Burn-out and wellness
Last week a 35-year old, brilliant consultant from Atos-KPMG died of a heart attack. We worked together on the DWAF project. He was an in-shape, lean-looking guy. He leaves behind two small kids (9mnths and 2 years) and his wife.
Lesson for myself: Get out on the road and stay fit and get rid of stress and frustrations.
Lesson to all of us: Hold each other accountable for being healthy in body, mind and spirit.
Lesson to our clients: Take care of your BYT’s. Do not burn your brilliant young people. BYT’s are by nature smart, ambitious and willing and able to take on more than their peers. Do not abuse this. If someone runs in over-drive from age 25, he/she can be dead by age 35.
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Really sorry to hear about your colleague. It never seems to make sense when someone with that description dies at such a young age.
Question: Are younger Xers doing a better job of looking after themselves? (not suggesting he wasn’t, but you imply he was working/being worked too hard) At 35 there’s still a strong connection with Boomer values and worldview. Boomers lived to work. Is it easier for a 25 Xer to say ‘no’ and in so doing create the space to ‘get out on the road and stay fit’?
For the next generation I hope that’s the trend. That they’re better able to intergrate their ‘bits’ for a healthier life.
I don’t know whether it’s only a generational thing. It could be a Type A / Type B personality thing, a materialistic or need for recognition value thing, an external locus of control thing etc etc. What I’m saying is that it’s just as possible for a gen-xer to experience burn-out than it is for a Boomer. Especially for the highly ambitious, highly strung Type A x-ers out there. Many x-ers of my age are now starting to marry and to really take their work and responsibilities seriously – regardless of whether they work for themselves or for Boomers. The stress of working for yourself is often much worse than the stress of working for a boss. Some x-ers actually plan to work themselves to bits for 10 years and then take it easier. To find balance in life requires discipline and wisdom and grace. I don’t think these things come easier to x-ers than to boomers. I think that, while x-ers stand at the brink of their roller-coaster careers, they must beware of riding the roller-coaster so hard that they don’t permit themselves a stop to buy some ice-cream. In fact, perhaps x-ers that integrate their work and life are even more susceptable to burn-out. They love their work and its demands so much that they need to be reminded to take it slower sometimes. If work and life are clearly seperated, it’s easier to take your ski-boat to the dam over the weekend and forget totally about work – because work only happens from Monday to Friday.