{"id":65313,"date":"2020-10-26T08:45:19","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T12:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/?p=65313"},"modified":"2021-09-20T08:04:07","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T12:04:07","slug":"understanding-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.arc.ht\/blog\/inspiration\/industry\/understanding-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Burnout in Architecture School and the Profession"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mike LaValley is the architect, speaker, and writer behind\u00a0Evolving Architect<\/a>. For more creative and nerdy insights, follow him on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0or check out his\u00a0upcoming book<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Overwork and looming deadlines have elevated stress levels and inefficiency at the office to unprecedented heights throughout the profession. Burnout has reached critical levels throughout the workforce, hitting the architectural profession in particular. Looming deadlines and stress have begun to erode office efficiency and motivation. When we are burnt out at work, we often neglect it and push through, resulting in many long-lasting, negative effects over time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Understanding burnout is the power to choose a different path.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get a better understanding of what burnout looks like as well as a tangible plan for how to improve the harmony between them. Burnout begins with recurring stress in the workplace and ends with a plan of how to defeat it.<\/p>\n

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Image via Evolving Architect<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What is Burnout?<\/h2>\n

To understand the problem, we first need to define Burnout. So, what is Burnout exactly?<\/p>\n

Well, the answer is intuitive, but nuanced. At its core, \u201cBurnout\u201d is the result of long term stress built up over time, ultimately overwhelming the person who experiences it. That said, burnout is NOT the same as stress. Stress is acute, while Burnout is chronic.<\/p>\n

Everyone experiences a varying amount of stress on a daily basis. The difference here is that stress can be relieved at the source by either solving the problem causing the stress directly or by releasing stress through activities such as exercise. Burnout on the other hand is constructed, built up. The ability to break burnout down and get back to \u2018normal\u2019 or a baseline is much more difficult.<\/p>\n

“Burnout is the physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress.” <\/span><\/em>\u2014Heidi Hanna, Ph.D., Executive Directory of the American Institute of Stress<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When you\u2019re experiencing stress, you can become temporarily bewildered or frustrated with something. But the moment is fleeting. It will pass.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re experiencing burnout, you don\u2019t have the ability quickly bounce back because the problems you need to deal with are systemic, not acute. Dealing with burnout requires you to untangle the mess, not just wait for it to pass. It won\u2019t unless you change the systems that got you there.<\/p>\n

Burnout exhausts you both physically and mentally. It can act as a gateway to other, more serious conditions such as depression, anxiety, and so on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Do More.<\/h2>\n

Everyone is busy. When I say that, it probably either energizes you or makes you cringe. It\u2019s possible it even does both. Since the recession in 2008, things have been progressively getting better in the economy [editor’s note: this post was originally written before the 2020 pandemic]<\/em>. New technologies have been popping up left and right to help streamline the progress of society.<\/p>\n

So, when everything\u2019s good, it\u2019s all good, right?<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

We live in a time when \u2018Do More\u2019 and \u2018Hustle\u2019 culture are synonymous with success. While, yes, doing more and having a good work ethic can help close the gap between where you are and where you want to be in your career, they are not the only factors. You can\u2019t sprint the entire length of a marathon. You have to methodically build yourself up so that your body and mind can adjust to the long term stresses you put them through.<\/p>\n

But, society doesn\u2019t care about that.<\/p>\n

Society says, \u2018Do More.\u2019<\/p>\n

Clients are moving forward with their building projects and we have to be there to serve them at the same levels of high quality as ever before. More clients appear and deserve the same.<\/p>\n

More.<\/p>\n

More.<\/p>\n

More.<\/p>\n

How do we cope? How do we keep up?<\/p>\n

We show up harder. We become more efficient. We offer more services.<\/p>\n

We do more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Workplace or Everything?<\/h2>\n

In Spring 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) addressed burnout head on. They have essentially categorized burnout as a \u2018workplace\u2019 condition. While this may, at first, seem quite logical, it doesn\u2019t paint a complete picture in my opinion of what burnout actually does to someone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

“Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” <\/span><\/em>\u2014The World Health Organization<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Think about it this way \u2014 does your life revolve ENTIRELY around your job? Regardless of whether you have a spouse or kids, you have people in your life that care about you. You have friends that care about you. You have activities that you enjoy to do in your spare time. You may have faith in a higher power. You may enjoy spending time with your dog.<\/p>\n

While I can see why the WHO addressed the topic of burnout at the workplace side of things, it\u2019s too narrowly focused. Burnout doesn\u2019t just affect you because you work too hard. Burnout affects you because your life is out of whack and everything around you is affected.<\/p>\n

How do I know that?<\/p>\n

I went through burnout myself.<\/p>\n

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A Burnout Story<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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The best place to start the journey is to discuss a real-life case of burnout \u2014 Mine.<\/p>\n

You may or may not be aware that I\u2019ve been recovering from burnout for a few years now. While it\u2019s been easier to overcome as time has passed, I still remember exactly what burnout felt like for me \u2014 I was depressed, overwhelmed, and frankly, lost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In the Beginning<\/h2>\n

It was October 2015 when I started Evolving Architect. I had just completed the final exam for my architect license and was absolutely over the moon. I didn\u2019t stop to think much at all. I turned that momentum into something else and started a blog.<\/p>\n

While I had been planning on starting a blog while I was taking the exams, I never stopped to take a break for myself.<\/p>\n

Granted, at that time, there were far less moving pieces to the website. It was a home page, an about page, and a single post that, looking back, is something that I keep on the blog as a reminder of how far I\u2019ve actually come.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gone on to create regular blog posts, ebooks, webinars, and even courses in that time. I\u2019ve met hundreds of great people, fostered new friendships, and established Evolving Architect as a sort of \u2018brand.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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An April Crisis<\/h2>\n

