Burnout in America: Then and Now
The history of burnout dates back to the 1970s when it first became mainstream after being featured in Bob Dylan’s song “Shelter from the Storm.” Now some four decades later, the nation still faces a deathly quiet battle against burnout. Here’s why.
The history of burnout dates back to the 1970s when it first became mainstream after being featured in Bob Dylan’s song “Shelter from the Storm.” The lyrics resonated with undergraduate students, post-graduate students, and even those well-established in their careers.
As the emergence of burnout came to the forefront in the early 1970s, it marked a "critical transition point in the history of work in America." Before this, burnout was branded as "increased productivity" for workers to earn wage increases. As for college students, it created a hierarchical system and an extremely competitive culture. Both toxic and unhealthy.
In the 1970s, Herbert Freudenberger, a psychologist based in New York, worked 10 hours a day in his private practice and would then head downtown to work at a Free Clinic, assisting the young people of East Village with everything from drug addiction to dental cavities. Freudenberger was strongly committed to helping those at the clinic, writing, “Their problems, their battles, became mine.”
Even after the clinic closed, he and the volunteer staff would hold meetings to discuss the issues and bettering their clinic for their patients. He would continue to do this every business day, for about a year, until he broke down. His daughter, Lisa, recounted him being unable to get out of bed the morning the family was supposed to leave for vacation. Freudenberger was experiencing burnout at its core.
The term burnout had already been circulating in the professional world. But to fully understand what happened to him, Freudenberger performed psychoanalytic training on himself. By 1974, he went on to publish a paper on burnout in an academic journal, describing the cause of burnout to be "feeling the pressure from within to work and help and ... a pressure from the outside to give." In addition, he added his list of burnout symptoms including exhaustion, being unable to shake a lingering cold, suffering from frequent headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances, sleeplessness, and shortness of breath.
Basically, burnout was everywhere and anything could be burnout.
Before the 1970s, those who had mental breaks that were due to burnout called them nervous breakdowns or collective sadness. It even led to former President Jimmy Carter ending the decade by diagnosing the whole country with a chronic spiritual sickness that became known as the "malaise speech." The former president himself had been faced with burnout.
By the early 1980s, burnout had become a key term to describe frazzled, defeated workers who were in dire need of emotional support. The 1980s were only four decades ago, as we reside in the 2020s. The nation still faces a deathly quiet battle against burnout.
Burnout is now recognized as a "syndrome" but not an illness as per the World Health Organization compendium of diagnoses. While Americans were the first to recognize burnout, other countries such as Sweden have implemented support for sufferers such as paid sick leave and other sickness benefits.
America has yet to do so.
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Article summary and research provided by one of our interns, Jaia.
Overwhelmed to Organized - 3 Time Management Techniques
In this post, we walk you through THREE overlooked Time Management Techniques that can take you from overwhelmed to organized in just a few hours! Read to learn how you can quickly manage your 2020 calendar.
Today, I want to talk about Time Management.
I know time management is a huge challenge for many of us, especially, for business owners. And I want to share three (3) unique Time Management techniques.
So, the three time management techniques I'll discuss are:
Okay, so what is Block Your Time?
Review your calendar and block any dates that you know you do not work. That can be your birthday, anniversary, any type of holidays that you take off every single year. So, go ahead, make your life easier and block all those dates for those times you do not work.
It can even be a graduation. If you know someone close to you is graduating this year, you can call and ask them, “Please let me know when the graduation date is confirmed.” This way, you can go ahead and block that on your calendar.
The second one is Wellness Time.
Wellness Time is a time that often is reoccurring. It's any time that you use to recharge yourself. Make sure that you set that time on a daily basis to recharge, to refuel, and you stick to it!
There is no room for negotiation.
Also, Wellness Time can include doctor visits. Let's say, every year you get your physical exam or you go to the dentist. Maybe you want to dedicate a month out of the year for those appointments. It can be May medical month and that's your month to go see your doctor for your physical exam, go see the dentist and get an eye exam.
Make sure that the days are included in your calendar on a reoccurring basis, or dedicate a particular month to make sure all those visits are out the way.
The third one and the last one.
Energy Alignment Time. What does that mean?
Some people are very energetic in the morning. Some people are night owls.
How do you align your task with your energy?
If you know that different tasks require your full energy, don't fool yourself and try to do all of it at a time that is not at your peak. At least, dedicate one task before noon.
If you know that in the morning you have full 100% energy, make sure that you dedicate those tasks that require your full attention in the morning.
Be very truthful with yourself. And make sure that those tasks are in alignment with your energy level and, this way, you don't feel obligated or you don't feel lack of motivation.
Energy Alignment Time, I don’t think, is even thought of or discussed, but everyone is different. Everyone has a different level of peak throughout the day — and we should be mindful of this in planning our schedules.
With Wellness,
Leslie M. Garcia