
Ask HN: Working through burnout? - cauterized
I know, I know, the solution to burnout is to slow down and take some time off.<p>What do you do when you&#x27;re exhausted, your brain is fuzzy, and you just plain have to meet a hard deadline in a few days?  You have obligations to your team and your company and yourself that just can&#x27;t put off.<p>It&#x27;s all well and good to say you&#x27;ll take a week off once the deadline is met, but how do you keep your brain operative and your mind focused enough to read and write code for those intervening 3 days when you can barely read a sentence of plain English text without having to go back over it 3 times to extract any meaning?
======
IgorPartola
Honestly? Refuse. In my experience, there are very few situations where crunch
time affects the bottom line. There are some, to be sure, but chances are slim
that you have stumbled upon it. More likely, someone higher up got impatient
and is driving this. I have worked many a Saturday nights until 3-4 am to try
to launch a site on Monday, just to learn that there was going to be a month
long delay because someone else didn't do something. I had a deadline of "we
are launching this thing on Friday"... for 12 weeks straight (finally launched
it once it was truly ready a year later).

For working weekends, I've adopted a policy of roughly one weekend a year.
That's how often I believe true emergencies happen (at least for most
situations; Google SRE need not apply).

Look, if it's an isolated incident, take some breaks, find something to
distract and relax you, get sleep. If it's a second or third attempt to get
the team to crunch hard, quit.

~~~
harkyns_castle
This makes a lot of sense to me, and has happened a few times. Very rarely is
the crunch worth it, and almost always "burning the midnight oil" results in
bad code/bad work. To the point where it might have been better to have been
fresh and made a decision that resulted in 5 minutes work, or no work, versus
slogging away at a waste of time because you're doggedly doing something that
makes no sense.

On top of that, there seems to be a theme of employers trying to expect that
lately, or "well, its IT, you're expected to work out of hours for free". Just
refuse that and find a better employer, is my advice, if that happens too
often.

------
swalsh
I was burnt out once. It got bad, I got depressed, for lack of better way to
putting it, i felt "disconnected" from myself. My relationship was suffering,
and nothing made it better. It only got worse. I'd get in this loop, where i'd
work long hours. Get nothing done, so work longer hours. It kept repeating,
getting worse and worse.

I tried taking a vacation, that did little to help. What worked for me was
changing jobs. Still, I didn't get better immediately, it took me a good year
or so to feel "productive" again.

It was one of the worst periods of time in my life, and i'd recommend you get
out as fast as possible.

~~~
derekp7
I was in a similar situation -- for me, I didn't feel like my contributions
were welcomed, felt like there was too much of a load of work to do, but it
also felt like useless work. Then the company downsized, and I was laid off
for 4 months in the summer. During the recession, and only got a hand full of
interviews during that time (I think 3 in-person, and 2 phone interviews). But
that 4 months off made me a new person, so when I did get back to work (new
job, with a strong need for my skill set) I felt (and performed) like I was 20
years younger.

So, "yes" to the job change, and a big "yes" to a real vacation (not just a
week, but sometimes you need a month or more off). The best is if you can have
some savings, and find a job that has a start date pushed out a bit (of course
this is a bit risky depending on the job market and your ability to easily
land a job).

------
sumanthvepa
If you are burned out, it may very well be that you will miss that 'hard
deadline'. However, very few deadlines in life are really 'hard' (as in you
will lose your life if you don't meet the deadline.) Talk to the folks who
have set the deadline to see if it can be rescheduled. If they cannot or will
not reschedule your deadlines, then resign yourself to the consequences of the
missed deadline and start thinking of your life beyond the deadline. If it is
some sort of application deadline, remember these sorts of deadlines are
artificial. You can always apply the next round. Or a different opportunity
will arise. All the best. Don't make burnout worse by stressing about
deadlines. If missing the deadline isn't going to result in your death or the
death of a loved one, it's not a final deadline.

~~~
thisIsNotMikey
^^ this. When you try and control things, you only let them control you.
Ignore the deadline and focus on writing good code.

------
caffeine
Seriously, the only practical thing that works is exercise and sleep. If you
have to push through, exercise 1hr per day and sleep at least 6 hours during
your ordeal. The exercise will clear your fog brain like nothing else can.
Also, moderate your caffeine intake during this period - your adrenals are
already shot from stress and exhaustion, no need to make it worse.

