Ask YC: Experiences with founder burnout?

I can't work at any place for longer than 6 months. My resume is filled with companies every 6 months. Simply because I wake up with so much stress. My current job I've held longer for a year but it's getting to the point where I'm starting to dread going there despite what great opportunity and work environment it is. To me, this is just the way I'm wired. Take a break, you're in China, go see something. Do two weeks and refocus.

As others have said, eat some really healthy food and do some serious exercise. This is the best medicine known to man for burnout.

If I begin to feel even slightly burned out, I make a beeline for Wagamama in Harvard Square (or Faneuil Hall). At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, the combination of the food and atmosphere there are anodyne when I get tired of coding. I hope they expand out from the Boston area soon so you West Coast people find out what you are missing...

If you haven't done so, take a proper vacation. Leave your current environment behind completely, don't take a computer with you, and don't allow yourself to so much as think about work.

When I was in your situation, I tried to take pseudo-vacations (i.e. I stayed home for a few days, instead of going to work), but they were never enough. Only by forcing myself to make a drastic lifestyle change, was I able to break out of the fog.

I'm no startup founder, but I find that too much time in the technology trenches has a similar effect on me. I recommend, as do a few of the other posters, some time away, a change of scenery maybe, and good food mixed in with exercise. Then, try again, a bit slower this time. I cross-posted on your piece to http://blog.innovators-network.org The Innovators Network is a non-profit dedicated to bringing technology to startups, small businesses, non-profits, venture capitalists and intellectual property experts. Please visit us and help grown our community!

Best wishes for continued success,

Anthony Kuhn Innovators Network

Is it stress or boredom?

Finding a less stressful job doesn't seem like it should be that hard, but maybe I've just been lucky.

What I've found helps is getting some (and setting some) explicit expectations up front. If your company repeatedly violates these, it's probably time to move on.

Recently at the startup I work for, we were doing a big push for launch (80 hour weeks, etc). One night I finally hit a brick wall and just couldn't be there anymore, like when you're just sitting there looking at the screen not able to work. My PM was being slightly a dick and not hearing me on this, so Office Space style I snuck out the back and just left. The team even had a conversation about whether they should fire me over this infraction, as if I'm their 90-hour a week wage slave.

Another guy stuck it out, but resented the company so much for it that he quit a few days later and wrote a scathing letter to the all hands list / posted it on his blog. Point being, don't let anyone push you around.

And if you're a little savvy with clients / marketing yourself, just know that you can always make 2x as much as a full-time job by contracting, where in theory you should have more control over stress, schedule, etc. (ability to choose decent clients / fire sucky ones, etc)