81–90 of 93 posts
I feel you. It's a struggle. Sherry Walling is a very well-educated and practiced psychologist and she does a great episode about burnout on the ZenFounder podcast. She discusses it both from the hands-on side and the clinical side. It helped me a lot. https://zenfounder.com/episodes/episode-142-burnout/ The TL;DL from my takeaways are to find time to focus on the challenging and exciting tasks from one's to-do list.…
Been burnt out myself. Coached a few friends and coworkers through their burnouts. My advice: See what's the longest vacation you can take. If you're at the point of quitting - just be honest. Tell your Boss that you're burning out and thinking of quitting. You would like to just take a month off or six weeks to recover. You can phrase it as something else entirely to a different part of the team, but be honest with…
Thanks. Don't you worry about asking for such a favor from your boss and then coming back only to quit?
For your Boss, replacing you will take much longer than the 6 week sabbatical she's giving you, AND it will probably cost her more than your salary in that interim. So if you're quitting today, she'd like to take the gamble that you stay. Her gamble is that you are actually happy at your gig as you say you are, and she can save herself a whole lot of hassle. Worst case scenario she loses a month of lead time on an at-least-3-months headhunt. A bit of a wincer, but you can try to make that easier by letting her know as soon as you know that you're done.
If the job market was different, then I would be much more timid about the open strategy. If you do, in fact, dislike your job and are never going to come back, then you're changing the odds on the gamble and hurting your Boss unnecessarily. This could all backfire if your Boss doesn't value you as much as you think they do, but no one is usually off-base on that.
Mind is like rubber, once it stretch to a given length for long periods it will stay as it is. Burn out is only a sign, you have to find another life. As Joseph Campbell said, " Follow your bliss.. "
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I was in your position aged 40 and didn't do anything about it. I ended up divorced, broke and ill. So, my point is - can you afford not to do something about it? I would scale down, perhaps downsize if you can, and save more, before that is forced on you anyway. It gives you more options. Talk to your wife so she is fully appraised of how you feel (there are mixed views on this though - that's mine). So, you then ha…
Interesting how many comments and articles I've seen like this. I haven't seen a comment or article saying they took the leap and regretted it. Does that mean no one ever regrets it, or those comments/articles just don't get upvoted? :P
> I've decided I need to quit. OK fair enough. But ... have you tried various options first within your current job? Have you asked for an extended holiday? Could you change your commute so you cycle in at least part way? A four day week? Have you looked at your schedule and tried to add more exercise? Are you sleeping 8 hours? Have you asked for a sabbatical? (ARM for example will give you a paid three month sabbati…
I haven't asked for an extended holiday. I'm worried about making such a big ask of my boss (our culture is not very progressive) and then coming back only to quit. What do you think?
>At the moment I want nothing to do with it, but I think that's fueled by my burnout. To put it into technological terms: if you want to solve a problem, you must first find out why it is there. In your case: a burnout is not a problem and you cannot "solve" it. Burnout is a symptom, a warning sign by your subconsciousness. You need not to solve it, but rather find out why it occurs and solve this issue. This can be…
Thank you!
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Thanks. Don't you worry about asking for such a favor from your boss and then coming back only to quit?
Not really: it is a gamble you both are playing. For your Boss, replacing you will take much longer than the 6 week sabbatical she's giving you, AND it will probably cost her more than your salary in that interim. So if you're quitting today, she'd like to take the gamble that you stay. Her gamble is that you are actually happy at your gig as you say you are, and she can save herself a whole lot of hassle. Worst case…
I hit a really bad burnout four years ago and after reading about peoples’ experience with sabbaticals I took three months off unpaid. I spent the first month of that trying to “figure things out” until my girlfriend got sick of me and suggested I just try and have some fun. That’s what I did for the last two months and, surprise, the burnout went away and my passion returned. Depending on how bad your burnout is you…
Thanks. Were you worried you'd come back and quit after making such a big ask of 3 months off?
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It would be awesome to read the details about your journey. Do you have a blog and if not - are you going to write about it at some point?
I doubt it. I'm ironically busier than ever before, and also don't think I have that much interesting to say. I might start some kind of tech blog for our company once we grow a bit, tho.
I am not saying you have to make your story public by blogging, but you already have some interest from others on the site who may have experienced or are experiencing similar things that you went through.
Sounds like you are rather humble which is fine, but do not think what you have to say is not interesting if random strangers on the internet are asking you about your story.
If that does not trigger alarm bells of you being actually interesting/ having interesting things to say than I do not know what would.