Why does everyone say to push through burnout? I tried stopping completely instead.

I was grinding on this big project at work for like 3 months straight, 60 hour weeks, thinking I just needed to push harder like everyone says. Last month I hit a wall where I literally could not focus on anything for more than 10 minutes. So instead of forcing it, I took 5 full days off and did nothing related to work at all. No email, no planning, not even thinking about that project. When I came back on day 6, I solved a problem in 2 hours that had stumped me for 2 weeks. So now I'm wondering if the whole "grit your teeth and keep going" advice is actually garbage for creative work. Has anyone else tested just fully checking out and found it worked better than pushing through?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_lucas10d ago

5 days off is a luxury most people can't afford and the real key is learning to push through like the rest of us have to. If I checked out every time I felt burned out I'd never get anything done.

christopher95210d ago

Saw a study saying pushing through burnout actually makes it worse long term, @the_lucas.