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332. What To Do When You Are Burned Out · DevQuestions with Tim Corey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Are you burned out?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know the difference between burnout and stress?
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: How do you escape burnout and how do you survive a situation that's burning you out?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: 2026 has been a year of burnout and recovery for me.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: From what I hear from people, I'm not the only one that's gone through this or is going through this.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about how to survive and escape burnout in today's episode of Dev Questions.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Dev Questions Podcast with Tim Corey.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Software development is more than just writing code.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about the rest of it.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Specifically, let's talk about burnout and how to recover.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: As I said in the intro, I've gone through burning out and recovering recently.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: But let's start with talking about what burnout actually is before I get into a bit more of my story.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: The World Health Organization has identified three key pillars of burnout: exhaustion, cynicism, or detachment, and feeling ineffective.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Specifically, these three things relate to your job or workplace.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: The problem with burnout isn't just that it's stress, because stress can go away when the stressor is removed.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's a long-term issue that often creeps up on people and can drag you down for months or longer, even if you know it's happening.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes, stress will lead into burnout, but they're not really the same thing.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: For me, it involved a very hard 2025 in my business, coupled with some family health issues in early 2026 that further weighed me down.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: At the time, I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders and that I was the one that has to carry it all.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Family and personal situations took a huge toll on my time and my energy while I was taking on additional responsibilities at work at the same time.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Often it felt like I was barely keeping my head above water, just treading in place.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: It felt like everything I did took enormous effort.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Even relaxing wasn't very relaxing.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: I was exhausted.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like I was just going through the motions at my job, and I felt like I wasn't able to make any positive progress.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was frustrating.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I could see it happening.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: I knew I was in it, and it felt like there's nothing I could do.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Being burned out is terrible.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know you're burned out, which only makes it worse.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: There aren't quick fixes.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: The weekend trip away or even a full vacation doesn't solve the problem, especially when you're coming right back into the situation that contributes to your burnout.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, it took until near the end of the summer before I was able to work my way through the other side and escape the effects of burnout.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean everything's perfect, nor does it mean that I don't sometimes feel the lingering effects.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I liken it to having tweaked your knee.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: It takes some intense work to heal the wound, but even after you're better, you still need to be careful not to re-injure it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you can still feel it's some twinges once in a while.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, what's the process for escaping burnout?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, number one, it starts with survival mode.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Just survive.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Figure out what your bare minimum is and do that.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that might mean that you don't do extra work if you don't absolutely have to.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: That means that maybe don't do side projects.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: You don't do, you know, extra things to be good for your career, like training and studying.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: It might even mean that you don't do fun projects.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes even fun can be a dream.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're planning to do things and taking time out to, you know, figure out how to do things, that might just be too much.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you just need to figure out how to float, how to keep your head above water and do just enough to do that.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then maintain your basic health.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that means keep eating, try and sleep, and move.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, notice I didn't say in there, you gotta eat so many, you know, greens and you have to have so much protein.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Nope, just eat.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when it comes to sleep, get as much as you can.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And when it comes to movement, I'm not saying go out and run a marathon.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm saying get up and walk around.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Just do the basics.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, what happens is you start to get beat down by not being good enough at just surviving.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then it makes it worse.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, it was just being okay with producing just two videos a week or even one.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: So if you notice back through 2026, there's a couple of times where I just missed a week.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a couple of times where, you know what, I did a 10-minute training video, which is valuable and people want, and it's not bad.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, I wanted to do more.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: But that's, you know what?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I could do.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I did.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I consider those wins.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I start off with just survival mode.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: I am surviving.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing the basics of what I need to, and the additional stuff, you know, I might not be able to do that.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now, number two, so it starts with survival mode, number one.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Number two is name the source.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: So what is it that's burning you out?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's endless crunch.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's no us, no one noticing your work and you feel like you're just shipping work into the void and no one really cares.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have no control.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: You have a micromanaging boss that's just telling you everything you can, can't do, and it feels like you're just an extension of them.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, whatever it is, name that thing.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Identify what it is that's burning you out.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean you can fix it necessarily.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: It may mean that you have no control over it, but you start off by understanding what is it that's burning me out, and then focus on the things you cannot.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, focusing on things you can't control can also burn you out.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're focusing on things like, I don't know, the news, well, guess what?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: The world is in a horrible place.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: The world is rough.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: The US is rough, like your hometown is probably rough.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's there's things all over that are happening that are outside your control.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're not careful, those can weigh you down.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Personally, I think that the 24-hour news cycle hasn't helped us because it leads to a constant pressure in your life that when you couple that with other pressures in your life, just further depress you.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's for you know, worrying about family.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: We can't necessarily change some things.