Ask HN: How did you recover from a burnout?
21 comments
I do not think there is one way how to recover because there are a few reasons why you burned out in the first place. Perhaps that is the key to recovery too. What caused the burn out?
- take time off, 3 months to a year. I took me a year before I was back to full capacity.
- use the time to find out what caused the burn out. Lack of autonomy, workload, own expectations or unable to say no. I learned that it is alright to ask others for help in this.
- realize that you are a human being, a person. In other words you are not your profession.
- this sounds soft but write down what are your values in life. Ask your self have you lived your life up until now according to those values?
- exercise. This can be short walks, bike ride, gym or CrossFit. The brain is complex but simple enough that exercise seems to reboot the system and help you to manage any stress. For me at least.
- take it slow and don’t set expectations too high. Depending on how burned out you are recovery might take a long time. Just like a burnout has been building up over the years, recovery doesn’t happen overnight.
Finally, if you do need to get back to work go from 1 hour a day to 1 day a week and build it up from there.
- take time off, 3 months to a year. I took me a year before I was back to full capacity.
- use the time to find out what caused the burn out. Lack of autonomy, workload, own expectations or unable to say no. I learned that it is alright to ask others for help in this.
- realize that you are a human being, a person. In other words you are not your profession.
- this sounds soft but write down what are your values in life. Ask your self have you lived your life up until now according to those values?
- exercise. This can be short walks, bike ride, gym or CrossFit. The brain is complex but simple enough that exercise seems to reboot the system and help you to manage any stress. For me at least.
- take it slow and don’t set expectations too high. Depending on how burned out you are recovery might take a long time. Just like a burnout has been building up over the years, recovery doesn’t happen overnight.
Finally, if you do need to get back to work go from 1 hour a day to 1 day a week and build it up from there.
That's my secret. I'm always burned-out.
This gave me a good laugh with the Hulk reference. What you said is sad but true.
1. Put a hard stop to overtime. If that meant I wouldn't be employed after I told the bosses, then I would find another job.
2. Alternating months of skilling up and chilling out. Not even a code kata or fun side project on the down time .
3. Exercise. Can't stress this enough. Living in a cubicle, fishbowl or private office 8 hours a day means you are sitting around too much. Granted with WFH from the pandemic has opened the possibilities, but get out and start walking, running, cycling, or swimming. It was great for my mental health.
4. When you are ready to fall in love with code again find a topic that really inspires you and run with it. Everyone's passion project will be a bit different but it can be easy to despise code if you have a meaningless corporate enterprise code base. Work on what you love and if your job doesn't fit then put your focus on finding a job that does.
2. Alternating months of skilling up and chilling out. Not even a code kata or fun side project on the down time .
3. Exercise. Can't stress this enough. Living in a cubicle, fishbowl or private office 8 hours a day means you are sitting around too much. Granted with WFH from the pandemic has opened the possibilities, but get out and start walking, running, cycling, or swimming. It was great for my mental health.
4. When you are ready to fall in love with code again find a topic that really inspires you and run with it. Everyone's passion project will be a bit different but it can be easy to despise code if you have a meaningless corporate enterprise code base. Work on what you love and if your job doesn't fit then put your focus on finding a job that does.
I wish I had something to offer here, but I don’t. I just came here to say that I appreciate someone finally asking this question. Every week we see some new article or headline about just how bad burnout is, or how to avoid it, but never ONCE have I seen a single suggestion, theory or a damn SOLUTION for those of us who are already afflicted with it.
Talking about avoidance and stating the obvious about it (“oh burnout’s real bad, mmmkay”) are much easier than actually helping people experiencing it. And god forbid anybody do anything ‘hard’ anymore…
Interested to see what realistic answers might come up. If any.
Talking about avoidance and stating the obvious about it (“oh burnout’s real bad, mmmkay”) are much easier than actually helping people experiencing it. And god forbid anybody do anything ‘hard’ anymore…
Interested to see what realistic answers might come up. If any.
According to the book "Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less", the best way to rest is to do (i) physical activities, (ii) which are cognitively demanding, and (iii) in touch with nature. When these three factors happen, you cannot think in anything else. Your body, your head, and your soul will all forget about work.
For instance, try picking up an outdoor sport which is new to you, e.g. kite-surfing, snowboarding or climbing. It will fulfill the three requirements.
For instance, try picking up an outdoor sport which is new to you, e.g. kite-surfing, snowboarding or climbing. It will fulfill the three requirements.
For those who are saying "change jobs", first you have to get back to the point that you can work at all.
Honestly, no matter what you do it just takes time, just like healing from a physical injury. Some of the other advice here (exercise, get away from screens, etc.) can help speed the process up a bit, but you can overdo those as well.
One minor tip I can offer relates to the "get away from screens" advice: e-ink ebook readers seem to be an exception you can make, especially if you leave them in airplane mode.
Another is to keep a notebook with you to jot notes in. Writing stuff down helps clear it out of your head. Even if you never actually read a note again, you could if you really need to, which is enough to stop thinking and stressing about it. And I do mean writing. Try to only use your phone for note taking that is immediately actionable and deletable (like a grocery list), and you should have very few of those (like, 2-3).
Honestly, no matter what you do it just takes time, just like healing from a physical injury. Some of the other advice here (exercise, get away from screens, etc.) can help speed the process up a bit, but you can overdo those as well.
