Every context is different. You can’t measure yourself against someone in a totally different context. I doubt the professor has been fighting the same battles

Every context is different. You can’t measure yourself against someone in a totally different context. I doubt the professor has been fighting the same battles as you. Talking about his love of puzzles and games, I suspect his work is more flow state than yours. So you can accept your current burn rate or change to a context that burns you out less. Personally I’m in corporate job (senior eng at sp500 company) and I also don’t have the same fights you do. I have a lot of flexibility and zone time and no politics.