The Burnout Gamble | Hamza Khan | TEDxUTSC

Summary

In this engaging talk, Hamza, a self-proclaimed 'recovering overachiever,' shares his personal journey of experiencing and overcoming burnout. He reflects on how striving for constant success led him to extreme stress, burnout, and a deep emotional and physical collapse. Drawing from the 12 stages of burnout, he emphasizes the importance of managing stress, unlearning unhealthy work habits, and shifting from overachieving to high-performing. He advocates for resilience, balance, and prioritizing mental health to sustain long-term success while avoiding burnout. His message is clear: burn bright, not out.

Takeaways

• 💼 Overachievement is overrated: Constantly pushing for success can lead to burnout, and it's not sustainable in the long run.
• 🧑‍💻 Overachieving extends to all aspects: The speaker's overachieving tendencies impacted both their professional life and personal leisure activities.
• ✈️ Burnout realization: The speaker's missed vacation was a wake-up call, leading to deep reflection on why they felt this way.
• 📉 12 stages of burnout: The speaker discovered Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North's 12 stages of burnout, which reframed their perspective on work and stress.
• 🚩 Signs of burnout: Neglecting personal needs, displacing conflicts, revising values, withdrawing from relationships, and eventually falling into depression are key indicators.
• 🎓 Overachievement in education: The speaker shares how overachievement started during their academic life, juggling numerous extracurricular activities and maxed-out course loads.
• 😓 Relationship with stress: The speaker realized they had an unhealthy relationship with stress, partly due to external factors and internal desires to prove themselves.
• 🏋️‍♂️ High-performance over overachievement: The speaker suggests transitioning from overachiever to high performer, balancing productivity with sustainable effort.
• 🧠 Reframing stress: Stress can be seen as a measure of engagement with life, not something to avoid completely but to be managed positively.
• 🔥 Burn bright, not out: The central message is to maintain passion and energy without extinguishing oneself through overexertion. The goal is long-term sustainability.

Q & A

What is the main theme of Hamza's speech?

The main theme of Hamza's speech is the dangers of being an overachiever, the risk of burnout, and how to transition from being an overachiever to a high performer by managing stress effectively.

Why does Hamza argue that being an overachiever is counterproductive?

Hamza argues that being an overachiever is counterproductive because it often leads to burnout, exhaustion, and unhealthy stress, which can harm personal well-being and long-term productivity.

What personal experiences does Hamza share to illustrate his point?

Hamza shares experiences of running two agencies simultaneously, overworking himself, missing an epic vacation due to cold feet, and passing out in his office bathroom after a 72-hour work stretch as examples of how overachievement led to burnout in his life.

What are the 12 stages of burnout, according to Hamza?

The 12 stages of burnout include the compulsion to prove oneself, working harder, neglecting personal needs, displacing conflicts, revising values, denying problems, withdrawing, exhibiting odd behaviors, devaluing relationships, experiencing inner emptiness, suffering from depression, and eventually burning out physically, mentally, and emotionally.

How does Hamza describe the relationship between success, stress, and burnout?

Hamza describes success as requiring effort, which induces stress. When stress is unregulated, it can lead to burnout. He emphasizes that while success is important, it should not come at the cost of one's health and well-being.

What does Hamza mean by 'productive anxiety'?

'Productive anxiety' refers to maintaining a balance where a person stays slightly uncomfortable and driven without tipping into the negative stages of burnout. It is about using stress to fuel productivity while managing it effectively to avoid burnout.

What advice does Hamza give for reducing the probability of stress?

Hamza advises reducing the probability of stress by avoiding high-risk activities, staying in a sustainable zone of productivity, and managing stress levels by finding a 'sweet spot' where you are slightly uncomfortable but still functional.

How does Hamza define resilience in the context of managing stress?

Hamza defines resilience as the ability to adapt to stress. He suggests that resilience can be built by gradually stepping outside of one's comfort zone and facing stress in manageable doses, allowing one to grow stronger without being overwhelmed.

Why does Hamza emphasize the importance of 'unlearning' stress?

Hamza emphasizes unlearning stress because many people view stress only negatively. By reframing stress as a sign of engagement with things that bring growth and love into life, people can reduce the negative impact of stress and handle it better.

What final message does Hamza leave the audience with?

