Skip to content

What is Burnout?

2019-01-11 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:52 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook

Hank admits he does not know what burnout is and proposes that it is not one thing: work needs fuel and the opportunity to burn it, so burnout can be a fuel problem or an opportunity problem; he argues we can diversify our fuels and must value caring for each other and ourselves.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank does not know what burnout is; Mark Rober's treadmill-and-dopamine definition

  • ★★ Hank admits he doesn't know what burnout is: he thought it was working until mind or body collapsed, but he has worked through burnout and been burned out on one part of life but not another. (unsure) — 00:00:00 · occupational burnout
  • ★★ Hank talked with Mark Rober that morning about the neurotransmitters that make life feel rewarding and that are ultimately responsible for us doing anything. — 00:00:29

  • ★★ Mark Rober (quoted): Mark Rober told Hank that burnout is when the treadmill keeps going but the dopamine runs out: you keep running though it no longer feels good. — 00:00:29 · occupational burnout

    “Burnout is when the treadmill keeps going, but the dopamine runs out.”

00:00:59 — Fuel and opportunity: kinds of burnout, Hank's own, and losing fuel in creative work

  • ★★★ Hank says getting anything done needs fuel and the opportunity to burn it: lots of gasoline gets you nowhere without a car. — 00:00:59

    “You need fuel and you need the opportunity to burn it.”

  • ★★ Hank lists fuels (status, an easier life, joy, usefulness, not disappointing parents, novelty on Twitter, destroying enemies, feeding children): real or perceived, good or bad, all make you want things and feel good briefly. — 00:00:59 · Twitter

  • ★★ Hank lists opportunities to burn fuel: free time, skills, education, resources, job history, health, confidence, drive, looking the part and speaking the language, literally and metaphorically. — 00:01:28
  • ★★★ Hank thinks there is no single burnout: look at fuel and opportunity; ignoring your needs, driving without payoff, exhaustion and lost meaning are very different things all called burnout. — 00:01:28 · occupational burnout
  • ★★ Hank's worst burnouts came when he still had fuel but ran out of hours in the day because one too many things went wrong: fuel, but no more car. — 00:01:59
  • ★★★ Hank sees creative workers once joyful lose their fuel because brains aren't excited by the same input repeatedly: the 20th million-view video feels less good, for the same work and audience expectation. — 00:01:59
  • ★★★ Hank says we are more than machines: what triggers dopamine is shaped by values and worldview, which we can intentionally change; without diversified fuels we need ever more input for the same work. — 00:02:28

00:02:57 — Valuing care for each other and ourselves; the conversation should continue

  • ★★★ Hank says if we start believing that loving and taking care of each other and ourselves isn't valuable, it won't be. — 00:02:57
  • ★★ Hank thinks that is partly why we pay for bath bombs and yoga classes: assigning economic value to self-care helps us believe it is worth it, though it shouldn't be that hard. — 00:02:57
  • ★★★ Hank says holidays remind us to be thankful for others, and remembering people important to us reminds us we are important too, regardless of our economic output. — 00:03:26
  • ★ Hank says the conversation can't be finished in a four-minute video; he links readings in the description and hopes it continues in the comments. — 00:03:26

In the description and comments

  • ★★★ The description sums up: ask whether burnout is a fuel or an opportunity problem; fuel can be fixed with a new story, opportunity is slower and sometimes can't be fixed because of deep inequality. — video description · economic inequality
  • ★★ The description recommends further reading on burnout: the BuzzFeed News article on millennial burnout everyone is talking about, a Slate piece in response, and a video by Hank's friend Rosianna. — video description · Rosianna Halse Rojas, occupational burnout
  • ★★ Hank writes that much discussion of burnout concerns people who have opportunity but have long been sold the wrong kind of fuel; he thinks it important to be grateful for opportunities, find good fuel, do good work and work hard. (hedged) — video description · occupational burnout
  • ★★★ Hank doesn't love the idea that burnout is a problem of overwork; he thinks it comes more from being overly convinced that work is the most valuable, or only valuable, thing we do. (hedged) — video description · occupational burnout
  • ★★★ Hank says this matters especially in our twenties, and thinks American reliance on 'all-capitalism-all-the-time' is a big part of how workers have been exploited and put in unsustainable situations. (hedged) — video description · capitalism

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: occupational burnout

Also: dopamine · hedonic adaptation · love · Mark Rober · Twitter

Only in the description or credits: BuzzFeed · capitalism · economic inequality · gratitude · Millennials · Rosianna Halse Rojas · Slate

Later videos replying to this one

  • 2019-01-15 · On Burning Resentment (John) — continues — “I really liked your video on Friday about burnout and motivation and the various fuels we use to keep our engines running.” (00:00:00)
  • 2019-01-18 · Should You Burn Dirty Fuel? (Hank) — continues — “For the people who watched my most recent video” (00:00:29)

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2019-01-11 – 2019-01-18.