VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 4, 2020 / "What do you want to be when you grow up?" This ten-word question is often imposed countless times throughout the span of your formative years, with the answer being more challenging for some to come to than others. Regardless of the ease in which you answer this question, it's highly unlikely you'll aspire to be "stressed, tired, and burnt out." Yet, this is a state many hardworking hustlers are finding themselves in as they scramble to achieve their dream job.
Fredi Co-Founders Mitch and Chelsea Glaser
Siblings Chelsea and Mitch Glaser were all too familiar with the negative side-effects of success, having both embarked on high-stress careers in their early 20's with Chelsea founding her own company, Launch It Girl, and Mitch working as a Wall Street investment banker. The duo experienced the euphoric highs that came with their career accomplishments, yet also became susceptible to the toll such success took on their mental and physical wellbeing.
For this reason, they combined forces in 2019 to co-found Fredi, a wellness company cultivating focus and productivity within the workplace to help ambitious hustlers redefine what it means to achieve success.
Throughout their journey launching and growing Fredi, the Glaser's have discovered that many common conceptions society has about employment are simply not true. Today, the duo is actively seeking to reprogram how workplace fulfillment is viewed, experienced, and achieved in a way that prioritizes wellness first and happiness second.
Reprogramming Fulfillment in the Workplace
"Let's stop spreading the ‘if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life' fallacy," Chelsea Glaser remarked. "We're ALL susceptible to burnout. Even when we're in the dream job, there will be good days & bad days, interesting tasks & draining ones. Take care of yourself, protect your energy."
For Fredi, a major focus is to provide education on the topic of burnout. Many times, when people experience burnout in a career they love, they question their capabilities within their role and if they're failing at something they've dedicated their lives to building. What Fredi wants to stress is that experiencing burnout in a career you love does not make you flawed, in fact, it makes you incredibly normal.
A recent Deloitte study found that "passion may not prevent workplace stress." 87 percent of surveyed professionals claimed they were highly passionate about their career, yet despite this passion, 64 percent of these employees also admitted they were "...frequently stressed." This serves to dispel the myth that passionate employees are immune to stress or burnout.
In expanding on this study, Chelsea discussed that "the more passionate you are about your work, the more likely you are to burn out doing it. Caring takes energy and effort."
So what does this mean for those who are feeling a little unhinged while working in or towards their dream job?
According to both Fredi and Deloitte, it means that you're likely in the right career. This is not to suggest that you should be constantly feeling the effects of burnout as an indicator of success, but it does mean that you are passionate enough about the work you do to allow it to impact you. Congratulations! You're in your dream job.
Now, let's discover how to make this achievement more manageable, starting with redefining what fulfillment in the workplace is and what it isn't.
Workplace fulfillment is: Passionately pursuing success within the job of your dreams while prioritizing your wellness in the process. Embracing the career accomplishments while recognizing that it's alright to experience unhappiness and frustration, even in a job you love.
Workplace fulfillment isn't: A constant state of euphoria.
"The goal," commented the Glaser's, "is not to be excitedly, over-the-moon, euphorically blissful all the time. The goal is inner peace. It's feeling good about how you're handling what's within your control, letting go of what's not, and mindfully embracing the little moments of joy that pass through."
Through reprogramming how we view workplace fulfillment, Fredi is helping others to combat burnout by being realistic about personal expectations. This includes changing the unachievable expectation that a dream job is one we must constantly love doing. You think Mother Theresa loved her job every second of every day? No. But it cannot be questioned that she found her work fulfilling and that she was successful in doing the work of her dreams.
A spotlight on wellness
In pursuit of career aspirations, wellness is often required to take a back seat. The Fredi founders are adamant that this is a mentality that needs to be amended as it is forcing a longer detour along the path to fulfillment.
To this topic, the Glaser's commented, "Let's stop idolizing happiness and start idolizing health. Take care of your body. Learn to understand your emotions. Build a strong relationship with your intuition. Set appropriate boundaries. Protect your energy. That is the work. Happiness is, simply, a symptom of health."
Happiness, an impossibly subjective term, is an aspiration for many.
Obtaining happiness is a universal desire, yet it is not a linear process.
What the Fredi squad is advocating for is an indirect pursuit of happiness that begins with prioritizing wellness. This is something that many neglects doing when they're hyper-focused on workplace success. But wellness, when neglected for too long, is likely to hinder workplace success far more than help it.
And frankly, both employers and employees benefit from prioritizing wellness in the workplace.
What's the value of wellness?
A recent Aflac study discovered that 61 percent of employees found workplace wellness programs effective in helping them make healthier choices, which then correlated to higher job satisfaction and performance.
There is also a return on investment. The American Journal of Health Promotion found that for every dollar spent on workplace wellness programs, companies save $3.27 on health care costs.
Furthermore, for companies looking to attract the best talent, a workforce survey found 87 percent of employees consider which health and wellness offerings are available when choosing an employer.
Despite the clear benefits that come from implementing employee wellness programs, many companies are still not doing enough to minimize burnout.
The Deloitte study discovered that nearly 70 percent of professionals do not believe that their employers are doing enough to prevent burnout, with an additional 21 percent claiming that their workplace does not provide any programs for burnout alleviation.
This indicates that though some companies are incorporating and benefiting from programs that prevent employee burnout, it is not a universal practice. For those that find themselves in a work environment where wellness is not a priority, the Fredi team has some sage advice to share on implementing personal wellness practices to help mitigate burnout in such environments.
Re-imagining a fulfilling life
"Inner peace is the goal, ya'll," Chelsea reminded, "Let's not measure life satisfaction by how happy we are at work. Work, no matter how passionate we are about it, will still be work. There will be stress, moments of lost motivation, frustration - it's normal, and it's okay. What makes this way harder is thinking that in order to have a good life, we need to feel nothing but passion and excitement for our work on a daily basis. That's not true! We need lows to appreciate the highs. A good life is full of a large spectrum of emotions and experiences. Let's focus on stress management rather than stress avoidance and a broader sense of purpose rather than constant positive emotions."
Imagine if we could re-word the verbiage that children use to answer the question, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" to include healthy, rested, energized, and fulfilled - that would help to set realistic metrics of success to strive for. However, the beautiful thing about growing up is that it's an ongoing process. Chelsea and Mitch Glaser and their team at Fredi are providing us with the opportunity to re-introduce these words into our career plans, replacing the pursuit of happiness with that of wellness in obtaining a fulfilling life.
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SOURCE: Mindful Media PR