🔥BURNOUT🔥This topic is important to me as I believe Burnout is a word that often gets thrown around with varying levels of seriousness attached to it, but it really SHOULD be taken seriously. I hope through sharing my story, the signs and how I recovered, it can help validate others experiences and feelings. If you relate then please know that you're not alone and you deserve to be taken seriously and to take your own mental health seriously as well. If you struggle with overwhelming negative thoughts then you can use this FREE CBT Activity: yagmanx.itch.io/my-thought-diary Don't ever forget, there's more to life than work
I’ve heard many game devs saying that even though they’re living their 'dream job,' they’ve also experienced burnout at least once😬 I hope you’re doing okay❤
Burned out one here. Worked for 10 years at different places. 7 years at the current one. I gave all my heart to this job and got left with nothing. In two weeks I'm quitting. I need to rebuild my life because I don't have anything apart from my job. But I don't want to wast life banging my head into a wall hoping management changes at some point. I love my job but I hate my work. I need to grow my stress lost hair back and stay afar from stupid people.
You can do it, I believe in you! I've started adding self care goals to my to do lists and its helping regrade my thoughts to feel that relaxing IS a part of being productive 🤘
My god this video was so in time. I was stoppping video many times to just sit there and reflect. Wow I'm genually in awe, I needed someone to tell me this things right now. Thank you so much for that
I remember how busy you were when I visited you. Everything was scheduled, even fun and relaxing things. You worked so hard and with such discipline, I was stunned when I heard you got laid off. I appreciate you sharing the struggle, as well as the growth. You really inspire me. ❤ Thank you for talking about this!
Thank you Jade 💜 hehe yes I'm a total planner 🙈 I really appreciate you gifting me BG3 at this time btw, it helped me SO MUCH. Thank you, you're a star ⭐
Thank you so much for this video. I've been working on my game for 4 years now, just released it 2 months ago, but I'm feeling extreme stress that is kind of ruining my social relationships around me as well as slowing down my progress with updating the game and providing more content. I relate to you heavily in this entire video (are we the same person??) and it hit me really really hard watching this that it almost brought me to tears because I've felt so alone in this stressful time. I will probably watch this multiple times.
Oh I'm so sorry you had to go through this but I'm so glad you could find some validation from thus video. Congrats on the release of your game! I hope you find some time to slow down and remind your body how to relax now. Its not something we can do straight away after burnout, but its very important and you're worth it!
Thanks for the video! It’s the brain it just beats the heck out of you sometimes. I noticed when you kinda force yourself to accept things and make efforts to smile and know you’re gonna be ok. It’s temporary thoughts and that’s all. They can consume you but when you know a thought can start and mean nothing that’s when you know you’ll be ok.I appreciate the video
This was a great video. Great job. I've realized a lot of this things along the way and having it all condensed in this way is enlightening. I know it will rescue some poor soul in burnout hell and remind them they need to stop, and love themselves. * Your website to re-identity immediate thoughts is such a good idea * I find so funny how we... lose the habit? of playing games, or doing stuff we enjoy just for yourself. It's definitely a situation I wanna explore more * I feel having a burnout is part of your... life process, your soul process. It's a challenge that it's not overcome by fighting more, but by attending to yourself, literally like what you do when you have a creative block! I look up to you and I love your videos. I'm glad you're able to overcome life challenges!!
For anyone... If you feel it, stop whatever causes it before you have a completly mental breakdown. Take a step back. Pause your game of life and set your perspective. Recover your strenght and attack again. Your health is the most important thing atm. So Calm down a little
Hi! Great video, very happy to see that you're back doing what you love. I don't want to disminish your experience in any way but as you said this is very much about how you handled it and I'd like to add a bit more to it for people in a different context and especially in more precarious situations: -Burnout can happen in any activity, whether you enjoy it or not. As you said it was probably different factors that put you under loads of stress in your case, but any hobby, job, relationships can put you in a situation of burnout. -Burnout needs to be prevented at the first signs of it. If you start feeling very negatively about your activity and start to notice changes in energy, sleep, emotionnal stability etc you need to take action. Burnout can have severer consequences on your body and mind long term and even after your recovery. Being in burnout is already too late and a health risk and can take years to recover from (it often takes 2 years to recover completely from it, and you'll only know once you're on the other side so take your time). -About talking about it at your job: Please do not do this if you don't know how they handle this kind of case. A lot of companies and broadly countries/cultures/people do not see burnout as real or legitimate. I have seen coworker being trashed for taking mental health breaks by management (In gamedev, even famous and well seen companies). This can go as far as being ostracized, harrassed and fired in some cases. Talk to worker/union representatives at your job on how this is handled. If you hear that they don't take this seriously or are unsure, lots of country permit that you take a medical leave without disclosing any details on why. There is also the possibility to work less hours with a doctor's note in many places. If you can't go on medical leave or if it could put your material needs at risk (bills, housing, medication, food safety etc) then you can take a few measures to at least reduce stress and avoid a crash (see the next point). Unfortunately most people tunnel through burnout as it is most often undected or impossible to resolve in their situation. -As a general advice if you can't get away or out of your situation: try to find ways to lighten your workload discretly and to put some distance with the most stressful events in your life. Simplify your routine, ask for help around you (even for simple stuff), rest, self-massage if you experience muscular pain, if you work remotely or from your home try to get at least a 30min walk or a 10min body routine (and only if you have the energy for it obviously). -If you can get a medical leave and are in burnout, two weeks is the bare minimum, one month is good and two is ideal, but it also really depends on where you live. As I said previously burnout can very quickly be serious and dangerous for your health. And for anyone who is going through it I wish you the best and to get out of it as soon as possible on your own terms. Again great video thanks for shining a light on this!
