this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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This is not a medical advice. And if you experience burnouts returning frequently, that‘s what you might wanna get.
However, I noticed, when I started to work in a regular job, I was able to work all year without the need of taking time off. I was used to it, since I was self-employed before that. After the first few years at this new job I started to feel the same things you‘ve felt (but maybe not to the extremes you‘ve described). So (with the lovely advice from my SO), I decided to take all my accumulated time off and we went to a place, where I really was able to turn off my phone, let my mind wander and together we explored new things. After 3 weeks, I felt not burned out anymore and was able to perform.
This lasted for about 5 months after which I took another vacation. Now I try to take at least a week off each quarter. With a longer vacation once a year if time allows.
So, what I want to say: take time off where you can stop thinking about your occupation (and anything like social media or emails). Try to learn something new (if you want to be productive) that isn‘t tied to goals or deadlines (and don‘t try to make this new hobby a profession) or you will find yourself in a worse cycle with two jobs. Even better, immerse yourself in something unproductive.
I was thinking about taking a break from my job but I'm currently training a few new people so I have to wait a little bit longer -_- And it's very difficult for me to be unproductive. There's this itch in my head i can't scratch unless I'm working on some project or thinking hard about solving a problem I have.
Though the hardest part would be trying to 'disconnect'. I'm pretty heavily relied upon for my own job, and my SO works out of town so I usually have to check in to see what she needs. Social media can probably go first though, was already thinking about deleting the big apps off my phone.
trying to set my mind into the 'shut up, stop thinking so hard idiot' mode will be a challenge as well. Though recently I've enjoyed some of the brain dead times since I could just have silence.
it's an odd.
I feel you about getting antsy when you’re not productive, or feeling a project won’t get worked on without active effort on your part, but one thing that helps me slow down is two pieces of knowledge.
One, that a ton of the processing your brain does is unconscious. You ever go for a walk to “clear your head” and suddenly a solution popped into your brain? Your mind never stopped working on the issue, it just got put outside your conscious awareness.
Two, that operating at lower efficiency for longer is exactly what tanks you and brings you down to zero efficiency (and also kills your ability to process unconsciously). You ever heard “fast is slow and slow is fast”?
Don’t think of it as being unproductive: do you think a car refueling is being unproductive? Or is that and an oil change part of routine maintenance that keeps you from needing to push it down the road to a station every so often?