Alinantis perdegimas: kai darbas mus sekina ir neteikia pasitenkinimo

by Jonathan Malesic, Gytė Jermolina (Translator)

Nors ir dirbo savo svajonių darbą – dėstė universtete – Jonathanas Malesicas pasijuto apgailėtinai. Išgyveno perdegimą. Atrodė, jokia pagalba nebepadės – nei vaistai, nei terapija, nei neapmokamos atostogos. Galiausiai jis šį darbą metė. Iš poreikio suprasti tai, ką patyrė, įsitraukė į perdegimo problemos analizę, siedamas tai su savosiomis psichologijos, etikos ir filosofijos žiniomis. Šio tyrimo vaisius – jo naujausia knyga „Alinantis perdegimas. Kai darbas mus sekina ir neteikia pasitenkinimo".

Jonathanas Malesicas – eseistas, žurnalistas ir mokslininkas, jo kūryba įvertinta geriausių Amerikos žurnalų straipsnių antologijose Best American Essays (2019–2021) bei Best American Food Writing (2020) ir buvo paminėta Pushcart Prize apdovanojimų antologijoje (2019). Jo darbai pasirodė New York Times, The New Republic, Washington Post, Vox, The Guardian, America, Commonweal, Notre Dame Magazine, The Hedgehog Review, The Point, Cronicle of Higher Education ir kituose žurnaluose. Autorius sulaukė didelių dotacijų iš JAV Nacionalinio humanitarinių mokslų fondo ir Luisvilio instituto. Jis pasirodė daugelyje žymių JAV tinklalaidžių bei radijo laidų.

Pirmoji J. Malesico knyga Secret Faith in the Public Square apdovanota ForeWord INDIES aukso medaliu religinių darbų kategorijoje (2009). Naujausią jo veikalą „Alinantis perdegimas“ 2022 m. sausį išleido University of California Press. Jonathanas Malesicas gyvena Dalase, Teksase.

„Šioje įžvalgioje, humaniškoje ir aktualioje knygoje Jonathanas Malesicas aiškiau nei bet kas kitas gvildena aktualią nūdienos problemą – profesinio perdegimo reiškinį. Tačiau lygiai taip pat svarbu, kad jis parodo mums būdą, kaip šią krizę įveikti – kreipia mus link jaudinančios, bet tikrai įgyvendinamos gyvenimo vizijos, kuri nebesisuka vien apie darbą." — Oliveris Burkemanas, knygos Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals autorius

„Knyga „Alinantis perdegimas" kupina atjautos ir ironijos. Ji prikausto dėmesį ir skatina pokyčius. Šis veikalas ne tik nurodo profesinio perdegimo priežastis, bet ir pateikia įtikinamų alternatyvios strategijos pavyzdžių, ją apibrėžia. Pirmas žingsnis – atpažinti perdegimą. Antras – veikliai ieškoti būdų, kaip jam pasipriešinti. Viena iš nedaugelio knygų, siūlančių galimą gyvenimo būdą be saviapgaulės – tai tarsi tikras apreiškimas." — Anne Helena Petersen, knygos Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation autorė

„Jonathanas Malesicas jautriai pasakoja apie nepakankamai pripažintą kultūrinį reiškinį – perdegimą, kaip dvasinį sutrikimą. Remdamasis psichologijos, teologijos, filosofijos įžvalgomis ir realia gyvenimiška patirtimi jis atskleidžia būtinybę atkreipti dėmesį į šio reiškinio, užkertančio kelią į visavertį gyvenimą, plitimo mastą."— Siva Vaidhyanathanas, knygos The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry) autorius

„Ši knyga tiesiog neįtikėtinai aktuali. Ji išsamiai nagrinėja mūsų kultūroje ir psichikoje giliai įsišaknijusią prielaidą – esą darbas yra mūsų gyvenimo prasmė bei tikslas, ir jam turėtume paaukoti visą save ar net dar daugiau. Labai aiškiai, paprastai ir su didele atjauta Malesicas paneigia šį klaidingą įsitikinimą. Dievinu šią knygą." — Anna Katharina Schaffner, knygos Exhaustion: A History autorė