This resonates so much with me. Burn out is still such a struggle combined with depression it can be a recipe for disaster! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, feelings and advice.
Thank you for sharing, it's honestly so nice to know that I'm not alone in all this. I hope you're in a better place now, I'm always free to chat if you ever need a friendly ear
Thanks for this! Burnout is so tough to deal with. I think for me I need to prioritize rest and having fun - it’s like fuel for the creative process, but unfortunately when I get started on something I’ll work on it non stop unless I absolutely need to which always seems fine at the beginning but clearly becomes a bad habit down the road as I run out of fuel
I have been burnt out for a while now and I have not been able to get back going again. I'm existing a limbo which has lasted for a few years now. At this point I'm not sure how I'm going to recover.
Thank you for this video. I become burned out last year. After some health problems I couldn’t rebuild my discipline and that combine with talking part in very demanding project cause me to fail. The guilt of letting people down created a cycle that cause stress and more guilt. Eventuality I have been let go in the middle of a job market crash. After few months of break taking some therapy and trying to reboot my dopamine system I was able to do something. I have been able to find a job in what I am currently working. I really hate my current position and I know I could do more interesting and complicated projects. I also feel self-doubt and burn out are still lingering in my mind. I recognise all those feelings you were talking about. I wasn’t crying but I wanted to XD burn out is real and it can creep into everybody live.
Thank you for sharing, its so important to myself and others to know our feelings are valid and relatable. I totally understand what you mean about low self esteem lingering, gosh its so tough! It sounds like you've gone through so much though and have taken the steps you need, you're doing so well and should be proud of yourself 💜
Important subject and brave of you to share! Also been going through similar, having just taken off over a month from my indie project to keep myself from falling off the edge. Realised I was super close to burn out and I didn't just need to slow down, but stop completely. Funnily enough, the game is about a city racoon travelling to an island community to get over burnout, so at least got some dialogue inspirations and that out of it. I've also realised that despite being a high performing person, I can't abuse that fact over long stretches of time. Effective work is so much more important than time spent working.. and getting nowhere. If it's not working, step back and relax, noones expecting you to be constantly doing 12-hour seshes. Take it easy, do something you enjoy, and see how it goes tomorrow. Look after yourselves everyone
@yagmanx ofc! There's some stigmas, especially around unhealthy indie game dev work norms we need to break still. Btw if anyone's interested, the game is called An Island Away, and I'll be sharing updates on our official socials much more often now because we have come a long way 😊
Thank you so much for making this video. As someone who has just accepted that what I have been feeling and dealing with for maybe even years is in fact burnout and not any of the other reasons I thought it was, you have no idea how much this helps. For years I have noticed that it was getting harder and harder for me to finish my assignments for my master's. I was only able to work on tasks that had to be made in a group, the fear of letting others down was what made me find the energy to do them. But it slowly became almost impossible to do even those during the last few months before I started my graduation. When I finally started my graduation the symptoms only got worse leading to 4 months where I got almost nothing done. I kept telling myself and others that it was just because I was tired, or they were symptoms from a concussion that I had the year before, since the GP told me that the tests I did came back fine, it had to be something like that. Reading more about burnout and doing a simple Stress Level Test from a book made me realise it was burnout all along. Accepting that made me start looking at my lifestyle differently, suddenly I noticed all of the bad habits I had started and all the fun activities I stopped doing or I no longer had fun doing. Starting with small steps to make it more difficult for me to fall back into those bad habits has helped already. Now I make sure I have eaten something before I go do groceries, which helps me with not buying unhealthy snacks ( I started eating a lot of icecream and full bags of chips), my phone is now downstairs, but connected to a speaker so I can hear it if someone calls me in the middle of the night (almost never happens, but I do not want to miss a call like that if it someone needs me for whatever reason), I also started journaling and have made an evening routine to help me wind down before I go to bed. There are a few more things I want to change, but I learned that turning the wheel completely just makes you hit the side of the road. Small steps. This video helps me realise that if just slowly take these steps I will manage to do all of the things I used to do before I started feeling burnout.
