Victor (Vic) Strecher

And many people might think, well, I just work for the money.

But are there other things that you could build in what some of my colleagues call job crafting?

Could you craft purpose out of the job that you have and turn that into something that's a little more powerful and meaningful for you during this time you're spending most of your waking hours?

So let's talk about two aspects of this question.

One is the fact that she got burned out from teaching, and that's

not uncommon because it's such a difficult job.

People who are in healthcare get burned out from that.

You see burnout everywhere.

And along with burnout comes loss of purpose.

So one thing I'd like to say to this person and to other people who are experiencing burnout is

Purpose can give you vitality and energy if you start thinking about new ways of teaching or new ways of practicing medicine or nursing.

But also there are things you can do that purposeful people tend to do to develop that energy and vitality.

I like to think about five things that have been shown in randomized trials to actually give you more energy and vitality.

One is sleep.

The second is presence or mindfulness.

Activity, physical activity is important.

I try to walk to work every single day that I'm teaching.

Creativity, you might think, what is there about creativity that gives you more energy?

Well, just try doing a haiku and ask yourself, now do I have a little more energy?

I ask my students to do that.