Dropouts And NOT Burnouts

Dropouts And NOT Burnouts

Many years ago, I was then an entry-level then at Oil Giant SHELL when our Dutch I.T. Manager announced that he was going back to the Netherlands because of BURNOUT.  Being naive and very raw at that time [and lo and behold, internet technology was extremely raw at that time], I had to go to Mr Webster and find the definition of BURNOUT.  Fast-forward today, you WON'T believe it, HOW TIME FLIES, the buzzword now is Dropouts And NOT Burnouts, and this pushes me in a dizzying spin and spell.  WHAT THE f____.  WHAT about DROPOUTS📗📙📘

For alignment, in the simplest terms, BURNOUT refers to that state WHEN or WHERE you reached that point you DON'T feel that drive and/or motivation to push with your core activities, e.g. working if you're a worker.  WHEREAS DROPOUTS has no deeper meaning than dropping out from the slate.  And even the statistics from the United States is alarming, with a national dropout rate of 10.9%.  That's HUGE and that's a HUGE problem, ISN'T it?  If a first world country like the U.S. can have that kind of stats data, WHAT can we expect from the data coming from the Third World countries?  BTW, this is NOT to be discriminatory of Third World countries💥💥💥

BUT my take here is that it's quite a stretch for us to concoct a sort of 'EPIDEMIC of OVERWORK' because that's illusionary, to say the least.  YET, the global movement to shift to a four-day working week seems to gaining ground, generating that steam.  Yesterday, no less than liberal U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders floated the idea of pushing for a four-day workweek.  And even in China, many young Chinese are so worried about their country's 996 work culture [9 to 9 six days a week] that they have even started a 'LYING FLAT' movement ['Tang Ping' in Chinese] and brutally they exclaimed 'WE EMPLOYEES ARE TOO TIRED.  WE HAVE TO LIE DOWN'.  But the mind-boggling question is, IS "HARD" REALLY SUCH A BAD THING?  Huhuhu💦💦💦

Interestingly, or rather amusingly, to answer that question seems much more interesting than the apostles of overwork suggest.  Truth is, even the latest economic data show that, on average, people are working fewer hours than ever.  Working hours have even declined the most in countries with higher GDPs because it takes fewer hours of work to earn a comfortable living.  Housework is also much more efficient, thanks to technology✅✅✅

Our takeaway:  Our workers today must work harder than our predecessors for the simple reason that there is so much more knowledge to absorb.  YOUNG lawyers MUST absorb more case law.  YOUNG bankers must command more recondite techniques.  It is possible that AI [Artificial Intelligence] will eventually reduce the pressure on our workers.  Ironically, WHAT's happening is the opposite.  It seems that technological advances seem to trigger the opposite effect WHEREBY it increases the pace and tempo of transactions.  And personally, this is an unwelcome burden as it seems DROPOUTS is becoming more prevalent even as BURNOUTS are now a thing of the past😖😖😖