Beating burnout: five keys to coping in difficult and uncertain times.(Personal Renewal)

REMEMBER THE TELE-vision commercials that touted the Timex watch that "takes a licking and keeps on ticking"? The watches were put through all kinds of dramatic punishments, but in the end they were still keeping accurate time. Many of us are like those watches. Our histories are filled with the usual range of life's hard knocks, setbacks, and heartbreaks, but we have found ways to survive and keep on ticking. We have avoided becoming burned out.

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Two sides of the story

During the past two decades, stress and burnout have become part of our daily lexicon. Workplace and cocktail-party conversation often drifts to the pessimistic side of the things--not enough hours in the day, competing priorities, little quality time spent with the family. The underlying assumption often is that we are in a fierce struggle, one that we frequently lose. Burning out is …