By understanding that we're headed toward burnout (or are burned-out already) we can take measures to course-correct so we can approach our programming practice with joy and enthusiasm. Sometimes taking a step back and re-evaluating what we're doing can help us not sit in the constant loops of frustration, anger, and guilt. Changing our story to better fit reality can keep us from trying to match an impossible dream.
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+I mentioned before about re-negotiating commitments. Often we'll get ourselves into situations where we'll have way more to do than is physically possible, even under the best of circumstances. This may be in part because we've said "yes" to too many things, or because we're being swamped with work commitments (a large high priority project, or several smaller projects that need urgent attention). The best way to renegotiate your work load is to review your work load and notice which tasks feel urgent and which ones feel important. Note which ones fall into those two categories. Next mark the due date (as best you can) of each of these tasks. If you have more than three urgent and important items and they're all due later this week then it's likely you're overworked and will need to renegotiate those commitments. You may feel that you are capable of doing all of these things but if you're already feeling stressed, tired, and burned out then you'll only compound those feeling by trying to meet these deadlines. If you can, find out if you can move some of these deadlines to next week, or check with your customers if these are really as urgent and important as you think they are. If they are urgent or important then find out if your management can assist you with other resources, or if they can intervene to renegotiate these deadlines and priorities. If you're truly stuck (management won't budge and the customers won't renegotiate the commitments) then you have some decisions to make about how important their priorities are versus your own capabilities. There's the temptation to say that your management and your customer's priorities are more important than your own priorities (their income contributes to making your lifestyle possible) but your own health and well-being should have more weight in your decision than their priorities and deadlines. Perhaps you can negotiate some down-time after this period so you can rest, relax, and regain your strength and mental acuity before being plunged into a similar situation.
-I mentioned above about re-negotiating commitments. Often we'll get ourselves into situations where we'll have way more to do than is physically possible, even under the best of circumstances. This may be in part because we've said "yes" to too many things, or because we're being swamped with work commitments (a large high priority project, or several smaller projects that need urgent attention). The best way to renegotiate your work load is to review your work load and notice which tasks feel urgent and which ones feel important. Note which ones fall into those two categories. Next mark the due date (as best you can) of each of these tasks. If you have more than three urgent and important items and they're all due later this week then it's likely you're overworked and will want to renegotiate those commitments. You may feel that you should be capable of doing all of these things but if you're already feeling stressed, tired, and burned out then you'll only compound those feeling by trying to meet these deadlines. If you can, find out if you can move some of these deadlines to next week, or check with your customers if these are really as urgent and important as you think they are. If they are urgent or important then find out if your management can assist you with other resources, or if they can intervene to renegotiate these deadlines and priorities. If you're truly stuck (management won't budge and the customers are firm with this commitment) then you have some decisions to make about how important their priorities are versus your own capabilities. There's the temptation to say that your management and your customer's priorities are more important than your own priorities (their income contributes to making your lifestyle possible) but your own health and well-being should have more weight in your decision than their priorities and deadlines. Perhaps you can negotiate some down-time after this period so you can rest, relax, and regain your strength and mental acuity before being plunged into a similar situation.
+Learning to say "no" is an important skill as a programmer. Too often we regard ourselves as super-beings that can do anything, in part because the computers we work on seem like they can do anything. Unfortunately we have finite physical and emotional resources, so learning to pick and choose the projects that are most important to us (depending on our own internal criteria) will help sustain us as we progress through our programming careers. If we say "yes" to everything that someone pitches to us then we'll have less time to work on things that really matter to us. We'll be at the mercy of folks whose priorities and desires do not match our own. The most effective way to burn-out on programming is to spend all of your energy working on projects that don't match your own priorities and desires.
-Learning to say "no" is an important skill as a programmer. Too often we regard ourselves as super-beings that can do anything because the computer can do anything. But we have finite physical and emotional resources, so learning to pick and choose the projects that are most important to us (depending on our own internal criteria) will help sustain us as we progress in our programming career. If we say "yes" to everything that is pitched to us then we'll have less time to work on the things that really matter to us. We'll be at the whims of external folks whose priorities and desires may not match our own. The most effective way to burn-out on programming is to spend all of your energy working on projects that don't match your own desires and priorities.
+You will experience periods of burnout in your programming career. Things will come at you that will overwhelm your ability to cope with them. You will find yourself stuck in loops wondering if this is really what you should be doing. Understanding what you're feeling and acknowledging your feelings as valid is the first step to changing your trajectory into burnout and stress. Programming shouldn't be drudgery (no work of value should be drudgery). There should be something in your programming day that keeps you motivated and helps you grow your skills. Adding bits of learning, joy, and wonder (along with periods of downtime) will help sustain you through the emotional turbulence that awaits. And recognizing when you're burning out and renegotiating your agreements with yourself and others can help reinvigorate your desires to keep programming.
-You will experience periods of burnout in your programming career. Things will come at you that will overwhelm your ability to cope with them. You will find yourself stuck in loops wondering if this is really what you should be doing. Understanding what you're feeling and acknowledging your feelings as valid is the first step to changing the course from one of burnout and stress. Programming shouldn't be drudgery (no work should be drudgery). There should be something in your programming day that keeps you motivated, and helps you grow your skills. Adding bits of learning, joy, and wonder (along with periods of downtime) will help sustain you through the emotional turbulence that awaits. And recognizing when you're burning out and renegotiating your agreements with yourself and others can help reinvigorate your desires to keep programming.
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## Reaching out for help
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / commitdiff