The Problem of Burnout
Burnout has become so pervasive among workers that it hardly needs an introduction. According to a survey from Indeed, burnout is on the rise, with 52% of participants reporting burnout in 2020. In fact, “burnout” even made the short list of Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year for 2021.
To create a shared context for burnout with regard to our framework, we will look at it through the lens of occupational burnout. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a clear set of criteria for defining occupational burnout, comprised of the following three components:
(1) Emotional exhaustion
(2) Depersonalization
(3) Reduced personal efficacy
It’s important to keep in mind that burnout is a spectrum, not a binary. Early warning signs can include excessive drive or ambition, difficulty setting boundaries at work, or issues with prioritizing tasks. In extreme cases, however, symptoms become much more severe, such as anxiety attacks, gastrointestinal issues, or feeling completely withdrawn from the world around you; there is no limit to the way burnout can affect workers. In some cases, burnout can escalate to stress-induced physical symptoms such as heart conditions and even suicide, with workplace stress being linked to at least 120,000 deaths annually.
From eating to sleeping to working, we don’t execute our tasks for survival when our minds and bodies feel prepared to do so, but when time dictates performance and action, causing deep internal misalignment.
”It’s time to wake up,” not “I’m rested enough to wake up."
"It’s time to start work,” not “I’m in a present, focused mindset to work."
"It’s time to exercise,” not “I have the energy to exercise."
"It’s time to take a break,” not “I’m ready to take a break."
"It’s time to sit down for dinner,” not “I’m hungry for dinner now."
"It’s time to…,” not “My body is informing me to…”
Since the advent of the sundial, we have conjured ever more technological “advancements” to optimize our human ability, energy, and skill against a relentlessly ticking 24-hour cycle: lightbulbs, watches, schedulers, time cards, instant coffee, assembly lines, computers, software, software, software, and more software.
The language of increasing speed is prolifically ingrained into the language of work. How often do you use the following phrases during your day?
ASAP
Right away
Right now
Be right there
One sec!
Two minutes!
End of day (EOD)
Optimize
Accelerate
Pick up the pace
Increase velocity
Execute
Deadline
Hurry up!
Our lives revolve around the constant measurement of deliverables, and as we see quite often, the more delivered, the better. But where does the language of speed intersect with the language of quality, creativity, engagement, and happiness? Who determined that more delivered equals better? What of the above common speed-of-work vernacular elicits joy, inspiration, connection? How can we be confident that working faster yields more work completed and not more work created (i.e., mistakes, bugs, oversights, etc.)? Lastly, what is the root cause of this accelerated pace? Is this imposed by the industry, leadership, or peers? Or do we impose it on ourselves because of perceived external pressure?
This isn’t to say that time is the enemy, or that moving quickly never has merit. Self-kindness, growth, and improvement are rarely served well by blanket generalizations and absolutes. Time is an incredibly precious resource, and tracking it has a lot of obvious value as well. We synchronize our activities, entertainment, family visits, holidays, celebrations, ceremonies, and many other coordinated positive experiences around the time. How we leverage our time and acknowledge our individual relationship to it is the differentiator between overstuffing our days and creating a habit of hurrying, which leads to burnout, or living in a way that is conducive to productivity, work/life balance, and contentment.
Reaching the point in 2020 when more than half of every other worker was burning out can’t be traced back to a single universal cause. While some factors may have a bigger impact than others (e.g., a global pandemic), typically, a progression of compounding pressures, incidents, and events all make up the chemical composition that leads to the final blow – the detonation of the burnout bomb.
While it can’t be guaranteed that people will be able to dodge burnout for their entire lives, it can certainly be avoided as a cyclical routine and side effect of simply participating in the modern-day workforce. The most effective way to prevent these episodes is to notice the warning signs of burnout as they arise and respond to those signals with intention and priority.
A non-exhaustive list of the most common signs of burnout include:
- Ceasing to exercise
- Lack of hygiene
- Drastic change in sleeping patterns
- Forgoing recreational habits/activities that were once enjoyed
- Extensive/long-term lack of energy and exhaustion
- Not reserving time to rest and recover consistently
- Feeling a distance or increasing disconnection from friends, family, coworkers, and others in general
- Pursuit and expectation of perfection in all work
- Negative overreactions to unexpected changes and challenges
- Decrease in health/increase in frequency of sickness
- Low self-esteem, confidence, and/or sense of productivity
- Decrease in productivity and loss of focus
- Increased cynicism or annoyance with everyday situations
- Feelings of depression and absenteeism
- Increased and/or prolonged feelings of anxiety
- Difficulty sleeping
This section of the Developer Health OS corresponds to Cerebral Calisthenics #2 Identifying Your Level of Burnout in the DHOS Workbook