Exhaustion at work does not appear suddenly: it sets in, becomes normalized, and sometimes mixes with commitment or performance. In Stop burning out (Eyrolles), Matthieu Poirot highlights this “ burn in » discreet which precedes burn-out and questions a professional model based on overcommitment and denial of recovery.
In this interview, he explains the psychological mechanisms of exhaustion, the mental burdens that accumulate, and the reasons why women often pay the high price.
What made you want to write this book now? How is the exhaustion you describe different from burnout as we know it today?
Matthieu Poirot: What pushed me to write this book was initially a general confusion. We talk a lot about burn-out, but little about the above: the phase of “ burn in », this silent exhaustion where we still hold on, but less and less well.
With the increase in the pace of work, people are living on the edge without realizing it. And above all, no one teaches them mental recovery, even though it has become a key skill to survive in the face of changes in work; to the intensification of work (increase in the mental and emotional load of work).
Why do you think psychological recovery remains such a powerful taboo in the world of work?
Matthieu Poirot: The taboo of recovery is due to great confusion: we associate it with laziness or relaxation. However, recovery requires discipline. It is one of the pillars of sustainable performance. All coaches know that an athlete who overtrains will see his performance collapse.
At work, it’s exactly the same. But we have created the myth of the tireless super-worker. This is false. Our nervous system is under increasing pressure, and we must learn to better manage this pressure. Furthermore, we confuse rest and recovery. You can be on a dream beach and not recover if you don’t mentally disconnect from work.
You show that sustainable performance relies less on willpower than on the effort-recovery balance. Why does this misunderstanding persist among leaders?
Matthieu Poirot: Sometimes they play the superhero persona themselves and think that’s the norm. They have a large workload, but forget that they also have more autonomy, and therefore more room to implement their own recovery strategies.
They are also often people who overinvest and project that everyone should do the same, with this idea that will will make reality. There is sometimes a fantasy of no limits.
You introduce the notion of “psychological debts”. How are these debts formed and what are their concrete effects on mental health and engagement?
Matthieu Poirot: Psychological debts form when people overcommit to a toxic system that does not provide them with recognition or psychological safety. The more they invest, the more they feel frustrated and develop this feeling that the company owes them something for this imbalance, or even this betrayal.
This leads to mental ruminations: “CWhat I’m experiencing is not normal » ; which prevent psychological detachment. People exhaust their resources in a vicious circle: they act, commit, feel frustration, the debt crystallizes, they are no longer able to detach themselves from work, they become exhausted… and this amplifies the mechanism.
Are women more exposed to certain forms of psychological exhaustion, particularly linked to overinvestment and difficulty saying no?
Matthieu Poirot: Yes, for structural reasons. They combine the mental load of work and home, have less recovery time, and are socialized to be more perfectionists. They are therefore particularly exposed to this effort-recovery imbalance. We could also hypothesize that this is one of the factors explaining their lower emotional well-being compared to men.
You talk about “psychological blue zone“. What does this concretely change in the way we think about performance at work?
Matthieu Poirot: There ” psychological blue zone », it is the possibility of resting the body while activating mental recovery. If you ski, you relax, you think about other things, but you also exhaust the body.
If you are on the sofa in front of the TV, you rest your body, but you do not necessarily take a step back from work. We need both. And this must change individual, managerial and organizational strategies. The idea of this book is to propose interventions on these 3 levels.
Can we create a culture of recovery in demanding and competitive environments, or is it still seen as incompatible with success?
Matthieu Poirot: On the contrary, it is what distinguishes an amateur world from a professional world. The more we master the balance between effort and recovery, the more we master performance over time, both at an individual and collective level. But this requires measuring this dimension, acculturating the company and implementing a global action plan of good practices.
If you had to give just one piece of advice to a woman in a situation of chronic overload but still “efficient”, which one would it be?
Matthieu Poirot: Establish at least one full day in the blue zone per week, always the same. And make those around you understand that you are on the verge of burnout. This is not negotiable. It’s vital.
