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Burnout often weasels its way into your life covertly, little by little, over a long period of time. Prevent it from building up with this tactic.
Burnout is a real and pressing issue in the tech industry, and I’ve lived through its devastating effects.
Years ago, I was part of a team that, over time, became increasingly toxic. Despite loving the project itself, poor communication and unmet project deadlines created a tense environment that eventually led to a stress-related heart condition. The condition became irreversible, leaving me with the option of only being able to manage it. Eventually, this meant leaving my team and then my job.
I left that toxic environment for a start-up, hoping to find something better – but it turned out to be even worse. Facing a choice between finding another job or leaving the industry, I met Gabe Greenberg, founder of G2i, who envisioned a company that prioritized developer health. Inspired, I joined G2i leading to the creation of The Developer Health OS – a guide to burnout recovery, prevention, and optimal work performance.
What is restful work?
Restful work is the kind of work we look forward to, filled with joy and respite, and done at an unhurried pace. It’s where we do our best work while still leaving space for other parts of life. A restful workweek has a clear start and end, undisturbed personal time, and ample sleep. It makes us better parents, partners, friends, and employees. By putting our health first, we find a place of deep contentment.
The foundation of restful work
To embrace restful work, we must first debunk the myth that overworking leads to success – data does not support this. Overworked employees are often less effective than other workers because their overcommitment leads to struggles with teamwork, delegation, trust, and organization. Also, overworkers often suffer sleep deprivation, which impairs brain and cognitive function.
By slowing down, resting, and getting sufficient sleep, we regulate the release of adrenaline hormones. We improve our mood, focus, memory, creativity, productivity, and happiness.
Implementing restful work with an essentialism plan
Achieving restful work can seem like a farfetched and idealistic goal. However, by implementing a handful of actionable steps, we can begin to forge the path toward a healthier work-life balance.
One way to implement restful work is by creating an essentialism plan that outlines upcoming work you want to prioritize. This plan isn’t an ultimate to-do list; instead, it focuses on work that aligns with your company’s principles, visions, OKRs, and guiding metrics. Here’s how to create an essentialism plan:
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Offensive work
Focus on work that moves the needle toward your goals.
You can separate your work into two categories: offense and defense.
Defensive work is work that we have to do, but rarely makes a huge impact on our goals in 9-12 months. This includes things like recurring meetings or replying to emails and Slack messages.
Offensive work is the work most aligned with our goals and “moves the needle.” Examples of this include completing a feature, reviewing a design, or launching a campaign.
Top items
Choose only four to six important offensive items.
In order to have the highest success rate with completed work, focus on four to six offensive tasks that have the greatest impact on your goals.
Timeboxing
Limit this work to a specific amount of time.
Visibility
Keep your plan visible at all times.
Whether you display it on your monitor, have it on a note on your desktop, or write it on a dry-erase board, making sure your essentialism plan is front and center during your day-to-day work helps to ensure you’ll keep these priorities top of mind.
Actionable terms
List task items with terms like “launch,” “start,” “review,” or “complete.”
Items in your essentialism plan should begin with actionable terms like launch, start, review, complete, draft, support, etc. Since the purpose of the essentialism plan is to focus you on the work that moves you closer to your goals, the work listed here should focus on execution. Examples may include: launch a new feature or review project deck.
Heck yes or no
If it doesn’t directly help you reach your larger goal, it’s not a “heck yes,” and it doesn’t go on the list.
If we look at a task and ask, “Does this get me closer to x goal?” and the answer is “yeah…” or “in a way,” then it doesn’t. It’s the same thing as saying “no.” This isn’t the work we want to focus on for our essentialism plan.
If you don’t want to lose track of heck no’s, you can create a list to revisit. Maybe you find over time that they become more relevant after finishing higher priority tasks.
How to set boundaries for restful work
Setting boundaries is crucial for restful work since it carves out the space necessary to take breaks. Think of these boundaries in three levels, or “lines,” each with a different purpose:
- Bottom lines: these are the non-negotiable limits that you guard at all costs. They protect your well-being. For example, a bottom line might be never working more than 50 hours a week.
- Middle lines: these may serve as early warning signs, indicating that you’re heading in the wrong direction. They’re helpful for catching yourself at earlier stages of burnout. For instance, if you notice you’re not taking full lunch hours, actively commit to doing so the following week.
- Top lines: these are habits you want to practice consistently, for example, working a 40-hour week regularly.
Ultimately, we want to figure out what is healthy for us when setting these boundaries. Here are some suggestions for starting:
- Start with 1-2 items in each “line” category and build from there.
- Focus on the top lines and make them achievable.
- Practice these for a few months before potentially adding more.
- Find a mentor who has a good work/life balance and can serve as a sounding board when working through this process.
Final thoughts
Incorporating restful work allows you to be more productive and ambitious. It’s about taking intentional steps towards prioritizing health and creating a supportive work environment.
Just like the computers we work with, we’re only as good as our systems allow us to be. Whether you’re leading a new product or part of a team, we build better when we feel better. We, too, need to have functional, clear processes. We, too, need to understand when to execute and when to pause.
Mental health is physical health, and it’s essential to listen to your body. When we take care of ourselves first, everything else we want will always find a way.
