5 ms·

Burnout

131 points by sant0sk1 17y ago

swombat 17y ago
I think there's one fallacy there... you can easily burn out while still engaged in your work. Or rather, you can be fully engaged in your work, happy about it, feeling great and on top of everything, and yet still get to a point where your body and mind just can't take anymore, and then you crash and burn for a few days (or longer, depending on the way your mind works), where you feel totally disengaged and don't do anything productive. By the time you realise that you're not engaged in your work anymore, imho, you've already crashed.
- ptn 17y ago
  That wouldn't be burn out (the mind has a full tank, but can't start it's engine), that would be stress or fatigue (the mind is out of fuel).
- megaduck 17y ago
  Absolutely true. I hit that point earlier this year. For a while, I was filling every waking moment with something "productive". Going to class during the day, working on the startup at night, listening to economics and political podcasts during my commute, and filling any spare minutes with writing or learning the guitar. After a while, I just couldn't get anything done. My language learning slowed to a crawl, my coding output dropped, and I developed a wicked case of writer's block. My brain just... stopped. Thank God my wife's a patient woman, because I understand I became rather difficult to live with. The painful part was that I didn't feel "burned out". I loved everything I was doing, but I became frustrated because I just couldn't get things accomplished. Sanity was regained only after I cut back. I canceled almost all my podcast subscriptions, reduced my startup work, and actively took some time off. "Noprocrast" helped too. :) After a while, productivity eventually came back. Since then, I've been careful about tackling too much at once. I think the brain has a buffer that deals with all the stimulus that you deal with in your daily life. If you take on too much, the buffer gets full and performance drops to a crawl. Taking time to occasionally "clear the buffer" is critical to maintaining a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
- nostrademons 17y ago
  That's burnout? I just take that as a normal work routine - I'll work really hard on something for a week or two, then do nothing for a couple days while I recharge. I figure it's more productive than an arbitrary 5-days-on-2-days-off schedule, and it lets me make better use of the downtime, since I'm more inclined to try something completely different when I really don't feel like doing anything productive than when I'd rather be working. My cofounder was the same way, and our downtimes never seemed to be synchronized, which was a good thing because it meant there was always someone going full steam ahead.
  - swombat 17y ago
    It's burn-out if you don't realise that you need to sit back and relax for a few days to recharge, and keep ploughing on regardless. Once you learn how to manage this burnout cycle, it becomes a feature rather than a bug, as you describe. If you try to keep going, though, a couple of days of downtime can easily turn into weeks of morose can't-be-arsed-to-do-anything-ness.
gahahaha 17y ago
Love the "about the author" box: "XXX as been designing on paper, wood, plastic, metal and that ‘ol web thing for around 15 years, most recently as principal at Wishingline, working with clients such as PayPal, Masterfile, and Toronto Life Magazine while somehow still finding time to write, take pictures, perform and release records and actually have a life away from the internet. "
- wizard_2 17y ago
  Why did you censor his name? He wrote it on the article. (Of course I'll leave it off until I know you reasons.)
pxlpshr 17y ago
This is a really good article that does a great job of outlining burnout in the design and development industry, and reiterates why I got out of the service side of it in favor of: startups. Service-oriented design/programming just doesn't do it for me on that level as very few companies are setup for trickle down benefits if the service-agency produces a big win for XXXXX client. Artists (programmers & designers) are very much alike in that we tend to get very obsessive-compulsive about our work. That being said, I switched over to startups realizing that if I'm going to work this hard then I want to be on the end that receives the big reward if we knock it out of the park (mental, personal growth, fiscal, etc). And unless deep down you feel very passionate about it, working at that intensity can be short-lived.
tjic 17y ago
One step I used to help lower my stress level and fight burnout was this: Never check statistics and analytics outside of the office. I used to be a mouse slapping that cocaine-delivery-bar in my cage: I'd get up from my reading chair every 15 minutes in the evening to click "refresh" in my browser. Good stats? On top of the world! Bad stats? Obsess, dwell, worry, calculate. There's time for that - do it in the office. If I'm already putting in a 10-12 hour day, there's no need to take that crap home.
- cracki 17y ago
  stats of what?
  - eru 17y ago
    Perhaps stats of his business? I guess of his website.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- charlesju 17y ago
  I take it a step further. Do not open up a computer when you're at home, or even watch TV. I have found that starring at a screen for all hours of the day is incredibly draining.
asciilifeform 17y ago
Is it "burnout" when you come to realize that your entire field has the intellectual depth of Saturday morning cartoons?
- abossy 17y ago
  No, it's time for a career change.
  - asciilifeform 17y ago
    Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to find intellectually deep, non-interpersonal-communication work which does not involve programming in some way, without extensive re-credentialing. I'm working on it, though.
    - hhm 17y ago
      You can keep programming, there are many specific disciplines inside software development / programming that are intellectually deep. Getting into them is hard, but the reward is infinite.
      - asciilifeform 17y ago
        I have come to deeply loathe all extant programming systems. And in practice, this means that I deeply loathe all programming.
        bdr 17y ago
        There's something missing intellectual depth, but it isn't programming.
        asciilifeform 17y ago
        Instead of thinly veiled insults, say what you mean to my face. Do you believe that despising the nonsensical constraints of today's programming languages marks one as stupid? Pray tell how.
Rob15283 17y ago
I'd recommend reading Thoreau's "Walden Pond." That dude really knew how to chill out.