~~~
masukomi
meh, exercise and sleep are great, and they certainly help, but sometimes the
job itself is the core problem... Doesn't matter how fit and well rested you
are if you're sick of doing the same thing day after day after day after
day...

~~~
caffeine
Agreed, but OP asks about getting the job done despite fatigue and burnout,
short-term. For more general information on handling burnout long-term, I
believe there are a wealth of HN posts already.

------
zamalek
Discipline. In more way than one.

Firstly, the discipline to avoid getting exhausted in the first place. I don't
knee-jerk "yes" when asked to work overtime, I make a deliberate decision
despite how much pride I might have in the product or how much pressure I am
put under by management. When I work overtime for a single night it's seen as
a big deal and a big favor: as it should be.

Secondly, the discipline to push through if the first case of discipline
somehow fell short. Then I demand leave, bonus leave, _immediate_ leave: no
questions asked. If I've had the discipline to push through, I can easily
demand that my employer has the discipline to ensure that I am in top working
order despite their mistake.

------
notjustanymike
You're asking how to drive a car when it's run out of gas. You don't. Maybe
you can push it slowly, but really you should fill up, even just a little.
It's a lot easier to drive a car to the next fill station than it is to kill
yourself pushing it there. Take some time, even a just a little, and put some
gas in your tank.

------
mtrimpe
I'll +1 Exercise. Meditate. Sleep. When I read your comment this is what I
read though: "I committed to this goal and I gave it everything I got but
still came up short. How can I make it so I didn't come up short?"

I've been there not too long ago with the goal being making a multi-million
euro part of an even bigger project with 7 figure fines for delays get off the
critical path in the midst of a corporate reorganization. In the end me coming
up a tad short still was a resounding success for the company. The multi-year
personal recovery period afterwards wasn't though.

The main thing that I've learnt is that every company is in its most optimal
state when every individual in it consistently _cycles_ between being pushed
to grow _AND_ completely relaxing. It's the same formula sporters use to get
better: if you're not pushed frequently you stall and underperform; if you
can't relax your dynamic range decreases and you'll slowly become less
effective.

For any company to get there its employees need to internalize one very
specific guideline: when you're under stress and don't see a way to fully
relax and shake it off sufficiently soon it's time to reorganize the process
so that your stress levels become manageable again; hard deadline or no hard
deadline.

------
joeld42
Avoid crunch, it's not good for you, blah blah, see all the other comments.
But sometimes you have to.

Try the "caf-nap". Drink a strong cup of coffee and immediately go to sleep
(set an alarm for 45 mins or so). It can feel like a good 3-4 hour nap if it
works.

In general, I'd say just make absolutely sure that that hard deadline is hard,
and you can push yourself and recover afterward. Or if it's not really such a
hard deadline, push it out long enough that you can recover.

If you are feeling foggy, work on the "grunt work" parts of the project (like
lining up UI, or converting data or something that doesn't take much
thinking), and when you are feeling more alert, work on the hard parts and
firewall them off from sleepy you.

Don't take any drugs stronger than caffeine, even if your coworkers are.

Say to yourself, if I had to ship this literally four hours from now, what
would I do? How could I fake it so that it appeared done? Do that. Then do it
again. Then do it again until it's sort of really done.

Write down a priority list, not of importance but of implementation time. Cut
the biggest item, no matter how important.

Look for parts that can be faked and retrofit later, with hardcoded data,
textfiles, pure magic bullshit, whatever. Fake them.

Forget about quality. Once you're at this point, you've already missed your
chance at that. Just get something done.

Make it a challenge, make it a war story. Don't let it happen again.

~~~
caffeine
> Say to yourself, if I had to ship this literally four hours from now, what
> would I do? How could I fake it so that it appeared done? Do that. Then do
> it again. Then do it again until it's sort of really done.

That is _really_ good advice

------
waivej
I totally know the feeling and have had to really dig deeply in the past year.
Here are some things that worked.

1) Be ruthless about what you need to accomplish. This means choosing what to
"do poorly" at. Sure everything is "important" but it's time to secretly throw
a few things overboard.

2) Do whatever you can to optimize your wellbeing. Go to bed early and sleep
enough. (1/3 dose of melatonin if you have trouble falling asleep.) Plan
simple healthy meals that don't require much thinking or prep. A media fast is
really good. Try to throw in a tiny bit of exercise (20 minutes) and 10
minutes of meditation here and there. (ex: when you arrive at the office)

3) Do the work in cycles so you get time to think between bursts. As we get
older, the work wears us down so I treat screen time as "toxic exposure" and
set a daily maximum. That doesn't mean you have to stop working...Just step
away from the desk and visualize what you're going to do. Then get in there
and work quickly and efficiently and get out and plan the next burst.

