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Avoiding Burnout

andrewdumont.me

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Re: Avoiding Burnout

#31

Post by navs »

I've been sitting here at my computer since almost 8pm yesterday. It's 8PM now. I can absolutely identify with the OP. It's not just startups, having a full time job and going to uni as a full time student was a stupid move.

It's bad enough I work myself like this but there's also all that caffeine. The coke, chocolate bars, energy drinks I consume and not forgetting the smoking.

I tell myself 2 more months and I'll graduate. In the meantime I've made moves by dropping the nicotine, dropping coke and energy drinks and keeping a large bottle of water with me while I work. When the water runs out, that's my cue to get up, stretch, refill and maybe take a power nap.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#32

Post by dredmorbius »

cl8ton wrote: post #3

You have a good regiment for burnout. You can always feel burnout approaching which is usually about 2 weeks before it really happens (waking up and dreading working on the same thing). Stop what you're doing and do something totally different for a while. For me its working on a vastly different project and spending weekends in the mountains. This has never failed me yet as I always re-approach the offending project…

> You have a good regiment for burnout.

Sounds like you've turned burnout into a military problem.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#33

Post by kamaal »

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…

>>The best way to prevent burnout is to follow up a serious failure with doing small things that you know are going to work.

If you are making large amounts of sacrifice towards high risk problems and failing. You are likely doing something wrong and merely backing them up with 'small wins' is not going to help and shouldn't help.

The best thing in that case is to really burnout and quit, to do things that are better rewarding.

There is nothing you are going to gain being stuck in a situation of large sacrifice-zero gain. In many such cases you are likely a victim of office politics, bureaucracy, red tape or just stuck amidst inefficient team mates. Doing small wins and maintaining the status quo will trap you much deeper and cause a far bigger burnout later.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#35

Post by dabeeeenster »

I cannot understand people who feel "on top of the world" yet are still working within a business that is not cash-flow positive month to month.

"We didn't need a break, we felt great. Better than great."

Yet they are still burning up runway. Just lunacy.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#36

Post by arethuza »

ultimoo wrote: post #20
Hydraulix989 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same can be said about getting enough sleep.

Same can be said about socializing. In fact, here in grad school we have a rule: "Choose any two from -- Grades, Social Life, or Sleep".

A friend (who was an international level rower) was told at Cambridge: rowing, classes, social life - pick two. He tried all three and failed the classes!

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#37

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

ultimoo wrote: post #16
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…

Nice read! It makes a lot of sense too. We developers could probably do something as small as working on a projecteuler.net problem for 30 minutes at the end of a rough day.

Unlikely to work as you probably don't see that as work therefore you're not fighting the link between work and failure.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#38

Post by zipppy »

kamaal wrote: post #33
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…

>>The best way to prevent burnout is to follow up a serious failure with doing small things that you know are going to work. If you are making large amounts of sacrifice towards high risk problems and failing. You are likely doing something wrong and merely backing them up with 'small wins' is not going to help and shouldn't help. The best thing in that case is to really burnout and quit, to do things that are better…

>>For coders, I would posit that most burnout comes on the heels of failure that is not in the hands of the coder (management decisions, market realities, etc).

Maybe you missed that section of the quote; for me, it rings true. At times I have been in situations where I am sacrificing time for projects that are poorly managed, and it doesn't really matter that I'm doing everything right.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#39

Post by amercade »

peterkelly wrote: post #8

Excellent article. This is the first time I've deliberately activated the Kudos mouse-over thing on this guy's blog. I can't count the number of times I've done it accidentally.

Agree on this Kudos :) I activated it by accident (didn't know how they work). I don't regret it. The article was entertaining. Ok. But. The number of false positives with this kudos system is probably very high. You should click to confirm. Anyway, I don't like a web page where I have to be very careful where I put my mouse over. Feels like a minefield.

Re: Avoiding Burnout

#40

Post by new299 »

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…

I think that's the most useful comment I've read on HN. For me working on the firmware for the Safecast Geiger counter was one of those projects. I guess this is one of the real benefits of hacking on some personal open source project too, you get a clear pay off which restores your belief in yourself.

Now if I could only find a few more projects like that...

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