„Autorius sklandžiai ir patraukliai dėsto supratimą apie perdegimą kaip kultūrinį, o ne individualų reiškinį."— Wilmaras Schaufelis, Nyderlandų Utrechto universiteto ir Belgijos Leveno Katalikiškojo universiteto psichologijos profesorius

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Business, Sociology, Personal Development, Self Help, Health

352 pages

First published January 4, 2022

Reviews

[Ml Lalonde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it’s pretty safe to say that if you’re drawn to a book about burnout, you’re probably wondering where all your work is leading you and whether there is likely to be any relief. I was prompted to pick up this book after reading a piece that the author wrote for the New York Times. In the spirit of “writing what you know” Malesic’s research is rooted in his experience of burning out whilst seemingly having everything he’d ever wanted - a tenure track position at a good college, autonomy, prestige and a solid relationship. In the midst of what popular culture is lovingly calling “The Great Resignation”, the author explores the idea of work with an academic’s eye, and uncovers some painful truths about how society has been sold the idea that a job should provide workers with a path to transcendence - that overwork becomes a sort of martyrdom. If you are what you do, what happens when you can no longer do that thing? This is not a self help book - despite what the title might suggest - but rather an examination of the past and future of work, with particular attention on a few groups and individuals who have happily stepped outside what society expects of them. It painstakingly makes the case for working less and finding meaning outside your job. There’s a lovely section on how a group of Benedictine monks are countering our work-obsessed culture by following the Rule of St. Benedict. An interesting read.

[Jessica Gleason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like a trick. I was so into it at the beginning thinking "yes, yes, yes" to the author's thoughts and feelings, but it lost me around Ch. 4. There weren't really any useful or practical tips here. Compassionate leadership is needed, we should have more personal time and better divides between work and life. Basically, the system needs to burn. But, none of that was actually helpful. Though, some of the stories were still interesting.

[Bree Pollard · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's so refreshing to have someone remind you that productivity tips won't solve larger societal issues. solidarity!

[Chris Boutté · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a ton of books about burnout and mental health, but this is definitely one of the best. After experiencing burnout and leaving his career, Jonathan Malesic did a ton of research about burnout and found issues, challenges, and answers. The book starts with his story and researching the history of how we talk about burnout, and he highlights that we’re not great at defining what burnout is and why it happens. I absolutely loved how he highlights the fact that burnout is linked with a lack of dignity in the workplace and how our current system of capitalism really doesn’t help. There’s plenty more in this book, but I honestly think Malesic has come up with the best diagnosis of burnout, and he does an amazing job describing some possible solutions. The great part is that we don’t need to wait for Congress to make changes to policies (even though they need to), and we can start helping one another. There are such simple things employers can start doing as well as how we can start treating one another such as being kinder to people at their workplace and not basing someone’s value on their productivity.

[Cecile · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great! Happy that I get to read about this before I fully enter the world of work. Would also love to read an Australian perspective on this topic. Thanks for the loan Ethan!

[Laura May]

This was really not my jam. I suspect the author got more out of writing it than the readers will from reading it; and that's okay.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this and agreed with the premise, but I don't really feel like I learned anything of actual, practical use.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an impressive book.

I've only just started my deep dive into understanding burnout and what drives it. Having found myself running a small business and a small non-profit, both requiring full-time leadership and neither having the funds to really pay even my part-time work, I've hit the burnout spectrum harder and faster than I ever thought imaginable. I did a little bit of reading, working through therapy, and trying to develop better self-care practices to survive what looks like a new normal for existence. I didn't realize that coming to terms with a broader societal pattern was going to make such an important mental shift.

I stumbled upon The End of Burnout at the recommendation of my therapist who heard Malesic speak on an episode of the Happiness Podcast. I listened to the podcast episode. Promptly re-listened twice and took extensive notes. Then I immediately purchased the book and consumed it.