Hamza's final message is to 'burn bright, not out,' meaning that people should keep their passion and drive alive but avoid pushing themselves to the point of burnout. He encourages finding balance and maintaining a sustainable level of productivity.

Outlines

00:00

🔥 The Myth of Overachievement and Its Toll

The speaker, Hamza, starts by addressing the concept of being an overachiever. He questions whether constant winning and accumulating success are truly beneficial, emphasizing that being an overachiever can lead to significant personal harm. Hamza shares his personal experience of being a 'recovering overachiever,' revealing how he once prided himself on working relentlessly. In 2014, despite having a successful year, he reached a breaking point and planned an ambitious vacation, only to experience emotional and physical cold feet just before the trip. He couldn't understand why he didn't go, leading him into a deep self-reflection about burnout.

05:02

🚨 The 12 Stages of Burnout: A Personal Experience

Hamza discusses the 12 stages of burnout, as outlined by psychologists Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North. He traces how his own work ethic, driven by a need to prove himself, escalated from overwork to burnout. As an overachiever, his professional and personal life suffered due to neglecting essential needs like sleep and relationships. Eventually, this led to conflicts, withdrawal, and even erratic behavior. He describes reaching a point of devaluing others and feeling an emptiness that rendered his goals meaningless. Hamza highlights how this cycle led to burnout across various milestones in his life, including as a student and employee.

10:04

💼 The Age of Stress: Society's Collective Burnout

Hamza contextualizes his personal experience within the broader societal issue of stress. He notes that we live in the 'golden age of stress,' where work demands and fear of job loss create immense pressure. Stress has become a pervasive issue that negatively impacts the global economy, costing billions due to absenteeism and healthcare expenses. He introduces the concept of 'death by overwork,' citing alarming statistics from China and Japan, where people literally die from working too much. Millennials, in particular, feel this pressure, and Hamza reflects on how his upbringing and external factors contributed to his susceptibility to burnout.

15:04

🔄 Transitioning from Overachiever to High Performer

In this section, Hamza shares his realization about the root causes of his burnout. He admits that, while 50% of his stress stemmed from external factors, the other 50% was due to his own mindset. He discusses how he became addicted to the dopamine rush of overachievement and how it led him to neglect his health. Using a risk assessment framework, Hamza explains that he learned to mitigate stress by balancing productivity and maintaining healthy anxiety. He emphasizes finding a sustainable rhythm, staying slightly uncomfortable to avoid falling into burnout, and controlling stress through productive anxiety.

20:07

💡 Major Keys to Avoiding Burnout

Hamza concludes by offering practical advice on how to prevent burnout. He outlines three major 'keys': First, unlearn traditional views of stress and recognize that not all stress is bad—some is necessary for growth. Second, develop resilience, which he defines as the ability to adapt to stress, using the example of hormesis (exposing oneself to small amounts of stress to build tolerance). Third, maintain balance in life by gradually stepping out of one's comfort zone to prevent overexposure to stress. Finally, Hamza emphasizes the importance of passion and balance, encouraging the audience to 'burn bright, not out.'

Keywords

💡Overachiever

An overachiever is someone who strives to perform exceptionally well, often beyond reasonable expectations. In the video, the speaker identifies as a 'recovering overachiever,' discussing the unhealthy patterns of relentless work and success-seeking behavior that lead to burnout. Overachievers are often motivated by external validation, pushing themselves to the point of exhaustion, which the speaker advises against.

💡Burnout

Burnout refers to a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged stress and overwork. The speaker explains the 12 stages of burnout, using his own experiences as an example of how continuous overachievement without rest can lead to a breakdown. Burnout is a central theme of the video, representing the consequences of not managing stress and workload effectively.

💡Stress

Stress is described as a disruptive force that affects a person's physical and emotional balance. The speaker talks about 'unlearning stress' and emphasizes that while stress is inevitable, it can be managed. The distinction between 'good stress' and 'bad stress' is made, suggesting that stress, when properly framed, can be a sign of engagement and growth, rather than a negative force.

💡Productive anxiety

Productive anxiety is introduced as a positive form of stress that keeps a person motivated and focused without leading to burnout. The speaker suggests that finding a balance, or 'sweet spot,' where a person feels slightly uncomfortable but still productive, is essential for long-term success. This concept contrasts with the overwhelming stress that leads to burnout.

