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from the find-a-bigger-candle-to-burn-at-both-ends dept.
In today's era of workplace burnout, achieving a simpatico work-life relationship seems practically out of reach. Being tired, ambivalent, stressed, cynical and overextended has become a normal part of a working professional life. The General Social Survey of 2016, a nationwide survey that since 1972 has tracked the attitudes and behaviors of American society, found that 50 percent of respondents are consistently exhausted because of work, compared with 18 percent two decades ago. ... common signs of burnout include:
- Feeling emotionally drained and mentally unwell. Nausea. Being unable to sleep or constantly fighting sicknesses like head colds.
- Feeling alienated by your colleagues and bosses, feeling constantly underappreciated, or feeling ostracized by them.
- Feeling you are not personally achieving your best, or regularly "phoning it in."
"There are a lot of things that can happen when people begin to have this problem at work," Dr. Maslach said. "There are things like absenteeism, turnover, but also things in terms of errors, not being careful about the work they're doing. We see a lot of difficulty with people getting along with each other — angry, aggressive." ... If you're suffering from burnout at work, or if any of those symptoms sound familiar to you, there are a few things you can do now, before you get some time off to recover. (Although you should definitely consider some time off to recover, if you can.)
- Focused breathing, which can tap into your parasympathetic nervous system to help you reduce or manage stress.
- Frequent breaks, preferably five-minute breaks for every 20 minutes spent on a single task, or sitting at your desk.
- Ergonomic chairs and desks, like a sit-stand arrangement, or even a small plant in your office space.
- A trusted mentor at work with whom you can discuss and strategize other ways to deal with work-related issues.
- A hobby outside of work through which you can decompress, de-stress and dissociate from work. It doesn't have to be anything specific, but regular exercise or another fitness activity works wonders here, and has benefits beyond stress relief.
AI and robots don't need yoga, meatbag.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @10:34PM
Yeah, Dick Niggers.
You know we never do fuck no old pussy.
We fuck a whole lot of young pussy tho.
Dick Niggers gonna burn yo cunt wit black hot cum.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @10:52PM (7 children)
When you burn out, your career is finished.
UNLESS, your name is Michael David Crawford.
Let's count the luck:
[1] Diagnosed mentally ill. Career ending move. MDC survives anyway.
[2] Unemployed for years. Career ending move. MDC survives anyway.
[3] Homeless. Career ending move. MDC survives anyway.
Michael David Crawford deserves to be lying face down dead in a ditch, by the standards of our society which apply to everybody else but not to MDC.
Michael David Crawford is either the luckiest man alive, or Michael David Crawford is a motherfucking liar.
Fuck MDC.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @11:04PM (2 children)
Do you have any reasoning beyond your assumptions that he should be dead? Or are you just mad at him for some reason?
(Score: 3, Informative) by DECbot on Wednesday September 06 2017, @11:10PM (1 child)
Perhaps a jealous troll noticing the grass is greener under the neighbor's bridge?
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @11:16PM
I prefer to think that one of his personalities is trolling himself.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @11:20PM
Hey dickweed... I'd rather hang out with MDC or even EF before hanging with an AH.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday September 06 2017, @11:46PM (2 children)
Or maybe he posts about all that stuff on Soylentnews as a therapy medium to help keep his head above water. Plus some luck.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by inertnet on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:45AM (1 child)
Or maybe he's just a really skilled coder.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by anubi on Thursday September 07 2017, @06:23AM
If it wasn't for World War II, likely even Einstein would have gone un-noticed. Tesla died a pauper.
I believe MDC is probably a really good coder, and a so-so salesman, hence he flies under the radar. From what I see, a lot of us do the same. We are terribly wrapped up in our work, but no one appreciates it ( or even knows about it ).
This forum may well be the only place on this planet where anyone even knows about the guy's capabilities. Look at all the "antiques" shows to see other things of great value, ignored and passed by, because everyone thought the "new, shiny" was more valuable... ( and from what I have seen, lately, the "new, shiny" isn't worth much. Looks great, but doesn't last. ).
Do your thing, MDC, and hopefully some guy with the financial skill to do the money thing will take you on to handle the technical thing. I can certainly understand, as I am a "one-trick pony" as well. Most stuff - well let's just say I am several cans short of a six-pack... but there are a few things I am really good at.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @11:11PM (8 children)
In the West we've developed a mindset that we can simply fix everything, but as a society we are not yet wise enough to pull it off. So we get things like this, how to handle your stress and extra activities you should add to your list which will help you cope.
How about the current model is broken! People work too much and wage inequality has widened to the point that people with decent jobs still suffer stress and anxiety about losing it all. All those tips are quite useful, but only the focused breathing and hobbies are things that everyone could try, not to mention they focus heavily on office life only. Some items are even likely to get you fired!! Small plant? Lose it or find a new job. Frequent breaks? Slacker, find a new job. Mentor? Stop wasting a valuable person's time or you're fired. New chair? We can't afford that! *Oh yes, let me sign for that suspiciously chair like package sitting in my nice office with walls and a door*
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:27AM (7 children)
That's ok. Society doesn't need to fix it, you do. And you sound sufficiently wise to do so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:39AM (1 child)
Well gollee gee you're right! Sadly way too many people are not capable of making such a change. If you want a more flexible job, or to work less than 40 hours a week, your options are very limited with the majority being low pay starter jobs.
