Preventing burnout: Why switching off turns you on
THE world needs more sleep. That’s the message from Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington, who has switched from editing the world’s most famous news aggregator to a movement focusing on establishing new habits to counter stress and burnout.
Speaking at the Discovery Leadership Summit 2016 in Johannesburg this week, she spoke of the crisis of stress and burnout, which leaves people walking through life “like zombies”, missing out on creativity and opportunities, and failing to experience the meaning and purpose of life.
She has some experience of this, having collapsed from burnout in 2007, two years into building The Huffington Post.
“The science is unequivocal; human beings need time to recharge” — which means taking time out from devices such as cellphones. Her new company, Thrive Global, launches at the end of this month.
It’s about creating new habits. “That’s why the first product my company is bringing out is a phone bed. It’s the place to charge all your phones,” she said, adding that you can keep your phone outside your bedroom, and train your children to do the same.
It’s about not spending all night snapchatting and tweeting, and waking up exhausted. “Part of the change in culture involves new products that cultivate new habits that must live in an amazing world where technology has made amazing things possible without losing RELAX: Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington our humanity. We need to save sacred spaces to connect with ourselves, our loved ones, with our wisdom.”
Huffington said multitasking was a myth. “You’re either doing e-mails or listening to me. You can choose, but you can’t do both.”
Sleep was a time of frenetic activity for the brain, she said, allowing it to recharge. Apart from the 1% or 2% of people who have a “genetic mutation” and survive well on four or five hours’ sleep a night, the vast majority of people need seven to nine hours of sleep.
Huffington identified 12 steps to a healthier, more productive and happier life, and talked of three of these.
The first is identifying a time at the end of the day when you turn off all devices and take them out of the bedroom. This is the time to recharge, to refuel.
Another micro-step has to do with what happens in our heads. “Unfortunately, all of us, especially women, have this obnoxious roommate — the voice of doubt. We need to silence that and it keeps us from being fully present.”
Multitasking is a myth. ‘You’re either doing e-mails or listening to me. You can choose, but you can’t do both’
The third micro-step has to do with giving. “We all have the research now that shows when we give back, we are actually pursuing a short cut to happiness. It doesn’t mean just time or money, but a connection with another human being.”
The principle of micro-steps towards change is essential because it removes pressure.
Companies that prioritised creativity and empathy, and saw the connection between the wellbeing of employees, recruitment, retention and productivity, would have a huge competitive advantage — and, ultimately, bottom line, she said.