💡Resilience

Resilience is the ability to adapt to and recover from stress or adversity. The speaker explains that resilience is critical to sustaining long-term success and preventing burnout. By gradually stepping outside one's comfort zone and building tolerance to stress, individuals can become more resilient. This concept is presented as a solution to the chronic stress that leads to burnout.

💡Stages of burnout

The speaker discusses the 12 stages of burnout, a framework developed by Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North, which outlines the gradual process leading to burnout. These stages include the compulsion to prove oneself, working harder, neglecting personal needs, displacing conflicts, and ultimately experiencing depression. The stages provide insight into how burnout develops over time.

💡Human doing vs. human being

The phrase 'human doing' refers to someone who defines their worth by constant activity and achievements, while 'human being' emphasizes the importance of simply existing and experiencing life without overextending oneself. The speaker reflects on his transition from a 'human doing,' obsessed with productivity, to a 'human being,' focused on balance and well-being.

💡Ego depletion

Ego depletion is the idea that individuals have a finite amount of willpower each day, and it diminishes with each decision made. The speaker uses this concept to explain how constant decision-making and overwork erode one's ability to manage stress and maintain focus, ultimately leading to burnout. It's an important psychological factor in understanding how burnout occurs.

💡Icarus myth

The Icarus myth, where Icarus flies too close to the sun and his wings melt, serves as a metaphor for overachievers who push themselves too far and risk crashing. The speaker uses this story to illustrate the dangers of overconfidence and extreme effort, advocating for finding a balanced 'altitude' where productivity is sustainable without leading to burnout.

💡Work-life balance

Work-life balance is the idea of maintaining a healthy separation between professional responsibilities and personal well-being. Although not explicitly mentioned, the speaker implicitly advocates for this concept by discussing how neglecting personal needs such as sleep, relationships, and relaxation leads to burnout. Achieving work-life balance is key to avoiding the negative effects of overachievement.

Highlights

The speaker emphasizes the downside of being an overachiever, calling it counterproductive and harmful.

The speaker shares personal experiences of burnout, describing how overachieving negatively impacted his life, particularly in 2014.

An example of excessive overachievement is shared, with the speaker planning an exhausting vacation itinerary across multiple cities, only to cancel at the last moment.

The speaker introduces the concept of burnout through the 12 stages defined by Herbert Freudenberger and Gayle North, providing a detailed breakdown.

Burnout begins with the compulsion to prove oneself, followed by working harder and neglecting basic needs like sleep, food, and relationships.

The speaker highlights how burnout leads to a downward spiral, where values shift, problems are denied, and relationships deteriorate.

A personal anecdote is shared about experiencing burnout in different stages of life, from being a student to a professional, illustrating its recurring nature.

The speaker connects burnout with unhealthy relationships to stress, explaining how societal pressures exacerbate stress.

Stress is defined as a disruption to equilibrium, and the speaker describes how 69% of employees report work as a significant source of stress.

The global impact of stress is discussed, including terms like 'karoshi' and 'guolaosi,' which refer to death by overwork in Japan and China.

Millennials are identified as the most stressed generation in the workforce, according to the speaker.

The speaker reflects on personal external pressures, such as being a first-generation student and a racialized minority, contributing to stress and burnout.

A major turning point occurs when the speaker realizes that unregulated stress leads to burnout, prompting a shift in how stress is approached.

The speaker introduces the concept of 'productive anxiety' as a method to avoid burnout while maintaining high performance.

Key strategies are shared to unlearn stress, reduce its impact, and build resilience, including the idea of taking small steps outside the comfort zone.

The final message is to 'burn bright, not out,' emphasizing the need to balance passion and productivity to avoid the detrimental effects of burnout.

