On burnout
May. 8th, 2026 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
posicScott D. Clary writes in Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/scottdclarypage/posts/pfbid0axsLTxvRhD5jnFEdzxQaiyk2mhBK4WLy5sQZyGLKgCK3Jhf8QKvizx8TXfhG3fpl :
Noticed something in people who burned out: They weren't doing too much. They were doing too much of the wrong thing. Nobody burns out doing work they love on four hours of sleep. They burn out doing work they're indifferent to on eight hours. Burnout is a direction problem, not a volume problem.
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That is why I am doing work I love (writing my research papers and books) in a state of deep concentration on 9 hours of sleep, and then I am doing work I am indifferent to (the peer reviewing) at a very leisurely pace, with lots of distractions etc., on 11 hours of sleep. Not that it really prevents burnout or anything, but that is all I can do about it, as some peer reviewing cannot be avoided in my situation, however I may want to avoid it.
Noticed something in people who burned out: They weren't doing too much. They were doing too much of the wrong thing. Nobody burns out doing work they love on four hours of sleep. They burn out doing work they're indifferent to on eight hours. Burnout is a direction problem, not a volume problem.
***
That is why I am doing work I love (writing my research papers and books) in a state of deep concentration on 9 hours of sleep, and then I am doing work I am indifferent to (the peer reviewing) at a very leisurely pace, with lots of distractions etc., on 11 hours of sleep. Not that it really prevents burnout or anything, but that is all I can do about it, as some peer reviewing cannot be avoided in my situation, however I may want to avoid it.
