The idealisation of hard work, also known as hustle culture, has led to burnout among other factors. This is common among high performers who are highly likely to succumb to burnout as they push themselves to keep going.
Founder of Tera Lead and leadership coach Rosy Choudhury sees a big difference between high-performers and self-driven people. The latter, she explains, hardly go through burnout since they have clear goals and boundaries. High performers, however, stretch to their limits and normalise burnout as part of success. In fact, they don’t recognise it and struggle to know when they need to slow down.
“Society has a habit of rewarding too much hard work at its own expense. It starts in early life where children receive awards and praises for putting in efforts, such as being told to study extra hours even when fatigued to pass examinations,” she says.
When they become adults, they tend to overwork and think of burnout as a temporary phase of life. The reasons for this also vary depending on one's personality and ambitions, such as perfectionism, fear of failure, extra load of work, and ambition.
Rosy states that the early signs someone is teetering on the edge of burnout are physical and mental exhaustion, which shows up as fatigue, overwhelm, irritability, headaches, weak immunity, low energy, demotivation, restlessness, procrastination, body stiffness, sleep changes, and impatience.
When high performers reach this point, they tend to ignore their limits, and they misinterpret it as resilience and resting as a failure. Rosy shares that resilience is prioritising long-term stability and relying on willpower, while burnout affects motivation and performance.
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“Resilience is beautiful and strategic. It is where you are adapting to your limits and you know how to get back up. You are more consistent when you know your boundaries, pace and limits,” she says.
Rosy expresses that society refrains from speaking openly about burnout due to shame. It is perceived that you are weak, irresponsible, uncommitted, or incapable; therefore, they may fear talking about burnout for fear that they may lose their job.
Noting that a generalised structure of assessing performance among employees is unrealistic, she encourages organisations to incorporate wellness in their workplaces and recognise the individual strengths and approaches to work.
Burnout can also lessen self-worth among high performers, for they attach it to their productivity and the boundaries between work and life are blurry. Self-awareness plays a part in knowing one’s capacities. It involves attitudes, value systems, perspectives, personalities, and relational dynamics in the workplace, she says.
“You need to have strong values which do not fluctuate with productivity. Productivity can go up and down, but self-worth should be steady and firm,” she says.
High performers can have a healthy work-life balance by attending to their needs and taking necessary breaks. Self-reflecting to see your motivation capacity, she advises, is one of the practical steps you can take to start slowing down. Daily check-ins will provide tools on how to rejuvenate your body and mind.
She suggests introspecting on whether your work connects to your purpose and values. Looking at success holistically, besides performance, will help you in your decision-making.
“You don’t have to be intense today and less motivated tomorrow. Measure yourself consistently, not because you are performing well, but recognising some days may not be your best days,” she says.
She also encourages having coaches, supervisors, and mentors as your support system.
Rosy, who is also a presence-based coach, says that self-care, mindfulness, a calm nervous system, and hobbies will help prevent burnout.
“When you take care of your body and mind, you are more relaxed, you make better decisions and fewer mistakes, your work is of better quality, and you are more impactful. Rest and recovery are important because they are how growth happens,” she says.