The Burnout Gamble | Hamza Khan | TEDxUTSC
Summary
TLDRIn 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
🔥 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.
🚨 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.
💼 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.
🔄 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.
💡 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.'
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Overachiever
💡Burnout
💡Stress
💡Productive anxiety
💡Resilience
💡Stages of burnout
💡Human doing vs. human being
💡Ego depletion
💡Icarus myth
💡Work-life balance
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
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