Burning Out? Work Harder!

Your bosses want you to be intrinsically motivated to go the extra mile, not externally coerced before taking the next step; they want you to courageously innovate, not timidly persevere out of self-preservation; to always be on and up, not put off or weighed down, and can you please do all this while mired in the corporate marinade of superfluous rituals and relentless expectations! Whilst you cannot expect to be on an amphetaminic high every day, neither is it reasonable, or sustainable, for you to be surfing on the precipice of burnout, even at the ostensibly best of times.

Instead of hoping, against all odds, that the sources of stress will retreat faster than your receding hairline, you can consider expending more efforts, energy, and resources on the support side of the seesaw instead.

Many default to making sure that they have time off work but stop short of working on pumping up that rubber raft to gradually mitigate that raging river. Granted, it is already an exertion coming up for a gulp of air, nevertheless, without anchoring onto something more soul reinvigorating, chances are, you will be ensnared back in to the vicious cycle before you feel truly rested.

You don’t need to find the resolve to manifest a full-blown raft right-away, a plank of wood, a solo canoe, or a simple buoyancy aid would be a start – perhaps a dance class you’ve been meaning to sign up for, or making a start on knitting that jumper, or reaching out to someone you know who is needing a listening ear even more than you?

And with that brief burst of joy, in the next routinely difficult meeting, you might find yourself saying, “I get you, let me think about it…”, instead of the customary “That’s just wrong…”, and it makes all the difference! Nurture this tiny habit, keep stretching that hamstring, then a day will come when you recognise yourself riding the virtuous cycle towards your ‘dream ultimo’ – running your own business, backpacking around the world, doing voluntary work, etc. – and the knowingness of your aspirational journey is helping to counterbalance your current day-to-day stresses and strains formidably.

No one at their deathbed ever says they wish they had spent more time in the office, neither would they regret scaling that daunting mountain, forging that raging river, or piercing that perilous forest…

How might you discover your ‘dream ultimo’, and perhaps help others do the same?

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Human-Generated