The OffBeat #60: Boreout vs. Burnout

Keeping your curiosity cup full

In Adam Grant’s latest book Hidden Potential, he discusses the difference between burnout and boreout:

Burnout = emotional exhaustion that accumulates when you’re overloaded

Boreout = emotional deadening that accumulates when you’re understimulated

Much has been written on burnout in the modern corporate world, Anne Helen Petersen’s work most notably. I’ve encountered less about boreout, which is probably why Grant’s introduction of this concept clanged a mental bell for me.

I’ve always been a very *busy* person, physically and mentally. This quote from Rebecca Makkai’s latest novel I Have Some Questions For You speaks to me:

“The need to keep busy is both a symptom of high-functioning anxiety and the key to my success.”

Throughout middle and high school, my extracurricular schedule was so crammed that my mom packed me dinner to eat in the car on the way from one activity to the next. In my twenties and early thirties I hustled my face off, working twelve-, thirteen-, fourteen-hour days, literally hungry for professional advancement; my ambition was a tangible thing akin to when you can feel humidity in the air. It’s almost impossible to believe now, but there was a time I’d voluntarily go into the office on the weekends to “catch up” on work. I juggled freelance work on top of a high-octane full-time job, keen to keep multiple pots bubbling on multiple burners to avoid pigeonholing myself into one career path.

A combination of COVID, getting older, becoming a parent, and transitioning to hybrid work finally led me to ease up on the gas pedal. Related to burnout, a lot’s been written lately about ambition, and its evolution, as a result of chronic overwork in the modern corporate sphere. What value does a gold star sticker have when you’ve become a caffeine-addicted insomniac, prioritizing instant email responses over phone-free time with your kids?

I can’t point to one period of time or one singular phase in which I experienced burnout. I think I was probably slowly burning out, then recovering from burnout, then slowly re-crispening, back and forth for, like, a decade. Maybe I would have experienced that cycle regardless of living amidst the sickly addictive, voracious hustle of 2010s New York City, regardless of what industries I worked in. On Shirzad Chamine’s scale of Positive Intelligence saboteurs, my top three are Stickler, Hyper-Achiever, and Restless. So.

Burnout is real, it’s dangerous, and it’s been all-too prevalent for all-too long. But it has a sinister sibling, one that can arguably have an even more toxic impact on your ability to deliver creatively and as a leader: boreout.

Per the Rebecca Makkai quote above, burnout and boreout are, for me at least, intertwined. The part of my psyche that’s always nudging me closer to the burnout target on the dartboard is nestled next to the part of my psyche that’s always threatening to “bore out”; it’s what makes me crave stimulation, challenge, interestingness, in a way that doesn’t always feel healthy.

Both burnout and boreout lead to stagnation, even emptiness, neither of which make for good creative output nor sound leadership. Boreout, in particular, generates a powerful feeling of frustration, a “what’s the point?” sensation that’s like an inflated balloon in your brain, leaving no room for the curiosity required for both musicianship and leadership.

Keeping your curiosity cup full makes you a better musician or artist, obviously; less obviously, it does the same for leaders in the workplace.

Here’s what has worked for me over the years to stave off boreout:

• Leaning into digressions: Passion projects (like this very one) and side hustles, whether they’re directly related to your work or completely unrelated, create the crackle of energy that boreout can stamp out; rather than be afraid of these things taking time away from your team’s full-time workload, celebrate and encourage them for the inspiration they’ll provide

• Managing energy vs. time: Structure your workday around rhythms that feel natural (e.g. tackle deep creative work in the morning over your second cup of coffee, push meetings to later in the day when you mostly need to listen and provide guidance, not create); establish schedule boundaries that work for you and stick to them (e.g. declare you’re not reachable for two hours on evenings during family dinner and bedtime, and leave your phone on silent in another room to hold yourself accountable); build comfort with leaving things unchecked on your to-do list

• Relentlessly seeking impact: If you don’t understand your organization’s business model, enough to be able to explain it clearly to a new hire on their first day, keep asking questions (of your boss, of your peers, of allies you make on the finance or strategy team) until you do—then mold your remit and workload around delivering value towards that business model; the more you are tangibly contributing to your company’s existential goals, the less bored you’ll be

• Scheduling catch-ups: Keep up with people in your network, while keeping gas in your brain’s tank, by scheduling a few quick Zoom or coffee catch-ups each month; you can be methodical about it (e.g. use a personal CRM like Folk and set calendar reminders for yourself) or simply ping someone when they pop into your head

• Practicing bricolage: Be purposeful about your creative inspiration diet; I like consuming a range of sources to feed my brain with a miscellany of input

Reply to share your own reflections on burnout, boreout, or both.

Have a great week,

Allison

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