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Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time

By The SHSMD Team posted 08-09-2022 12:53 PM

  

In America, productivity is valued. We get our sense of identity from work; how much we earn. Some might argue technology is to blame, because suddenly everyone had instant access to the office via their smartphone. But, this phenomenon was present even in the 1980s.

That said, technology has certainly contributed to the endless busyness pervasive in Americans’ lives.

“Some people think about it as almost a price of admission. That you have to be busy to show you're valuable and worthy,” states Brigid Shulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America.

Physical and Mental Health Impact

Shulte notes that some of the most powerful research today surrounds occupational safety and health, trying to understand what work stress does to the human body. Multiple studies revealed ten primary psychosocial stressors.

“This is not falling off a ladder or going down into a coal mine. This is having a toxic boss. It is working long hours. It’s the feeling that, you're working really hard, but you're not getting rewarded for it or recognized for it. So, there's this low sense of justice.”

Over time, these psychosocial factors can lead to both acute illness (heart attack) and chronic illness (obesity, diabetes). In fact, experts agree that “work” is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. It’s similarly as dangerous as secondhand smoke.

“I've been spending time with workaholics, trying to understand some of that internal compulsion. And what so many of them say is that it's so hard to have an addiction that is so rewarded in our society,” shares Shulte. “That ‘always on’ mentality is what researchers call the ideal worker. There's reams of research now that's made it clear that is not how you are an ideal worker at all.”

Identifying Solutions

Creating burnout cultures is not just bad for employees, it’s also bad for innovation and productivity. Research shows you can push people to work longer hours for a limited time. But, after two or three weeks of 60-hour work weeks, you get to the same productivity as if employees continued working a 40-hour work week.

For change to occur, Shulte calls on both organizations—from the leadership level—and individual responsibility.

“One of the things I really try to impart to business leaders is getting really clear, getting really intentional on what the work is and then organizing the day around that and rewarding performance; rewarding the output rather than the input.”

From the individual’s perspective, one of the most important steps people can take is to recognize that the overwhelm they’re feeling is not their fault. Once they are aware of the issue and what all the busyness is doing to them, they can start to detach from it.

One way to do that is to really be intentional about priorities. What do you actually need to get done today, and what can wait? Shulte suggests focusing on scheduling, but not in a way where you’re cramming in everything you can.

“Think of it more like an art gallery, where you're really intentional about what you pick, and you place it very carefully. And then, there's white space. There's something else to go to next, but you have time to recover and process and understand before you tie up loose ends, before you go to the next thing. That's something I've really tried to embrace in my own life, thinking about my calendar like an art gallery.”

Shulte also champions productivity consultant David Allen’s advice to think about your to-do list in a different way—more like a brain dump. Write down what you want to get done, so it doesn’t live in your head.

“If you don't write it down, you're constantly expending energy trying to remember stuff. So, write it down, then pick one or two things from your dump, but don't do the entire dump.”

At the end of the day, both literally and figuratively, it’s so essential to value the time you have on this earth. “We are here for a limited time only,” cautions Shulte. “Time is a very precious and limited resource. Nobody ever wished they'd spent more time at the office.”

Brigid Shulte
Brigid Shulte
Director, Better Life Lab at New America

 

Learning More

  • To hear more about this keynote session coming up at SHSMD Connections in September conference, click here to listen her newly released SHSMD Rapid Insights podcast episode.
  • Register ASAP for SHSMD Connections 2022 in-person conference to attend Brigid’s Opening Keynote on September 11 “Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love & Play When No One Has the Time”.
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