I believe you are mixing things up and thinking that I mean society=gov. This is not the case, but gov is definitely a subset of society and it will play a role in such a shift. So put your libertarian blinders back where you found them.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Thursday September 07 2017, @01:18AM
Eh, I didn't think you meant government before when you said "society", but not I'm not sure. This is like those announcements by management of a business that one shouldn't believe the rumors that they aren't considering a merger, bankruptcy, firing everyone and burning the place to the ground, etc. If said rumors were truly far from the truth, then they wouldn't bother to defend against them. And so often, those denials just turn out false.
The two obvious questions here. First, what is the the fix that some part of society, possibly including government, can do for this alleged problem? Second, why would we think that this would be successful, particularly when done by groups that don't understand the consequences of their actions?
My view here is that the cure is worse than the disease. When someone is desperate enough to take a job that is stressful and disliked, then they probably will become even more desperate, if you take the job away no matter how benevolent your intentions. Further, if this is done a lot, then there will be a lot more competition for the existing jobs and everyone will become more desperate.
Job creation is the way out. Have more jobs in general, even sucky ones, and you'll have less desperate people and employers will have to offer more to entice people to the stressful, ugly jobs.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday September 07 2017, @06:30AM (4 children)
I believe that we in America have developed a mindset where we can simply buy anything we want... as we have a printing press!
Running out of money means we "extend the debt ceiling" and party on.
Hence, we run around commandeering other land's resources and trapping them horribly in debt, just as we are doing to a sizeable portion of our own populace.
A few corporate tycoons greatly benefit, and the only purpose our political "leaders" seem to perform is to be a permission granting and rights enforcement arm of the tycoon, so as to keep public anger and retaliation at arm's length.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:02PM (3 children)
Societies have always tended towards materialism and short term thinking. That's another reason not to look to society to fix the things it causes.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday September 08 2017, @09:12AM (2 children)
That is what scares me so much, Khallow... when this system goes, many of us are going to be like able-bodied swimmers in a flood of drowning people. Even if I can deal with all the water, how do I deal with all these people trying to use me as a flotation device?
You know... "Look! That guy has what we need! Let's go for it!"
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 08 2017, @02:02PM (1 child)
Hide that stuff. Then you won't stand out. Works in India.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday September 09 2017, @01:49AM
Right on... that's why most of my assets are in my tools and my ability to use them, as well as my ability to re-make the tools should they be taken from me.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:21AM (2 children)
We can easily automate most published social science counseling:
If in=whine then out=platitude.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:42AM (1 child)
While there is some truth to that mockery it is usually the type of insult that comes out of people who desperately need therapy but are too stubborn to think its worthwhile. Or just ignorance, you tell me! The real trick seems to be in getting people to a mental state where they are ready to even talk about their problems, and as such it can never be an exact science.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @01:27AM
QED
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday September 07 2017, @01:06AM (1 child)
Here's a crazy thought: Had these folks ever considered that perhaps the 20-30% increase in worker productivity in the US combined with this 50% being exhausted by work might have something to do with the jobs being harder?
A simple example of this: In a typical retail establishment 20 years ago, a cashier was usually responsible for 1 register and handled each customer 1 at a time. Now, thanks to automated self-checkout machines, a single cashier might be responsible for as many as 12 customers at once. Now which job do you think would be more exhausting?
Or take a relatively professional job like teaching. It used to be a teacher had to draw up their lesson plan and the exams, and teach their class. Now, they frequently have to draw up 5 lesson plans because 1/6 of their kids have some sort of special rules that have to be taken into account, because the kids in their class getting low grades have diagnosed psychological disorders rather than simply being stupid or lazy.
And the message articles like this are sending is that this is somehow the fault of the people working harder than ever before for pay that hasn't risen substantially since 1979.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 07 2017, @03:21AM
Probably not, but I don't see a notable increase in the hardness of work per hour over the past twenty years. It's a really weird situation and I just don't see work triggering a tripling in the feeling of fatigue. Work doesn't seem to have gotten significantly harder or longer. For example, according to this table [oecd.org] the US went from 1834 hours worked per worker per year in 2000 to 1783 hours worked per worker per year in 2016. Perhaps what has changed is a combination of the fitness of the worker combined with the activity outside of work?
Becoming more overweight makes a fixed level of physical activity more strenuous. We know that there is an overweight problem in the US. So it is possible that a less fit populace experiences greater fatigue. Similarly, I've heard that there might be a decrease in the amount of sleep that US culture gets. There's an obvious correlation between fatigue and not getting enough sleep.
Activity outside of work may make work more strenuous. For example, if you spend an additional hour driving in busy traffic each day for your full-time job, that's effectively another 300 hours a year of unpaid work. Spending time watching TV or surfing the internet may be fairly peaceful, but it is also not sleep either.
