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>But quitting doesn't really seem like a helpful option. Once you hit full burnout, you'll realize that you don't really have a choice, unfortunately. You will

>But quitting doesn't really seem like a helpful option. Once you hit full burnout, you'll realize that you don't really have a choice, unfortunately. You will have to stop. Whether that means quitting depends on your situation but, in any case, you won't be able to continue on your current path. >And until I have enough to retire, I have to keep grinding. This is the trap that pushes us into burnout. By definition, it happens when we get to a place where we're making enough that retirement (or other financial goal) becomes an option on some timeline we think we can stomach. Then, we worry that the cost of improving upon our current situation (or even replicating it) is too high. So, we settle into a game of essentially trying to outlast the misery. In reality, our quality of life is so miserable that it's simply not worth it. We recognize the problem, but we convince ourselves that we don't have a choice. But, the premise itself is an illusion. There are always other options, some of which are far less costly than we imagine (and certainly less costly than destroying ourselves). It sometimes takes walking away from the burnout situation to recognize our full option-set, so we get stuck in a loop, the confinement and stress of which adds to our burnout. One way out is to simply say to yourself, "I can no longer live this way" and intenralize that it's really not an option to continue. You will then be able to see new opportunities for change, as well as assign the proper cost to making those changes. In other words, you'll start to gain the perspective you need to move forward.

Applejinx 5y ago
To underscore this, there's a specific meaning to 'you will have to stop', and it isn't 'you will choose to not work as hard, you will lose motivation'. You will BREAK. You will be unable to think. The think no work. You no work. Not be fix thing today. Or tormorwo. blah. Plenty of people in this HN post who are flirting with this. It's a natural outcome of motivation so strong that you'll push yourself to the limit, without flinching or weakening. I don't know where everyone else gets that. Childhood stuff? Social conditioning? Most people don't have it that bad. Most companies aren't SV unicorns. Success on the grand scale, rides on the back of people like this. Some of them don't break, and some do. If you do, you will break. Not your will, not your motivation… your MIND breaks and you can't think. And then it's the months or years of down-time. You burned out.
- unclebucknasty 5y ago
  >You will BREAK. You will be unable to think. Exactly. This is 100% what I'm referring to. It's not that you'll just be exhausted and perhaps less efficient, but be able to power through it. That's kind of the pre-burnout stage where you can dial it down and still manage. I think people who've never experienced full burnout think this is what it is. But, burnout is beyond that. Your brain just won't function--won't obey--and there's no willing your way through it. If you can, then by definition it's probably not burnout. While burnout seems to manifest as what we'd think of as a mental state, there's very much a physiological component to it.
  - Applejinx 5y ago
    Elsewhere in this HN post I've seen people absolutely on track for this and showing all the danger signs. I think for some folks the ability to do the job is literally the last thing to go, and the defining characteristic there is that they cannot and will not dial it down, plus they're mad at anybody who thinks they should, and increasingly distrustful of anyone who thinks they're good enough. I'll suggest that, historically, this is part of burnout and their brains are already not functioning/obeying, but it's because they're in the process of doubling down on the motivational state that will end up breaking them beyond functioning. Nobody wrecks themselves just because they're such Pepsi achievers, so I'd have to count that 'charge harder at the brick wall when it starts to hurt' as equally part of the burnout syndrome. Otherwise, people would stop :)

Applejinx 5y ago

To underscore this, there's a specific meaning to 'you will have to stop', and it isn't 'you will choose to not work as hard, you will lose motivation'. You will BREAK. You will be unable to think. The think no work. You no work. Not be fix thing today. Or tormorwo. blah. Plenty of people in this HN post who are flirting with this. It's a natural outcome of motivation so strong that you'll push yourself to the limit, without flinching or weakening. I don't know where everyone else gets that. Childhood stuff? Social conditioning? Most people don't have it that bad. Most companies aren't SV unicorns. Success on the grand scale, rides on the back of people like this. Some of them don't break, and some do. If you do, you will break. Not your will, not your motivation… your MIND breaks and you can't think. And then it's the months or years of down-time. You burned out.

unclebucknasty 5y ago
>You will BREAK. You will be unable to think. Exactly. This is 100% what I'm referring to. It's not that you'll just be exhausted and perhaps less efficient, but be able to power through it. That's kind of the pre-burnout stage where you can dial it down and still manage. I think people who've never experienced full burnout think this is what it is. But, burnout is beyond that. Your brain just won't function--won't obey--and there's no willing your way through it. If you can, then by definition it's probably not burnout. While burnout seems to manifest as what we'd think of as a mental state, there's very much a physiological component to it.
- Applejinx 5y ago
  Elsewhere in this HN post I've seen people absolutely on track for this and showing all the danger signs. I think for some folks the ability to do the job is literally the last thing to go, and the defining characteristic there is that they cannot and will not dial it down, plus they're mad at anybody who thinks they should, and increasingly distrustful of anyone who thinks they're good enough. I'll suggest that, historically, this is part of burnout and their brains are already not functioning/obeying, but it's because they're in the process of doubling down on the motivational state that will end up breaking them beyond functioning. Nobody wrecks themselves just because they're such Pepsi achievers, so I'd have to count that 'charge harder at the brick wall when it starts to hurt' as equally part of the burnout syndrome. Otherwise, people would stop :)