*
Wait, what is the difference between this and procrastination?
One sounds funny and the other is in the DSM-5 database :)
Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
61–70 of 232 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#62I feel you. As many here I failed to recognize burnout early enough to prevent total exhaustion. My experience (not a doc) is medication won’t help and ADHD seems to be a stereotypical American fixation almost like tomato sauce for us Italians. Call it for what it is and don’t blame yourself. The cure for burnout is change. Distance yourself from the source of discomfort, lay bricks or bag groceries for at least thre…
To counter this, medication has helped me a lot, and I am able to get work done thanks to it.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#63> I'm not well off like most people on here, I can survive 4-6 months with no salary Be careful of comparing yourself to what people post online. It's easy to read social media and think everyone else is waking up at 5am, drinking their keto coffee, and making millions with their startup while working as a digital nomad. Even on a tech heavy site like HN I would classify someone with 6 months of savings as very well…
Same. Also several months of medical leave for burnout sounds very generous.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m opening a local metal working business. Running both until I can get a decent income stream. Tech prospects look bleak, I think the party will be over in 10 or less years as engineers are viewed more as a cost vs value add.
Tech can generate enormous wealth. Talking on the order of 1 guys code for Google might bring in 100s of millions of dollars of revenue (granted most guys codes contribute far far less). I find it rather hard to generate 100s of millions of dollars of wealth through metal working. On the flip side, which is harder to outsource? For metal trinkets it would be similar, for stuff that needs to be on prem.. metal working…
Outsourcing doesn't affect the labor market. Offshoring does. And there's no such thing as choosing to offshore or not. Everything that can get offshored gets offshored, which isn't actually that much. Supply of tech labor in other countries is just as tight.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#65I think the problem is your job. Some corporate situations are toxic, others are just poor matches. Some jobs are really about feeding your boss's ego; and once you recognize this, the job will forever feel soul-crushing.
IMO:
1: It's time to head over to the "Who's hiring" thread and respond to 5-10. See where they go, and next month do the same thing. That's how I found my current job.
2: If your employer is large enough, see if you can do an internal transfer or get a new assignment.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#66Burnout checklist: Confirm you have/don't have ADHD. Confirm you have/don't really have a major depressive episode. Somehow "burnout" is a more acceptable label than major depression. Because it's supposed to come from having worked too much. But as far as I can see burnout and major depressive episodes are hard to distinguish just from the symptoms. Prognosis and treatment are different. You may not need multiple mo…
I've had doctors treat me for depression in the past, but the drugs/treatments never did anything for me and I really don't think I'm depressed.
My mood is generally fine and when I'm doing something I'm interested in, or spending time with family I'm really happy. I don't have the typical lows one would associate with depression and I have tons of motivation and energy to do things. Once I manage to take the first step, the rest is easier.
I don't know if I experienced a true burnout or not, the job just got to much for me to handle.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#67Just milk the job while looking for something new that does sound interesting.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#68> I'm not well off like most people on here, I can survive 4-6 months with no salary Be careful of comparing yourself to what people post online. It's easy to read social media and think everyone else is waking up at 5am, drinking their keto coffee, and making millions with their startup while working as a digital nomad. Even on a tech heavy site like HN I would classify someone with 6 months of savings as very well…
Same. Also several months of medical leave for burnout sounds very generous.
It's a government thing, my workplace had no say in the matter as long as my GP said I needed it.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#69I ran into this earlier this year too. I quit and took the 3-4 months off from work that I could afford. I gained a new perspective on work and realized it was a smaller part of my self worth/life than I thought. I got a new job that reflected perhaps the only/most enjoyable part of tech I enjoyed: straight application development. I immersed myself in it with old associates I worked with before from my favorite job. I kept a daily list of tasks meticulously watching over my attention and how I worked and would resequence the list at any point in the day I would start to feel blocked/like I didn't care/lost, so I would stay on task and remain immersed. After following this pattern and working the full 8 hours everyday and not working from home as much as possible. My mind again felt healthy and focused again, now I find it effortless and even happy at work again. Even as pressures mounted with higher work load I realized staying busy doing actual work was the answer I sought and then stopping right at 5 and not thinking about work at all after that. I hope my comments are helpful. It's what I tried and it seemed to work for me. I called my task list in TextEdit my dopamine hitlist. I know it sounds overly simplistic but it helped me solve the core of my problem:burnout, by staying focused at a new job with a fresh start with people I could trust/or try to trust. And sticking to a rigid morning routine, exercise each morning, that didn't allow for distraction and then sitting down and starting my list no matter what till it felt natural again and I felt like my burnout was gone. But honestly I had to change EVERYTHING, so it in no way resembled my old job. I also ate right, took different vitamins I thought would help: D3, Multivitamin, HTP-5, etc. I don't know how much those helped, but even as a placebo, I knew it was the intent to focus on simple tasks and small wins that carried me through my transition back to caring about work.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with burnout and its consequences?
#70Is there any job you can think of, tech or not, even if it's a fantasy you aren't sure exists, that you imagine yourself being comfortable in or liking?
As stupid as it sounds I really, really enjoyed serving court summons as a side job during school. I got to get out, drive around, and see lots of places. You never really knew what to expect and I liked the unpredictability of it, every trip was different form the last.