Creativity is the energy of change, and anyone can enlarge and enhance their capacity to tap into this energy through learning about how it works and engaging in creative experiences. This is essential information for all of us now, living at this time when the speed of life is accelerating and the pace of change a source of significant psychological stress. Uncertainty and instability are part of the price we pay for revolutionary new technologies that continue to transform the landscape of our lives, through redesigning the way we do business, connect and communicate. In light of the stresses we face it is more important than ever to understand the process of burn-out so that we can prevent it. The good news is that the creative process is a way of engaging with the tensions of the unknown and shaping our attitudes and habits of mind in ways that make us more effective, empowered and energized.

1. Going To
The Well:
Understanding & Preventing Burn-Out
www.lifestage.org

2. Objectives
• Discuss the creation and implementation of a
role and the process that leads to burn-out;
• Define and explain the process of burn-out;
• Provide information about evidence-based
practices that can prevent or reverse the
process that leads to burn-out;

3. “My candle burns at both ends/
it will not last the night.”
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Burnout is a
condition that
affects us physically,
intellectually,
emotionally, socially
and spiritually.

4. The Speed of Life
“Technology is evolving at roughly 10 million
times the speed of natural evolution. For all its
glitz and swagger, technology and the whole
interactive, revved-up economy that goes with
it, is merely an outer casing for our inner selves.
And these inner selves, these primate souls of
ours with their ancient social ways, change
slowly. Or not at all.”
Brian Arthur, “How Fast Is Technology Evolving?” Scientific American (February 1997): 107.

5. The pace of change influences our
thoughts, feelings and sense of self
“Today's
technological
evolution no longer
solely affects what
we are doing, but
also who we are,”
Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum.

6. The pace of change demands
continuous adaptation
“Just as technology changes beyond all recognition
in the space of a single life-time, so too do family
structures, social life, education, sexual behavior
and everything else. What is at stake in the
breakneck speed of social change is too important
simply to leave it to wash over us like a tide about
which we can do nothing. We need to understand
how it works, where it is taking us, and what we can
do to alter its direction when necessary.”
Richard Wilkinson, “Linking Social Structure and Individual Vulnerability,” Journal of Community Work and Development 5.33
(2004): 38.

7. The “well” of human creativity is a
renewable resource
The uncertainty and
tension generated
by the rapidly
accelerating pace of
change are also core
aspects of the
creative process.
With the right mind and
skill set, we can engage
with the tensions in
creative ways that express
our values, passions, and
competence.

8. Engagement is the
antidote to burnout.
Creative
engagement with
aspects of life that
connect with a
sense of our
significance.

9. Burn-Out:
When energy demands exceed energy resources
“Burnout is a prolonged
response to chronic
emotional and interpersonal
stressors on the job, and is
defined by the three
dimensions of exhaustion,
cynicism, and inefficacy.”
Christina Maslach et al, Job Burnout, Annual Review of
Psychology, Feb. 2001 Vol. 52: 397-422
“Job burnout is a response
to work stress that leaves
you feeling powerless,
hopeless, fatigued, drained,
and frustrated.”
Christopher Gergen & Gregg Vanourek, “Three Ways To Beat
Burn-Out” Harvard Business Review, Dec. 1, 2008

10. Burn-out is a psychological, physical,
stress-related health concern
• “Nearly two-thirds of ailments seen in doctors’ offices
are commonly thought to be stress induced;
• Surveys indicate that 60 percent of Americans feel they
are under a great deal of stress at least once a week.
Costs due to stress from absenteeism, medical
expenses, and lost productivity are estimated at $300
billion annually.”
“Brain Facts: A Primer On The Brain and Nervous System,” Society For Neuroscience, (Washington, D.C. 2005): 29 www.sfn.org,
accessed 8/21/10.

11. Psychological and emotional stress that
leads to burn-out has a serious impact
health effects
Burnout is a stronger
predictor of coronary
heart disease than many
other classical risk
factors, including
smoking, blood lipid
levels, and physical
activity.
S. Toker, et al, “Burnout and Risk of Coronary Heart
Disease: A Prospective Study of 8838 Employees”
Psychosomatic Medicine, 2012; 74 (8): 840

12. Personal perception of being under
stress is linked to heart disease risk
High stress increases the
risk of heart disease at a
rate equivalent to a 50
mg/dL increase in LDL
cholesterol, a 2.7/1.4
mmHg increase in blood
pressure or smoking five
more cigarettes per day."
Safiya Richardson, Jonathan A. Shaffer, Louise Falzon, David Krupka, Karina
W. Davidson, Donald Edmondson. Meta-Analysis of Perceived Stress and
Its Association With Incident Coronary Heart Disease. The American
Journal of Cardiology, 2012; 110 (12): 1711
The individual
variation in responding
to stress is somewhat
dependent on a
person’s perception of
external events. This
perception ultimately
shapes our internal
physiological response.

