Burnouts - And when it's time to take decisions

Hello, my friends,

It's been more than a month since my last post.

I've been busy! Very busy! Extremely busy!

I've been working hard! I've been working a lot! I've been working on so many things!

But I achieved a lot already! In a relatively short amount of time.

But it hasn't been easy.

I was tired when I posted this. But I kept going.

What have I done so far (in a little bit more than a month)?

Here's what I've done:

- Of course, the first mention goes to passing my Scrum certification (since that's what my last post was about).

- I've worked on proposals for a couple of freelance projects. One in Dubai and one in France.

- I've started working on a couple of other freelance projects. One in Dubai (another one) and one for a friend who's a young talented artist here in the UK.

- I've studied a lot about Shopify and e-commerce. I got few Shopify certifications. That's because I wanted Beyond Scopes to start taking on e-commerce projects as a Shopify partner. (Note to self: write about why I chose Shopify).

- I've done a lot of work and research for Beyond Scopes.

- Oh yeah that was a cool one! I bought a new domain and built www.jadelomeiri.com 

- I promise I did so much more. My mind is just going blank right now.

- Oh well of course all the usual admin stuff. Talking to your accountants, and sending them that same email again for the 40th time.

- I've been studying the stock market.

- I've been looking at the housing market.

- I've been planning for my wedding. That's exciting! I wish I could spend even more time on that!

- And and and...

All that while being in a full-time day job.

All that while being in a stressful full-time day job.

Stressful because of how much you feel you're wasting your time being stuck in day-long meetings where people are "let's say pretending" they're Agile and they're doing Scrum, where people are so inefficient, where people are more concerned about company politics than about the quality of their work, where people just have no clue what they're doing, where people are just SIMPLY MISSING THE WHOLE POINT OF DOING SCRUM, where people are just not giving any importance to the core values of being Agile! By the way, if you've read my articles before, I tend to favour shorter sentences but that previous one could go on and on and on...

It's like why do you even do something if you're not living the values (not even a bit).

Being Agile is first and foremost about being honest and transparent. Those are the pillars of any real success in software (or even in general I would say). Without those, doesn't matter what tools you use or how many ceremonies you make... It's all useless.

Anyway, my point wasn't to shit where I eat. It wasn't to say I'm working in this or that environment.

My point for writing this article is to tell you I managed to burn myself out.

If you don't really know what burnout is, or if you've never felt it, then please pay attention!

If on the other hand, you've already got to that stage before, then please be even more careful!

Be even more careful because it doesn't matter if you already know about it and it doesn't matter if you've already thought about how you'd prevent it from happening to you again.

Because the reality is it can happen again. It just happened to me again although I'm a big proponent of work-life balance. I'm a big believer that your life just matters as much (even more) than your job.

But it happened to me again for a reason.

Before talking about the reason, sorry for those who don't know yet what burnout is.

Here's the definition:

"Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands." -- www.helpguide.org

Now my advice for you to remember is.

- If you're working extra hard for extra money (if you get paid by the hour, the day, or if you're taking extra jobs) just remember that at the end of the day your health is probably more important than the money.

- If you're doing it because you think working extra will impress your employer? Please please stop immediately. You're being an idiot, and you're being abused. Your employer is laughing at you, using you, and will only throw you out on the streets when he doesn't need you anymore. Your boss might be friendly and might be asking you to put on all that extra work on weekends while asking in a friendly way. If he's/she's friendly, go out with them to the pub after work. Go have a pint or coffee. Please don't be stupid. The reason why I stress that point so much is because that's the most common case that I see all the time. I see friends doing it all the time. I can't say it enough: stop doing it!

- If you're doing it like me, then... Stop delaying and taking decisions.

Let me explain in what situation you'd be doing it like me.

In the situation where you have more than one job. You have a main job and then all the other mini little jobs on the side. Well, all those little jobs on the side add up my friend.

You're doing those extra jobs as a side hustle for example.

You're thinking at first "I'll be fine". You're thinking "I'm tough". You're thinking you have what it takes and you know you have a hustler mindset. You know you can keep pushing as hard as it needs.

Well here's the problem. Is it's most probably true. It is!

In my situation, I know it is. In my situation I know I can work on my freelancing non-stop. I know I can keep learning for the rest of my life and guess what? I have no problem with that! I love it! I enjoy it! 

I love the work that I do! I'm a Software Craftsman! Coding for me is an art! Yes, really it's an art! For me, coding feels like when a painter spends his whole day in his studio.

But the problem my friend is with your priorities. That is the problem.

You still feel you're enjoying your long nights side-hustling. It feels great, doesn't it? You feel tired, but you're doing something great! Amazing, pas de problèmes poto!

The only problem is suddenly you start feeling it from the other side. What I mean by that is your day job starts eating you. It starts exhausting you.

Here your problem is a problem of priorities. My problem is a problem of priorities.

We're having just that much time to do that much work.

We're spending let's say our time's 80% on the 20% of work that matters less to us.

In that situation one and only one piece of advice:

- Give up your dreams. Give up on yourself achieving your highest potential.

- Take a decision and choose what really matters to you.

That's it. No other advice. Don't try to keep pushing when you're wasting time not having sorted your priorities.

Best of luck amigo.

Keep it up.

And as always, until next time!

✌

#fearlesslyForward

#honesty #integrity #technicalExcellence

www.beyondscopes.com