[masraum]

Here's an interesting article about working too hard.

BBC - Capital - Why you shouldn’t work at full capacity


Just a few excerpts from the article.

Working too hard is a recipe for burnout. After the initial praise and recognition fade, can you realistically maintain the bar you’ve set?

Have you ever felt like you couldn’t take time off work because nobody could do your job while you’re away? Do you drop all of your personal plans to work late nights and weekends, and feel guilty simply leaving the office on time?

If any of the above sounds familiar, then you may be one of the growing number of so-called “work martyrs” who are drastically changing company culture and leading to a rise in cases of stress and burnout.

“Over time, your company expects you to work at that initial level because that’s what you’ve done before, and you expect yourself to be at that level because that’s what you’ve been putting in,” he says. “But working that hard all the time just isn’t feasible.”

Patel found himself becoming less productive and efficient the more hours he put in. He says it took an emotional toll, too, “because you expect yourself to be at a higher level.”

The current work martyr trend among 18- to 35-year-olds relates to both healthy ego needs (like striving for a sense of accomplishment) and unhealthy levels of anxiety, says Denis. “You hear this popular narrative that millennials are entitled and spoiled but what we’re finding is that they actually have a lot of fear.”

Denis says many millennials entered the workforce at the height of the recession when jobs were scarce. Not only that, they’re dealing with an office culture where technology is ubiquitous, yet its boundaries remain unclear with many feeling chained to their devices.

“There’s very little guidance in the workplace about what’s appropriate [with technology], so it gives us this feeling that we need to be reachable at all times,” she says. “This fuels a kind of hyper-intense desire to prove yourself that’s playing out really strongly with millennials.”