Beaches aren't for everyone. In burnout situations, I find going backpacking (mountains/hiking, canoeing in the Canadian wilderness) to be even more relaxing than a beach. None of these annoying humans that seem to be always present on beaches and at workplaces. And also none of the attention-sucking internet access.

Those are probably more effective venues for killing burnout not for the reasons you give, but because those activities usually incur some goal (covering certain mileage, getting to a destination) that restores the association of reward with effort... Versus being at the beach, which simply doesn't.

I love the beach, but it's passive, so I'm still turning over work in my mind as I'm there. Swimming, hiking, camping, etc. give me tasks and actively distract me.

Yes! I've also found that having to focus on something different relieves stress. My go to activities for this is either driving in the hills down the peninsula from SF or cooking dinner. If I'm not in the moment it's either dangerous or I ruin dinner.

Wow, this gave me the realization I needed about why I've been procrastinating on a project. Thanks.

It's a minor point, but there are plenty of beaches around the world that are pretty quiet people-wise.

Ha yeah plenty in Australia where you're so alone you're in actual danger from it.

I agree that humans and internet access are suboptimal. I'd just like to point out that there are beaches without humans or internet access.

Yeah, shitty ones.

And the best ones. Amazing, that.

>Beaches aren't for everyone.

Yeah, for me it's fishing or hunting...requiring a total disengagement from technology and (most) people.

Beaches are fun, but I wouldn't consider them a truly contemplative vacation unless it's some super expensive, exclusive, far away place...and like you said that's not for everyone.

Why does it have to be super expensive? The far away beaches are the cheapest ones.

If you don't account for a very expensive plane ticket sure.

Yeah that's what I meant.

How about backpacking TO a beach or hotspring? :)

The problem here is the founder thinks he / she is so indispensable that it would fail if he quit. So taking a week off for vacation is likely to just lead to more stress.

However, the longer vacation is good advice. When I was severely burned out at a previous job (start-up) I was eventually fired because I couldn't continue the 70 hours a week and have the same, high output as I originally did when I started (I was averaging 70 hours a week for almost two years in addition to a long commute time and this is after working with the same people at a job before that where I was working about the same 70 hours for almost 3 years where I was also expected to have high output).

When that happened I ended up having roughly 3 months off of work. Joined a new company and it was amazing. My burn-out, which plagued me for years and caused an anxiety attack so strong I thought I was going to die of a heart attack (very severe chest pain; tried explaining to my 2 year old what to do if "daddy passes out") to feel essentially dissolved.

Burn out isn't fixed within your typical vacation period at a job. Most of my friends who have been, or are still, burned out have never had it go away until after taking months of time off.

Even a short vacation would help with two big things.

First, physically resting and getting outdoors in the summer months can certainly just help you rebalance enough to make good decisions. You might realize that very short-term problems are weighing more heavily on you than you realize.

Second, it's a test of how indispensable you are at work, and forces other people to try to do things before asking you. You'll learn which things you need to make sure to train them to take over when you leave, and they'll remember the answers and approaches better if they have to figure them out themselves.

I guess it's possible that two weeks would cause irreparable damage... I have no idea what you should do in that case. I can't say I'd stick with it in that scenario, that's a horrible trap to get stuck in especially if you can't imagine it getting better.

If things are "that bad" at a particular work environment, I'm not sure any amount of time away will "fix" the root problems if you still have to go back there. You described taking time off (months) but you didn't go back. I have to think that the switching of jobs had something to do with your anxiety level going way down but I'd agree it would still have been "go go go" if you just switched employers overnight and started at a new place the next week.

Yeah, since the vast majority of companies in the United States don't give more than a few weeks off (which is far below what you really need, in my opinion, to undo burn-out), you pretty much have to quit. I guess I didn't really make that clear :)

Essentially what I was getting at was: a short vacation isn't going to do anything. If he can make it so he can take a very long vacation then that means he either transitioned enough so others can run it for him or he quit. Either way sounded like it would work out for him at least which is what I was aiming for with my comment.

Oh you're right - 100% agree. When you've got that level of burnout/anxiety, a week or two ain't gonna cut it.

In most cases, the anxiety and stress from a work environment didn't happen overnight, and it's not going to go away overnight.

I do think most people don't quite get that until they're in the thick of it. Seen it with more than a couple of friends, and in every case, the only option was to walk away and switch work situations. If it's causing you that much stress, there's almost never a great reason to go back vs getting something new.

Vacation/holiday is not something that I particularly enjoy (and thus by extension the OP may not): I like what I do and want to keep doing it a reasonable pace.

But taking a break from the stressor, and/or delegating some of the work and stress, yes.

IMHO

This is the "E-Myth Revisited" route, which to summarize is about decoupling the business from yourself and enabling other people to take "critical" work off your plate (because it really isn't that critical).[0]

[0] https://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-Abo...

+1 for vacations. I used to vacation only when I burned out. Now I plan in advance several months ahead. It helps me pace myself so I don't burn myself out before the vacation shows up. Personally I try to schedule two week vacations, leaving the work laptop behind when I go. Letting people know you'll be traveling, so they can plan around it, also helps decouple you from the work. If everything catches on fire when you are gone, they will realize it's necessary to reduce their reliance on you.

+1 for learning what processes your company depends on you for. The vacation is a bonus.

I agree. It's your company so you should be able to do whatever you want with your time, now that the company is able to support you. Why not take a sabbatical, work remotely from anywhere on the world etc.? Basically find whatever you really want to do without giving up the responsibility as a CEO (yet)

+1 on vacation, also maybe read a book like Deep Work, he has some interesting concepts that might be helpful involving exercise.

This is very solid advice