Episode 128 – Dealing with Burnout

 

What causes burnout?

• Too much work?
  • Possibly, but not necessarily
  • Many people work crazy hours and do not suffer from burnout.
• Work/life balance?
  • Again, this is possible
  • The feeling of work/life unbalance is more of a symptom than a reason.
• Compound Stress
  • This seems to be the real cause.
  • Work asking for tight deadlines
  • Spouse wanting more help around the house
  • Kids needing help with homework or skills they are struggling with.
  • Internal stress
    • Putting unrealistic expectations on yourself
    • Failing to complete projects
    • Finances
  • Basically Burnout is you not being able to keep up with the expectaions of your work, your family, and yourself.

How does burnout affect you as a developer?

• Prevents you from working productively
  • Unable to focus at work
  • inability to make yourself work
  • general loss of productivity at work
  • a strong wanting to quit and find another job
• Harms family interactions
  • Loss of affection to your spouse which leads to loss of affection from your spouse
  • Lack of positive interations with your kids
    • getting upset at them when you normally wouldn’t be
  • General malaise at home
    • not doing normal chores that you should
    • basically sit on couch, watch tv, and ignore the world
  • Could lead to divorce and/or missing important milestones in your families life.
• Spiraling descent into unhappiness
  • Basically all the symptoms of depression
  • Burnout affects every aspect of your life and prevents you from managing work, family, finances, exercise and eating habits, and everything else that is part of a healthy life.

How do we prevent burnout from happening in the first place?

• It’s not real easy
• Ignore stress conditions or find a good coping mechanism for them.
  • Deadlines at work of most often not as urgent or important as they are made to be seen.
    • Relax and do the best you can, but don’t cave under the weight of a deadline
    • Don’t rush to meet the deadline
      • causes bugs
      • causes bad code
      • leads to more stress
    • Assume that everyone is doing the best they can under the circumstances
      • Even if you could do a better job
      • Even if it’s not even your job
      • The belief they someone else is slacking off
        • leads to more stress
        • leads to tension within the team
        • doesn’t help anyone
      • If you have a question, ask it.
    • Ask for help
      • This one might be difficult
      • you are not an island
      • you can’t do this on your own
  • Personal projects and hobbys
    • Don’t require the utmost professionalism
      • You don’t have to TDD or Clean Code all the time.
      • You can relax and write some bad code sometimes
      • These projects are for practicing or learn a specific thing. Focus on that
    • Are great for releiving stress when not taken seriously
      • If the project or hobby stresses you out, it can wait.
  • Family
    • Your spouse doesn’t know or understand your work
      • If you are stressed, talk to your spouse about it.
      • If you have had a bad day, talk to your spouse about it.
    • Children don’t know or understand your work
      • If you are stressed
        • Children are young? save it until they are in bed. be nice to the kids
        • Children are older? Explain to them your feelings and let them know it’s okay
      • If you had a bad day
        • Children are young? save it until they are in bed. be nice to the kids
        • Children are older? Explain to them your feelings and let them know it’s okay

It’s too late, I already have Burnout?

• Take a break
  • Do you have vacation time?
  • Switch to no stress mode by following the guidance for preventing burnout at work
  • Ask work if it would be possible to put you on a different project if the current project is a cause for burnout
  • Put personal projects on hold for a little while.
• Seek new hobbies 🙂
  • This part can be fun!
  • find hobbies that are low to no stress.
    • Good options are Leather working – I have found this one to be quite easy to get into and make some simple projects. It is low stress and results in a product you can be proud of.
    • Drawing or other forms of art. Try a bob ross painting or simply sketch in a notepad. Anything that comes to mind, don’t worry about whether or not it is “good”. Just Draw/Paint/Art.
• Outdoor activites
  • Play games outside with the kids
  • Go biking – Mountain biking is extremely fun although a little dangerous
  • Hiking can be quite relaxing and enjoyable
• Exercise
  • Go to the gym
  • Yoga
  • Meditaion – mental exercise is still exercise, and mediation is extremely relaxing.
• Seek Counselling
  • Burnout is a form of depression and you may need help getting out of it.
• Talk to your doctor
  • I would normally advise against medication and save that as a last resort, but again Burnout is a form of depression and may require medical intervention.

 

“Tempting Time” by Animals As Leaders used with permissions – All Rights Reserved

 

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