Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

2: Don't work 70-80 h/weeks, I've only done so at special times since my early career, and when I've done so after then I've been getting paid by the hour.

3: That brain-fog probably comes from the overworking, you're not going to be making clever decisions at that state. You really probably need some months off to get to a better state (the magic thing is, when it clears you'll brain will start to itch with amazing stuff).

If you are in reasonable (not necessarily great) physical shape I suggest going to a bouldering gym (assuming there's one nearby). It's a fairly addictive sport that's easy to get into and easy to do on your own. A nice bonus is that there's built in gamification. Each session you can work on a single route or you can set a goal to do all routes of level X in the gym and work towards that over a period of time. As long as you just do it, you'll improve until you plateau eventually and by that time you'll be able to grind hard/train well and get better on your own.

If sport isn't your thing, maybe try writing. Pick any genre you like but thriller works quite well and almost everyone likes thrillers at least a bit. Obsess over "how to write" and how a thriller is structured. Reads books about that, start structuring a story, watch movies in "analysis mode" (a good starting point for analytical people is reading "The Story Grid").

Or maybe branch out into a slightly different area still related to your job. Maybe turn infosec into your new obsessive hobby. Sign up to hackthebox.io or something similar and try to get really good at breaking into boxes (or play CTFs).

As long as there's a way to get better at the hobby (climb harder routes, write more pages of your book, be able to break into harder boxes) and a reasonably easy way of understanding how to get there and a way to obsess over it and pour countless hours into it, the hobby qualifies. Even something like playing online chess could qualify. The main idea is to shift time from work towards this hobby and wanting to do it. Ideally the hobby rewards you regularly along the way (some measurable level of success).

>Unfortunately, I have never been a rockstar programmer

>I've already wasted my entire teens and 20s

>a bigger loser for not being able to solve problems

Those are all biased opinions. You can take a break from work, but by itself this will not change the way you think

And yet, for the past two years, just about every store you'll ever go to has a 'Sorry, we're shortstaffed' sign in the window.