Bonus: In a real pinch, you need to work every day of the week. Though extra
cycles and wellbeing make this pretty easy. If you're working too hard, the
weekends are necessary to recover.

~~~
davismwfl
Totally agree with #1, drop things that are not really necessary. This is hard
as if you care and are passionate about what you do, because you won't think
you can drop anything. Trust me you can.

Exercise and eating are critical, something I personally fail at all too often
when I get stressed. Supplements like others have said aren't going to fix the
problem, but can help you control some of the symptoms (Vitamin B6, B12 & D
are really good here). Just stay away from powerful drugs if at all possible,
masking the symptom with a potent drug isn't worth the pain later. However,
that said, sometimes in life it is necessary, so be your own judge.

Don't believe in the fallacy that you will take a week off when this deadline
is met. Cause the reality is you will likely feel, I can't leave now because
what if X happens, or Y etc. Instead, its likely time to renegotiate the
deadline, likely was time 2+ weeks ago, but either way just do it.

Failure can be defined a lot of ways, missing a deadline is generally not one
of them when the cost of missing it exceeds the value it offers. I have seen
many deadlines set by a startup or small business because they feel they have
to get to market by day X or they miss the boat, fail, go out of business, you
name it. Guess what, Day X comes and nothing changes except the team is burnt
and bitter at minimum for awhile. As usually even moderate success is Day X +
Y. If the date has been long announced then yes meeting the date may be
critical, but how you meet the date is still negotiable.

------
cauterized
Just responding to thank everyone for their suggestions (and support!) -- a
lot of really good ideas... Almost all of the advice is applicable to one
situation or another (except possibly "take drugs" \-- REALLY??)

In this particular case, I think the problem was the choice to prioritize
other people's needs over my own -- even my own work tasks. The combination of
stress and constant interruption was causing fatigue beyond what would
normally be warranted by the actual amount of time I've been spending working
(a bit more than is sustainable, but only for a few days so far) and sleeping
(as much as usual). After a day of being deliberately selfish, I'm in a
slightly better place.

To answer some of the questions and concerns brought up:

We have a deadline based on a 3rd-party real-world event. The deadline is non-
negotiable. To a certain degree, feature set/which bugs we fix are.

I'm the project manager as well as a developer, so I'm not free from blame for
the tight deadline. That said, we were on track to complete the project weeks
ahead of schedule until a couple of critical features were delayed by
unavailability of a crucial resource (despite my protests) until way later in
the schedule than should have been acceptable.

In part, I'm working so hard in order to shield the team as much as possible
from the consequences of my mistakes and the above-mentioned resource
allocation error, which are not their fault. I'm demanding this of myself far
more than my employer is demanding it of me, because I don't want to let these
people down. Including a very supportive and not-unreasonably-demanding
manager. Not a firing or quitting situation!

------
kls
Do you have a hobby? If the answer is no, then you need to do some soul
searching and find something external to technology that you would enjoy. My
wife is a psychiatrist (well not yet, she is finishing her doctorate) and
doing a study on burn out, she believes it is a undiagnosed form of temporal
depression. Many times it's onset comes when a developer feels there is
nothing more to learn, what she has named masters syndrome. Many times the
very thing to break it, is to become a novice again. But the trick is a novice
at something totally unrelated, my first one was ballistics. I bought a
reloading bench and learned everything about the accuracy, power transfer of
bullets. Fishing and Hunting have always been big for me as well, so I took
time to do both. My wife believes that burn out is a product of a specific
personality profile that likes to learn, but may feel that they have mastered
their field. I stress that she is still collecting data and at this point it
is conjecture, until the data validates it. But I can say developing new
interests broke it for me and it certainly worth a try.