13. The perception that we have some
power over our response to events
lowers stress levels
By controlling our
perception of events – and
engaging with our creative
capacity to change the way
we think - we can do much
to avoid the harmful
consequences of role strain
and role stress.
Safiya Richardson, Jonathan A. Shaffer, Louise Falzon, David
Krupka, Karina W. Davidson, Donald Edmondson. MetaAnalysis of Perceived Stress and Its Association With
Incident Coronary Heart Disease. The American Journal of
Cardiology, 2012; 110 (12): 1711

14. The process of burn-out is related to
the creation and implementation of
roles we take in life
Anything we want to change about our lives
involves the creative process. To acquire a
healthy habit, learn a new role or get better at
an existing one, calls for imagination to see
inwardly and for creative energy to act in new
ways.

15. Roles are expressions of creative energy
A role is self-renewing
when we are able to
implement and perform it
in ways that feel
rewarding, engaging,
expansive and meaningful.

16. Role Conflict
When multiple
roles with
contradictory
expectations
collide

17. Role Fatigue
The energy
expended to
perform the role
at desired levels
begins to exceed
rewards or the
perception of
value;
Photo by FionaMeng
www.fionameng.
deviantart

18. Role Strain
Performance of
the role is
diminished
because of
ongoing imbalance
between energy
expended and
energy received;

19. Symptoms of Role Strain
• Energy imbalance develops into a general sense
of low self-worth and questioning one’s
competence;
• Discounting past accomplishments, difficulty
seeing one’s value in the past and present;
• Distancing from emotional engagement with
work and work partners;
• Deepening sense of vulnerability and uncertainty;

20. Role Stress
All available energy
is required just to
“tread water” in the
role – the perceived
reward for
continuing to
engage is
diminished or gone.

21. Symptoms of Role Stress
• Emotional armoring;
• Worry and fear leading to irritability and
anger;
• Negativity and pessimism;
• Defensive coping, e.g. suspiciousness and
mistrust in the face of new information or
change; a “what’s the use, why bother?” script
in response to new ideas;

22. Burn-Out
There is no energy
to fuel performance
of the role;
Feelings of
demoralization,
emptiness and
disengagement
with regard to the
role.

23. The need for renewal can be
expressed in a variety of ways
• Physical Symptoms - physical exhaustion, Sleeping difficulties,
Somatic problems
• Emotional Symptoms - irritability, anxiety, depression, guilt, and a
sense of helplessness
• Behavioral Symptoms - Aggression, Callousness, Pessimism,
Defensiveness, Cynicism, Avoidance. Substance abuse
• Work-Related Symptoms - Poor work performance, Boundary
problems, Absenteeism, Tardiness, Risk-taking
• Interpersonal Symptoms - Perfunctory communication, Difficulty
focusing, Social withdrawal, Lack of a sense of humor,
Dehumanization

24. Internal states combined with external
circumstances are factors in the burn-out process
Over-commitment , e.g., difficulty
saying no, setting boundaries, or
being realistic about what is possible
to achieve;
Perfectionism ;
Difficulty working out interpersonal
conflicts;
Resource issues – cutbacks or
changes in available resources;
Being dominated or micro-managed;
Difficulty delegating or asking for
help;
Self-criticism or excessive, unfair
criticism from others;
Work has diminished connection to
one’s passion or purpose;
Too much change in a short period of
time;
Work no longer contributes to one’s
sense of significance;
A need for structural or procedural
change that does not come;

25. We cannot solve our problems with
the same thinking we used when we
created them.” Albert Einstein
“

26. What leads to new insights & discovery
also recharges creative energy for
renewal – it is most accessible to us
when we break up our routine.
"Only when the brain is confronted with stimuli that it
has not encountered before does it start to reorganize
perception. The surest way to provoke the imagination,
then, is to seek out environments you have no
experience with, e.g. chemist Kary Mullis landed on
the principle of polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, not
in a lab but on a northern California highway.” Gregory Burns,
Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How To Think Differently Harvard Business Review Press, 2010

27. For effective renewal: its not how long,
its how well we relax and recharge
“The importance of
restoration is rooted in
our physiology. Human
beings aren’t designed to
expend energy
continuously. Rather,
we’re meant to pulse
between spending and
recovering energy.”
Tony Schwartz, “Relax! You’ll Be More Productive” New York
Times, Feb. 9, 2013

