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Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#31

Post by tchaffee »

Yes. I switched careers for a while after being burnt out with tech and that helped me realize just how good I had it doing something I mostly enjoy. I do think the break itself also helped. Even the best musicians in the world sometimes take a break from the grind of regular practice and performing. Recharging your batteries is well worth it and nothing to feel guilty about.

> whenever I’m coding, it just feels like an enormous effort to get anything done

What does feel effortless and get you in the flow? If the answer is "nothing", get checked out for depression. If the answer is something else, then maybe you've simply outgrown coding as a pleasurable activity. It happens.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#32

Post by aabajian »

I have some experiencing with the burn-out cycle (you can direct message / email me for my story). Suffice to say, I've done software, teaching (Teach for America), and medicine (I'm finishing residency this year). I have experienced burn-out in every one of these endeavors. What keeps me going is having something else to work on alongside my main grind. These have ranged from side-projects (free apps I made for fun), side-gigs (AirBnb, Turo), side-jobs (part-time programming while in med school), side-hobbies (CrossFit, Yoga, BodyPump, hiking, my dog, dating), and so on. There's no perfect solution, but every once in a while you will find something that you really love and it makes the grind tolerable.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#33

Post by wallflow3r »

"What I learned is that burning out isn’t just about work load, it’s about work load being greater than the motivation to do work." https://thetech.com/2010/04/09/dubai-v130-n18

I recommend reading the whole section on burnout. Although burnout isn't really the topic of the article this is the most enlightening writing I have ever read on it. Hoping it might serve you.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#34

Post by b3lvedere »

I've been very close to a burnout. The only thing that helped was completely quitting what caused it.

I was appointed the role of team lead on top of my normal team member role. The major issue was that management told me not to hold team members accountable for their performance or actions. So suddenly i was responsible for everything within the team but could not do really much about issues within the team or its clients. Trying to solve everything myself made me very tired and depressed.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#35

Post by jonahbenton »

Yes, am old, it has been multiple times through those cycles. Many stages in the emotional journey for me. They centered around the key idea that joy/enjoyment must be found- which is active- and in order to perform that finding one has to be ready- rested, restored- and it can take a long time to be restored- weeks/months- because restoration is a building back up, a refilling, of a large infrastructure of capacity. The stories of restoration of creative folks- like novelists needing to take time off after finishing a book- were helpful context.

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#36

Post by H8crilA »

ant1oz wrote: post #30

Take long holidays. 6 months minimum traveling around. if you have a family, or a tight mortgage - I'm sorry for you. As I don't have a straight answer. but 6 months away from keyboard is a strict minimum. It worked for me every time.

> It worked for me every time.

How many times? I am trying to cope with the recurrent nature of burnout.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#37

Post by doix »

I'm not sure if what I had was considered burn out or not, but I lost my passion for programming and stopped really caring about anything work related. Sometimes I'd get spurs of motivation, and during one of those spurs I applied to a startup because they sounded interesting. They didn't get back to me after a few weeks and that demotivated me further.

I sold my flat and was planning to move into a van to become a surf-bum. I handed in my notice and was working on autopilot/coasting until it was done. Then it all happened very quickly, that start-up contacted me, I had an interview, did a trial week (which I loved) and I decided to join them.

It was the best decision ever, I very quickly got my passion back for programming & creating products. Plus the job was remote, so I could move somewhere closer to the beach/mountains to surf/snowboard more.

I think what helped me was getting away from the stuff I hated, i.e; meetings/emails/'chats'/story points/jira and just focusing on programming and the product I was working on. Combined with the fact that it was much easier to peruse my hobbies, it cured my burnout (if you can call it that).

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#38

Post by pfd1986 »

After grad school I thought I'd never be able to enjoy work again.

I took a break and a hard look at what I wanted to do and came back the other side thinking I wanted to learn something new and apply it to make the world a better place.

I took a job that paid the bills and allowed me to have (long commute) time to learn AI. Fast forward 5 years, I now work using AI to help doctors do their job better and I love it.

I should say a big part of it was promising to myself to separate work and life. 9-5 is work. Weekends and other times are for my family and I to enjoy, recharge, and make sure I can back to a job I love.

Good luck on the journey.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#39

Post by Ensorceled »

Things that worked for me:

Exercise. Sleep. Reduce your workload to something manageable.

Say No.

Meditate, active meditation is ok (yoga, some martial arts, even running)

Stop having hobbies that look like work and involve obligations, at least until you recover.

Clear your todo list. Clear your inbox. Like, just empty them.

Rest. Take back your evenings and weekends. Vacation if you can.

Above all, this is going to take a while. I don't think there is magic bullet.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#40

Post by goodpoint »

36 messages and nobody pointed out that a main source of burnout is when your *values* are not aligned with your work.

It's unsurprising people burn out when their job is about optimizing ads to enrich some billionaire and stuff like that.

Find jobs that are meaningful to you and you can improve.

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