again.
Oh, and don’t forget to get some good sleep, and have a life outside work.
Before long, you’re going to join the 26% of workers who suffer from burnout and its various symptoms. It doesn’t matter how much you love your job, or how much value you think you’re providing by working so hard; push yourself to the limits, and you’re going to break.
“Well yeah, of course,” you’re probably thinking to yourself right now. That’s not new information. In fact, those in this position often wear their stress as a badge of honour, as if others should be in awe of how committed they are.
We’ve built a culture around it. The internet was designed to keep us together, but has mutated into an excuse for why we can never be apart.
Yet it’s not the fault of modern communications that we look at burnout as some kind of bizarre accomplishment. Such attitudes were noted as far back as the 1800s, when burnout was classified by another name: neurasthenia.
Neurasthenics suffered from a range of symptoms, from ‘nervous exhaustion’ to cold feet. Standard treatment included months of bed rest, two litres of milk a day, and beef tea.
Such famous sufferers included Oscar Wilde, who declared “I am now neurasthenic. My doctor says I have all the symptoms. It is comforting to have them all; it makes one a perfect type”.
Virginia Woolf threatened to jump out the window after following all the steps for a cure, praising the “sick” as unique and strong compared to the “army of the upright”.
For all the good humour and prideful acclaim, burnout is a very serious condition. Over half of medical professionals suffer from it. Around 10% have suicidal thoughts. In the US, at least one doctor kills themselves every day. 75% of school principals suffer burnout (paywall), while teachers are the most likely professionals to leave their industry before the age of 30 due to the impact of the condition.
Working so hard that you can no longer physically or emotionally continue should not be something you aim for, but aim to avoid. The truth is, in this time of unprecedented freedom and opportunity, we can’t blame technology, or culture, or expectation, without blaming ourselves for submitting to it.
As leaders, we must set the precedent. Encourage those you work with to find opportunities to recharge their mental energy rather than working to the point of exhaustion, even just for small periods of time. Reward hard work by giving employees a chance to take stock of what they have accomplished. Take the time to let them know they’re valued, and that if they have any issues, your door is always open.
If you feel burnout creeping up, just pause. Take a break, or a long weekend. The truth is, we’re all a little less vital in the grand scheme of things than we’d like to think. If we can acknowledge that, we can make our impact last. In the end, that’s what will truly matter.