Transcripts

are you an overachiever if all you do is

win win win no matter what and if you've

got money or some other benchmark of

success on your mind and you can never

get enough and if for whatever reason

every time you step up in the building

and everybody's hands go up please raise

your hands and make them stay there make

them stay there and if you feel so

inclined up down up down up down my name

is Hamza and I have some advice for all

you overachievers in the audience

alright stop I mean it I'm serious

being an overachiever is overrated it's

counterproductive and if you haven't

already you are going to hurt yourself

in the process I need you to trust me

I'm a recovering overachiever myself I'm

a full one year sober actually there

used to be a time in my life where I

would enjoy the moniker of a robot of a

machine of a cyborg when people would

describe me as such it was a badge of

honor it would make my circuits tingle I

was a human doing I pride myself on

sheer output I would burn the midnight

oil I would burn the candle on both ends

I would fire on all cannons I was on

fire and 2014 was an exceptional year

for me that year I accomplished more

than I ever thought I could I ran two

simultaneous agencies I wrote I taught I

spoke I did all of these things for a

living at the same time and that year in

the summer I told myself at the end of

the year I would take an epic vacation

because I needed it I could see the

signs I could see the wear and tear I

said I would go hard for the next six

months and in December I would take off

now here's the thing about being an

overachiever it doesn't just stop in the

professional you overachieve even when

it comes to leisure look at this

ridiculous itinerary I kid you not

Toronto - New York New York - Milan

Milan - Prague Prague - Amsterdam

Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur I have the

ticket stubs to prove it my Airbnb --zz

were booked I had ten things I wanted to

do in each city I was going to jam pack

this trip with more things to do and on

top of that I was somehow gonna write a

book called getting more things done I

know I know

now middle of December it's time to go

my bags are packed I've called everyone

I needed to call I'm ready to leave and

then this happens

cold feet

suddenly my head my heart my body are

completely out of sync

I'm sitting there with my boarding pass

printed in hand stuffing the last few

things into my bags and I look at the

clock and there's two hours to go I can

still make it I drag my feet I've got

one hour to go maybe if I hop in the cab

and book it I can still make it half an

hour to go maybe home alone style I

could run right to the terminal and

grease the attendant get in didn't

happen five four three two one

I watched the clock countdown and that

flight left I didn't go on the trip I

didn't go on the trip and I could not

for the life of me understand why so for

the next thirty days I had to ask myself

some really tough questions because I

was mad I was sad I was resentful I was

confused

I was ashamed I felt this cocktail of

emotions that I had never felt before

what happened what the hell happened why

did this happen something wrong with me

how could I prevented this

how did I see this coming was this

inevitable and am I alone

and so I spent the next 30 days doing

some research while at home I looked up

the term burnout now I had heard of

burnout before I've heard it used in

different contexts I never wrap my head

around what burnout actually meant and

then I discovered the 12 stages of

burnout by herbert freud and Berger and

Gayle north and once it was visualized

for me as such it completely reframed

the way that I saw myself in the context

of my work my success and ultimately my

happiness it always starts out the same

the compulsion to prove yourself came up

that's all me no help that's all me all

me for real me against the world I'm

gonna hustle hard I have so much to

prove and that leads perfectly into

working harder the 9 to 5 becomes the 9

to 7 becomes the 9 to 9 and before you

know it you're neglecting all of your

needs your sleep your food your family

your friends the things that are

supposed to give you the energy to work

hard

you are now sacrificing for short-term

gain and this is where things start to

get ugly after this stage you start to

displace conflicts thumbs up we have to

talk right now all right now I got too

much on the go thumbs up but we really

really need to talk I can't I can't talk

about this right now and then you start

to revise your values the things that

are supposed to be the foundations of

your person the values the attributes

the beliefs that you hold dear suddenly

become malleable you know you start off

every day with a finite amount of

willpower and with every decision you

make during that day some of that

willpower is eroded this is a concept

known as ego depletion now imagine being

in a state of ego depletion perpetually

and then you start to deny the problems

that you're having

um so your work is suffering no it's not

what are you talking about

Hamzah you're not pulling your weight

yes I am people become antagonistic to

you and then you begin to withdraw

naturally you pull away from work you

pull away from your family you pull away

from your friends and before you know it

a certain randomness begins to

creep into your life you start drinking

maybe you start smoking maybe maybe not

things that you didn't think you would

do you're certainly starting to exhibit

now you're starting to do things that

people are noticing is odd and then you

begin to diminish and devalue the role

of people in your lives your co-workers

your family your friends are less than

humans now they're just these nagging

