Hustle Hurts: Why Burnout is Bad Business

There is a glamorization of “hustle” and pressure to push out products and services in startup industries that are dominated by white, male, ‘20-somethings’. They pull all-nighters at ‘hackathons,” building apps and competing for money and prizes for days-on-end. Caffeine, pizza, and beer fuels them for the sleepless weekend. Similar conditions exist in early-stage startups for developer deadlines and app launches where there is money on the line. Yes, one gets a rush of adrenaline and things do get built in these conditions, but at what cost? Workplace Psychology reports that $150-300 billion in company revenue is lost annually due to work missed because of stress-related factors and can lead to obesity, substance abuse, and heart-disease, the #1 killer in the U.S, claiming more than half a million lives a year (The Heart Foundation)! The facts are dizzying. I should know—the startup life gave me vertigo.

When I first entered the tech startup scene in NYC, my entire world shifted, literally. I dove into learning HTML and was whiteboarding our marketing strategy by day, going to events 4x a week. My diet consisted of bites of creamy stuff plopped on phyllo, washed down with vodka and lemon water to lubricate the conversation with startup darlings to recruit them to speak at our company’s events. I was getting about 5 hours of sleep a night, and one morning I woke and I couldn’t see straight. Vertigo, I came to learn, is a symptom of a larger problem, and the doctor told me to slow my roll and cut back on the coffee that was fueling my daytime existence. For 2 full weeks I was dizzy. I descended our office spiral staircase in a tizzy, clutching the railing on the way down and the downward dogs at yoga made my stomach turn. Since it was just the founder and me, there was always so much to be done. However, I had to detox and take care of the #1 on my To-Dos: reclaim my health. Without it, I could not be good to anyone—my boss, family, partner, or friends.

Since that day, I have not exited the startup world, but I have taken some precautions that prevent something like this to happen to me again. I started with daily meditation, and gradually built in exercise, breaks in my day, and eating whole and nutrition-rich foods like nuts and fruit. Gone are the days of all-nighters, losing sleep and sanity. My energy levels for daily productivity has skyrocketed, as well as my ability to focus on my tasks at hand. However, there still seems to be an epidemic among the startup world, and for those that haven’t gone through a health scare like me, the evidence for burnout is insurmountable.

Starting from the top, Google has replaced their colorful jars of candy with bowls of fruit and revamped their cafeteria. When I visited the Google office here in Austin and needed a sugar fix, a staffer led me to the very rear of the dining hall and tucked back beyond the salad bar buffets 10-minuteful crudités were a small selection of Otis Spunkmeyer baked goods. The non-optimal options are there, they are just out of the way. And what better way to make better lifestyle choices easy and dare-I-say fun.

Recently, Google unrolled a new health initiative with 600 of their Austin employees with Wellshift, an organization that offers 30-day-challenges to make daily steps toward achieving their wellness goals. And you don’t have to be a multi-billion dollar company to implement these changes. Melanie Weinberger, the founder of Wellshift, has since partnered with organizations of all sizes that wish to make a positive change in their lives and the lives of their stakeholders. One of those partnerships has been through a new webinar series with Austin Coding Academy, one of the top-rated coding schools in the city. ACA’s mission is to make coding affordable and accessible to all. They started implementing the Wellshift principles with their own team, and are building it into the classroom experience for their teachers. Why this emphasis on health? Partially due to the trickle-down effect. Luke Filipos, cofounder of ACA, wants to “help elevate teams based on the best practices we use here [at ACA] everyday.” By instilling healthy practices built into the classroom, their students will be better, more energized, efficient, and happier employees. And happy employees are loyal. What are some of the wellness challenges?

Setting an alarm to keep habits and enlisting others are great ways to stay on target, but how can workplaces build in facets that encourage healthy living and build it into their infrastructure? atx FACTORY, a coworking space launching on Austin’s east side is opening up doors and opportunities this summer to small businesses, freelancers, and remote teams to create thriving lives and businesses starting in Austin, east of the highly-trafficked downtown area. By building in showers & locker rooms, a meditation area, and nap pods, atx FACTORY is creating an environment that is intrinsic to the way modern entrepreneurs and employees of high-growth companies work healthier, happier, and more productive lives. Happiness and productivity may as well be synonymous when it comes to company health—less employee turnover by a whopping 46%, sick leave by 12%, and increases performance by 12% (iOpener Institute).

What once seemed counterintuitive to encourage employees to sit idly and think about nothing or to take consistent breaks throughout the day, is now proven to super-charge focus—a competitive advantage for any company or individual that wants one for life.