5 ms·

Now how about an article on how to recover from burn out, doing nothing all day for a couple months doesn't seem to be working out.

SomeCallMeTim 13y ago
Ouch. My theory is that it's related to ego depletion. [1] If that's correct, you should find things that you want to do, and do them. Start small. And do your best to not focus on the burnout; focus on what you can enjoy about what you are doing. Look for little victories; I'm convinced that accomplishing things, anything, can help recharge you. I also think social connections can recharge you. Not the kind on Facebook, but the face-to-face kind. Facebook is particularly poisonous because, for the most part, everyone ends up trying to paint a perfect picture of their lives, leaving out most of the down parts. The contrast can make you feel worse. It's also valuable to have a doctor run a standard battery of tests. It might be that you're really low on some important vitamin or mineral. Or that you have high systemic inflammation, which is a cause of everything from heart disease to cancer. (In which case you should eat more fish and/or flax oil.) This is all (unfortunately) from personal experience (vitamin D was very low when they tested me, for instance). I'm feeling like I'm just recovering from burnout right now, in fact. Today was my first really good day in a long time, and that despite working long hours yesterday to get a last feature in. :) Good luck. Hope you can find your way back to happy living soon. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion
- jcagalawan 13y ago
  It's just the contrast between the person I was not too long ago and the person I am now makes it hard to believe that they're the same person. When I think of the kid who used to tinker around with computers and electronics, I always see him as another person. There's no way that guy would ever find learning a new programming language boring, or find it difficult to get out of bed for classes he was really excited about. I appreciate the post and will try some of the stuff you suggested out. Glad to hear you had your first really good day! This isn't the first time I've felt stuck in a rut and I know how great it is to feel that way. :)
- marcosdumay 13y ago
  Having goals is helpping me, not self imposed goals, but self diagnosed ones. I try to look into myself and discover something that I'd really like to achieve, then try to achieve it. It makes it easier to bear the kind of activities that burned you out, and it makes it easier to think "well, I don't really like what I'm doing now, but in a few minutes I'll be working towards X". My goals are on the lines of knowing more about a subject, or teaching math to my daughter. I still didn't add any project to there (except for a research one), but I feel I'll be able to do another one soon.
knieveltech 13y ago
Strenuous exercise under conditions of intellectual engagement works wonders. Try rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, or any other strenuous activity with enough danger associated to keep you focused.
- singingfish 13y ago
  I like working on the trapese/aerial silks for that. Massive work out, a shame I let it slide for over a year now (in my defence, last year I helped run a successful software project, and built a house - with week long stretches of heavy labouring required.
- 72deluxe 13y ago
  Or just going for a bike ride. With the UK's road, that should be stressful enough!
Moto7451 13y ago
Whenever I'm feeling a bit burned out I travel. It does wonders.
- jcagalawan 13y ago
  I just moved out to Vancouver from Toronto about a month ago and I'm still mixed on that, I still have a lot more time here though so I'm trying to make the best of it. I'm really enjoying the mountains and the Pacific Ocean, I still love Toronto though.
rcfox 13y ago
I don't know if I've been burned out that bad, but for me, making something where I can get lots of quick, visible feedback helps a lot. The quick part is important you have to convince yourself to keep going, and if you have long stretches between seeing something new, it's really difficult. The visible part is important, because once you've reached a certain point, you'll want to show it off to people. It doesn't really matter what they think of it because once you're at the point of showing it off, you've already given yourself a big ego boost. Data visualizations and games work well for this. Game engines and CRUD apps do not.
- jcagalawan 13y ago
  Data visualization sounds like something I could do at work! Working on an enterprise visualization/reporting program now for an internship. Could you guys give me some pointers with getting more development-oriented tasks during code sprint planning? Don't get me wrong, I'm not the glorified Facebook like-clicker type of tester -- the tests are automated at least. I will be finishing my introductory project this week and will be starting sprints with the rest of the scrum team. I have been in a couple sprint planning session but haven't been able to participate yet and will have my first chance to take my first real project. The other intern on my team who's been here longer than me is still doing mainly writing tests with this really outdated Keyword model. I've been doing the same and it's not fun. My question to you is, as a new intern to the team (this is my first 'real' development job), should I try and aim for getting some dev work? I'm afraid it might tick off a couple of the more senior devs. I'm not against doing test work--I'm watching James Shore's TDJS I know it's important--, but I would rather work with newer technologies than some Java monstrosity written pre-AWT.[0][1][2] [0] www.letscodejavascript.com [1] At least it's not written in ABAP like some of our other programs. shudder* [2]Not sure if I'm doing HN-style citations correctly.
sakri 13y ago
have you seen this? http://steelcityruby.confbots.com/video/72690223 http://steelcityruby.confbots.com/video/72690223
- jcagalawan 13y ago
  Great talk.
cpncrunch 13y ago
Generally, too much rest isn't useful for recovering from burnout. Sure, rest for a day or two (or longer, if necessary) if you're very fatigued. However in the long-term, you won't end up recovering if you just sit and do nothing. The key is to do motivating, enjoyable activities. Build up gradually - it will take time. Social interactions, sunshine, healthy food, exercise (within moderation) also help.