The heart of Malesic's argument is that America's core moral understanding is your work equals your dignity. Hundreds (or thousands) of years of this cultural belief has ingrained a deep understanding that we have value as human beings because of our employment, our contribution. Burnout frequently occurs when the ideals we've created behind our value as a person and value in our job--our job ideals-- don't line up with the reality of that work. He refers to the metaphor of walking on stilts; ideals are on one side, reality on the other, and the higher those stilts are the more perilous our burnout becomes when one side doesn't line up with the other.

What I appreciate most about Malesic's book is that it is by all self-identity NOT a self help book. Granted, I am myself at a stage where I need all the help I can get. But there is a validity and a comfort in acknowledging that my burnout is not my fault. There are self care practices and recognition I can take for my mindset--for my constant need to achieve, to work, to take on just that one more project, to feel that I've earned my own value-- but by and large, there are thousands of years of a culture which leads me to have this self-defeating need. Our world believes my value as a person is in my work, therefore I do. There is comfort in knowing that the very thing which gives me value also causes my burnout, and that it isn't my fault, and that others struggle just as hard with this truth.

I also appreciate the lack of idealist optimism for a world we could create while still offering alternatives. Malesic seems like a realist idealist; he knows there are other options and presents those who are living those alternatives, but recognizes that even those are not perfect and that we have a long way to go as a society if we hope to decrease burnout. But at no point in this narrative do I feel cynicism from Malesic. It's a simple fact to a widespread problem.

This book beautifully merges academic research and memoir in a well-written, well-crafted, and entertaining read. Malesic acknowledges definitions of burnout (and the problems of the definitions or lack-there-of), explores its history and study, shares others' experiences, analyzes the cultural and moral underpinnings (as only an academic of philosophy could), and offers glimpses into other ways of being. I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this book and recommend it to anybody looking for a deeper understanding of the why of burnout.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I came across this book. Malesic explains how burnout culture has established itself, how workers tend to feel exhausted and cynical as their ideals and realities drift apart, and makes a compelling case against the centrality of work in our lives. He proposes better modes of thinking and living, illustrated by very interesting examples. This is not a self-help guide; the author focuses on collective change. Whether you're on the verge of burnout or not, this book offers really insightful and optimistic ideas.

[Lauren Levitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the basic argument if this book, that we need to improve working conditions and reduce the importance of work in our society to prevent burnout. I would have given it a higher rating if it had not been for two related issues. First, Malesic privileges idealism over materialism. At one point he says that late capitalism is not the only reason for burnout, but it seems pretty clear that the social value of work (pun intended) is closely linked to late capitalism. Unsurprisingly, since Malesic is a former theology professor, the book is also a little religious for my liking. Second, I think Malesic does not pay enough attention to how his privilege influences his perspective. Many cannot afford to opt out of work in the way he was able to, which just underlines how important material conditions really are.

[Chauna Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by a professor who burned out and quit the profession (pre-pandemic, though he talks about the changes wrought by the pandemic), this book questions the insanity and inhumanity of how this culture perceives work and advocates for a paradigm shift away from the "noble lie" that work is what gives us dignity and purpose. I especially appreciated the part about how disability studies challenges the capitalist cult of work-as-dignity. A smart, thought-provoking book that deserves wider audiences.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really insightful book about work and identity and the lines that we need to be careful to preserve between them. I highlighted all over the place in my ebook version.

