Dave McColloughNov 24, 2022
Addy Osmani

Take breaks & encourage them folks.

Healthy cultures value time off and encourage vacations and breaks to renergize. In toxic ones, burnout is proof of commitment and people often take long breaks just to recover from exhaustion.

Handy visual of what we often do vs. perhaps should:

Nov 24, 2022 at 6:25pmWeb
Show threadPxtlNov 24, 2022
@addyosmani I wish. Mine looks more like "sprint, crash, miss deadline, spend the whole vacation stressed about what I left undone while I'm off".
Show threadBrettNov 24, 2022
@addyosmani I’ve always wanted to see some discussion around how you get there. For me, personally, I’ve dealt with continuous burnout for almost my entire 20 years in tech. I feel I would need several months to a year of no work to even approach recovery. That’s never going to happen. I don’t think I’m alone in this space either. Is there truly any way to address situations like mine?
Show threadAddy OsmaniNov 24, 2022

@bflipp I've hit burnout a few times in my career and coming back from continuous burnout is (won't sugar coat it) difficult. What turned things around for me without taking off several months for recovery:

- Start small: Set stricter boundaries around when you stop work everyday. Consistency is key.
- Get enough rest. Sleep is so important for coping with burnout.
- Incremental: My burnout was in part driven by allowing work to seep into weekends, vacations. Similarly, have to push back

Show threadCodeMonument - bjesuiterNov 24, 2022
@addyosmani this is so important, but harder to do as it sounds :(
Show threadDanny Garcia-HuangNov 25, 2022
@addyosmani for once, I finally took this to heart before going on vacation and it's been a godsend. finally feel refreshed and relaxed, and got _so much_ headspace back during my time off. great share.
Show threadCheryl ANov 25, 2022
@addyosmani good point.