Don't Burn Out!

Christina Maslach

Professor of Psychology
The University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California

I hear lots of people in organizations complain that their job never ends: "I'm here until 8 PM, 9 PM, 10 PM. I'm never home." Whenever I ask them why they do it, they say that if they didn't, then coworkers would see them as not doing their fair share -- and call them a wimp.

But when you work long hours, you burn out. And often, there's no real reason for it. People assume that their workplace has a "norm" when it really doesn't. So a companywide ignorance develops. Since people don't talk about how they're struggling, everyone thinks that everyone else is handling things fine. Companies with employee burnout have major communication work to do.

But what about individuals? We can each do something to ensure that we get some relief. I build certain rituals into my weekly and monthly calendar. That's the only way to make sure that I do things that I enjoy and that energize me. You must learn to fence off certain parts of your life, to protect those chunks of time, and to decide for yourself how you're going to use them. Because if you don't, then someone else will.

Ritualizing an activity by adding it to your calendar helps ensure that you do it. It's also important to notice what you say to yourself about how you're handling your time. People often say, "I don't have the time," when what they mean is that they've told themselves that they need to be available in case something else comes up. You have to make taking care of yourself a priority.

Christina Maslach (maslach@socrates.berkeley.edu) is a pioneer in research relating to job burnout and the creator of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Her books include "Burnout: The Cost of Caring" (Prentice-Hall, 1982) and "The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It" (Jossey-Bass, 1997), which she coauthored with Michael Leiter.

Frank Sesno

Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief
CNN
Washington, DC

I know people who go for a walk at lunchtime, or who swim every day, or who meditate in the office. I'm not one of those people. You can't get away from the news; it's history in the making. And I've got a front-row seat. It gets crazy around here. Working in a newsroom is like working in an emergency room: You're likely to have a major disaster at any moment.

Spending time with my kids (who are 16, 12, and 10) helps me face another day of news. Lately, I've been reading the Harry Potter books with my daughter. I want to be the best dad possible -- and to do the best job at work that I can. But there are times when you can't do both. You have to be able to recognize those times and make tough choices.

In 1988, CNN asked me to be its primary political reporter on all news pertaining to Michael Dukakis and his presidential campaign. At the time, my older son was three, and my wife and I had just had our second child. I was already on the road a lot, and the Dukakis coverage would have taken me away from home even more. One night, I called my wife while she was tucking our three-year-old son into bed. She said to him, "Let's say good night to Daddy, even though he's not here." My son said, "I hate Daddy. I don't want him to go away again forever." Those were his exact words.

That woke me up. When CNN asked, "Can you go on the road with Dukakis?" I said, "Sorry, I just can't do that."

Frank Sesno supervises CNN's largest news-gathering team and is responsible for the Washington bureau's daily operations, as well as for the editorial direction of CNN's coverage of the White House, Congress, the Pentagon, the U.S. State Department, and all general DC-area news. He also serves as coanchor of CNN Newsday, which airs weekdays at noon. He has reported on such major news events as presidential and economic summit meetings, Middle East peace talks, the impeachment trial of President Clinton, and the 50th anniversary of D Day at Normandy.