Or is the balance between work, personal life, and personal growth completely missing? Increasingly, alarming reports are emerging about young people living and working on the brink of burnout. Recently, an article in the Dutch Financial Times had the headline, “Young People with Burnout: Hype or Everyone's Problem?” This was followed a few days later by an article from a Dutch news station with the headline, “Number of Young Workers with Burnout Symptoms on the Rise.” Control What strikes me when reading these articles is why it seems difficult to pinpoint the cause of complaints like this. According to researchers, these issues are often caused by performance pressure, financial incentives, and the impact of the internet, social media, and the fear of missing out. This results in the loss of control over one’s own life. An interesting question in my opinion is, where does the responsibility for the loss of control lie? Dilemma In my neighborhood, I see countless examples of people who fit exactly into the picture the researchers paint. A busy job, a high mortgage or rent, often a parents with young children, a partner with an equally busy job, and a busy social life. And let's not forget the desire to personal growth. This can be driven by personal need or by the expectations of employers, partners, or environment. Being in such a situation, constantly trying to meet expectations and financial obligations, raises the dilemma: what choices do I make to better balance my life, and what am I willing to give up? Unaware What I notice is that people are often not even aware that they are losing control. In conversations, I notice an urgent need for a different way of living , yet they continue without really investigating the root cause. When the root cause is sought, often people feel that the ability to change falls outside their influence. The question is whether this is always the case. Awareness Employers often are not aware that some of their employees are 'on the edge' until they call in sick. Then there is attention, as work gets left behind or a temporary worker needs to be hired. If it lasts longer, a reintegration plan has to be drawn up to support employees in their recovery. Unfortunately, by then the employee is already long term sick, and the employer faces unforeseen costs. And when the employee is back to work after a long recovery process, the underlying cause is often not found. Boundaries In my coaching sessions, I ask people to critically examine the balance between work, personal life, and personal development. Not because it always has to change, but to investigate how they balance them. Often this immediately provides insight. Then it suddenly becomes understandable that with a busy job, a busy personal life, and huge ambitions, it's likely that you go beyond what is healthy Choices Insight helps. While it doesn’t eliminate all the stress factors mentioned earlier, it can help you regain control over your life by prioritizing. By recognizing and discussing causes, you can look for solutions. For example, accepting that sometimes your personal life requires more attention, making work or personal growth less prominent. It’s a matter of making choices. Balance I am convinced that people are ultimately more successful if they dare to make choices. I believe that this approach can significantly reduce stress or burnout-related absences. Curious why I’m convinced it can be different, have a look at https://www.anderz-om.nl/en/balans or contact me for more information.

Or is this a short-term strategy that ultimately does not make sense? Recently, during a walk, I saw a company's slogan that got me thinking. This slogan suggested that it's important always to get the most out of people (and organizations) An interesting slogan, ' we get the most out of people' . And what does that mean? For example, I initially imagined squeezed oranges rather than optimally performing people. Maximize II'm not entirely sure what this company meant by this slogan. What I do know is that it doesn't immediately give me the feeling that it's good for the people who work for this company. Or is that because I often see and speak to people who put in maximum effort at work and then push past their limits until they get sick and burn out? Optimal Personally, I would much prefer to talk about getting the optimal or best out of people. I am convinced that this yields better long-term results and probably happier employees, with less absenteeism and turnover. The idea that people can always perform at their maximum is, in my opinion, utopian. Sustainable A lot of attention is currently being paid to sustainable business practices. Maybe it would help organizations to also view sustainable business from the perspective of people's resilience. Sometimes, you are more resilient than at other times. Sustainable business then results in not only environmental benefits but also benefits for the people. Trust Last week, I facilitated a 'High Impact Leadership' training in Paris. One of the topics discussed there was the importance of trust in organizations. And that this is the basis for building successful teams where people are not afraid to discuss difficult topics. How wonderful would it be if everyone found their work environment so trustworthy that there is understanding for personal situations like illness, home life, or other non-work-related issues that affect resilience? Unfortunately, the reality is often that this safety does not exist. So, people continue to perform maximally until they collapse, quit, or become long-term sick. Premiere league See the differences compared to top-level sports. Periods of intense performance are alternated with periods of rest to recover and become stronger. Success is achieved there by finding the optimal balance between hard work and timely rest to achieve top results. With the Summer Olympics approaching, maybe it's a good moment to discuss optimal workload at the next staff meeting. Hopefully, there is enough trust to have these conversations with each other. My conviction is that everyone wants to be successful, preferably with the right balance to perform optimally. What do you think?

Sometimes well-intentioned advice leads to unintended outcomes, while meaningful conversations often result in new insights. 26 December 2024 Tempting as it may be to give advice, everyone deserves the time and space to discover and learn on their own, without direction or judgment. As a child, like many others, I experienced bullying and name-calling. My typical response was to say, “you are what you say,” driven by helplessness or fear of consequences if I stood up to the bullying. Perhaps I already intuitively sensed that retaliating wouldn’t change anything. Insight Incidents in youth that seem random at the time can later provide valuable insights. This happened to me during a recent conversation with someone I hadn’t spoken to in a long time. We discussed similarities in our work, hobbies, and personal lives, and found we had more in common than we had thought. Because I have known and respected this person for many years, observing how he handles personal hardships, the conversation lingered in my mind. Voice This morning, a voice in my head said, ‘you want what you say.’ Only one word different from the phrase I often used as a child in response to taunts and bullying. Reflecting on this today, I realized there is very little difference between what children wish upon each other during bullying and what adults wish upon each other when trying to help. The bullying child feels, even if just for a moment, superior by humiliating another child. There is no consideration for the bullied child’s feelings. Similarly, when I, with good intentions, advise someone based on my experiences without considering the potential consequences, I unintentionally create a sense of superiority. In both cases, there’s a chance the other person’s behavior might change. This blurs the line between advising and bullying, an interesting and surprising revelation I find humor in as a coach and consultant. Flashback Reflecting on my conversation earlier this week, the proverbial penny dropped. Was the phrase that woke me up this morning lingering in my mind because we have a tendency to want to change people around us? Did the personal commonalities remind me of this, or was there something else that struck a chord? The central question thus becomes whether our advice truly provides others with the space and safety to express what they might want to say, or do we advise them to do things because we wish to steer them in a certain direction? Gift What I repeatedly learn is that every conversation offers opportunities for growth. Whether it involves bullying, advising, or coaching, if you remain open, you can derive something valuable from each interaction. I now can see the bullying from my youth as a gift. I have learned much from it, even though that realization came much later, along with the awareness of the limitations I had created for myself due to the bullying. Tempting as it may be to give advice, everyone deserves the time and space to discover and learn on their own, without direction or judgment. And if I’m ever asked for advice, I’ll start by repeating the phrase that woke me up this morning.