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, then worrying isn't helping you.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that you can just say, oh, and then stop worrying.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's not how that works.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: But identifying the source means saying, hey, you know what?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm spending an awful lot of time worrying about family, or I'm spending an awful lot of time with no control at work.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now, for me, it was a number of factors.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: There wasn't just one, of course, there almost never is, but it was a lack of control in some areas.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was worrying about outcomes I couldn't affect, and it was accepting the pressure to do more than I was capable of at my job during a time when most of my focus was on family health issues.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Those three things kind of piled together to really increase and accelerate the burnout.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, what do you do when you're you're in survival mode, you've identified the issue, but what do you do?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, number three, start the slow climb out.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to emphasize that word slow, because this is not a snap your fingers and you fix it.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Identify the problem and somehow you can slay the problem.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Almost never happens.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: And quite frankly, if it does, you're probably not burned out, you're probably just stressed.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so start the slow climb out.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Communicate where you are at and what you're going through.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And this is to a spouse, to a boss, to a counselor.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Figure out who to talk to so that you're not sharing the burden alone.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, share that burden, don't just shoulder it alone.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, or part two in this is find wins and start very, very, very small.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, a win was having both videos done for the following week.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's a win.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, having two or three videos in a row done, huge win.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Just getting the basics done, but having that done so that even if I can't do anything this week, I have the videos done, so I'm good.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: That is huge.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Find a way to get small wins and then reorder, reorder your priorities around success, not importance or size.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: What I mean by that is sometimes what happens is our to-do list is these massive things, and then later to be little things, but we try and get the massive things done.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: We feel that we never make any progress and we're stuck in the mud and we just can't move forward.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And what we need to do is pull some of those smaller things in first and get some of those things done.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Get those small wins and build up.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: So Dave Ramsey has a whole process around recovering from being in debt, et cetera.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And the one thing that I really like from him is the debt snowball.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason why is not because it's logical, because it's not.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: The idea of the debt snowball is let's say you have five credit card bills and 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000,$5,000, five different credit card bills.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if the$5,000 bill has the highest interest rate and the$1,000 is the lowest interest rate, it feels like logical to try and tackle that$5,000 first and then move on.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: But what his philosophy is, is to tackle the small one first and then take that money and move it in the next one.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason is not because it makes financial sense.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's because it makes mental sense, because it gives you a sense of accomplishment, because it gives you that sense of I'm making progress.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so it encourages you to keep going, because it doesn't matter how much financial sense it makes to do a$5,000 one first if you're not going to finish it, if you're not going to have enough courage and enough uh drive to actually get it done.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So by building up your successes, by allowing you to see that yes, I can do this, yes, I can do this, yes, I can do this, you start to make progress towards those bigger ones.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, in the same way in your life, reorganize your priorities, not necessarily about importance or size, but based upon can I get small successes?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe it is a little size, uh, small successes and then bigger successes and keep going that way.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Give yourself the permission and the ability to start seeing success, to start seeing movement.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, what happens is that you die on your principles.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: You just get stuck in the mud, you just stay there because you're like, well, but this has to be done first.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not getting done, is it?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: So work with your brain because your brain isn't about logic all the time.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just analytical.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: There is an emotional part to it as well.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, with this, start slowly working on your health.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Pick one thing at a time to improve.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: I too often I see people say, you know, oh, I'm you know, I'm overwhelmed, which when you're overwhelmed in survival mode, you don't make the best health choices, you don't make the best life choices.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: You sit on the couch and do nothing.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you sit on the computer and play video games, you eat junk food because you know what?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's easy and it's quick and you don't have the energy to do anything more.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: That can be okay for a time.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: But slowly work on your health.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Slowly pick one thing at a time to improve.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Don't try to do everything at once.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, you'll almost certainly fail.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Pick one thing at a time.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, in this process for me, I started video content.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: So my baseline was just two videos per week.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: That gave me a win every single week, twice.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then I started working on the next thing.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Add one more thing, add do one more task.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: I tried to comment on as much as possible on my videos, but I also felt like some comments just took too much of my time and I just couldn't answer.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't feel I tried hard not to feel bad about that.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: I can't be everybody's solution to everything.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so I did what I could and I got as much win as possible.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And at the same time, I tried hard not to take on any loss for not doing more.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: And when I started adding videos, I already had wins and I started to see that progress.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I started to see that train moving up the hill.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so I started adding additional videos.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: I started cooking meals that would taste good.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not just grabbing something from a store or grabbing something for a restaurant.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: I would start cooking meals that would taste good still.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it still was, you know, encouraging me, but at the same time, they're more healthy and it's it's better for me, and it's starting to see progress there too.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: I joined the gym, but I had no expectations of perfection.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: I had no schedule at all.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't go to the gym and say, well, I'm gonna do, you know, arms and arms and shoulders day this, you know, these three days a week, and leg days these other three days of the week, and I'm gonna have you know an hour and a half at the gym.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: That would have been a failure for me.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: So what I did is I had no expectation.