Burnout

Jono Bacon mentions a Ubuntu roundtable about burnout and suggests that talking to someone about it is the correct next step.

Without intending this to be a particular commentary on the Ubuntu community (I haven’t been part of it since early 2005 other than as a user, I have no idea how effectively they respond to burnout among contributors) and while talking to someone is the first step, this does remind me of the occasional things about burnout which I do hear that don’t mention that you might need to reduce or change your duties. The common theme (and I’ve heard it particularly from volunteer organisations of all stripes) is along the lines of we’d really like you not to burn out — but please don’t let your burnout prevention or coping let you do anything as mean as quitting on us. Or alternatively something like other things in your life may stress you out and start to burn you out on us, but no one would burn out on us, we are the Kingdom of Love or what we are doing is so noble and good that it burns out only the weak and uncommitted.

Anyway, again without knowing whether Jono or the Ubuntu volunteer community make this mistake, the upshot is that even enjoyable and/or noble uses of your time can burn you out (arguably, noble uses of your time are actually especially prone to doing so) and sometimes the only cure is to have a long hiatus or to give up the pursuit entirely. A community truly resistant to burnout, funnily enough, needs to put prevention at such a high priority that the focus isn’t quitting is the worst thing you could do.