What Burnout Actually Is and How to Fix It

0:00So, when people experience burnout, for example, it's a term that, you know, gets thrown around a lot. >> I get burned out a lot. >> So, this is really interesting. Then you might find this interesting. So, >> He's like, "They're stupid people." I was like, "Ooh." >> [laughter] >> Should have been quiet there. Should have been quiet there. >> No. Um so, burnout is just when the the the cycle of reward that you're accustomed to either becomes too latent, so too far in advance, uh uh not intent like intense enough, um or you habituate to it, or it stops happening. So, there's all four of those scenarios are basically like what used to feel good when you do something doesn't feel as good now that you've done it a hundred times. And this is basically the the hedonic cycle. And so, um it also works in equal opposite, which is like if you punish a child or you punish anyone in the same way, eventually you habituate. You get used to it. And so, in order for punishment to be effective, you have to change variety and intensity of punishment in order for it to stay to keep working, right? Um and so, again, the same thing happens with reward. Um and so, when we get burned out, we are we used to do these things, and we used to get this satisfaction out of it. And now I do these same things, and I don't get that same satisfaction.

1:05And so, we feel uh burnt out. That's the So, basically, it's the experience of an extinction curve on a behavior. Now, where it gets tougher is where you have um other contingencies that make it difficult for you to leave. And so, you have competing priorities. And so, it's like let's say you have a family who relies on you, um and you had this job. And when you started it, you had to do these activities, and it rewarded you. But over time, people just started to expect you to do it. They stopped saying good job, um or just the nature of the work, it no longer was challenging for you because you got so good at it that it wasn't again, the challenge itself is rewarding when you overcome it. So, there's lots of reward cycles that happen on a daily basis.

1:40Um But anyways, as you continue to work, now let's say the job has zero satisfaction, but it still pays you. And so, there still is a reinforce that occurs. Uh and reinforcement just means uh anything that makes a behavior happen more. That's it. Anything that does that is as reinforcer. Um and so, getting paid is a great reinforcer for doing something, but it's still all the other reinforcers in the job might have gone away. And so, your family might have expectations, which also rule following, for you as a global thing, because I have an identity as a good father, a good provider, that I have a rule that if I were to not provide for my family, it would be against this rule I've made for myself and this identity, this label that I've ascribed for myself. And me just thinking about the fact that I am a good provider gives me reward. It reinforces me. And so, what happens is when we quote like shift behavior over time, it's we create a label. Like what you want, if you want to change someone's behavior, is you give them a label that they can live up to, and then you align the actions. You do this, you are this type of person. And then eventually they begin to do other things because they like the label, because the label itself is reinforcing.

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