Dear it was a much needed video, I am senior unity developer , I paused my Fiverr journey and currently, I am working on my own game and I was getting burn out and currently under bit of financial stress but this video of yours gave me a good boost thanks a lot . You really inspire me I wish I could work on some creative, multiplayer or VR projects with you. Or just could meet you in person on meet. Keep it up 🙂
Lovely video. We all stretch ourselves too thin nowadays by trying to be everything under the sun. Ambition and expectation can be a detriment to our growth and our daily lives if not kept in check. There was a study that Jane McGonigal brought up once regarding what people would say as they were dying. They never lamented not being able to work more. They regretted spending so much time working instead of spending time with people they loved. They regretted not letting themselves be who they are due to the expectations of others. I'm glad you're feeling better
my method that has been amazingly effective is to break down big tasks into the TINIEST goals that I can accomplish for the day. Being able to check off a successfully completed task, regardless of how small, is a great feeling
The timing of this video couldn't be any more poignant. I'm also a dev, currently struggling with burnout and can relate to so much of what you have shared. It's really interesting to hear how you've been working through it, just wanted to thank you for sharing your experiences.
I have been solo developing a game for 2 years and have had 2 "approaching burnout" episodes. I knew from the start it was going to be a lot of hard work and that I would have to wear many hats. It was not like I was never in any doubt that it was failing; perhaps more like, OK time to take a week off from everything to do with it, relax the focus and just have fun. Returning both times felt like I was "a bit rusty" for a few hours but the initial passion returned with a vengeance and I realised some new ideas had blossomed in the absence, that may not have happened had i not take a good step back to get the bigger picture. It is quite a journey I am on! Never giving up and being subbornly determined is the key I think. Inspiration Is a strange beast to try and tame after all...
Wow this is amazing that you were able to notice the signs and take a step back, we can all learn a thing or two from you (I hope I will!) Best of luck with all your projects and keep checking in with your mental state 😊
I like your video edit, especially the intro, when you when you closed the laptop and suddenly stood in the room. Support from others plays a role. When you have to or want to manage your life yourself, there is little time for creativity, which I have always understood as a feeling of freedom, free from everyday problems. Another thing is feedback from real people to your creative work.
Thanks, I love editing my videos in fun ways! Good point, its so important to have people in your life that you trust to share your work and emotions with 💜
Thanks for the video, I relate to a lot of what you talk about and it's very reassuring. Those two advice you talk about : - The "ok 1 week break and then I get back to it" - Keep working/forcing myself to work on project associated with depression and burn out It took more than a year to discover that it was causing a lot of depression (Thank you therapy 😅) And now after all this time, I'm finally letting go and focusing only on doing things I would have called "non-productive" before. And in doing so I'm finally feeling excitment for some new creative project which is a feeling I haven't felt for ages. In a few days I'm actually doing a tiny Northen Europe tour on my own and planning on doing small interview about Mental Health 😊 Anyway I'm gonna stop talking about my life and just thank you for the video, I've loved it
Thank you for sharing your experience. It is SO valid and I can relate a lot, burn out recovery a long journey and I feel we often out far too much pressure on ourselves. I'm so glad to hear you're in a better place now 😊
For me, working on a personal VR game dev project alongside work was demotivating me since all I wanted to do was the game dev project. Currently, it's helping me front load my week doing 12 hrs/day with no distractions, then spending a longer weekend focusing on game dev. Still, I have to be careful not to game dev so much that I don't allow myself to have some mindless fun.
Really interesting topic. I also think I'm in a state of burnout, I can't describe it well, but I work too many hours a day (even 14 hours), I have many ideas and a great desire to realize them, but it requires too much time and energy. Inside me there are 2 contrasting forces: one that wants to do and the other that tells me it's tired and every time I listen to one of the two, I still feel bad because I don't satisfy the other. But you have to balance it out, give one a little vent and then the other. But I work for a company and I can't afford to take breaks, at most summer holidays and Christmas holidays (but they last too little, about 3 weeks). The main sensations I have are a slight state of mental confusion, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, anxiety and irritability, all of which makes me lose a lot of efficiency. I don't know exactly how to behave, I don't want to do psychological therapy.
Thats so much, I'm so sorry you're not able to get the rest you deserve. I am certainly an advocate for talking therapy though, it helped me understand what was holding me back, bad habits and what was important to me. I hope, whatever you choose, that you get some peace soon 💜
Burnout is an extremely important thing to learn how to manage. It is valuable to know your limits, especially for those like me who are going to be entering their 30s soon.
