HACKER Q&A
📣 brndoutthrw

Starting new job soon, how to minimize burnout effects?


Starting new job soon, but I am burned out at my current job, anyway I can minimize effects of burnout at new place?

anything might help books to read, things to do and not do, youtube videos to watch?

note: I will start with 1 week gap only and +1 week PTO from current job, in total I have 2 weeks to rest


  👤 onion2k Accepted Answer ✓
The only way to avoid future burnout is to learn to say 'no' when people ask for things. Someone wants a new feature done in double quick time - say no. Someone wants you to add another 20 points to an iteration because there's a customer call in a few weeks - say no. Someone is demanding you work late to fix a 'critical' issue - say no. Your team is going out to socialize after work when you're really tired - say no.

Saying no is a super power.

It's also incredibly hard to do in a work situation. You have to work somewhere that accepts you might fail to achieve things sometimes. Most companies really don't accept failure well[1].

[1] Interesting side note - because companies refuse to accept failure most employees only ever take on tasks they're basically guaranteed to succeed at. This massively limits the ambition of most businesses. As Chip Wilson (founder of Lululemon) says, you really should be aiming for about a 50% failure rate with your goals. If you're succeeding more than that you're not aiming high enough.


👤 GabrelyanG
Do you really like the job that you're going to do?