[Karen Adkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an academic who wrestles with the internal guilt built into the academy (particularly if one works at religious or mission-driven schools), this book sparked my interest. The fact that the author himself is an academic, who gave up his tenured job after a severe case of burnout, made the book mandatory reading. After the gripping introduction, the book turns to more conventional territory--a historical review of burnout, a survey of the scholarship--and its conclusions seemed more anodyne (more idealistic people in more service-oriented professions are more likely to suffer burnout, e.g.). But the book forks pretty interestingly in the last few chapters, in ways that provoked me in good and bad ways. The good: Malesic is a theology professor by training, and he's interested in questions of time and meaning. He spends time with religious and contemplative communities and participates in their rituals, however briefly, and reflects on how cultures of busyness distract us from the purpose in our effort and what it means to live. This chapter did not feel shallow and self-helpy; it was itself contemplatively written (I felt myself slowing down to read it and taking the words in more). So one of his big conclusions is deeply internal (and by implication deeply individual); we need to think about what (and who) gives us meaning, and take what steps we can to reorient our lives towards that. But this conclusion is followed by a more sharply political and economic conclusion about the economic value of work at all. Malesic notes that the rewards for workers, particularly in the US, have stayed stagnant or worsened since the 70s, and with the rise of automation, he makes a case for universal basic income so that work is simply a less important part of one's days and life. I do not disagree with much of what Malesic says here, but it's both in tension with some of what his first substantive conclusion, and it lacks some context. Context first: Malesic covers a lot of ground quickly in his indictment of US socioeconomic order (an indictment that he explicitly rejected earlier in the book, when he said that the problem with burnout isn't simply one about capitalism or late capitalism). But this indictment ignores the decline of the labor movement, the absence of universally accessible health care, etc. Comparing burnout rates of US workers to workers in countries with strong social safety nets and more rigorous worker protections and vacation time I suspect would be illuminating. And I think it would undermine his assertion that the problem of burnout is not largely one of late capitalism. (The omission of comparative analysis was particularly odd to me given his interview of one burnt out academic who moved to Finland after her development of illness. The academic explicitly notes that Finland's robust safety net makes her work as a freelance artist viable.)

But secondly, there is for me some significant tension between the internal conclusion (which is largely about retreat and interiority) and the external conclusion (which is largely about social organization). Malesic notes that the religious communities he visits that are so purpose-focused are populated by people who do not have spouses or children, and looks to other versions of purpose-communities are more applicable for those who are parents. I appreciated his modifier, but was struck by the gulf between what he described at the purpose-driven nonprofits and the religious communities. (One purpose-driven nonprofit, while clearly sustaining and mission-driven, also seemed importantly frenzied and stressful in ways that the religious communities simply weren't, by his description.) But secondly, Malesic offers himself up as a positive example of post-burnout meaningful life. He works as a freelance writer and adjuncts a course at a local university. He also freely admits that his earnings are not enough to support him, and it is his wife's salary that supports the two of them. There is no mention of children in the text or the acknowledgements, so I suspect they do not have children. I found myself thinking of the burden on his wife *not* to experience burnout; she is the family breadwinner. And if they were to have children, his peaceful life would simply not be enough, I suspect to help sustain a family with children. It keeps me from a full-throated endorsement of the book, perhaps unfairly, because it serves to indicate just how far we are from a viable social strategy to have work be sustainable and meaningful for more Americans. (That ambitious title, after all, promises the "end" of burnout. I found myself slightly irritated by the gulf between what the title promises and the daunting political task ahead.) The book is still well worth reading, to be clear, but like Malesic says about how we should approach our jobs, particularly those of us with idealistic or service jobs, it's best to lower our ambitions just a bit.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the first part better than the remainder of the book. The first part is about the history of burnout as a concept and a bit of review of the research on burnout as well as the author’s own experience of burning out as a tenured academic. I really got into that.

The second part is about models of work, identity and community that don’t rely on our current “total work” ethos (basically how we build and define our whole culture around paid work). I didn’t feel like the examples he gave did a lot new for me (especially since I’ve been obsessively reading post -work/anti-work stuff for a while) but I’m with him on the desired social/cultural restructuring.

Although this book is not a self-help book, one of the things it talked about that struck me was that in cultures where people identify less with their work and are less engaged there are actually lower rates of burn out. This is helped me reframe my own relationship to work and to be mindful of how much I invest. Work to live not live to work!

