Take 2 weeks off. Do nothing. Meditate. Breathe. Plant Flowers. Take long, exceptionally pointless walks -- if you find yourself thinking about anything, stop, and look up at the clouds till you recover.
Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
31–40 of 115 posts
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#32You can't figure out what to do during your sabbatical, because you're burned out and completely unmotivated and you won't be able to find it out until it changes. So the solution is to do nothing 'meaningful' for a while. Don't think about projects, PhD, start ups or anything. Just take a break and do nothing tat resembles work.
Starting wit traveling is a very good option. This is also what I did. Go to a totally different place. A different (non-western) culture. Not to help or work, just to be there. A lot of people go to South-East Asia. I did that too and loved it. My thinking and problems were reduced to what to eat, where to eat, where to sleep and what to see next.
You can do this for months. Then you may start to miss your work, you may start to have ideas again. You'll probably miss thinking and you will find out what to do during the rest of the leave.
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#33can you motivate yourself to finish something small? say something that will take you one week? if nothing comes to mind, can you say wake up at 6am everyday for a week? or walk 2 miles everyday for a week? or cook for yourself, as best you can, "interesting" dinners? just for a week.
after that week is over, maybe report back?
i would not make any life changing decisions just now.
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#34Do you have a wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend? Are you tied down to anything? Do you have money to travel? I'm going to assume you're a single male between the age of 25 and 35. The right ideas will slowly come to you, but getting some perspective is essential and that's not going to come from sitting in your apartment staring at your laptop. The two things I suggest are: * Exercise. Mens sana in corpore sano. Lift…
Do you have a wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend? Are you tied down to anything? Do you have money to travel? I'm going to assume you're a single male between the age of 25 and 35.
Correct on all counts -- nothing tying me down, and my rainy day fund can keep me fed, clothed, and sheltered for years.
I actually get a decent amount of exercise -- minimum 40 minutes per day, I'd estimate. It certainly has plenty of benefits, but the energy seems to evaporate once I get down in front of my keyboard again.
I definitely can go out and change things, but I think my mindset is holding me back. It's almost like I would be doing with the expectation that this would "fix" me, and that anything short of that would be a waste.
Yes, yes, I know I'll regret the things I didn't do. But I fear that I'm setting myself up for failure this way with unrealistic expectations.
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#35You sound depressed.
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#36In my opinion you've probably worked too long and pushed too hard in a job that doesn't let your brain shut off. I get into similar situations when I'm focusing on my writing, I get to the point that I just can't shut my brain off. I'll resort to trying to relax, but I end up reading news and doing things that just keep my brain in that point of over exertion. I resort to physical work, it still requires me to keep m…
I appreciate your suggestion, though I think I'm in deeper trouble than that. Mindless physical work like gardening seems to free up cycles for me to ruminate, which I have to actively suppress (à la "He took a duck in the face at 250 knots" -- http://books.google.com/books?id=-O3r6D1KutAC&pg=PT36...).
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#37I've taken two. The first one (10 months) I met my boyfriend, spent a couple weeks in Paris, and generally did nothing of importance. It's exactly what I needed. That's okay!
The second one (8 months), I tried a startup but didn't get far. (I am not the type for a large solo project.) I spent two months in Turkey. I wrote a third of a novel (that I'm still working on.) I worked on learning Turkish.
Honestly, I'm not ashamed that I didn't do anything of major value. I found true love, that was enough for me. :)
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#38Take 2 weeks off. Do nothing . Meditate. Breathe. Plant Flowers. Take long, exceptionally pointless walks -- if you find yourself thinking about anything, stop, and look up at the clouds till you recover.
if you find yourself thinking about anything, stop, and look up at the clouds till you recover
I'll definitely have to try that more often! (Though there's a good chance it'll be stars rather than clouds...)
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#39Go on a camping trip for a few weeks or months. Stay away from electronics. (Maybe go visit a foreigner-friendly tribe in Africa?) Or sink into your lowest depravities until you get sick of those and decide you want to program again, though I can't vouch for that.
Re: Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?
#40I would highly recommend traveling without a planned timeline. I was in a similar state you were last August. I quit my job and booked a ticket to fly to Madrid, Spain. I didn't have a place to stay until the day before I flew out. This was how it went for every city I visited afterwards. I didn't book any travel or accommodations until the day or two before. It was awesome to take off or stay when I felt like it. It felt like I was in control of my life.
I spent the next two months traveling through Spain, Italy, France, UK, and Ireland. I met some of the most amazing people in my life and I still keep in touch with them. I went running with a bull in Valencia, scuba diving for the first time in my life in Nice, had the most amazing pizza in the world in Naples, and got my geek on with Roman history.
At the same time, this cured my burn out. I didn't think it would, but when you start using other parts of your brain to communicate and live with people who don't speak your tongue your mind opens up.
I also wrote about every city I visited on my blog as a travel log of sorts and as a way to show my friends what I was up to. I started in Boston which you can read here: http://paydrotalks.com/posts/103-boston-clam-chowder-pigs-an....
I wish you the best of luck. Being burnt out is a horrible state to be in, but it's awesome that you're taking yourself out of work to treat yourself.