SomeCallMeTim 13y ago

Ouch. My theory is that it's related to ego depletion. [1] If that's correct, you should find things that you want to do, and do them. Start small. And do your best to not focus on the burnout; focus on what you can enjoy about what you are doing. Look for little victories; I'm convinced that accomplishing things, anything, can help recharge you. I also think social connections can recharge you. Not the kind on Facebook, but the face-to-face kind. Facebook is particularly poisonous because, for the most part, everyone ends up trying to paint a perfect picture of their lives, leaving out most of the down parts. The contrast can make you feel worse. It's also valuable to have a doctor run a standard battery of tests. It might be that you're really low on some important vitamin or mineral. Or that you have high systemic inflammation, which is a cause of everything from heart disease to cancer. (In which case you should eat more fish and/or flax oil.) This is all (unfortunately) from personal experience (vitamin D was very low when they tested me, for instance). I'm feeling like I'm just recovering from burnout right now, in fact. Today was my first really good day in a long time, and that despite working long hours yesterday to get a last feature in. :) Good luck. Hope you can find your way back to happy living soon. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion

jcagalawan 13y ago
It's just the contrast between the person I was not too long ago and the person I am now makes it hard to believe that they're the same person. When I think of the kid who used to tinker around with computers and electronics, I always see him as another person. There's no way that guy would ever find learning a new programming language boring, or find it difficult to get out of bed for classes he was really excited about. I appreciate the post and will try some of the stuff you suggested out. Glad to hear you had your first really good day! This isn't the first time I've felt stuck in a rut and I know how great it is to feel that way. :)
marcosdumay 13y ago
Having goals is helpping me, not self imposed goals, but self diagnosed ones. I try to look into myself and discover something that I'd really like to achieve, then try to achieve it. It makes it easier to bear the kind of activities that burned you out, and it makes it easier to think "well, I don't really like what I'm doing now, but in a few minutes I'll be working towards X". My goals are on the lines of knowing more about a subject, or teaching math to my daughter. I still didn't add any project to there (except for a research one), but I feel I'll be able to do another one soon.

knieveltech 13y ago

Strenuous exercise under conditions of intellectual engagement works wonders. Try rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, or any other strenuous activity with enough danger associated to keep you focused.

singingfish 13y ago
I like working on the trapese/aerial silks for that. Massive work out, a shame I let it slide for over a year now (in my defence, last year I helped run a successful software project, and built a house - with week long stretches of heavy labouring required.
72deluxe 13y ago
Or just going for a bike ride. With the UK's road, that should be stressful enough!

Moto7451 13y ago

Whenever I'm feeling a bit burned out I travel. It does wonders.

jcagalawan 13y ago
I just moved out to Vancouver from Toronto about a month ago and I'm still mixed on that, I still have a lot more time here though so I'm trying to make the best of it. I'm really enjoying the mountains and the Pacific Ocean, I still love Toronto though.

rcfox 13y ago

I don't know if I've been burned out that bad, but for me, making something where I can get lots of quick, visible feedback helps a lot. The quick part is important you have to convince yourself to keep going, and if you have long stretches between seeing something new, it's really difficult. The visible part is important, because once you've reached a certain point, you'll want to show it off to people. It doesn't really matter what they think of it because once you're at the point of showing it off, you've already given yourself a big ego boost. Data visualizations and games work well for this. Game engines and CRUD apps do not.

jcagalawan 13y ago
Data visualization sounds like something I could do at work! Working on an enterprise visualization/reporting program now for an internship. Could you guys give me some pointers with getting more development-oriented tasks during code sprint planning? Don't get me wrong, I'm not the glorified Facebook like-clicker type of tester -- the tests are automated at least. I will be finishing my introductory project this week and will be starting sprints with the rest of the scrum team. I have been in a couple sprint planning session but haven't been able to participate yet and will have my first chance to take my first real project. The other intern on my team who's been here longer than me is still doing mainly writing tests with this really outdated Keyword model. I've been doing the same and it's not fun. My question to you is, as a new intern to the team (this is my first 'real' development job), should I try and aim for getting some dev work? I'm afraid it might tick off a couple of the more senior devs. I'm not against doing test work--I'm watching James Shore's TDJS I know it's important--, but I would rather work with newer technologies than some Java monstrosity written pre-AWT.[0][1][2] [0] www.letscodejavascript.com [1] At least it's not written in ABAP like some of our other programs. shudder* [2]Not sure if I'm doing HN-style citations correctly.

sakri 13y ago

have you seen this? http://steelcityruby.confbots.com/video/72690223 http://steelcityruby.confbots.com/video/72690223

jcagalawan 13y ago
Great talk.

cpncrunch 13y ago

Generally, too much rest isn't useful for recovering from burnout. Sure, rest for a day or two (or longer, if necessary) if you're very fatigued. However in the long-term, you won't end up recovering if you just sit and do nothing. The key is to do motivating, enjoyable activities. Build up gradually - it will take time. Social interactions, sunshine, healthy food, exercise (within moderation) also help.