All work and no play can deplete the ego

Even Japan, an economic powerhouse famous for its rigorous work culture, is questioning some old assumptions about the work-life balance. AFP

When Brian Wilson, one of the most gifted songwriters in American pop, composed Hang On to Your Ego in 1966, it’s fair to say that he was not singing about the danger of burnout caused by overwork. However, Wilson was perceptive when he sang: “I know so many people who think they can do it alone / They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zones.”

It is true that the demands of our professional and personal lives are primarily felt internally. Always present, sometimes exhausting, the toll such demands place on us was explored earlier this month by The National in an article about what some psychologists call “ego depletion”.

At its core, this idea suggests that the mental resources we consume to constantly mediate between our desires, interests and reality – defined here as our “ego” – are finite. In simpler terms, our willpower declines as we repeatedly draw on it to complete tasks requiring judgment, decision-making or self-control – tasks found most often in the workplace.

In historical terms, working at a constant pace for hour upon hour, five or six days a week is a relatively recent development. Photo: Alex Kotliarskyi / Unsplash

The consequences arising from hours of organising, planning, prioritising, producing and interacting can cascade into many areas of our lives. Unchecked, it can even pose problems for our well-being. “When you come home after you’ve had a hard day, it is tough to be disciplined about goals such as going to the gym or healthy eating,” Dubai-based psychologist Masa Valkanou told The National, “so you often end up making poor, impulsive choices that are against our established goals”.

Ego depletion’s appeal as an explanation for why we often make choices that work against our well-being lies in its intuitive character. It makes sense to us that repeatedly using or straining our self-control throughout the day depletes it, opening the way to more impulsive decisions, poor emotional control and an overall sense of being a fatigued, washed-out version of yourself.

It’s a compelling idea but, in my opinion, an important piece of the contextual puzzle is missing. Counsellors and psychologists have proposed important strategies to mitigate ego depletion on an individual level – self-care, meditation, rest, diet, better time management and so forth. These are all worthy, but to challenge a pervading sense of burnout at a societal level we must consider that many aspects of modern life – including some work practices – are often inimical to our well-being.

An interesting starting point from which to explore this question can be found in a highly influential 1967 study by the English social historian EP Thompson. In Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism, Thompson analysed the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution in Western Europe. He found that before salaried employment, major factories and shift patterns, people largely worked in sync with the natural cycles of agriculture; intense activity during planting and harvest time would be followed by periods where relatively little work would be done.

Willpower declines as we repeatedly draw on it to complete tasks requiring judgement, decision-making or self-control

Working at a constant pace for hour upon hour, five or six days a week, therefore, is a relatively recent development; the many stresses and anxieties connected to the modern world of work would suggest that, in biological and evolutionary terms, we’re simply not built for it. If we accept that a wholesale rejection of modern industrial society is not on the agenda right now, what then can be done to counter ego depletion and similarly enervating conditions?

It is striking that part of the answer can be found in one of the greatest challenges faced by humanity in the 21st century. The Covid-19 pandemic came with a terrible human cost but it also led to a profound rethink of how we work. Remote and hybrid working as well as flexible hours are now established parts of the workplace lexicon.

Arguably, the recasting of traditional working patterns helped people juggle their professional and personal responsibilities at a time of global crisis. That many employers still have such policies, years after the pandemic ended, would suggest that they were good for retaining happier, productive staff.

But more profound changes may be on the way, ones that question the conventions that have built up about how and when we work. The UAE has joined several other countries in exploring what a shorter working week could achieve. Government offices in Sharjah were among the first to adopt a four-day week in 2022 and in August, the Dubai authorities ran a seven-week trial of a shorter week at 15 government bodies.

People take part in an International Yoga Day event in Duabi. Yoga, meditation, diet and sleep are worthy individual strategies but a pervading sense of burnout at a societal level means we must reconsider many aspects of modern life. Antonie Robertson / The National

Sarah Al Hathboor, a human resources officer with Dubai Courts, told The National that immediately after the initiative took effect, many employees reported feeling more balanced and focused at work “with a noticeable increase in overall morale, with staff appearing less stressed and more balanced”.

Even Japan, an economic powerhouse famous for its rigorous work culture, is questioning some old assumptions. Earlier this month, Tokyo’s municipal government said that from next April its employees could have three days off a week. Another policy will allow the parents of young children to exchange part of their salary for the right to leave work early. Both policies are aimed at improving well-being, productivity and tackling the country’s falling birth rate.

“I know so many people who think they can do it alone,” Wilson sang. And it is true that we can all take individual steps to – as he might say – hang on to our ego. However, working towards a society that recognises that free time is not just a nice bonus but a requirement for success is more important than ever.