The Productivity-Burnout Cycle
Random mid-week realizations are often amusing and always a pleasant change from the incessant existential dread, but occasionally they make you think hard, and if you’re not disciplined enough to shrug them off, you end up with a medium post or an unhealthy amount of social media scrolling. (Low-key proud of skipping the latter.).
So here goes: How much productivity is too much? For someone who was searching endlessly for ways to be more productive a while ago, this is a rather gratifying thought. Maybe this was it: Breaking the cycle of thinking to do more! That’s the bottom line, but there’s more: managing priorities and finding the right balance between what needs to be done and what brings you joy (basics, I know!). But are all of us structured to follow this? Is productivity a stable state of being, or is there always a plateau, and how often is that plateau the beginning of burnout?
Burnout
Burnout, or simply being physically or mentally exhausted from prolonged stress, is what happens when one overburdens himself (often by focusing too much on one aspect of life). Interesting fact: The ICD-11 of the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies occupational burnout as a mismatch between the challenges of work and a person’s mental and physical resources. While the WHO doesn’t, some European organizations do consider it a medical condition that requires attention and assistance.
Burnout can lead to a lack of creativity, an inability to think or make decisions, strained relationships, detachment from work, and emotions (all heavy stuff). This in turn leads to, yes, a loss of productivity. Very counterintuitive: You consistently work hard, bring results, and then get drowned in the after-effects. This takes me back to the time when, after dedicatedly working on my admission applications for six months straight, I became unconcerned with the results, and this wasn’t the kind of detachment the Bhagavad Gita describes. It was my mind denying paying a single moment’s attention to something that was earlier all it had. In retrospect, that was the first instance of me passionately working towards a goal, followed by burnout, but is it always so?
The productivity-burnout cycle
Productivity is generally measured in terms of output: meeting deadlines, completing tasks, and achieving results. The measure itself can be ambiguous: Who decides if the results are satisfactory? While ultimately, it’s you who associate meaning with your work, it’s undeniably impacted by external factors. And if you link productivity to how drained you feel, that’s how it would feel.
Productivity, when used as a means of distraction, is unhealthy and, more often than not, will lead to burnout. I know it’s such an effective way to avoid what feels out of control by maximizing what can be done. Honestly, it feels like cracking a code: work gets done, thoughts are avoided, but is the temporary satisfaction worth the burnout?
Bottomline
After a burnout, it takes time to reassess and bring in healthy productivity, and man, aren’t we all trying? The Jane Austen novel on my table that I started a month ago does make me question if I’m qualified enough to talk about productivity, but my reduced screen time says otherwise (albeit weakly). Anyhow, it’s a constant effort to find an adequate balance, and a friend recently telling me that my life seems comparatively sorted tells me that maybe I’m in a phase of productivity (seemingly).
In the era of improved life expectancy, the best you can do is sustainably grow and proceed. Productivity doesn’t always lead to burnout. And while slowing down after a high might feel like burnout, it’s probably the healthiest way to proceed. Remember the basics: regularly reassess your priorities, have a healthy work-life balance, and listen to your mind and body. Human brains have a weird way to self-conserve when extremity is attained, and while there’s no shortcut to success and hard work is irreplaceable, saving some of yourself is the only way to sustainably grow.
So, even if my to-do list is awaiting my attention along with that unfinished novel, completing this article defines a productive Sunday, doesn’t it?