131 points by sant0sk1 17y ago

I think there's one fallacy there... you can easily burn out while still engaged in your work. Or rather, you can be fully engaged in your work, happy about it, feeling great and on top of everything, and yet still get to a point where your body and mind just can't take anymore, and then you crash and burn for a few days (or longer, depending on the way your mind works), where you feel totally disengaged and don't do anything productive. By the time you realise that you're not engaged in your work anymore, imho, you've already crashed.

ptn 17y ago
That wouldn't be burn out (the mind has a full tank, but can't start it's engine), that would be stress or fatigue (the mind is out of fuel).
megaduck 17y ago
Absolutely true. I hit that point earlier this year. For a while, I was filling every waking moment with something "productive". Going to class during the day, working on the startup at night, listening to economics and political podcasts during my commute, and filling any spare minutes with writing or learning the guitar. After a while, I just couldn't get anything done. My language learning slowed to a crawl, my coding output dropped, and I developed a wicked case of writer's block. My brain just... stopped. Thank God my wife's a patient woman, because I understand I became rather difficult to live with. The painful part was that I didn't feel "burned out". I loved everything I was doing, but I became frustrated because I just couldn't get things accomplished. Sanity was regained only after I cut back. I canceled almost all my podcast subscriptions, reduced my startup work, and actively took some time off. "Noprocrast" helped too. :) After a while, productivity eventually came back. Since then, I've been careful about tackling too much at once. I think the brain has a buffer that deals with all the stimulus that you deal with in your daily life. If you take on too much, the buffer gets full and performance drops to a crawl. Taking time to occasionally "clear the buffer" is critical to maintaining a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
nostrademons 17y ago
That's burnout? I just take that as a normal work routine - I'll work really hard on something for a week or two, then do nothing for a couple days while I recharge. I figure it's more productive than an arbitrary 5-days-on-2-days-off schedule, and it lets me make better use of the downtime, since I'm more inclined to try something completely different when I really don't feel like doing anything productive than when I'd rather be working. My cofounder was the same way, and our downtimes never seemed to be synchronized, which was a good thing because it meant there was always someone going full steam ahead.
- swombat 17y ago
  It's burn-out if you don't realise that you need to sit back and relax for a few days to recharge, and keep ploughing on regardless. Once you learn how to manage this burnout cycle, it becomes a feature rather than a bug, as you describe. If you try to keep going, though, a couple of days of downtime can easily turn into weeks of morose can't-be-arsed-to-do-anything-ness.

gahahaha 17y ago

Love the "about the author" box: "XXX as been designing on paper, wood, plastic, metal and that ‘ol web thing for around 15 years, most recently as principal at Wishingline, working with clients such as PayPal, Masterfile, and Toronto Life Magazine while somehow still finding time to write, take pictures, perform and release records and actually have a life away from the internet. "

wizard_2 17y ago
Why did you censor his name? He wrote it on the article. (Of course I'll leave it off until I know you reasons.)

pxlpshr 17y ago

This is a really good article that does a great job of outlining burnout in the design and development industry, and reiterates why I got out of the service side of it in favor of: startups. Service-oriented design/programming just doesn't do it for me on that level as very few companies are setup for trickle down benefits if the service-agency produces a big win for XXXXX client. Artists (programmers & designers) are very much alike in that we tend to get very obsessive-compulsive about our work. That being said, I switched over to startups realizing that if I'm going to work this hard then I want to be on the end that receives the big reward if we knock it out of the park (mental, personal growth, fiscal, etc). And unless deep down you feel very passionate about it, working at that intensity can be short-lived.

tjic 17y ago

One step I used to help lower my stress level and fight burnout was this: Never check statistics and analytics outside of the office. I used to be a mouse slapping that cocaine-delivery-bar in my cage: I'd get up from my reading chair every 15 minutes in the evening to click "refresh" in my browser. Good stats? On top of the world! Bad stats? Obsess, dwell, worry, calculate. There's time for that - do it in the office. If I'm already putting in a 10-12 hour day, there's no need to take that crap home.

cracki 17y ago
stats of what?
- eru 17y ago
  Perhaps stats of his business? I guess of his website.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
charlesju 17y ago
I take it a step further. Do not open up a computer when you're at home, or even watch TV. I have found that starring at a screen for all hours of the day is incredibly draining.

asciilifeform 17y ago

Is it "burnout" when you come to realize that your entire field has the intellectual depth of Saturday morning cartoons?

abossy 17y ago
No, it's time for a career change.
- asciilifeform 17y ago
  Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to find intellectually deep, non-interpersonal-communication work which does not involve programming in some way, without extensive re-credentialing. I'm working on it, though.
  - hhm 17y ago
    You can keep programming, there are many specific disciplines inside software development / programming that are intellectually deep. Getting into them is hard, but the reward is infinite.
    - asciilifeform 17y ago
      I have come to deeply loathe all extant programming systems. And in practice, this means that I deeply loathe all programming.
      - bdr 17y ago
        There's something missing intellectual depth, but it isn't programming.
        asciilifeform 17y ago
        Instead of thinly veiled insults, say what you mean to my face. Do you believe that despising the nonsensical constraints of today's programming languages marks one as stupid? Pray tell how.

Rob15283 17y ago

I'd recommend reading Thoreau's "Walden Pond." That dude really knew how to chill out.