voices in your life that you want to get

away from nobody's good enough and then

comes the inner emptiness

everybody's got goals their own

definitions of success for the most part

you're able to visualize them but when

you're in this stage stage 10 those

goals become obscure you don't know

where you're going you don't know where

you are you begin to question everything

and then comes the depression this is

different than sadness this is a deep

dark pinging throbbing pain a hollowness

and emptiness a perpetual haze over your

life and before you know it you're burnt

out physically mentally and emotionally

you're gone it hurts

it's embarrassing especially if you're

an overachiever like me now here's the

thing in seeing the visualization of the

12 stages of burnout I realized that

this wasn't my first rodeo I'd been here

before in different degrees I had

flirted flirted with burnout at almost

every professional milestone in my

career first as a student right here

like a lot of the students in this room

I wasn't satisfied with simply one

student organization I threw myself at

ten didn't just take four courses I

maxed out I took seven I took eight I

threw myself at my academics at my

extracurriculars I tried to cram in as

many lifetimes as possible into a

singular life span and I'm never going

to be able to live down the

manifestation of this burnout it was two

weeks before a major conference and I

was a publication - manager I was

responsible for turning in print

materials and two weeks before I just

wasn't

in the right headspace didn't have the

work done I was too embarrassed to tell

people about it and so what did I do

I pulled out I let my team down and I've

never been able to reconcile with those

negative feelings and it happened again

as an intern I was working at a record

label and I was so eager to please my

boss I would work 15 hour workdays and

then after that I would go help my boss

at shows and there was one particular

stretch of 72 hours where I might have

slept maybe 3-4 hours

I woke up at the end of this bender to

the wrapping of the door in the office

bathroom I was passed out in the office

bathroom for eight hours deeply

embarrassing deeply shameful just not me

not the brand not Who I am and it

continued to happen it happened to me as

an employee it happened to me as a

founder I was predisposed to burning out

something had to change so I needed to

look at the root cause of my burnout and

I discovered that I had a very unhealthy

relationship with stress now we're going

to define stress as the result produced

when a structure system or organism is

acted upon by forces that disrupt

equilibrium or produce strain I had an

unhealthy relationship with stress but I

wasn't alone

we are arguably in the golden age of

stress this is possibly the most

stressful we have ever been as a species

in fact 69% of employees reported that

work was a significant source of stress

for them we all feel this relentless

pressure to perform and there's multiple

stressors that contribute to this

feeling the fear of job redundancy

layoffs increased demands for overtime

but it's not just affecting us

personally is affecting the entire

economy we're losing 300 billion dollars

a year in lost productivity caused by

absenteeism turnover and health care

expenditures that also include death I

kid you not the Japanese call it Hiroshi

the Chinese called goooo Lao si these

words literally mean death

by work death by work take that in 1600

people in China every day die from work

I'm not talking about laboring in the

fields I'm not talking about working in

a factory I'm talking about sitting

behind a desk staring at a screen for

upwards of 10 12 15 hours a day dying

because of hemorrhage internal failures

seizures it's brutal and the kicker the

most stressed of this multi-generational

workforce me millenials a lot of you in

the audience today

now I had to dive even deeper why was I

so predisposed to stress why was I so

predisposed to burnout 50% of it was

external factors outside of my control

first generation student from a lower

middle class family and a racialized

minority my father wanted me to fit

conveniently inside the Career Trinity

dr. Loy an engineer you can imagine his

dismay when I said I want to be a

marketer back was against the wall and I

had more to prove from the jump

but then the other 50% was me indulging

in these feelings I began to like being

an overachiever the dopamine release

wasn't it was intense with every number

I put on the board every achievement I

built a certain momentum and I began to

relate to quotes like this from mr. Kobe

Bryant to think of me as a person that

over achieved that would mean a lot to

me that means I put a lot of work in

except in the last two years of my

career and squeeze every ounce of juice

out of this orange that I could and then

I began to see it I saw it clearly in

December of 2014 while I was recovering

from burnout I saw that every single day

for the last however many years I'd been

working and studying I was gambling I

was gambling with my health and my

well-being

I wanted success however I defined it

and success requires effort effort

induces stress and unregulated stress

can lead to burnout now some of the

variables over here would never

gonna change I still had a lot to

accomplish but maybe just maybe I could

change my response to stress and so I

applied a simple risk assessment

framework to the solution to this

problem could I reduce the impact of

stress and could I reduce the

probability of stress and I looked at

the 12 stages of burnout again where did

things start to get ugly for me Stage

four in fact I was at my most productive

when I was in the first two stages and I