One tip I can give to those who burn out is - if you're over ambitious and find yourself constantly restarting, make tools to help future you. For example; I always wanted to make a game where the player has an immersive first person body. To achieve this, I've made a blend tree animation in unity for looking up and down, aiming, ect. I've also created a very rudimentary level editor in unity so I can save and load asset states in a json. Something I wanted to do in order to only have the game load once. The former, I'm still working on but, if I can prevent future me from restarting for the billionth time, thats the goal.
totally unrelated... but PLEASE YagmanX, stop hypnotizing me with your beautiful blue eyes! 💕 that out of the way... burnout is serious. Everyone should try to at least manage their time so we can always relax a bit. It isn't easy - but I've been trying to do that.
i have recently just been through this as well :( wanting to do so much but not being able to do any of it and making excuses to not start working everyday... burnout gave me really bad depression as a solo dev there is so much work to do that it feels like i can't waste any of my time... sorry i just had to say all that
No need to apologise at all, your experience is so valid and I appreciate you sharing. Depression is absolutely something that burnout can lead to and its good to speak about. I hope you're able to find some time to relax and recover soon if you haven't already, you deserve it 🙏
@@yagmanx thank you for the kind words, im doing a lot better now but i have forgot a bit about using blender and ue5 so got to learn that again haha im glad you were able to come back from burnout as well :D
This is an important topic. Sorry for the following wall of text, that's my ADHD now driving. There are people with ADHD, which tend to bite more off than they can chew (that would be me) and end up in either a burnout and sometimes a boreout. In some way i think - and this is anecdotal evidence and some of my own expirience - that a burnout varies from "task" and "job". What i mean is, if you're an artist and you work on your next piece and all of a sudden you can't continue; i would count that not only to a block but to burnout aswell, as you can't bring up anything that satisfies your creativity. Your brain just needs to step away from the process, it needs to recharge - a "task" burnout. I've also experienced that people began to have cold sweat when they had to go to work, which is the classic burnout symptom i guess. We are raised with "work hard, work long, be productive" - but this is utter bs in my books. You need your time off to recharge, lollygagging maybe, analyze what you've produced so far from different angles. I know, this is hard in project-driven-environments but still should be possible especially due to the repetitive nature that could drive you right into a boreout that prevents from finishing your work. And that's the issue i have with PM: Sprints, Backlogs, "To-Do" "Doing" "Done"... it just intakes the time for the task/Job and does not include the time you need to think or relax, probably because we are afraid to add the time we need to step away for a moment. Yes this is not possible in Caretaker and Medical Jobs (which are horribly underpayed and understaffed - we as society need to tackle this)
Lovely video. Wise conclusion. The software industry can be toxic. That's why I think it's very valauble when a company like X-Team take the initiative to make the opposite and create conditions for engineers to do things outside software in order to avoid burnouts... more than that, doing what you are passionate about can make you more productive in you are working on your job.
I'm dealing with burnout/procrastination still with game dev. And I can't really start another project since I'm already on a side project. But, the project feels like a lost cause despite some people liking it and I'm stuck in this spot where I'm unhappy with it that I want to cancel it but also doing so would make all the time spent of it truly feel wasted. Not too mention it would potentially harm any future projects I want to make since people will be like "Oh, they cancelled once, they'll do it again. No point getting excited." 😮💨
If you need to hear it, I just want to say this is a lot of pressure you're under right now. Perhaps talking it through with a professional could help? Its okay to step away and do something for yourself for a change, instead of constantly doing what you think 'should' be done if that makes sense. Best of luck to you
There are plenty of game developers who burn out because they are passionate by what they do, doing overtime which is not even requested by management, or juggling with too many passion projects, etc... I had no problem doing this for decades, then when I reached my 50ies, simply had to admit that my body and mind were not able to do that anymore.
I'm happy for you and the work you put into overcoming your problems! As for your question at the end, I don't think there is a way where the process becomes easier, however I do think we get stronger the more we do it so our capacity to endure it improves. I know negativity has a bad reputation but what if it is actually positive? We can't be who we are if we are what we aren't, we'd have to subtract the block of clay to reveal our statue of who we actually are. In that sense, it's only through negativity that we can become who we really are - in order to find our dream job/marriage we'd have to subtract all other options and be left with what we'd want above anything else. Basically I think we should develop Stockholm syndrome 😂 anyways, I'm glad you're feeling creative again, I know it killed me when I went forever without creating. Looking forward to your projects 🫡
🔥BURNOUT🔥This topic is important to me as I believe Burnout is a word that often gets thrown around with varying levels of seriousness attached to it, but it really SHOULD be taken seriously. I hope through sharing my story, the signs and how I recovered, it can help validate others experiences and feelings. If you relate then please know that you're not alone and you deserve to be taken seriously and to take your own mental health seriously as well.
If you struggle with overwhelming negative thoughts then you can use this FREE CBT Activity: yagmanx.itch.io/my-thought-diary
Don't ever forget, there's more to life than work
I’ve heard many game devs saying that even though they’re living their 'dream job,' they’ve also experienced burnout at least once😬 I hope you’re doing okay❤
Burned out one here. Worked for 10 years at different places. 7 years at the current one. I gave all my heart to this job and got left with nothing. In two weeks I'm quitting. I need to rebuild my life because I don't have anything apart from my job. But I don't want to wast life banging my head into a wall hoping management changes at some point. I love my job but I hate my work. I need to grow my stress lost hair back and stay afar from stupid people.