[rivka]

Between the snippet in yesterday's Chronicle of Higher Education and the longer excerpt on the publisher's website, this definitely looks intriguing.

I'll probably wait for the price to drop a bit (or used copies to be available) though.

[Marco Moutinho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was good to understand the spectrum of the burnout. Sometimes i feel that repeats same ideas a lot of time, maybe os good 😀

[Christina Dong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative

[Carolina Isaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very lucid and well written, it helped me understand many things about work and burnout as a social problem.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new book published this month focuses on the burnout brought about by the concept of work above all else in modern capitalism.

In the first part, the author draws on his own experience to explore the historical causes, symptoms, and assessment of the increasingly common phenomenon of workplace burnout, or the feeling of exhaustion, behind the work-centered life of today. Although burnout is not yet judged by a relatively precise standard and is more of a gray spectrum than a black-and-white threshold, people who have all three negative states - fatigue, apathy, and feeling worthless - are likely to fall into burnout category and should be alerted to it.

In the second part, the author communicates with organizations or individuals who have naturally avoided or fought their way out of burnout through fieldwork and remote video interviews. The authors conclude that organizations need to maintain the dignity of their members and give individuals autonomy; individuals need to value and use their leisure time, explore hobbies, and build and maintain a community of interaction with others, which can effectively reduce the probability of burnout and its subsequent effects.

The author ends with a humorous note: the era of intelligent robots is coming, so let them be burnout, and we can do something else 😂.

This book is worth reading for those who are trying to strike a balance between life and work, as well as for those who are already experiencing burnout symptoms.

[Jeff Zell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burnout and work is a personal subject for Malesic. He was in his dream job as a college professor. He taught what he wanted to teach and even achieved tenure, but he still got burned out. This book explains why.

In these pages we learn about Malesic's experience and we also learn about how work has changed in America. He introduces us to studies on work, the history of work, and also individuals and groups that have learned to put work in its proper place.

I think the biggest take away from this book for me was his conversation about his own previously unexamined "ideals" of what work is and does and how that clashed with the "reality" of work and its environment. Anyone reading this book, will be led into introspection contemplation of their own ideals about work and how they resonate with reality.

Two groups I particularly enjoyed reading about was the Benedictine monks and nuns and the social agency in Dallas, Texas. Malesic's concerns about work continue on his sub stack: https://jonmalesic.substack.com/p/the...

Malesic proposes two changes in American work life: a limited work week and a universal life payment. I don't see either of those two things happening anytime soon, but they are worth investigating for a our country's sanity and well being in coming decades.

[Jim Cullison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important read for this moment of The Great Resignation. While a trifle repetitive, this book that would have truly excelled as an essay is superb at identifying a fundamental ill of our time. Very much worth a read, even if you wind up skimming through some sections...

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first ~25% of the book was a really interesting look at the history of burnout, the three main axes of burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and ineffectiveness), and the general cause (a disconnect between the imagined job and what it really entails).

After that, the book goes on some rambling meanders that seem like they were only put there to pad the page count to a minimum level. I would recommend reading only the first few chapters, then skip the rest.

[Kate Sergejeva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Мастридом это точно не назовешь, но есть интересный научно исследовательский взгляд на проблему выгорания. До этого по теме читала в основном водянисто философские работы.

Было пару интересных мыслей, с которыми получилось соприкоснуться и согласится, и даже примерить на себя.
Но некоторые главы очень скучно занудные 🤷‍♀️

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unrealistic. The cure for burnout = everyone work less and give everyone the right to not work at all. Where will our food, shelter, and clothing come from if everyone is allowed to sit around and make art all day? Someone has to work…

[Renée · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jon's book is a fabulous, fastidious inventory of all that is wrong with work - from gig working to white-collar tenured positions in the United States. Thoroughly researched and downright watertight, this man has the receipts.