could sustainably operate within them

every now and then I have to dip into

stage 3 but as soon as I touch stage 4

that's when I went all the way down the

dark hole of burnout dare to know this

you can avoid burnout you can make the

transition from overachiever to high

performer and have all of the benefits

of being an overachiever without all of

the downside it's going to require you

to make the transition and develop a

state of productive anxiety now special

cloth filler I'm going to give you some

major keys I'm going to give you some

major keys not going to leave you

hanging I promise the first thing you

need to do is to unlearn stress in its

entirety and regain control of the

situation

unlearn stress and consider this the

reason why you get up out of bed every

morning according to Thomas Hobbes the

engine of the human is appetite and a

version we're drawn to things and

repelled from things and what are we

repelled from pain hurt stress if I

asked you do you want two more to be a

stressful day everyone in here is going

to say hell no but according to dr.

Kelly McGonigal author of the upside of

stress there's two types of stress

there's good stress and there's bad

stress in fact simply reframing a

stressful situation is one in which

you're experiencing good stress is

enough to change your mood and your

opinion and your attitude in that moment

instead of looking at stress is what we

defined it as above maybe it's time to

look at

stress is this a measurement of how

engaged you are with the things that

bring love and growth into your life

another one major key number to become a

high performer and reduce the

probability of stressful situations in

your life now some stress is inevitable

maybe you can call it good stress maybe

some of it is bad but overall you can

reduce the probability of it happening

if you're not familiar with the Icarus

myth let me give you the sparknotes

version Daedalus and a son Icarus are

trapped on the island of Crete now in

order to escape they're surrounded by

water datalist builds two contraptions

two sets of wings made of wood wax and

feathers they fly out and Daedalus tells

Icarus don't fly too low because if you

get close enough to the ocean the foam

in the mist is going to make your wing

soggy and you'll sink to your death at

the same time don't fly too high because

what's going to happen the wings are

going to burn they're going to melt

they're going to fall off and you'll die

so they began to fly they find a nice

altitude and what is it giris do he gets

confident he gets cocky he flies too

high the wings melt they burn any

plummets to his death Daedalus on the

other hand makes it all the way like

Daedalus I want you to find a new

altitude find that perfect space find

that sweet spot of productive anxiety

for me it was the first three stages for

you could be different whatever it is

it's going to keep you in perpetual

productivity with a little bit of

anxiety another one major key number

three reduce the impact of stress a year

and a half ago a couple of friends and I

got together and we wrote a blog we

produced a blog called year one and what

we did is we reverse engineered the

careers of a hundred and seventy-five

people who we deemed to be extremely

successful athletes politicians artists

activists you name it and we distill

their careers down to a very early point

in their lives to hone in on one

particular attribute something that has

guaranteed them lasting success and

overwhelmingly we found that one value

gave the

most guarantee of lasting success

resilience resilience is your ability to

adapt to stress now how do you develop

resilience the Greeks had a solution for

this as well or Mises our Mises

describes the process by which you

consume a small amount of poison which

is otherwise lethal for you and could

kill you in a full dose and small

administered doses and doing so actually

builds up your tolerance to that very

toxin how do you manifest this now as a

human being instead of running and

dashing and flying and bounding towards

your comfort zone and outside of it take

baby steps do something every day that

scares you step outside of your comfort

zone gradually because burnout occurs

when you're continuously far beyond your

comfort zone that's a high risk activity

when you are an overachiever you are

always engaging in high-risk activity

and there's diminishing returns what you

really want to do is remain slightly

uncomfortable all the time and thereby

Rees entering your risk factor initially

you have moderate risk because you've

diminished and reduced the probability

and the impact of stress and overtime as

you build up more resilience as you

continue to relearn stress as you

continue to make that transition from

overachiever to high performer you will

gradually move back to a place where

eventually hopefully stress in your life

is rare and trivial now this is the trip

I'm taking one leg short told myself

let's take it easy let's not go as hard

as we did last time not a lot plan to be

honest I'm still going to be doing some

of the things that I wanted to do in the

previous trip but for the most part I'm

going to relax I'm going to recharge I'm

going to restore because I've made the

transition from human doing back to

human being and that came from my

rethinking at a very comprehensive level

burn out burn out just look at that word

take

burn out it's not the fire that's the

problem it's the absence of the fire

that's the issue the fire the symbol the

metaphor for passion for desire for

action for activity for movement for

fuel

once that's extinguished that's the real

problem so if you're going to take

anything away from this it's simply burn

bright not out thank you