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: I started a small little routine and built up over time.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So the thing is, by doing that, by not having expectations, some days were bad.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Some days I barely dragged myself into the gym and then felt like I couldn't get anything done.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't about perfection.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's about, you know what?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: I made it.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so by allowing myself to have those small successes, I was able to build up over time.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: I started drinking more water because I wanted to.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: I was adding one more thing.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: So slowly over time, I started doing more and more things to work my way out.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, number four, find a big win.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: This notice where the order is here.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: This is not at the climb out, the slow climb out.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: You start that, you get good at that process, you start climbing.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's only when you have been climbing for a little bit that you can even think about number four, which is find a big win.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: If you try and find a big win too early, you're gonna have a big failure, in which case you're gonna get further in the burnout.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: So find a big win when you're ready.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Identify the project or task that feels like a big weight.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Find that thing.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: We probably all have this.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's the thing that once you actually get into it, probably won't be as hard as you think it is.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: But that weight of it's looming over me, I have to get it done, I feel like I can't make any traction, et cetera, just makes it hard.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: So identify that project that feels like a big weight.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Make slow, steady progress towards it while you're climbing out.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And when you finish the project, celebrate like crazy.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Intentionally schedule time to do nothing after that big win.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: You want to make sure that what happens is that you get time to relax afterwards and breathe rather than going, okay, I'm done that, let's get the next big project on.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: What that'll do is burn you back out.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Intentionally schedule time to relax and do nothing after the big win.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, it was actually the Uno course.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: That course is I've been working on it for months.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Mobile development is really difficult because all the moving parts, and it felt like every time I make progress, something else would slow me down.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: There was pressure to get it right, and it made it felt like every other project and task made it harder.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I made slow, steady progress in the course while still working on climbing out.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was able to complete the course and celebrate a big win.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: I was even able to complete it in time for a conference trick, a trip I took with my wife, which I did nothing on.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was pretty much a bum.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: She was at the conference, I was there for two days.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: I went and took pictures in the woods.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like I got to relax and just breathe.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then recently I hit the beach and just spent time relaxing and enjoying life and listening to the waves and walking in the sand and doing things that just refill me.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the things that I've done after that big win.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, number five, identify if you need a permanent change.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: So not every situation is fixable.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes what you identify is that that thing that's burning you out, it's not preventable.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe you work at a game company where they're like, you know what, we're gonna get in crunch mode, we're gonna be working, you know, seven days a week at 16 hours a day for life sometimes.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like maybe you can't prevent that.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you look at that and go, hmm, you know, maybe I can't have enough change in my life to accommodate this and not burn out.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: So once you've identified the source and you start climbing out and hopefully you found a big win, identify if you can prevent burnout in the future.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you can't, that's gonna be a big deal.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: You need to make a change then.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: However, I would highly encourage you, try very hard not to make a big decision at your lowest point.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: At your lowest point, things look the worst.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: And if you climb out, and if you start to see wins, and if you start to see color come back into life, and if you start to see, you know, you can smile again, you can start to feel like you're back to where you're your old self, that's when you can make a better decision.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: So try really hard not to make a big decision at your lowest point because you might make a decision that isn't one you would have made once you got out of burnout.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And also make sure you're not trying to just escape normal hard work.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Work can be hard.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Hard work, it happens.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's part of life.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes your boss is even going to ask you for overtime.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: It that's gonna happen in a lot of jobs, especially as a software developer.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: The number of software developers who only work 40 hours a week isn't nearly as large as people think it is.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of companies that ask for overtime.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of situations that come up where you have to sprint, or your company says you have to sprint, um, and you have to do extra work.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And some of that may be normal.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Some of that may be something where you say, well, I can't do that.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Either it's not a career for you, or maybe it's something that you need to figure out how to work through.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying that abusive relationships are okay.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying you should stay in one.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying that your company should abuse you and take advantage of you and and you know, hurt you.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: But you've got to figure out where that line is.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that line may be different for you versus me or me versus somebody else.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: So be careful there too, but make sure that you're not trying to escape something that is not uncommon and you're gonna find the next place too.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Be careful that you you evaluate that and make sure that it's not something that just requires you to make changes.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen people who have burned out and who've struggled because they didn't have boundaries.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: And they allowed people to push them around.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's part of it too, is you just say, hey, you know what?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: This is my contract.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: My contract says I work 40 hours a week and you're asking for constant 60.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: I can do that once in a while.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: I can't do that every week.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, maybe you say, you know what, I can't be on call 24-7.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's just not, and then have a negotiation and talk about your contract and talk about what you can and can't do and have a frank conversation about either I can't be here or I have to have a change.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes it means figuring out how to work better in your situation and maybe not be quite as passive about allowing yourself to be misused.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: So the other part of this is avoid quitting without a plan and a runway.