Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM  

Do you feel that work is relentless?  That you’re overwhelmed and never quite able to get ahead of the crisis du jour?  According to executive coach, Lisa Marshall, at least 60% of her clients are suffering from serious stress-related health issues!

Technology is a big player.  Historically, it has always raised expectations instead of lowering work loads.  We have created a world that assumes responsiveness 24/7 -- we have to be available to EVERYONE ALL THE TIME.

Here’s this month’s feature ...

Burnout Nation by Lisa Marshall

From -- Link & Learn e-Newsletter -- Linkage, Inc., June 2006

Highlights from the article:

• As a species, we’re not built for a 24/7 world.  Physiologically, we’re built for cycles.  For days and nights (where we get enough sleep).  For seasons.  For fast times and slow times.  When we stay in the fast lane constantly, we’re literally poisoning ourselves with chemical infusions that are valuable when you’re being attacked by a saber-toothed tiger, but quite harmful when left at elevated levels in our bloodstream for extended periods of time.
    

• “Successful” people are too exhausted to take the steps that would get them ahead of the constant pressure.  There’s less and less time for meaningful connection at home or at work.  The conversations that would make sense of it all never happen.  We grow more and more disconnected.  Any sense of accomplishment is fleeting.  And a gaping hole -- in our hearts, in our psyches, in our souls -- begins to grow.  Unlike our technology, we don’t have a little light that comes on that tells us our batteries are dying.
    

• Hierarchical organizational structures -- that traditionally helped people make meaning of their work lives -- may actually be getting in the way of productivity.  These hierarchies can create inefficiencies that actually result in more work and more pressure to the point that leaders don’t even have time to think.  And they certainly can’t find time to lead others.
    

• In the face of all of this, what could leaders be doing? 
    
  1)  Learn to know your own burnout signs.  Take stock of physical health, family health, and spiritual health ... and invest in all three. 
    
  2)  Have the guts to say “time out!”  Make “meaning-making” a priority by having conversations with everyone in the organization about which way is true north.
    

• It’s very hard for people to make the elemental moves that can hack away the underbrush and cut through to what really counts.  Yet those are the only moves that will allow leaders to find the time to lead.
    

• The predictability and reliability that many of us need isn’t to be found externally any more, so we’re going to have to create it internally -- to trust our own ability to survive and thrive in a chaotic world.  What keeps you viable today is a willingness to learn and the capacity to see possibilities that others don’t.

For the full text article, go to ...
http://www.linkageinc.com/thinking/linkageleader/Documents/
Lisa_Marshall_Burnout_Nation_0606.pdf

Working Late Makes You Stupid

According to the National Sleep Foundation, if you work too late, the lack of sleep impairs the ability to pay attention, communicate with clarity, think through options, and maintain a positive mood.  And if you’re not getting enough hours of sleep, your brain can neither process nor store the new information you received during the day.  Yet, millions of adults in the U.S. are sleep-deprived, thinking they can live with less than 6-7 hours of sleep.

In addition to sleep, exercise and social interaction work as wonder drugs for our brains, spurring the growth of new cells and connections between those cells.  In fact, its possible that older active people might have more mentally efficient brains than young sedentary people.

It appears that working too many hours and not sleeping and exercising enough can hurt you in the long run.  To sharpen your brain, you first have to take care of your body.

Source: Marcia Reynold’s Monthly Brain Tips from OutsmartYourBrain.com

Next Month

As a leader facing difficult challenges, how do you sustain yourself?  How do you anchor yourself?  How do you remember who you are and what you want to protect and conserve at the same time that you are engaged in a process that’s buffeting you and tossing you around?  Learn how to lead with an open heart.

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