@@mahrcheen management wont change, greed wont change, but you can change. do something different, grow yourself to a better you
miyazaki is an absolutely huge factor in overwork in his own studio. they work alot, and it is quite stressful there. im not surprised he burns out
I long for the day I stop feeling guilty for simply being too burnt out to get any work done.
You can do it, I believe in you! I've started adding self care goals to my to do lists and its helping regrade my thoughts to feel that relaxing IS a part of being productive 🤘
@@yagmanx Huh, including self care and little rewards into your to do list is such a great idea actually, I should totally try that.
Thank you!
Let today be that day, that guilt serves no one. You’re doing your best, same as the rest of us 🕊️➕❤️
@@iammichaeldavis It's hard to see it that way sometimes, but I'll try.
Thank you, I mean it.
My god this video was so in time. I was stoppping video many times to just sit there and reflect. Wow I'm genually in awe, I needed someone to tell me this things right now. Thank you so much for that
Same
I remember how busy you were when I visited you. Everything was scheduled, even fun and relaxing things. You worked so hard and with such discipline, I was stunned when I heard you got laid off. I appreciate you sharing the struggle, as well as the growth. You really inspire me. ❤ Thank you for talking about this!
Thank you Jade 💜 hehe yes I'm a total planner 🙈 I really appreciate you gifting me BG3 at this time btw, it helped me SO MUCH. Thank you, you're a star ⭐
Thank you so much for this video. I've been working on my game for 4 years now, just released it 2 months ago, but I'm feeling extreme stress that is kind of ruining my social relationships around me as well as slowing down my progress with updating the game and providing more content. I relate to you heavily in this entire video (are we the same person??) and it hit me really really hard watching this that it almost brought me to tears because I've felt so alone in this stressful time. I will probably watch this multiple times.
Oh I'm so sorry you had to go through this but I'm so glad you could find some validation from thus video. Congrats on the release of your game! I hope you find some time to slow down and remind your body how to relax now. Its not something we can do straight away after burnout, but its very important and you're worth it!
Thanks for the video! It’s the brain it just beats the heck out of you sometimes. I noticed when you kinda force yourself to accept things and make efforts to smile and know you’re gonna be ok. It’s temporary thoughts and that’s all. They can consume you but when you know a thought can start and mean nothing that’s when you know you’ll be ok.I appreciate the video
This was a great video. Great job. I've realized a lot of this things along the way and having it all condensed in this way is enlightening. I know it will rescue some poor soul in burnout hell and remind them they need to stop, and love themselves.
* Your website to re-identity immediate thoughts is such a good idea
* I find so funny how we... lose the habit? of playing games, or doing stuff we enjoy just for yourself. It's definitely a situation I wanna explore more
* I feel having a burnout is part of your... life process, your soul process. It's a challenge that it's not overcome by fighting more, but by attending to yourself, literally like what you do when you have a creative block!
I look up to you and I love your videos. I'm glad you're able to overcome life challenges!!
For anyone... If you feel it, stop whatever causes it before you have a completly mental breakdown. Take a step back. Pause your game of life and set your perspective. Recover your strenght and attack again. Your health is the most important thing atm. So Calm down a little
Absolutely! Thanks for sharing 😊
Hi! Great video, very happy to see that you're back doing what you love. I don't want to disminish your experience in any way but as you said this is very much about how you handled it and I'd like to add a bit more to it for people in a different context and especially in more precarious situations:
-Burnout can happen in any activity, whether you enjoy it or not. As you said it was probably different factors that put you under loads of stress in your case, but any hobby, job, relationships can put you in a situation of burnout.
-Burnout needs to be prevented at the first signs of it. If you start feeling very negatively about your activity and start to notice changes in energy, sleep, emotionnal stability etc you need to take action. Burnout can have severer consequences on your body and mind long term and even after your recovery. Being in burnout is already too late and a health risk and can take years to recover from (it often takes 2 years to recover completely from it, and you'll only know once you're on the other side so take your time).
-About talking about it at your job: Please do not do this if you don't know how they handle this kind of case. A lot of companies and broadly countries/cultures/people do not see burnout as real or legitimate. I have seen coworker being trashed for taking mental health breaks by management (In gamedev, even famous and well seen companies). This can go as far as being ostracized, harrassed and fired in some cases.
Talk to worker/union representatives at your job on how this is handled. If you hear that they don't take this seriously or are unsure, lots of country permit that you take a medical leave without disclosing any details on why. There is also the possibility to work less hours with a doctor's note in many places. If you can't go on medical leave or if it could put your material needs at risk (bills, housing, medication, food safety etc) then you can take a few measures to at least reduce stress and avoid a crash (see the next point). Unfortunately most people tunnel through burnout as it is most often undected or impossible to resolve in their situation.
-As a general advice if you can't get away or out of your situation: try to find ways to lighten your workload discretly and to put some distance with the most stressful events in your life. Simplify your routine, ask for help around you (even for simple stuff), rest, self-massage if you experience muscular pain, if you work remotely or from your home try to get at least a 30min walk or a 10min body routine (and only if you have the energy for it obviously).
