Table of Contents
Introduction
The Complexity We Underestimate About Burnout
It Takes Experience and Time to Handle It
Why Most Burn...
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
Great read — thank you for sharing such an honest perspective.
I fully agree that burnout isn’t always about working too much, and that things like tutorial hell, lack of direction, and chaotic learning can be deeply exhausting.
That said, I think there’s an important nuance here around mixing causes with remedies. In your case, burnout seems to have stemmed largely from chaos and stagnation — and for that kind of burnout, structure, discipline, and focused action can indeed be helpful.
However, many people experience burnout while already doing meaningful work and making progress, but under chronic stress, pressure, responsibility, lack of safety, or emotional overload. For them, “pushing harder” or adding more discipline can actually make things worse rather than better.
This is also where the Navy SEALs metaphor can be tricky. SEALs operate within a closed system with a clear mission, strong team support, and a very clear “why”. Many developers don’t have that — they’re often alone, without a clear long-term goal, and suffering in a much more abstract environment.
The idea of discipline even on weekends is another thin line: for some it means a focused hour of intentional work, for others it can easily translate into “never being allowed to stop”.
Overall, I think your approach is very valuable for a specific kind of burnout, but it may not apply universally. Still, I really appreciate the depth and thoughtfulness of this piece — it definitely sparks an important conversation.
@sylwia-lask Thank you! and you're right, this topic is tricky and often controversial.
Burnout is real, and complaints about constant pressure or overwork are completely valid. That said, there's also a group of people who claim to perform better under pressure and not because they're just trying to make themselves cool for job interviews. This phenomenon is real. When you deeply care about what you do, pressure can become something you embrace rather than something that drains you.
Of course, this isn't universal. It depends on many factors: personality, the people around you, the project, timing, and about 15,000 other variables. But the core idea remains the same:
when stress is constant and overwhelming, the root cause is usually deeper than "working too much."
In most cases, workload acts just as a multiplier of the main cause, not the origin of the problem.
That's where the Navy SEALs reference becomes relevant. The point isn't toughness, it's system design. High performers operate inside closed, managed systems created by themselves: clear goals, controlled inputs, predictable processes, and intentional recovery. Chaos is reduced not by working less, but by structuring more.
Without such a system, you end up chasing abstract goals, status, validation, vague "success" and abstract goals inevitably produce abstract results.
But again, this topic is so tricky and complex, doesn't matter how much you talk about this, there'll always be blindspots and too specific/hidden scenarios and causes.
Perfectionism is one possible trigger, low impact is probably more common, and both can go overlooked despite coaching and mindfulness. Thanks for your thoughful article!
Both are one of the most infamous triggers when it comes to burnout. Not only that, perfectionism can easily cause low impact.
Good insight. Thank you!
Thanks for this awesome post. being a career-changer, switching to development after 20+ years of an established career, while having a wife and 2 small kids, i can relate this a lot.
the analogy with the SEAL is quite nice, and i totally agree with the discipline necessity to progress wisely and therefore avoid burnout (due to the progress). Still, i can add 2 other things, i caught from your SEAL example (maybe implicitly touched)
Again thank you for this post.
All you said above, come and go still to me, I have my special causes, and i am glad that my path is now clearer and I can sense the progress. But the feeling of ticking time and i am not doing enough is really stressful.
That's definitely an important distinction, good catch! Though nobody can teach anyone how to be disciplined, not even SEALs. This comes with trials, failurs, and practice.
I'm glad you have a clear path and you understand the importance of small wins. Having a CLEAR goal is the first thing anyone should do before starting anything.
Wow! Nice article here I read about 40 minutes without distraction, usually I am not a read person If is saw something like this long I would move automatically but it was so inspiring and relatable to the extent I enjoyed and also it relates to me start writing articles to avoid feeling like I don't have anything to do and to also help increase my knowledge and skill through blogging thanks for the nice article 👏👏🙏🙏
That is awesome, thank you so much! I absolutely recommend starting writing articles. I started about a year ago and I have 0 regrets.
I was once burnt out and I have hit rock bottom so hard, I still have painful wounds, but I agree, nothing beats identifying the cause and then fighting back with discipline. I wouldn't say I've won completely yet, I have such a huge work to do, but I try to take a step by step.
First of all, when I felt burnt out (indifferent, moody, tired, joyless, only my few people and nature gave me some strength honestly), I quit my job without identifying a reason and without a next, short and realistic goal, I just felt tired.
When I thought I was tired and maybe didn't like what I was doing, time showed me quite opposite - I absolutely adore coding, creating huge systems which solve problems of real world, appears I love being part of a mission, but the reason of my burnout was my inability to protect my boundaries (in terms of timeline, deadlines, vacation planning) at work, my constant trying to prove I was a good coworker, "driving my car in a wrong direction", plus I think there was a rusting too.
I felt rusty, because I changed. Younger me wouldn't believe I needed and could learn about depths of programming, while mature me got anxious about missing opportunities, about wasted time and confidence, about empty spaces in knowledge.
Now I try to learn things which I missed on, because I wasn't confident enough to touch these topics and I take corporate culture way more seriously now.
I have strong discipline in sports, I swim and I take public transport even in the coldest weathers, but discipline in work is different.
I found out, I was way more disciplined when someone (school, university, office job) was controlling my schedule. Now I try bring back strong Natia but by controlling time myself, even when everything seems super important and impossible to reorganize and prioritize.