~~~
nerdy
I don't think a hobby is going to help meet a deadline a few days away.

~~~
kls
No you are correct, but if you are suffering from burn out you have a larger
problem than a looming deadline. Corrective steps take time. It takes years to
get to burn out, there is no magic bullet to undue that overnight.

------
nerdy
Solve the "fuzzy brain" complex: Take time to evaluate your situation.
Understanding your current position relative to your goal is incredibly
important to maintaining having a clear mind during stressful circumstances.
If your to-do list isn't logged somewhere, get it into the medium of your
choice (physical or electronic). The cognitive load of those tasks is
undoubtedly weighing on you. Keep paper nearby when you're going to sleep so
any sudden thoughts can be offloaded immediately without the glowing allure of
a display panel.

Prioritize: Are there some to-dos which have blockers? You might need an image
from a 3rd party, task interdependencies, some information from someone
working on the project... get those things happening in parallel while you
work (start them as early as possible).

Keep the feedback loop short: Is it possible some part of the deliverable is
going to be rejected or changes may be required? Can you mock it up and save
some development time? Try to have the highest possible confidence in what
you're building and keep the feedback loop small. Not only does provide you a
requirements guarantee, it can help prevent unrealistic expectations about
progress since everyone is kept updated as a side effect of the feedback loop.
Don't fall into the trap of thinking "it's only 3 days anyways, they don't
need to be involved, I just need to get this done."

Stay balanced: Don't increase or decrease caffeine intake. Decreasing it drag
you down, increase will make you have manic productivity swings with deep
valleys. Don't skip sleep, meals or exercise. Even if you don't normally
exercise you should start during this period to prevent your mind from racing
and to help rest at night. Do it daily as vigorously as you can, figure out if
AM or PM works best for you. If you have a friend or significant other you can
involve, it can help get more out of your limited free time between now and
the deadline.

~~~
Starwatcher2001
Good points about prioritising. It might be better to have one feature missing
than going in to bat with several features only partially working or buggy.

------
codingdave
There are quite a few long-term answers already to avoiding burnout, but the
trick to getting past the next 3 days is to walk away for a brief break right
now. Do something you really enjoy, ideally that lets your body get some
exercise while you can completely ignore the work for a few hours. Let
yourself forget for a few hours.

If it is too short of a break, it won't work. If it is too long of a break,
you'll be too far disconnected and still feel burnt out when you try to start
again. For me, 2-3 hours is about right.

And everyone else is correct. Once this is over, and you have recovered, find
new routines to avoid this in future. Also, do some real analysis of how you
got here in the first place - burnout due to hard deadlines is almost always a
flaw in your project management process (or lack thereof). Treat this burnout
like a performance problem in software - dig deep, find the root cause, and
fix it.

------
ccallebs
Many people are telling you that discipline is the solution. They're not
necessarily wrong, but the most disciplined person in the world cannot squeeze
blood from a stone. Sometimes you're mentally fatigued, discouraged, and the
task at hand seems overwhelming.

For me, __progress __is the solution to burnout. Stop whatever hard problem
you 're working on for a bit and work on something simple -- layout tweaks,
small bug fixes, code cleanup, automated tests. This usually gives me the
extra boost of dopamine I need to handle the larger task at hand.

Your mileage may vary of course but it's something that has worked wonders for
me.

------
tommi
Take at least one hour consecutive walk every day without any gadgets. It'll
give your brain time to recover and your body exercise to releave stress.

~~~
brandonlipman
+1 for walking. I am a pathological walker. If I am having issues (stress,
concern, overwhelmed) I walk for a few hours. I can't say it always works but
it gives me something constructive to do and allows me to focus less on my
immediate problems that I often can't change.

------
igorgue
There are some drugs to help people with _real_ medical conditions like
narcolepsy that can help and have been known to help.

Natural stuff, take more breaks, and just have in the back of your mind that
better days (specially nights are ahead).

Avoid burnouts, I was on some pills for a year to launch a product and then,
first I got fired cause I couldn't do shit, then I slept for a month and
couldn't get a job to save my life. That was 6 years ago, and is now that I
feel better. Don't be STUPID is not worth it.

------
Starwatcher2001
If you're as fogged out as you seem to be, then the hours you're spending at
work are pretty much completely unproductive. I'd suggest you use them more
wisely by going home and getting a really good nights sleep. Consider it an
investment in being more productive tomorrow.

~~~
lkrubner
That is useless advice. More so, it is hurtful advice. "Get a long night
sleep" is not always an option. And the person above is clearly asking "When a
long night of sleep is not an option, what else can I do?" We all know there
are professions (fire fighters, police, soldiers, nurses, doctors, computer
programmers, etc) where it is sometimes necessary to work extreme hours. And
the question being asked is clearly, how do you keep operating when you have
to work extreme hours? If you have no answer, then don't post anything, and
let others answer.

~~~
juhq
I see no reason for extreme hours for programmers, it's just wasted time. More
companies should embrace 6 hour work days and 4 day work weeks, as people are
then forced to work on only the important things and not do any busywork.

Go get a good long sleep. Rest. Get a hammock and sleep on parks. Enjoy life.
Work is not life. Work is means to an end but not life.