-If you can get a medical leave and are in burnout, two weeks is the bare minimum, one month is good and two is ideal, but it also really depends on where you live. As I said previously burnout can very quickly be serious and dangerous for your health.
And for anyone who is going through it I wish you the best and to get out of it as soon as possible on your own terms.
Again great video thanks for shining a light on this!
This resonates so much with me. Burn out is still such a struggle combined with depression it can be a recipe for disaster! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, feelings and advice.
Thank you for sharing, it's honestly so nice to know that I'm not alone in all this. I hope you're in a better place now, I'm always free to chat if you ever need a friendly ear
Thanks for this! Burnout is so tough to deal with. I think for me I need to prioritize rest and having fun - it’s like fuel for the creative process, but unfortunately when I get started on something I’ll work on it non stop unless I absolutely need to which always seems fine at the beginning but clearly becomes a bad habit down the road as I run out of fuel
I have been burnt out for a while now and I have not been able to get back going again. I'm existing a limbo which has lasted for a few years now. At this point I'm not sure how I'm going to recover.
Thank you for this video.
I become burned out last year. After some health problems I couldn’t rebuild my discipline and that combine with talking part in very demanding project cause me to fail. The guilt of letting people down created a cycle that cause stress and more guilt. Eventuality I have been let go in the middle of a job market crash. After few months of break taking some therapy and trying to reboot my dopamine system I was able to do something. I have been able to find a job in what I am currently working.
I really hate my current position and I know I could do more interesting and complicated projects. I also feel self-doubt and burn out are still lingering in my mind. I recognise all those feelings you were talking about. I wasn’t crying but I wanted to XD
burn out is real and it can creep into everybody live.
Thank you for sharing, its so important to myself and others to know our feelings are valid and relatable. I totally understand what you mean about low self esteem lingering, gosh its so tough! It sounds like you've gone through so much though and have taken the steps you need, you're doing so well and should be proud of yourself 💜
Important subject and brave of you to share!
Also been going through similar, having just taken off over a month from my indie project to keep myself from falling off the edge. Realised I was super close to burn out and I didn't just need to slow down, but stop completely.
Funnily enough, the game is about a city racoon travelling to an island community to get over burnout, so at least got some dialogue inspirations and that out of it.
I've also realised that despite being a high performing person, I can't abuse that fact over long stretches of time. Effective work is so much more important than time spent working.. and getting nowhere. If it's not working, step back and relax, noones expecting you to be constantly doing 12-hour seshes. Take it easy, do something you enjoy, and see how it goes tomorrow.
Look after yourselves everyone
Thank you for sharing with us all, this is a super healthy way of looking at working 💜 best of luck with your game and keep looking after yourself 😊
@yagmanx ofc! There's some stigmas, especially around unhealthy indie game dev work norms we need to break still.
Btw if anyone's interested, the game is called An Island Away, and I'll be sharing updates on our official socials much more often now because we have come a long way 😊
Thank you so much for making this video. As someone who has just accepted that what I have been feeling and dealing with for maybe even years is in fact burnout and not any of the other reasons I thought it was, you have no idea how much this helps. For years I have noticed that it was getting harder and harder for me to finish my assignments for my master's. I was only able to work on tasks that had to be made in a group, the fear of letting others down was what made me find the energy to do them. But it slowly became almost impossible to do even those during the last few months before I started my graduation. When I finally started my graduation the symptoms only got worse leading to 4 months where I got almost nothing done. I kept telling myself and others that it was just because I was tired, or they were symptoms from a concussion that I had the year before, since the GP told me that the tests I did came back fine, it had to be something like that. Reading more about burnout and doing a simple Stress Level Test from a book made me realise it was burnout all along. Accepting that made me start looking at my lifestyle differently, suddenly I noticed all of the bad habits I had started and all the fun activities I stopped doing or I no longer had fun doing. Starting with small steps to make it more difficult for me to fall back into those bad habits has helped already. Now I make sure I have eaten something before I go do groceries, which helps me with not buying unhealthy snacks ( I started eating a lot of icecream and full bags of chips), my phone is now downstairs, but connected to a speaker so I can hear it if someone calls me in the middle of the night (almost never happens, but I do not want to miss a call like that if it someone needs me for whatever reason), I also started journaling and have made an evening routine to help me wind down before I go to bed. There are a few more things I want to change, but I learned that turning the wheel completely just makes you hit the side of the road. Small steps. This video helps me realise that if just slowly take these steps I will manage to do all of the things I used to do before I started feeling burnout.
