How I Avoid Burnout: Michael Barratt, Space Doctor

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- In 2009 Dr. Michael Barratt spent six and a half months aboard the International Space Station, confined and busy in ways that probably make your earthbound lockdown look like a visit to a luxury spa. The space medicine specialist lived and worked with cameras livestreaming his every move carrying out hundreds of research projects and equipment demonstrations.

Aside from his everyday workout of two and a half hours on a treadmill, bike, or resistance machine to maintain muscle strength and bone density, he was mostly executing the complex plans that NASA beamed up. “No pressure, it’s an experiment that I maybe saw once on the ground two years ago, and tens of millions of dollars went into it, and the results could be cutting-edge or I could break it,” he says. “Astronauts are a lot more afraid of screwing up than blowing up.” Here’s how he avoided burnout 220 miles above Earth.

• Establish an “execute plan.” That’s your daily task list—along with the nonwork stuff, such as exercise, that you need to do to accomplish those tasks. “Just figure out something that you could do every day, forever,” says Barratt. The goal isn’t to emerge from space (or lockdown) in peak physical form; it’s to be fit and sharp enough.
• Factor in “overhead.” Overhead is NASA talk for all the activities around a work task, such as communicating with colleagues, gathering resources, and documenting your work. Sound familiar? It’s a major hazard in space, where Barratt’s six and a half hours daily of assigned tasks could extend far beyond that. “The biggest thing that would challenge us is being overworked, when the ground was pushing us a little hard, and they didn’t realize how much overhead there was,” he says. It’s the same thing at home: Bosses can’t see overhead, so let them know how much an assignment requires.
• Be curious. This is an excellent time to request interesting assignments. “We didn’t actually have the monotony, because we were seeing and learning new things every day, so it was not nearly as much drudgery as people think.”
• Pace yourself. Astronauts don’t stay up all night working; in extreme environments, calm and steady wins. “Everyone worked bloody hard, but it was absolutely fabulous.”
• Share some tunes. Barratt lunched with the Russian crew and dined with the Americans. “It was really important for us to gather. It was jokes, complaints about management—and then we all went back to work.” Music was key. “What helped us more than anything was being together and playing loud, scary music.” The Russians liked country and western; the flight engineer liked metal; Barratt liked Celtic rock. If you’re tired of Zooming with the same group of people because you have nothing new to say, try sharing playlists.
• Focus on the positive. “We take the risk to go to space because the benefits are worth it. All this working at home, we’re doing it because the benefits are worth it. We’re doing it to pull as many of our fellow humans through this as possible.”

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