• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dealing with work burnout

Amory

Member
How do you do it?

Generally speaking I like my company and I can tolerate and have an aptitude for my job even if I don't actually 'love' it. But over the past year or so the rate of tasks moving from my inbox to my outbox has slowed, and the rate of influx just keeps increasing. I'm getting buried. And the tasks I'm assigned are getting more complicated and require input from larger teams of people, some of whom are just not responsive. So some things just sit until I have time to actually focus on them and chase everyone down. I also have a boss who is constantly coming up with new mini projects, goals, development items, and whatever else.

I'm just getting tired, bored, and apathetic. Yesterday I had so much to do and I couldn't concentrate enough to organize my day or figure out how to prioritize, so I basically just wasted the day browsing online.

Anyone else in this boat? I don't see things getting better anytime soon.
 

teezzy

Banned
Literally in the same boat

Just had a meeting scheduled this Friday by my contract house

My direct supervisor says it's a "good meeting" for "retention purposes" but he doesn't know more than that

I'm terrified truthfully
 

Amory

Member
Simple solution. Work less, live more.
Simple but definitely not easy.

It's funny, I pretty regularly say to my wife "I don't want to move up anymore. I don't need to earn more money, and I don't need any new work responsibilities."

But that's not really how jobs work, for the most part. At least in my industry. Companies always try to do more with less, so they come up with yearly goals and whatever to push employees into taking on new shit that is, by definition, above and beyond their day to day tasks. You're most overpaid on Day 1 at a new job. But the company usually gets more than their money's worth by the time you leave.
 

dr_octagon

Banned
i refused to work extra because of incompetence and poor planning. i told them from the start they are understaffed. i would take a break. if you continue, you will feel worse and productivity will take a hit.

have the discussions and be ready to walk if they ignore / things don't improve.
 

Cravis

Member
Animated GIF
 
OP I get stuck on stuff all the time. I’ve just made it my goal to always at least try to move my projects forward and document that progress despite all of the obstacles you face.

It’s basically all you can do. That being said I randomly saw an ad for a new job making more than my current one and I’m putting in my notice on July 1. Shit will hit the fan. My boss is on vacation. Bad luck and timing on his part.
 

Amory

Member
OP I get stuck on stuff all the time. I’ve just made it my goal to always at least try to move my projects forward and document that progress despite all of the obstacles you face.

It’s basically all you can do. That being said I randomly saw an ad for a new job making more than my current one and I’m putting in my notice on July 1. Shit will hit the fan. My boss is on vacation. Bad luck and timing on his part.
I'm to the point where I try to pick two or three things per day to move forward and ignore everything else. I try to choose based on priority, but not always. Some days it's literally just one thing.

When I think about everything I'm supposed to be doing, it gets me so anxious that I can't get anything done.

But this isn't a sustainable strategy long term. Winning battles but losing the war, as it were.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
Generally speaking I like my company and I can tolerate and have an aptitude for my job even if I don't actually 'love' it. But over the past year or so the rate of tasks moving from my inbox to my outbox has slowed, and the rate of influx just keeps increasing. I'm getting buried. And the tasks I'm assigned are getting more complicated and require input from larger teams of people, some of whom are just not responsive. So some things just sit until I have time to actually focus on them and chase everyone down. I also have a boss who is constantly coming up with new mini projects, goals, development items, and whatever else.

I'm just getting tired, bored, and apathetic. Yesterday I had so much to do and I couldn't concentrate enough to organize my day or figure out how to prioritize, so I basically just wasted the day browsing online.

Anyone else in this boat? I don't see things getting better anytime soon.
Assuming you would like to progress in your company:

1. More tasks, need input from other people - go to your typical stakeholders and explain how their input fits into the bigger picture. Example: I work in recruitment for multiple teams, at the beginning the job descriptions, requirements, and process follow-up was bad. I went to each team lead of team manager and explained if they want to get new hires they need to step up, otherwise if I have to choose between the manager that has clear requirements, follows the timely process, etc. and someone else, I would concentrate on the former and get to them in due time.

