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One thing that seems to reliably cause burnout is when a person with high flying ambition finds herself in an environment in which she feels stripped of agency.
by svara 2y ago
One thing that seems to reliably cause burnout is when a person with high flying ambition finds herself in an environment in which she feels stripped of agency.
It's not primarily about expending too much energy, but rather about expending energy in a way that appears futile relative to an ambitious standard set for oneself.
Just my personal observation, but dovetails well with the learned helplessness theory of depression.
- ketamine 2y agoFeels spot on
- convolvatron 2y agothank you. I feel a little less like a misunderstood snowflake today because of this.
- nostradumbasp 2y agoSuch a good way of describing it. Thanks for this, and the comment above it.
- moron4hire 2y agoThis is absolutely it. I've never been able to control how much effort and personal investment I put into a project. If I'm working on something, I have to give it my all. I used to get burnt out at work all the time, but that really hasn't been the case for the last 5 years. The biggest difference is that I'm I'm in charge now. When I say something is going to take X amount of time or that we have to do things in a certain way, management doesn't argue with me anymore. They just accept that is the way it is, because I'm the one in charge of this area of work. I haven't changed. I still take too long to finish ostensibly "simple" things because I've nerd-sniped myself [0] into over-engineering things. What has changed is my relationship to the management class. They see me as one of them, now, and that confers a level of respect that is, frankly, enraging when you consider the lack of it in the obverse situation. But, I can make things my way and I can protect my team and that's enough. [0] https://xkcd.com/356/ https://xkcd.com/356/
- datavirtue 2y agoSame here. The word "bodies" is now bandied about with little regard for who is in the room. Everything is set in warp 11.
- moron4hire 2y agoYou do need to come into the place as a manager, though. The attitudes the other management have of you will be pinned to whatever their first impression of you was. So if you promoted into management, you'll still be treated with the same lack of respect as an individual contributor.
- ketamine 2y agoTons of truth here. And a lot of management bravado is from fear and ignorance of how the work is actually done and their ego gets in the way of curiosity. So then there is a good chance you are not in favor when promoted in to their circle because they can feel threatened.