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Avoiding Burnout

andrewdumont.me

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Re: Avoiding Burnout

#21

Post by mahyarm »

DanielRibeiro wrote: post #7

I remember reading this published insight[1] from Marissa Mayer a few months ago: Burnout is caused by resentment Which sounded amazing, until this guy who dated a neuroscientist commented[2]: No. Burnout is caused when you repeatedly make large amounts of sacrifice and or effort into high-risk problems that fail. It's the result of a negative prediction error in the nucleus accumbens. You effectively condition your…

" Burnout is caused when you repeatedly make large amounts of sacrifice and or effort into high-risk problems that fail. It's the result of a negative prediction error in the nucleus accumbens. You effectively condition your brain to associate work with failure."

A real definition of burnout! Everything else makes it sound so nebulous.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#22

Post by pm »

UniZero wrote: post #19

This article really hit home for me. If I could I would take this advice, but I literally can't afford to. My only option is to continue working 12 hour days or I'll actually become homeless. So if anyone here has been through a similar situation I would appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

You literally can't afford NOT to, because eventually you'll get to the point where you can't function, no matter how hard you try.

What situation is so dire that you can't stop working?

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#23

Post by dsirijus »

mahyarm wrote: post #21
DanielRibeiro wrote: post #7

I remember reading this published insight[1] from Marissa Mayer a few months ago: Burnout is caused by resentment Which sounded amazing, until this guy who dated a neuroscientist commented[2]: No. Burnout is caused when you repeatedly make large amounts of sacrifice and or effort into high-risk problems that fail. It's the result of a negative prediction error in the nucleus accumbens. You effectively condition your…

" Burnout is caused when you repeatedly make large amounts of sacrifice and or effort into high-risk problems that fail. It's the result of a negative prediction error in the nucleus accumbens. You effectively condition your brain to associate work with failure." A real definition of burnout! Everything else makes it sound so nebulous.

Indeed! It sounds so simple and obvious now.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#24

Post by watsonc73 »

veb wrote: post #6

It's funny. I work in New Zealand, and I do my 37.5 hours a week as required (any more than that, and I get over-time) but that 37.5 hours takes such. a. long. time! When I was working for a startup, and working from whatever time I woke up, till 3am in the morning, time flew by so quickly. I could easily do 80 hours, and have great fun. I was creative, and energised. As soon as I went from a startup to working for a…

That's a shame. I've done the opposite recently and moved from a 'corporate' job into co-founding a start-up. Without the fear of making payroll each month, I know now why it's easy to rest on your laurels and become a clock watcher.

My advice would be to start something up again on the side. Remember why you loved the autonomy of the start-up in the first place and transition yourself back towards a self-sustaining lifestyle.

If nothing else, the thought of working on your 'real' venture will get you through the day at work.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#25

Post by bermanoid »

UniZero wrote: post #19

This article really hit home for me. If I could I would take this advice, but I literally can't afford to. My only option is to continue working 12 hour days or I'll actually become homeless. So if anyone here has been through a similar situation I would appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

If you're billing each hour of those 12 hour days and can't make ends meet, then you have a problem managing your finances.

If you're salaried and would lose your job if you didn't pull those hours, then I assure you you can find a more reasonable job.

If you're struggling to get a business off the ground, then I doubt that you're getting as much done in the long run at 12 hours a day as you would at 10.

12 hour day crunches can be effective if you do them for a couple weeks; after a month or two the tortoise that stuck with a 40 hour week is probably going to beat you.

At least that's true if you're writing code - longer days can still be semi productive if you're doing softer work.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#26

Post by wybo »

veb wrote: post #6

It's funny. I work in New Zealand, and I do my 37.5 hours a week as required (any more than that, and I get over-time) but that 37.5 hours takes such. a. long. time! When I was working for a startup, and working from whatever time I woke up, till 3am in the morning, time flew by so quickly. I could easily do 80 hours, and have great fun. I was creative, and energised. As soon as I went from a startup to working for a…

Are you sure it has to do with the hours, and not with; say the type of projects you've been working on, the amount of freedom you've been given, or the big office atmosphere?

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#27

Post by ww520 »

DanielRibeiro wrote: post #7

I remember reading this published insight[1] from Marissa Mayer a few months ago: Burnout is caused by resentment Which sounded amazing, until this guy who dated a neuroscientist commented[2]: No. Burnout is caused when you repeatedly make large amounts of sacrifice and or effort into high-risk problems that fail. It's the result of a negative prediction error in the nucleus accumbens. You effectively condition your…

Very nice analysis. Thanks for sharing it.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#28

Post by oldmanjoe »

pserwylo wrote: post #2

I feel like this is useful information for much more than just people involved in work. Specifically, as PhD students, my partner and I (and pretty much all of our colleagues) often face burnout, and are always looking for ways to combat it. I quite like the sound of most things in this article, and think I will try to adopt some of the principles to my study and see if they will help. Specifically, I need to get bac…

Ensure you have (at least) monthly meetings with a supervisor. This provides good feedback and stops you getting lost in the weeds. It helps if you have small milestones attached to each meeting (reading a book/paper, editing a chapter, etc).

A sign the PhD is going awry is when they stop attending regular meetings and duck out of your way in the corridor. ;-) Then they start getting stressed

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#29

Post by adventureloop »

ultimoo wrote: post #17
veb wrote: post #6

It's funny. I work in New Zealand, and I do my 37.5 hours a week as required (any more than that, and I get over-time) but that 37.5 hours takes such. a. long. time! When I was working for a startup, and working from whatever time I woke up, till 3am in the morning, time flew by so quickly. I could easily do 80 hours, and have great fun. I was creative, and energised. As soon as I went from a startup to working for a…

Nice, I didn't know about 37.5 hour weeks in NZ. Does that 2.5 difference from 40 hour weeks account for a paid 30 minutes of lunch time everyday, or just a shorter Friday?

I can't comment about NZ,but in the UK the 37.5 hours work weeks are a 8:30-5 or 9-5:30 days with an hour long lunch. The number of hours goes up by 5 if you factor all time actually spent 'in office'.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#30

Post by robryan »

UniZero wrote: post #19

This article really hit home for me. If I could I would take this advice, but I literally can't afford to. My only option is to continue working 12 hour days or I'll actually become homeless. So if anyone here has been through a similar situation I would appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

Is it the only option because you are earning a low hourly rate, have a high amount of fixed costs or because you are working for yourself and the business isn't highly profitable?
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