Dear it was a much needed video, I am senior unity developer , I paused my Fiverr journey and currently, I am working on my own game and I was getting burn out and currently under bit of financial stress but this video of yours gave me a good boost thanks a lot . You really inspire me I wish I could work on some creative, multiplayer or VR projects with you. Or just could meet you in person on meet. Keep it up 🙂
Lovely video. We all stretch ourselves too thin nowadays by trying to be everything under the sun. Ambition and expectation can be a detriment to our growth and our daily lives if not kept in check. There was a study that Jane McGonigal brought up once regarding what people would say as they were dying. They never lamented not being able to work more. They regretted spending so much time working instead of spending time with people they loved. They regretted not letting themselves be who they are due to the expectations of others.
I'm glad you're feeling better
my method that has been amazingly effective is to break down big tasks into the TINIEST goals that I can accomplish for the day. Being able to check off a successfully completed task, regardless of how small, is a great feeling
Very cool video and well done for sharing. It’s very brave. I couldn’t talk about my anxiety in the same way. So happy you’re doing better.
The timing of this video couldn't be any more poignant. I'm also a dev, currently struggling with burnout and can relate to so much of what you have shared. It's really interesting to hear how you've been working through it, just wanted to thank you for sharing your experiences.
It’s crazy how the universe just puts what you need in front of you when you need it. Good luck with your project, and be kind to yourself 🕊️➕❤️
I have been solo developing a game for 2 years and have had 2 "approaching burnout" episodes. I knew from the start it was going to be a lot of hard work and that I would have to wear many hats. It was not like I was never in any doubt that it was failing; perhaps more like, OK time to take a week off from everything to do with it, relax the focus and just have fun. Returning both times felt like I was "a bit rusty" for a few hours but the initial passion returned with a vengeance and I realised some new ideas had blossomed in the absence, that may not have happened had i not take a good step back to get the bigger picture. It is quite a journey I am on! Never giving up and being subbornly determined is the key I think. Inspiration Is a strange beast to try and tame after all...
Wow this is amazing that you were able to notice the signs and take a step back, we can all learn a thing or two from you (I hope I will!) Best of luck with all your projects and keep checking in with your mental state 😊
relatable, thanks for your RE fixed cam tutorial
I certainly know this feeling. I've never associated it with a term, though. I am glad you shared this, very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
I'm so glad it could be helpful 😊
I like your video edit, especially the intro, when you when you closed the laptop and suddenly stood in the room.
Support from others plays a role. When you have to or want to manage your life yourself, there is little time for creativity, which I have always understood as a feeling of freedom, free from everyday problems. Another thing is feedback from real people to your creative work.
Thanks, I love editing my videos in fun ways! Good point, its so important to have people in your life that you trust to share your work and emotions with 💜
I love your videos ❤
Thank you 😊
Thanks for the video, I relate to a lot of what you talk about and it's very reassuring.
Those two advice you talk about :
- The "ok 1 week break and then I get back to it"
- Keep working/forcing myself to work on project associated with depression and burn out
It took more than a year to discover that it was causing a lot of depression (Thank you therapy 😅)
And now after all this time, I'm finally letting go and focusing only on doing things I would have called "non-productive" before.
And in doing so I'm finally feeling excitment for some new creative project which is a feeling I haven't felt for ages.
In a few days I'm actually doing a tiny Northen Europe tour on my own and planning on doing small interview about Mental Health 😊
Anyway I'm gonna stop talking about my life and just thank you for the video, I've loved it
Thank you for sharing your experience. It is SO valid and I can relate a lot, burn out recovery a long journey and I feel we often out far too much pressure on ourselves. I'm so glad to hear you're in a better place now 😊
For me, working on a personal VR game dev project alongside work was demotivating me since all I wanted to do was the game dev project. Currently, it's helping me front load my week doing 12 hrs/day with no distractions, then spending a longer weekend focusing on game dev. Still, I have to be careful not to game dev so much that I don't allow myself to have some mindless fun.
So proud of you lovely XxxX
Thank you 😊
Really interesting topic. I also think I'm in a state of burnout, I can't describe it well, but I work too many hours a day (even 14 hours), I have many ideas and a great desire to realize them, but it requires too much time and energy. Inside me there are 2 contrasting forces: one that wants to do and the other that tells me it's tired and every time I listen to one of the two, I still feel bad because I don't satisfy the other. But you have to balance it out, give one a little vent and then the other. But I work for a company and I can't afford to take breaks, at most summer holidays and Christmas holidays (but they last too little, about 3 weeks). The main sensations I have are a slight state of mental confusion, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, anxiety and irritability, all of which makes me lose a lot of efficiency. I don't know exactly how to behave, I don't want to do psychological therapy.
Thats so much, I'm so sorry you're not able to get the rest you deserve. I am certainly an advocate for talking therapy though, it helped me understand what was holding me back, bad habits and what was important to me. I hope, whatever you choose, that you get some peace soon 💜
Burnout is an extremely important thing to learn how to manage. It is valuable to know your limits, especially for those like me who are going to be entering their 30s soon.
Your negative thought activity diary was quite helpful, thank you :)
Gonna save this for myself for future reference and share it with some people I know who need to hear this.
