As constant travelers and parents of a 2-year-old, we sometimes fantasize/'fæntəsaɪz/ about how much work we can do when one of us gets on a plane, undistracted/ʌndɪ'stræktɪd/ by phones, friends, and Finding Nemo/'nimo/. We race/res/ to get all our ground work done: packing, going through TSA, doing a last-minute work call, calling each other, then boarding /'bɔrdɪŋ/ the plane. Then, when we try to have that amazing work session in flight, we get nothing done. Even worse, after refreshing our email or reading the same studies over and over, we are too exhausted/ɪɡ'zɔstɪd/ when we land to soldier/'soldʒɚ/ on with the emails that have inevitably/ɪn'ɛvɪtəbli/ still piled/paild/ up.
Why should flying deplete/dɪˈplit/ us? We’re just sitting there doing nothing. Why can’t we be tougher/tʌf/ — more resilient/rɪ'zɪlɪənt/ and determined in our work – so we can accomplish all of the goals we set for ourselves? Based on our current research, we have come to realize that the problem is not our hectic/'hɛktɪk/ schedule or the plane travel itself; the problem comes from a misunderstanding of what it means to be resilient, and the resulting impact of overworking.
We often take a militaristic/ˌmɪlɪtə'rɪstɪk/, “tough” approach to resilience/rɪˈzɪljəns/ and grit /ɡrɪt/. We imagine a Marine/mə'rin/ slogging/'slɔɡiŋ/ through the mud, a boxer going one more round, or a football player picking himself up off the turf for one more play. We believe that the longer we tough it out, the tougher we are, and therefore the more successful we will be. However, this entire conception is scientifically /saɪənˈtɪfɪklɪ/ inaccurate./ɪn'ækjərət/
The very lack of a recovery period/'pɪrɪəd/ is dramatically holding back our collective ability to be resilient and successful. Research has found that there is a direct correlation/ˌkɔrə'leʃən/ between lack of recovery and increased incidence of health and safety problems. And lack of recovery — whether by disrupting/dɪs'rʌpt/ sleep with thoughts of work or having continuous/kən'tɪnjʊəs/ cognitive arousal/ə'raʊzl/ by watching our phones — is costing our companies/'kʌmpəni/ $62 billion a year (that’s billion, not million) in lost productivity.
And just because work stops, it doesn’t mean we are recovering. We “stop” work sometimes at 5PM, but then we spend the night wrestling/'rɛslɪŋ/ with solutions to work problems, talking about our work over dinner, and falling asleep thinking about how much work we’ll do tomorrow. In a study released last month, researchers from Norway found that 7.8% of Norwegians have become workaholics/ˌwɝkə'hɔlɪk/. The scientists cite/saɪt/ a definition of “workaholism /'wɜːkə,hɒlɪzəm/” as “being overly concerned /kən'sɝnd/ about work, driven by an uncontrollable work motivation, and investing so much time and effort to work that it impairs other important life areas.”
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