<story><title>Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?</title><text>Sorry for the mini-rant, I’m just a bit lost at the moment. I don’t know whether it’s worth looking at changing careers, trying to stick with it or something else I haven’t thought of. I’ve been working in the industry for 14 years and feel like I’m old and jaded. I got a bit burnt out a couple of years ago working 70-hour weeks and haven’t been able to bounce back since. Now, whenever I’m coding, it just feels like an enormous effort to get anything done. I’ve tried to work on different projects and things that are more in line with my interests, but that hasn’t really seemed to help. I’ve worked in various management roles over the years and have been drawn more towards that side of things at the moment, mainly because it isn’t coding. I feel like I’m average at best as a manager, but I have ASD so there are a few aspects of it that I really struggle with. I feel like I could work on these aspects, but it will always be draining and it will never be easy the way coding used to be. The other problem with management is that most people want you in-house for that, whereas I enjoy the freedom of contracting.&lt;p&gt;Has anyone come back from being burnt out to love what they do again? If so, how did you manage to do it?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>Waterluvian</author><text>Kind of this.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think it&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;care less&amp;quot; but I think it&amp;#x27;s  &amp;quot;care appropriately for 40 hours a week.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The concept of &amp;quot;quiet quitting&amp;quot; is a shameful, panicky fraud perpetuated by the power holders in the industry that see their power slipping.  &amp;quot;Quiet quitting&amp;quot; has been known as &amp;quot;work to rule&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;fulfilling a contract.&amp;quot;  My paystub says 40 hours. My original contract says nothing about overtime.  I&amp;#x27;m not quiet quitting, I&amp;#x27;m doing my !@#$ing job.&lt;p&gt;By being STRICTLY limited to 40 hours, I can do my job at full strength, providing consistent results and quality. And then I&amp;#x27;m not so burned out that I go home and do whatever I please with my life.  Sometimes that&amp;#x27;s more coding for me!&lt;p&gt;My job is a side quest, not a main quest.</text></item><item><author>highwaylights</author><text>This advice is going to be hated by a lot of people but.. care less.&lt;p&gt;You’re in an industry that values your skills and seems to always have demand. Whether or not that’s true in the future, it certainly is &lt;i&gt;today&lt;/i&gt;, so the best thing you can do is put yourself first and worry less about work
as a whole. Especially if it’s not your own company.&lt;p&gt;Spend more time on you, on activities with friends and family, on hobbies. If you don’t have particularly healthy hobbies, maybe start some.  Getting &lt;i&gt;away&lt;/i&gt; from your work more and more will make it all the more bearable.&lt;p&gt;These days work is close to the bottom of my list of concerns, which sounds really bad - BUT - I find I’m more productive than I’ve been in years &lt;i&gt;because&lt;/i&gt; I’m not worrying if something takes longer than expected or is bigger than I realised. I can just enjoy the problem solving and shipping without the stress.&lt;p&gt;If you’re burned out this badly I’d suggest it’s your soul’s way of telling yourself “hey this isn’t working for me”. As someone who has been to some pretty messed up depths with the anxiety monster, I’d heed that voice. Life isn’t long enough to stay stuck in a rut like this for any amount of time at all.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tapanjk</author><text>&amp;gt; My job is a side quest, not a main quest.&lt;p&gt;Even if it were your main quest, I think the strategy you outline is worth following. Going all out is what causes burnout, and that applies to whether you are working for yourself or for someone else, and also whether you are working a job or working on your passion.&lt;p&gt;A career is like an ultra marathon -- maintain a sustainable pace, and run with people you like to spend time with.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?</title><text>Sorry for the mini-rant, I’m just a bit lost at the moment. I don’t know whether it’s worth looking at changing careers, trying to stick with it or something else I haven’t thought of. I’ve been working in the industry for 14 years and feel like I’m old and jaded. I got a bit burnt out a couple of years ago working 70-hour weeks and haven’t been able to bounce back since. Now, whenever I’m coding, it just feels like an enormous effort to get anything done. I’ve tried to work on different projects and things that are more in line with my interests, but that hasn’t really seemed to help. I’ve worked in various management roles over the years and have been drawn more towards that side of things at the moment, mainly because it isn’t coding. I feel like I’m average at best as a manager, but I have ASD so there are a few aspects of it that I really struggle with. I feel like I could work on these aspects, but it will always be draining and it will never be easy the way coding used to be. The other problem with management is that most people want you in-house for that, whereas I enjoy the freedom of contracting.&lt;p&gt;Has anyone come back from being burnt out to love what they do again? If so, how did you manage to do it?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>Waterluvian</author><text>Kind of this.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think it&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;care less&amp;quot; but I think it&amp;#x27;s  &amp;quot;care appropriately for 40 hours a week.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The concept of &amp;quot;quiet quitting&amp;quot; is a shameful, panicky fraud perpetuated by the power holders in the industry that see their power slipping.  &amp;quot;Quiet quitting&amp;quot; has been known as &amp;quot;work to rule&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;fulfilling a contract.&amp;quot;  My paystub says 40 hours. My original contract says nothing about overtime.  I&amp;#x27;m not quiet quitting, I&amp;#x27;m doing my !@#$ing job.&lt;p&gt;By being STRICTLY limited to 40 hours, I can do my job at full strength, providing consistent results and quality. And then I&amp;#x27;m not so burned out that I go home and do whatever I please with my life.  Sometimes that&amp;#x27;s more coding for me!&lt;p&gt;My job is a side quest, not a main quest.</text></item><item><author>highwaylights</author><text>This advice is going to be hated by a lot of people but.. care less.&lt;p&gt;You’re in an industry that values your skills and seems to always have demand. Whether or not that’s true in the future, it certainly is &lt;i&gt;today&lt;/i&gt;, so the best thing you can do is put yourself first and worry less about work
as a whole. Especially if it’s not your own company.&lt;p&gt;Spend more time on you, on activities with friends and family, on hobbies. If you don’t have particularly healthy hobbies, maybe start some.  Getting &lt;i&gt;away&lt;/i&gt; from your work more and more will make it all the more bearable.&lt;p&gt;These days work is close to the bottom of my list of concerns, which sounds really bad - BUT - I find I’m more productive than I’ve been in years &lt;i&gt;because&lt;/i&gt; I’m not worrying if something takes longer than expected or is bigger than I realised. I can just enjoy the problem solving and shipping without the stress.&lt;p&gt;If you’re burned out this badly I’d suggest it’s your soul’s way of telling yourself “hey this isn’t working for me”. As someone who has been to some pretty messed up depths with the anxiety monster, I’d heed that voice. Life isn’t long enough to stay stuck in a rut like this for any amount of time at all.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>coldpie</author><text>And definitely do not put any kind of work contact on your phone. If people are texting your private number, ignore it until you are back on the clock, or even consider blocking them. If you&amp;#x27;re not on the clock, you&amp;#x27;re not reachable. If they want you reachable, that&amp;#x27;s called &amp;quot;being on call&amp;quot; and is a separate negotiation involving higher wages and agreed-upon hours.</text></comment>