2. Boss coming with mini projects - sit down with your boss, present your workload and work schedule, ask him where should you allocate your resources to pursue his pet projects. 80% chance he will never have them again.

Let me know if you would like me to elaborate on the above.
 

MaestroMike

Gold Member
Go at a slow/steady pace, eat a ton of nutrient-dense food and energy-dense food, take breaks throughout the day & one long break after work/try to get enough rest & don't give a Fukk if I Fukk up at something but I usually am fine because I don't usually fukk around when on the clock. did I mention take it slow and take a lot of breaks?? in this game u gotta be tortoise if u wanna last u can't sprint like a hare unless ur like a pro athlete, but then ur gunna have to hire some tortoises to get sh!t done with ur pro athlete money. less is more Spaceman292 Spaceman292 knows what im takin about
 

Ownage

Member
Literally in the same boat

Just had a meeting scheduled this Friday by my contract house

My direct supervisor says it's a "good meeting" for "retention purposes" but he doesn't know more than that

I'm terrified truthfully
I went through such an event in Feb. All signs, upon reflection, were indicating what was going to happen. Massive layoffs took place, and the most expensive staff went first. Companies dump loads of work on all expensive staff to see who will buckle and who will request to be fucked deeper in the ass. Those that like the dominance remain and everyone else gets shit canned. Believe nothing anyone says and have secondary sources of income immediately to mitigate loss of some household revenue.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
How do you do it?

Generally speaking I like my company and I can tolerate and have an aptitude for my job even if I don't actually 'love' it. But over the past year or so the rate of tasks moving from my inbox to my outbox has slowed, and the rate of influx just keeps increasing. I'm getting buried. And the tasks I'm assigned are getting more complicated and require input from larger teams of people, some of whom are just not responsive. So some things just sit until I have time to actually focus on them and chase everyone down. I also have a boss who is constantly coming up with new mini projects, goals, development items, and whatever else.

I'm just getting tired, bored, and apathetic. Yesterday I had so much to do and I couldn't concentrate enough to organize my day or figure out how to prioritize, so I basically just wasted the day browsing online.

Anyone else in this boat? I don't see things getting better anytime soon.

I also waste a lot of time browsing online. I have figured out that my tendency to waste time online is the worst enemy of my focus. What I do to help myself when I need to focus is block all the domains that distract me. When I do this, and I get bored mid task, hitting a blocked site reminds me that I wanted to focus and I get back on task rather than go for a quick break.
 

Aesius

Member
Grass is always greener, I guess. I have very low stress in my day to day and decent pay, but I worry incessantly about career progression and where I will be at retirement age.
 

haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

I just worked 12-15 hour days, 2 weeks straight, through the weekends. And now onto another project, while balancing a personal life.

If you don’t want to stay at your job, look for a new one.
 

Cattlyst

Member
Been in a similar situation since the pandemic started. Everyone switched to working from home and it soon dawned on me that everyone else in my team loved it so much because they weren't really doing any work anymore. But the workload increased, which meant that over time I ended up basically doing the work of 3 or 4 people. It was unbelievable and I still don't know how I got through it. I recently found a new job and have now left, and I hear the slackers are now being found out. So basically yes, been there OP. Try to stay positive and just crank out the applications for other jobs.
 

TheUsual

Gold Member
At my company, we've been feeling the pent up demand from the post Covid downturn. Every industry is trying to make up for lost time and thats not happening. Its been nothing but non-stop since the beginning of the year. Days where I'm working from 7am-8pm at night. I'm burned out and tired of it all: from the day to day activities to the stupid projects that happen at the worst possible time. Nothing like our quality department deciding to "find" an issue grinding everything to halt a month before the fiscal year ends. Actively searching for new work as my current situation won't improve anytime soon and no one with authority listens. The good thing is that when I'm actually not working, I can turn my mind off from work and not worry. Pay is solid as well.
 
I thought I could do it but I'm starting to become more depressed and joyless everyday. It's so bad I'm starting to consider a complete career change from Computer Engineering to being a teacher.
 
Top Bottom