Page 4 - The EDGE Fall 2025

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

BY RYAN FRENCH

A Slow Burn

Ryan French
According to a February 2025 study report These issues probably are not going away anytime
by Forbes, 66% of American employees are soon but understanding they are there can be
experiencing some sort of burnout, the highest the first step in helping your staff and yourself
level ever recorded by that publication. As districts develop strategies to cope.
close another fiscal year with the completion and
presentation of the Annual Financial Report, it is Recognition of the Signs
important to take a deep breath and acknowledge There are many ways that burnout will manifest
the great work that is happening around your itself in our lives. Below is a list of the signs of
district and the state. It is easy to focus on the burnout and some jiujitsu principals I have been
fact that there is never an end to the reporting able to apply to combating burnout.
requirements and the feeling that we just move
from project to project, sacrificing time with Emotional and Psychological Signs:
friends and family to get the job done. Workplace • Persistent exhaustion: A profound sense of
burnout is real and probably not going anywhere fatigue that is not relieved by rest or sleep
anytime soon. Acknowledging this fact, being • Cynicism and negativity: Developing an
able to recognize it in yourself and others, and increasingly negative or critical attitude
developing strategies on how to combat it is toward your job, colleagues, or the
important. workplace in general
• Detachment: Feeling mentally distant,
The reason I am writing this article is because I removed, or emotionally numb from work and
feel like many of the strategies I have developed to a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
counteract these things come from the principals I • Reduced professional efficacy: A sense of
have learned studying Jujutsu. I have been taught failure, self-doubt, and the feeling that your
to not focus on the technique, as technique can efforts and accomplishments don't matter or
fail, but to instead focus on the principals because are not enough
they are universal. I am going to incorporate some • Irritability and anger: A short temper and
of those universal principals to an ever-growing quickness to anger, often over minor issues
problem with workplace burnout. • Anxiety and a sense of hopelessness: Persistent
worry or a feeling that nothing will get better
"Looking further into the study, the

leading causes of burnout in 2025 Physical Signs:
• Frequent physical ailments: Unexplained
include long hours (58%), heavy headaches, stomach problems, or muscle

workloads (35%) and work-life tension
imbalance (34%)." CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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4 THE EDGE FALL 2025