~~~
lkrubner
Do you realize that the question being asked has nothing to do with what you
are suggesting? The question is clearly about those situations where "Go get a
good long sleep" is not an option. Are you going to argue that "Go get a good
long sleep" is always an option, under all circumstances? if so, make that
argument: detail the cases where the whole company was depending on you to
reach some crucial deadline, and you felt able to go home and have a long
night of sleep.

Please understand, I think your advice is good whenever it is possible. We
should all try to get a good night of sleep, whenever we can. But sometimes it
is not possible, and this thread is about those situations.

I assume you are intelligent enough to know that sometimes sleep is
impossible. If I doubted your intelligence, then I might list the many
situations where you advice does not apply. I will offer just one anecdote
from my experience: in 2003 myself and my business partner were going to meet
with investors on a Wednesday, to ask for $250,000. We were out of money, so
we had to impress the investors, or we were doomed. I started getting ready
for the demo on Monday, and I kept running into bugs, more and more bugs,
endless bugs. I ended up working for 20 hours, then getting 2 hours of sleep,
then working for 20 more hours, so that we could give a demo on that Wednesday
that was bug free.

Sometimes sleep is not an option. That is what this thread is about.

~~~
s73v3r
Bullshit. How often do those "critical deadlines" end up not meaning anything
other than some MBA chose a date at random? And if the business truly does
hinge on meeting this one deadline, why is he he only one on it?

As for your sob story, why in the holy fuck did you put off the work until the
week of the meeting?

~~~
hnnewguy
> _other than some MBA chose a date at random?_

I'll bet you 90% of these companies working ridiculous hours are run by
programmers.

------
hugs
1) Stop reading HN.

2) Work your ass off for the next 3 days. You can do it. And for the next 3
days, have as many lunch and dinners with your team as you can -- meals with
your team during a crunch time are a great morale booster. Also, don't pull
all-nighters. Even if it's a crisis, you still need sleep.

3) On day 4, have the awkward conversation with your team lead, manager,
etc... and quit.

4) Promise yourself you won't get into that kind of a situation ever again.
And if you do find yourself in that kind of a situation again, promise
yourself that you'll look for and deal with the warning signs sooner than
three days before a deadline. (I know it's clichéd, but especially with
burnout, prevention is much more effective than any cure.)

~~~
s73v3r
If you're gonna quit, why bother killing yourself for the next 3 days? Take
your time and do the work well, on a reasonable pace.

------
onion2k
_You have obligations to your team and your company and yourself that just can
't put off._

Yes, and they have obligations to you. Notably, not to kill you. That's the
level of seriousness you're looking at - people who push through chronic
fatigue (or adrenal fatigue) and carry on working extended hours without
proper rest run quite a significant risk of death. Accept the fact that you
are now totally unproductive and (possibly) actually having a negative impact
on the project.

Best solution: Find a freelancer to step in for a few weeks to give you a
break. Less good solution: cut your hours in half and hope the rest of the
team can pick up the difference.

------
Merkur
Get out! Now! Then clean your Appartment and realy Force Your Self to keep it
clean.

Got burned twice. Took me 3 years to recover from the Last time. Just finished
cleaning my Appartement from 3 years worth of trash. I am so relived!

If You try to work through it you just Drive your self deeper. Scaling back to
halve time may work, but its realy the responsibility that kills you.

Sports, Arts, Travel Are helpfull and Friends! Tell Your Friends You Are
burned, Tell them You will try to kick em out Your Life, and Tell them they
should insist - they should not stop calling you even if you push em back.

Good luck! And next time: Take an early vacation before your Brain is fucked.

------
jdefr89
Take breaks and try excercise. I can tell you what won't work. Any "Smart
drugs" I say this becasue I have been on amphetamines for years. The secret
they don't want you to know? They stop working.. And you need more and more.
Try to stop them? Not without a few months of having zero energy or being able
to think at all. Stay away from "quick fixes" this includes nootropics. There
is no simple solution and no substitute for resting and not overworking.

~~~
SnacksOnAPlane
I've been on Vyvanse for years and it hasn't stopped working. If I don't take
it, I'll feel tired by around 8 PM. If I do, I can stay up for much longer
(although it doesn't seem to really hamper my ability to fall sleep).

