Consultants so good

At this point most of us are familiar with the term burnout. In 2019 the World Health Organisation added it to their International Classification of Diseases as an occupational illness due to chronic, un-managed stress, and more recent news articles this month state that rates of burnout are projected to increase this year due to continued pandemic-related stressors. In its current, most widely used role, ‘burnout’ encompasses feelings of stress, emotional exhaustion, lack of energy or interest, and depression. Whether or not the terminology is correct, burnout signifies a major problem.

The intrinsic link between failure and success: it is human nature that we find failure difficult to talk or even think about – you don’t want to look it in the eye or linger. It is all too easy in the age of social media to believe our peers are thriving and achieving goal after goal behind the screen as well as on Instagram, when obviously this is not the reality. Success is a case of trial and error: encountering failures but choosing to learn from them. This entails some often uncomfortable self-analysis, but is also an immeasurably valuable learning opportunity if we choose to alter our mindset.