Don't Burn Out!

Craig Burzych

Air-Traffic-Control Specialist
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago, Illinois

Air-traffic controllers run their batteries on high power for long stretches. Every once in a while, you've got to break that tension. In the control tower, we use humor to do that. A good laugh works wonders.

During busy times, we're doing a lot of things at once. We're watching airplanes through windows and keeping an eye on the radar scopes. We're scanning the runway and the radius of the airport. We're exchanging information with pilots over radios. We have maybe 45 minutes of light traffic between rushes. That's when we unwind.

There are 17 people in the tower. At times, someone will tell a joke or rib someone. Or somebody will key up the microphone on his headset without realizing it. Imagine a controller telling a coworker about an ex-girlfriend or about a vasectomy -- and having it broadcast to a hundred pilots! That's always good for a laugh.

Even so, during my first 10 years in the tower, the stress would really get to me. It finally dawned on me that the job wasn't going to change -- and that I had to. That's when I started running the Chicago Marathon. When I come home and put on my running shoes to train, I stop thinking about the tower.

Craig Burzych (craigb2222@aol.com) has been an air-traffic controller for 13 years. He serves as president of the local chapter of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and he is a licensed commercial pilot.

Maggie Wilderotter

President, Director, and CEO
Wink Communications Inc.
Alameda, California

I know that it's time to recharge my batteries whenever I look at my schedule and see that every single minute of the day is booked.

People often say (especially to someone who runs a company), "This is no time for a break!" But that's precisely when I tell my assistant, "I need a half hour to go on a 'lion hunt.' " When I go on a lion hunt, I'm totally off the charts. That means that my assistant holds all of my calls and rejiggers my schedule, canceling anything that isn't a priority.

And then I begin my hunt: I prowl through the office, asking people what they're working on. That gives me a chance to connect with employees whom I don't usually talk to. Lion hunts are incredibly relaxing because -- even if they last just 30 minutes -- they take me away from a demanding schedule that requires me to push, push, push. And I always walk away from the experience having learned something: I have a renewed understanding of what we're doing at my company.

I've never burned out on the job, simply because I don't let myself get to that point. You've got to be able to pace yourself and allow time for plenty of breaks. I have three golden rules: Weekends are for my family, not for my work; I take four weeks of vacation each year; and I try to maintain a healthy lifestyle -- by sleeping enough, eating well, and exercising often.

Time is a finite resource, and we all place infinite demands on it. I view time as an opportunity, as a chance to make choices about how I spend that resource -- because it is our choice. And that's something that people often forget.

Maggie Wilderotter joined Wink Communications Inc. in early 1997. Previously, she was executive vice president of national operations at AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and CEO of its aviation-communications division. She was also senior vice president at McCaw Cellular Communications Inc., and she spent 12 years in the cable-television industry. Wink, a $1.6 million interactive-television company, provides a complete end-to-end system that allows interactive enhancements to be made while a TV program or a commercial is on the air.

Joe Gibbs

Owner
Joe Gibbs Racing
Charlotte, North Carolina

I left football because it was time to do something different. Coaching is one of the greatest jobs that anybody could have. But you reach a point where you've climbed that particular mountain enough times, and you need something to refuel the fire.

Getting into another competitive sport like auto racing was a natural transition, something that my sons and I had long talked about doing together as a family business. That was another important reason why I left coaching. I'd spent more time with the Redskins than with my own family. Now I work with my family every day.

Still, racing is an intense business. You can make a lot of money, but you can also lose a lot of money. You get caught up in the work and in the excitement, and it's easy to go from week to week adding one commitment after another. And then, the next thing you know, you've got every day booked.

On my calendar, I mark the days on which I intend to get away with my family. They're marked with big yellow Xs. For example, we take a four-day weekend each month. And around Christmastime, we spend nine days either skiing or vacationing someplace warm. It's important to look at what you're signing yourself up for long term.

During Joe Gibbs's tenure as coach of the Washington Redskins, from 1981 to 1993, the team went to the Super Bowl four times and won three world championships. In 1991, Gibbs started Joe Gibbs Racing and assembled a NASCAR team that has won numerous races, including the Daytona 500.