The one about burnout

Hello and sorry for delay since my last newsletter. As the subject line says, I’ve been dealing with burnout.

Generally there are three things that cause burnout:

1. Overexertion: From taking on too much for an extended period.

2. Depletion: From not recharging and resting properly.

3. Misalignment: From doing the things that don’t align with our values or aspirations.

In my case, it was overexertion at work. I was (and still am) attempting to be both a designer and a manager.

I won’t bore you with the details, most of know what burnout looks like.

We're stressed in and out of work. Too much to do and not enough time to do it. Early mornings, late nights. Lunch happens in an 8min break between meetings. Only time it feels like any progress is made is night or on weekends when no one else is around, but we know that’s neither healthy nor sustainable.

Maybe working out three times a week, eating healthy, and getting 8 hours of sleep will be enough. Yet, even if we follow through, it hardly makes a difference.

What if we take time off to "rest and recharge?" But upon our return, we see that work hasn’t taken a break, it’s just been waiting for us. And now there’s even more of it.

This type of burnout we can often spot easily, but there's another form of burnout that’s much harder to see coming: phantom burnout.

The symptoms of phantom burnout are the same as regular burnout:

Dabbling. Lack of focus. Procrastination. Absence of any routine. Feeling drained from sitting in a chair. Succumbing easily and frequently to distractions, and being fully aware that we're doing it but doing it anyway.

But the thing with phantom burnout is that it happens so slowly it’s hard to realize that we’re burning out. Like the frog who doesn’t realize it’s being slowly boiled.

I didn’t realize I was burned out until I caught myself spacing out at my desk like Peter Gibbons from Office Space. “Oh. Well…fuck.” I thought to myself.

I wish I had an answer, but I don’t. I’m still fighting through this myself, but at least I’m not aware of the burnout.

Honestly that’s the only piece of advise I have if you’re going through something similar: To acknowledge the burnout. Be honest with yourself, do your best to pinpoint it’s cause, and stop it before it gets any worse.

In my case, I’m…

1. having conversions with my manager about taking too much.

2. delegating more work to my reports.

3. protecting my downtime and headspace as much as possible.

YMMV.

If you’re feeling burned out, for whatever reason, just know you’re not alone. If you ever want to chat (or vent), you can reply to this email :hugs:

Stray Links 🧶

Getting Things Done In A Chaotic Environment: Honestly I haven’t even read this yet and am recommending it based on the title alone. Because ya know, based on what I wrote above, this sorta thing is on my mind.

A Book Apart will stop publishing new titles. End of an era.

A product marketing manager got laid off so she made this video to stand out in the job market and… it’s incredible.

Lenovo has revealed the first-ever laptop with a fully transparent display.

After reading Things Unexpectedly Named After People I learned that German chocolate cake isn’t actually german, but named after American Samuel German and now I don’t know what to think about anything anymore.

The Motorist Won from artist Kyle Branchesi transforms UK landmarks like Stonehenge and Buckingham Palace into vast vehicular realms to underscore the absurdity and danger of car ownership over sustainable urban planning.

Jobs from teams I admire

Dialpad is hiring product designers, engineers, and marketers (including my team!). Reply if you’re interested!

NVIDIA is hiring a Sr. Product Manager for Deep Learning 💰$196k - $368k, 🌎 Remote

Lattice is hiring a Director of Product Design 💰$215k - $300k, 🌎 Remote

Perplexity AI is hiring a Design Engineer 💰$160k - $200k, 🌎 SF Bay Area

Rewiring America is hiring a Senior Product & Experience Designer 💰$150k - $175k, 🌎 Remote

Thanks for reading ✌️
Ted (@tedgoas)