My take here is that we're not really seeing an increase in the difficulty or duration of work. But we might be seeing the effects of a less healthy populace combined with more activity outside of the workplace. That might be deepening fatigue experienced from work.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday September 07 2017, @01:14AM (4 children)
Once you reach a high enough level of cynicism, all the others vanish.
You won't be:
- tired - on the contrary, joyous hyperactivity is rather to be expected. Being satisfied with cynicism, one only needs to look around to the so many things in this world worth to be subjected to cynicism
- ambivalent - nope, enough cynicism and one realizes that uttering the brutal truth is the best strategy: cuts through the bullshit and spares you from the effort of either compromising or remembering your lies
- stressed - with so much fun to have on the account of "dances and good manners" in this world, why one should be stressed?
- overextended - mmmhhhh... Maybe, but the risk is minimal. With the realization that everything in this life is inconsequential at best and disastrous at worst (and that's the natural order of Universe), thus not worth of emotional attachment, it's easier to stop whenever you had enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @07:32AM
Yup, this about sums it up for me. Even used my last performance review to evaluate the company instead of myself. It was apparently so unexpected that the PR goon had no useful comebacks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @01:15PM (1 child)
> and that's the natural order of Universe
nah
life as a process means 2 polarities for life forms
1. being good, seeking the best prospective development for everybody and everything
2. being bad, seeking the best prospective development for self
and we consider life because it is the pinnacle of development of matter AFAWK.
Considering some theory on the end of the universe as tied to its meaning is a logic error. The meaning is always abstract wrt the object. "this sentence is false" results in an absurd statement because it does not separate the truth value from the object, see some Goedel theorem or stuff.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday September 07 2017, @09:59PM
Here's another point of view: the presence of life will always speed up the increase of entropy - that's the only way a highly organized open dynamic system can maintain its integrity (dynamically, "poop" more entropy than you "absorbed" to ).
Intelligent life does the destruction of diversity (the presence of pockets of energy imbalance) even more efficient - e.g. drive high weight nuclei towards iron faster than their "natural" way of doing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 11 2017, @04:40PM
You sound like an optimistic nihilist.
https://www.google.com/search?q=optimistic+nihilism [google.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @01:45AM (2 children)
Run your workers until they burn out? You can replace them with someone else (cheaper), or an H1-B.
For the record, I have burned out. Good days are a vague feeling of depression, slogging through the work day. Bad days are sitting in my car before work, telling myself it's only for a little while longer. The worst days.... You don't want to know.
Looking forward to early retirement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @04:07AM
The worst days... brandishing firearm and walking through the cafeteria randomly executing co-workers?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @07:28AM
I remember well the feelings in myself when I burned out. It was when a corporation bought us out and I was made subordinate to some young kid who had "leadership" training, and my skills were in engineering.
I guess I am not all that far from being a monkey, as I felt just like the cucumber-getter in this experiment. [youtube.com]
It was so degrading to know my engineering and design skills were of much lower value than the leadership skills of the manager. I knew good and well the guy placed over me had no idea what I did. His skill was in the "leadership" of designing ways to compel and rank me, not in designing things. He was empowered to push me just to see how much bullshit I would take before I finally lost all drive to do anything. The organizational skill of the executive to put me in this kind of predicament was valued even more. We had plenty of money with quite lucrative government contracts, however it was made quite clear to me, as an engineer, that I was the most easily replaceable part of the organization. Anyone could do analog design or assembly coding. It got to where I really resented going to work, as I felt I was whoring my life away only to make someone else filthy rich, while I was getting laughed at for obediently taking it.
Don't like it? There's an H1-B just waiting for your seat.
Inside, I just got madder and madder, but I did not want to be "written up" by a "superior" for having a "bad attitude". So I spent way too much time stewing over it instead of throwing stuff like an angry monkey. Besides when a corporate entity is so well-off, of what importance are employees or customers anyway? They are not nearly as important to an organization as the ability to see us getting pissed and report us.
I believe this whole mess is fomented by laws pushed by the elite granting them enforced monopoly, so if anyone threatens their business model, they have legal recourse to have their competition shut down, by force if necessary. At taxpayer expense. So they can do what they wish. We "little guys" don't have much recourse.
When I finally saw Dr. Frans de Waal's animal research, I knew *exactly* what happened to me. I had the exact same response the monkey had.
So, another monkey hits the unemployment line, with a bad write-up from a superior. I wonder how much technical talent has been squandered by the use of this kind of leadership and organizational skillsets? I think I have it bad? Geez, look at skilled machinists! I know three homeless people with quite impressive skillsets with a CNC mill. Homeless! Such a waste.
I have gotten so pissed off just thinking about this again, that I am probably no longer rational, so I will avoid responsibility for saying exactly how I felt about it by signing off as anonymous.
(Score: 3, Informative) by fyngyrz on Thursday September 07 2017, @01:52AM
http://www.burnout-solutions.com [burnout-solutions.com]
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday September 07 2017, @02:52AM
Still, you can always try a few simple ideas [youtube.com] first.