One of the things that we wanted to do in the very beginning of this show's life is provide you a fresh breath of air. To take a moment, step away from the screen, maybe take a walk around the block or have a few minutes in the car where you are just listening. Listening to something that's hopefully encouraging and maybe enlightening, sometimes challenging. But the idea here is that it requires that you have space. And one of the reasons that giving yourself the space to listen to this podcast or just to take a walk around the block, even without the podcast, is to avoid. Burnout. Burnout is a real effect. There's a substantial amount of research on the negative effects of burnout. In today's episode, we're going to talk about three red flags that you can watch for in yourself. Perhaps if you're a manager, watch for it in others that might point to burnout. My name is Jonathan Cottrell and you're listening to Developer Tea. And today's episode is about burnout. This show exists to help driven developers find clarity, perspective, and purpose in their careers. And so if you are looking for perspective, maybe you are listening to this episode because you already feel burned out. Or maybe you're listening to it because you feel guilty for feeling burned out. I want to start out by dispelling a few kind of myths about burnout. These are things that are not necessarily. True, but are easy to believe. The first myth about burnout is that it makes you a bad worker. This is something that you probably implicitly believe. Hopefully by now, most of the people who listen to this podcast, you have a working environment that respects the reality of burnout and how damaging it can be to both the employee and the employer. But this is. At the same time, you may find yourself bringing your evolution behind you and bringing your evolution behind you. We can feel that by becoming burnt out, we've somehow done something wrong. That we've made the choice to feel burned out. Or that everyone else has a longer fuse than us. That we are somehow isolated in our feeling burned out. Another myth is that you have to hate your company to become burned out. Or you have to hate your job or your manager or a co-worker. That something has to be terribly wrong for you to become burned out. And that's not true. Another myth is that you have to be overworking. You have to be working long hours to become burned out. This is also not true. Becoming burned out is actually a combination of factors. It can have a little bit to do with a negative perspective on your work. Or your workplace. That doesn't mean that you have to hate your workplace. But maybe you feel like you aren't really reaching your potential. Perhaps you love the people that you work with. And maybe you even like the work that you're doing. But you don't feel totally fulfilled. Another factor is exhaustion. Now exhaustion doesn't necessarily have to mean that you're working more than your expected hours to work. If you set your hours at 4pm. Or 40 hours. And you're exhausted at 35. No matter how hard you try to not be exhausted. And perhaps in spite of you trying to not be exhausted. You're likely to become even more exhausted. And just because your exhaustion isn't directly tied to some arbitrary expected number. Doesn't mean that it's not real. You can experience exhaustion because you have. For example. A lot. On your plate. Or maybe it's just. The fluctuations of being human. There is no. Expected formula. You don't have to. Apply. For. The permission to be burned out. This is not something that. Anyone really wants. Nobody. Strives for burnout. And so in today's episode. I want to. Kind of help you. Learn how to identify this. In yourself. I'm going to give you. Three. Kind of red flag behaviors. Or. Or intuitions. That you can use. To try to identify. When you are. Getting burned out. First. I do want to take a moment. To talk about today's sponsor. ImageKit. With ImageKit. You can automate image optimization. Across all platforms. If you are looking to optimize the images. On your website. Or your app. To improve their performance. Page load time. And SEO. Then ImageKit.io. Is a complete. Solution for this. You'll have real time. Image optimizations. And transformations. With a global content delivery network. Making image management. And optimization. Super simple. This allows you to deliver. Great user experience. And simultaneously. Get better. SEO. ImageKit integrates with. Pretty much any platform that you use. For example. AWS S3. Magento. WordPress. Shopify. Pretty much anything else. And you get features like. Automatic format selection. Or compression. Resizing. Smart cropping. You can use the coupon code. Developer T. For $100 worth of credit. That's $100. And it starts. Absolutely free. So. You pretty much have nothing to lose. Go and check it out. ImageKit.io. Make sure you use the promo code. Developer T. To get $100 worth of credit. Thanks again. To ImageKit. For sponsoring today's episode. So we're going to talk about. Three warning signs. We're going to go through these. Kind of quick. Quickly today. Because. There's not a ton. That you have to look for. For this. You probably have an intuitive sense. That you are getting burned out. But sometimes. This can sneak up on us. Sometimes. We tell ourselves. That we aren't burned out. Because. We're really enjoying. The work that we're doing. If you're really enjoying. The work that you're doing. But you also. End up feeling. Totally exhausted. By it. Then that is absolutely. A sign of burnout. So. Let's talk about these. Three. Red flags. Of course. That one is. Maybe a bonus. Red flag. Feeling. Feeling exhausted. But the first one. That I want to talk about. Is that. Your motivation. Is almost entirely. External. This is the first. Red flag. Your motivation. Is almost entirely. External. So. You don't wake up. Feeling. Motivated. By your own. Appreciation. For your work. Your motivation. Is