Overcome Burnout and Hustle culture 克服倦怠與亞洲奮鬥文化
這是我看完Lily的影片後有感而發的一篇文章
This is my sharing notes after I watch Lily’s video.
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I am obsessed with work. All I read recently is about self-improvement and productivity. It’s the frustration when I feel less because I missed one workout or one item on my to-do list.
我跟作者一樣，是個工作狂，但有時這樣的狀況其實對自己身心靈都很疲憊。但只要沒有完成清單上的事情，就會感到自己很不足。這樣的惡行循環實在是蠻令人焦慮的。
In this video, Lily brings up the same questions I used to ask myself.
這支影片作者整理以下，拆解職業倦怠的由來以及提出解決方法。
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- Why do I feel so guilty when I don’t work? 為甚麼不工作會感到罪惡感
- Why do we love work? 為甚麼我們這麼愛工作．奮鬥
- Why can’t we rest? 為甚麼我們不能安心休息
- How can we deal with burnout? 要怎麼解決職業倦怠問題
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首先，作者提出一個新的名詞叫做［奮鬥文化］，意旨是一種生活模式讓我們不斷工作！像是工作狂一樣！
Lily Chen called it ‘hustle culture’.
Hustle culture is a lifestyle of constantly working.
It’s like workaholics. The more you work, the more celebrated you are.
關於工作狂的症狀有以下：
The symptoms of suffering from workaholics:
＋We feel guilty when we are not working. 不工作就會感到罪惡
＋We constantly find ways to improve our productivity. 不斷追求工作效率
＋We think working hard can lead us to an ideal future. 相信努力工作可以有好未來
Why am I obsessed with being productive? Why hustle culture?
為何我們如此執著高效率的奮鬥文化呢？ 作者提出以下兩點原因，
1. Defence Mechanism 自我防備機制
When we were in school, we are promised that hard work would lead us to a good college, a good job and a good life.
We have already hustled for many years from middle school and high school to college. We are too scared to give up at this point because we’ve already put in years and years of work.
從小，我就被教育要用功讀書，努力奮鬥，於是就這樣很認真地從國小＼國中＼高中到大學，我們奮鬥這麼久，到現在就休息（被視為放棄）的話，那我們努力這麼久是為了甚麼呢？
於是，這個奮鬥文化就一直持續著，我們放較少的意識在內心成長＼自我照顧跟身體健康上。
The fear and worry in our deep minds:
-Behind all the hustle, We even didn’t achieve what we thought we would be in our 30s?
-And there is just so much sunk cost that we can’t overlook….
-How come I can never stick with my habits?
Therefore, We are confined and need to justify what we’ve been doing for years and years. We cannot stop working. Or else, what is this all for?
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2. Escapism 逃避其他問題
The reason why we hustle so much is to escape from the bigger issue in life.
There are other better things to do in life, such as spending time with family, building meaningful relationships with friends or romantic relationships.
So if I work hard enough, I feel like it’s ok for me to have issues in my personal life.
問自己心底，有些事情是不是我們在逃避著，例如作者舉例自己不擅長社交與人建立緊密的連結，或是家庭者的關係等，他將高效率的身分認同當作盾牌，就算生活其他部分（人際＼家庭或健康等）有問題也沒關係。
The endpoint of excessive work is burnout.
奮鬥文化下最後會導致［職業倦怠］
1. Experiencing low motivation and low productivity.
2. We become tired and procrastinated. When we woke up in the morning, we felt lazy, slow, easily irritated and unmotivated in general.
Why don’t you take a rest? Take time off?
I agree with her point of view that being an adult isn’t that easy anymore.
為甚麼不休息一下就好呢？作者提出一些原因，解釋職業倦怠的人們無法好好休息的原因：
- Business 責任感＼放不下工作
As a person who cares much about responsibility, I need to dot the i’s and cross the t’s every single day.
I think I need to be there. To show the boss and me that I am in control of it even if it is far more than my ability.
2. Guilty 罪惡感
If I take a rest, it’s like I’m letting that go to waste.
Most of the time, I would rather feel tired than guilty. For example, I used to sacrifice my leisure time to work overtime to improve a project. I feel guilty if I let something unfinished before leaving the office.
Well, I find that I like to gain compliments from others and always do more than they requested.
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About guilty :
For me, it stems from education since we are taught in elementary school.
When I was in college, a teacher once told me that we should learn as hard as we can, I remember he said that we should do more than the teacher expected. For instance, If the request score is 100, we are supposed to practice to be 110 and more.
追朔我的過往的教育歷史，我發現我不知不覺被注入許多要奮鬥＼不斷努力的教育觀念，我記得在大學時期，有個教授要我們做到１２０分即使老師只有要求１００分。我當時覺得很振奮甚至奉命為人生準則，一直遵守到出社會之後。
I think this resilience and perseverance attitude are injected into my bone which I prescribed to it till now.
After school, I still follow this discipline in many parts of my life, such as long-distance relationships and jobs.
Unfortunately, I end up with a break-up and an unhealthy lifestyle. I learned a lot from it and try to let go of sorts of hustle culture. Instead, I transformed after I learned to self-help and self-love books.
奮鬥文化將我們塑造成有毅力和意志堅強的人，但是也可能讓導致我們身體狀況不好，甚至忽略陪伴家人或伴侶。
How can I overcome burnout? 要如何克服職業倦怠呢？
I think this hustle culture is kind of in my DNA and I cannot over it in just a few days. 工作狂與奮鬥文化已經深植我們的ＤＮＡ，先接受它的存在吧
Here are something she thinks about how to overcome burnout :
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1. Trying to reach a bit more of a work-life balance. 工作生活的平衡
2. No one cares in a good way. 慢慢來！ 只有你會在乎你沒有完成
Thinking that all eyes on you are not true. No one cares that much if you didn’t reach your goal.
For me, I would write down my goals monthly, weekly and daily. As a high-productivity person, I cannot but check that I achieve them all. However, no one cares so much. Only our self-awareness put stress on ourselves.
3. Find the joy in work 找出工作過程中帶給你的快樂
I have so many goals to hit since I wrote down my bucket list.
At the end of the day, all I focus on is filling out the checklists. I need to pay attention to the process of completing these challenges rather than the number ( the quantity ).
4. Look for the qualities of your works and life. 生活的品質
We are easy to forget we should enjoy what we do at work.
5. Put more focus on how I feel about your work 不盲目工作＋有意識地做自己
Ask yourself what value work brings to you ( not only the numbers) and if you are proud of yourself or not.
For me, inevitably, I might encounter something I don’t like to do, but I will take this as a learning chance to bring the motivation back.
6. Face the truth 接受現實，沒關係的！
It’s ok that you didn’t finish what you promise yourself we were gonna do.
To sum up, I was encouraged by her video although I am still working on it.
Hustle culture is a toxic lifestyle that doesn’t even have a name in Chinese yet. I hope people can have more awareness of this issue and find out more solutions for a good future.
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