------
markovbling
Check out your hormone levels - I burned out HAAAARD trying to write actuarial
exams while working 10 hours and applying for YC (didn't get in ;) - had to
take 2 weeks off.

A persistent lack of sleep can cause your body to shut-off non-essential
processes e.g. hormone regulation. My testosterone (I'm a guy) was abnormally
low (<5th percentile) and it was largely due to lack of sleep, poor eating and
0 exercise. Also I took a testosterone cream supplement for a couple months
and literally within weeks of this + gym + healthy food, I put on 10% my
weight of muscle and magically had twice the energy I had before. I literally
feel like life was a dream before changing my daily routines to keep my
testosterone up (cold shower, heavy weights 4x per week, eat protein rich big
meals with veg, etc. ) and keep myself sane (20min mindfulness meditation
first thing in the morning). That's the other thing: your body functions best
while the sun was up (we have had electricity for ~0.001% of man's complete
lifetime so our bodies didn't evolve to function at night and we've only had
lights for like 100 years. Before that you made a fire and had to chill in one
spot!

TLDR: no sleep + poor diet = messed up hormones = low energy ... get your
blood tested at your GP!

------
nc
Exercise. Meditate. Sleep.

~~~
parham
I have to say these three do wonders and are critical for sustainable
productivity.

~~~
harkyns_castle
Meditating/relaxing in bed before sleep I think is pretty important. Just
taking 10-30 minutes to completely relax the muscles, stretch everything,
forget everything. Pine trees, crickets, water lapping over white sands.

To do it well, I focus on the extremities of the toes and fingers, and give
them a really good stretch, then let them relax. Then work inwards. Eventually
you'll feel like you're floating, and get a good night's sleep. But I also
mean stretch your eyebrows, your jaw etc. Stretch everything possible and let
it relax. Its amazing where you can hold tension.

~~~
parham
I don't have much experience with stretching before sleep, but sounds like it
would work, and work well! I only use meditation to clear my mind so I can get
some peace and away from the problem I've been trying to solve during the day,
otherwise I would be awake all night!

I really do prefer weight training an hour or so before sleep, it just gets
the blood flowing without increasing the heart rate too much.

~~~
harkyns_castle
I agree, I think a good exercise/weight session is equally as good, if not
better. Or both. We're pretty sedentary beasts, and I think that can cause a
lot of problems.

------
segmondy
For me, this is what I do and what has worked for me thus far.

Mental preparation. Always have conversations with yourself about your state
of mind, be your own therapist, I tell myself that I'm blessed and working
24/7 is nothing. There are folks who have a much more physical and mentally
demanding jobs.

There are people who are living in war zone and their job everyday is to
survive, to avoid getting shot, blown to bits, find food within that chaos and
still do whatever they have to do. There is no timeouts, no rest, the action
could begin right while you are sleeping and you have to jump and get back at
it. As a software developer, we have it easy. I imagine myself as a survivor
in the midst of a war. I won't crack and I'm ready for whatever.

Cuss loud if you have to, laugh loud when you have to, have fun within the
work, don't be 100% zoned in, while working, crack jokes, laugh, balance it
out. You can do it. If you are mentally tough, you will not burnout. The
physical toll on your body tho is a different matter, my biggest issue is that
of eating right and weight gain. Best of luck.

~~~
pibefision
"be your own therapist" That's impossible. It's like being your own dentist
when you have problems in your teeth.

~~~
david_shaw
_> "be your own therapist" That's impossible. It's like being your own dentist
when you have problems in your teeth._

Sometimes it's possible, and sometimes it's not.

To respond to your analogy, I would equate "checking in" with your mental
state with brushing your teeth.

No, you can't perform a root canal on yourself, just like you can't bring
yourself out of spiraling depression or a mental disorder -- you can, however,
do some "preventive maintenance," and take care of your mental state. Seek a
professional if/when you need one.

"Burnout" is a nebulous state. Some people are burned out when they've had a
hard week, and others are in an intense state of panic/depression. I think
these should be treated (or self-treated) accordingly.

------
mdpm
Stop. You're devaluing yourself. Every step you take past those barriers,
you're both throwing yourself under the bus, and showing others that your time
and effort is worth less. Something you'll come to believe more and more,
feeding the cycle.

It's unsustainable, on loan from your future, and soon you'll stop being able
to even meet the payments on the interest. Burning out is nothing compared to
the sudden stop at the end, and that elusive 'almost there' Is. Not. True.

