How our Beliefs about Work Harm Us (and How to Change Them)

Chronic workplace stress causes burnout. How to avoid chronic workplace stress? The answers might surprise you.

According to the World Health Organization, burnout is an occupational phenomenon caused by chronic workplace stress.

Which has us all wondering, of course, “what causes chronic workplace stress?”

The answer might be confronting, but it will also help you recover from burnout and live an authentic, fulfilling life.

Or to paraphrase Gloria Steinem, the truth about burnout will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

Chronic workplace stress is caused by two factors:

(1) toxic work culture and

(2) toxic beliefs about work.

Toxic work culture is a systemic aspect of modern working life. It is inherent to societies and economies which are designed to extract maximum value from people, or “human capital”, as we are known to economists.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t do anything to address toxic work culture right now — we must, in the interests of our mental health and the wider health of younger generations. But overcoming toxic work culture is not something…