I hope it can help 💜
One tip I can give to those who burn out is - if you're over ambitious and find yourself constantly restarting, make tools to help future you.
For example; I always wanted to make a game where the player has an immersive first person body. To achieve this, I've made a blend tree animation in unity for looking up and down, aiming, ect.
I've also created a very rudimentary level editor in unity so I can save and load asset states in a json. Something I wanted to do in order to only have the game load once.
The former, I'm still working on but, if I can prevent future me from restarting for the billionth time, thats the goal.
totally unrelated... but PLEASE YagmanX, stop hypnotizing me with your beautiful blue eyes! 💕
that out of the way... burnout is serious. Everyone should try to at least manage their time so we can always relax a bit. It isn't easy - but I've been trying to do that.
i have recently just been through this as well :( wanting to do so much but not being able to do any of it and making excuses to not start working everyday... burnout gave me really bad depression as a solo dev there is so much work to do that it feels like i can't waste any of my time... sorry i just had to say all that
No need to apologise at all, your experience is so valid and I appreciate you sharing. Depression is absolutely something that burnout can lead to and its good to speak about. I hope you're able to find some time to relax and recover soon if you haven't already, you deserve it 🙏
@@yagmanx thank you for the kind words, im doing a lot better now but i have forgot a bit about using blender and ue5 so got to learn that again haha
im glad you were able to come back from burnout as well :D
You're describing my life since I turned 27. I'm now 31.
This is an important topic. Sorry for the following wall of text, that's my ADHD now driving.
There are people with ADHD, which tend to bite more off than they can chew (that would be me) and end up in either a burnout and sometimes a boreout.
In some way i think - and this is anecdotal evidence and some of my own expirience - that a burnout varies from "task" and "job". What i mean is, if you're an artist and you work on your next piece and all of a sudden you can't continue; i would count that not only to a block but to burnout aswell, as you can't bring up anything that satisfies your creativity. Your brain just needs to step away from the process, it needs to recharge - a "task" burnout.
I've also experienced that people began to have cold sweat when they had to go to work, which is the classic burnout symptom i guess.
We are raised with "work hard, work long, be productive" - but this is utter bs in my books. You need your time off to recharge, lollygagging maybe, analyze what you've produced so far from different angles.
I know, this is hard in project-driven-environments but still should be possible especially due to the repetitive nature that could drive you right into a boreout that prevents from finishing your work. And that's the issue i have with PM: Sprints, Backlogs, "To-Do" "Doing" "Done"... it just intakes the time for the task/Job and does not include the time you need to think or relax, probably because we are afraid to add the time we need to step away for a moment.
Yes this is not possible in Caretaker and Medical Jobs (which are horribly underpayed and understaffed - we as society need to tackle this)
Lovely video. Wise conclusion. The software industry can be toxic. That's why I think it's very valauble when a company like X-Team take the initiative to make the opposite and create conditions for engineers to do things outside software in order to avoid burnouts... more than that, doing what you are passionate about can make you more productive in you are working on your job.
I'm dealing with burnout/procrastination still with game dev. And I can't really start another project since I'm already on a side project. But, the project feels like a lost cause despite some people liking it and I'm stuck in this spot where I'm unhappy with it that I want to cancel it but also doing so would make all the time spent of it truly feel wasted. Not too mention it would potentially harm any future projects I want to make since people will be like "Oh, they cancelled once, they'll do it again. No point getting excited." 😮💨
If you need to hear it, I just want to say this is a lot of pressure you're under right now. Perhaps talking it through with a professional could help? Its okay to step away and do something for yourself for a change, instead of constantly doing what you think 'should' be done if that makes sense. Best of luck to you
We weren't mean to work our whole lives. It's ok to take a step back and work less.
💯
Burnout is especially fun when combined with neurodivergence and demand avoidance.
You know racing 🏁 is illegal?
Burnout is because people do a job for money. I still dream about code to this day and I have left uni 3 decades ago
There are plenty of game developers who burn out because they are passionate by what they do, doing overtime which is not even requested by management, or juggling with too many passion projects, etc...
I had no problem doing this for decades, then when I reached my 50ies, simply had to admit that my body and mind were not able to do that anymore.
you say you had burnout, but I see you're still a fiery redhead. Huh, something doesn't seen to add up here...
And I can tell what. You superficial
I'm happy for you and the work you put into overcoming your problems! As for your question at the end, I don't think there is a way where the process becomes easier, however I do think we get stronger the more we do it so our capacity to endure it improves. I know negativity has a bad reputation but what if it is actually positive? We can't be who we are if we are what we aren't, we'd have to subtract the block of clay to reveal our statue of who we actually are. In that sense, it's only through negativity that we can become who we really are - in order to find our dream job/marriage we'd have to subtract all other options and be left with what we'd want above anything else. Basically I think we should develop Stockholm syndrome 😂 anyways, I'm glad you're feeling creative again, I know it killed me when I went forever without creating. Looking forward to your projects 🫡