Avoiding burnout (as a student)

Someone framed burnout to me as the symptom of repeatedly not having expectation met; caretaker burnout because you caretake but the person don't get better, work burnout because you work hard but results don't follow.

Same person framed feeling overwhelmed as a result of having too much things to do that is out of your control (often external responsibilities) relative to how much things you do that is under your control. Things you can't control could be anything from laundry to replying to work email, while things you have control being a hobby todo list or that travel planning. (you rarely feel overwhelmed by all the books/games you've bought but haven't read/played yet)

So an counterintuitive solution to feeling overwhelmed is not to stop doing stuff; because you tend to stop doing stuff that you can stop, while external responsibilities remains unchanged. Instead add more stuff that is under your control.

So as a student, one way of burnout prevention can be to add more things to do that is under your control, where reasonable expectations can be made. (hobby, non-pressure things to learn, socializing, sport/fitness)

I was constantly making little schedules with time estimates in college:

Class xyz paper 30-45 min

class abc hw problems 4-10 1hr

physics 2 study for quiz 2 hrs

C++ assignment 45 mins

I dont seem to do this in my professional life, but constantly assessing how much time everything would take helped me a lot. Also just writing more things down by hand is a dramatically different way to help organize life.

I rarely write things (by hand) anymore and I feel like its atrophied part of my brains organizational ability. However, whenever I have accomplished something big in life - getting a new job, keeping on top of many parallel things - I always bullet journal.

I guess this is to say: if you are feeling overwhelmed break everything down into steps (on paper!) and plan out when everything is happening (on paper!).Have a yearly log, monthly log, and daily log. There is just something about actually writing things down which can help you physically feel like you have removed stress/weight.

Physical activity is a big one in my exp

I suspect variety feeds into burnout more, instead of lowering the risk, as you become aware of all the other things you could be doing instead. Especially if one of those things is money-making, vs. your expensive college credits you're paying how much for and this is what you're getting... Learning Lisp is one of the worst things you can do to yourself if your college is a C++ school.

Some tips for high productivity and avoiding burnout:

- Ashwagandha is amazing at reducing stress by lowering cortisol.

- Eggs are good for your brain.

- Mental math is great for mental sharpness, but you need to make it a habit.

- Get enough sleep!

>Vary what you consider “productive”. I go on chatrooms and dark web forums and have fun [...]

Dark web has useful forums now?