A Culture of Exhaustion

March 5, 2015

The Washington Post reports on the trend of exhaustion in the article “Exhaustion is Not a Status Symbol.” An excerpt here:

It’s the whole adage of doing more with less. To be really honest with you, I don’t think it’s doable. The expectations of what we can get done, and how well we can do it, are beyond human scale.

And because there’s always this readily available technology and you can get your emails all night long, there’s no stopping and celebrating or acknowledging the accomplishment of anything. Instead of feeling pride or recognition, what everyone is instead made to feel is, “Thank God, I can get to the next thing on my list.”

It’s strange to think of it as a business skill, but pausing to reflect and to celebrate is a habit I see in strong cultures. Google still hosts weekly town hall meetings with the founders. Zappos shuts down the entire company for half a day, four times a year, just to celebrate and learn.

Have you made celebration an unbreakable ritual?