As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough.<p>I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my trauma history, impact of world events, etc.<p>One thing I do know for sure: research like this is so encouraging. Normalizing the conversation about mental health is so important.
While I see that this research is aimed at leadership positions and this must surely be a problem, I feel obligated to point out that the issue of burnout could be an <i>even worse</i> problem in non-leadership positions.<p>It seems that a lot of the suggested solutions (take time off, be more honest about your emotions, etc.) are necessarily things that are difficult to do for people who are not in management positions. Requesting long blocks of time off or being forthcoming about your emotions are easily things that can be used against you in employee reviews and other similar situations.<p>In cases of <i>severe</i> burnout, the situation is more dire since people earning a lower salary might simply not be able to step back from work to take a year off, for example (something that was suggested by another poster here).
I wish every leader gets access to these frameworks and takeaways. The #1 issue I face with every single client I've worked with over the years as an executive coach is exactly what they are pointing out here: that dealing with our emotions and inner worlds is the biggest challenge of all. Learning to deal with that has the highest ROI on both success and fulfillment/happiness compared to any other activity for a leader imo.
Really relate to this. I shut down my startup in April. On paper, we ran out of money.<p>Behind the scenes, I finally paid the toll/ burnt out after 1-2 years of constant unexpected, unpredictable shocks. As a solo founder with investors, there was no escape, no one to run things while I took time off, and no way to leave without ending the company. At points, if my phone buzzed with a text message, I would go into a panic attack, expecting another problem.<p>I’m now reading a book on the impact of trauma on psychology and while my experience was nothing compared to people who went to war, etc - I see a lot of similarities. Eg there are external triggers that shock your body without your control.<p>One of the frustrating parts was that I knew it was happening as it was happening. I had the language to identify I was burnt out, had a coach, a therapist, tried to leverage a support network, etc. I do wish there were more solutions for this.<p>At a minimum, it’s good that this issue is getting talked about more and more. An important requirement to take a sabbatical as in the example in the paper is having buy-in from board members, investors, or team mates, so getting more people on board with mental health is key.<p>Question - curious if anyone has seen any books on burnout recovery. Thus far, 4 months in, it’s quite a long process.
Just my tidbit:<p>I am 8 months into my journey after severe burnout (decided to take n amount of time off till I felt “right” last December).<p>I am not a founder, but have worked in high caliber roles for the last few years (I am still fairly early in my career). My last job was at a YC company.<p>I started out thinking it’d be 2 months. Then 4. Then it turned into 6. I panicked a lot in the beginning, I am used to overworking or nothing. It just took time, and things started to fall into place mentally (and even physically).<p>Now I’ve accepted that at a year, I believe I’ll be ready. I’m happy to report I feel motivation creeping in - and my creative wheels have been turning. It’s really about where to channel things next. It is the most refreshing and rewarding feeling in the world, to see light at the end of the technical-block tunnel.<p>If I’m completely honest, there are still days when I dread the thought of returning to the screen, even when I don’t want to - but those days are less and less. I’m extremely fortunate to have been able to do this.<p>Burnouts are like bad breakups - our nerves are likes wounds, and it just takes time to heal them after putting them on overdrive for extended periods of time. The emotional toll is taxing, a high and illogical price to pay when you consider resting like we are designed to do. Just my two cents, good luck!
This is really insightful, thanks for sharing.<p>I've had my own challenges with burnout. It's why I ended up leaving the corporate world. I've been working on a startup for about a year and while I feel a lot better, I have noticed that I'm not taking any time off. I fortunately have a good group of coaches & mentors around me now that are looking out for me, which has been life saving. I will definitely dive deeper into the report and use some of these tools to build resilience for myself and my team.
Despite the praise, I don’t see much of value. This is taxonomic in nature, giving you some loose categories to decompose sources of stress and emotional debt, but tons of research has been done in these areas, and this survey is a bit contrived with not very much data in the scheme of things.<p>None of that is a big deal really, but what bugs me is nothing in the document offers concrete strategy or tactics to resolve emotional debt or burnout. Advice like “be self-aware” and “go for a walk” and “get enough sleep” is <i>terrible</i> because <i>everyone</i> is already trying all that and burnout hits you specifically when circumstances prevent you from adequately “just” doing them.<p>It’s empty non-advice, very similar to saying “eat right & exercise” to a depressed person.<p>It reminds me a bit of this discussion of severe life events as a major explainer of most depression,<p><a href="https://grasshoppermouse.github.io/2018/12/16/seven-reasons-why-major-depression-is-probably-not-a-brain-disorder/" rel="nofollow">https://grasshoppermouse.github.io/2018/12/16/seven-reasons-...</a><p>It’s the same with burnout.<p>You can torture out “shadow” reasons all you want, but it’s really deflecting from the big obvious fact that un-live-with-able circumstances are un-live-with-able and you need to actually fix and remove traumatic circumstances. You should not talk about or endorse “being resilient” to them, because it’s just victim blaming “you need to take care of yourself” dressed up in pseudotheory.<p>Honestly I see more harm than good in analysis like this. Especially in terms of letting corporations and HR departments deflect and ignore fixing toxic work environments rampant with major burnout stressors, by supplying braindead platitudes like “go for a walk” or “be self-aware” and even worse saying, “look our <i>leaders</i> are doing it, so they’re not asking you to do something they themselves aren’t doing.”
This is a good discussion of burnout overall, but it's missing a key part:<p>Sometimes you're in a terrible environment and need to leave. The company you work for could be terrible, and no amount of emotional calisthenics will prepare you for trying to breathe on the surface of the moon.
Here's a handy link to the PDF, which is easier on the eyes than google docs: <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KaPv-yVxjLb8b4WlF0nsAA5b6ftAsYw3/view" rel="nofollow">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KaPv-yVxjLb8b4WlF0nsAA5b6ft...</a><p>This was a phenomenal read and led me to ask my own question: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24265697" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24265697</a>
Protect yourself from Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), Narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), Psychopathy (lack of remorse and empathy), Sadism (pleasure in suffering of others)
On a vaguely related note, the 'How I built this' podcast has recently been running a 'How I built resilience' series, focusing on how founders and entrepreneurs are navigating turbulent times.
<a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this</a>