28. “In physical training, muscle strength grows
during periods of rest and renewal”
The same principles that
apply to athletic performance
also hold true for business
and work performance.
It is in periods of sleep and
downtime that our minds
recharge. The key is to
have the biggest waves
between activity and rest.“
Tony Schwartz, “Relax! You’ll Be More Productive” New York
Times, Feb. 9, 2013

29. The US Marines report remarkable results from
training soldiers in mindfulness meditation.
After 8 weeks of
meditating 15-minutes/
day, the soldiers reported:
greater capacity to deal
with anxiety, stress,
depression and insomnia;
to stay calm and focused
in the thick of battle,
while improving overall
mental and physical
fitness.
Danny Penman, “Mindfulness: Finding Peace In
A Frantic World” www.franticworld.com

30. Writing For Your Life
One study found that writers who focused on
cognitions and emotions about stressful events
developed a greater awareness of the positive
benefits of the stressful event than the control
groups. This effect was apparently mediated by
greater cognitive processing during writing.
“Journaling about stressful events: Effects of cognitive processing
and emotional expression “ Philip M Ullrich & Susan Lutgendorf,
Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Vol. 24 No. 3 244-250

31. Guidelines for expressive writing that
can produce cognitive shifts
• Use writing to describe bodily awareness of
emotions in relationship to events;
• Free-writing based on a line from a poem or
quote;
• Shift between 1st and 3rd person
• Use different color ink to express different
perspectives or different states of mind that
emerge when exploring an issue;

32. Longer-term health benefits
of expressive writing that shifts perception
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fewer stress-related visits to the doctor
Improved immune system functions
Reduced blood pressure
Improved mood/affect
Greater psychological well-being
Reduced depressive symptoms
Fewer post-traumatic symptoms
“Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing” Karen Baikie &
Kay Wilhelm, Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, Vol. 11 No. 5 (2005)

33. Long-term social and behavioral
benefits of expressive writing:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Increased engagement at work
Quicker re-employment after job loss
Improved working memory
Improved sporting performance
Higher students’ grade point average
Altered social and linguistic behaviour
“Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing” Karen Baikie & Kay Wilhelm, Advances in
Psychiatric Treatment, Vol. 11 No. 5 (2005)

34. Creative pursuits activate the brain
chemistry of reward and achievement
“We feel rewarded when we
create new objects or actions,
and since creativity is based on
the decisions made by the
creator, the reward system
kicks in when we are in control
and inventing things that we
have thought of ourselves.
Freedom and ownership are
part and parcel of the
neurochemistry of the arts.”
James Zull, “Arts, Neuroscience and Learning,” New Horizons
for Learning (March 2005): para. 10. 20 Nov. 2005
<www.newhorizons.org

35. “I have a theory that burnout
is about resentment”
Avoiding burn-out isn’t about getting three
square meals or eight hours of sleep. It’s not
even necessarily about getting time at
home…And you beat it by knowing what it is
you’re giving up that makes you resentful. I tell
people: find your rhythm. Your rhythm is what
matters to you so much that when you miss it
you’re resentful of your work.
Marissa Mayer, Vice President of local, maps and location services at Google
Business Week, April 13, 2012

36. Know what gives you energy and
protect it
“You can’t have
everything you want, but
you can have the things
that really matter to you.
And thinking that way
empowers you to work
really hard for a really
long period of time.”
Marissa Mayer, Vice President of local, maps and location
services at Google Business Week April 13, 2012

37. “Having what matters” replaces
“having it all
“I hate the phrase "having it all" -- no one has it all,
and trying to is the surest way to make yourself feel
like a failure. I try to think of it as "having what
matters." What matters to me right now are my
family and my work. I don't throw huge dinner
parties or even go to many, and every plant in my
house for the last decade has died. Maybe it'll be
different when my kids are older, but keeping
focused on the two things I care about helps me not
beat myself up for the 17 things I'm not doing at
any given moment. Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive , quoted in Arianna Huffington,
“Beyond Money and Power (and Stress and Burnout): In Search of a New Definition of Success” Huffington Post
5/29/13

38. "The important thing to remember is that it
isn't about balance, it's about integration,“
Padmasree Warrior, Cisco Systems' Chief Technology and Strategy Officer
“Focus on making
sure you're
integrating all four
aspects of your
work, your family,
your community and
the yourself.”

39. Significance is a renewable
psychological resource

40. Contact Jude Treder-Wolff to discuss
an onsite experiential version of this
training for your staff, organization or
conference
496 Smithtown Bypass
Suite 202
Smithtown, NY 11787
www.lifestage.org