What helps, is a schedule! I know when I have to leave to go to pool, I know my cycle breaker (as you mentioned and I loved it!) is a dinner so I try to do most of the work before dinner and then dive back soon, I have set limits on social media because reels seem very stupidly, accidentally catchy and time-consuming, and the last one- before sleep I try to read a book of our field at least 10 min.
The most important thing, no excuses! That's where my weakness lyed.
I wish this pain and waste of time on nobody. And I would with big interest read another article from you maybe more about your tips and tricks how to sharpen professional, non-physical discipline.
Thank you for such important article! I was amazed reading your metaphor about rusting car and finding our own Drive mode, absolutely loved f1 metaphors and again thanks for sharing, I would never think strong and disciplined person like you could ever go through this!
All the best wishes for this new year, keep going brother!
Thanks for such an insightful comment! And I'm happy you've found your rhythm, it's never too late. Everyone should go through this kind of hardness to understand what works for them. Especially in our field - full of frustration, impostor syndrome, constant learning, and feeling that you don't belong in that position. That's where a strong mindset is built. When I was a beginner, I was afraid of difficulties and complexities of what my career brought, but then I realized that the point wasn't to avoid dark places, the point was to feel comfortable in them.
Great article and I definitely agree with
Have you read (or listened to) the fantastic non-fiction book, Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness - Amazon, by Steve Magness?
I've listened to it 3 times now & it is an absolutely amazing story by an author who went through all the difficult challenges that we all face when we try to succeed at something.
I finally convinced my long-time friend to listen to the book and he said it's one of his top 5 all-time favorites (mine too).
The book teaches about when real resilience is and where it really comes from.
Absolutely amazing.
I think I’ve heard of this book, but haven’t read/listened yet. I’ll add it in my list. Thanks a lot!
Really appreciate the time it took to craft a post like this, Giorgi. You did extremely well to touch on different presectives but keep the overall message clear.
Certainly the desire to learn everything at once really resonated with myself, as I am sure it will with many people starting on their learning journey.
Thanks for taking the time to share such a powerful message!
Thank you! I always try to write as genuinely as I can, feedback like this gives me even more motivation, because now I know people can relate to what I have to say, and it’s so rewarding.
Excellent points. I'd like to draw more attention to meaning. Discipline without meaning will probably cause one to burnout too. Importance of meaning is implied and it seems like the assumption is made that a lot of developers are passionate about their their chosen profession. I haven't seen any stats, but I have the same feeling. Still I think it's important to note. No-one should probably push themselves too hard on something they don't care about personally.
Like Simon Sinek says:
“Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion,”
That is an excellent point!!! Discipline and goals go hand-in-hand. One is useless without the other! Thank you!
This one hit way closer to home than I expected.
What really landed for me is the idea that burnout isn’t always about doing too much — it’s about burning fuel while going nowhere. That “engine on, car not moving” analogy is painfully accurate. I’ve lived in that state for months at a time and kept calling it “hard work,” when it was really just noise, anxiety, and zero traction.
Also appreciate how this doesn’t do the usual soft-pillow burnout advice. No “just rest more” or “take a walk and it’ll be fine.” Sometimes rest doesn’t fix anything because the real problem is stagnation, lack of direction, or lying to yourself about progress. That’s uncomfortable to admit, but necessary.
The Navy SEAL comparison actually works here — not because software engineers are warriors or whatever, but because discipline and discomfort are the point, not a side effect. The moment everything becomes convenient and frictionless, growth quietly dies. That’s when burnout sneaks in.
Big +1 on discipline being freeing, not restrictive. Once routines are locked in, you stop negotiating with yourself all day, and the mental load drops hard. Motivation becomes irrelevant.
This isn’t a “feel good” article. It’s a mirror. And honestly, that’s way more useful.
Respect for writing something this raw and not sugarcoating it.
You have truly understood the intent and context of this article. My writing style is usually like this - raw and unrefined, but I think this kind of style delivers the message way more effectively.
Thank you!
read of the day
Thanks! And you made my day with this comment!
The implicit message here is “If you’re not pushing yourself to the edge, you’re not serious.”
This is a performance‑identity fusion, which is the root of burnout.
New developers who absorb this will:
• override their limits
• distrust their own signals
• moralize exhaustion
• normalize self‑betrayal
• equate worth with output
This is exactly the opposite of what a sustainable career requires.
It’s not about overriding limits’s it’s about finding them.
You should always question signals and analyze them deeply.
Exhaustion is almost inevitable when pushing the limits, however this doesn’t mean burnout. These 2 are different things.
Don’t really know how having discipline is self betrayal and not the other way around, could you please elaborate?
It’s not about equating worth. It’s about what you achieve as a software engineer. The more measurable achievements are, the more confident you get.
I hope I elaborated on all the points properly. Thanks for challenging the ideas in this article! 🤝
Self-betrayal isn't about discipline. It's about overriding your own signals in the name of discipline. If exhaustion is 'almost inevitable,' then the system is teaching people to normalize damage. That's the pattern I'm naming.
Well, this is the system we got and we need to deal with it one way or another. I personally end up every single day exhausted, but I would feel much worse if I felt I didn’t give all I had.
Interesting take though.
I'm dealing with this right now. Thanks you for writing this.
I'm sorry to hear that. Just keep in mind, doesn't matter how severe it is, it's still absolutely doable to defeat it in a short period of time. You just need to take it seriously and not ignore it. Even if you need my help, I'd gladly contribute to it.
Great narrative, at first discipline might feel difficult as a battle but overtime it gets so addictive.
Totally. It's like a game. You lose one part and you have to start from the last checkpoint, which might be way too far at the beginning.