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Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

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Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#11

Post by sdenton4 »

systemvoltage wrote: post #4

Pick up an analog hobby. Something that is tangible and away from the internet, computers and software. Christ, I sound like some loonie but there is pleasure in fixing your car, building a deck, gardening, or learning how to play an instrument. Avoid hobbies that are competitive in nature.

Big agreement here!

Though, as it turns out, software is eating the world, and every analog hobby I've picked up eventually wants to become a computer hobby. You can choose to resist this entirely, or give in a bit. The analog part is still there waiting for you whenever you're tired of starting at rectangles.

(Example A: FM synthesis ideas should obviously be reimplemented in python... Oh wait, super collider exists, and now this cheap USB game pass I had lying around is an FM synth. But I've still got a small pile of synths to play with.)

(Example 2: Birds are cool. Eventually I found my way into bird song id with machine learning, but I can now always justify a long walk in the woods as field research...)

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#12

Post by totomz »

MattGaiser wrote: post #3

Did you ever recover from burnout or just recover enough to continue functioning?

This was (probably still is) exactly my mistake...being able to survive is by no means related to "I'm recovered and happy to commit to something new"

And after 2 years of surviving, I feel that I lost a lot of time

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#13

Post by baby »

jonathanleane wrote: post #9

Was tempted to make a throwaway account for this, but what the hell, burnout is really nothing to be ashamed of. I'm in a somewhat similar situation to you, but replace the 3 years with 10 years. I had many periods of 'minor' burnout along the way that I ignored or ploughed through, which in hindsight was a pretty big mistake. Around August last year I just couldn't continue. I wasn't sleeping, I was frequently run d…

Wow, I could relate so much with this link and I’m only 32...

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#14

Post by stewbrew »

How old are you? Do you live alone? Do you have kids? It's normal to get older and to lose interest in things you once thought important. If it actually is important, it will become interesting again. It's okay not to care about things you don't care about now.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#15

Post by cheschire »

I spent hundreds of hours playing factorio.

Video games allowed me back into the mode of thinking without any sense of external requirement. It was all on me to decide how deep I went and for how long. Eventually I played until I achieved boredom after over 900 hours. (Not all at once! Over months.)

From that point of boredom I could see how much energy I had channeled into something pointless, and realized I had recovered. Then I started channeling that work into home renovations and other tangible efforts. Even coding for family projects!

But I never got the motivation back to code for profit again. I’m done with that part of my life.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#16

Post by pram »

Just do something different? Music, drawing, painting, adding 200hp to your car? Starting as a novice in something completely unknown can give you a lot of satisfaction, since the achievements come quickly (to begin with)

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#17

Post by PragmaticPulp »

> One thing I've never really recovered is the passion I had for side projects. Worse than that, I can't actually think of anything worth building, or even tinkering with, which is sad, as spending some of my free time on side projects was something I really enjoyed.

If you don't enjoy side projects any more, don't force it.

Better side projects would be something offline like improving your personal fitness, learning a new (non-computer) hobby, leveling up your cooking skills, and other real-world skills.

Forcing side projects on top of a day job is a recipe for returning to burnout.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#18

Post by mzarate06 »

> One thing I've never really recovered is the passion I had for side projects

I know how this feels. After a few bouts of burnout over my ~20 year career, I'm not convinced we fully recover from all of it. I think each bout leaves some permanent damage, along with increased risk of subsequent bouts. I made a similar comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22164678

The best general advice I can give is don't push anything. If you're not feeling motivated to engage in a side project, no problem, don't pursue one right now. Give things time and see how you feel after 2-6 months. Other general advice - reduce work hours if you can, exercise regularly, and relax. Morning/evening walks combine the latter two well.

Learning something new can also help combat burnout fogginess. I've found courses in something of interest work well (search Coursera, Udacity, Udemy, etc.). What I like about these is they're smaller in scale and more self contained than an open-ended side project. They allow you to commit time and energy in small chunks and at your own pace, but still leave you with something valuable in the end. E.g. over the years I've taken courses in Vue, Svelte, TypeScript, and a couple math refreshers. All enjoyable and worth while IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#19

Post by kd5bjo »

sdenton4 wrote: post #11
systemvoltage wrote: post #4

Pick up an analog hobby. Something that is tangible and away from the internet, computers and software. Christ, I sound like some loonie but there is pleasure in fixing your car, building a deck, gardening, or learning how to play an instrument. Avoid hobbies that are competitive in nature.

Big agreement here! Though, as it turns out, software is eating the world, and every analog hobby I've picked up eventually wants to become a computer hobby. You can choose to resist this entirely, or give in a bit. The analog part is still there waiting for you whenever you're tired of starting at rectangles. (Example A: FM synthesis ideas should obviously be reimplemented in python... Oh wait, super collider exists…

The sweet spot for me is an Idea -> CAD -> Manual Production -> Idea loop, which works for pretty much any hobby that results in a physical artifact. The computer work lets me spot enough problems that I can feel confident the end result will be worth the effort, and I'm not going to hit a dead-end.

Re: Ask HN: Post Burnout Ideas

#20

Post by habibur »

mattbaker wrote: post #6

Jobs at larger, more stable corporations can still take a lot out of you! Even if it pales in comparison to the insanity of startup life. For myself: the drive, and the creativity, only come back if I stop working for an extended period of time (weeks). I need a lot of idle time and some boredom before I feel creative again, let alone want to touch a keyboard, but if I wait long enough it always happens. I promise yo…

> the drive, and the creativity, only come back if I stop working for an extended period of time (weeks)

For me it was first weeks, and then months. And as for the last time, took six years.

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