While noting that capitalism is, in Adam Smith's a monstrous system that elbows out any other possibilities, I noticed that Jon neglects to note folks who are practicing a third way--we aren't just left to be fodder for capitalism or become poor. I would have loved to see some exploration of how workers in worker-owned cooperatives (food co-ops on the West Coast, Arizmendi Bakery, Mondragon Corporation, Antigonish in Nova Scotia) felt about their work. If one of the key problems in this system that burns people up like matches is that we are not "capitalists" in that we do not own our work, but contract it out to others -- we're not "working for ourselves" - then what do workers who do work for themselves feel about burnout?

There's an appreciation of manual labor in Jon's book, which I love. But I think I would push back on his argument that in order to save our mental health and our souls, we have to strip work of the dignity and ideals it has had throughout history. Rather, we might have to reverse back to pre-capitalist (pre-Calvinist) ideals. The Catholic Church insists work has dignity. Why? When it so obviously doesn't, in the empirical evidence we can gather with our eyeballs every day in a city.

In order to understand what that work is supposed to mean, we might have to return to previous ideals of work before these ideals were coopted by industrial capitalists to enrich themselves at the workers' expense. We are made to work, but "work" doesn't mean what you think it means. Wendell Berry, Emmanuel Mounier, Ade Bethune, Dorothy Sayers, Dorothy Day, Eric Gill (sorry for citing him but it's true), and Peter Maurin all have something to say on what work can/should be for a healthy, functioning society of persons.

Living in a wage-based economy, where work is only valued by the number of American dollars it turns into, is always going to lead to burnout. I appreciate Jon's insistence that human dignity cannot be measured in dollars. It needs to be said louder for the people in the back. But work is something different.

Leisure seems like the answer, but it is not. We are called to make a living for ourselves from the earth, rather than contract that responsibility out to machines, robots and multi-national corporations. During COVID, even, some folks certainly took a much-needed vacation (some got no peace), and others spent their time doing manual and domestic labor they never had time to before. Berry and many of the above thinkers locate the dignity of work in providing for our own needs. In the age of Whole Foods and J. Crew, we completely skip over that idea entirely. It's so foreign to the system we live in. Over the past 100 years, our work has been dedicated less to actually meeting our material needs, and more toward earning a wage so we can purchase and then consume the goods we need from someone else's work. Berry thinks that's a great part if not entirely our malaise.

While the unsustainability of work for a person's mental health is certainly addressed in the book, a large component of the contemporary economic system that is not addressed is environmental sustainability. If these systems of work are burning out individual workers, what are they doing to the planet? (Spoiler alert: burning it.)

Finally, when writing about monasteries, Jon teases out one of the key problems with our schizophrenic, anxious working environment--we have been reduced to materialists. Benedictines have recovered what used to be taken for granted, culturally: the primacy of the spiritual. The problem with the Marxist critique of work is that it sees no spiritual element to work--it's simply a material problem. But in order for us to solve the problems of burnout--for the planet and ourselves, we're going to have to rediscover that some things--including the planet and ourselves -- are sacred.

[Mindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in the Spring I finished up my burnout reading, it just didn't feel good to read about it, it brought up stuff I thought I'd put to bed, I was 'better', I was ready to move on, I had accepted things. And then I did pretty much all of the things that lead up to my physical collapse in 2021 in Spring/Summer 2022, siiiigh, learning your lessons is f*cking hard.

Fast forward to September and that feeling of a fresh start it can bring, and this book, which I'd requested my library buy back in February 2022 is sitting on my to-read shelf at home. In my humble opinion, this book is a stand out in the genre of burnout reading. It doesn't tell you that you can 'meditate, yoga, self-care, insert any other ritual for calm' your way out of this shit. Instead it lays out what the author sees as the history of burnout, what causes it (plot twist it's probably not what you think), and what likely needs to change for burnout to not be the cultural phenomenon we're currently seeing.

