Most online discussions of burnout take the form of some coach on Twitter listing 20 ways to cope with it and then asking, “what would you add?” The list items range from reasonable entries like “get 7-9 hours of sleep each night” to rather extreme ones like “wake up at 5 AM, take a cold shower, drink a gallon of water, and deadlift.”
Insightful read, Chris! Appreciate your perspective on burnout - Refreshing to read a challenging the oversimplified notion that self-care alone can prevent it. The systemic issues you've identified in workplace environment and culture certainly need more attention, and your own experiences and your story is very inspiring
Thank you for writing this, I think you're so spot-on. So often we're looking to 'fix' ourselves where actually our experiences are simply natural responses to the circumstances (though of course there can be internal stuff that makes it worse too). A challenge I'm exploring at the moment is how to understand all this when I am now self-employed and recognising that I am responsible for constructing (or at least buying into) certain expectations of myself, and of creating work conditions, that are leading me to exhaustion. For sure there is conditioning and external stuff that also contributes (like feelings around status, need for income, working within systems that are very overstretched and dealing with the psychological impact of that). Look forward to reading more! :)
May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023Liked by Chris Cordry, LMFT
Powerful analysis Chris. As you point out, the messaging app that drove you crazy was HiPAA-compliant. As you know HIPAA was legislation passed to protect patient privacy (I think AIDS was a major motivator, but I could be wrong).
Let's step back: we have zero privacy, and the government is an enthusiastic participant in surveilling us. Roe v. Wade was based on a right to privacy which has never showed up in any other context, other than abortion, except HIPAA.
You rightly mention ownership, but whether private or publicly listed, owners must comply with government mandates or be driven out of business, fined, or face imprisonment. The HR departments protect owners from these risks and are therefore the enforcers of the ceaseless new mandates pouring out of our permanent government--which never changes regardless of elections--and is responsible for administrative rulings, growing bureaucratic burdens of paper work and compliance reporting, and tightening encroachment on our personal liberties, especially in the workplace.
The waves of consolidation across every industry are driven by government in two ways: the burdens you've experienced require scale in order to defray the overhead costs of dealing with government requirements over a bigger revenue base, and the government offers explicit and implicit protections to its favoured large corporations (why were small candle stores forced out of business but Walmart and Costco could sell candles during Covid? It wasn't a medical issue). In the case of the medical / pharmaceutical / therapeutic industries the insurance companies are the third part of the triumvirate with the government, with whom they are deeply, comprehensively colluding and being protected by.
It's an ugly situation. You were caught in huge converging forces and suffered the consequences, which is an injustice and a tragedy. I'm just glad that private practice is an option for you--for most medical doctors, it no longer is for many reasons related to the points I mentioned above. If it hasn't happened already, 90% of doctors in America will be salaried employees of a large corporation, not independent partners in a private practice. That's exactly the way our ruling class wants it.
A great perspective Chris. And I’m glad to see you were able to escape the forces of government and insurers to set and honour your own boundaries.
It is a wider issue as others have mentioned. In the professions, like the law, the boundaries get pushed by the belief that “if we don’t do the work, our competitors will”. I saw that play out time and time again. I won’t deny I was an excitable deal-junkie, but challenging those beliefs is hard because this is a winner takes all environment. There aren’t any runners-up spoils. Even in the face of the nationwide pilot schemes here to work a four- rather than five-day week that saw productivity and happiness soar, it’s difficult to see how the most financially successful firms will change their culture and expectations.
That May come from “within” as younger recruits go elsewhere. But I’m not sure we’ll see that change soon.
Insightful read, Chris! Appreciate your perspective on burnout - Refreshing to read a challenging the oversimplified notion that self-care alone can prevent it. The systemic issues you've identified in workplace environment and culture certainly need more attention, and your own experiences and your story is very inspiring
Great piece, Chris! Insightful and really well-argued.
Thank you for writing this, I think you're so spot-on. So often we're looking to 'fix' ourselves where actually our experiences are simply natural responses to the circumstances (though of course there can be internal stuff that makes it worse too). A challenge I'm exploring at the moment is how to understand all this when I am now self-employed and recognising that I am responsible for constructing (or at least buying into) certain expectations of myself, and of creating work conditions, that are leading me to exhaustion. For sure there is conditioning and external stuff that also contributes (like feelings around status, need for income, working within systems that are very overstretched and dealing with the psychological impact of that). Look forward to reading more! :)
Powerful analysis Chris. As you point out, the messaging app that drove you crazy was HiPAA-compliant. As you know HIPAA was legislation passed to protect patient privacy (I think AIDS was a major motivator, but I could be wrong).
Let's step back: we have zero privacy, and the government is an enthusiastic participant in surveilling us. Roe v. Wade was based on a right to privacy which has never showed up in any other context, other than abortion, except HIPAA.
You rightly mention ownership, but whether private or publicly listed, owners must comply with government mandates or be driven out of business, fined, or face imprisonment. The HR departments protect owners from these risks and are therefore the enforcers of the ceaseless new mandates pouring out of our permanent government--which never changes regardless of elections--and is responsible for administrative rulings, growing bureaucratic burdens of paper work and compliance reporting, and tightening encroachment on our personal liberties, especially in the workplace.
The waves of consolidation across every industry are driven by government in two ways: the burdens you've experienced require scale in order to defray the overhead costs of dealing with government requirements over a bigger revenue base, and the government offers explicit and implicit protections to its favoured large corporations (why were small candle stores forced out of business but Walmart and Costco could sell candles during Covid? It wasn't a medical issue). In the case of the medical / pharmaceutical / therapeutic industries the insurance companies are the third part of the triumvirate with the government, with whom they are deeply, comprehensively colluding and being protected by.
It's an ugly situation. You were caught in huge converging forces and suffered the consequences, which is an injustice and a tragedy. I'm just glad that private practice is an option for you--for most medical doctors, it no longer is for many reasons related to the points I mentioned above. If it hasn't happened already, 90% of doctors in America will be salaried employees of a large corporation, not independent partners in a private practice. That's exactly the way our ruling class wants it.
A great perspective Chris. And I’m glad to see you were able to escape the forces of government and insurers to set and honour your own boundaries.
It is a wider issue as others have mentioned. In the professions, like the law, the boundaries get pushed by the belief that “if we don’t do the work, our competitors will”. I saw that play out time and time again. I won’t deny I was an excitable deal-junkie, but challenging those beliefs is hard because this is a winner takes all environment. There aren’t any runners-up spoils. Even in the face of the nationwide pilot schemes here to work a four- rather than five-day week that saw productivity and happiness soar, it’s difficult to see how the most financially successful firms will change their culture and expectations.
That May come from “within” as younger recruits go elsewhere. But I’m not sure we’ll see that change soon.