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Feynman described his run-in with burnout, you may find his experience interesting. I quoted a piece below, but the book is more persuasive with more intricacie

by DenisM 7y ago

Feynman described his run-in with burnout, you may find his experience interesting. I quoted a piece below, but the book is more persuasive with more intricacies of his situation. Then I had another thought: Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. [...] So I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I’ll never accomplish anything, I’ve got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I’m going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever. [0] Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character.

discordance 7y ago
Great book and a very relevant story. Read up about Feynman and his depression after being involved in the Manhattan project, and how he overcame that by 'playing' with the wobbling plate problem.
- christophergs 7y ago
  Imagine what a mind-fuck it must have been to be on the Manhattan project! They probably wondered if they would be responsible for the end of humanity...and I guess the jury is still out on that one.
gwd 7y ago
I went through something similar, a bit earlier in the process. I wasn't burned out with programming, but burned out with the particular job I was doing, which had basically been taken over by the work of being a maintainer: Reviewing other people's code, writing up community standards, trying to relieve friction in the community, etc. I had programming things on my to-do list; but whenever I organized the list by order of importance, the programming tasks were never anywhere near the top. I reached the point where I'd sort my list, look at the things at the top and think, "I know these things are important, and it's certainly gratifying to have the influence and the authority to try to make these changes... but I kind of don't really care." At that point, I realized that if something didn't change I was eventually going to get fed up and leave the project entirely, leaving a big hole. So, I said that I'd set aside Friday to do some "fun" programming, to keep the job interesting. (I ran this by my boss, and he was supportive.) I thought this "fun" would have to be something really different and new, but it turns out nearly any kind of programming will do; so although I mentally give myself permission to do whatever I want on those days if I need to, I often end up just writing "normal" "important" code from the top of my to-do list. Just that little bit is enough to "pay" for the rest of the week. Joy is the source of our power as human beings. No human activity is sustainable long-term if the psychological cost of doing something outweighs the psychological benefit; and conversely, people can endure an amazing amount of hardship and toil if the activity is a source of joy. The key to sustainable work, relationships, whatever is to be looking for ways to find joy in those activities.
m0zg 7y ago
This is very insightful. I find that having to have a "reason" to code kind of takes away the joy of it. I.e. I start to think "is this useful?" or "is this a waste of time?". At that point all the joy is sucked out of the atmosphere and I end up doing work instead, which is very little fun most of the time. Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted. I often need to remind myself of that.
Sosh101 7y ago
Coincidentally John Conway talks in an interview about coming to the same conclusion. I wonder if he was inspired by Feynman?

by DenisM 7y ago

discordance 7y ago

Great book and a very relevant story. Read up about Feynman and his depression after being involved in the Manhattan project, and how he overcame that by 'playing' with the wobbling plate problem.

christophergs 7y ago
Imagine what a mind-fuck it must have been to be on the Manhattan project! They probably wondered if they would be responsible for the end of humanity...and I guess the jury is still out on that one.

gwd 7y ago

I went through something similar, a bit earlier in the process. I wasn't burned out with programming, but burned out with the particular job I was doing, which had basically been taken over by the work of being a maintainer: Reviewing other people's code, writing up community standards, trying to relieve friction in the community, etc. I had programming things on my to-do list; but whenever I organized the list by order of importance, the programming tasks were never anywhere near the top. I reached the point where I'd sort my list, look at the things at the top and think, "I know these things are important, and it's certainly gratifying to have the influence and the authority to try to make these changes... but I kind of don't really care." At that point, I realized that if something didn't change I was eventually going to get fed up and leave the project entirely, leaving a big hole. So, I said that I'd set aside Friday to do some "fun" programming, to keep the job interesting. (I ran this by my boss, and he was supportive.) I thought this "fun" would have to be something really different and new, but it turns out nearly any kind of programming will do; so although I mentally give myself permission to do whatever I want on those days if I need to, I often end up just writing "normal" "important" code from the top of my to-do list. Just that little bit is enough to "pay" for the rest of the week. Joy is the source of our power as human beings. No human activity is sustainable long-term if the psychological cost of doing something outweighs the psychological benefit; and conversely, people can endure an amazing amount of hardship and toil if the activity is a source of joy. The key to sustainable work, relationships, whatever is to be looking for ways to find joy in those activities.

m0zg 7y ago

This is very insightful. I find that having to have a "reason" to code kind of takes away the joy of it. I.e. I start to think "is this useful?" or "is this a waste of time?". At that point all the joy is sucked out of the atmosphere and I end up doing work instead, which is very little fun most of the time. Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted. I often need to remind myself of that.

Sosh101 7y ago

Coincidentally John Conway talks in an interview about coming to the same conclusion. I wonder if he was inspired by Feynman?