coming from. Perhaps. Only. Your monetary incentive. Or. Maybe it's coming from. What feels like a threat. If you don't do your job well. Then you'll lose your job. Now the problem with this kind of motivation. Is not that it's not effective. We can absolutely be motivated. By external things. But when it's not paired with. Internal motivation. Then we can quickly. Have a mismatch. Between our actions. And what we think. We're being motivated to do. In other words. Our internal motivation. Is a much stronger. Motivator. Than external motivation. And so with external motivations. Like for example. A bonus. We might find the bare minimum. That we can do. To get that bonus. This is totally normal. By the way. And when you are being burnt out. You'll show these signs. That you are. Gaming the system. You're more likely to game the system. When you have internal motivation. You are rewarded by. The work itself. Now that doesn't mean. That all of your. Motivation should be internal. Certainly. No one who's listening to this podcast. Should accept a job. Where they're not. Being paid. To do the work they're doing. But when you don't have. Any internal motivation. To do the job that you're doing. Then it's time to take. A little bit of a harder look. Now there might be periods. For example. A day. Where you're doing something. That you have absolutely. Zero motivation. Or. Internal motivation. To do. But if it's a chronic problem. Where you don't feel motivated. By anything that's in front of you. Except if it comes with some kind of. Some kind of external incentive. Then there's something to inspect there. It's very possible. That you are headed towards burnout. Red flag number two. You find it incredibly difficult. To focus. So even if you have. A lot of internal motivation. Your burnout. Which leads to exhaustion. Is going to make it difficult. To focus. You'll end up. Procrastinating on your work. You'll end up. Doing really poor work. Quite regularly. Because you're unable to focus. And so you may miss some detail. In the work. But if you feel constantly distracted. This is another sign. That you are trying to escape. This burnout path. Your mind is trying to. To escape. The work. That you're having to do. And even if you enjoy that work. This can happen. You start losing focus. And this leads us to. Red flag number three. Your work seems to be progressively. Getting worse. It's not that your work is just bad. And then it's still bad. The next day. It's that you're constantly. Getting worse. And it seems like each day. Is worse than before. Now you can kind of intuitively understand. Why this is the case. The system of burnout. Causes you to. Come into work. And you're very tired. And so. You might miss a detail. This can be frustrating. It can make other team members feel stressed. It can lead to negative feedback. Which can. Turn into anxiety for you. Which can turn into more. Acute sense. Of burnout. And that burnout. Will lead you to. Procrastinate. It may lead you to have. Highly sensitive emotions. It may lead you to be. Highly irritable. And so you may have. More conflicts. At work. And then those conflicts. Could lead to. Even more negative performance reviews. For you. And so you can see. How this can spiral. Out of control. And it may not happen. In one or two days. It may not even happen. In one or two weeks. Per se. But this. This kind of negative feedback loop. Is going to eventually. Cause very serious problems. And this is why. Burnout is so important. To identify. So that is the third red flag. You don't have ups and downs. It seems like. Your work is continuously. Becoming worse. So what can you do. About burnout. We're not going to go into depth. On an answer here. But. It's important to understand. That burnout. Is not just about. Working versus resting. It's also about. Engaging your mind. And engaging your body. In something different. From your work. It's about finding. Fulfillment. Not just at work. And not just. At home. But a holistic. Fulfillment. And this may seem. Idealistic. But. That's what this show is about. It's about. Helping you. Find. A holistic. Level. Of fulfillment. In the work that you do. And in your life. Because. Really those things are not separate. You may have a commute. That makes it feel separate to you. But no matter how many cognitive. Or social. Barriers. You put between your work. And your life. Those things. Will affect each other. And it's important to. Approach your work. From the perspective. That it's only. A part of your life. And. Approach your life. As though it's. A part of your work. This integrated way. Of thinking about work. And life. Is going to lead you. To think differently. About both. I encourage you. To consider. How you are allowing. Those things. To enrich. Each other. Thank you so much for listening. To today's episode. Of Developer Tea. I hope that if you are headed. Towards burnout. That you find ways. Of identifying it. And that you engage yourself. In other. Activities. Other. Mental activities. Other emotional. And physical activities. And that your work. Can continue to. Become better. Rather than. Continuously becoming worse. Thank you so much again. To today's sponsor. ImageKit. Head over to. ImageKit.io. And use the code. DeveloperT. To get $100. Worth of credit. Thank you so much. For listening. To today's episode. This podcast. Wouldn't be possible. Without. Spec.io. And head over to. Spec.fm. Spec.io. Is a network. Of podcasts. And other content. For designers. And developers. Who are looking. To level up. In their careers. Go and check it out. There's other. Awesome podcasts. For example. React podcast. Tools day. And quite a few. Others. That you will be. Interested in. Go and check it out. Head over to. Spec.fm. Today's episode. Also wouldn't be possible. Without Sarah Jackson. Sarah is the producer. Of Developer Tea. Thank you so much. For listening. To today's episode. And until. Next time. Enjoy your tea.