Whatever consequences you imagine lie before you if you don't stop, simply
ponder what a death in your immediate family would do to that prioritisation.
It /is/ negotiable, and if it isn't then you're not working for/with the right
people anyway. If that's the case you're being treated as a disposable
commodity. If you're replaceable, fungible, then you're a cost to be
minimised, like a printer cartridge they try squeeze the last out of.

Self isn't something you get back easily (or at all) once traded away. Just
don't.

------
Sir_Substance
Everyone's giving different answers, which is not surprising. We all have
different strategies for coping with unendurable burdens.

My strategy is sheer bloodymindedness, but I find I can only dredge that up so
often. When I push through burnout when I know I shouldn't, I end up knackered
for months.

It's an effort I can really only dredge up once a year or so. Make sure you
talk to your boss about this.

~~~
ryanthejuggler
You burn out once a year? Is this common? I'm contemplating a venture but I'm
trying to evaluate the {mental, emotional, financial} toll it will take before
I do.

~~~
Sir_Substance
I was going to say "no I don't", except I've just tabulated it and found it's
about a once every 18 month experience.

------
lordnacho
How's the rest of the team coping with it? If other people are also stressed,
it is easier to go to management for an extension.

As for just working through it, programming work is not factory work.
Productivity can be negative when you're tired, and x10 when you're on a roll.
You may find yourself more productive just by not doing anything for a day and
coming back.

------
stevenkovar
My superficial suggestion: Sleep, diet, and exercise.

Cut everything else out until the task is done, provided the task holds that
level of importance to you. Sleep will help your brain, exercise will energize
you (even if it's just a brisk walk), and food will sustain you. Sometimes
it's easy to overlook the basics—the foundation of quality effort.

My real suggestion? Take a step back and consider whether the environment
around you will keep you healthy and happy long-term. Burnout charges
interest, and if your environment doesn't afford you the opportunity to repay
that interest, you'll spiral into psychological and physical bankruptcy.

So before finishing this project, take a physical step back, look at your
environment objectively. Is it going to bankrupt you? If yes, seek to remedy
the situation immediately and forcefully. If no, see my superficial suggestion
and get to work.

------
foolinaround
Sometimes failing/falling hard is good; there are lessons to be learnt that we
often don't learn any other way.

So, chances are this round of stress may not go well, and if it does, it may
not be the last.

Step away and analyze where it is that you fail ( in addition to the other
factors ). That will be a valuable learning opportunity.

------
zoba
Be sure you covered all your supplements. If you work indoors, you almost
certainly don't get enough vitamin D. Also, multivitamins. Additionally, I
take fish oil, ginkgo, and saffron and find my brain fog to be improved. But I
think the Vitamin D is essential.

There is good information about supplements on examine.com

~~~
alltakendamned
If only burnout could be fixed with food supplements...

~~~
zoba
Yeah I'm not saying it can be completely fixed with supplements, but when he
mentions having to read the same sentence 3 times...it sounds like it could be
more than just burn out. In my experience, when I've been at that level of
disorientation, I've found supplements actually do help.

I agree though, no supplement is going to completely save the day here.

------
knieveltech
Drugs, but is this really the life you want for yourself?

------
NumberCruncher
Just relax! As one of my former bosses said: "All we do is just BI, we don't
change the world and nobody is going to die if we f* it up." If it's really
important to keep the deadline, you should be able to find help within your
team or your company should pay 5.000$/day for a superhuman hacker to solve
the problem.

Watch the Southpark episode "Ginger Cow". You don't have to sacrifice your
health and wellbeing for a project. You can always find an other "very
important" project and work yourself to death. But - high probably - you don't
have a second life.

------
timlindinct
Try go for a swim in the ocean, an afternoon walk in a forest, a bit of
dancing (and music!) at night. Don't underestimate how much rejuvenation you
can get from having various natural (mental, emotional and physical)
experiences like these.

There's also an adrenal support supplement which after a few days will help
recycle hormones taking the load off your system. Essential oils supplements
should also help with mental clarity.

If your digestion is currently poor, then after a few days of eating less
toxic food you should have much more energy and less mental fatigue.

