Ask HN: What's your spectacular burnout story?

Re:Ask HN: What's your spectacular burnout story? by mundanevoice on Saturday August 19, 2017 @02:43PM (#15054916)

It happened to me when I was in the first year of my job. I was coding for 14 hrs straight for more than a year. I had a lot of websites that I needed to maintain and all the tech was new to me.

Then when burnout struck me hard, I realized that I just don't want to open my laptop anymore. Also, even side project started to feel like a burden to me.

Then I decided, enough is enough and I need to do some changes to my life.

- I did join a gym near my house.

- I stopped coding in evenings. I would wake up early and code for 2-3 hours in morning and be content with whatever I achieve during that time.

- Evening hours after office would be only for gym, relaxing, having dinner and watching TV.

Believe me, it was the best decision I did for myself. My health both mental and physical improved drastically and I started loving coding again.

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Re:Ask HN: What's your spectacular burnout story? by TimJYoung on Sunday August 20, 2017 @12:50PM (#15059123)

Lots of great advice in these comments, including this one. I've also made a very conscious effort to keep my work from intruding on my personal life too much. Without that separation, one can burn out very quickly.

Also, I'm in agreement about the 2-3 hours of "golden" development, with the rest of the day for thinking, planning, or just doing something else. Sometimes I'm inclined to do 2 such sessions in one day, but a) I always make sure that the second session does not interrupt my sleep schedule, b) that I allow for plenty of down-time in-between, and c) that I don't do it for too many consecutive days.

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Re:Ask HN: What's your spectacular burnout story? by mundanevoice on Monday August 21, 2017 @12:43AM (#15061986)

Glad that you liked my advice. I am going to start doing it once more. I am a vacation at the moment.

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