One minor tip I can offer relates to the "get away from screens" advice: e-ink ebook readers seem to be an exception you can make, especially if you leave them in airplane mode.
Another is to keep a notebook with you to jot notes in. Writing stuff down helps clear it out of your head. Even if you never actually read a note again, you could if you really need to, which is enough to stop thinking and stressing about it. And I do mean writing. Try to only use your phone for note taking that is immediately actionable and deletable (like a grocery list), and you should have very few of those (like, 2-3).
Burnout is when your mind associates hard work with failure. You have to correlate it with the right things.
Rest doesn't help, and doesn't get rid of whatever put you in the state in the first place. I was burnt after working 100+ hours/week on a startup and half a year of rest didn't help.
So you have to find a way to work really hard and be energized from it. For me, it was a road trip training trainers all over the country. It paid well enough to cover expenses, but I really just wanted to see the country with my wife and kid, and the training company even sponsored a "honeymoon suite" outside the route for a weekend.
Road trips are exhausting but fun. And it was a form of charity, giving back. Something I was uniquely positioned to do after being out of a job.
If you want a framework, I'd say figure out how you can share your talents with the world.
Rest doesn't help, and doesn't get rid of whatever put you in the state in the first place. I was burnt after working 100+ hours/week on a startup and half a year of rest didn't help.
So you have to find a way to work really hard and be energized from it. For me, it was a road trip training trainers all over the country. It paid well enough to cover expenses, but I really just wanted to see the country with my wife and kid, and the training company even sponsored a "honeymoon suite" outside the route for a weekend.
Road trips are exhausting but fun. And it was a form of charity, giving back. Something I was uniquely positioned to do after being out of a job.
If you want a framework, I'd say figure out how you can share your talents with the world.
I think most people know the answer, really: one recovers from professional burnout by moving to a work environment that is mentally and emotionally rewarding to you, whatever that might be. That might involve changing your role, changing your job, or changing your profession entirely, any of which may require extreme sacrifices, and it might take several such changes before you find something that suits you. So you're faced with a hard choice: is your burnout is bad enough that you're willing to risk making a leap?
I got burnt out when I was working a job where I was unappreciated, with some even being actively hostile towards me.
My only solution was to switch to working on something that was either worthwhile to me or to someone else - worked on personal projects for a while - switched to a company with worthwhile people and projects
I think the lack of face-to-face does contribute to burnout for some. The online kudos and gifts sent by corporate only go so far. There's still something different when your work is appreciated in person.
My only solution was to switch to working on something that was either worthwhile to me or to someone else - worked on personal projects for a while - switched to a company with worthwhile people and projects
I think the lack of face-to-face does contribute to burnout for some. The online kudos and gifts sent by corporate only go so far. There's still something different when your work is appreciated in person.
Find a job you aren’t emotionally invested in, and find other people and activities to put your emotions into.
If you can, get away from screens.
Go on a long roadtrip, camping, beach vacation, etc where it just isn't possible to sit in front of a screen for 10 hours a day: hopefully with some kind of element that will give you a challenge you can focus on and overcome.
Go on a long roadtrip, camping, beach vacation, etc where it just isn't possible to sit in front of a screen for 10 hours a day: hopefully with some kind of element that will give you a challenge you can focus on and overcome.
The first time, I changed jobs. The second time, I quit my job to work on my own business. For those burned out, I would recommend changing jobs. No business is worth your mental health. It’s just business -- you don’t owe them anything.
With great difficulty... If I'm recovering from burnout, I'm burnt out... likely working at 20%, and then getting home and having no motivation to do anything. Lying on the sofa in some kind of vegetative state.
Taking 8 months off doesn’t help as much as you think. I think change jobs you may find you get all the rest and rewards you need. Otherwise drastically change career or location and see what happens.
Scheduled an immediate week off with no regard for current work in progress, and during that week forbade myself from any thoughts of work. Each day I felt a little bit better, and by the time I got back I was in the right frame of mind to continue working.
Few disclaimers though:
- My company puts high emphasis on mental health, so I recognize that I have the "luxury" of being able to immediately take vacation time without warning, something not practical for everyone.
- The last two jobs I had quit was due to burnout, and I didn't want to make that mistake again. So my vacation was a bit preemptive, in that I was noticing signs of burnout and decided to take action before I hit the point of no return.
Few disclaimers though:
- My company puts high emphasis on mental health, so I recognize that I have the "luxury" of being able to immediately take vacation time without warning, something not practical for everyone.
- The last two jobs I had quit was due to burnout, and I didn't want to make that mistake again. So my vacation was a bit preemptive, in that I was noticing signs of burnout and decided to take action before I hit the point of no return.
Personally, recognizing that my burnout was caused by one or more of the following and doing something positive about it.
1. Lack of autonomy 2. Lack of mastery 3. Lack of purpose
1. Lack of autonomy 2. Lack of mastery 3. Lack of purpose
can you elaborate the autonomy part as in no deadline,no management?
Change jobs
quit job.
6 months off.
6 months off.
- Look for a therapist
- Realise that you are not your job
- Realise that no matter how sucesfull you are, there is no fullfillment at the end, just another, higher goal
- Look what caused this behavior (lack of self-esteem, looking for confirmation you never got as a child...)
- Bring balance back (hobbies where you use your hands, social activities, friends...)
Another factor is a job you don't like, and you think you need doing it to prove something to yourself.