------
realrocker
For some people the sense of fellowship is more important than self-being. If
you are one of those, well, it's going to be tough for you. Anyhow I would
recommend:

1\. Take little walks during work. 2\. You also need a sound board, a
colleague whom you can trust to validate your work and thoughts, because the
one thing you can't afford is to redo things. Just trust this random stranger
from the internet on this one. 3\. Try to get a fix on the date when you can
take a time off.Knowing that takes of the edge off a bit.

------
madawan
> but how do you keep your brain operative and your mind focused enough to
> read and write code for those intervening 3 days

Adderal, Ritalin or Captagon can be used to get you out of a bad situation.
But you should be very careful not to use them for longer periods because you
will regret it. Talk to your doctor and then go talk to your employer.

I know where I live at least you can take a permanent medical leave for burn-
out, the first month of which is to be paid by your employer, so most
corporations would rather find a solution.

~~~
danellis
Surely a doctor isn't going to prescribe medication just because you're
working too much? They're going to tell you to work less and sleep more. They
don't care about your deadlines, they only care about you health.

------
abc_lisper
It's like asking, how do I walk without legs?

Unlike what Nike's ad says, somethings are not possible, and most things are
not worth it. Your family, sanity, health come first; more so than work, pride
and money(beyond basics).

What you are experiencing is a sampling error, where you are surrounded by
young people who have similar views as yourself. Get out, see more of the
world, heck, work for a IT dept. You would be surprised by how much money they
make for the work they do.

------
johnward
Are you sure it's only burnout? You could be depressed. I feel like the
symptoms are kind of interchangeable to me. Mostly I can't tell if I'm
depressed because work sucks or if work sucks because I'm depressed. Maybe
talking to a therapist would help? Therapy and medication seem to help me a
bit but I still wouldn't say I'm 100%.

------
StudlyCaps
Does your team have a project manager? If so, he or she is the person to go to
when you think a project is in jeopardy.

How did it come to this? Were the original time estimates way off? Was there
significant scope creep? Were there blockers that were beyond your control
(ie. tech problems with dev environments, specs were delivered late, etc.)

More than likely, the release date can be pushed.

------
matthewcford
It's better to stop now and start the road to recovery, because these next
three days will not be productive anyway.

You team will understand, the company cannot fairly* dismiss you for being
overworked and stressed. You owe it to yourself to take a break and recharge.

* depends on your country's laws I guess, but if they value you they will give you time to recover.

------
bsenftner
A hard cardio workout, followed by a 20 min sauna, followed by a healthy
meal... every morning. Tell yourself burnout is childish, and you're simply
stepping up and doing what needs to be done. Then do it. Don't over think it.
That's a big part of what burnout is, just refuse to play that mind game.

------
online_reader_
My general view is in the short term, you make those obligations. In the long
term, you change your situation.

That said, there is a lot of good advice here -- sleep well, exercise,
disconnect when not on the clock, talk to those who set the deadline and
explain the situation in an advantageous way.

------
ukigumo
Not to get all hippie on you, but have you considered mindful meditation as an
approach to quiet down your mind and improve focus?

You may find that the realisation that you are becoming more focused when you
need it will help your relieve the stress that's causing your burnout.

------
daw___
Countdowns! When I feel the burnout is kicking in (usually every 2 years), I
just keep counting down how many days and then hours are left to the deadline.
It's like visualizing your own well deserved relief that slowly takes shape,
it's quite motivating.

------
thenomad
I wrote an article on this a while ago which may be of use:

[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/01/you-
are-...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/01/you-are-an-
athlete-how-to-surv.html)

------
loumf
What will happen if you release in 8 days instead of 3? What will happen if
you release in 3 days but with a major bug? What will happen if you release in
3 days, but you cut features that don't work?

~~~
ashark
Bingo. Is this a _real_ deadline, as in the work will be worthless if it's
done the day after, or is it just a target date? If the latter, communicate
(important!) in clear terms that it will be late and _push back_ if anyone
complains about it. Then get some goddamn sleep, go for a bike ride, play some
Xbox, whatever. It Is Not Your Fault It's Late.

This is very likely a project management problem and should be treated as
such. If anyone tries to blame you, blame the project management process,
_unapologetically_ and _unhesitatingly_. Do not sacrifice your health/sanity
to make up for shitty project management or ridiculous expectations. If the
rest of the company refuses to see it your way and work toward fixing their
probably-broken processes _immediately_ , start sending our résumés.

------
icedchai
Call in sick and get some rest. Your first obligation is to yourself.

------
mgarfias
Meth.

------
jshakes
Have you tried cocaine?

------
dustingetz
exercise

