{Myth} Why Passion DOES NOT Prevent Burnout
Passion + Burnout?
this is place where there is a massive misconception…
& we just need to address it!
I have a random statistic about this on the homepage of my website,
but I wanna dig into it a little bit more right now.
The thing in question is this: does passion prevent burnout?
I'm probably gonna post on Instagram about this now that I’ve posted this blog and this video, but there is TikTok that Gary V posted where he says something along the lines of, “oh, I don't burn out, but you'll, you'll only burn out if you don't love it. Like I'm super passionate about what I do.”
And frankly, that is one of the most false statements I've ever heard about burnout.
There was a study done by Deloitte where they surveyed a number of employees and in that survey, 87% of the workers that they polled said they had passion for their work, but of that, 64% of we're still crazy stressed and still feeling the burnout.
And not only does that completely debunk the whole passion does not prevent burnout thing, but I actually would argue that if you're somebody who's passionate about where your work, well, I hate to say it…
Passion might make your burnout harder to manage!
Why? Because people who are passionate about their work often tend to put themselves on the back burner for the sake of their work and/or they don't set boundaries like they should. Because of the fact that you are passionate, this might actually mean is you have a harder time disconnecting. It might actually mean you're too available to your clients and your peers.
You might actually need is harder boundaries than someone who is not so passionate.
If somebody's not as passionate about their work, they're able to say “peace out” at the end of the day and check out without any qualms or any reservations. That might not be you if you are passionate about your work. So, you might need harder boundaries and you might need more accountability to check out at the end of the day.
For example, I just installed an application called Freedom on my computer, where it literally won't let me go to certain websites during certain times of day. If you're somebody who's passionate about your work, you might need to implement things that are as extreme as that if you truly cannot disconnect from work without them. So, you might need harder boundaries.
You might also need to do a little bit of self-reflection to find out what is draining you…
Burnout ultimately comes from exhaustion in whatever form it might take. It could be emotional exhaustion, physical exhaustion, and it also comes from overwhelm. Those are the three of the four different types of burnout. I'm not including the fourth type. If you're passionate about the work you do, you're probably not experiencing boredom burnout. You could potentially be experiencing one of these other three though.
So what we might need to do is create some self-reflection to ask yourself, what are the things that are draining me emotionally in my job? What are the things that are draining me physically in my job? And what are the things that are overwhelming me in my job?
I would venture to guess that for somebody who is very passionate about the work they do, they might be finding themselves emotionally exhausted because they are taking on the burdens of and emotions and problems of their clients and peers.
Take a nurse, for example. A lot of people who go into nursing—or teaching as another example — because they’re incredibly passionate about helping people. For a nurse they're probably very passionate about helping people get healthier, helping people overcome their ailments, the chronic diseases they might be experiencing, etc. A teacher might be passionate about helping their students, you know, create a love of learning, help them overcome imposter syndrome or overcome comparison. They might be passionate about those types of things.
So—in both of these situations—when their clients are struggling or when their patients are struggling or when their students are struggling in these two scenarios, they might take a lot of that emotional burden on themselves. They might feel like they're a failure when they're not able to help somebody. That's a massive emotional burden to take on. So in these situations, might, you might not only need harder boundaries, but you might also need to self-reflect to get very, very aware of what the things are that are draining you or what the things are that are overwhelming you.
Lastly, you might need more intentional breaks and rest times.
If you're passionate, as we said before, you're likely to put yourself on the back burner for the sake of your career and your job. However, doing that is gonna be the last thing you should do because it's gonna drain you faster and it's gonna burn you out faster.
So being more intentional about taking breaks and being more intentional about the things that you do during those breaks is going to be very important for you. It’s going to be about spending your rests and breaks making sure that you're doing things that are filling your cup back up so that you're able to pour into others. Those might all be incredibly, incredibly important steps for you to take if you are passionate about the work you do.
So not only does passion not prevent burnout, but you might actually be more susceptible to it.
And I wanna debunk that myth right now….
For those of you that are incredibly passionate about your work, I hope those three tips—harder boundaries, doing a little bit of self-reflection to figure out what draining your overwhelming you, and taking more intentional breaks and rests—are incredibly, incredibly beneficial tips for you.
Stay tuned for more. Follow me @coachellyn or hop on my email list (below) and I will hook you up.