by Christopher Walker
I nearly rowed in the Olympics. I was so dedicated. I trained and I trained and I trained. But I worked hard, not smart. Eventually I had two major burnouts two months apart. I had to have iron injections in my butt. Unpleasant.
So, it was not the lack of fortitude, skill, opportunity, commitment, determination and dedication that caused me to fizzle. It was because of those things. I was too committed, too determined, too dedicated to notice that I was working hard and not smart. I learned allot, but all too late. I was selected but withdrew.
Most people I meet are amazingly dedicated to the betterment of their life. They want the best for their family, their friends and their country. Most people I meet want to be kind and supportive, to bring up families and have resources to educate their kids. Most people I meet also want to change the world, to make it a better place. So, really, the motives of the vast majority of people throughout the world are the same.
Where we all differ is in how we go about it all. Actually, it comes down to choices and the use of time. And in this, we have a bit of a mess. Because, like me with my rowing, good intent, good ambition and commitment mixed with bad choices, makes dumb endings.
Most people I meet are burning out. Some young people I meet can”t make it through a busy week without looking and acting exhausted. There is really no excuse except bad self management. Eating badly, sleeping badly, emotional badly and too much of too many unproductive things.
Burnout is very dangerous. Burnout is cumulative. If we mismanage ourselves consistently week after week, we burnout. What makes this a very extreme problem is that we can mask the symptoms until its too late. At the core of burnout is early aging. This is where the body and mind begin to break down – as they both are designed to do – earlier than necessary.
These masking techniques are very dangerous. When we get symptoms of burnout, nature is giving us guidance to change our ways. But with masking, we don”t change our ways, we burn and that burn is irreparable.
The masking of burnout also drives us to seek anti aging remedies that appeal to the external. Boob lifts, face lifts, skin this, and biological products that. It is all cosmetic and although it has a positive result, the premature aging that burnout has caused, can never really be reversed.
Burnout never comes from over work. Burnout comes from the mismanagement of lifestyle, work process and emotion. We have the capacity to do huge amounts of work but for most people, like me and my rowing, they think long, hard, arduous hours of boring repetition is the right answer to high workload. They are so going to learn the hard way. They are wrong, stuck, unevolved, silly.
It is 2006 – nearly 2007. WE have computers, phones, internets, we have so much technology that we are falling over ourselves. High workloads are a call for automation, systems, smarter practices, more focus, less time wastage.
I have worked with companies throughout the world refining their business. I help them select the customer that is ideal for their business and guide the rest to a competitor, I have helped people work less hours and get more done in less time simply by focusing and creating environments that are conducive to concentration. Smart is the new hard. We can take huge workloads, but the answer to workload is not more time, it”s less.
Because of the technologies of masking, people tend to go down the longer hours, work harder path when they are under pressure. Or some ninnies, actually retire to the countryside because they “want out” – that”s complete masking.
Masking means that we take onboard substitute energies to accomplish an outcome. For example; coffee helps us work longer hours. Wine helps us unwind. Herbal substitutes help us have more energy. Ipods help us stay fired up. Computers keep us occupied. We can use a thousand substitutes and think this is normal. But it”s not. Normal is smarter. Not harder. Normal is thinking about how you can do more in less time using technology. Normal is double the workload in half the time. Not herbal formula”s from the local health shop.
There are four elements of masking.
Emotional masking where we create ego pumping, identity gratifying, wins of the week in order to create an emotional high from which we always crash and burn. When people tell you how wonderful it is going to be, how beautiful it will be in the long run, what a wonderful vision you or they can have, really what they are doing is using their ego, to mask their exhaustion.
Chemical masking is food, coffee, alcohol, drugs. You”ll see people in offices eating chocolate, sipping coffee, chewing gum, smoking cigarettes and much much more, all to avoid the truth that they are dead bored, overwhelmed, overloaded and out of their competence. Any manager who sees an employee working under this masking has an ethical responsibility to either teach the individual new science of work, or relieve them of some of their “responsibility” – otherwise burnout is a guarantee.
Spiritual Masking is the last bastion of resistance in the journey of burnout. A burnout increases the body starts to crumble under the strain, the mind starts to bend toward depression, the heart gets broken and disabled from real love, hope begins to fade that any real proximity to a persons dreams will come to life, Spirituality becomes the focus. Here, the individual masks the burnout with “other worldly” explanations of reality. Past lives, universallanguages, Gods, Ghosts, spirits, energies and all manner of karma are held as shields against the reality that this person has burned out. They are really dying young and spirituality masks the symptoms.
Material Masking is the most common mask against burnout. See, look what I have achieved. Pride and greed replace any semblance of reality. The individual justifies their overweight belly, their wrinkled face, their balding scalp, their trembling hands, the arthritic joint, their aching back all on the basis of “look what I have accumulated” Greed is not a crime, it”s the privilege of those who master wealth creation, but when greed and materialism acts as a mask to divert real attention from a persons failing vitality and youthfulness, it is a farce of the greatest proportion. “I did it for the kids” – “I overworked to help the family” – says the stroke limited man whose children bring him a drooling cloth instead of a cricket ball. “I did it for you” is about as big a lie as that “I didn”t know it was killing me” quote you hear from those with 30 kg of excess body weight after their inevitable heart attack.
Burnout is not caused by television, MacDonald”s, or poor eating. No, burnout is masked by products, lifestyles, health spas, vitamin pills, new cars, spiritual and religious philosophies and ego driven emotional justifications. Masking is what prevents an individual using their amazing skills to work smarter rather than harder. Masking helps us delude ourselves that it will all be ok in the long run, but it”s not. Burnout is cumulative.
Burn out a liver, burnout a kidney, burnout some brain cells, burnout a relationship, you may never know that those things happen, all you will recognize is that you aren”t the person you used to be. Tired, frustrated, edgy, disappointed, lonely. These are the long term affect of masking. They are the long term affect of health supplements, substitutes for good management, healthy loving living.
Live with spirit.
Be real
Chris Walker
Chris Walker is a world leading change agent, an environmentalist and author of more than 20 books. Born and bred in Australia, he consults to people and organisations throughout the world on improved relationships, health and lifestyle through the application of the Universal laws of Nature. The result he offers is that we stay balanced, share loving relationships, work with passion, enjoy success, and live our personal truth. To learn more about Chris”s work and journeys to Nepal, visit http://www.innerwealth.com
Chris Walker Helps people live healthy, happy and inspired lifestyles. In balance using the laws of nature.