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Too often I see people just jump off the cliff.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that can be scary because it can actually add to burnout.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because now you have no job and no plan, and you can see your bank account balance going to zero.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, oh no.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: If at all possible, try to have a plan and a runway.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, sometimes you can't do that.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you just have to escape.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can avoid quitting without a plan or a runway.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now, for me, I was able to make some changes while learning how to better handle pressure, how to avoid situations that overlap.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Increased pressure and had to ask for help.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Most of my situation was outside of my control.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to happen again.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I worked on better ways of surviving and thriving in those situations.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: But mostly I learned to be okay with survival mode.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not, I can't escape my situation necessarily because my situation, half of it had to do with things outside of my control.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: Most of it had to do with things outside my control.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's part of life.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: And there are ways I could, I could have done it better.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: And there are ways I could have set myself up for success so that I didn't burn out.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've learned from that.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I've put some things in place to hopefully prevent that in the future and to be better before then.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm better off until I get into a bad situation.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then I still have good protections in place.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm okay with being in survival mode.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Number six, protect your recovery.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to start to have more free time.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: When you start to recover, when you start to get out from underneath things, you've said no to fun events.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: You've said no to side projects.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: You said no to learning extra things, you know, to grow your career.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Those things have left gaps, hopefully, in your schedule.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you're going to have more free time.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: And at some point you're going to feel like, man, I'm feeling a bit better.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: I can start filling that back up.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Be careful that you don't just fill it back up.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Allow yourself room to breathe.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that doesn't mean you never fill it up, but be careful that you don't just fill it up too quickly.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, write out what you've learned through your recovery process and work on not repeating any mistakes you've made.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: We all make mistakes, and sometimes admitting it is the first step, but we all make mistakes.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Be careful that you don't forget the lessons of the past and repeat them.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't learn from history, you're going to repeat it.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: So try really hard to write it out.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: That way, when you have it in your brain, you go, yeah, I know what happened.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Write it out.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because you'll find out that you're like, but what did happen?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Writing it out will help you solidify and crystallize what you actually learned, what actually happened, and what your steps are to avoid that.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Also, identify potential situations earlier and work to head them off.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: When you see yourself coming into a situation that is going to lead to burnout, work on doing things to head that off.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: If your boss comes to you and says, we're going to need to crunch the next month to get this application out by the deadline, well, that's heading into burnout if you're not careful.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, fortunately, a month, usually you can get through a month and survive and then come up to the other side and kind of it's stress then, and you can kind of recover from stress by taking a vacation or taking a few days off work or whatever.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: But maybe you can't, or maybe you see that a month is actually three months or whatever.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, work to set yourself up for success in that.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe cut back at other things in your life to try and give yourself a continued margin.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, that hurts.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: The fact that your work life is cutting into your personal life.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: You need to protect yourself.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: So be careful how you balance that, but figure out a balance there to keep, continue to give yourself margin, to continue to give yourself relief from that weight.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: So also be okay with not being fully recovered at all.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe you're not fully recovered after a burnout.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's going to take a long time.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: It may take months to fully recover.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: It may still have lingering effects.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that can be okay.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: So be okay with it, you know, not recovering all at once, not just have this line of sand where all of a sudden, you know, life is great again.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I've worked on reducing my workload.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've worked on taking intentional time to relax.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: There are some days I sit down at my computer, look at it, and go, nope, get back up and walk out in nature because I'm like, you know what?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: I just I'm having a hard time today.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that can be okay, especially when your job allows it.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, some jobs don't allow that.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a very flexible job.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Some jobs aren't that flexible.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know what?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: You take the time at lunch.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of eating at your desk, go sit out in the park to eat.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, take time to relax, take time to identify again these issues and see you can do reduce that workload.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then I've taken, I've worked on celebrating my wins.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Too often I've I've done things where I complete it and just move on to the next thing.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't take time to go, that was awesome.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I got that.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I did that.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna, you know, go and have a cheeseburger and just relax and enjoy this.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I've also worked on intentionally choosing to let things drop.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: I can't do everything.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: So let some let things drop.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're only human, you only have so much time on the day, you only have so much energy and ability.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes you need to say, you know what, I can't do this.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: So burnout is really hard.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: It drags you down, it makes you feel terrible, and it tries to keep you locked in place.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: But there is an escape.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: It takes work, it takes time, and it can take help.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: But you can escape burnout.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: I hope this helps.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm rooting for you.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for watching, thanks for listening, and as always, I am Tim Corey.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us for this episode of Dev Questions.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to Iamtimcorey.com and enroll in a course.