Society has a habit of rewarding too much hard work at its own expense (Photo: iStock)
The idealisation of hard work, also known as hustle culture, has led to burnout among other factors. This is common among high performers who are highly likely to succumb to burnout as they push themselves to keep going.
Founder of Tera Lead and leadership coach Rosy Choudhury sees a big difference between high-performers and self-driven people. The latter, she explains, hardly go through burnout since they have clear goals and boundaries. High performers, however, stretch to their limits and normalise burnout as part of success. In fact, they don’t recognise it and struggle to know when they need to slow down.
“Society has a habit of rewarding too much hard work at its own expense. It starts in early life where children receive awards and praises for putting in efforts, such as being told to study extra hours even when fatigued to pass examinations,” she says.
When they become adults, they tend to overwork and think of burnout as a temporary phase of life. The reasons for this also vary depending on one's personality and ambitions, such as perfectionism, fear of failure, extra load of work, and ambition.
