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I just came back from a 5 day holiday. I was working so much on my own project that I burnt out. It took me a few days to realize what was going on since my pr
by 20andup 10y ago
I just came back from a 5 day holiday. I was working so much on my own project that I burnt out. It took me a few days to realize what was going on since my project was getting easier and yet I felt a lost in motivation.
So I locked my computer up, took a road trip for 3 days and did literally nothing for another 2 days. I started working again yesterday afternoon and was quite surprised how much more agile my mind has become.
It's hard to let go and relax sometime when there is always so much to be done. I think we are need to realize everyone is human and every few months we need some break no matter if we feel like we do or not.
After working for 10 years now, I now realize that nothing is really every that urgent. No matter what anyone tells you. Its your perception (or your boss's) that make it urgent, but objectively, it probably isn't.
The world won't stop spinning just cause you took one more day to finish something. Burn yourself out, and it may even take up more time.
- mch82 10y ago> ...nothing is really ever that urgent. When my co-author died (of old age at 90) and our book was unfinished I began to distinguish between artificial deadlines and true deadlines. I realized I'd missed a real deadline because I'd allowed myself to prioritize other projects with deadlines that turned out to be artificial, but had more insistent people demanding urgency. We often operate in a culture where the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so urgency is usually exaggerated as you describe. Look out for real deadlines though. A true deadline, like death, has irreversible consequences. Most "deadlines" are really targets and can be reprioritized or deferred, especially to avoid unhealthy behavior like burnout.