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Comment by vwcx | Hacker News Reader

"Contrary to popular belief, burnout isn’t caused by a lack of work-life balance. It’s driven more by the lack of ability to do meaningful work."

Couldn't agree more. I wish I was more like my peers who don't seem to get as fully invested in their work (emotionally, mentally, etc)...but if I'm dedicating 40 hours a week to something, it's hard to continue if the work isn't aligned with what I define as meaningful.

Like the author, I've beat myself up over the idea that my remote job offers good enough W/L balance...but that doesn't fix the core problem that the vast majority of those 40 hours are spent frittering away at the structure of the corporation (and its motivations).

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Getting paid well enough to afford a satisfying lifestyle is pretty meaningful, IMO. Is that not enough?

If doing meaningful work is part of the lifestyle, then it’s not enough.

Absolutely not.

I want to spend the third of my life I spend working doing something meaningful which I enjoy doing.

I don't even spend the money tbh.

I think the term golden handcuffs would apply here and I’d say it’s not enough. If the basic necessities were affordable, I might put my skills into a completely different field than the one I’m in. Unfortunately, everyone is hoarding money, which means I have to hoard money (or make as much as humanly possible).

If your job was to watch paint dry for 8 uninterrupted hours every day, but you were paid $150k/year, do you think you would feel happy and fulfilled?

being absurd, of course, but there are degrees to everything.

I think we can all agree that everyone has some lower boundary for “needs interesting day-to-day activities” — some folks just have different amounts.

I get it. I would also greatly prefer to enjoy my days _and_ get paid a software engineer’s salary, but life is rarely that kind. And when it is, it tends not to last.

I _want_ to enjoy my job, but I _need_ to make money. Most people don’t get either of those things, so I’ve come to terms with just having the latter.

>Contrary to popular belief, burnout isn’t caused by a lack of work-life balance.

I'd say boredom isn't burnout. I've done the 9-5 and was bored out of my skull. I'd often have zero output in a given day.

I'm now doing my own start up and putting in a fairly significant chunk of hours (80h+/week) and while I absolutely love what I do, it's just getting too hard to keep up the pace. I'm tired, my work output degrades, so I get even less done. But I still absolutely love it =P

Then don't dedicate 40 hours. I read plenty of books on my phone in meetings or on my laptop. Do plenty of appointments and calls to the bank and other errands during company time.

Being annoyed at your job is not burnout.

It can definitely contribute, though, right?

Being annoyed at the same things for a long time can really sap your enjoyment and motivation.

Sure, but that's still a distinct thing. When burned out you physically can't put yourself into performing the job (and often other things in your life too) regardless of your motivation or desire. Being demotivated may but does not necessarily lead into that state; it's not necessary for it to occur either.

Meaningful work will become boring. Pick your favorite dish and have it for 45 days straight and you’ll desperately want something else to eat. Ok, so the counter would be that we need variety of work. But, you can ask someone who travels a lot for work and see if they like this variety of places to see; they don’t. They get sick of variety.

All of these discussions IMO make no sense to me. For every claim, I can find a counter argument. It’s just intellectual masturbation. No progress or insight is to be gained.

I disagree, I never got tired of building my own products. I get tired of any job after 6 months, after I've seen anything there is to see and to deal with way too much bullshit

This isn't true. I worked for three years helping write automation utilities for an engineering department. I talked to the people who were able to work more easily and effectively due to my work every day. I heard how I was helping them and how I could improve things and I constantly worked to make things work better for them. I absolutely found the work satisfying for multiple years.

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