Burnout
Burnout ...and possibly how to defend against it.
A little bit of backstory is probably in order. For me, burnout has never been a problem until this past month. Working on a migration from a data center to the cloud that's run over 6 months of constant work has gotten me pretty fried. We're nearly at the end and I feel like I've gained quite a bit of perspective on this problem, at least for myself. I feel like I'm actually in a decent place to talk about how I prevented total burnout/quitting/etc and maybe what I've learned can help someone else (including myself, the next time I'm facing burnout).
First off, there are two things that I believe contribute to burnout. Time sinks and mental energy sinks. Context switching is a great example of a time sink. We all know that we lose at least 15 minutes of productive time when we context switch. What we don't always realize is how much mental energy we spend. Burnout happens when we either have no more time or no more mental energy. Time can be recovered by extending deadlines, having other knowledgeable people help on the problem, etc. Mental energy however is being constantly drained while working on a given problem. For me, I find very few ways to recover that energy, none of which are quick. So, what we have are two ways of preventing burnout:
- Reduce mental energy drain
- Replenish mental energy
Let's tackle the reduce problem first.
Reducing Mental Energy Drain
Support System
Having a good, solid support system of friends, family, and coworkers is the first thing that helped me prevent mental drain. Knowing that someone has your back when you're spending all of your mental energy fighting through an obscure bug in a complex ETL system that's been mangled and munged just to get it working is shockingly helpful. Just as having an significant other that understands why you're mubling under your breath at the dinner table and get up in the middle of eating because you just had a breakthrough can save your sanity and your relationship.
Tooling
Any tool you currently use that adds to your cognative load or adds barriers to solving problems needs to be thrown out a window, right now. You're not doing yourself any favors by using something that's not quite good enough or even "good enough". Your tools are extensions of your brain and anything that's standing in the path between your brain and the solution to your problem needs to help, not hinder. Everything from the keyboard you type on, to the headphones you use to stay focused, to the text editor you write blog posts in. Everything matters. So much so that you, right now, need to take a good hard look at the tools you use and identify any that are problematic. No, I really mean that, go do it now. I'll wait.
Breaking down problems
The brain can only handle so much at any given time, so, to prevent mental drain, give it less to chew on. If you have a large problem, first, document what the problem is. Then, if it's still to large, start breaking it down into managable chunks, documenting each of those and then take them one by one. I guarantee it'll be easier than trying to tackle the entire thing, all at once.
Replenishing Mental Energy
Play
Hopefully you have an office as relaxed as mine as I find that shooting one another with nerf guns and having impromteau "nerf wars" is a huge stress relief and a way to remember that your coworkers are just as stressed as you are and that they're just as human, childish, and fun as you are. Failing that, make time to go do something fun, whether that's gardening, 4-wheeling, or just going for a walk in the park.
Get away from the computer
No, seriously. The more time I spend with computers, the more I've come to realize that I need time away from them. If you're under a deadline, this "time away" definitely comes at a premium, but is vital to replenish some of your mental energy. Bonus points if it happens to be something physical. Several things that have worked for me have been tai-chi, woodworking, yard work (no, really! I actually find that mowing the lawn is a very meditative act), and reading a good novel (no technical books!!!).
Meditation
For me, this consists of either mindfulness walking or of the "classic" meditation of emptying my mind. I'm not sure why this is so helpful to me, but it always seems to allow me to regain focus and just be able to think clearly again. Your mileage may vary.
Exercise
Okay, so this is something that I'm pretty terrible at being consistent. That being said, having some sort of exercise (even if it's just going for a 30 minute walk) can be incredible helpful in recharging your mental energy. I've found, personally, that I need to have a good balance between the physical and mental aspects of my life and if I don't have at least a walk every other day, I end up being more mentally exhausted than I "should be".