At a high level you'll learn that burnout has it's roots in the changing job conditions that started in the 70's and are prevalent today (more work, less pay, general inequality, and being tethered to work by our phones). It lays out how we've been sold a lie that 'work' will give our lives meaning and purpose. From experience I've found this to be true, I did all of the things society told me to do to have a fulfilling job, and I wasn't bloody happy, job title, salary, success, and it was misery. What has given my life more meaning and purpose is having more to give to my family and friends.

But this book also doesn't place the blame squarely on our employers and organizations, it also sets up this juicy premise, the plot twist if you will. Essentially it says we tend to burnout because our 'work' ideals are out of alignment with what our work can actually give us. Below is the example of how this played out for me, but it will look different for others, it's why folks with 'dream' jobs still suffer burnout.

My 'dream' job was to move up the corporate ladder in my organization get a title that others would see as valuable (this seems so damn shallow now), get the salary. So salary and respect... but here's the problem, my work ideals don't match up to that life. I wanted a job where I help people, my coworkers but also my community, I wanted a job where I did a lot of work, lots of deliverables in excel, spending hours in spreadsheets (I know, I'm a sick person), but I've always said I'd be happiest in a broom closet, alone, with two screens, excel and a ton of numbers work, turns out that's true. With the 'salary and respect' role I ended up doing a tonne of bureaucratic BS, and despite the fact that my employer has a massive HR department, I ended up with a metric f*ck tonne of HR things to handle. There was pressure from the senior staff for deliverables I couldn't care less about (answering the general public's facebook outrage day in and day out is exhausting), there were decisions that had everything to do with politics and nothing to do with the greater good of my Province. What I'm able to see now is how mismatched all of this was to my core person. While I could do my job well, I hated 90% of what I did during my workdays. It's not surprise that after 5 years of this I burned out in spectacular fashion.

This book was the missing piece that let me better understand why I'd burned out, and what I'd need to do moving forward to ensure it didn't happen again.

My only criticism of this work is that it does approach a lot of the discussion about how we change our burnout culture on theological approaches. That being said I completely see how these approaches could apply to us more secular folks so I haven't dinged it any stars, and to be honest, I'm the poster child for agnostics so if it didn't rub me the wrong way, hopefully it will be fine for others, but we've all got our own tolerances.

Overall this book is a strong recommend from me to anyone who thinks they might be experiencing burnout, anyone who just wants to understand it, and anyone who would like to avoid it for themselves.

[DC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like his hero, Thoreau, Malesic approaches issues related to work with an almost unbearable amount of privilege. He acknowledges it, but only in passing - and I think his ideas about how to make work better have merit, but what this book lacks (and thinks it addresses) is how to bridge the gap between now and a speculative time when our culture no longer puts us at such high risk for burnout. If I, for example, took a 75% pay cut in the interest of my health, like the author, my family would lose our house as well as our ability to be independently housed. (We would rely on the privilege of our family network and generational wealth.)

Still, there are some passages I'd like to remember.
p. 148-9: "That means, regardless of the type of work they do, anyone who works rightly deserves a wage sufficient to support a family (summarizing a document by Leo XII from 1891). Furthermore, Leo argues that hours of work and rest should 'depend on the nature of the work, on circumstances of time and place, and on the health and strength of the workman....' Leo's point is that the dignity of the person - not the dignity of work - is the highest principle when it comes to labor, and bosses owe it to their employees to provide conditions commensurate to that dignity, even it if means giving infirm workers fewer hours. Still, there is no excuse for paying someone less than a living wage, regardless of his or her ability to work a full day.... To the American mind, it's up to you to find and keep the work that demonstrates your value."

p. 161: "...Waged labor gets in the way of a life well lived."

p. 207: "The writer Johanna Hedva similarly connects disability to capitalism, describing sickness as 'a capitalist construct.' In Hedva's words, 'The "well" person is the person well enough to work. The "sick" person is the one who can't.' As a result, capitalist societies view illness as an aberration, not a normal part of being human. To be chronically ill, then, is to be in permanent violation of the norm, to be ineligible for social respect."

p. 211: ""I love my cat more than any living creature in the entire world,' they [artist Erica Mena] said. 'And he does shit for work. Literally. He does fuck-all. So if my cat is deserving of that love, then how can I say that humans aren't?' And, Mena continues, if their friends are deserving of love, and if children are deserving of love despite never working, 'then I am, too.'"

