Bill Gates is focused today on his philanthropic activities, and after retiring from his positions at Microsoft, at 66 years of age he probably does not have to worry about periods of saturation or special stress at work; known as ‘burnout’.
Nevertheless, 28 years ago, when he did run Microsoft, Gates had a ridiculously absurd standard to overcome the moments of greatest stress.
There are many opinions on how to handle special work stress, but none quite like the one Gates gave almost three decades ago in a television interview.
When asked about his long hours at work and if he was worried about being exhausted, he replied that he was not worried. This is their reasoning:
Well, the work we do is … it’s not like we’re doing the same thing all day. We walk into our offices and think of new programs, we meet in meetings, we go out to see end users, we talk to clients. There is a lot of variety and there are always new things. And I don’t think there will ever come a time when that is boring.
Variety at work and finding new challenges, Gates’ secret
Gates assumed that his work was not going to tire him, and that it had enough variety to make it dynamic. We must also take into account the boiling point of Microsoft, where every little bit new challenges had to be raised.
That seemed to keep Gates going through those years without the risk of burning himself. Most experts allude to the need to find constant motivations at work so as not to end up suffering from fatigue or apathy syndromes. Of course, it is also true that not everyone has run one of the most disruptive companies in history.
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