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Take time out, but don't do nothing. From what I've seen in my friends, I think burnout is a sign that the mind is craving variety. It's anecdata, but those of

by osrec 9y ago

Take time out, but don't do nothing. From what I've seen in my friends, I think burnout is a sign that the mind is craving variety. It's anecdata, but those of my friends that took up a new enjoyable pastime (music, art, sport), rather than doing absolutely nothing, seem to recover a great deal faster and their enthusiasm for their subsequent work projects was even more noticeable.

jrowley 9y ago
Hmm, I feel like I'm burning out right now - both very exhausted and very bored - work feels tedious. I never linked these too things together. Thank you
MichaelMoser123 9y ago
For me reading a few books (not work related books) did the job, it's a very absorbing activity.
RickS 9y ago
I think there's another component to this that might be worth noting: The more "nothing" you do, the faster you'll want to get back in the game, and the more likely you are to return before you've actually gotten better. I left a really abusive job a few years ago, and was fortunate enough to be able to do nothing but smoke weed and play xbox and "recover", which I did for about 3 months. I think that: 1) I didn't do the things that I needed to do in terms of health (recovery is not wildcard leisure. it's a form of work) 2) Those activities got old fast and cause me to be eager to reenter the workforce when, in retrospect, I had merely forgotten about my problems, rather than solving them. Overexerting your mind/psyche requires mental therapy the same way overexerting your leg requires physical therapy. It's counterintuitive that one should respond to too much work with a new kind of work, but I believe that's the case. FWIW I think Jordan Peterson has some strong advice here around routine and the acquisition of meaning, but that's perhaps not everyone's brand.
- Declanomous 9y ago
  >The more "nothing" you do, the faster you'll want to get back in the game, and the more likely you are to return before you've actually gotten better. I left a job where I was totally burned out in June. I traveled the country from June - September. After I got back, I tried working on my personal projects full time and quickly learned I was still burned out. Looking for a job made the same point even clearer. I'm currently working as seasonal help at UPS. I don't need the money, but it's really nice to have a job where I have tangible successes and any effort I put into it is paid back out immediately. I'm absolutely wiped when I get home, but since I've started that job I've found that it's much easier to work on my personal projects. I think I just needed something else to concentrate on, and I needed some obvious successes in my life.
togusa2017 9y ago
Interesting point. How do you know you have recovered ?
- Hextinium 9y ago
  In my personal experience burnout can be recovered from in a week and sometimes much much longer, just depends on the person and thing. But I personally find that it's when you start thinking about it in a different way then you did before. You see all the things that you did and question them and reanalyze why you did the things you did. This leads to you re-thinking the activity in a different light than what you did while you are in burn out.

by osrec 9y ago

jrowley 9y ago

Hmm, I feel like I'm burning out right now - both very exhausted and very bored - work feels tedious. I never linked these too things together. Thank you

MichaelMoser123 9y ago

For me reading a few books (not work related books) did the job, it's a very absorbing activity.

RickS 9y ago

I think there's another component to this that might be worth noting: The more "nothing" you do, the faster you'll want to get back in the game, and the more likely you are to return before you've actually gotten better. I left a really abusive job a few years ago, and was fortunate enough to be able to do nothing but smoke weed and play xbox and "recover", which I did for about 3 months. I think that: 1) I didn't do the things that I needed to do in terms of health (recovery is not wildcard leisure. it's a form of work) 2) Those activities got old fast and cause me to be eager to reenter the workforce when, in retrospect, I had merely forgotten about my problems, rather than solving them. Overexerting your mind/psyche requires mental therapy the same way overexerting your leg requires physical therapy. It's counterintuitive that one should respond to too much work with a new kind of work, but I believe that's the case. FWIW I think Jordan Peterson has some strong advice here around routine and the acquisition of meaning, but that's perhaps not everyone's brand.

Declanomous 9y ago
>The more "nothing" you do, the faster you'll want to get back in the game, and the more likely you are to return before you've actually gotten better. I left a job where I was totally burned out in June. I traveled the country from June - September. After I got back, I tried working on my personal projects full time and quickly learned I was still burned out. Looking for a job made the same point even clearer. I'm currently working as seasonal help at UPS. I don't need the money, but it's really nice to have a job where I have tangible successes and any effort I put into it is paid back out immediately. I'm absolutely wiped when I get home, but since I've started that job I've found that it's much easier to work on my personal projects. I think I just needed something else to concentrate on, and I needed some obvious successes in my life.

togusa2017 9y ago

Interesting point. How do you know you have recovered ?

Hextinium 9y ago
In my personal experience burnout can be recovered from in a week and sometimes much much longer, just depends on the person and thing. But I personally find that it's when you start thinking about it in a different way then you did before. You see all the things that you did and question them and reanalyze why you did the things you did. This leads to you re-thinking the activity in a different light than what you did while you are in burn out.