Burnout: Not Just Chris from Junior Year

IT'S THROWBACK TIME.

If you're like me, the term "burnout" conjures images of Chris from Junior year, rockin' a jean jacket (popped collar, natch) with a pack of smokes in the pocket, a hole-filled hair band t-shirt, acid-washed jeans, off-brand hi-tops sans laces, and a mullet that's not seen water in days. Oh, and a crucifix earring in one ear.

No offense to Chris, but burnout now has massive cultural appeal these days. The Starbucks of medical conditions, it's everywhere.

Last week, the World Health Organization recognized burnout—"depletion and exhaustion, negativism and cynicism, reduced professional efficacy"—as a syndrome stemming from “chronic workplace stress" in its handbook, International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. Unrelenting like that zit leading up to senior year prom, burnout's characterized by three factors:

Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
Reduced professional efficacy.

Here at the School of Midlife, we have mixed feelings:

On the one hand, this registers the interest level of a eunuch at a strip club. Just spend one week with any American 44-yr-old to understand burnout's full force that extends well beyond the workplace.
On the other hand, this really is a milestone...and not just because it forever shifts burnout's word association away from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (we'll always love you, Keanu).

Moving burnout from the “I know it when I see it” column to a fleshed-out workplace problem means the isht we've been dealing with for too long in our "always-on" society is finally getting the attention it needs.

And we're hungry for solutions...amirite?

Employers likely won't respond swiftly, so I've included below a quick list* of 10 ways to address burnout in your life. As for what to do with Chris, whose Facebook profile shows his steadfast, 25-year dedication to the mullet...well, you're on your own.

*10 Microsteps to Combat Burnout: