by Margaret Hirsch
Burnout is now a buzzword but what is it actually? My philosophy is that if you love what you do, you will never work another day in your life and you will never have burnout. Burnout to me is not being able to cope with your workload. Why don’t people cope?
That self doubt creeps in and they talk themselves into feeling stressed when they see there is a lot of work to be done and then they talk themselves into thinking they can't do it – they feel overwhelmed, inadequate so they put it off and they keep thinking about it instead of getting it done -and this leads to burn out.
Burnout is a way of saying ‘time out’ but then you can’t say “stop the world I want to get off”. At some stage you have to tackle the job and get it done – or decide to change careers!
Many people seem to think they only have to work for a little bit and then have some time off so they take a day here and a day there and never have a proper holiday where they can get away and forget work, get their mind back into gear and come back refreshed and ready to take on the world.
The problem is that often the amount of time employees want to have off is in excess of the time worked and this is just not a sustainable option. If you don't love what you do, most people take a very long time to decide to do what is necessary – procrastination sets in and then instead of just starting to do something simple - they drag it out, talk about it, discuss it, go on and on about it instead of just getting it done and over with.
I started work (while still at school) washing hair in a hairdressing salon when I was 12 years old. I worked afternoons and every weekend and have worked every day since. I will be 75 next year and I am working a 20 hour day, seven days a week and I am not burnt out – so what makes me different from other people? Simple – I enjoy what I do – I don’t see it as hard work but as something that has to be done – I actually look for things to do to ensure that I am busy all the time. I still have time to gym, walk, swim, have dinner with friends, speak to my children every day and I speak to my grandchildren whenever they have time to talk to me.
Like everything else, burnout is a state of mind – if you feel stressed about what you are doing or if you are worried you are not producing what others expect of you, then its all fall down and you blame burnout but lets dig deeper – what is stress – stress to me is fear:
Fear of failure
Fear of not being perfect
Fear that you don’t have enough time to complete things
Fear stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. Like worry, most of the things you fear never really happen – you just think they will happen and so 90% of what you stress about is actually a waste of energy – why not hone that energy down and use it more constructively.
How do you obviate this – well my way of doing it is to sleep less and get more done – to get up early so you are never late for anything– to set goals and prioritise and that way you don’t have to stress about deadlines – you complete the work and then you have time to recharge your batteries whichever way you please. I get away often, to my farm, to Zanzibar or to anywhere where things are different from my everyday humdrum world.
I love working with people – from girls at school, to the Mrs South Africa team, to my own work colleagues, the networking sessions I run and the groups that I have dinner with at night – either just with girls or with my friends and their husbands! I draw my energy from their energy – I make sure I only mix with people who have a positive energy and that way they don’t draw all my energy out of me! Mixing with people who have a negative outlook on life leaves you feeling drained and unhappy whereas dealing with fun people is great fun!!
It’s the old story – you become like the people you hang around with – so make sure you hang around with fun people who are full of energy – and you will have the best life ever and never have to worry about burnout again.
Sent with love
Margaret