Centuries-old advice on workplace burnout is still relevant today

Long before employee burnout became a part of today’s water-cooler vocabulary, writers in 16th-century China dealt with similar workplace problems and wrote about their own ways of combatting them.

Jason Wang, a postdoctoral fellow and executive member at the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University, and his research partner, Xiao He, a master’s student from the University of Toronto, are researching how historical literature can help illuminate today’s issues.

The two co-wrote an article published in The Conversation pointing out consistencies between today’s conversations about mental health and the workplace and a literary genre called xiaopin that gained popularity during the later years of the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644).

Like employees today, the essayists of the 16th century felt pressure to be perpetually productive as state officials who faced crushing workloads and operated under performance reviews that were similar to modern-day key performance indicators, or KPIs.

In response, they found small, personal ways to rebel against toxic workplaces, such as focusing on nature and enjoying simple acts such as sipping tea.

“They encourage us to find those little, small moments that have often been sidelined by the so-called grand narratives of our professional identity,” Dr. Wang said in an interview.

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Xiaopin means small pieces – short essays that Dr. Wang says operated as a form of micro-reflection.

Yuan Hongdao, a state official who became a popular writer during the Ming dynasty, is a centuries-old version of what would now be considered a quiet quitter, Dr. Wang argues.

There are records of him attempting to resign from his position seven times, sometimes faking illness, Dr. Wang said. He was believed to be successful in three of his attempts.

Why was he so determined? Yuan wanted to travel around what is now Eastern China, spending his time writing poetry or essays, painting and meeting with people in literary circles.

His goal was idleness, Dr. Wang says. Taking time, not to be lazy, but to be unproductive.

“I think the modern take-away is that burnout results from the tyranny of constant productivity,” Dr. Wang said. He referenced walks and meditation as forms of unproductivity that are vital to mental health.

Dr. Wang says Yuan explicitly criticized the bureaucracy’s dehumanizing effects and referred to quitting as casting off shackles.

He said Yuan described himself as “a slave before superiors” and faced relentless micromanagement, as did countless other officials.

“It is a good reminder that those 16th-century Chinese literati already diagnosed those burnouts as a systemic crisis,” Dr. Wang said.

Is ‘quiet thriving’ the solution to burnout? Experts weigh in

A survey released in March from business consulting firm Robert Half found that nearly half (47 per cent) of the 1,500 Canadian professionals surveyed were feeling burned out, up from 33 per cent two years earlier.

Most complaints revolved around heavy workloads and long hours or emotional and mental fatigue from high-stress tasks.

Another survey from Mental Health Research Canada, conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights, found that 24 per cent of Canadians reported always experiencing burnout or most of the time.

In their xiaopin essays, Dr. Wang found, the writers developed their own forms of rebellion against the bureaucracy of the Ming dynasty.

“The response to burnout actually does not need to be loud or radical and go on the street and protest. At times it requires a moment to breathe, it requires a pen to write, it requires an eye to observe.”

Take the case of Chen Jiru (1558-1639), somewhat of a quiet, gig economy hustler who found novel ways to combat workplace burnout.

His writings didn’t look to long vacations for respite, but to curating “micro-joys,” a theme of other xiaopin writings. Dr. Wang said Chen would turn mundane acts such as sipping tea or burning incense into sacred rituals.

“When mind and limbs grow weary, sit in repose or slumber – never force the spirit into bondage,” Chen wrote, translated from Chinese by Dr. Wang.

Chen also had study rituals, such as fiddling with a bronze cauldron or tapping an inkstone.

Dr. Wang said such rites may be comparable to watching cute cat videos on TikTok, reading poetry during a lunch break or taking time to enjoy the sound of the rain.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to indicate that Chen Jiru was born in 1558. This article as also updated to clarify that three of state official Yuan Hongdao’s resignation attempts are believed have been successful.