Why you should care about working sustainably
Do you find yourself working in cycles, perhaps feeling energized and inspired by your work one week and completely exhausted or unmotivated the next week?
Frequently, high achievers work in bursts. They may accomplish more tasks than expected of them in a very short period of time. Almost always, there is a burnout cycle that follows that burst period. The length of the cycle may vary – some people may have high-productivity months followed by a burnout cycle, and some people may have week-to-week or day-to-day cycles. However, any time someone is achieving more than seems humanly feasible, they are borrowing from the future (or have saved up energy from the past) to do so. That’s why we need to talk more about working sustainably.
We don’t believe burst work is something to be avoided at all times. When a practitioner or leader is aware of this cycle, it can be used to their advantage. For example, you may spend a period of time resting, moving more slowly, and gathering energy and resources before launching a new business. You may plan a long vacation after working towards an important project milestone. However, without awareness of your own personal cycle and needs, you do not get to choose when and how you break or what price it extracts.
Breaking could happen in several different ways, all of which are risky to you and your organization. Here are some possible consequences:
Costly mistakes are made because you are too exhausted to catch them
You run out of patience and snap at clients, coworkers, or family members, causing a loss of trust and relational damage
You are physically exhausted, get ill, and are unable to work
Motivation for what you’re doing is entirely lost
The good news is that all of the above is entirely avoidable. By working sustainably, you can can begin to understand what sustainable work looks like for you on a day-to-day basis, and you can use a longer cycle to your advantage when you need to do something big and/or important in a short period of time – planning around your energy needs.
Simply put, sustainably working on a day-to-day basis is shortening your burnout cycle. It means that you are gaining an awareness of your energy needs in real time. At a high level, to implement a sustainable working life, you need first to build awareness, experiment with how to make changes, and continually iterate on this (as your needs will likely change over time). We recommend spending a week paying attention to your energy – noticing what drained you and what energized you, as well as how much recovery time you needed after being drained. After you do this, try implementing some changes. For example, if you notice you are energetically drained by sitting for long periods of time, try taking a short walk a few times a day.
Here at Cressana, we believe working sustainably is one of the most important things a leader can do. It’s an important piece of risk management strategy, it ensures the long-term health of you and your organization, and it enables you to be your best when it matters most.