Workaholic: A relationship of unrequited love with one’s career; a flirtation with the career woman’s favorite bad boy: the job burnout beast.
Burnout: The bitter feeling that your work has consumed your life, and you no longer have anything to feed the beast.
Here’s the tragic love story of burnout.
Beginning: On first glance, the burnout beast looks surprisingly attractive.
You got the job you wanted. You’re excited and you have a lot to prove. Just like a first date. Things go well, and eventually you and your beast are spending all your time together. You’re a “yes man” at work, piling on responsibility. You think, “Oh, wow, I never thought work could be this fun.”
A University of Georgia study called “All Work and No Play?” calls out the warning signs from the beginning, as described in The Biz Coach: “Workaholics are most-likely an organization’s most-productive employees. They’re the most-reliable at crunch time. However, they’re also the most abused by obsessive managers. Workaholics aren’t given opportunities to re-charge their physical and emotional batteries. Burnout is an occupational hazard. So are stress and psychosomatic illnesses or even heart attacks or strokes.”
And though studies suggest that millennials are more likely to “work to live” instead of “living to work,” real human beings (and real jobs, as well) have been known to defy stereotypes. Because just like every relationship is different, every career and job schedule is different, too.
The beast may make you feel special. But bad boys get their reputations for a reason. Keep in mind what else you’re missing out on.
Middle: The beast has seduced you. You’re working so hard that you don’t even notice the warning signs.
You and the beast are becoming a bit too attached when you put your body and your brain’s warning messages on mute. Though you pride yourself in your ability to get things done, longer hours do not always mean more productivity. Personnel Today describes symptoms of fatigue that we often ignore:
“Fatigue is a general term used to describe a wide variety of conditions, but is generally accepted as feeling very tired, weary or sleepy as a result of insufficient sleep, prolonged mental or physical work, or extended periods of stress or anxiety. Boring or repetitive tasks can intensify feelings of fatigue. Fatigue can also be described as either acute (usually reversed by sleep and relaxation) or chronic (the constant, severe state of tiredness not relieved by rest).”
When you live in that second stage, things get serious.
It’s easy to miss the message, like even Nickelodeon stars do: “I’m a workaholic, so I ignore the signs of fatigue and just keep going and going, and then conk out when I get home,” Keke Palmer said. “It can be pretty stressful.”
Once you and the beast get involved, it’s easy to deny his faults. Yeah, he always makes you late. Yeah, “Be there in five minutes” is your new mantra, but at least you have a relationship that’s worth your time.
Unfortunately, “I’m too busy” is not a badge of honor. If you find yourself automatically answering, “Ugh, way too busy” every time someone asks how you’re doing, it may be time to reevaluate. It probably means you’re putting your family and friends on pause, and you’re probably bringing yourself and your peers down with your constant “busy bragging.” Loving your job should lead to loving the rest of your life, as well. And vice versa – if your life after work isn’t healthy, your work won’t be, either. Because honestly, sometimes the beast is terrible company.
End: The full-fledged burnout beast puts everything else in the shadows.
At best, it means that you’ve been staring at that Word document, research project or spreadsheet for hours, and nothing is happening. You need a break, or a long weekend, or a trip to Hawaii. And you definitely need to get away from the burnout beast.
Often, though, workaholism means that “you’re working to the exclusion of your family, your marriage, other relationships, and your life is out of balance, or your physical health is out of balance — when work takes an exclusive priority to everything else, that’s the more extreme end of the spectrum where it becomes a problem,” said Dr. Edmund Neuhaus.
And when work doesn’t go well, neither does the rest of your life – what there is of it. And that means depression and midlife crises (or mid-college, or mid-career, or mid-dreary-month-of-February), among other scary consequences.
But the burnout breakup doesn’t have to be a tragedy. The fix is simple – or as simple as you allow it to be.
First, sleep. It’s simple: You charge your iPhone when it’s running low. Do the same for your brain.
Motivational speakers and career coaches talk about “active rest,” or finding activities that help you rest and recharge while still accomplishing other goals. Working out, making dinner and reading up on the news — these are all noble tasks that your productivity-worshiping soul can support without a guilty conscience, while making some memories along the way.
Mitch Albom, the author of “Tuesdays with Morrie,” found a new sense of perspective when writing his touching novel about aging and the true meaning of life: “I used to be a classic workaholic, and after seeing how little work and career really mean when you reach the end of your life, I put a new emphasis on things I believe count more. These things include: family, friends, being part of a community, and appreciating the little joys of the average day.”
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