Hey there
Posting here instead of a sub about mental health or something similar since I suppose their advice will be more inclined towards “go on vacation” or “go for walks, learn to delegate”.
I am super burned out and can´t afford to stop working. This is an endless circle of Im not as productive so I work longer hours that never ends.
I´m (21F) in uni, have a job in marketing and have a business (been doing this for a bit less than a year) that has just gotten into a startup accelerator, about to launch a marketing agency with a co-founder and an AI product with another co-founder, this one will take longer to see the sun.
I know it looks like I have a lot on my plate, and I probably do, but I have talked about the projects with mentors and investors and they think they are genuinelly good, I can´t stop or choose one or the others.
I also don´t have the funds to employ someone yet, and I think even if I did I don´t think i could have someone doing what I´m supposed to be doing (yes I have a bad case of “want things my way”).
I go on walks, to the gym, read and spend spare days in bigger towns museum hopping every now and then, but I can´t stop myself from looking at things in terms of ROI: I might go to a museus, but I´m lowkey looking for inspiration for designs for one of my ideas; I might go to the gym but i´m just trying to look hotter because I´ve seen how much better people treat me than others for my looks (also would want to try modeling so I´m getting my measurements in check for that). I might read something but only if its related to business, M&A, mindset…
I take long as f* getting ready in the morning when I used to jump out of bed and get straight to work, and can´t really feel strong emotions anymore: not a lot of joy, not a lot of sadness either, I only ever feel super happy when something i had been working on materializes.
So… what do you do when you´re burned out but can´t stop? What are things that keep you from burning out? Do you have a very strict routine or go with the flow as the day goes?
I felt the same way and still kinda in the burnout funk. I learned that there isn’t anything that compares to just taking a vacation and getting away from everything and do whatever you can to relax. You really should find a way to take a week off and force yourself to not even think about work. Go to a hotel or somewhere new and quiet and just binge watch some show or something.
I’ve learned to set a strict schedule and being able to take control over parts of your day helps. In the office by 8am every day, put out any fires and catch up on news or whatever to warm up to work then at 9am be in total grind mode. Force yourself not to do anything else other than x task and don’t touch your phone or anything until you finished the tasks. Then breaks and have a 2nd grind mode after lunch.
Using WIP boards and dividing big projects into small tasks helps you feel accomplished and shows yourself you’re productive.
The silicon valley show has the perfect example of how a scrum board helps feed productivity https://youtu.be/oyVksFviJVE?si=T2nHYxSXWpxbiwTC