In early 2017, I had a very serious \u2018wake-up call.\u2019 It was alarming and it was profound. (To ease your mind, I wasn\u2019t dying. It\u2019s not that kind of news.)<\/p>\n

A day or so later, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized that I had run myself ragged. In part, this was my overwhelming drive to not only maintain what I had been working on, but continue to fit in additional types of ideas wherever I could. That drive was no longer productive; it was destructive to my life.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a localized form of burnout. It\u2019s the kind that has been brewing for even longer than that, slowly reaching a boil while I ignore the fact that I control the heat that fuels it.<\/p>\n

Or another way to see it is when you watch those amazing talent shows on TV. Professional acrobats amaze the audience by spinning plates on large dowels. They keep adding more and more plates, each following the rotational pattern of the last.<\/p>\n

My life didn\u2019t look like that.<\/p>\n

Instead, picture that same acrobat spinning plates of food, that are on fire, while they ride a bicycle under water and whistle, \u201cTwinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.\u201d That\u2019s a bit closer to what it felt like. A wrong move in any one activity and everything would come crashing down in some kind of spectacular chaos.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, if I removed one of the dangers, I\u2019d instinctively just add in two more.<\/p>\n

Geez.<\/p>\n

I knew that this was time for change.<\/p>\n

No more tricks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Drive versus Obsession<\/h2>\n

There are two types of motivation. One is drive. The other is obsession.<\/p>\n

As you may care to wager, one of the two is healthy in moderation and one of them is almost never healthy under any circumstances.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Drive<\/h2>\n

Near the end of Middle School, I had a moment when I realized that I should join a sport for High School. I was always the nerdy kid who got straight A\u2019s but didn\u2019t really fit into any specific sport. I looked at myself in the mirror one day and knew without saying anything that I needed to get in shape.<\/p>\n

I needed to find a sport.<\/p>\n

In truth, I had actually played Soccer when I was very young, probably 7 or 8. It was a great memory I carried with me from my childhood. I thought to myself, \u201cHey, I could do this again in High School!\u201d<\/p>\n

When you start playing a sport from basically nothing (I wasn\u2019t exactly in shape or good physical health), you don\u2019t realize what it will actually take to \u2018make it.\u2019 Even so, I knew that I wanted to play soccer because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.<\/p>\n

Fast forward four years later, at the team\u2019s senior dinner in my last season as a ‘Purple Bulldog’ (yes, of course that’s a real thing), my coach made his annual speech. He rattled off numbers here and there, each number representing not a literal player\u2019s jersey, but a number that he used to tell a story about each of the seniors.<\/p>\n

After all the other players had been called he said, \u201cZero. Zero is the number of times that I thought Mike LaValley would ever wear the Varsity jersey when I first met him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Yikes,\u2019 I thought. ‘This can\u2019t be good.’<\/p>\n

Then he continued, \u201cBut he taught me that with hard work and determination, that anything is possible. Mike, I always will remember you as one of the highlights of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is drive. I took hold of something positive and while maintaining my grades, friendships, and life, I transformed that part of me into something even better.<\/p>\n

It was hard. At times, it was even excruciating. I watched as guys who had played soccer all their lives ran literal circles around me. No joke – literal circles.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter to me whether we won or lost, whether I was the best player on the team. I was playing because I could feel that everything was in harmony and that the game was improving my life.<\/p>\n

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Architecture studio at the Tyler School of Art; via Temple University<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Obsession<\/h2>\n

As an overeager architecture student I always equated more time to the quality of a project. I think that’s because I knew there was never really enough time to make it perfect. So as a result, I threw myself into my work to bring it as close to perfection as I could before the professor would insist I pin up at the end of each semester. It’s like I knew that this was the time in my life to experiment without limits.<\/p>\n

Time passed.<\/p>\n

I used to blame everything on \u2018Thesis.\u2019 My thesis year at Syracuse was the time in my life when I was living by myself in a studio apartment and basically just commuted to school with the focus that my project had to be the best it could be.<\/p>\n

I lived and breathed Thesis.<\/p>\n

I had fast food more than regular food. I watched as my sleeping habits sometimes turned into no sleep at all. I worked and worked and worked and worked. Night and day, 24\/7 on Thesis.<\/p>\n

By the end of the year, I made my final presentation to the esteemed jury and my Thesis was selected for what all the students called, \u201cSuper Jury.\u201d It was basically a second round of critiques where guest jurors from around the country were invited to review your project as well.<\/p>\n

I worked that much harder between the two presentations to make everything better (even though I had already run myself into the ground), to present the best version of my design \u2014 whatever that\u2019s supposed to mean.<\/p>\n

For years, even after my Thesis Project was over, I blamed it for all the late nights I tinkered on design competitions, community service, and the like. There was a window of time that I had a knack for filling between my 9-5 job and the time I went to bed. I told myself just one more project and somehow everything will be great. I lost the passion for the actual process and found myself at the mercy of just doing work.<\/p>\n

I could no longer see the forest for the trees.<\/p>\n

I could no longer justify that the work I was doing was for anything other than the architecture.<\/p>\n

I had placed the work in front of me.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the difference between drive and obsession – letting the work run you rather than creating the work out of a larger idea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Pros and Cons of My Actions<\/h2>\n

As I recognized that I was experiencing burnout (to be fair, I didn\u2019t really call it that until later), I could see both the positive and negative side of what I had been doing for years.<\/p>\n

POSITIVES<\/h3>\n