.jpg)
Work Sucks, But I Like It
**Work can suck—**and this podcast dives into the elephant in the room: the daily grind. From toxic workplaces to those rare moments where we actually feel like we’ve earned our paycheck, we explore how people navigate the chaos of modern work-life balance. Honest, relatable, and sometimes a little cathartic, this show is all about what it really takes to survive (and maybe even thrive) in today’s working world. Tony is a Quality Manager in the aerospace industry and a columnist writer for Thermal Processing Magazine. He is currently pursuing his PhD in I/O Psychology and is the author of "The Impression of a Good Life: Finding Your Song and Dance" and "Don't Let Life Pass You By: Win the Game of Work and Play".
Work Sucks, But I Like It
E8: Playing with Fire: Burnout, Work, and Learning to Stop, Drop & Roll
In this episode of Work Sucks, But I Like It, host Tony Tenaglier takes us deep into the fire of workplace burnout — a blaze fueled by exhaustion, cynicism, and a sense of ineffectiveness. Drawing from both personal experience and psychological research, Tony shares how he went from marathon-running yoga teacher to sitting in a doctor’s office hearing the word "burnout" for the first time.
🔥 Spoiler: Burnout isn’t just about long hours — it’s about losing the spark that once made work meaningful.
Using the metaphor of fire safety we all learned as kids — Stop, Drop, and Roll — Tony explores how we can identify burnout early, manage it skillfully, and prevent it from taking over our lives and careers. He’ll also walk you through:
- The psychology behind burnout and what the latest I/O research says
- Real interventions you (and managers) can use to build engagement
- How success isn’t good luck — it’s the result of good skills (and smarter boundaries)
Plus, you’ll get a candid look at how even high-performing, purpose-driven professionals can hit a wall — and how to rise from the ashes like a phoenix.
📚 Bonus: Tony includes academic references and resources in the show notes, so you can dive deeper and take control of your burnout before it controls you.
Resources
Denunzio, M. (2017). Engagement. In S. Rogelberg (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of industrial and organizational psychology, 2nd edition
Green, P. I., Finkel, E. J., Fitzsimons, G. M., & Gino, F. (2017). The energizing nature of work engagement: Toward a new need-based theory of work motivation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2017.10.007
Kao, J.-C. (2024). The Effect of Supervisors Making after-Hours Work Requests on Employees’ Job Stress: The Cross-Level Contextual Effect of Social Support. Policing: An International Journal, 47(4), 617–634. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-06-2023-0081
Knight, C., Patterson, M., & Dawson, J. (2017). Building work engagement: A systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the effectiveness of work engagement interventions. Journal of Organizational Behavior (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), 38(6), 792–812. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2167
Parker, S. (2017). Job satisfaction. In S. Rogelberg (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of industrial and organizational psychology, 2nd edition
Want to find out more? Check out the website:
www.worksucksbutilikeit.com