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically an extended meditation on a "sabbath lifestyle" (though it doesn't use that phrase). Pretty compassionate. Malesic seems like a likable guy.

As I've mentioned in my reviews of several other books recently, I found it quite relatable.

I agree with the conclusion that we should be excited, not anxious, about robots "taking our jobs." As has been the case since at least 2015, I would like to devote my career to making that happen. A post-scarcity economy would be great. But can we achieve that?

I'm mostly convinced now that universal basic income is a good idea. But I still can't quite bring myself to support it if it's administered by the state because that involves violence, or the threat thereof. But a privately funded UBI would be great. In theory, the Christian church is supposed to provide a "social safety net" with no need for government action, but that has sadly not been the case lately.

Oh, and it seemed to me to take pains to be politically correct. But I don't really object to any of that. I'm probably just oversensitive to it because I've been trained by libertarians to associate political correctness with virtue signaling and leftism rather than with love. I wouldn't be surprised if this book eventually got negative reviews from conservatives for that reason, but…I've got no problem with it. Am I myself now virtue signaling, trying to convince any leftist readers of this review that I'm not like the other libertarians? I can't tell.

(Thu 10 Feb 2022 05:48:23 PM CST)

[Zach Koenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The COVID-19 pandemic pulled back the veil of "work" in American society--showing both its value for usefulness purposes and frustrations with isolation/remote conditions & often seemingly inane hours. This has caused many--including myself, at times--to incorporate the phrase "work burnout" into our daily lives and conversations more than ever before. Fortunately, Jonathan Malesic's "The End of Burnout" is a solid tome to understand the reasons behind this and how to combat it.

The first half of "End of Burnout" is a bit slow by my estimation. Granted, it is simply doing what any research piece should--defining its terms--but it makes for dense and less-than-exciting reading. But in the second half, Malesic really helped me understand the work burnout concept.

Essentially, Malesic makes the case here that employment burnout largely stems from individuals either wanting or needing too much from a job. Sure, working conditions and relationships often need to be improved across the board, but more often than not one's view of a job as essential to his/her very dignity is to blame. Since the 1970s, America's workaholic capitalism model has made it so that citizens believe their job needs to define them (rather than the other way around). Thus, when those jobs inevitably (in all but the dream scenarios) let us down, we feel lost and extremely anxious.

As with most deeply-rooted societal issues, Malesic promises no easy answers to this dilemma. But I found it fascinating--and perhaps enlightening, going forward--that job burnout may be caused as much by my/our expectations of a job as the nature of the job itself. I settle on a four-star rating because it took me a while to get into this book, but once it moves past term-defining I found it very intriguing.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a manifesto for work and workers in general, against the market and workforce pressures that result in burnout. It's less of a self-help book, and instead focuses on the forces and policies that cause burnout. That said, I found it a good exercise to think about the potential for burnout in my own work, and that of the teams I work with. How can we think about burnout and business in a clearer way? The practice of thinking about causes and effects in itself has been immensely helpful.

The author talks about one potential cause of burnout as Adjustment Disorder, which resonates with the lockdown-era of work-from-home. Thinking about burnout as a cluster of potential causes is interesting and has helped me identify several patterns I can improve in my own work, and for my teams.

The book includes academic research and personal stories, in an easily digestible narrative. It covers various definitions of burnout, history, and stories from other professionals' experiences. I greatly enjoyed the meta-level thinking on how society might improve working conditions generally, which has me thinking about I can help improve the industry and people I work with.

I was initially concerned that the treatment of the topic by a tenured professor may not fit other professional disciplines, but was pleased that the author focused on the philosophy, definitions, and stories in a clear and compelling way.