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Agreed, I'm not in a startup or working in tech; I am self-employed, but burnout has hit me. I thought I would be endlessly motivated as my own boss. I actually

Agreed, I'm not in a startup or working in tech; I am self-employed, but burnout has hit me. I thought I would be endlessly motivated as my own boss. I actually felt the exact moment of its onset, it was at the conclusion of a two month period of being very busy. It was euphoric to be very busy and having people knocking down your door to give you money. But then I entered a slow period, and had to start doing the work, and I've lost so much motivation. I want to pack up shop and start something new; I'm rationalizing this by telling myself "that's what serial entrepreneurs do." Does anyone have strategies on how to deal with this? I took a vacation but came back surprisingly still lacking motivation. I exercise and enjoy it, but after the exercise high I'm back to the same mental state. It's a complete 180-degree shift in mindset from where I was just 40 days ago.

ak39 13y ago
I pretty much share your experience. I have found that this tends to hit me whenever I work alone. Two things fixed this for me ... somewhat: 1. Find and work with someone who genuinely cares about your work to give you honest but compassionate feedback.* 2. Hire someone to do the work for you. This way we give a monetary figure to our torpor. Now there's a hard price for the lack of interest in completing work but the work still gets done. And that's the only thing to get us out of our misery - finished work! - * (I'm not suggesting that one should avoid folks who offer brutal yet honest feedback - no - just saying avoid the patently negative discouraging or jealous feedback. Even though you rationally conclude that envious and obviously unfounded negative feedback does not need to discourage you, they still do!)
- cylinder 13y ago
  Nail on the head; I work alone at home and it's getting to me (even though I'm somewhat introverted). #1 can't really work for me but #2 is a good idea. I just wish I could grow big enough to have an office with a couple full-time employees so I could be around people daily.
  - jmzbond 13y ago
    Interesting, I must be more introverted, I love love love working alone at home and really don't like cafes and this open floor plan culture that start-ups have. Personality differences really do come into play, something else I wish more organizations took into account!
jmzbond 13y ago
That's interesting, do you have a strong end vision that you're aiming for? What I've found for myself is that short-term excitement from a cool project or technology or team I'm working on eventually fades, and is not a substitute for long-term passion. For me, I'm trying to change consumerism...it's a hell of a BHAG, but by pursuing this vision that I genuinely care about, I may have short-term periods of exhaustion instead of excitement, but I'm guaranteeing longer-term reserves of motivation.

ak39 13y ago

I pretty much share your experience. I have found that this tends to hit me whenever I work alone. Two things fixed this for me ... somewhat: 1. Find and work with someone who genuinely cares about your work to give you honest but compassionate feedback.* 2. Hire someone to do the work for you. This way we give a monetary figure to our torpor. Now there's a hard price for the lack of interest in completing work but the work still gets done. And that's the only thing to get us out of our misery - finished work! - * (I'm not suggesting that one should avoid folks who offer brutal yet honest feedback - no - just saying avoid the patently negative discouraging or jealous feedback. Even though you rationally conclude that envious and obviously unfounded negative feedback does not need to discourage you, they still do!)

cylinder 13y ago
Nail on the head; I work alone at home and it's getting to me (even though I'm somewhat introverted). #1 can't really work for me but #2 is a good idea. I just wish I could grow big enough to have an office with a couple full-time employees so I could be around people daily.
- jmzbond 13y ago
  Interesting, I must be more introverted, I love love love working alone at home and really don't like cafes and this open floor plan culture that start-ups have. Personality differences really do come into play, something else I wish more organizations took into account!

jmzbond 13y ago

That's interesting, do you have a strong end vision that you're aiming for? What I've found for myself is that short-term excitement from a cool project or technology or team I'm working on eventually fades, and is not a substitute for long-term passion. For me, I'm trying to change consumerism...it's a hell of a BHAG, but by pursuing this vision that I genuinely care about, I may have short-term periods of exhaustion instead of excitement, but I'm guaranteeing longer-term reserves of motivation.