How do you keep yourself from burning out?

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How do you keep yourself from burning out?

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004407 More actions · Answer 1

Julie Breutzmann - Thursday, May 17, 2018 9:06 AM
If I dream about work, that's a bad sign.

I solve some of the more complex problems that way. When I was a wee bit younger, I used to keep a pad of paper next to the bed and a diver's tablet and waterproof pen in the shower because if I didn't write it down, I'd forget. Now, I don't forget. I can't remember my name half the time but I don't forget about problem solutions anymore. 😀

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004407 More actions · Answer 2

Heh... I don't need anyone to tell me when I'm burnt out anymore. I'm old enough now that if I look in the mirror and I'm drooling, then I know I'm almost burnt out. 😀 If I can't hit my pie hole with a cup of coffee, then it's time for bed.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Julie Breutzmann Hall of Fame Points: 3637 More actions · Answer 3

I often solve problems after I temporarily set them aside — apparently my subconscious works on them. Technical challenges are generally ok. Dreaming about work is a pretty good sign of stress. And I rarely work more than 40 hours per week, now anyway. When we converted to a new vendor on our software — the long hours, keeping the old system running while trying to learn the new one, pushed me nearly to the breaking point. I stuck with it mainly out of concern for the unbearable load it would have placed on my colleague who was working even more hours than I was and had the greatest responsibility as the project manager.

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 4

Somehow I can't connect burnout with long hours - maybe that's because most of my career I was doing things I enjoyed doing, and quite often bosses were more likely to tell me to work less than to try to get me to work more. What I can connect burnout with is having an impossible job, with a ridiculous amount of company politics, with co-operation between different parts of the company close to non-existent, and running a development spread across 3 US and 3 Britsh locations and staffed mostly with people on loan from other functions who were usually dragged away by their bosses just when I most needed them so I got little work from them; plus doing other odds and ends, but no time to concentrate properly on them. And too much bureaucracy, on top of all that. After a couple of years I was just about going out of my mind with the frustration of being too busy to get properly into the technical side where I could have made a big difference, particularly as it had become clear that the guy whose idea the deveopment had been and who was supposed to be tackling the crritical central component was making zero progress. The result was that I worked shorter hours - sot of lost interest in the work.
Then that company went bust, and I went elsewhere. From then on, until I retired, I worked at two companies (not both at the same time), in very senior management roles at each, where I was able to spend a lot of my time doing technical things (database, apps, tools, hardware evaluation, .....), everyone was cooperative and friendly, and the management things I did (even during a couple of years when we had lost our CEO and I - technical director - and a colleague - creative director - were sharing the CEO work) were useful and effective and didn't take too much of my time. I probably worked longer hours during those years than ever before, but there was no sign at all of burnout.

Tom

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004407 More actions · Answer 5

TomThomson - Sunday, May 20, 2018 6:58 PM
Somehow I can't connect burnout with long hours - maybe that's because most of my career I was doing things I enjoyed doing, and quite often bosses were more likely to tell me to work less than to try to get me to work more. What I can connect burnout with is having an impossible job, with a ridiculous amount of company politics, with co-operation between different parts of the company close to non-existent, and running a development spread across 3 US and 3 Britsh locations and staffed mostly with people on loan from other functions who were usually dragged away by their bosses just when I most needed them so I got little work from them; plus doing other odds and ends, but no time to concentrate properly on them. And too much bureaucracy, on top of all that. After a couple of years I was just about going out of my mind with the frustration of being too busy to get properly into the technical side where I could have made a big difference, particularly as it had become clear that the guy whose idea the deveopment had been and who was supposed to be tackling the crritical central component was making zero progress. The result was that I worked shorter hours - sot of lost interest in the work.
Then that company went bust, and I went elsewhere. From then on, until I retired, I worked at two companies (not both at the same time), in very senior management roles at each, where I was able to spend a lot of my time doing technical things (database, apps, tools, hardware evaluation, .....), everyone was cooperative and friendly, and the management things I did (even during a couple of years when we had lost our CEO and I - technical director - and a colleague - creative director - were sharing the CEO work) were useful and effective and didn't take too much of my time. I probably worked longer hours during those years than ever before, but there was no sign at all of burnout.

That's actually a great differentiation, Tom. I sometimes get pretty tired because of a crunch time but I wouldn't say I was "burned out" for the very same reasons that you sighted. Interesting work with good people and virtually no negative politics. "Culture" can prevent "burn out" even in the face of long hours.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125562 More actions · Answer 6

If your burnout is the result of boredom then that's a symptom of not taking on enough risk or perhaps not reaching out to take on new challenges.

For example ...
- Learn PowerShell and automate a process.
- Proactively identifying those top 10 queries that the most expensive and trying to tune them.
- Invite a random co-worker to lunch once a week instead of always eating alone.
- Set a goal to pass a certification exam by a certain date and spend every free moment studying for it.

The end result is that you're improving yourself professionally as well.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho