I quit the job that was causing my burnout, flew to Argentina, and spent some time hiking in Patagonia.
Worked remarkably well.
Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
11–20 of 132 posts
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#12Some tips. Take things one at a time. Do them with all the attention. Have breaks in between. Spend time outside with loved ones. When you sleep, leave everything aside as if you enter a new world where nothing matters. If you cannot complete something today at the normal pace, do it the following day. Have a broader plan and idea, but keep inching towards it without fixing deadlines.
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#13I really hated lifting weights for the first 30 years of my life, but I've come to enjoy it. Well, I mean, I still dislike doing it in the moment sometimes, but overall I enjoy it. Aristotle said something like it's a shame to focus only on the mind, and not bring your body to its full potential. Modern psychology says exercise leads to greater sense of well-being. This isn't a magic bullet that will make stressors g…
Exercise first thing every single day will do a person wonders. I prefer heavy weights and biking, but those are not the only ways to work out. I do think it needs to be at least 30 minutes of strenuous activity though.
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#14Some tips. Take things one at a time. Do them with all the attention. Have breaks in between. Spend time outside with loved ones. When you sleep, leave everything aside as if you enter a new world where nothing matters. If you cannot complete something today at the normal pace, do it the following day. Have a broader plan and idea, but keep inching towards it without fixing deadlines.
Oh, cool, thats all I needed to do? Awesome, so easy!
lol, good advice regardless. As with everything engineering related, this sounds good on paper... but when rubber meets the road...
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#15I would recommend if your problem is overplanning, how have you responded to spontaniety? e.g. Attending figure drawing sessions where you don't know who you'll be sketching and the distinct and sudden social change around viewing nakedness. Or roller blading or dancing or jazz, all of which hold spontaneity or the appearance of such as part of the enjoyment of the activity.
I find this advice useful for breaking out of a slump, not for preventing burnout.
I have to take the opposite approach for burnout: cut things out. Do less. Cross things off the Todo list and _dont_ add a new one.
I find my biggest sources of stress are those little tasks that take you 10 hours, but would take someone else 1 hour. Constantly fighting against unknowns and feeling helpless leads to frustration and burnout.
You can do one or two things in life really, really well. If you're juggling too much, you'll be mediocre and never make try progress you need to find value and positive reinforcement through praise.
There's huge value in novelty seeking as parent pointed out, but I've always had to approach it from a "fill in the missing piece" point, not from "add this extra thing to my overworked life" point.
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#16One thing is to get married
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#17I think little of the advice so far is that useful.
What happens when you burn out is that you engage in a unsustainable situation, often for some time, until the effect catches up with you. To not burn out again you need to regain the connection between e.g. working to much and a decrease in performance. You need the realization that engaging in this unsustainable situation will hurt you again.
Also burn out is often a nice way to say that you are essentially having mental health issues caused by the situation you are in. Not generally something to take lightly. And not something you want to experience repeatedly.
I haven't read it yet but "It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work" might be a good start.
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#18Two points. Burnout caused by other people taking away your control of your life can become a form of PTSD actually. Take care of yourself physically.
Second, more importantly, burnout comes from using willpower to do something you have no hope of success. Your brain is trying to stop wasting resources.
Problem is your brain isn’t so smart that it knows what is the problem so it stops anything closely related.
Take a break. A vacation. Do something fun and rewarding. Succeed at small things. Go back to work on smaller things you know will succeed. May require changing directions or jobs or careers but the change doesn’t have to be major. Just get back to success.
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#19I'm no expert, let's get that out the way.
But first off, just let go. Don't plan on doing anything; you are sick. I get the impression you're lucky in that you've got only a mild case, I've had colleagues who had it quite badly and who couldn't physically get out of bed anymore - where even the idea of planning would knock them on their arse again.
Don't let it escalate any further. The first step is to accept that not doing anything is OK.
Re: Ask HN: How are you getting through (and back from) burning out?
#20Do we really have to Ask HN this every few days?