The root cause of your burnout isn't WLB

Burnout usually doesn’t come from poor work-life balance, it comes from a lack of purpose.

You’ve been here before and you know taking the extra holiday won’t fix anything. Neither will more Netflix. Feel free to do both, but not with the hopes of resolving burnout.

Unless you’re Tim Ferris, 40-hour work week is almost unavoidable. Without purpose, clocking in these hours will eventually result in a burnout.

No purpose = no motivation = no engagement = no recognition = stress = burnout. You need purpose, so let’s talk about how to enable it.

Step 1: talk to your manager

You’re at the driving wheel of your career. Your manager is often in the passenger seat, looking at the GPS and giving out suggestions.

Talk to them openly about what kind of work you’re interested in doing. If you’re doing the work you like, you’ll be more productive and engaged. It’s a win-win.

And there’s often a lot more wiggle room than you think.

Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still be doing the work you dislike. It comes with the territory. But you’ll also be doing a lot more work you love. And this is the balance we’re trying to strike, not work-life balance.

Step 2: go deep on projects

Immerse yourself in the projects you’re working on. Don’t just get by, own it to the fullest. There’s no true impact without depth.

Ask for more context, understand the business objective of the project, understand the priorities, understand your own role, etc. Get as much context as you can.

With more context, you become more relevant. When you’re more relevant, you’re more impactful. When you’re more impactful, people appreciate you and reward you for it. This is one aspect.

With more context, the project becomes more relevant to you. You can understand its purpose, which translates to your own purpose.

If you find yourself asking “what’s the point of all this?”, ask again until you find the answer. If there’s no point, point it out.

Step 3: keep track of your contributions

The first two steps ensured you’re getting well-fitted projects and making the best out of them. The final step glues it all together.

Write down your contributions, both for yourself and for others. For yourself, to see how far you’ve come and what you’ve accomplished. For others = promo package.

I’ve already written about the brag document and why I believe every serious engineer should have it. I suggest you go there if you’re interested in diving deeper.

The bottom line is that burnout doesn’t come from too much work, it comes from too much meaningless work.